Experience and inspiration

In this episode of Game Changers,  Shuchi Sakar, the Global Head of Marketing at Amazon AWS, and formerly a marketing executive at HP and Creo talks about her journey in marketing, the lessons big and small companies can learn from each other, and the vital importance of brand building.

Shuchi, an industry expert with an impressive career trajectory, discussed the nuances of marketing across diverse settings from start-ups to multinational corporations. Her candid advice and transformative perspectives challenged conventional thought processes and stirred creative ideas.

Beginning her career with an advertising behemoth Ogilvy, Shuchi explained how this experience laid the foundation of her love for branding. Lured by the customer-centricity inherent in marketing, she transitioned into client roles where she helmed marketing for tech giants before making an unconventional leap into a biotech startup.

Brand, agility, and innovation

One of Shuchi’s key mantras revolves around agility, innovation, and culture — elements she believes are integral to the start-up world and can be transformative if integrated into larger corporate settings. The importance of agility cannot be overstated, especially in an era ripe with technological advancements and evolving customer needs. She emphasized the essence of a "Day One" spirit, underlining that consistent innovation is crucial to staying relevant and driving success.

From a marketing perspective, Shuchi believes in functioning without boundaries. She advocates for the necessity of a diversified experience, highlighting that mental models and quality expectations honed in a large company can fuel a start-up's growth trajectory.

When it comes to brand-building, Shuchi believes that brands are "living, growing, evolving" entities, changing together with their customers. The brand must resonate not only with a customer's functional needs but also appeal to their emotional side. Otherwise, they risk turning into a commodity. To be truly successful, a brand must appeal to both the customer's head and heart. Assuring a brand syncs with the societal or global issues that matter most to its customers helps cement this success. 

Content marketing

Shuchi believes that content marketing is not just about what a brand stands for, but also what it does outside its core product. Content is a critical tool that steers a customer along their buying journey. A keen understanding of the customer decides what content is created, and when and where it is placed. Ensuring that the content is engaging and enables the customer to proceed further along their journey is at the core of any fruitful marketing strategy.

When it comes to marketing KPIs, Shuchi agrees that MQLs and SQLs are indeed important. Yet, the endgame is not just about generating MQLs and SQLs. At the end of the day, driving revenue is the ultimate goal. However, there are other important things to watch out for, including the level of customer engagement with a piece of content, time spent at an event, and email open rates.

All that said, Shuchi reminded that the spirit of innovation, the boldness to take calculated risks, and bringing about a certain uniqueness should drive any marketing initiative. With the customer being the focus, comprehensive strategies around engaging customers in a creative, innovative, and consistent way is what will set brands apart in the competitive landscape and will lead to long-term success.

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