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#131 From Data to Impact: Driving Growth and Leadership in Marketing with Pooja Khandelwal and Lisa Bennett

Pooja Khandelwal is a dynamic Marketing Leader with over a decade of experience driving growth in SaaS and B2B industries. She specializes in crafting data-driven strategies that boost engagement, optimize lead funnels, and deliver measurable ROI. Pooja is known for building cross-functional collaboration, fostering people-first cultures, and scaling marketing initiatives that leave a lasting impact. Lisa Bennett is a seasoned marketer with over 25 years of experience working in a range of global tech companies. Most recently, she served as CMO at Kaltura, where she oversaw everything from marketing strategy to demand generation, public relations, and brand experience. In 2021, she played a key role in preparing the company for its successful IPO on Nasdaq. Lisa is a member of Israel’s Global CMO (G-CMO) community and a contributor to the Forbes Communications Council. Prior to her tenure at Kaltura, Lisa managed PR and communications at Cyota, where she contributed to its acquisition by RSA Security for $145 million. She then moved on to directing PR and marketing for RSA’s consumer business arm. Lisa is passionate about balancing the art and science of marketing while enjoying time with her four kids and dedicating herself to volunteer work. In this episode, we explore marketing insights, AI trends, and strategic growth with Pooja and Lisa.
“Marketing is an integral part of how an organization is perceived. It’s all about presenting yourself authentically to the customer.” -Pooja Khandelwal
“You can plan until you’re blue in the face, but we don’t need more plans, we need execution.” -Lisa Bennett

About the Episode

Welcome to a captivating exploration of the intersection among marketing, robotics, and the transformative impact of AI on business strategies. In this detailed blog post, we delve into insights shared by two remarkable professionals: Pooja, the Growth Marketer from Civ Robotics, and Lisa Bennett, CMO at Wevo Energy.

Civ Robotics: Bridging Innovation with Precision in Construction

Meet Civ Robotics

Civ Robotics is a pioneering robotic startup based in the Bay Area, specializing in the construction industry. Their advanced construction layout robots serve various sectors including solar, civil engineering, land surveying, road striping, and general contracting. The core objective of Civ Robotics is to enhance precision and efficiency in construction projects, ensuring they are simpler and more effective.

The Role of a Growth Marketer

Pooja leads the marketing efforts at Civ Robotics, bringing over a decade of experience in B2B and SaaS marketing. Her strategies drive engagement and deliver measurable ROI through innovative approaches in data-driven strategies. Her career trajectory pivoted from textile design to content management, all fueled by a curiosity for understanding consumer psychology.

The Marketing Journey: From Design to Strategy

Finding Passion in Marketing

Marketing was not a planned career path for Pooja. With a background in design and fashion, her curiosity about consumer behavior led to exploring trend forecasting and content management. This exploration paved the path into content marketing, allowing her to seamlessly transfer her skills into marketing strategies. Her journey underscores the importance of flexibility and openness to unexpected career shifts.

A Day in the Life of a Marketer

In the dynamic environment of a startup like Civ Robotics, the role of a marketer is multifaceted. Pooja’s responsibilities span growth marketing, content creation, social media, and product marketing—highlighting the necessity to wear multiple hats in a small, tight-knit team.

Building Cross-Departmental Relationships

The Importance of Internal Alignment

Creating healthy relationships between marketing, sales, and the founders is crucial, irrespective of company size. Pooja emphasizes identifying gaps between departments as a foundational tactic for alignment, ensuring delivery of a consistent customer experience.

“A company thrives when sales, marketing, and CS have aligned goals, leading to the best customer experience.”

Strategies for Effective Collaboration

  • Macroscopic View: Taking an overarching view of organizational operations to identify gaps and opportunities.
  • Communication: Continuous dialogue between marketing and sales to establish mutual objectives.
  • Building Assets: Collaborating on assets that enhance sales capabilities while aligning marketing efforts.

Quality Over Quantity: A Principle in Marketing Strategy

Championing Quality

In a world tempted by volume, Pooja champions quality over quantity. This involves prioritizing high-value opportunities aligned with business goals rather than succumbing to vanity metrics—ensuring sustainable growth.

Innovation in Marketing

Understanding one’s audience and aligning multiple departments around shared goals create a robust marketing strategy. This strategy begins with knowing the customer’s pain points, emphasizing focused effort over broad approaches.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Marketing

Emotional Intelligence: A Framework for Collaboration

Emotional intelligence plays a key role in aligning departments towards a common goal, involving consistent and transparent communication with clients.

Building Trust through Alignment

Aligning departmental goals not only drives retention but fosters a collaborative culture resonating trust and loyalty with clients.

Embracing AI: The Future of Marketing

The Transformation Brought by AI

AI has revolutionized marketing strategies by providing tools for data analysis, brainstorming, and content refinement—streamlining workflows and empowering marketers to deliver compelling communication.

“AI enables marketers to test, experiment, and fail more gracefully, leveraging data for insightful decision-making.”

Tools and Applications

  • Data Analysis: AI tools like ChatGPT analyze data across channels, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.
  • Content Creation: Tools like Grammarly enhance clarity and adjust tone.
  • Design Tools: Canva and AI-based platforms simplify visual content creation.

AI as a Collaborative Partner

AI serves as an invaluable collaborator for brainstorming, content proofing, and problem-solving, enhancing overall quality in marketing efforts.

Lisa Bennett: Wevo Energy and the Evolution of Marketing Strategies

Lisa Bennett recently joined Wevo Energy, focusing on smart EV charging with a dynamic role as the CMO. Wevo Energy integrates intelligent software solutions in residential buildings and fleets to optimize EV charging while caring for energy consumption.

Lisa’s New Role

Lisa is integrating strategies to ramp up marketing activities, filling pipelines with quality demand and scaling efforts, while maintaining brand building and customer retention.

Growth Strategy

  • Planning and Execution: Analyzing lead lifecycle and exploring relevant marketing channels.
  • Quick Wins: Implementing immediate changes and testing rapidly to yield results in agile environments.

AI and Trends

Lisa discussed how AI is evolving B2B marketing paradigms, bringing personalization at scale. AI tools facilitate data insights and automation, influencing marketing strategies and customer experiences, whereas brand marketing—which has made a surprising comeback—is adding value to B2B efforts. This evolution in approaches is fundamentally shifting the marketing landscape.

Conclusion

The insights from Pooja and Lisa highlight the power of innovation in marketing, utilizing technological advancements such as robotics and AI. Civ Robotics and Wevo Energy exemplify how thoughtful integration of marketing strategies with technology can propel industry transformation, crafting future-ready enterprises.

Stay tuned for more episodes from the NTM Growth Marketing Podcast, where we unravel modern marketing complexities, aligned strategies, and the evolving role of AI.

Feel free to explore more marketing strategies and connect with industry peers by joining the Marketing Mastermind cohort “No Typical Marketers”. It’s an exclusive space for growth-minded executives seeking advanced strategy discussions and AI implementation.

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