Brown Dog Brand

22/04/2025

Kia Ora, New Zealand Marketers!

On Thursday, 1 May I’ll be facilitating the first of a few sessions in partnership with the Marketing Association New Zealand—there are still a few spots left for next week’s workshop in Auckland and this one will also be coming to you in Christchurch and Wellington over the coming months and I’d be chuffed to see some familiar faces, so join me if you’re keen (or share the details with someone who might be). Learnings from the day will be applicable to just about any industry, campaign type, and channel—a myriad of marketing applications!

In my project and campaign management session, we’ll be working through:
• Strategic planning and goal setting
• Project management tools and methodologies
• Considerations and critical details for marketing campaigns
• Managing and collaborating across teams and resources
• Tactics for monitoring, evaluation, and optimisation

If you’ve ever worked with me, you’ll know that my most-frequent answer to a question is, “It depends,” so come along to see how many times I say it. Along with hearing that phrase on repeat, you’ll learn some practical, applicable approaches and tactics. And these sessions are great for both marketers and people wanting to market their own businesses or organisations.

23/06/2024

May is behind us, but the mental real estate occupies in my head and heart is alive and well. If you’ve spoken with me, you’ve likely heard me talk about the group with whom I work at Christchurch Men’s Prison. Further, you’ve likely heard me gush with pride about their participation in the Youthline fundraiser we did as a team in May, and I’d like gush a little more.

The basis for my programme in prisons is working on their approach to job searching once they’re released. That said, I don’t like the concept of life-work balance, because work doesn’t exist in a silo—it’s all part of life. So, helping these men with some social skills is a very important piece of the larger puzzle, and that’s a lot of our focus. Once they accepted my proposal to participate in the fundraiser (I had to get quite creative with the logistics of all of it since they can’t use computers, social media, etc.), I wove in asking them to talk about various parts of it each week in our sessions. For many of us, this might seem like a very easy type of chat, but for them it was quite challenging. I asked them to tell me the story—what Youthline is, what Walk the Talk fundraiser is, and why it’s important to them. This mimics how the topic might come up in casual, everyday conversation. Small talk and talking about themselves in a way that shows their pride and accomplishments is usually a very hard thing for them to do.

Why is all this important, apart from raising money for such an important organisation? It gave them something toward which to work as a group, an opportunity to be part of something bigger, to participate in society, and a chance to give back to a cause that’s important to them. They were committed to something for the entire month, and were accountable to keep track of their exercise each day.

Some of them talked about the fundraiser in phone calls and visits, as well as with other men in their unit. Some of their friends and family donated. Others in the unit joined in on daily exercise tracking.

They were dedicated, excited, and I’ve relentlessly told them how proud I am.

I’ve shared updates and donors’ kind word with them. We all thank each of you.

24/05/2024

Think Again: Understanding the Risks Worth Taking

“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” ~GB Shaw

Playing it safe is risky. Good marketing is innovative, and that often means taking risks. This means, as both leaders and practitioners, we should be taking calculated risks, leaning into our failures, and encouraging others to do the same. This doesn’t mean constantly reaching for shiny objects, doing things not underpinned by solid reason, or going completely feral, though.

This week, I had the absolute pleasure of being a panelist, alongside 3 other brilliant marketing leaders, at a Marketing Association session in Christchurch.

Something I said during this event was that, in both my personal and professional life, I usually learn much more from the risks I take and the things that don’t go as planned , and they’re usually more memorable. I’m not often one to play it safe…the rush and the thrill of chasing more is too compelling. But, I’m also a double-edged sword in this way.

If you’ve ever worked with me, you’ll be familiar with two things I say often: “It depends.” and “Why?” I answer questions with, “It depends,” more often than with a concise answer because most things truly do—and I like to consider those factors as thoroughly as possible (an example of my incessant overthinking). When someone says they want to do something (start using a new channel, create a new type of campaign, use a specific kind of content, etc.), I push them to explain why they think that’s the right thing to do—if they can’t do that, then I push back until they can or until we work through it (this goes back to the strategic way I plan things, which admittedly can get in the way sometimes).

These two pillars of my professional operating procedures might seem to contradict my typical risk-taking tendencies, but I often learn toward being more conservative in a lot of the ways I plan, create, and implement marketing strategies and tactics. This isn’t how I’ve always done it—rather, it’s the result of a long career of wins, losses, observations, and learnings. It’s also the result of knowing how many factors should be considered, and of making sure the audience and their experience is the focus of it all.
I wove a lot of these foundations into my contributions at the event, and it was a super exciting and insightful conversation with other marketing leaders, each with our own perspectives on the balance of playing things safely vs. taking risks. We weighed in on and debated embracing risk as a driver for change, giving permission to fail, how we lead and make decisions, and how we decide when the risky one is the right path to take. We also discussed how we approach getting others on board with our recommendations when they’re risky, as well as the ways strength and resilience in times of fear and failure can truly produce excellent results.

Two quotes wrapped up the day, and they’re both zingers:

“Passion will make you crazy, but is there any other way to live?” ~Howard Hughes

“Do something that scares you every day.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Thanks so much to the Marketing Association New Zealand for hosting, and to Hilary Muir for facilitating this buzzy conversation.

01/05/2024

Mental health is a complicated matter, and it can be incredibly challenging to navigate. Struggling with mental health can be further complicated for young people, as they’re going through so many changes, so much growth, and don’t always have the right coping mechanisms, role models, or support.

I’ve worked with men in prison for a number of years, and many of them have led complicated, challenging lives and had lifelong struggles with their mental health. Much of that started when they were young, as so many did not have strong role models, support, or people from whom to learn about wellbeing.

The group of men with whom I’m currently working have spoken about their aspirations to help at-risk youth to not make some of the same mistakes they have. They have hopes of providing insights from their struggles, making sure young people know there is support for them, and working to break some of the cycles of unhealthy and destructive behaviours. They would like to make a positive impact in the community, make a difference for future generations, and help to improve lives as they work on improving their own.

While we have frequent conversations about their keenness to help, they also understand that their criminal convictions will likely prevent them from providing support in any official capacity. We have talked frequently and specifically about the amazing work Youthline does and how so many of these men would like to contribute. When I came across details about the campaign, I was compelled to get involved, but moreover, get creative with how we could work as a group to raise awareness and support.

I proposed the fundraiser and a challenge to the men and they were all eager to be involved, so I started this team on their behalf. They have also taken information about the initiative back to other men in their unit, and many of them have committed to get involved as well. We will all complete and track 31 minutes of walking or other physical activity each day in May, their activity, then I will log it for our team each week.

Could you help us?
https://www.walkthetalk.nz/lifeandwork

Exercise for 31 minutes each day in May to help raise funds and awareness for youth mental health

24/04/2024

It's National Email Day in the US and for me, that's something to observe. My career would not be what it is without email, as it's not only a critical communications channel, it's the actual foundation of my work.

Email was first rolled out as a way to communicate between more than one computer on different hosts by Ray Tomlinson in 1971, and look how far that vehicle has come in the decades since. Not only do we access emails from countless senders about seemingly endless topics on multiple devices and in a variety of inboxes throughout so much of our days, but the technology that powers content, creativity, and data-powered relevance in those emails has evolved and continues to grow at a rapid pace with no signs of slowing down.

Some people have an absolute disdain for their inbox and the emails that enter it, but I'd like to think that's mostly because the senders of many of the marketing ones aren't doing it right — when an email is helpful, relevant, personal, and timely, it can be amazing.

Creating awesome marketing communications is hard, but I'm always here to help. Let's talk about the best ways to communicate with your audience!

01/04/2024

Let's talk about email address collection and marketing opt in 💌

I'm a marketer, and my specialty is email marketing — I've also worked in SMS quite a bit (among other channels). While acquisition and driving list growth are important, at what cost are you working on those initiatives? For so many B2C ecommerce brands, it seems to be at the expense of the customer's experience and opt-in best practices.

We all know the drill by now — sign up for marketing emails and/or SMS and receive a discount code in exchange for the opt in. However, when I do this myself and discuss the tactic with others, the complaint is often very similar: we sign up for marketing messages in order to receive a discount, then are treated poorly in the resulting communications from the brand.

My situation today was not unusual: I signed up for email from a brand, using the pop-up form on their website, in order to get a discount, and I was treated to literally no fewer than 15 pop ups during my time spent shopping on the website. Literally, on every new page visit, including my time during the checkout process, there was this pop up.

To make matters worse, on the checkout page to enter my contact details, both the email address and phone number fields were required (not unusual or a problem), but both the permission tickboxes were ticked by default, including default consent for WhatsApp marketing messages (that's an entirely other situation).

So, not only did these relentless popups ruin and frustrate my online shopping experience, they were redundant since I had already opted in at first visit.

What does all this mean?

We must think about our customer's experience. We must be responsive to their actions and honour their preferences. And we must conduct good marketing if we want to retain them.

Is any of this easy? Absolutely not. But it's so very worth it.

Have questions about how to do things well? Let's chat!

24/02/2024

I’m officially back in prison and loving it just as much as ever.

After a few recent days learning my way around and meeting some of the staff and men in the unit in which I’m starting, my new workshops are off the ground and I’m fizzing. These are similar to what I was doing in Auckland, but I’ve made and will continue to make improvements to the programme.

I’ve named this new format Oranga me Mahi, which means Life & Work.

During the sessions, we talk about what kind of work would be suitable for them, how to approach looking for job opportunities, completing and submitting job applications, tactics for communications related to a job search, interviewing, and handling on-the-spot conversations.

Working with the volunteer coordinator down here is incredible — she’s smart, experienced, fun, and quite happy for me to own the programme, which allows a lot of flexibility to continually evolve it in order to make as helpful as possible.

While I love my marketing career, I love helping people to help themselves just as much. Finding work that is suitable, viable, and possibly even meaningful and enjoyable is a powerful way that those previously incarcerated can set themselves up for success when they’re released into the community, can greatly improved their lives, and help avoid recidivism. We don’t all get the same start and we’re not all presented with the same opportunities, and I’m so grateful for mine and the people who have been there along the way. Working with others to help them with some approaches, frameworks, and tactics to think about and access work that’s fitting for them is one small way to guide a change of course to a better future.

23/11/2023

It’s our 10-year anniversary.

I met this gem of a human in Indianapolis when she started work for ExactTarget / Salesforce Marketing Cloud back in 2013 — she’s one of the many friendships made during my work there, as it was a place full of incredible humans. I was facilitating new-employee product training at the time, and she was in my class. Nikki Davie’s ambition, outgoing personality, and energy immediately attracted me, and we quickly started chatting through the week. Little did I know how our friendship foundation was forming, or how intertwined our lives would become.

We easily became both friends and colleagues, and had a number of work- and role-related interactions.

When I later moved to San Francisco, she introduced me to an old friend of hers who lived in the Bay Area, and we (along with her then-newish-boyfriend who happens to be from New Zealand) went to dinner together when she was visiting for work. That night, she and Shane Davie told each other they love each other for the first time (they’ve just celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary) and Jennifer Phillips and I formed an instant friendship that was the bedrock of my first few years in SF.

When I announced I was moving to NZ, they virtually introduced me to Shane’s mum, Sandy Davie, and aunt, Lyn Everson, and we went to dinner when I first visited Auckland. We immediately clicked and they became my kiwi family.

Shane and Nikki are back in NZ for a visit, and we were able to see each other today for the first time since 2019. Though we don’t talk often, we’re able to pick up as if no time has passed, and I treasure them both as friends 🇳🇿🇺🇸

04/09/2023

I’m not usually one to call out bad marketing publicly, but receiving this email from Mailmodo really struck me.

I’ve been working in email marketing for 15 years and am constantly learning, growing, and evolving — and this industry is continually changing.

I find this kind of marketing offensive, and certainly misleading…a free, 90-minute masterclass to become an EXPERT in email marketing? No one in their right mind should believe they can become an expert in anything in 90 minutes (or even 90 days). But, an email platform advertising this is, frankly, irresponsible. Not only that, but it’s discrediting and marginalising our profession.

Do better. Be better. Change your copy. Be able to deliver on a promise 📧

10/05/2023

Opened my inbox to an email from a former student, and it’s made my week. Teaching can be tedious and draining and so many kinds of challenging, but moments like this make it worth it 💯

06/04/2023

Working from anyplace, hotel-with-friends edition: my best friend and godsons met up with me during my Cincinnati visit, and we’re all staying in a hotel suite together. So as not to be annoying to them, the lovely hotel staff let me use an empty meeting room to teach my class yesterday evening. I love love love my ASUS portable monitor, but my preference is to have it sitting higher than my computer. Rubbish bin to the rescue!

30/01/2023

When parts of my work life collide.

I’ve been teaching with NZIE for 1.5 years, and my students are all over New Zealand. Really getting to know people with only virtual interactions can be challenging, but I do my best. And, that means that many students have suggested wanting to meet in person if we are in the same place. So, when doing roadtrips and holidays around the country, I do my best to get together with some of them. Now that I’m in Central Otago, I’ve had two former students come into the pub, and I absolutely love it. Meeting in real life > meeting virtually any day ❤️