More than half of Forbes’ Most Influential CMOs of 2020 were women. The marketing industry is increasingly influenced and led by prominent women marketing professionals. In an effort to call attention to these powerful voices, we are releasing a regular series of blog posts highlighting the inspirational stories from women marketing leaders.

The stories, advice, and lessons featured today are from marketing leaders at BIOMIN America Inc, Distant Lands Coffee, and Cats Footwear. 

Meet the leaders: 

Q1: What inspired you to pursue a career in marketing?

Kirchner: In college, I started working at a small advertising agency. I was fascinated by the creativity and thought process of the team members’ rationale, all aimed to appeal to a customer. I pursued my career in marketing because of the ‘unknown;’ in each given situation, no matter the industry, there is no magic mix of what might influence a decision. So working in the unknown and diving into what really triggers actions, specifically purchase decisions, was both exciting and rewarding for me.

Yin: Straight out of high school, I started working promotional events for several brands because being a brand ambassador was the perfect weekends-only schedule that I could work in with my college class schedule. In the process of representing all these different up-and-coming products, I realized I was intrigued about learning more behind the messaging I was instructed to advertise and, from there, my fascination with understanding consumer behaviors and brand loyalty grew. I wanted to be the one creating the campaigns and working the art of emotional connection and branding.

Ballou: I can remember being a kid and being obsessed with advertising – on the back of the cereal box, on TV, billboards when my family took road trips. I always had a curiosity about what the brand was trying to say to me and how I was supposed to respond to it. So I guess a natural curiosity about marketing and advertising pushed me to pursue it in college.

Q2: Are there specific challenges you have faced as a woman in marketing and how did you overcome them?

Kirchner: While times are changing, for the most part I’ve existed in patriarchal-run organizations. That, doubled with the idea that many people don’t fully understand the capacity of what a marketing professional can bring to an organization, has resulted in some challenges. Delegation of projects non-related to my area of expertise (marketing) occurs regularly and I do attribute this to being a woman in the workplace. The general assumption that women should note-take, handle meeting logistics, and complete administrative tasks still exists. 

To combat [this mindset], women need to continue to show the value of their skillset, not volunteer to do projects meant for the administrative staff, and remind team members of the importance of your high-payoff activities.

Ballou: I don’t get hung up much on the female thing at work. Yes, there are times that I might be the only woman in a meeting. But I don’t let that intimidate me or allow myself to think I am any different from anyone else. If anything, it fuels me to work harder.

Q3: Who is someone that helped you on your current path to becoming a marketing leader? 

Kirchner: Working at a previous company, we acquired a smaller business unit and subsequently folded their team into our organization. I met their Marketing Director, my counterpart in their organization, who became a good friend. I respected her and appreciated her sound marketing and validation work. As a small company leader, she spoke with such passion and intensity about the goals and aspirations of the team. She was a great role-model, someone who didn’t just put words and numbers in presentations, but gave color to possibilities and was really motivated with her marketing acumen. I’m truly lucky to have worked alongside her for many years.

Yin: This may be a bit more of a backwards response, but it’s really the people who didn’t help me, that made me excel at becoming a better marketing leader. Rather than having exemplary role models, I learned from the flaws of others, that good leadership requires being trusting, supportive, and most of all, human. I’ve witnessed toxic leaders who use scare tactics or try to induce fear to generate productivity -- all that does is foster a negative work culture with unhappy employees who are headed for a burnout. I try to keep it real with my team and believe that communication is key. I genuinely care for their well-being at home and in the workplace. At the end of the day, you’re spending more time with your coworkers and colleagues than most other people in your life.

Ballou: I wish I could point to a single person who was a mentor. But honestly, it’s all of the peers who I have worked with who collaborated with me to solve problems and pushed me to do more - the people who listened to me when I wasn’t sure what to do next and shared their insights and opinions with me. Those people, my friends at work, they are the ones who have helped me to be the leader I am today.

Q4: What advice would you give to the next generation of women marketers?

Kirchner: The advice I would give future women marketers is be open to ideas and have an ambition to learn. When you show a team that you are willing to learn the business, understand the company goals, and are determined to impact the results, many doors will be opened for you. Continue to seek opportunities where you are exposed to new perspectives or strategies for accomplishing goals. Be prepared to share your thoughts and use information to backup your recommendations. And more than anything, align yourself as closely as possible with the sales engine of your company – you’ll want to gain a solid understanding of customer needs and expectations if you hope to influence their behavior.

Yin: Believe in yourself; in your knowledge, your influence, and in your skills. Without first having the confidence to market yourself, how can you expect to market anything else? Know your value and don’t settle for anything less, because there will always be another company, another brand, another employer that will not only appreciate the value that you bring, but also help you develop it.

In marketing, connections are so vital. As cliché as it is to say that business is really all about networking, I’ve been able to leverage previous relationships and maintain business partnerships with brokers, attorneys, brand ambassadors, buyers, you name it, even after transitioning to new roles.

Ballou: As you work toward your career goals, set your sights on what you want and look straight ahead. Don’t get caught up in looking left and right and comparing yourself to others.

Q5: What were pivotal moments in your career that contributed to your success?

Kirchner: Pivotal moments have been when I believed in myself and accepted the challenge to take on a new role or strategic initiative like: Being able to trust that my instincts and my experience would bring value to the assignment, was essential and having the courage to say “yes” even when I didn’t have visibility to the outcome, was a true exercise of inner trust. 

Yin: I’ve left some really nice jobs with wonderful coworkers (who I still miss dearly) to pursue a role just for the challenge. Marketing sometimes feels like watching a kid you’ve raised on your own, grow up, mature, and stand on their own two feet. Rather than waiting for them to leave you for college, you’ve got to continue pursuing your own individual personal growth and not letting that one job (or child) consume your whole life. 

As hard as it is to leave a company that you’ve moved mountains for, there comes a point in time when you become too comfortable. Once I feel like I can do my job in my sleep, I know it’s time to move on to a new opportunity that can continue to throw me some curve balls and reignite those sleepless nights. Don’t be afraid to take risks, because that is when you benefit from the greatest rewards.

Ballou: The most pivotal moment didn’t happen for me when I was in my career. At 15, I wanted to play soccer for my high school and they told me there was no girl’s high school team (this was the 90s) and that I would have to try out for the boys’ team. My brother was a year ahead of me in school and he played on the boys’ team - nothing about that sounded appealing. So I petitioned our school and the school board and essentially told anyone who would listen to me that it wasn’t right. I found enough girls to play, found a league we could play in and proved to my school that us girls could be organized and have a team. Several months later, we became a club sport and one year later, a varsity sport. That moment taught me that I was capable of anything, if I was willing to put in the work.

Q6: What emerging marketing trend excites you?

Kirchner: One of the marketing trends that excites me the most is the idea of reformatting marketing education into video format. Simply put, consumers can gain and digest more content quicker through a video than through copy. I’ve heard more searches are done on YouTube than on Google – that’s astounding and tells us so much about our consumers. I see this through my children, myself, and can only imagine generations to come. We live in a give-it-to-me-now world, and when consumers are seeking information, a short video is by far the most popular way to learn. I think this trend challenges marketers to condense messaging and be engaging. Marketers will need to consider a few rules: don’t overproduce it, get to the point fast, and be real.

Ballou: The most exciting to me is that consumers want to have deeper relationships with the brands that they allow into their lives. They want a two-way conversation with brands. And I think that’s exciting. It makes customization and personalization exciting from a marketing perspective.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Continue to show your value.

• Invest in your team and coworkers. 

• Seek out opportunities. 

• Maintain relationships. 

• Truly understand consumer needs and expectations to excel in your role.

• Don’t get too comfortable - take risks to grow!

• With some work, you are capable of anything.