James Washkau
00:00:00:23 – 00:00:38:41
Speaker 1
Ten minutes. I got a sign on in five minutes. I don’t know what to do about this hair. That’s not the worst. I don’t have any. I couldn’t find a comb. There was one in the car, but it’s gone.
00:00:38:46 – 00:00:53:51
Speaker 1
I have two MacBooks. If one doesn’t work for some reason, the other one’s right here. Ready to go? Continue. Please let me install software on my own MacBook. Please.
00:00:53:56 – 00:01:09:20
Speaker 1
I want to pour some coffee. I don’t know what to do about this hair. It grows like half an inch every week.
00:01:09:25 – 00:01:10:30
Unknown
But I remember.
00:01:10:30 – 00:01:15:40
Speaker 1
Logan. He had crazy hair. I kind of liked it.
00:01:15:45 – 00:01:39:54
Speaker 1
He had crazy hair. That doesn’t look too bad. He had crazy hair, but I liked it. It was memorable. Just like you’re telling, sweetheart, I’m keeping you there. It’s memorable. Who are the guy with the doll? You like to the guy with the doll? Yeah, I kind of did.
00:01:39:59 – 00:01:49:00
Speaker 1
Define yourself. Be your own person. Show your values.
00:01:49:04 – 00:01:56:55
Speaker 1
I kind of did. I kind of like the guy with the doll.
00:01:57:00 – 00:02:10:57
Speaker 1
I kind of like him, too.
00:02:11:02 – 00:02:11:22
Unknown
I kind of.
00:02:11:22 – 00:03:35:42
Speaker 1
Like him to.
00:03:35:47 – 00:03:39:40
Speaker 1
Know.
00:03:39:45 – 00:04:05:26
Speaker 1
Wrinkle resistant. But no blazer. Because.
00:04:05:31 – 00:04:18:27
Speaker 1
All right. Do not disturb.
00:04:18:32 – 00:04:59:21
Speaker 1
I got silent. It’s 1155 right now.
00:04:59:26 – 00:05:08:58
Speaker 1
00:05:09:03 – 00:05:18:37
Speaker 1
Come on.
00:05:18:42 – 00:05:23:33
Speaker 1
00:05:23:38 – 00:05:27:54
Speaker 1
The wings.
00:05:27:59 – 00:05:33:34
Speaker 1
I don’t know.
00:05:33:39 – 00:05:43:13
Speaker 1
Oh, well. That doesn’t look professional. Shit. Water.
00:05:43:18 – 00:06:09:18
Unknown
00:06:09:23 – 00:06:14:44
Unknown
You know what?
00:06:14:49 – 00:06:21:53
Speaker 1
I have a lot of hair. It grows half an inch a week.
00:06:21:58 – 00:06:30:09
Speaker 1
I do the best I can. I mean, we go from this angle. I don’t know.
00:06:30:14 – 00:06:40:09
Speaker 1
Sign on. notes.
00:06:40:46 – 00:10:18:16
Speaker 1
maybe blur the background.
00:10:18:21 – 00:10:21:31
Speaker 1
Hello. Good afternoon. Andrea.
00:10:21:36 – 00:10:22:36
Speaker 3
Hi, James.
00:10:22:40 – 00:10:25:01
Speaker 1
How are you doing today? Thanks for taking the time.
00:10:25:08 – 00:10:25:37
Speaker 3
How are you?
00:10:25:46 – 00:10:27:29
Speaker 1
I’m doing very well.
00:10:27:34 – 00:10:57:15
Speaker 3
Awesome. well, I wouldn’t introduce myself. I’m Andrea mallory. I’m the director of file operations for the US digital team here at Activision. I have been in the company a little bit over six years, so I’m a little unfamiliar on how things work at the point. What else? I lead a team of around 23 people. the each of them, they are separated by different, and even different team leads to handle different types of products.
00:10:57:50 – 00:11:15:55
Speaker 3
but yeah, that’s a little bit of a very quick. Yeah, glance of who I am. and, well, I, I, I have you recently over here open and I can see, you know, like all the experience and they all the different platforms that you have work. But I also like to, you know, for you to do this yourself.
00:11:15:55 – 00:11:17:06
Speaker 3
Unfamiliar me. What about you?
00:11:17:11 – 00:11:47:13
Speaker 1
Sure. I’d be happy to. So I am James Walker. I’m a lifelong digital marketer, computer geek, programmer, nerd. I love everything about digital marketing, but I especially love programmatic marketing, where you’re managing giant, campaigns in a plethora of platforms. You get to target all the websites that you want. But yeah, I’m a lifelong nerd. I’ve been, teaching myself Python and JavaScript over the past year, and that’s a really cool thing that I think will help me in my career, because everything is about tracking and big data these days.
00:11:47:18 – 00:12:03:34
Speaker 1
So, I pride myself on my technical expertise as well as my people skills. So I’ve led a team of five before, actually based out of Mexico, a team of five, er, traffickers at a fintech company called tracks that’s on my resume. I’m sure you saw that, but, Yeah, it was kind of the pride of my career.
00:12:03:34 – 00:12:21:18
Speaker 1
I really enjoy leading a small team where I can get to know everyone personally and not just have a number on, spreadsheet or a name on a spreadsheet, so to speak, and teaching people how to run campaigns efficiently and give ROI for my clients and produce results, because that’s why we’re here at the end of the day.
00:12:21:18 – 00:12:42:37
Speaker 1
But lifelong nerd, I love coding. I love everything about digital marketing. I’ve been doing it since I was in high school. Basically, I started building websites at the age of 18 and, learn HTML through Myspace back in the day, if you remember that. But, yeah, I think that translated very well into my career, and it’s a pleasure to get to be able to speak with you today.
00:12:42:37 – 00:12:44:19
Speaker 1
Thank you for taking the time.
00:12:44:24 – 00:13:01:53
Speaker 3
And I know, of course, that, I mean, I know you mentioned you were more in the programmatic side. what are the platforms that you, you know, because I can see, in your resume, the different DSPs that you have work and, you know, different platforms. Which one would you say is the ones that you are like, you know what?
00:13:01:53 – 00:13:08:07
Speaker 3
I know that one from top to bottom. I’m very confident on using it and doing many things in it.
00:13:08:07 – 00:13:23:51
Speaker 1
Yeah. So there’s a bunch of different DSPs out there, but I have a lot of experience running on Zander. I believe they’re still around. I haven’t been on their platform in about two years now, but, that’s where we spent the most amount of money. We were putting all the campaigns on Zander and building website list to target.
00:13:24:18 – 00:13:47:04
Speaker 1
our goal was to get stockholders for small startups. So that was our our KPIs, so to speak. So Zander, we ran millions of dollars per year. we were building website targeting list. That was our kind of the most important part of running a digital campaign on Zander. But I also have experience with Tik. I believe they rebranded and then Yahoo DSP turned into Microsoft DSP.
00:13:47:04 – 00:13:53:51
Speaker 1
I have familiarity with them as well as Steve and of course Google AD Network.
00:13:53:56 – 00:14:10:59
Speaker 3
Okay, awesome. what else? I mean, I have here my cheat sheet. So sorry if I losing my site on the site. awesome. And tell me what was what did call your attention though about, you know, having, call with me.
00:14:11:04 – 00:14:27:30
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I was speaking with Laura, and she was very, descriptive about what you all do, and I. That really resonates with me. I just moved to Texas. I live in Houston now. sorry. You caught me on vacation. I was camping with my family, but, Yeah, I’m glad to be in.
00:14:27:30 – 00:14:28:28
Speaker 3
School right now.
00:14:28:40 – 00:14:49:25
Speaker 1
It’s very cool. Yeah. Somehow, right when I started camping, it started snowing. But, yeah, there’s. It’s really nice. State park over here. I’m by Austin at the moment, but going back to Houston tomorrow and, but yeah, it just really resonated with me. I think it’s a great mission that you all have, and I want to be a part of it.
00:14:49:30 – 00:14:56:39
Speaker 3
Yeah. Awesome. what type of, growth are you looking for in any position?
00:14:56:43 – 00:15:21:34
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I want to be able to manage, big budgets. And I would like to lead a small team, just as I previously did at the fintech company, where I can get to know everyone and understand their strengths and weaknesses and teach them how to manage effective digital campaigns, especially programmatic and social media. I’ve been doing that for a long time, and I want a mission statement that I can get behind, something that I can wake up to and enjoy every day.
00:15:21:34 – 00:15:46:44
Speaker 1
So one of the prides of my career was working at Visit Philadelphia back when I lived up in Pennsylvania, and that their mission statement was to grow the local economy and drive tourism to Philadelphia. So that was something I really enjoyed. And, and visions vision to, bring news to grow in Latino markets. I think I have a lot of experience with first of all, we had a huge Latinx budget at Visit Philadelphia.
00:15:46:44 – 00:16:06:36
Speaker 1
So I already have a lot of familiarity with that market. And it’s also something that I’m passionate about because living in Texas, there’s a big Hispanic and Spanish population, and I think they’re great people, and I, I love the food. I love the culture of in New Mexico a few times. And, I really think I can resonate with that.
00:16:06:41 – 00:16:15:54
Speaker 3
Awesome. no. That’s great. And it could be from your current position or your previous position. What do you like to do the most? Yeah. You’re everything.
00:16:15:59 – 00:16:46:33
Speaker 1
So it’s teaching people about digital marketing and what strategies work the best and how to measure inaccurate, how to accurately measure results from a campaign. Because a lot of people think that you could just hit advertise on a social post. And, you know, Facebook has all the automated steps this, this, this and this. But I find that setting parameters on digital marketing campaigns such as what you want to pay per click, what you want to pay for, result, what websites you want to target is especially important.
00:16:46:33 – 00:17:14:22
Speaker 1
So I like teaching people that, you know, sometimes these advertising networks don’t have your best interests at heart, and that’s why you need a digital marketer like me who knows what parameters to set to get the most amount of results for your money. And that’s what I take a lot of pride on, is being able to not only negotiate with the social networks, make sure that they’re giving you a fair deal, so to speak, but also to teach people what to look for, what makes an effective strategy, what how to set up a campaign effectively?
00:17:14:50 – 00:17:19:03
Speaker 1
that’s what I take great pride in. I think I excel at that very well.
00:17:19:08 – 00:17:42:37
Speaker 3
Awesome. also, let me see what I have. I mean, you mentioned that you having, sorry, I got mixed up with questions. you mentioned that you have led teams. So, you know, what is the typical process, to delegate different tasks to different team members.
00:17:42:46 – 00:18:05:06
Speaker 1
Yeah. So everyone excels at something different. Some people are better at choosing good creative. Some people are better at setting tracking parameters or, Google tag manager, silos or containers, so to speak. And you got to as a leader, you have to distribute those tasks appropriately. not everyone is going to enjoy the coding side as much as the creative side.
00:18:05:11 – 00:18:23:50
Speaker 1
And I started out my career as a marketing slash sales assistant, and at the time I really enjoyed, graphic design. So I would create all the graphic design for events and, all the social media posts. But then I really started to enjoy coding. So my, my needs kind of changed. And I think I can understand that about people pretty well.
00:18:23:50 – 00:18:42:24
Speaker 1
I can pick up on what they enjoy, what they excel at, and what maybe they don’t enjoy. Because if you don’t have happy employees, you’re not going to get great work. and I think I can pick up on that and understand what each individual enjoys doing and what they excel at.
00:18:45:00 – 00:19:03:34
Speaker 3
okay. And then I have a question. so I see that you have work. I mean, we talk about equality in the programmatic space, but also I see that you have worked in the SEO and keyword research and optimizations. what is your experience about ACM?
00:19:03:39 – 00:19:24:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I’m the skill, the search engine marketing. I have a bunch of different blog sites and microsites of my own that I’m always on top of. What keywords are ranking the best, what people are searching for, what keywords getting the most impressions. And you want to build content around what’s working. So AB testing is so important. that that will never change.
00:19:24:16 – 00:19:53:49
Speaker 1
You need to test different content. You can’t just write one blog post and then expect results tomorrow. It’s something that takes time and I being a big coder, I know how to track all of that data. whether that’s building SQL databases or just something a little simpler, like a looker dashboard or what have you, I can deliver that and I can show people that might not be so technical savvy, what’s working, what isn’t, either visually or through data or through meetings or what have you.
00:19:53:49 – 00:20:11:33
Speaker 1
But, the search engine optimization, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Anyone that can tell you they’re going to get you on page one on Google, I think is lying, quite frankly, because there’s no one set strategy. It’s constantly evolving. Every single year there’s a new update to the Google search engine. You have to be on top of it.
00:20:11:33 – 00:20:17:35
Speaker 1
You have to stay informed. And I excel at that.
00:20:18:34 – 00:20:39:36
Speaker 3
okay. So do you. How do you feel about, like managing, the different ACM campaigns? So maybe they don’t have the SEO portion or you’re not reinforcing what they are. Yeah, but I mean, of course something always in recommendations but more like on the ACM, like optimizing towards, you know, like the PPC or black leads or things like that.
00:20:39:36 – 00:20:42:55
Speaker 3
How do you feel comfortable with this platform?
00:20:42:57 – 00:21:03:59
Speaker 1
I’m very comfortable of it. I just needed to find set of KPIs. What is their goal? Is it to get web traffic? Is it to get video views? Is it to get leads? Is it to get people to buy stock in your company? It depends. There’s no one set strategy. But as a freelancer, I’ve worked with major brands like Netflix and Serena Williams and I built their digital strategy, and CRM was a huge portion of that.
00:21:03:59 – 00:21:28:59
Speaker 1
How do we get Serena Williams clothing brand to the front page of Google? Well, it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s going to take either a monetary investment or it’s going to take content writers or is going to take people on the ground producing social media content. There’s a bunch of different directions you can go. And I understand that no one company or brand or person or individual is the same as the other, and they require a customized strategy.
00:21:29:04 – 00:21:40:34
Speaker 1
And that’s what I’ve delivered for big brands like Netflix and Serena Williams, as well as, lawyers, what have you. I’ve done a lot of freelancing work, especially around SEO.
00:21:40:39 – 00:21:51:56
Speaker 3
Yeah. you mentioned like, you know, like things that are always changing here in this industry and new updates, new things are going up. How do you keep yourself updated?
00:21:52:01 – 00:22:11:45
Speaker 1
Yeah. So obviously you follow all the brands on Twitter. X is a big platform these days, not only for freedom of speech, but to see kind of how people are thinking individually. you always want to look at the data, Google Analytics or whether that’s raw weblogs is is a big one. You want to see where people are clicking to.
00:22:11:52 – 00:22:37:45
Speaker 1
You want to build heatmaps like from Hotjar. So the data as well as following not influencers but kind of the coders really on X is important as well as, going to conferences and trade shows. I’ve been to conferences for marketing in Palm Springs and Las Vegas, what have you. I think that’s very important. So that would be something I would really appreciate is being able to go to trade shows and meeting people on the ground.
00:22:38:09 – 00:22:58:49
Speaker 1
that’s important to stay updated. And not only that, but meeting the representatives from the big social media companies. So I’ve had meetings with Twitter, with Facebook. I had a Facebook rep come to visit Philadelphia, where I spoke to him in person, and he introduced us to new features that no other corporation had for travel. it was a travel intent option on on meta.
00:22:58:49 – 00:23:12:49
Speaker 1
Well, at Facebook back in the day, but yeah, getting to know people, building relationships, networking, following all the big names on social media networks, I think is very important.
00:23:12:54 – 00:23:24:45
Speaker 3
And, you know, that’s like how you obtain all this information of what is happening. how do you pass that to your team? Yeah. Well, as, like the different departments that you work with.
00:23:24:50 – 00:23:53:19
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, I don’t like being selfish like you delegate all that if I have. I had Eduardo, who was a great, ad trafficker of mine. He was setting up more campaigns than anyone. So when we had a meeting with Twitter, I had him take the lead on that. I wasn’t afraid to do that, where it not only introduced him to building networks and new relationships with the big social media networks, but it also gave me a better understanding of what he understood and what he didn’t understand.
00:23:53:24 – 00:24:12:04
Speaker 1
So I’m not afraid to delegate. And if I need to jump in, I’m going to jump in. I’m not just going to say, oh, can you take this meeting like I’m going to join. I’m going to listen. I’m going to give it my full attention. But I totally have, confidence that that they’re going to hit all the right points because they’re part of my team.
00:24:12:09 – 00:24:26:58
Speaker 3
And how do you teach that to, for example, the sales teams or the community of teams that they are like, they don’t know what is going on in the market like what? How do you help them to understand or what? Do you have a process or something?
00:24:26:58 – 00:24:47:42
Speaker 1
Yeah. Hitting different departments is always there’s there can always be friction between departments, especially marketing and sales. you know, every sales team’s a little bit different. But being responsive I think is the most important part. Like, if I get an email at 8 p.m., I’m not afraid to answer it. If I have internet and I see an email, I’m going to answer it.
00:24:47:42 – 00:25:10:51
Speaker 1
I’m not just going to shut down at 5 p.m. and say, oh, well, this can wait until tomorrow. If I can answer it right then and there, I’m going to. So being responsive I think is the most important part. Again, understanding different personalities from different individuals. Some salespeople are more motivated than others. you’re going to give I like to give more attention to the motivated ones, but just being responsive I think is very important.
00:25:10:51 – 00:25:31:14
Speaker 1
And if they don’t like a certain format, I’m not afraid to change it. If they don’t like Google local, Google Looker, excuse me, I’ll make it in PowerPoint or I’ll go into Excel and send them a spreadsheet. If they want it on a website, I’ll import the Excel sheet to a website. You just have to be flexible and responsive.
00:25:31:19 – 00:25:40:46
Speaker 3
Okay. Oh that’s great. do you have an example that you anticipate a problem and how you handle it before? Yeah.
00:25:40:51 – 00:26:10:17
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. So when I worked at Trax and visit Philadelphia, the CEO was always he had eyes on every single campaign that we created. And if he wasn’t seeing the ads on his own device, he wasn’t afraid to tell us. So what me and my former manager, Sal did was, we collected a number of his IP addresses, and we made sure that that was part of the targeting because he would go on Forbes.com and he’s like, what the heck?
00:26:10:17 – 00:26:29:51
Speaker 1
I’m spending $1 million per year on ads at Forbes.com, but I don’t see them. And we had to explain it to him that it’s not that the ads aren’t running. Like, we’re not just taking your money and throwing it away, it’s that you’re not a part of the targeting because we’re trying to get investors, not rich CEOs living in Hollywood.
00:26:29:56 – 00:26:51:19
Speaker 1
So we added his IP address to make sure that he saw the ads and saw the work that we were doing so that we can get credit for it. that’s one example. other examples is at Visit Philadelphia, I had a different silo of money. It was a $1 million annual budget of social media, funding that I was responsible for distributing.
00:26:51:32 – 00:27:27:23
Speaker 1
So obviously, the African American team and the Latinx team, they’re all fighting for that budget. So I had to handle that. very sensitively, so to speak, to make sure that everyone felt appreciated and that I was spending money on what the demand was at the time. So African American, general, Latinx, historic, those are all different silos. I had to adjust the budget depending on what the needs were, because sometimes Latinx content had more content per year than other years of African American or in general advertising, which is just like newer restaurants, what have you.
00:27:27:23 – 00:27:36:16
Speaker 1
But, that was a very sensitive juggling that I had to do, but I think I handled it very well. Everyone was happy at the end of the day.
00:27:37:08 – 00:27:45:36
Speaker 3
That’s great. and then I wanted to ask you about, like, the KPIs that you are more familiar or you feel more comfortable with.
00:27:45:41 – 00:28:02:31
Speaker 1
So the KPIs very, very differently. It depends on what stage of the brand that you’re in. If it’s a new brand, you want to do brand awareness video views. You want to go for the low hanging fruit. People aren’t going to click on your website if they’ve never seen it before. So that’s why you got to build a funnel.
00:28:02:36 – 00:28:22:10
Speaker 1
You build a funnel with video on top, and then you retarget them in the middle. And then if you’re going for sales or leads, you hit the people that are most interested. That’s very important. I’m not too sure what the primary KPI of vision is just yet, but depending on what that is, I know it changes over time.
00:28:22:40 – 00:28:41:44
Speaker 1
but there’s no one size fits all solution for any brand. You need a combination of all of that. And as a marketer, that’s always the most difficult topic of conversation. Is, you know, why are you putting all the money in a video? Views I want leads today. Well, that doesn’t happen overnight. You got to build an audience.
00:28:41:49 – 00:28:58:34
Speaker 1
You got to build intent, and then you funnel it down. Everyone wants results tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. and that’s kind of the hardest part of being a marketer is that it doesn’t happen immediately. It takes some time, some nurture, some care, some love, and a lot of work.
00:28:58:39 – 00:29:07:30
Speaker 3
Yeah. No. That’s true. and I don’t think I have any other questions. like, I can come up with. I don’t know if you do have anything you want to address.
00:29:07:30 – 00:29:20:28
Speaker 1
Yeah. So obviously you’re focused on the Latinx market. what is your biggest hurdle targeting those people in America, I would presume?
00:29:21:41 – 00:29:49:52
Speaker 3
yeah, I would say, because, we have differed in the markets in, across all of us. So our sales teams are based in, you know, very specific markets. So the when they sell, campaigns, they are focused very, in the smaller deals. So when you are in the small geos, a little bit higher budgets and multi layers of targeting, I will say that can be like one of the challenges to.
00:29:49:58 – 00:30:15:34
Speaker 3
Sure. because it’s like, you know like it’s not just, you know in these safe codes, let’s say, but also you want, you know, the Hispanic community in there as well as, you know, dabble and interest, you know, like instead of building a lot so you can get hyper targeted, sometimes. But that is when you’re like working with, you know, in different platforms or, you know, you have to okay, the clients can like, okay, this is this is too much.
00:30:15:34 – 00:30:33:50
Speaker 3
I know we need to review what could be better for you. You know, the best for you. So it’s a little bit of, you know, working with what we have and see how we can get to that point. but also, you know, educate them, when necessary. So we’ll say that’s one of the challenges. I will say, that we can face.
00:30:34:01 – 00:30:40:12
Speaker 1
Wonderful. And, what do you enjoy about working on your vision? You said you’ve been here for many years.
00:30:40:17 – 00:31:04:45
Speaker 3
I do, I enjoy a lot the people that we work with. I feel like, I mean, the team that not only the ones that are to me, which they are all awesome. I love them all. but it’s also, even the co management team or even the sales teams. I mean, if we have a really great relationship, you know, of course, that we deal with issues of problems like any other place.
00:31:05:16 – 00:31:29:55
Speaker 3
but the way, the team work is, you know, very respectful, very focused on listening. Focus on. Okay, let’s make it work. so I feel like that’s one of the main reasons why I’m still around and because of the people that we work with. another thing is, I have through the years that have been here, I have helped to build this team.
00:31:30:00 – 00:31:50:54
Speaker 3
So I feel like, I’m being heard, on what is what needs to be done or what needs to be changed. And I also try to help to do that with everybody that reports to me. Okay. What else we can do, how we can keep growing. make it more efficient like that. Makes sense what we’re doing, what changes do we need to apply?
00:31:50:54 – 00:32:19:39
Speaker 3
Or, you know, even, like, we’re, we’re talking about, like, industry and the like we’re talking about I, you know, like before, you know, I’m just thinking about, like, a search campaign when everything has to be, like, really manual on every single step. And now, you know, it’s like, okay, give me suggestions. You know, like, give you an idea of, you know, it helps to, I mean, you still have to do the work, but, I feel like you have these tools that are helping you to become more efficient, to keep growing.
00:32:19:58 – 00:32:49:16
Speaker 3
so implementing these changes, these different technologies and improving the products that we currently have is something like, I, I feel like in this company, we, we pay attention to it and we see where, when we can, apply it or how we should apply it or, how we can, you know, tell sales teams like, hey, you have these option to like, you wanted to give it a shot, you know, so I think that’s something like, I really appreciate about this company.
00:32:49:21 – 00:33:03:28
Speaker 1
That’s wonderful. And, how’s the relationship between the sales team and the marketing team? Is there any friction or what do they look for from marketing? Is that cold lead or warm leads, so to speak? Or, what’s the KPI.
00:33:03:28 – 00:33:10:49
Speaker 3
There when you measure marketing? we have like a division, but you’re talking more like a, the operations side of doing the campaigns.
00:33:10:49 – 00:33:11:18
Speaker 1
Sure.
00:33:11:18 – 00:33:12:25
Speaker 3
Yes. Or you mean more.
00:33:12:28 – 00:33:17:28
Speaker 1
That’s the biggest complaint, I guess, is my question. Like, how do we help them or.
00:33:17:33 – 00:33:41:42
Speaker 3
I think it’s a little low. maybe communication is one of the challenges that we always have just because, I mean, maybe operations say in a way that we, you know, like we understand what it means, but maybe they don’t understand the fully the, the context of it. So sometimes they need a little bit more context, a little bit more, you know, like, information.
00:33:41:42 – 00:34:05:33
Speaker 3
So, you know, it’s kind of like building up. I feel like that could be some of the big challenges that we can have. okay, you know, complaints from their end, and, you know, like, I think that would be the main one because then everything comes out from there. Totally like different cases, right? Like, oh. But I do think though, these is the one that’s that’s part of the product or or.
00:34:05:33 – 00:34:14:48
Speaker 3
Yeah, we should have mentioned it additionally to these other thing, you know, like it could be a, some, some situations like that.
00:34:14:52 – 00:34:42:19
Speaker 1
Totally. And I have a lot of experience with, we had a sales team of 10 to 15 people at tracks, and then, they would always want updates on their biggest client. So we had to produce reports every two weeks of exactly where every single dollar was going. So I developed a whole new method of sending out reports to all the sales reps so that they knew where every dollar was going because the clients were calling the sales reps, asking, oh, why aren’t I getting X amount of leads per week?
00:34:42:19 – 00:34:59:22
Speaker 1
Well, this is where the money’s going. If you don’t like it, we’re happy to change it. But these are our suggestions. And and I’m pretty humble. Like I’m not I’m not going to put my foot down and be like, no, you need to be on Forbes.com. Every single dollar needs to be on Forbes.com. If they want to be on Yahoo Finance, that’s fine by me.
00:34:59:25 – 00:35:15:06
Speaker 1
Same thing. I visit Philadelphia. Like if they wanted to target certain Facebook pages, even if I didn’t necessarily agree with it, that was the direction I was giving. And I’m not afraid to not deviate from the plan, but to adapt to to new clients depending on what the needs are.
00:35:15:10 – 00:35:37:21
Speaker 3
Oh that’s great, that’s great. but yeah, I think that’s I would say, but I think it’s across the board and I like giving in my previous positions. I think that that could happen. Right. Like the nice type of, way of doing things is very different, different roles. Right. So it’s, it’s a different angle of how things are.
00:35:37:26 – 00:36:02:22
Speaker 3
See. None. And yeah, reporting can be a little tricky. We have we have a dashboard, that is connected through the different APIs for the different platforms that we work with. So, they have the access, right? So it’s like, okay, so there’s certain information there if you need more, of course, we can provide additional information, but it kind of helps leads to, you know, that’s, you know, the, the starting point, right.
00:36:02:22 – 00:36:22:30
Speaker 3
Like, okay, what is my company? I see there is a livery. Okay. You know, like at least giving them and need something that has been worked right. Like through the years. It’s like okay, there’s we’re seeing these challenge okay, how can we solve it. And that’s like where, you know, we have got to this point. I think there is still always more to to do and try to figure it out.
00:36:22:30 – 00:36:30:28
Speaker 3
But I think we are I mean, I think it’s been a good path. I’m very optimistic. It’s, I see that we are in a good place.
00:36:30:28 – 00:36:49:28
Speaker 1
Yeah. That’s great. And that’s part of the reason why I learned Python was because we had so many reporting challenges and prior roles of mine that I just started coding the API endpoints myself. I’m like, oh, I can just make a script. Why am I going to pay Zapier $10,000 a month to connect 50 plus accounts when I can just write a script in a few hours?
00:36:49:28 – 00:37:02:03
Speaker 1
So, I do pride myself on my technical ability. my people skills and my past experience running big budgets for major brands. So I think it’s a great fit here. I really appreciate our time.
00:37:02:07 – 00:37:20:47
Speaker 3
Yeah, we have two more minutes ish. do you have any other question we want to cover? Because I know the other day that the code just broke like it closed the goal. I could’ve done it back in you, but I just. I know you might happen. So, I don’t know if you have any other questions or anything you want.
00:37:20:52 – 00:37:34:43
Speaker 1
Let’s see. so would the let’s see in this role, will they be responsible for leading a team or and who would they report to? Would it be reporting directly to you.
00:37:34:48 – 00:37:49:52
Speaker 3
Yeah. So, for this position and this person is going to report to me and they’re going to be, managing a team of, four people. Okay. yeah, it’s. Yeah.
00:37:49:57 – 00:37:57:46
Speaker 1
Great. Yeah, that’s exactly what I have a lot of experience with. And I don’t really want a big team, so that that sounds exactly what’s what I’m searching.
00:37:57:47 – 00:38:01:37
Speaker 3
Yeah. When I say today’s report, I will, because I have different team leads that lead those.
00:38:01:46 – 00:38:02:15
Speaker 1
Isolated.
00:38:02:15 – 00:38:21:25
Speaker 3
Teams. So that’s what I meant to say. I mean, I have like, for people reporting directly to me. So that’s great. It’s it’s easier. Yeah. I know you say it’s like a, I wouldn’t say easier, but I will say more. it gives you that time per person how to invest in their world, in their growth.
00:38:21:25 – 00:38:29:15
Speaker 3
And, you know, all the goals that we want accomplish. So, I agree there that it is smaller groups also are very helpful.
00:38:29:20 – 00:38:53:51
Speaker 1
Yeah, I, I enjoy it that way as well. I’ve always been a part of a pretty small team and, Dana, my boss at Visit Philadelphia, was one of the greatest people I’ve ever met in my life, and she taught me how to manage big budgets. She she basically mentored me throughout my career. And it I really enjoyed the being a part of a small team where you feel appreciated and heard and understood, and I want to bring that to my own team.
00:38:53:51 – 00:39:10:25
Speaker 1
I don’t want people to feel like a number or a name on a spreadsheet. So that’s really glad to hear. what else are my questions? What are your biggest hurdles? Is that getting leads, or is that managing budgets? I know you said there were some frictions with the reporting. I can certainly help there.
00:39:10:30 – 00:39:39:35
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I think it’s just the day to day stuff that my, you know, I think the position also comes with like, you know, handling problems. Right. So I think that’s. Yeah, like, hey, this happened with these campaigns. It’s a little bit of, you know, under that, just trying to solve. But but I feel like, we have a great team, a great resources, and people that we work with that I, you know, like, it’s, you know, it’s these things.
00:39:39:35 – 00:39:48:30
Speaker 3
So. Okay, this is the focus on we need to solve these. So I will I will say that, I have a question before. I mean, I know we have the time, but, all.
00:39:48:30 – 00:39:48:54
Speaker 1
The time.
00:39:49:08 – 00:39:56:31
Speaker 3
You mentioned are in Houston. but the position is 100% in McAllen. Do you feel okay relocating.
00:39:56:42 – 00:40:11:15
Speaker 1
Right. I was telling Laura that I am planning on moving down south. I’m a big space nerd, so I want to be closer to South Padre Island because I like watching all the space launches. So, I would be comfortable relocating. Absolutely.
00:40:11:29 – 00:40:17:53
Speaker 3
Okay. Nice. Yeah. My husband is a lovely space. Oh, cool. So I understand, it’s like. Yeah.
00:40:17:58 – 00:40:19:07
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s quite incredible.
00:40:19:13 – 00:40:20:19
Speaker 3
I should come.
00:40:20:24 – 00:40:26:52
Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean, I can’t believe it’s happening in Texas. It’s so amazing how quickly. Yeah. that just evolved.
00:40:26:58 – 00:40:27:52
Speaker 3
It’s a.
00:40:27:52 – 00:40:30:56
Speaker 1
Huge passion. Oh, this is true.
00:40:31:33 – 00:40:38:51
Speaker 3
okay, so I don’t have any other questions at the moment. I don’t know anything you want to to wrap up with. sure.
00:40:38:56 – 00:41:00:36
Speaker 1
Yeah. No, I appreciate your time. I think this is a great fit. as I mentioned, I’ve worked with many big I’ve worked with big budgets before, and I have a lot of technical expertise which is required in programmatic advertising because it’s not just about throwing some banner ads on a website. It’s about building the website lists where you want to target, where you want to put the money directing that, also tracking on what’s working and what’s not.
00:41:00:48 – 00:41:23:56
Speaker 1
It’s never evolving landscape. I pride myself on staying up to date on industry trends and building relationships with the big DSPs. So I had weekly calls with every DSP that I had. Sander tick, Yahoo! Microsoft DSP, that’s very important. You have to speak the same language so that they’re not I don’t say ripping you off, but I can I can certainly put my foot down and say, no, this is okay.
00:41:23:56 – 00:41:35:01
Speaker 1
This isn’t if something bad happens, like a campaign overspend. I’m not afraid to say, listen, we didn’t want to spend this much you owe. So refund fair is fair. I’m really good at that. So.
00:41:35:06 – 00:42:00:52
Speaker 3
And and, so, one of the things that I’m looking for, and I just wanted to clarify. Here it is. I want to do I want someone that maybe focus more on Google ads at this moment. And do you feel comfortable with this? Absolutely. I mean, I mean, I know you have that experience, like, I believe it’s okay, but I just wanted to make sure because I know where to go more programmatic is like, oh, I know I need to visit this, because this is where I want to be.
00:42:01:04 – 00:42:02:22
Speaker 3
You know, the main focus.
00:42:02:27 – 00:42:16:07
Speaker 1
Yeah. I was making money on AdSense back in 2008. I’ve been working on Google Ads platform. They’ve rebranded a few times, but the it’s still the same time. Yes. So I have more experience with Google Ads, right? To be quite frank. Yeah.
00:42:16:12 – 00:42:43:19
Speaker 3
It’s just funny like, oh, the other thing used like would you say, stand there and say, yeah, I’ve an existing. Yeah, I, I work with I think when it was the name before, but yeah, it’s, it’s been interesting like how everything changes but okay, I don’t wanna deviate from here, but, I just wanted to make sure, I wanted to clarify, like, what is considered, you know, like, the main platform that this position is going to be focused on, of course, with also email marketing.
00:42:43:26 – 00:43:01:51
Speaker 3
Yeah. But I mean, that is in the SEC, I would say, but yeah. No. Thank you so much. Thank you, James, for your time. It was really nice meeting you as well. And I hope you have an awesome, vacation where you are right now. Thank you. Sounds awesome on the campaign. And, I mean, I know it’s cold, but hopefully just feel.
00:43:01:51 – 00:43:05:19
Speaker 1
Like you should come visit San Marcos. It’s quite beautiful. Yeah.
00:43:05:24 – 00:43:11:29
Speaker 3
I use well, I’m not kidding. In Denver, Colorado, I’m knowing I’m not in Texas, but.
00:43:11:30 – 00:43:12:25
Speaker 1
Oh, okay, I see.
00:43:12:39 – 00:43:16:15
Speaker 3
So, I mean, you know, I’m in the cold side. Yes. Very, very cool. Right?
00:43:16:53 – 00:43:22:48
Speaker 1
my, my girlfriend wants to move to Colorado, but I like the warmth. That’s why I want to go south. Yeah, yeah.
00:43:22:53 – 00:43:32:51
Speaker 3
I live in, close to Philadelphia. A few years before I moved to Colorado. it was, a small town in the north. It was called New Haven.
00:43:32:56 – 00:43:36:38
Speaker 1
Yes, it sounds familiar. Is that by the Poconos or.
00:43:36:43 – 00:43:37:09
Speaker 3
And.
00:43:37:13 – 00:43:38:34
Speaker 1
No, maybe.
00:43:38:34 – 00:43:56:50
Speaker 3
I I’m really by geography there. I only live, like, less than a year, so it was not that long. but it would take a very small town, basically. And it was so pretty. I, I really like the fact that you can, you know, just take a train and go all the way to the you don’t do, in the other states, like, but that’s what I miss a lot about East Coast.
00:43:57:34 – 00:43:59:43
Speaker 3
but I mean, Colorado is beautiful too, so it.
00:43:59:43 – 00:44:09:11
Speaker 1
Is open to them. No complaints. Yeah, it’s beautiful there. Absolutely. I love hiking up there. It’s I got to go snow. But I’m the big snowboarder. But I haven’t been snowboarding yet.
00:44:09:16 – 00:44:27:55
Speaker 3
Would you. Yeah. I have lived here for a while, and I haven’t get to the mountains with the focus of a ski or anything. And these, like, I am the, you know, I’m not, you know, doing what? It’s the main thing to do here, but, hopefully, next year, I can get into skiing or something.
00:44:28:03 – 00:44:42:48
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, it is. It is beautiful, though. Yeah. Okay. James. Sorry. We were over five minutes, but, it was. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you. And the fact that you were here for a little bit longer. I hope you have an awesome weekend.
00:44:42:50 – 00:44:52:25
Speaker 1
Thank you so much, Andre. It was great talking to you. Thank you. Bye bye.
00:44:52:30 – 00:44:59:46
Speaker 1
I don’t know what’s wrong with that. I wouldn’t change a thing.
00:44:59:51 – 00:45:13:21
Speaker 1
What I do now. What’s wrong with that? I’ve never heard. I’ve never interviewed anyone that can speak that well. What did I do wrong? Now?
00:45:13:26 – 00:45:14:31
Speaker 1
Make it make sense.