Chalk’s Post

Discover the value of connection with AMA Austin! Meet Aaron Rayner, Director of Marketing at Mensor LP, who joined AMA to serve as an influencer and a leader in the marketing community. Aaron at AMA continues to advocate for continual growth and learning, not only for himself but also for his team and peers in the marketing community. Tap into his extensive knowledge and leadership experience by joining us today! https://lnkd.in/g_iax_S ❓: How long have you been in Austin? 🅰️: 2 years ❓: What does your day-to-day look like as a marketing professional in Austin? 🅰️: I lead the development and implementation of all strategic initiatives at Mensor. My role involves managing the marketing team, developing the annual marketing plan, providing strategic leadership, and collaborating with international teams across the WIKA Group, which has over 10,200 employees in 43 subsidiaries. ❓: Why did you join AMA Austin, or what do you hope to gain from your membership? 🅰️: I joined AMA to serve as an advocate for continual growth, aiming to cultivate a culture of ongoing learning and development within my professional circle. I'm passionate about inspiring others to strive for excellence in their marketing endeavors. ❓: What do you think will be trending in marketing for the next 12 months? 🅰️: The rise of short-form video and content, hyper-personalization in all facets of marketing, and AI taking a more prominent, enterprise-level role. ❓: If you were a taco, 🌮 what kind of taco would it be? 🅰️: Tacos al pastor! #Austin #marketing #networking

Last week I posted about my new consulting role and so happy to hear from so many people in and out of my network. As a past buyer and client of Tradable Bits while at LEARFIELD, I can attest to its unique ability to deliver great things for clients and drive revenue as we did it!

At Pioneer we love helping sports turf mangers brand themselves within their organizations as the highly technical professionals they are! For years SFM's have often trademarked themselves as the "magic elves behind the scenes". As the start of a new season ramps up here, we encourage groundskeepers to step into the light. Visibility for one, is visibility for all in our profession. We truly believe that visibility can help combat some of the challenges our industry and our members face. ✨ Host Coach/Team Introductions: put a face to the field. Help coaches and players understand the role of your crew in the game. Opening up that line of communication can bring everyone to solutions, quicker! ✨ Create a Crew Social Media Profile: put a fun spin on branding by allowing user groups to learn about the day to day of your crew. Social media can be a useful tool for weather and schedule updates while putting our profession in the spotlight. ✨ Establish User Group Guidelines: post rules/suggestions for teams and players in locker rooms, dugouts and facilities. Gentle reminders to clean up after themselves or to be considerate of game day fields, etc. ✨ Engage User Groups in Our Industry: tap into the athlete labor pool by promoting our profession with the athletes using your facility. Whether they choose to look further into the job or become an advocate, the more people that know about sports field management as a career option, the better.

It’s not exactly their fault either… As an industry we have a bad habit of hiring 23 year old Marketing graduates and telling them to “go build the brand” in an industry they know nothing about and with zero mentorship or guidance. If your team has 1 or more junior level marketing folks that could use some strategy, guidance, and mentorship; an Executive Level Fractional CMO could be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Every employee is a brand ambassador. Do your employees represent you like Lime’s do or like Bird’s do? 👇 Every day the employees of these scooter companies set out their fully charged scooters around college campuses and cities. Clearly Bird’s decided to take the short cut. Lime’s neatly placed theirs and took the time to put the kickstand out. To all employees: represent your company’s values well and work with excellence. A positive behavior and excellent work ethic result in raises and promotions. The employees I have seen representing their company well lately are beehiiv employees! What company’s employees have you seen lately that are being great brand ambassadors?

🎉 90 days as Marketing Director at Indy Roof & Restoration! If you find yourself overwhelmed in a new role, welcome to the club. Key takeaways: 1️⃣ Impossible to scale without a strong foundation 🏗️ •Improved lead attribution from 50% to >90% •Developed Marketing Scorecard •Established effective Marketing Cost Per Lead 2️⃣ "No" is a superpower 💪 •Overwhelmed by vendor pitches touting, "We can help you excel in your new role!" •The key? Come to the role with your own 30-60-90 day plan. 3️⃣ Diversify lead sources 🎯 •Reduces performance fluctuations •Start building. Once you understand effective CPAs, time to test and measure. 4️⃣ Lean into others • Immediately promoted a member of my team. Incredibly deserved! • The wealth of knowledge Carl Miller provided exponentially reduced my learning curve ⏭️ Next up: Improve inquiry-to-lead conversions, speed-to-lead, sales enablement, and customer journeys. Excited for Q4 and a strong 2025! 💼🔥 Major shoutout to Adam Kaminski and Aaron Christy for their trust and exceptional leadership!

Yesterday marked our 9th anniversary at Beyond Co., and I couldn't be prouder of the journey we've embarked on. Over the years, we've learned countless lessons that have shaped who we are today. Here are nine of the most impactful ones that have almost become our constitution: 1. The best hires aren’t always necessarily the most experienced. 🧑💻 Passion, creativity, and a desire to learn and improve are the first things we now look for. 2. Go with your gut sometimes! 🫃 Sometimes, it’s important to forget about the research you’ve done, or your expertise thinks you should do - your gut never lies, and some of our best decisions have come from this! 3. Customer feedback is absolute gold. 💛 Listening to our clients has helped us refine our strategies and deliver better results time and again. 4. Quality over quantity. 🎻 Whether it’s content, clients, or campaigns, focusing on quality always yields the best outcomes. 5. Invest in personal growth. 📈 Supporting the team's professional and personal development has led to innovative ideas and a stronger company. 6. The team that laughs together stays together. 👏 A fun, supportive work environment fosters creativity and makes the days go quicker! 7. Embrace the power of storytelling. 📖 Real, authentic stories connect with audiences on a deeper level and drive engagement. 8. Never underestimate the value of a strong cup of coffee. ☕️ Sometimes, the best ideas come after a caffeine boost! 9. Stay curious and keep learning. 🤔 The digital marketing world never stands still, and if you do, you’ll be left behind. Thank you to our incredible team, clients, and partners for being a part of this journey. Here’s to another nine years of learning and growing! PS, I couldn't quite find an appropriate image for this post, so I went with our Chief Barketing Officer, Digby, admiring the view from our Studios.

From the end of January 2025, I'll be advising and partnering with BRU Worldwide to help build something brutally honest in a world obsessed with perfection. Why BRU Worldwide? Because while I'll continue to work in brand strategy in the world of advertising, this is a chance to implement what I preach - building a brand from the inside, in real-time, with total transparency. No polish. No pretence. Just showing what it actually takes to build something iconic. Dan Mace and I have been cooking up ideas together for 10 years. Now we're finally doing it properly, but differently. While most brands hide their process until everything's perfect, we're showing the messy reality. The failures. The pivots. The real story. It's not for everybody. But that's exactly the point.

Ironic opinion: having a personal brand is not an advantage for great employment in sales. It can be viewed as a risk to employers: “Are they all-in with us, or building to leave?” It can cause internal drama: Imagine how the top AEs feel about the “influencer” rep that’s a “Top 100 AE in Europe” but not even in the top half of their team? It puts more scrutiny on performance: “Maybe they’d perform better if they weren’t so busy creating content.” I’m glad I’ve built a brand, but it hasn’t given me an advantage in employment. My most recent role was landed due to backchannel feedback of my real performance, not my content or digital reputation. And my continued progress (or lack of progress) is 100% based on my internal reputation, not my online brand. Lots of advantages to building a brand, but still nothing compared to the advantage of doing great work and having internal credibility.

Meet AMA San Diego’s VP of Special Event - Art of Marketing, Nick Hofer! ❓ What accomplishment are you most proud of in your professional life, and how has it shaped your journey? ⭐ "I’ve had many amazing experiences throughout my career. From working with big Fortune 100 brands to start-ups, I pride myself on always delivering results and working with and building world-class teams that think outside the box and challenge the norms. Being able to provide new challenges and opportunities to people I work with and help them grow into bigger roles is by far the most rewarding thing in my career." ❓ Outside of work, what's a hobby or passion that brings you joy, and how do you find balance between your personal and professional life? ⭐ "My family is always number one, my wife and my two daughters. We love to travel around the world and enjoy every minute we get to spend together. We are avid pickleball players and have some serious competition when we’re all on the court. We are a marketing family. My wife is a former magazine publisher and she and I met at an advertising agency. Both of our daughters work in marketing as well. I guess you could say we are all passionate about marketing and everything we take on in life. As far as balance….it all comes down to making sure you are having fun and experiencing new things. Being able to smile and laugh through life, both personally and professionally is one of life’s best medicines." ❓ What motivates or inspires you in your daily work, and how do you bring that energy to your team or community? ⭐ "Helping brands and people grow. I love doing new things and tackling new challenges. I love working as a team and accomplishing things that seem insurmountable or impossible challenges and seeing the pride on the team when it’s done. I’m a big believer in raising the bar in everything I do and challenging those around me to do the same. If something can be done well, there’s always a way to make it better." #MeetTheBoard #Marketers