117: A Former CMO, Turned CEO’s Approach to Strategic Marketing

When you have to reach out to someone quickly, what do you usually do? Exactly! Send a text. So why aren't more businesses text-enabling their phone lines? That question is at the center of Brightlink's text-enabling solution, designed so that company phone lines—usually reserved for saying 'no' to pesky cold calls— can handle informative text conversations with prospective clients. Given the nature of their product, Brightlink has also been able to utilize it as their own marketing tool, a simultaneous demonstration and use case—a real situation of killing two birds with one phone!

On this episode of RTU, Drew chats with Rob Chen, Brightlink's CEO, and a former CMO. They chat about how Rob's marketing background informs his current role, how to put their technology front-and-center in their marketing, and why a clear company culture is king.

Be sure to listen in - this is a valuable conversation!

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What You’ll Learn Using your own technology as a marketing vehicle

Rob is a believer in drinking your own champagne. To that end, Brightlink currently uses its own technology of text enabling any phone number as a marketing vehicle. The company is able to override and enable any phone number to receive text messages, which is an extremely beneficial feature for the millennial generation. Brightlink is currently taking a traditional email campaign and offering the customer the ability to respond back by phone, by email, or by text. Through its own technology, Brightlink text enables sales and corporate phone numbers. Using key-word prompts, the sales team at Brightlink is able to respond via text to answer questions, provide solutions, and much more. Not only does this connect the Brightlink team with customers, but it also highlights the technology they can provide. Listen in to hear more on how Brightlink uses its own product as a marketing vehicle!

Your target audience affects your marketing

Rob shares that Brightlink utilizes different strategies depending on whether the primary target is a small business or large enterprise. For a small businesses, Brightlink focuses on co-branding and a partner with the ability to add value. They rely on a partner who knows the needs of each small business because use cases tend to be more specific. This allows Brightlink to market to and speak to the individual needs of small business. For large enterprises, Brightlink takes their product directly to the company because their needs are broader and many times the entire product is used.

3 key lessons for CMOs

Guest Rob Chen and host Drew elaborate on 3 important lessons for other CMOs.

1. Have one key, very focussed story. Know what your company is about, and be able to say that succinctly.
2. You have three target audiences: employees, customers, and prospects. Make sure to have your employees on board with core values and your product. They will be advocates for your brand and remain loyal. Create content that is valuable to your customers, and it will also be intriguing to prospects.
3. Simplify your plan. It is hard to do everything. Brightlink’s plan is integrated around its own product. It is a demonstration and a use case at the same time!

Timeline

• [1:55] Rob Chen: Bridging the gap from CMO to CEO
• [5:40] What Brightlink is and does
• [10:47] How to use technology as a marketing demonstration
• [18:36] Who Brightlink targets in its marketing
• [22:55] Successful marketing examples
• [26:33] Key lessons from a CMO turned CEO

Connect With Rob Chen:

• Rob’s Bio on Brightlink’s Website
• Connect with Rob on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned

• CES Conference

Connect with Drew

• http://renegade.com/
• On LinkedIn
• On Twitter
• On Facebook
• On Instagram