As we continue the spotlight on our own marketing heroes I am thrilled to have interviewed our Lead Customer Success Consultant, Liz Brewer. With a background in Astrophysics (who knew?!), Liz is a self confessed data nerd, that loves to get stuck into the numbers to bring her clients valuable strategic insights. Take a journey into the mind of a marketing consultant and find out what advice Liz has for marketers during these unsettling times of the covid-19 crisis.

Please introduce yourself. 

liz-brewer

I’m the Lead Customer Success Consultant at Pure360, striving to increase knowledge and skills within the wider team, along with working directly with a number of our clients to drive growth and improvement.

Coming from a background in Astrophysics, I’m a huge data nerd! I love it – and relish the opportunity to channel this into analysing and uncovering the insights that lead to improving the customer experience and driving forwards business’ goals.

I’ve been at Pure360 for 3 years now, having come from a SaaS company with hands-on marketing experience, and find it incredible that I’m still learning so much every day from everyone around me.

What have been the main challenges facing marketers in 2020 so far?

I think we have to call out the elephant in the room here – Covid-19. Whilst it’s affected businesses in dramatically different ways, it has invariably affected every business, in every industry and the effects will play out far into the future.

What in marketing or business inspired you this year?

The way many businesses have shown an ability to adapt and pivot to the changing needs and behaviours of their customers. Within days of the crisis breaking in the UK, some brands had already dramatically changed their messaging to speak to the heart of what their customers needed.

I’m not talking about the ‘this is how many times we wash our hands’ emails, though of course they have their place. Where I’ve been really impressed is by brands that thought further than that, put themselves in their customer’s shoes and come up with a variety of different tactics to not only keep customer engaged, but build on the relationships they have, and strive to build new ones.

What should marketers be focused on in 2020?

Change – Planning for the ‘return to normal’. Whilst this has always been the case, it is incredibly prominent now – carrying on like you always have will not just halt your progression, but pull the business behind your competitors.

We won’t return to the previous normal after this crisis settles down, and business’ need think quickly and in depth around what they may need to do to stay ahead of the game.

Whilst this will differ from one industry to the next, there will be longstanding changes to customers’ shopping behaviours – a shift to more virtual experiences, a change to buying cycles, volumes and concerns to mitigate.

Don’t just look at what your competitors are doing – (if that’s your game plan, you’re already too late!). This is your opportunity to do the fun part – predict, plan and think outside the box to lead in creating a new experience for your customers.

Who are your marketing heroes?

Seth Godin – for many reasons, but primarily for giving me the quote you’ll see below…

Yuval Noah Hurari – now I know he’s not a marketer, or even in the marketing industry – but his research and views on what it means to be human, why we believe, how we interact with the world around us and the power of data I find incredibly interesting and instantly applicable to marketing.

If you could give a tip to marketers at this time during coronavirus what would that be?

Make it personal. Think about what you need right now, and how you want brands to communicate with you. What makes you smile versus roll your eyes when you open your inbox? And how does that differ to what your best friend or your grandparents think? You can provide something for everyone right now, but what everyone needs will be different – so understand your audience, segment and personalise your communications.

What piece of advice would you give to aspiring marketers?

Don’t forget what you love about marketing. It’s really easy to become bogged down by stats, procedure, process and ‘the norm’ – but as Seth Godin says, ” marketing is a really generous act of helping someone solve their problem’ – you’ve chosen to work at the forefront of creativity, in an industry with huge reach and influence. You can be the reason someone cries with laughter, you can answer a burning question they have, comfort them or teach them something new. How can that not be a gift? Don’t forget that!

You are sent to a desert island for 12 months – You can take 3 books, 3 records and 1 luxury item – what would you take?

Books:

  • The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
  • Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
  • The Silmarillion – J.R.R Tolkien (because I’ve been meaning to read this forever!)

Records:

  • Temescal Canyon – Jeff Bridges Sleep Tapes
  • Requiem for a New World – Azedia
  • Dance Hall Days – Wang Chung

Luxury Item:

Would a knife qualify as luxury, or do I get that as an essential item? I was back and forth on this one for a long time. I’d like to take a musical instrument, but over time they inevitably break or need parts replaced, so I figure with a good knife and time on my hands, I can make a whole hoard of them!