Låt oss presentera en av våra gästföreläsare: Vanessa Meyer från Load Impact

I’m Canadian (French Canadian to be precise) and I’ve been living in Stockholm on/off for the last 6 years. During that time I spent 8 months in Brazil completing the second half of my Master’s degree in International Business and Economics. I also spent about a year living in NYC and San Francisco working as head of B2B marketing for a fast growing Swedish startup. 

What do you do today?

Currently, I’m developing a particular expertise for marketing software - Software as a Service. My responsibilities in this role are focused on creating scalable growth by manipulating and measuring each aspect of the customer funnel. I use deep-level data on product usage and customers profiles to segment and automate marketing efforts. This is done in an effort to move users through the customer funnel - guiding them from acquisition, activation, retention, purchase and finally referral. Although I also support direct sales teams with more traditional marketing efforts, my primary focus is on working closely with product teams to build virality into the product and convert prospects into customers without any human involvement and with as much automation as possible.

Why did you choose to lecture in the Digital Heroes programme?

I believe I have a unique perspective on how to effectively market technology - particularly B2B technology. Traditional business technology is increasingly moving to the cloud and old software companies are becoming service companies - called Software as a Service (SaaS). This transition possesses new challenges to the marketing role. I believe I’ve built a particular experience in helping B2B tech companies make this transition effectively. By applying new marketing tactics - some of which are most often used in B2C - I’ve helped B2B tech companies double revenue without adding a single sales or account management person. 

In short, what will you talk about? 

I will be talking about the challenges Marketing Directors face today based on my own experience, and focus on how companies can handle competition from free and open source / collaboratively built products, based on our strategy and solutions.

What, according to your experience, is the biggest challenge today when it comes to marketing and building a brand?

I believe the increased speed, accessibility and cost efficiency of the internet is forcing many marketers and businesses to rethink how they market, distribute and even sell their their products/services. I also believe the same macro level trends are driving an emphasis on “user/buyer experience” - forcing companies to not only think about additional features or functionality for their products/services but also how their customers “experience” them.

Finally, which 3 brands would you need to take with you to a deserted island and why?

Google Analytics and Mixpanel because I love looking at analytics and data and Buzzfeed because you can never get enough Gifs about puppies and people doing silly things.