In this episode, Rachel Smith, VP of Marketing at Sky Zone, joins our host Daniel Weiner. Rachel shares insights from her journey from being a radio host to her current role in marketing, reflects on changes in consumer behavior throughout her career, and why you shouldn’t take things personally in this industry. 

Their conversation kicks off with Rachel's observation about the shift in marketing strategies companies need to make to reach younger generations. She advocates for more sincerity and storytelling in content to address fatigue from constant sales pitches. Rachel emphasizes the importance of adapting to meet the evolving needs of consumers, especially in a world saturated with marketing messages.

Daniel chimes in with a hilarious anecdote about AT&T's mishandling of a service outage, which highlights the need for authenticity and transparency in brand messaging. Rachel agrees and stresses the importance of follow-through after issuing apologies or promises to customers. Customers want to be seen and heard - so explaining how this outage happened, how they’re going to fix it, and how it’s never going to happen again, is crucial to earning your customers' trust. 

Rachel also offers advice to agencies and vendors seeking to collaborate with marketing leaders like herself. She stresses the importance of building genuine connections and avoiding overly aggressive sales tactics. Rachel encourages a more thoughtful and empathetic approach to outreach, highlighting the value of respectful communication. For example, having a mutual colleague tee up a conversation is much better than cold pitching your product to strangers on LinkedIn. 

Check out this week’s episode to hear more about Rachel Smith’s strategies for creating meaningful connections and fostering creativity in the marketing industry.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Rachel Smith, VP of Marketing at Sky Zone

💡 Where to find them: LinkedIn

Key Insights:

They Called My Baby Ugly 

Rachel Smith, VP of Marketing for Sky Zone, shares a pet peeve she has working in the marketing industry. It's those messages saying, “I looked at your website performance and I can improve it by doing X, Y, and Z. Calling her website, her baby, “ugly” is a sure-fire way to ensure you never get a message back

Don’t Take It Personally 

Not aligning on a project the first time around is not a big deal. In fact, it can make you and the client closer as you get a clearer picture of what they actually want. As long as you are gracious and you don’t take it personally, this moment will just be a bump in a very long road ahead. 

The Ethics of AI

Rachel Smith, VP of Marketing at Sky Zone, expressed her excitement for AI in the marketing industry. She and her team are finding a comfortable balance between ethics and efficiency so that everyone is satisfied.