Katie Smith - Wild Path Consulting

01/22/25 • 37 min

Katie Smith is the Founder and CEO of Wild Path Consulting and a Fractional CMO.

Katie is a dynamic force who masterfully blends adventure with marketing expertise, transforming stagnation and chaos into clear strategic success. She joined us to share her incredible career journey and unique insights that will inspire and challenge how you think about marketing and leadership.
Wild Path Consulting helps businesses that care about the future of our planet and its people to craft compelling strategies, build strong marketing teams, and remain flexible in how they position their products and services. With a focus on social impact marketing, Wild Path empowers companies to scale sustainably while making a positive difference.
In this episode:
Adventurous Beginnings: Learn how Katie’s diverse and adventurous career journey has influenced her ability to think creatively and tackle complex challenges, helping her become an expert at solving problems in innovative ways.
Strategic Alignment for Success: Katie emphasizes the importance of aligning teams, goals, and strategies to achieve clarity, focus, and meaningful outcomes. She shares practical advice on breaking through organizational silos to create more cohesive and effective marketing strategies.
Overcoming Stagnation and Embracing Change: Discover Katie’s approach to turning stagnation into momentum, using adaptability and bold decision-making to navigate through uncertainty and drive business growth.
The Role of a Fractional CMO: Katie explains how fractional CMOs can bring high-level expertise to businesses on a flexible basis, offering the strategic direction needed to scale effectively without the commitment of a full-time hire.
Finding Opportunity Amidst Chaos: Katie shares her philosophy on embracing chaos and uncertainty as opportunities for transformation, providing tips on how to reframe challenges into strategic advantages that lead to long-term success.

Katie Smith is the Founder and CEO of Wild Path Consulting and a Fractional CMO.

Previous Episode

Saul Hudson - Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Angle42

In the latest episode of The Radical Global Marketing Podcast, we sit down with Saul Hudson, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Angle 42.

With decades of experience as a communications leader—most notably as General Manager, Americas at Reuters News—Saul specializes in helping cutting-edge technology companies craft compelling narratives that resonate with mainstream media, financial industries, and global audiences.
Angle 42 is a strategic communications consultancy specializing in helping exponential growth technology companies achieve their goals. With deep expertise in bridging the gap between the technology sector, mainstream media, and financial industries, Angle 42 provides tailored advice to craft compelling narratives, educate audiences, and build credibility. Whether it’s blockchain, AI, or other frontier technologies, Angle 42 empowers businesses to transform complex ideas into powerful stories that drive impact and growth.
In this episode:

Educating the Market: Many blockchain and exponential growth tech companies face the unique challenge of being at the leading edge. Their products and services are often unlike anything seen before, requiring an educational component to their communication strategies to bridge understanding gaps.
From Genius to Storytelling: While many technologists are bona fide geniuses in their fields, they may not excel at telling their stories. This is where strategic communication support becomes critical in translating complex ideas into compelling narratives.
Building Bridges Between Worlds: Saul highlights the importance of connecting the tech sector with mainstream media and financial audiences, enabling innovation to be understood and embraced on a broader scale.
Overcoming Communication Challenges: He shares actionable advice for tech companies navigating the ever-evolving media landscape, including how to stand out in a crowded space.
Strengthening Media Relationships: Practical tips on how to foster trust and build lasting connections with journalists, helping to amplify brand visibility and credibility.

Next Episode

Katja Omlor - Coltene Group

In this episode, we sit down with Katja Omlor, a passionate and experienced marketer who thrives on authentic storytelling and leveraging user-generated content to amplify brand messaging.

At the time of this recording, Katja was the Global Product Marketing Director for Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, a world leader in premium measurement and survey equipment. She has since taken on an exciting new challenge as Director of Global & Corporate MarComs at Coltene Group, a global leader in dental equipment and consumables.

With a career spanning B2B industries from industrial equipment to consulting, surveying, and now dental, Katja shares her insights on navigating the challenges of global marketing, aligning regional and corporate strategies, and the power of customer-driven storytelling.

In This Episode, We Cover:

The Challenges of Marketing a Diverse Product Portfolio – How to create compelling, consistent messaging when working with a vast range of highly technical products.
The Role of Product Marketing – From developing a business case to product positioning, launch strategy, and eventual phase-out, Katja explains how product marketing drives commercial success.
The Power of User-Generated Content – Why brands should embrace customer voices, even when feedback isn’t always perfect.
Memory Generation in Marketing – A future-focused strategy that ensures brands remain top-of-mind, even when customers aren’t ready to buy.
Balancing Global & Regional Marketing Needs – How to provide strategic guidance while allowing regional teams the flexibility to localize.

Tune in now! Don’t miss this insightful conversation with Katja as she shares her marketing philosophy, career journey, and lessons learned along the way.

The Radical Global Marketing Podcast - Katie Smith - Wild Path Consulting

Transcript

Steven Proud 0:42
Hello everyone and a warm welcome back to the latest episode of the Radical Global Marketing Podcast.
My name is Steven, one of your regular Co host and today's very special guest is Katie Smith.
Katie is founder and CEO of Wildpath Consulting and a fractional CMO.
Katie is a dynamic force blending adventure with marketing prowess based on a unique career journey and a dedication to transforming chaos and stagnation into strategic success.