Ep. 89: TL;DL - Marketing, Motherhood, and the Messy Middle with Perry Sheraw

Summary:

This episode features a "Too Long, Didn't Listen" (TLDL) summary of my conversation with Perry Sheraw, managing partner of Duma Marketing. Perry shares how her journalism background shaped her philosophy that marketing success comes from remembering you are talking to actual humans. She explains why tying marketing metrics to revenue attribution is what separates good campaigns from great ones. Most importantly, she reveals how letting go of perfectionism and separating her identity from execution allowed her to build a thriving remote business from St. Croix while supporting her daughter's international sailing career.

Show Notes:

01:42 It's About the Conversation

02:45 Tie It to Revenue

03:48 Identity Beyond the Send Button

05:20 Final Thoughts

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:32 Guest Introduction
• 1:42 It's About the Conversation
• 2:45 Tie It to Revenue
• 3:48 Identity Beyond the Send Button
• 5:20 Final Thoughts
• 6:12 Outro

Transcript

Intro

Scott Raven: Welcome to The Corvus Effect, where we explore what it takes to succeed professionally and truly enhance all parts of your life. I’m Scott Raven, Fractional COO and your host. Each episode we go behind the scenes with leaders who’ve mastered the delicate harmony of growing their professional endeavors while protecting what matters most. Ready to transform from Chief Everything Officer to achieving integration in all facets of your life? Let’s soar!

Guest Introduction

Scott Raven: Hello everyone. Welcome back to The Corvus Effect. I am Scott and thank you for listening to this TL;DL, Too Long Didn’t Listen, from my conversation with Perry Sheraw, managing partner of Duma Marketing and a pioneer in the digital marketing revolution.

Going all the way back to her days as a print journalist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, she made the bold leap of moving to St. Croix and starting her remote business there. Being able to help C-Suite executives and Fortune 500 companies all while scaling her business and having the time to be there with her family, including her 15-year-old daughter who is pursuing her international sailing career.

Her journey proves that pursuing the ultimate definition of freedom isn’t just possible. It can be profitable. I encourage you guys to go back and listen to the full episode when you get a chance. It was fantastic, but for now, let me talk about the key takeaways from my conversation with Perry.

It’s About the Conversation

Scott Raven: First, her foundational insight that successful marketing isn’t about technology. It isn’t about tactics. It’s about remembering that you’re talking to actual humans.

She explained you can’t forget that you’re actually talking to someone, even if you’re telling a story about yourself. You have to remember that it is conversational. That’s where she draws heavily from her journalism background, thinking about how the story is resonating with the people who are receiving these messages, these emails.

Ultimately the breakthrough comes when what you have to offer through the conversation is going to get them engaged. This resonates perfectly with our Corvus principle that authentic connection drives sustainable results, and human connection always trumps technical sophistication at the end of the day.

Tie It to Revenue

Scott Raven: Secondly, she has a critical philosophy of leaving no money on the table by looking at the baselines and tying everything to revenue attribution.

As she explains, the marketing manager in these firms usually says, “Look at these open rates. Look at these click rates.” And the C-suite is like, “What does that mean?”

Her approach is to be able to tie everything back to dollars and then be able to say, “How do I improve the way that we are telling and distributing the stories on your behalf such that we increase the dollars via the attributions that we are looking for?”

Ultimately, this aligns with our integrated approach to leadership where you have to measure what matters, not just what’s easy to measure, and drive towards those KPIs as it relates to your top objectives.

Identity Beyond the Send Button

Scott Raven: Finally, her transformational journey to leave the perfectionist behind and develop operational independence so that she is successful in her business and in her life is something that is definitely shared within the Corvus platform.

She explained how she allowed herself to break away and give time to her family and her son and her daughter’s pursuits. She had to let go of the perfect desktop setup. She had to let go of the “I have to have a fanny in a seat” mentality. She had to become the person that says, “My identity is not tied to my ability to hit the send button.”

By overcoming that dependence on identity being based in execution, that’s what allowed her to thrive, not just in her business, but in all the areas of her life.

That’s a huge takeaway for us: we don’t always have to do it ourselves. Being able to understand what from our busy plates can be eliminated or delegated or automated so that it’s not us having to take the actions, but still achieving the results we want, is a critical insight from my conversation with Perry.

Final Thoughts

Scott Raven: As I said, please go back and take a listen to the full episode. It was a wonderful conversation. You can find Perry’s company at dumacx.com. That’s D-U-M-A-C-X dot com.

I would certainly recommend her services because when you come to her with something that you want, she’s going to tell you where there is a will there is a way. That’s what we’re trying to drive here in terms of the impact, not just for her business, but for this podcast as a whole.

To that end, please feel free to subscribe and share with those people in your life who could use this wisdom. We encourage your comments so that we can make this podcast as best as possible. Until next time, I’m Scott. We’ll see you on The Corvus Effect. Take care.

Outro

Scott Raven: Thank you for joining me on The Corvus Effect. If today’s conversation sparked ideas about how to free yourself from overwhelm, visit TheCorvusEffect.com for show notes, resources, and our free Sixth Dimensions Assessment, showing you exactly where you’re trapped and how to architect your freedom.

While you’re there, check out the Corvus Learning Platform, where we turn insights into implementation. If this episode helped you see a new path forward, please subscribe and share it with others who are ready to pursue their definition of professional freedom.

Join me next time as we continue exploring how to enhance your life through what you do professionally. It’s time to make that your reality!