I got a chance to sit down with Kate Adams, a recognized startup marketing leader and she has shared some interesting insights on the marketing industry and the current trends that are changing the industry.
About Kate Adams
Kate Adams: Currently, the Head of Marketing at Burkland, I have built and managed the marketing function at several startups while beginning my career at brand heavyweights such as Visa, Franklin Resources, and United Business Media. I hold a BS degree magna cum laude, in Business Marketing from the University of San Francisco.
About Kate’s company and its background
Kate Adams: Burkland serves over 250 startups across the United States, giving startups smarter finance, accounting, and tax advice to grow with confidence. We provide financial expertise that makes economic sense for all growth stages – ranging from Pre-Seed to Series C. Our on-demand CFOs, accountants, and tax experts give strategic guidance to ease a company’s growing pains and provide financial insight to scale.
One thing people should innovate for the marketing industry
Kate Adams: Innovation around calculating marketing program ROI is always helpful. Marketers can make better decisions when they have real-time information about how their marketing programs performed. It will also contribute to determining lead cost and the cost to acquire a new customer.
One thing people should forget about the marketing industry
Kate Adams: Forget about merely running after a media platform just because it is in trend. Some marketers focus on chasing the next marketing platform, mostly social media channels, instead of focusing on reaching their target market. If your future customers aren’t there, don’t waste your time.
The area marketers should utilize data to make the biggest impact on customer experience
Kate Adams: If your customers use your website to convert, marketers should be focused on web analytics like a hawk. You will want to use time on pages, look at how consumers move through your site, and where they abandon your site. You should live and breathe web analytics to make a user experience that makes it easy for your target market to convert. For any marketer, data around how potential customers interact with your company when making buying decisions is critical.
Transformation and innovation are key to any role; Kate’s thoughts
Kate Adams: As a marketer, it is imperative that you stay focused on trends and new communication channels since marketing is always changing. When I started my career, the internet was not used to reach customers, and social media did not exist. These examples show how dramatically and quickly, the landscape can change. You have to READ to stay updated and join marketing councils, attend conferences, and network. Taking classes helps too!
Favorite B2B companies doing great inbound marketing
Kate Adams: Gusto, Refine Labs, Avery, ProfitWell, and Gravy are some of my favorite B2B companies doing great inbound marketing.
Golden rule to succeed in marketing
Kate Adams: The golden rule of marketing is to “know your audience”. It sounds so basic that many ignore it. When building their company marketing strategy, novice marketers put their entire focus on who they are and not enough on their audience. And then when their messaging falls flat or no one responds to their online ads, they wonder what went wrong. You first need to deep dive into your audience and understand their pain points. You also need to analyze what will make them stick to your brand and then how your product or service will come into play.
Skills that a successful marketer should have
Kate Adams: A successful marketer should be able to manage multiple projects have excellent communication skills, especially writing and editing, be creative and empathetic, must have a good eye for design or aesthetics, and have a curious mind and desire to keep learning.
Thoughts on the evolution of the marketing arena a few years from now with regard to some of its potential disruptions and transformations
Kate Adams: Marketing will continue to look differently for B2B both B2C. The web will continue to be a dominant channel. Since COVID has changed in-person and event marketing dramatically, marketers need to continue to push hard on the web and find new channels to reach their market. It will be interesting to see what happens with Google and how that impacts search, both organic and paid, as well as advertising.
The biggest challenge for companies while adopting a new marketing technology
Kate Adams: Getting up to speed without taking too much lag time, figuring out the messaging for that platform and how to translate your brand, and building a presence and consistency are the biggest challenges for companies while adopting a new marketing technology.
The most “SCARIEST” task
Kate Adams: Dealing with big egos is the scariest task in my role. Marketing needs interaction with so many functions in a company, and with so many egoistic people out there, it gets difficult.
Inspiration
Kate Adams: The doctors and nurses on the front lines of COVID when it was peaking was the most inspiring thing that I saw lately, and the stories were unbelievable. You see the passion in the business world but not coupled with selflessness like that.
Books or podcasts recommendation
Kate Adams: I am currently listening to Demand Gen Live by Refine Labs, ABM Conversations hosted by Yaagneshwaran Ganesh, and Marketing over Coffee
Fun activities
Kate Adams: I like hiking, wine tasting, working out, reading, and attending concerts and dinner parties with friends.
Five words that describe Kate
Kate Adams: Fun, engaging, dedicated, loyal, and trustworthy are the five words that best describe me.
Thank you, Kate, for your valuable insights. Your point of view towards marketing and the tips shared was very enlightening and helpful.
