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“Attention precedes interest. Interest precedes engagement; engagement proceeds relationship,” Flint McGlaughlin teaches in Headline Writing: 4 principles that could drive down your website bounce rate (https://meclabs.com/course/sessions/headline-writing/).

When I asked my latest guest how she builds those relationships with her marketing, she talked fondly of learning directly from real people, whether in her early days in a trade show booth or more recently using digital technology. The end goal of listening to customers is the same – to help her organization and team of marketers understand customers as real people, which will ultimately help them build more relationships with customers.

You can learn the story behind that lesson from Michelle Huff, Chief Marketing Officer, UserTesting (https://www.usertesting.com/), along with many more lesson-filled stories from her career, on the latest episode of the How I Made It In Marketing podcast.

Huff manages a team of 65 at UserTesting. UserTesting is a publicy traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. It reported $147.4 million in revenue in 2021, up 44% year-over-year.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

• Obstacles are opportunities, if you choose to view them as opportunities.
• Utilize customer empathy when trying to involve the customer in marketing efforts.
• Surround yourself with the right people.
• Marketers should get involved with the sales team to learn from them.
• To learn about how your product really works, teach someone else.
• Become a true partner with your Sales counterpart.

Related content mentioned in this episode

Empathy Marketing: 3 examples of empathetic marketing in action (with results) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/empathy-marketing)

Informed Dissent: The best marketing campaigns come from the best ideas (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/online-marketing/marketing-dissent-campaigns/)

Healthcare Marketing Leadership: Build communities…not a customer list, walk your own path, take care of yourself (podcast episode #30) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/healthcare-marketing-leadership)

About this podcast

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages (https://meclabs.com/course/) free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application