Art of Marketing

About the Guest

Michael Jackson is a marketing leader with nearly 20 years of marketing experience in a mix of B2C, B2B, and non-profit leadership roles. His unique career path gives him a different perspective than many marketers and fuels his innovative approach to demand generation and brand activation. 

Connect with Michael Jackson

Key Takeaways

• For better marketing, consider the importance of understanding the customer’s needs from both a scientific and artistic perspective.
• Marketing doesn’t end in showing up in the right place at the right time – use both surprise and delight in marketing campaigns.
• Field marketing is important because it can help connect with and market to cross-functional stakeholders.
• It’s important to first understand the vision and goals of the organization to market effectively.

Quote

“Just because we showed up at the right time in the right place, doesn’t mean that they’re hungry for what we’re surfing, right? And so how do we make them not only show up but [also] be asking, wait for a second, what’s your menu? How do I find out more? And I think that’s the piece that we often miss.” – Michael Jackson

Highlights from the Episode

Can you tell us a bit about your background and your current role at ACI?

Michael helped build two companies from the ground up – one is a nonprofit with the mission to inspire, empower, and prepare the youth and communities to be change agents, social leaders, and volunteers, and another is with his family business, bringing in e-commerce, establishing retail strategies, and expanding the distribution partner marketing network. These experiences led him to the world of marketing with high regard for its fundamentals, even without the budget. He went on to work for one of the largest salon, haircare, and beauty product brands in the United States, leading the local marketing team, supporting from a franchising perspective, and moving to brand activations and partnerships. After this, he worked at Entrust, got into the mix of the B2B and B2C world identity perspective, and built and led a field marketing team. He now works at ACI worldwide, leading a global field marketing team responsible for events and activations, demand generation, and capture efforts, fueling the pipeline and sales for the team.

We often talk about the art of marketing, can you explain your take on this topic?

Marketing is a scientific art. It goes beyond data and goes deep into what you truly want to accomplish. It takes heavy consideration of the customer and taps into the core of what they do. Grounding oneself and the team into the notion of spurring the want for customers to reach for their wallets, and realizing how it is impactful, is key.

Why is it necessary for marketers to spark those humanistic & emotional elements in their customers?

Pinpointing the target allows companies to show up in the right places at the right time. However, the common mistake of marketers is doing this without forwarding a sense of delight. We have to first spark something – that human connection – and get the audience intrigued. What marketers need to include is getting the customer to pay attention, but also want to find out more about the brand.

How does an organization harness the power of marketing? How do you bring the vision internally and market internally so that your team understands holistically how they fit into this bigger picture?

Field marketing is fundamental and applicable not only for teams but also for cross-functional stakeholders. Doing it properly leads to success. Answering the question of what it is that the company is trying to achieve allows for a proper structure of communication across teams. It is essential to first get the team inspired and established with the right mindset before taking action.

How are you and your organization adapting to the current economic downturn?

What our team is doing is getting back to the basics. This means going back to the core questions, challenges, etc., and analyzing what our buyers are saying. Understanding people’s minds are done by speaking with them directly, acknowledging their points, and intently listening to their thoughts. Doing these genuinely helps businesses drive additional revenues or help cut costs. With this, continuously considering optimization along the way becomes vital.

Is there a book, blog, newsletter, website, or video that you would recommend to our listeners?

• Joy at Work by Marie Kondo
• The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber

Shout-outs

Basant Singh – Senior Vice President- Global Head Of Product & Merchant Business Unit (Payments & Fraud) at ACI Worldwide