1154: How to Find the Right Mentors to Advance in Your Marketing Career w/ Cynthia Gumbert

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.240 A relationship with the right referral partner could be a game changer for any be 2 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:08.509 to be company. So what if you could reverse engineer these relationships at a 3 00:00:08.630 --> 00:00:14.230 moment's notice, start a podcast, invite potential referral partners to be guests on 4 00:00:14.310 --> 00:00:19.670 your show and grow your referral network faster than ever? Learn more. At 5 00:00:19.750 --> 00:00:30.179 sweetish Mediacom you're listening to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B TOB 6 00:00:30.339 --> 00:00:34.579 leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like Gary Vander truck and 7 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:38.530 Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. 8 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:44.170 That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most 9 00:00:44.250 --> 00:00:48.450 of our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing 10 00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:53.640 strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest growing betb companies in 11 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:57.079 the world. My name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweet fish 12 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.799 media, a podcast agency for BB brands, and I'm also one of the 13 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.790 CO hosts of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, 14 00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:07.750 you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business, will share the 15 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:11.189 ups and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. 16 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:22.939 Just kidding. Well, maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to 17 00:01:23.060 --> 00:01:26.620 be tob growth. I'm Logan lyles with sweet fish media to I'm joined today 18 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:30.700 by Cynthia Gumbert, Chi's chief marketing officer over at Smart Bear. Cynthia, 19 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:34.769 how's it going today? It's great, I think a great day. Thank 20 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:37.689 you, it is great to have you. You know, Cynthia, you 21 00:01:37.810 --> 00:01:42.609 popped up on our radar on a great list of twenty five powerhouse Cmos that 22 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:47.090 drift just released, and I am really excited to dive into today's topic, 23 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:49.959 which is going to be mentorship in your marketing career. But before we jump 24 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.000 straight into that, I would love for you to share with listeners a little 25 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.040 bit about what you and the team it's smart bearer up to these days. 26 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.439 Thank you, Logan. Yes, I'm relatively new and smart beer and been 27 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:07.590 here about five months and we are building up a marketing team to manage twenty 28 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:14.469 five products three major open source communities. We have a group of six and 29 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:20.219 a half million users across the our products, twenty two customers and acquiring two 30 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:25.460 thousand every month, so very large communities. Or Marketing team is juggling a 31 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:32.050 lot of different, different products, but they're all designed to help software organizations 32 00:02:32.169 --> 00:02:42.889 and any organization developing software to deliver great software faster, with higher quality and 33 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:47.120 using some easy to use tools that are just downloaded by testers and developers. 34 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:52.280 Yeah, so two things. It sounds like you're marketing team has their handsful 35 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:54.120 and it sounds like it's probably been a pretty busy five months for you. 36 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:59.430 Huh. It's been very, very busy learning about all the different tools than 37 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:04.229 the smart Bart portfolio and that some of them are better known than the brands 38 00:03:04.349 --> 00:03:08.150 smart there itself. So many people download what we have to offer and have 39 00:03:08.310 --> 00:03:12.669 no ideas art as smart bear. So a lot of what I'm doing is 40 00:03:12.789 --> 00:03:15.819 just building up that brand itself. Of what do we stand for? Is 41 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:21.020 the company? Yeah, definitely. So it's some interesting challenges there. We 42 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:23.180 could maybe even speak to those in a future episode in you know, that 43 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:29.169 brand awareness challenge that's kind of unique to that sort of scenario. I love 44 00:03:29.289 --> 00:03:31.250 that. I love that you guys are working through it. So let's dive 45 00:03:31.409 --> 00:03:37.129 into today's topic. You know you've posted. I saw linkedin post of yours 46 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:40.840 about going over to the BB sales and marketing exchange a few months back and 47 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.639 engaging in some mentorship there. It's something that seen you talk about and we're 48 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.159 going to be breaking down some tips for being a mentor and some of the 49 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.800 ways that you can go about that in your marketing career, some of the 50 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.270 value there, and then, if you are seeking mentorship, you know what 51 00:03:57.389 --> 00:04:00.389 are some good ways to go about that. Let's start with the former and 52 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:03.750 talk about, you know, being a mentor. One of your pieces of 53 00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:09.229 advice that I know you wanted to share is about casting the vision for folks 54 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:12.740 that are new within the function. Can you tell us a little bit more 55 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:17.420 about that? Yeah, I was extremely happy too, very early on in 56 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:24.220 my career, of being a manager, help some foaks just getting out of 57 00:04:24.290 --> 00:04:29.850 college progress their career and become extremely successful over a short period of time. 58 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:36.089 This started with me hiring my son's babies that are who was watching him, 59 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:40.160 you know, for hours on the weekend, and just seeing that she was 60 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:45.199 extremely ambitious, you know, graduated with a marketing degree, hired her into 61 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:48.639 an entry level position where she was, you know, shipping boxes to trade 62 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:54.589 shows and that sort of thing and she just got promoted pretty much every year, 63 00:04:55.350 --> 00:05:00.110 starting her first year and became a VP a few years later. So 64 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:04.310 I felt like the advice they gave her and that help was just inspiring, 65 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:10.779 you know, to me to go become mentors for more people. Yeah, 66 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:13.860 I think there's something to be said for, you know, kind of casting 67 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:17.220 that vision and seeing how can you, you know, take someone who's new 68 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:21.329 in marketing and show them really what's possible. It's amazing. You know, 69 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:25.009 what are some of the lessons that you've learned there? Because, you know 70 00:05:25.050 --> 00:05:28.410 what, talk about some of the benefits of being a mentor, but regardless, 71 00:05:28.449 --> 00:05:30.370 you want to be very conscious about where you invest your time there. 72 00:05:30.410 --> 00:05:34.759 So tell us a little bit about how you are somewhat choosy, or maybe 73 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.079 a better word is intentional, on choosing where you invest your time as a 74 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.959 mentor and some of the lessons learned. Yeah, that when I went to 75 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.600 work for Del which is the biggest company I was at, there was a 76 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:53.269 formal mentorship program and I think at some point about twelve people requested me as 77 00:05:53.310 --> 00:05:57.990 a mentor and I really had room for about six or seven. And looking 78 00:05:58.069 --> 00:06:03.230 at folks who are really early in careers but show signs of just diving in 79 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:08.540 and trying to be very, very successful in their role. So I had 80 00:06:08.819 --> 00:06:12.699 more people than, you know, I could fit into my schedule who were 81 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:16.660 requesting me as a mentor and, you know, looking for folks who had 82 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:21.769 either very specific goals in mind and things I know I could help them with, 83 00:06:23.089 --> 00:06:27.970 or people who were very, very early on in their careers but had 84 00:06:28.170 --> 00:06:32.879 a very similar level of you know, I'm going to overcome any roadblock, 85 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:39.920 any challenge and and try to make myself successful, and who can I talk 86 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.000 to to help me get there? So that's I think the most rewarding kind 87 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.029 of mentorship is just seeing some you know, real drive and votes early on 88 00:06:48.149 --> 00:06:54.269 in their career. Today's growth story is about a brand we all know well, 89 00:06:54.670 --> 00:06:58.589 are BNB. When they were trying to maximize growth among work travelers, 90 00:06:58.829 --> 00:07:01.579 are B and be new, they needed to develop and execute a content strategy 91 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:06.540 to reach multiple personas at different stages of the customer journey. Enter hub and 92 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:13.259 spoke, marketing hub and spoke managed creative content development and crafted a custom publishing 93 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:17.689 process that allowed airbnb to develop more content in less time. The end result 94 00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:24.889 a lot of content across multiple channels all strategically nurturing leads through to conversion. 95 00:07:25.290 --> 00:07:29.850 Within the first six months, air benb nearly tripled the number of companies enrolled 96 00:07:29.970 --> 00:07:33.920 in their AIRBNB for work program they also saw huge increases in user adoption, 97 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:39.920 with work travelers booking longer stays and more guests for booking. If you're looking 98 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:44.000 for strategic content at scale, I've got a hunch hub and spoke can help. 99 00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:49.110 Head over to hub spoke dot marketing growth to schedule your consultation with a 100 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:56.110 content specialist today. That's hub spoke dot marketing growth. All right, let's 101 00:07:56.110 --> 00:08:00.180 get back to the show. Yeah, so you talk a little bit there 102 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:03.339 about what things you're looking for as a mentor and where to spend your time. 103 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:07.339 I'm curious if you can remember some of the things that you did to 104 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:11.180 shorten that list, you know, going from twelve people requesting your time to 105 00:08:11.579 --> 00:08:15.529 only having time to mentor six. What were some of the ways that you 106 00:08:15.730 --> 00:08:18.730 pulled out some of those things that you were looking for in people where you 107 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:24.129 were deciding to invest your time? I had initial meetings of quite a few 108 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:30.480 folks and the people who came very well prepared with they use up and what 109 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.519 they wanted to ask. They had either specific issue or just knew about what 110 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:41.509 I had been through and what my role was and had very specific questions related 111 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:48.909 to that. You know, that's kind of separating free and you know now 112 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:54.350 that I think everybody's extremely worth mentoring. It just didn't have time to take 113 00:08:54.429 --> 00:08:58.059 everybody on. So that actually leads us into, you know, really the 114 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:03.220 other side of the coin if you are looking to take advantage of and benefit 115 00:09:03.259 --> 00:09:07.220 from mentorship earlier in your career or really at any stage in your career, 116 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:11.730 because I think we all need mentors, you know, at different stages of 117 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:16.490 our marketing career. You mentioned being well prepared and one of the other things 118 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:20.090 I know you and I have chatted about, Cynthia, is, as you're 119 00:09:20.129 --> 00:09:24.840 seeking out mentors, not only coming prepared but seeking out mentors with a variety 120 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:28.480 of expertise. Can you talk to that a little bit and some advice for 121 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:33.000 folks that are seeking the right mentors on the other side of the coin? 122 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.200 Yeah, and in my career has been an entirely and be to be marketing 123 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:41.870 and you know, getting to see more and more that be to be marketing 124 00:09:43.230 --> 00:09:48.990 is up to maybe fifteen very specific career types that are very different. We've 125 00:09:50.029 --> 00:09:56.460 got everything for Web developers to you know, graphic designers to to demange and 126 00:09:56.500 --> 00:10:01.740 the operational leaders. So I think to be a great leader of a Marketing 127 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:09.529 Organization in this industry you do need to have different experiences across several of those 128 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:13.250 different functions. As you move up, then I think marketing more so than 129 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:18.570 any other job, functions. Sales is pretty much sales. You know, 130 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:24.919 engineering has its specific areas, but it's all very technical. I think marketing 131 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:30.120 is extremely diverse. So looking for folks to be mentors, to have a 132 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:35.360 different different paths and you've taken so far and can talk to you know what 133 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:39.309 are the needs and requirements to take several of those paths and marketing, because 134 00:10:39.309 --> 00:10:43.909 there's more than one way to become, you know, a leader. Yeah, 135 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:48.429 it's something I've heard Sangrum over at terminus talk about before, is that 136 00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:52.580 you know, this path in your marketing journey can be from from specialist to 137 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:58.659 generalist ands oftentimes that's a commonality getting to the CMO role if if that's your 138 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:03.379 goal. But I think whatever your goal is, that idea that you're going 139 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:11.330 to need a variety of expertise a diversity of experience and seeking that out will 140 00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:13.850 make you more well rounded as you advance in your professional career side. I 141 00:11:15.210 --> 00:11:18.679 love that advice as well. Cynthia. One of the things I, you 142 00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:22.679 know, see people doing when they're seeking out mentorship is kind of going into 143 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.799 it with you be not necessarily the wrong goal, but no goal at all. 144 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.360 Have you experienced that and what advice do you have to kind of maybe 145 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.590 avoid that pitfall for people that are trying to find mentorship at the marketing career? 146 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:37.509 Yeah, I think you know, to talk to people who come in 147 00:11:37.950 --> 00:11:41.789 with the question saying, you know, how, how do I get to 148 00:11:41.909 --> 00:11:45.549 be a manager as quickly as I can, a people manager, because that's 149 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:48.299 the next step I need to take in my career. And you know, 150 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:52.100 my first question back to that is why? What do you think that's going 151 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:56.539 to be better than what you're doing now? What are you doing now? 152 00:11:56.340 --> 00:12:01.019 And I'm talk some people out of out of that to saying there if their 153 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:05.490 goal is to be just people manager, you know, try to rotate through 154 00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:11.570 different areas of marketing first and then you'll naturally know more about the types of 155 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:15.720 people you know you're managing when you get there. But realize what you're getting 156 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:18.480 into. When you're a manager, you won't be able to do your job 157 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.799 anymore. You won't be the creator of the things you are so proud of 158 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:28.919 now, for example, and you know you'll have a team that depends on 159 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:33.429 you. So really think about what you believe you want to do versus what 160 00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:37.029 you think is the right path, just because that's what you know someone else 161 00:12:37.029 --> 00:12:41.110 has done or that's what it seems like it should be. Yeah, yeah, 162 00:12:41.269 --> 00:12:45.539 I love that. So, Synthia, I think that's that's really good 163 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:48.740 advice for folks that are seeking out mentorship. You know, if if you're 164 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:54.860 actively be seeking out mentorship in your marketing career, then you're likely already headed 165 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:58.490 in the right direction versus folks that aren't seeking it out. But I love 166 00:12:58.610 --> 00:13:01.730 what you've added here to give people a little bit more focus, a little 167 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:05.610 bit more direction in this area. You know, if we could circle back 168 00:13:07.129 --> 00:13:09.289 to a question that I ask a lot of our guests, and that is, 169 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:13.399 you know, a learning resource that has helped you along your way, 170 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.840 you know, we're talking about the value of helping others in their career how 171 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:22.120 to go about getting that help, and so I'd love for you to share 172 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:26.440 with listeners who maybe get just a little bit of mentorship from you today, 173 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:31.429 in resource that you think they should check out that could be marketing related or 174 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:35.110 personal development, whatever the case may be. I I'd love to hear what 175 00:13:35.230 --> 00:13:37.509 you might want to share their yeah, I think one specific one. I 176 00:13:37.549 --> 00:13:41.389 don't know if this is a learning resource, but it is for me. 177 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:46.340 I Love Scott Breakers, chief Martek blog and and you know, the MARTEC 178 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:52.500 conferences that he runs. He is just just brilliant with a nom only stand 179 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:58.690 on top of started as technology owe the tools platform, but he's looking ahead 180 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:05.570 to trends of we're marketing is going, you know, further into the twenty 181 00:14:05.649 --> 00:14:11.840 one century and beyond and and leadership, Trans Organization Structure Trends. You know, 182 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.360 there's a lot of really good stuff on there. I also followed just 183 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:22.279 a lot of great people who I consider either peers or thought leaders or somebody 184 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:26.750 who writes really well on Linkedin. So I just see things in my feed 185 00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:30.789 and that's for a lot of my educations. Yeah, for anybody listening to 186 00:14:30.950 --> 00:14:33.549 this that would like to learn more about smart bear or stay connected with you 187 00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:37.269 as they advanced in their own be to be marketing career. What's the best 188 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:41.179 way for them to learn more or to reach out to you and stay connected? 189 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:45.820 Yes, smart bear has a lot of presents on clankton and twitter, 190 00:14:46.059 --> 00:14:50.460 just as as itself and all of our products have, you know, a 191 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:54.929 lot of fees as well, but you can go to just smart Berecom and 192 00:14:54.610 --> 00:15:00.090 sign up to follow us on twitter. Me, I am C why and 193 00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:07.320 Gumbert Seym GM brt on twitter, so feel free to connect there or Linkedin. 194 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:09.399 Thank you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you so 195 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:15.639 much, Logan, for having me. We totally get it. We publish 196 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.320 a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot to keep 197 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:22.549 up with. That's why we've started the BETB growth big three, a no 198 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:28.669 fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week of episodes. 199 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:35.190 Sign up today at Sweet Fish Mediacom big three. That sweet fish Mediacom 200 00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:35.779 Big Three