1146: Hyper-Customization for Explosive Growth w/ Drew Larson

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.160 There's a ton of noise out there. So how do you get decision makers 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:09.310 to pay attention to your brand? Start a podcast and invite your ideal clients 3 00:00:09.550 --> 00:00:19.390 to be guests on your show. Learn more at sweetphish MEDIACOM. You're listening 4 00:00:19.429 --> 00:00:24.179 to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B TOB leaders. We've interviewed 5 00:00:24.219 --> 00:00:27.460 names you've probably heard before, like Gary Vanner, truck and Simon Senek, 6 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:31.940 but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. That's because the 7 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.689 bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most of our guests 8 00:00:36.689 --> 00:00:41.130 are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, they're 9 00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:45.770 experimenting with tactics. They're building the fastest growing be tob companies in the world. 10 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:49.289 My name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweetfish media, a 11 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:53.000 podcast agency for BB brands, and I'm also one of the CO hosts of 12 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:57.280 this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll hear stories 13 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.920 from behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the ups and downs 14 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.349 of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. Just getting well, 15 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:14.750 maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to be to be growth. 16 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:18.549 I'm your host for today's episode, Travis King at Sweet Fish Media. 17 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:23.939 I'm joined today by drew Larsen, head of global corporate marketing at O nine 18 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:26.540 solutions. Drew, welcome to the show. Hello, travils, great to 19 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:30.299 be here, awesome. Thanks so much for happening, for hopping on. 20 00:01:30.819 --> 00:01:36.489 So today you're going to be sharing with our listeners about the topic of hyper 21 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:41.209 customization for explosive growth and be to be marketing. But before we get into 22 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:44.049 that, I'd love for you to share with listeners a little bit about yourself 23 00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:46.930 and what you in the team at o nine solutions are up to these days. 24 00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:49.000 Yeah, you gotta, Travis The you know, it's been actually a 25 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:53.879 very interesting ride here tonine. I joined when we were in a small office 26 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.439 with only twenty people, and then we've grown to more than three hundred, 27 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:04.629 and that's a very quick a year time frame. The key with doing that 28 00:02:04.670 --> 00:02:08.590 as that, while we've been focused on the fortune five hundred companies out there, 29 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:15.300 we've been trying to ensure that they are aware of us and that we 30 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:22.580 are providing them with solutions that are are specific to them. That understand their 31 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:27.580 exact business problems and the way we're communicating that is on their terms. I 32 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:30.370 think a lot of companies they have a standard corporate deck. They might have 33 00:02:30.530 --> 00:02:36.689 some standard corporate videos, some standard content pieces, brochures, etc. And 34 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:42.330 they just share those over and over and over until someone finally bikes. I 35 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:46.520 know nine we've been really focused on making sure that when we share something with 36 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:52.280 some with a target, they know it's just for them. So it's it's 37 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:57.280 something that communicates exactly their business challenges and then how and I is going to 38 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.590 solve it for the specific instance and when. We've been doing that as we 39 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:07.750 have several different teams. So we have this development team that is helping to 40 00:03:07.069 --> 00:03:13.060 engage people on the front lines. We haven't a bit marting team and they're 41 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:17.340 helping meet with people at the conferences that they're going to. We have a 42 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:23.539 creative team that's acting as a resource for all of the rest of the organization, 43 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:29.330 from cells and marketing events and business development or to produce content that is 44 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:37.050 specific for those clients, and all those things are working in perfect synchronous fashion 45 00:03:37.090 --> 00:03:42.479 here online. I love it and when it comes down to some of the 46 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:46.800 things that you guys are currently implementing. Could you just tell us a little 47 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.000 bit about, you know, how you are hyper customizing some of the different 48 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:57.030 touchpoints that you know the different teams are implementing? Is it? Is it 49 00:03:57.189 --> 00:04:00.310 something that you guys have a framework for, or can talk to us a 50 00:04:00.310 --> 00:04:02.349 little bit about that process and what it looks like? Absolutely, the key 51 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:09.669 here is collaboration and streamline a collaboration process and to workflow that get the information 52 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:12.659 from the front lines to the creative teams and then back out to the front 53 00:04:12.699 --> 00:04:16.620 lines as fast as possible. And we're talking, you know, sometimes less 54 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:21.060 than twenty four our turnaround maybe twelve hours. As someone's in a meeting and 55 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:28.170 they hear about a use case for our platform that is specific to that company, 56 00:04:28.769 --> 00:04:32.129 we can go and customize the the platform and show that exact uch case 57 00:04:33.769 --> 00:04:41.360 as little as overnight. And that's that's riveting for the corporations that were engaging 58 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:46.480 with. They've never seen anyone customized enterprise level software for this level of scope 59 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:51.240 that quickly so that a doit to adapt to them not only from, you 60 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.029 know, just a marking perspective, not just creatives, but also from the 61 00:04:57.149 --> 00:05:03.790 actual platform itself. Is is unprecedented, and so the we've been communicating that 62 00:05:03.910 --> 00:05:10.740 on the forefront by showing them customized videos of what we think workflows would look 63 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:16.500 like for them and customized pieces of marketing all the way from power points to 64 00:05:17.139 --> 00:05:24.129 bursures and, you know, direct value props for them at it. And 65 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:29.889 and when you're doing this, do you put a higher weight on targets or 66 00:05:29.930 --> 00:05:31.569 accounts that might matter a little bit more to Your Business, or how do 67 00:05:31.569 --> 00:05:36.800 you guys manage that? Well, of course we have definitely have strategic accounts, 68 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.079 but when you're doing with companies are in the fortune five hundred, you 69 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:45.959 know almost all of them are going to be strategic accounts. We have our 70 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:51.750 marquee customers that everyone knows. But even within those industries, even though your 71 00:05:51.829 --> 00:05:57.110 I might not initially recognize one of those companies, everyone in the industry in 72 00:05:57.149 --> 00:06:00.990 those you know who the leaders are, and so you know it's we take 73 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:08.939 every time that we were approaching a company that's that size and scale. It's 74 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:12.740 a very serious and differ for us. All hands on deck and trying to 75 00:06:12.779 --> 00:06:17.220 ensure that they know that we understand their problems and challenges and that we're here 76 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:26.529 to meet them. With everyone from executives to vacuum changes on the platform to 77 00:06:27.370 --> 00:06:30.930 educating and training on their further user phase. Got It. And would you 78 00:06:31.009 --> 00:06:34.759 mind sharing a recent story? Obviously you don't have to share the specific client 79 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:39.879 that you worked with, but would you mind sharing a recent story about how 80 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:45.360 you've implemented hyper customization for, you know, a bid of yours. Absolutely 81 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:51.310 the when responding to our peace the typically most companies will just go out our 82 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:57.790 Peter, turn it and and it's an excel spreadsheet or a document, word, 83 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:01.819 document, and for us we go above me on that. So we're 84 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:05.939 going to present them with use cases that are in the form of actual videos. 85 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:11.500 We're going to present them with videos that include their products so that we 86 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:15.009 show that we actually understand their brand values. Often we're doing with consumer brand 87 00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:21.170 companies, and so we try to incorporate those type of things into our videos 88 00:07:21.170 --> 00:07:27.170 themselves so that when they receive it, they know that we understand them as 89 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:31.199 company and the culture and then, for the beyond that, we understand their 90 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:36.600 business challenges. So the ability to produce media that communicates to people wherever they 91 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:41.959 are, you know, and it's not just consuming a white paper and it's 92 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.990 not just consuming a use case video. It's also consuming, you know, 93 00:07:46.269 --> 00:07:51.350 a business value high level video that a lot of executives really appreciate. That's 94 00:07:51.949 --> 00:07:57.350 the ability to hit all those fronts at the same time as where we're really 95 00:07:58.430 --> 00:08:01.740 focused at it. And how big is the team that's doing all of this? 96 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:07.540 So we have there's a couple of things. I guess. On the 97 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:11.019 Creator side we have a scalable workforce and so we can ramp that up and 98 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:16.689 down depending on what the need is and what the timing is on the but 99 00:08:16.889 --> 00:08:22.050 the you know, overall, I think the marketing team itself is probably fifteen 100 00:08:22.089 --> 00:08:28.399 people right now. Today's growth story is about a brand we all know well, 101 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.120 AIRBNB. When they were trying to maximize growth among work travelers, Air 102 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:37.279 BNB new they needed to develop and execute a content strategy to reach multiple personas 103 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.990 at different stages of the customer journey. Enter hub and spoke. Marketing hub 104 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:48.230 and spoke managed creative content development and crafted a custom publishing process that allowed airbnb 105 00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:52.909 to develop more content in less time. The end result a lot of content 106 00:08:52.990 --> 00:08:58.820 across multiple channels, all strategically nurturing, leads through to conversion. Within the 107 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:03.899 first six months, airbnb nearly tripled the number of companies enrolled in their AIRBNB 108 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:09.049 for work program they also saw huge increases in user adoption, with work travelers 109 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:15.250 booking longer stays and more guests for booking. If you're looking for strategic content 110 00:09:15.289 --> 00:09:18.090 at scale, I've got a hunch hubbands boat can help. Head over to 111 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:24.600 hub spoke dot marketing growth to schedule your consultation with a content specialist today. 112 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:30.759 That's hub spoke dot marketing growth. All right, let's get back to the 113 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:35.120 show. Got It. That seems like a compared to a lot of companies. 114 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:39.070 I feel like that's a pretty strong, you know, foothold of a 115 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:41.230 people that can can help you pop out that creative content on a twenty four 116 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:46.950 hour turnaround. Absolutely, I love it. And as we're moving into to 117 00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:50.950 the next stage, I'm curious about how or what sort of advice you would 118 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:56.940 give other BB marketers to leverage hyper customization and their processes. Like what sorts 119 00:09:56.980 --> 00:10:01.500 of tips or advice or thoughts would you give to someone that might be thinking 120 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:03.620 about doing this for the first time? When we were first starting out with 121 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:11.889 this strategy, it was very tough trying to ice out the actual workflows, 122 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:16.409 trying to get the right people in place for it. I think was key 123 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:22.200 more than anything. The talent part of the equation is is really where you 124 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.720 should focus your time, and the way we find the right talent is we 125 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:31.200 interview for it. So we're not really looking at a resume for credentials. 126 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.320 Were actually trying to figure out, you know, this is the thing that 127 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:39.990 we want done, how can we pretty unique interview process that test that across, 128 00:10:41.710 --> 00:10:45.470 you know, twenty different candidates to find the absolute best one. So 129 00:10:46.190 --> 00:10:50.019 really thinking about your interview strategy is key and then investing in entertaining those people 130 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:56.179 whose will help you be successful as you work out the rest your process internally. 131 00:10:56.700 --> 00:10:58.700 Got It. I love that. I think that's a very unique approach 132 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:03.580 to interviewing instead of just doing a typical job description. Bring people through, 133 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:05.450 read the resume and if they check off the boxes, they're higher. I 134 00:11:05.529 --> 00:11:09.889 love that. And in terms of like your belief in this system, like 135 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:16.850 why do you think hyper customization is working so well for you compared to, 136 00:11:16.049 --> 00:11:20.639 you know, when you weren't implementing set the strategy? Well, the you 137 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:26.279 know, I've worked at several different companies and I've seen different strategies employed and 138 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.159 I think nine. You know, we're a very specific place in the world. 139 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.710 We know we know exactly which one of our customers are out there, 140 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:39.990 we know where they are and we know a lot of information about them, 141 00:11:39.590 --> 00:11:43.389 and so we can spend a lot of time focusing on how to build the 142 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:50.379 right product for them. Now those other questions. What if you have thousands 143 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:52.659 of thousands, thousands of customers? How do you do the same thing at 144 00:11:52.820 --> 00:12:00.379 scale? And you know, we've looked at how to do mass customization for 145 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:03.809 automation. You know, whether it's trying to scrape data from the web to 146 00:12:03.850 --> 00:12:11.850 build spreadsheets that have specific key words in them and how to incorporate that into 147 00:12:11.490 --> 00:12:16.639 video technology, how to bring in the right things that will speak to our 148 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:20.799 clients, and I think it is actually possible to do quite a bit of 149 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:30.509 that. That will rate of product that is is customized but maybe not optimized 150 00:12:30.549 --> 00:12:35.230 for client, and I think that level of effort you'll you will still stand 151 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:39.990 out from the crowd by far and large. That I think that's super helpful, 152 00:12:39.230 --> 00:12:45.379 especially for the people that might not have the larger fifteen person marketing team 153 00:12:45.779 --> 00:12:48.340 but are looking to figure out ways. That's a scale and I really love 154 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:54.100 that you guys are focused on knowing a lot of information about your customers and 155 00:12:54.100 --> 00:13:00.289 tailoring your your product and your solution specifically to the awesome. So, as 156 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:05.330 we wrap up, BOB, growth has always been about highlighting tactic strategies that 157 00:13:05.570 --> 00:13:09.250 different be to be leaders can apply to their own teams in order to achieve 158 00:13:09.250 --> 00:13:13.399 the explosive growth. So We'd love to hear from you, drew, what 159 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:16.759 a new marketing strategy that your team's currently trying or thinking about in the future. 160 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:20.120 Now, it's a great question. TRAVELS BE? Yeah, you know, 161 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.799 I hate to give away all my my secrets, but I'll tell you 162 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:30.470 this thing we've got. We've decided to build out a brand new marketing channel, 163 00:13:30.470 --> 00:13:35.309 one that doesn't exist for our industry today, in the form of network. 164 00:13:37.070 --> 00:13:41.940 So we are linking together like minded individuals across the globe and bringing them, 165 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:48.860 you know, into this community for marketing, and it's you know, 166 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:52.179 I think it's a good opportunity for them and it's a mutually been a fish 167 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:58.049 opportunity for us. That will represent something that's a real game changer for our 168 00:13:58.090 --> 00:14:01.690 industry. I love it. I really love that too. I'm a very 169 00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:07.690 firm believer in communities and community building. So, with that, this has 170 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:11.440 been such a great conversation. Drew, if listeners want to stay connected with 171 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:16.639 you or follow up to ask any questions about the topic of hyper customization, 172 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.399 what's the best way for them to connect with you? You can find me 173 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.230 on Linkedin. So I'm drew Larsen laars Sol in. If you're linkedcom, 174 00:14:24.269 --> 00:14:31.269 slash and flash demand the a possible for you can email me my personal amilt 175 00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:35.429 is really easy, it's true, large and one word at gmailcom. Awesome. 176 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:37.980 Thanks so much, drew. Really appreciate you being able to show today. 177 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:43.100 Great it's great talking to do. Thanks round. We totally get it. 178 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:46.899 We publish a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a 179 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:52.100 lot to keep up with. That's why we've started the BETB growth big three, 180 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:56.730 a no fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from an entire 181 00:14:56.850 --> 00:15:01.370 week of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Phish mediacoma big three. That 182 00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:05.730 sweet fish Mediacom Big Three