- Marketers have a lot on their plates these days.
Competition is at an all time high,
there are concerns over inflation,
and consumers are demanding more
from the brands they do business with then ever before.
- Our consumers all over the world
are telling us they expect more from brands.
They want more from brands,
and they want to understand and trust
the people behind the brands.
- And it's up to us as brands and marketers
to meet these demands.
But don't worry, it's totally doable
with the right strategies.
I'm Adam Erhart,
and today I want to unpack a recent episode of Connections,
the show for marketers on Salesforce+.
In this episode,
PepsiCo CMO Jane Wakely talks about some key insights
into what she and PepsiCo are doing
in order drive sustainable growth for the company.
I'm gonna take some of the bigger picture ideas she shares
and translate them into proven
and profitable marketing strategies,
tactics, and frameworks that you can use right now
in order to become a better marketer, grow your business,
and position yourself and your company for the future.
Before we start,
if you want to check out the full episode,
you can right after this on Salesforce+.
It's completely 100% free to watch
and there are a ton of other great episodes on there as well
so I'll make sure to put a link down in the descriptions
for you to check out right after this video.
For now, let's dive right in by taking a look
at what Jane calls the Science of Growth.
Marketing is both an art and a science.
And the best marketers are the ones that find ways
to mix them both together in a kind of business alchemy
that makes the whole thing look, feel,
and sell almost effortlessly.
Let's start with the science part first.
- There's many, many forms of behavioral science
that can inform the way we think.
So at PepsiCo, we use system one thinking.
We believe that consumers essentially take
most of their decisions emotionally, not rationally.
And therefore, neuroscience has been incredible
at unlocking our ability to understand
how people react to what we're showing.
That's what I mean by the science of growth.
- And Jane is totally spot on here.
The better you understand how the brain works
to evaluate information and make buying decisions,
the better all of your marketing is going to work.
This is because our brains, as humans,
haven't really changed all that much
in tens of thousands of years.
We still avoid pain, seek pleasure,
and prioritize safety over success.
This is why one of the most powerful things
you as a marketer can do is really highlight
the end state, the outcome,
or the primary benefit that someone will experience
as a result of doing business with you.
That's a little bit expensive for a pen no?
- I mean sure, some people might look at this
and say "It's just a pen,"
but imagine for a second this is the pen
that sets your life on a completely new trajectory
that you could have only ever dreamed of before.
- I'll take all of them please.
In psychology, the act of imagining
or helping someone imagine a better future for themselves
is called prospection, big old fancy word,
and is a perfect example how we as marketers
have access to so many tools and resources and ideas
from the fields of both art and science.
And when you combine both the art and science of marketing,
you get one step closer
to becoming what Jane calls a Growth Architect.
- So I think impact as a CMO comes
as partly being what I call a growth architect,
someone that helps vision to the future,
bring the outside in,
bring the future back.
- I love Jane's term of Growth Architect
because as no matter how you look at it,
growth should always be at the core of marketing,
and architecture, much like marketing,
is both technical and aesthetic,
technical because it has to work.
After all, nobody cares how pretty your bridge looks
if it falls down the second someone steps on it.
And aesthetic because without getting too nerdy here
on the science and interpretation of art and beauty,
how something looks actually does influence
how it's perceived,
and thereby ultimately, how it performs.
So the big question then is in an industry like marketing
that's so big, and so diverse,
and so full of so many different segments
and strategies and sections and stuff,
where should you even start in order to reach
this elusive and highly prized title of Growth Architect?
First things first, know thyself.
Are you more creative or analytical?
There's something in marketing for everyone
from writing social media posts
to analyzing and optimizing a campaign
so it's important to be clear
about your strengths and weaknesses
right from the start.
Next, team player or lone wolf?
Both can work.
So it's important to figure out
how much social interaction
both internally with other members on your team
and externally with your customers
is going to be important to you.
Then, how much variety do you enjoy?
Do you want every day to be different
or do you like your calendar to look fairly similar
week to week and month to month?
And, how about different industries?
Are there certain markets or businesses
or services or products that you care about?
If so, pretty much every business out there needs marketing.
Finally, and maybe most importantly of all,
what areas of marketing interest you the most?
Content marketing, email, SEO, paid ads?
Because no matter how you answered
any of the previous questions,
there's something inside each of these for everyone.
Like Jane said,
it's not just about using our own intuition and judgement.
Because when we match these with science,
we become better marketers.
- I mean, the one thing we always know
is that our predictions are likely to be wrong.
We need to be agile.
We need to build in resilience.
- And resilience really is the name of the game.
In another episode of Connections,
Paulie Dery talked about a similar concept
that he called a Heat Shield
in regards to the amount
of goodwill you've build up around your brand
that allows you to withstand any bad weather
that your business might go through.
Anne Kawalerski also talked about this in another episode
when she explained her take on innovation
as a way to constantly be mixing data and creativity
in order to do more with less.
And here, Jane explains resilience in this episode
by saying how we all need to stay flexible, agile,
and tuned into the market.
- You have to pivot resources
very quickly towards tailwinds,
towards the future facing growth opportunities.
- And one of the best ways to stay tuned in
and up to date on all the latest
and greatest marketing tools, tips, and tactics
can be found in the rest of the full length episode
alongside a ton more great takeaways
and lessons that you can learn
from not only this episode of Connections,
but the entire series
where we're talking
with some of the world's most creative CMOs.
And you can stream it now completely free on Salesforce+
just by clicking the link
in the descriptions below this video.
And for more actionable takeaways
to help you grow your business,
make sure to check out the video
I've got linked up right here.
Talk to you again soon.