“An agency should be working WITH you, not FOR you.”
Chris Ruszkowski is a senior executive with over 20 years of marketing experience and a proven track record of results-orientated advertising and communications programs. Chris' experience is built on a foundation of 12+ years of advertising agency account management, tactical execution, and strategic planning experience at McCann Erickson, Frankel and McClain Finlon Advertising. This agency experience is paired with over 10+ years of restaurant marketing leadership at Quiznos, the pioneer of the toasted sub. He was most recently the SVP of Marketing at Quiznos. Chris currently conducts brand strategy consulting and resides outside Denver, Colorado with his family.
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“Marketing has to be integrated and unified before it can be amplified.”
Corey Livingston is responsible for establishing the marketing vision and strategy at OneNeck IT Solutions. As VP of marketing, Corey is accountable for introducing impactful marketing programs and initiatives that drive brand affinity and market demand for services and solutions across the company’s broad portfolio in order to achieve OneNeck’s aggressive sales and revenue growth goals. Her areas of focus include continuous optimization of segmentation and targeting; strengthening the brand and its core value proposition; creating and telling audience-centric stories; modernizing the marketing technology stack; customer acquisition and nurturing; and defining marketing performance in terms of business impact.
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“Be bold, be creative, and listen to your gut.”
Having worked with Olympic level athletes in the hunter/jumper world to teaching English in an urban setting to being an executive assistant at one of the world's largest bicycle manufacturers, Sophie Coffey likes to say that she is a product not of the classroom but of the real world. Her extensive experience and nimble ability to adapt shows in the work she produces. Be it crafting a compelling brand strategy, creating a strong social media presence, or pulling a killer shot of espresso, Sophie has a proven track record of results. She is an expert in content creation, brand strategy, email marketing, project management, social media management, SEO/SEM/PPC, and paid social.
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TO FIND SOPHIE COFFEY ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE.
Brand positioning is defined by your mission, vision, and values. Call LORI JONES and the team at Avocet to learn more. 303-678-7102.
“Customers are telling retailers what they want; the retailers aren’t receiving that feedback.”
Matt Rhodus is director and industry principal for Strategic Initiatives at NetSuite, the world’s leading provider of cloud-based business management software. Matt helps lead and manage the retail apparel, footwear, and accessories vertical and the cross-functional team that represents the NetSuite AFA across all products. He is focused on closing new business, delivering growing existing business, delivering product to meet current and future customer needs, solutions Innovation, sales and pipeline building, market position, messaging and awareness, as well as customer delivery and success.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, ORACLE NETSUITE CLICK HERE.
“Underneath all the metrics and reviews is a treasure trove of data that can be leveraged by a demand gen marketer.”
Adam Goyette, vice president of demand generation at G2Crowd, is a growth marketing B2B SaaS expert with 15+ years of experience. He has spent his career developing digital, social, and content marketing strategies that drive customer engagement, lead generation, and revenue growth. Adam does not believe in “fluffy marketing goals,” but, instead, is all about alignment and outcome, and about marketing strategies that create an ownership mindset all the way through the sales funnel.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, G2, CLICK HERE.
“If the message isn’t relevant, there’s no way anyone is going to open up that email and they will ignore you forever.”
Greg Zakowicz of NetSuite and Oracle Bronto is a B2C and B2B eCommerce and email marketing strategist, analyst, speaker, content marketer, and award-winning podcaster. He has consulted with over 130 companies from around the globe on eCommerce marketing strategies, and currently serves as the senior commerce marketing analyst at Oracle NetSuite, where he analyzes, writes, podcasts, and presents on eCommerce and email marketing industry trends, strategies, and challenges. He is a frequent speaker at eCommerce events, and has been published and quoted by top retail, marketing, and business publications, including Forbes, MultiChannel Merchant, and Internet Retailer. He created, produces, and hosts the award-winning Commerce Marketer Podcast, where he speaks with professionals across the retail industry about trends, strategies, and what lies ahead for commerce marketers and retailers.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, NETSUITE CLICK HERE.
TO FIND GREG ZAKOWICZ ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE.
“It’s more about the path than the page.”
John Hines is the director of Global Digital Experience Strategy and Campaign Execution at Teradata, the leading provider of data ecosystem architecture, big data analytics, customer journey mapping, and cloud-based data technology. He is a successful, proven digital executive leading game-changing, data-driven digital transformations. His digital-first mindset and his focus on creating roadmaps that improve digital customer experience, lower cost of acquisition, increase revenues, improve customer retention, and dramatically raise user satisfaction is what sets him apart. John has ad agency, direct corporate, channel, and startup retail franchise experience, in both B2B technology and consumer fields.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, TERADATA CLICK HERE.
“If your event doesn’t have a strategy you’ll be out there floating like a jellyfish without a spine; there’s nothing there to anchor you to why you’re doing it.”
Lindsay Martin-Bilbrey is CEO of Nifty Method Marketing & Events and vice president of marketing and partnerships at Pathable, an event technology platform. Lindsay has a diverse background in the events industry and specializes in topics such as inbound and event marketing and attendee engagement, and in making marketing, events, and technology easier for associations, corporations, and nonprofits. She started her first agency nearly 20 years ago, helping local businesses create and execute direct marketing and planning training workshops for dentists and doctors. She has worked with companies such as the Ford Motor Company, Sirius XM, and the Nonprofit Technology Network. She is passionate about leading her team to always ask “why” and “yes, and what else?” when supporting small- and medium-sized businesses as they grow and scale to the next level in their sales, marketing, and events.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, NIFTY METHOD MARKETING & EVENTS CLICK HERE.
“It’s not just a marketing thing. It’s not just a sales thing. It’s a CUSTOMER thing.”
Todd Hockenberry, founder of Top Line Results, is a consultant and advisor to B2B leaders helping them drive growth, align with buyers, and develop marketing and sales strategies. For over 10 years Todd and Top Line Results have led top-line revenue growth at B2B companies with a focus on manufacturing, technology, and capital equipment. He helps his clients understand the changes in buyer behavior to grow better, become more customer-centric, and align with their ideal buyer persona so that they can deliver exceptional customer experiences leading to competitive advantage. Todd is the co-author with Dan Tyre of the recently published book Inbound Organization. Todd has launched new products in domestic and international markets, extended existing ones to new sales records, and rescued dying companies by reinvigorating teams and re-launching products.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, TOP LINE RESULTS CLICK HERE.
“The micromanagement of projects is no longer required and is no longer beneficial to anyone.”
Renata Lerch is a global thought leader with international experience in Fortune 500, consulting, advertising agency, and not-for-profit associations. Renata has managed global marketing and market development teams for over 20 years, delivering successful programs in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She has also created transformational customer engagement initiatives using methodologies such as Design Thinking and Scrum. Renata is driven by a competitive and entrepreneurial spirit to develop and execute strategic B2B and B2C business initiatives that result in ROI and revenue growth, increasing customer acquisition and retention. She is also a published author and speaker specializing in global market development.
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“You want to fill the room and work the room.”
Rylee Meek is founder and CEO of the Social Dynamic Selling System, a value-based approach to lead generation and client acquisition that an approach that has turned dinner seminar marketing into a science. The Social Dynamic Selling System, which Rylee devised in 2010, provides a predictable, sustainable, and scalable system for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to drive more business and increase revenue through new customer acquisition. Rylee and his team have promoted over 25,000 events and connected over 2+ million consumers with their clients. Rylee has used a combination of direct mail marketing and what he calls “dinner events to grow his business to $12 million in sales.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT, SOCIAL DYNAMIC SELLING SYSTEM CLICK HERE.
May Lilley is vice president of marketing and communications at Under Canvas, Inc., a company offering all-inclusive glamping adventure packages through their eight luxury glamping resorts, and whose mission is to bring the glamping experience to life anywhere in the country. May’s experiences, studies, and interests cross all areas of data-driven marketing, strategic communications, and branding, and combine to produce a truly integrated approach to brand efficacy and driving revenue. Her areas of focus include international/global communications, integrated branding, acquisition integration, financial accountability/budgeting, leading high performing teams, and agency management.
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“Tap into your audience as a culture.”
Andrew Ostry is the strategic marketing manager at the American Heart Association. He is an innovative professional with an impressive history of translating data into real insight, leading to action that builds brands and drives business performance. He knows what it takes to propel a brand from good to great. Throughout his career, he has designed, implemented, and monitored consumer research studies and managed projects in collaboration with advertising agencies, external market research companies, and internal cross-functional teams. He excels at directing client discovery sessions to tease out business drivers, brand equities, and user insights that shape remarkable, revenue-generating products and have a proven track record of success developing brands, penetrating markets, and increasing customer engagement.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, CLICK HERE.
“The more cohesive the content, the higher the spikes in our metrics.”
Kaylie Bruno is the digital marketing strategist for the Annie Selke Companies, a spirited, design-driven family of companies that create enthusiasm through its timely and timeless lifestyle products. Her background in art and design inform the content she manages on behalf of the company, and she skillfully bridges the gap between creative and tactical marketing strategies. In 2017, Kaylie won a Golden Bronto award for the Best Abandoned Cart Campaign. Kaylie was also part of the company’s ambitious marketing program that merged its four retail brands into one and that seamlessly integrating its various marketing campaigns to facilitate a single, cohesive consumer experience. The successful integration was supported by a powerful email marketing strategy that Kaylie helped drive. The strategy helped Annie Selke improve its overall B2B revenues by 35%, increase email-driven B2B revenues by 64% YOY, increase its overall B2C revenues by 48%, and increase email-driven B2C revenues by 81% YOY. Kaylie was also part of the campaign that launched the company’s first retail catalog and was instrumental in ramping up Annie Selke’s customer reviews process.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ANNIE SELKE, CLICK HERE.
“You can't take the risk out of everything.”
Jon and Gila Kurtz are co-founders of Dog is Good, one of the most popular eCommerce brands today. Dog is Good is a lifestyle brand for dog lovers. In addition to selling wholesale and retail products, all of which celebrate the unique joy of living life with a dog, the company licenses the brand to numerous manufacturers in the pet, gift, and home product industries. Moveover, Dog is Good has developed a reputation for generously giving back to animal welfare organizations. The company’s success lies in its ability to deliver messaging that resonates with dog lovers. With clever and poignant sentiments, they remind us all how great it feels to be with Dog.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DOG IS GOOD, CLICK HERE.
TO FIND GILA KURTZ ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE.
“You can’t send out an email just because it’s Wednesday.”
Stephanie Maassen is the senior CRM manager at Balsam Brands, a B-to-C eCommerce retailer specializing in selling high-end Christmas trees and home décor products both domestically and internationally. As senior CRM manager, Stephanie manages the catalog and email channels from concept to completion across multiple brands. She oversees a team that drives initiatives to generate awareness, build loyalty, and consideration to purchase while generating profitable revenue growth and increasing repeat purchase rate. Stephanie is a creative, dynamic, and versatile marketer as well as an analytical thinker with the ability to extract insights from multiple data sources. Her project management skills have led campaigns with aggressive timelines, and she is known for her leadership skills and her ability to work collaboratively across organizations to ensure win-win outcomes and achieve common goals.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BALSAM BRANDS, CLICK HERE.
“Keeping the Perfectly Post brand simple and ‘intentionally shallow’ is the key to the company’s success.”
As Perfectly Posh's chief operating officer, Jonée is responsible for the acquisition, presentation, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver Perfectly Posh's product and brand experience to Influencers and consumers. Prior to joining Perfectly Posh, Jonée worked as the senior VP of operations for another global direct selling beauty brand. In addition, her career in electronic manufacturing, operations, and finance have allowed her to develop strong, cross-collaborative teams. Her experience includes transforming struggling operations into hyper-growth, globally scalable companies in direct sales, driving Inventory and manufacturing improvements at an electronics startup for the surveillance and security industry, as well as driving transformational process improvements as distribution center GM for 3PLs and traditional retailers.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PERFECTLY POSH, CLICK HERE.
“We are now a web of things, not strings.”
Bradley Benner, a self-proclaimed digital marketing addict, is the co-founder and senior partner at Semantic Mastery, an online SEO and semantic web training and education site. In his role as instructor and coach at Semantic Mastery, he regularly holds private and group training sessions to educate marketers on achieving results through online marketing activities, as well as best practices for succeeding with the semantic web. Together with his partners at Semantic Mastery, Bradley also hosts Hump Day Hangouts, weekly live-streamed digital marketing Q&A sessions. The team’s YouTube channel is packed with useful SEO resources on topics ranging from content curation to drive stack. With a combined 30+ years of experience, Semantic Mastery consistently delivers proven, real-world results-oriented training and business development tools to help marketers and business owners succeed.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SEMANTIC MASTERY, CLICK HERE.
“Brands in the coming years are going to have to increase their emotional intelligence.”
Heather Larrabee is executive vice president of marketing for GoSpotCheck, a platform that is reimagining how the mobile workforce works. Their software helps teams perfect merchandising, increase sales, reduce labor and expenses, ensure safety and quality, and improve profitability from the field. Heather is motivated by an intrinsic desire to make things better, easier, or more productive for others. She looks to free people from the mundane so that their true talents and abilities can shine forth and benefit the organization and those it serves. Heather is known for being hyper systems-intelligent and she’s created enterprise systems and tools to meet deep business needs. She is first and foremost a mission-driven leader who finds authentic joy and fulfillment in galvanizing high-performing teams to achieve innovative results for businesses who make a difference on the planet.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GOSPOTCHECK, CLICK HERE.
TO FIND HEATHER LARRABEE ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE.
Call LORI JONES and the team at Avocet today to learn about Influencer strategies. 303-678-7102
“The winners in today’s marketplace tend to be better at execution and faster to move.”
Allen Adamson, NYU professor and co-founder and managing partner of Metaforce, is a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding. He has worked with a broad spectrum of consumer and corporate businesses in industries ranging from packaged goods and technology to healthcare and financial services to hospitality and entertainment. With his perspective and depth of experience, Allen helps his clients understand and activate strategies that enable them to shift ahead of the market and the competition, generating long-term value and increased brand equity. He is the author of Shift Ahead, a book that explains how the best organizations recognize when its time to change direction, and how they pull it off while bolstering their brands. Allen is also the author of several other books, including BrandSimple, BrandDigital, and The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands That Lead, and has appeared on Nightline, the Today Show, CNBC’s Squawk Box and The Closing Bell, and on Fox Business Network. He is often quoted in publications including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, USA Today, the Washington Post, and Forbes.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NYU, CLICK HERE.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT METAFORCE, CLICK HERE.
A Colorado native and proud Walmart associate, Emily Barrett is a senior marketing manager who has worked on Walmart’s Grocery Pickup & Delivery business for over four years. She has taken the program from a two-city pilot to a national offering. She is now spearheading Walmart’s Grocery Delivery program, which will be in over 1,600 stores and 200 markets by year-end. She has a passion for marketing and understanding her customer, which allows her to use her analytical and creative side to deliver successful campaigns.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WALMART eCOMMERCE, CLICK HERE.
Joni Huffman is senior vice president of sales and marketing at Healthy Food Ingredients, LLC. She brings more than 20 years of experience in development of ingredient sales in previously held positions including director of specialty sales for Ardent Mills and director of business development at ConAgra Mills. She has spent her career working in complex matrixed organizations to develop a strategic vision for new and existing commercial ingredients. Her focus is helping leading food manufacturers to develop new products and apply Healthy Food Ingredients’ unique portfolio and technology to develop long term supply relationships. Her emphasis is on leading teams to think more strategically about opportunity development and execution. Along with this comes great facility with agreement negotiation as well as cross-functional team leadership.
Listen And Learn:
• Tips for productive communication with customers.
• Planning for disruption.
• How she embraces innovation while maintaining brand quality in an ever-changing marketplace.
• How to bridge the gap between sales and marketing.
• The importance of taking on a consultative mindset versus a sales mindset.
• The value of “the feedback loop between sales and marketing.”
Christopher Smith is the director of CloudLink & Wide Area Networks Product Marketing & Business Development for the Zayo Group. He is a technology leader with a passion for leading cross-functional teams to solve complex business problems. Christopher specializes in a customer-focused approach to building strategic alliances, channel partnerships and enterprise services design, delivery through customer experience (NPS/CSAT). He has a unique background having navigated and excelled in larger more established organizations like EMC and launching a startup with VCE. During the latter, he co-founded the company and helped drive a $250 million business to become the fastest company in the history of high tech to reach a $1billion run rate while growing 42% year over year and achieving 50%+ market share.
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As CEO of Brightpearl, Derek O’Carroll is responsible for the overall company strategy and for delivering on Brightpearl’s mission to automate retail. Brightpearl is a scalable cloud platform designed especially for high-growth multi-channel retailers wishing to automate and integrate their e-Commerce and accounting operations. He has spent his career developing a highly successful track record of creating value to IT companies in EMEA Specialties including building exceptional teams and creating winning environments, simple messaging, zero ambiguity, and a train for excellence. In 1994 he founded Adnet, Ireland’s first online advertising agency building database driven websites and offering SEO services. In 1999 he founded Vordel, which became a leading provider of XML security solutions and was sold to Axway in 2012.
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Stephanie Scapa is CEO and founder of WEYV, a platform that allows users to listen to music, read magazines, and soon, listen to podcasts – all in a single app experience. While competition is fierce with established brands like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, Stephanie is on a mission to unite friends and family through shared access to all entertainment and quality content that binds them together. Not only is she leading efforts surrounding the development of the app, but she is also at the forefront of establishing deals with major record labels and publishing companies to offer their content to consumers via WEYV.
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