How to be a One-Person B2B SaaS Marketing Department

Transcript lightly edited for spelling and punctuation. The conversation is unabridged.

Mark Evans: I'm Mark Evans, and welcome to Marketing Spark, the podcast that delivers insight from marketers and entrepreneurs in the trenches in twenty five minutes or less. In the B2B SaaS marketing world, there's a lot of talk about slick strategic plans and an army of marketers to turn plans into action. But many companies have small marketing teams. In fact, some companies have one-person marketing teams featuring people who need to do it all. What's life for these marketers? How do they do their jobs when they're flying solo? To discover the secrets of success, I'm talking with Nancy Kwan, Director, Digital Marketing at Bubble Box. Welcome to Marketing Spark.

Nancy Kwan: Thanks, Mark, for having me.

Mark Evans: Let's start by having you tell me about your job. I'm interested in understanding firsthand what it's like to be the marketing department.

Nancy Kwan: Yes. Absolutely. Like you said, I'm the Director of Digital Marketing at Bubble Box. A little bit of a background. We're a Salesforce consulting partner helping organizations integrate and continuously optimize their Salesforce instance. So this includes anything from, like, Marketing Cloud, Tableau, Datorama, Sales and Service, just to name a few. But to your point of that question of, like, what does a one-person marketing team do? What are they responsible for? And I would say more often than not, it could easily be deemed as you might feel overwhelmed. You might feel it being a bit daunting at times, especially if you're not prepped to position yourself for success. But the daunting and overwhelming feeling could be very large, especially if you're new to the organization or if that role is also new to the organization. What you'll probably experience is everybody is going to be coming to you at that company with all their ideas, you know, the latest trends that they're reading on and what's happening. They're probably putting in the requests, mainly because maybe they didn't have a person there before. So they're all coming with their backlogs of great ideas and things that they wanna see on social or in marketing collateral, on the website. And, of course, one thing that sometimes gets often forgotten is I'm always faced with that, like, okay. How do we optimize the user experience? How do we optimize customer experience? So that is probably what will happen if you're joining an organization and there is either a small team or just a one-person team, what somebody might, like myself has experienced in the past.

Mark Evans: So I've been in the situation where I have come in as the marketing person on a consulting basis, and you're right. The sales guy has something that needs to be done. The CEO has their priorities. The head of sales has their priorities. How do you coordinate all those different asks to make sure that you're not running in different directions that people don't know what page you're on, what your priorities are? How do you get that initial buy-in and structure so that you're doing the right things at the right time for the right people?

Nancy Kwan: I would say my biggest advice, take a step back and slow down. Just constantly remind yourself those two pieces of advice. But to start, we have to be strategic. So that would be my number one recommendation. Be strategic, and don't just because of the excitement of all the different business units that there is somebody in that role now, don't just jump into execution because that will only set you up for potential failure and also divert you from what your end goal is that you're trying to achieve. So one of the things I always say is take the time to really truly understand the business strategy and ensure that you as the marketer have alignment and that you truly understand, you know, that you're spending the time to ask a lot of questions. And more specifically, I find if you're especially if you're new to an organization, spend the time to ask the tough questions that probably a lot of people aren't asking anymore. Because, you know, like when I say ask a tough question, it's not a hard question. It's the question of why. You know, why are we doing this? What are we working towards? And truly spend that time to understand, what is that goal? Or you often hear a marketer say, like, what's that North Star that we're trying to work towards? And what are we trying to achieve?

Mark Evans: Right.

Nancy Kwan: Right? And at the end of the day, I always say, don't hold back. You probably I think both of us say this quite a bit, Mark. If you're thinking it, somebody else in the room, in the company is probably also thinking about it too, but the question hasn't been publicly stated. And more times than not, everybody's running a mile a minute. So they haven't had that opportunity to take the pause like you do when you first join to spend the time to ask the questions and educate. Yeah. And I think and to that point about the obvious question as a marketer, you know, when I say take a step back, I would say take a step back and look at the market research because, you know, understand your audience because maybe there was another, previous individual in that role before, years before. And normally, what naturally happens is that people give you all the old decks, the old strategies, all the old presentation. They go, here you go. Right? You're off to a great start, but time has passed. The environment has changed. And I always say, again. Take a look at the market research of the current state. What does it look like? Who's your audience? And really just stay focused because you're a one-person department, so you can't dabble in every single area. So then, you know, look at your competitors and start formulating and putting together a draft, you know, what does your marketing strategy look like? But not only just the strategy, how you know, what are the measurables that are going to align to the business strategies to get you to succeed. And then if I had a second piece of advice as a marketer in a one-person department, really focus on looking for opportunities to automate the mundane tasks in your marketing department. Huge opportunity because once you free up those, you know, those administrative tasks or look at creating email marketing that you can set up journeys or automations, great way for you to get a journey going so that frees up your time to focus on other areas as well.

Mark Evans: You got the North Star determined or you focus on the North Star. You've got your strategy in place. You've talked to the key stakeholders. You know what the priorities are. So you're all excited to get started, but you're only one person. So the question is, how do you actually get marketing done? How much do you take upon doing yourself because you've gotta be, you know, jack of all trades, you know, a five-tool player? And how much do you allocate to freelancers and contractors and consultants, third parties who can help you with tactical execution?

Nancy Kwan: Yeah. I'll be very honest about that one. Sometimes I've had to just roll up my sleeves, and I really had to get in there to start doing the building. Some people may see that being as painful, but especially when, you know, it's a new maybe it's a new department for that organization. You actually have to start building up the case to get budget. I've started our organization where there was no marketing budget. So how could I even begin to look for contractors if I don't even have the budget to fund it? So normally, what I like to do is, you know, roll up my sleeves, focus on that one or two areas that I know my audience is in, and really start doing testing and making sure that any testing or any channels or tactics I'm working in on my campaigns that I'm planning, like, I'm actually predicting what my forecasts are and also making sure that I'm tracking my results. Because at the end of the day, any efforts that I bring in, I wanna be able to prove what my return on investment is. Because once I start proving that any work that I'm doing is now netting a return, I could take that data and the results to start building out and formulating, oh, we need to, essentially start to be able to scale. I now have the data to prove if we begin to blow it up a little bit more or do more with a budget, if we had budget, I will be able to scale and be able to have revenue growth because I'm bringing in additional contractors or consultants to help me be able to execute at a faster pace.

Mark Evans: Yeah. I think that makes complete sense. But one of the challenges for a lot of marketers who are marketing leaders, they see themselves strategic leaders, as people who will guide the organization through. So they've likely done a lot of the grunt work. They've been in the trenches. They've been doing a lot of tactical execution. And the danger for a marketing leader is that they don't wanna do that anymore, is that they wanna be the strategic leader from above who tells the minions what to do. And I think you make a good point. Sometimes you have to do both. Sometimes you have to do strategy and you have to actually get the work done. And I think it's a hard pill for a lot of senior marketers to accept. I guess one of the questions I would have is once you've actually proven your case and you start to hire people, it's all about how do you manage people who aren't inside the organization, who aren't as vested as you are, who aren't drinking the Kool-Aid. How do you make sure that they're focused on your work as opposed to other clients as well?

Nancy Kwan: Yeah. That's a really good question. I think it actually not even I think. I know it has to start from the foundation. And what I mean by that is what are your core values? What is your core value to you as the leader, and what's the core value to your organization? Right? And, you know, I'll use Bubble Box's as an example. We have six core values that we stand by. And I would say these core values, they're in our DNA. It's in us. And it's all focused around, one of them is about, you know, being one team. We're strong, we work and we are stronger together. We're all about being passionate about what we do. We always go above and beyond in making sure that we're able to execute on our initiatives and our projects. You know, the third one that we have is we are humble and confident individuals, and we're all about making sure that we have the gratitude through the right attitude. You know? And then the fourth one that we have is, we own it. We always have this mentality of we got it. So if we're going to commit to something, we always see it through. It's all about also our energy. So we love being positive. We always have this drive and never giving up. And then the last one is all about doing the right thing. So making sure that you're delivering on a promise. So, of course, when I'm working with freelancers or consulting partners to help me on my initiatives, I'm looking at having the conversation to go, does this partner or client do their core values align up with mine and Bubble Box? Because if there is that synergy and the drive to deliver on those values, we know that there's going to be a successful relationship.

Mark Evans: What kind of support do you get from your management team when you're a one-person marketing team in terms of not only strategic direction but tactical support? So one of the things that I have found in my experience is that the CEO will say, yes. I'm all about marketing. I wanna make marketing happen. And when you look to them to collaborate and engage and give you feedback and ideas, they say to you, I'm too busy for that. I'm too busy driving product and sales, and so you're left to your own devices. What do you need to do to make sure that you get buy-in and they're as vested in marketing as you are?

Nancy Kwan: That's a really good question. With Bubble Box, like, the management team is truly unique. We actually, as a team, we dedicate a specific time during the week. And our model is you cannot decline it. You cannot, you have to make every effort to show up to this weekly meeting. And this is where we are giving our status updates of how we're trending towards our KPIs and measurables, but it also gives us the opportunity for us to identify issues and have a conversation around, well, what is that issue? Where's the root problem coming from? And be open to having conversations. So we purposely set time aside every week to be able to touch on this. And this is where as a marketer, I raise my hand to go, maybe I've come across this roadblock in some of my processes, and how could I, and I seek support. So I go, this is my issue. This is what I'm coming across, open to ideas and solutions. And at the end of the day, we also make sure that we're all focused on the right priorities. Right? So I need to ensure that when I come to the table and have a conversation, my point is all about my issue right now will have a risk or impact for us to get to our overall business outcomes. And I find that when you position the priority to the goal that you're all working towards, everybody is willing, and this is what I love about my leadership team that I get to work with at Bubble Box. We all come together to ideate and go, how do we make sure that we help my team member, get to success, which at the same time comes to the success of the business as well.

Mark Evans: Yeah. That sounds like a really good approach that, in fact, you look at marketing as a partnership as opposed to you're the marketing department, you make it happen. One of the things that I'm interested in is for people who are running solo. What's your advice in terms of how to structure operations? And I think that's a funny term because when you're the only person, you're the operation. Right?

Nancy Kwan: That's so true.

Mark Evans: So what are the pillars for success? And as important, what are the mistakes that they need to avoid if they're going to run efficiently, if they're not gonna be working, you know, 24/7 and tearing their hair out at the end of the day?

Nancy Kwan: My biggest recommendation advice, don't become the yes person. Get comfortable saying no. Right? And you have to get comfortable on asking anybody who's throwing a request at you, you know, why. Right? Is it because it's strategic and it's gonna help you grow and get to where your goals are, or is it because it's that, you know, what's that saying? The shiny object syndrome or the FOMO. Right? The fear of missing out. Is that why people are coming in to put in their request? So at the end of the day, it's getting comfortable to say no. Always ask them the question to why. Why is it being required? How is it getting us to the key goal? And, at the same time, my biggest thing was my biggest lesson learned through the years was don't be a yes person.

Mark Evans: It's hard to say no, to be honest with you, because we are preconditioned. I think maybe I don't know whether marketers are preconditioned specifically, but we're preconditioned to say, yes. Yes. I can get that done. Yes. That project is not a problem. Yes. I can create that content. And it gets us in trouble sometimes because we overextend ourselves, and we do things that aren't a priority or aren't directly related to the North Star.

Nancy Kwan: Yeah. And it actually prevents you from getting there quicker. Right? So it just becomes that roadblock when we get into the habit of saying yes.

Mark Evans: The other thing I want to ask you is what's your own strategy when it comes to marketing? You've established a very solid presence on LinkedIn. You do some great videos. Like me, you've really sort of embraced LinkedIn as the place where you go for networking and to establish your personal brand and to drive leads for Bubble Box. Talk a little bit about your approach to your own marketing, including LinkedIn. What are you doing, and how do you do it?

Nancy Kwan: I use LinkedIn. You know, I think there's many of us during the pandemic where we turned to LinkedIn as a way to connect and build relationships. I think that was tremendously being missed by a lot of people during the pandemic. But I found LinkedIn was a great place just share ideas. And my whole thought around LinkedIn is it's all about sharing experiences and sharing knowledge. You know? We're all experts. And if we're not competing with each other, then what is there to hide? Right? And a lot of it I found with LinkedIn is all about driving meaningful conversation. So just because I may have experienced an outcome doing whatever marketing strategy or customer experience strategy, I'm always curious to also, you know, share what I experienced, but I also wanna see and hear what did other people experience. Because it could vary. It could vary from country to country. It could vary by industry. And a lot of it I found was it drove really engaging conversation with people that I didn't have access to. Like you and I, Mark, we had never met before LinkedIn. And now I'm very comfortable just tapping you. And, actually, now I'll do a little plug for you. Like, the Two Marketers in a Room on Wednesdays on Clubhouse. Great opportunity for me just to come and go, hey. I've come across this challenge. This is how I think I should approach it. What about you guys based off of your experience? How would you navigate it? And I just find that opens up the lens of opportunity and a new way of thinking that traditionally wasn't taken advantage of.

Mark Evans: We're both based in Toronto, but we've never met each other. Although, I think we have a relationship now, which is pretty amazing given the fact that so much happens virtually slash digitally and that my network globally has expanded and the nature of the relationships are dynamic and interesting and engaging and really it is really wonderful. And segueing into Clubhouse because I did want to ask you about that, but I'm curious about your take on Clubhouse. And, specifically, I'm hearing a lot of conversations from my clients about using Clubhouse as a thought leadership vehicle. A lot of them are excited about the potential. They're not exactly sure how to leverage it, but they believe that there's a place for them to talk about what's important to them and to connect with like-minded people and create a community. Have you got any thoughts about that take on Clubhouse, and is it something that Bubble Box is considering?

Nancy Kwan: Yeah. It's definitely on my radar. I find that it's just a great area of what Clubhouse offers that LinkedIn currently doesn't is the human interaction. For me to be able to hear your voice versus Zoom, where there's a lot I would say, probably the last twelve months, a lot of individuals have come across Zoom fatigue. Right? And now we don't wanna see each other's faces. We don't wanna jump on Zoom. We don't go in to turn on the cam. But I found with Clubhouse, what I've appreciated is that different individuals are joining on the topics that matter to them. And if you can't find a room on the topic that matters to you, you could try to create the opportunity to find people to come to you and have a conversation. But at the same time, I'm now hearing a person's voice. I'm just through conversation, networking, I'm establishing the trust. And then after that, I've often gone back into LinkedIn or other platforms and continued the conversation, which I wouldn't have gotten if I didn't get that slight human interaction that, and it's just the voice. You could hear the excitement. You could hear the inflections in the topics that really matter, which sometimes you don't get when it's just a text post, like a text post on LinkedIn or an image post. You don't see that. So the excitement, it just cultivates an energy that I need to thrive off of, and maybe that's like a marketing thing. But I just love it where I'm going, oh. Like and when I hear your voice on Clubhouse, I'm like, he is excited or, oh, I feel his pain because he's struggling with it. And then I start thinking. Right? There was one time, I think, we came across a scenario where there was a challenge that was brought up, and I reached back out to you to go, what's your problem? Because I feel where you're coming from, and I would never want to experience that myself. So let's just brainstorm and ideate. That would never happen on the LinkedIn platform on its own at that speed, I would say as well.

Mark Evans: That's what I find interesting, though, about the marriage between LinkedIn and Clubhouse. And it's not official yet because Clubhouse doesn't link to LinkedIn yet. But people will have conversations on Clubhouse. They'll check out their profile while they're having the conversations. They'll go back to LinkedIn and connect with them on LinkedIn and then drive another conversation like a private conversation there. And I think it's pretty amazing the way that the two platforms are meshed together. I don't think there's a marriage. I don't think that's gonna happen. I don't even think LinkedIn is gonna launch their own audio version of Clubhouse, but I do think the synergies between Clubhouse and LinkedIn are really amazing for anybody who wants to take advantage of both platforms, which is why we have to be on both platforms to some degree. Where can people learn about you and Bubble Box?

Nancy Kwan: Yeah. So I could be found on LinkedIn if you just look up my name, Nancy Kwan, and type in Bubble Box. You'll probably be able to find me very quickly. So feel free. Don't hesitate. Don't be shy. Just feel free to reach out and connect with me. And if you wanna learn more about Bubble Box, we do have a LinkedIn page as well. So just type in Bubble Box, and you'll see the Salesforce consulting partner page. Highly encourage you guys to follow us. Again, this is where we're trying to bring together a group of marketers to drive an engaging conversation. We also have a website. So if you just type in bubblebox.cloud, you'll be able to learn more about our expertise there.

Mark Evans: Thanks, Nancy, and thanks for listening to another episode of Marketing Spark. If you enjoyed the conversation, leave a review and subscribe by iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. For show notes of today's conversation and information about Nancy, visit marketingspark.co/blog. If you'd like to learn more about how I help B2B SaaS companies as a fractional CMO, strategic adviser, and coach, send an email to mark@marketingspark.co. I'll talk to you next time.