250: How Product Experience, Marketing, and Community Coexist with FreshBooks' Paul Cowan

03/10/21 • 37 min

1 Listener

On this 250th episode of "Marketing Today," host Alan Hart speaks with Paul Cowan, the CMO of FreshBooks, a cloud-based accounting solution for small businesses and self-employed professionals. Over the past 20 years, Paul has marketed everything from booze to SaaS products, learning that product experience and marketing go hand-in-hand.

In this episode, Alan and Paul discuss the symbiotic relationship between product experience and marketing while touching on the intersection between marketing and community. They even talk of activism — or really slacktivism — and what it means for businesses.

The conversation begins with an overview of how FreshBooks came to be and how Paul stepped into his CMO role during a company rebrand. Like any good CMO, Paul believes it's important for your customers to understand the pain you address, but it's even more essential for them to understand what makes you different. From a brand standpoint, Paul says marketers need to look internally and find what he calls the "bits of goodness" that exist within the product experience and communicate that to customers.

Paul goes on to explain how to use that pain to build a community, what slacktivism means, and how it impacts business, for better or worse.

In this episode, you'll learn:

How to take a pain point and use marketing to exploit it
How to find your company magic and use it as your superpower
What the symbiotic relationship is between product, customers, marketing, and community
What role slacktivism plays in marketing and in pushing companies to be purpose-driven

Key Highlights:

[01:33] Why Paul isn't allowed around chainsaws
[03:01] What is FreshBooks and Paul's path to becoming CMO
[05:38] The pain FreshBooks set out to solve
[07:06] The FreshBooks rebrand
[11:42] The overlap of product experience and marketing
[13:27] Using pain points to build network and community
[19:15] What is slacktivism, and how it applies to purpose-driven companies
[27:51] An experience that defines Paul, made him who he is today
[29:31] Paul's advice for his younger self
[30:17] A recent impactful purchase Paul made
[31:22] The brands, companies, and causes Paul follows
[33:03] What Paul says is the biggest opportunity for marketers today

Resources Mentioned:

com
Paul Cowan
FreshBooks Rebrand (Glossy Inc)
Mike McDerment, founder of FreshBooks
Slacktivism (Wikipedia)
#DeleteUber (NY Times)
Casper, DoorDash SEC Filings

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul goes on to explain how to use that pain to build a community, what slacktivism means, and how it impacts business, for better or worse.

In this episode, you'll learn:

How to take a pain point and use marketing to exploit it
How to find your company magic and use it as your superpower
What the symbiotic relationship is between product, customers, marketing, and community
What role slacktivism plays in marketing and in pushing companies to be purpose-driven

Key Highlights:

[01:33] Why Paul isn't allowed around chainsaws
[03:01] What is FreshBooks and Paul's path to becoming CMO
[05:38] The pain FreshBooks set out to solve
[07:06] The FreshBooks rebrand
[11:42] The overlap of product experience and marketing
[13:27] Using pain points to build network and community
[19:15] What is slacktivism, and how it applies to purpose-driven companies
[27:51] An experience that defines Paul, made him who he is today
[29:31] Paul's advice for his younger self
[30:17] A recent impactful purchase Paul made
[31:22] The brands, companies, and causes Paul follows
[33:03] What Paul says is the biggest opportunity for marketers today

Resources Mentioned:

com
Paul Cowan
FreshBooks Rebrand (Glossy Inc)
Mike McDerment, founder of FreshBooks
Slacktivism (Wikipedia)
#DeleteUber (NY Times)
Casper, DoorDash SEC Filings

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

249: What Radicalization Means to a Brand Marketer with Yonder CEO Jonathon Morgan

1 Recommendations

On this 249th episode of "Marketing Today," host Alan Hart speaks with Jonathon Morgan, the founder and CEO of Yonder, an AI company that helps Fortune 500 communication teams identify and counteract online disinformation about issues that matter to their organization.

In this episode, Morgan talks about the power of groups with extreme ideals and how thought radicalization can mean something different for marketers.

Our conversation starts with understanding Yonder's mission and how the company originated. Early in his career, Morgan conducted internet research, advising the state department on how they could counter the impact of online radicalization worldwide.

Morgan explains that the modern concept of the internet is based on a fundamental premise — "there is wisdom in the crowd." He soon found out, however, that "if you value crowds, you inadvertently value mobs," and that someone who manipulates social platforms can have an immeasurable amount of power in swaying the crowd's thinking.

From there, Morgan provides insights on the pros and cons of social media censoring and how easily misinformation and extremist ideals can leak into mainstream media. Finally, he talks about how the idea of radicalization isn't always a bad thing when it comes to brand marketing.

In this episode, you'll learn:

The vulnerability of the internet and our social ecosystem
What contributes to the origins of radical groups and how misinformation can spread
The difference between good and bad radicalization
The importance of authentically communicating your company's values
How to build a coalition for your brand and leverage communication better

Key Highlights:

[02:16] Yonder's mission and how they got started
[05:46] How a person can have an incredible influence on the way the public thinks
[07:44] Motivations behind a mob; looking at the riots on the Capitol
[11:17] The pros and cons of censoring on social platforms
[15:21] How radical ideals spread into mainstream media
[18:40] When radicalization isn't always a bad thing
[24:00] Jonathon's advice to brand marketers about building a network
[32:53] How taking a stand is complicated but essential
[35:02] An experience that defines Jonathon made him who he is today
[36:27] Jonathon's advice to his younger self
[37:38] An impactful purchase Jonathon has recently made
[41:15] The brands, companies, and causes Jonathon follows
[42:38] What Jonathon thinks is the biggest opportunity for marketers today

Resources Mentioned:

Yonder
Jonathon Morgan - CEO of Yonder, his personal site
The prior episode on Marketing Today with Lisa Roberts, CMO at Yonder
4Chan (Wikipedia)
QAnon (Wikipedia)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

251: The Importance of Details in Customer Relationships and ABM with Sendoso's Dan Frohnen

1 Recommendations

On this 251st episode of Marketing Today, host Alan Hart talks to Dan Frohnen, the CMO of Sendoso. This leading sending platform helps companies stand out by giving them new ways to engage with customers through the buyer's journey.

In this episode, Alan and Dan talk about what marketers should be thinking about to help companies deliver a better experience for their customers and their employees.

The conversation starts with Dan's transition from the music industry to the tech industry and finally to his role as CMO at Sendoso. Throughout his career, he learned the importance of customer connectivity. For him, the details matter. It's more than just "spraying them with digital" to get them to act — and more about doing the research and understanding what they're looking for before offering a solution.

Through the rest of the interview, Dan talks about the current state of ABM and how the virtual world has made it even more necessary to be intentional about your outreach.

In this episode, you'll learn: