About Me
As a data-driven Director of Product Marketing with over 15 years of experience, I deliver impactful results across various industries. My expertise drives business growth. With a focus on creativity and innovation, I lead successful digital marketing campaigns and product launches that contribute to organizational growth.
Outside of the office, for almost 20 years I performed on stage and created compelling stories based on audience suggestions with Seattle's premier improv comedy troupe: Jet City Improv. Improvisational theater has gifted me with a "Yes, and..." mindset in addition to a storyteller framework that compliments a professional setting to drive awareness, consideration, and conversion for complex technology concepts.
My Values
Humility
It's not about me, it's about us.
We can do great things together, and build a better product if we put our egos aside.
Trust
I have got your back.
Humility builds trust. When I work on product with you, I am working to make you look good, and trusting you to make me look good.
Teamwork
We are all in this together.
Trust builds teamwork. When I work on a product, I am teaming with subject matter experts across the organization to work towards a shared goal.
Creativity
A team built on trust and humility has the confidence to work creatively. If we are working together, trusting each other, and doing what is right for the team, we are safe to challenge assumptions and think differently.
Any Story, Every Story, in Three Parts
My Product Marketing philosophy is informed by years of improvisational theater, capturing an audience's interest and bringing them with me through a performance. I take the same approach when working on a product.
Improv comedy is different from standup. The goal with improv is the story, laughs are a side effect. In rehearsals, auditions, performances, and my professional career, I am inspired to tell good stories. Good stories get audiences to stay engaged and eager to know more.
Products need a story, a reason for a decision maker to consider, before they convert.
Almost any story can be broken down into three component parts:
01
The Current Situation, Status Quo
"Once Upon A Time", "A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away....", "Now this is the story all about how, My life got flipped-turned upside down, And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air."
Where are we starting from? Telling a story starts by setting the stage of the current universe. What is the world like before the action starts, or before your product comes to market.
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Once upon a time, there was a young boy, Bruce Wayne, who lived with his wealthy parents.
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For 20 years, cell phones were straightforward devices with pushbutton control and a singular function.
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For 70 years, car dealers knew more about their inventory and incentives than shoppers in their market.
02
Change
Until One Day.
It wouldn't be a story if everything stays the same. Something happens that affects the status quo and forces characters or customers respond. Change gives you a reason to do something differently.
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Until one day, Bruce's parents were killed outside of a theater. Because of this, he disciplined his mind and dedicated himself to justice.
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In 2007 Apple introduced the iPhone, a multi-function smart device that gave users the power to do more in the palm of their hand then ever before, and consumer expectations of what they should be able to do with a phone increased dramatically.
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Starting in the early 2000s, a car shopper could find out all they needed about available vehicles, combinable incentives, and financing options from a dealer website before stepping foot into a showroom. Dealers could no longer think of themselves as having all the control of a car deal.
03
The New Normal
And Ever Since That Day...
Change isn't forever. If things are still changing, the story isn't over yet. Stakeholders have to reset to the new reality, forever impacted by what has happened and unable to go back to the way things were.
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The city of Gotham is watched over and protected by the caped crusader: Batman.
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Today's consumers live through smartphones from various brands for a variety of use cases that previously required multiple devices: computers, cameras, GPS navigation, and more.
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Car dealers now optimize the online experience of their business, just as much as the onsite experience. Dealers leverage consumer interest data to surface the right vehicle to the right person at the right time and make it easy for shoppers do as much of the initial pencil of a deal online, before a test drive.
Story drives us, it gives a reason for you to do something differently than before. Products need a story to make an impact to the marketplace. By understanding the story of solution you make it clear why decisionmakers need to take action. Without the story, nothing changes.
Good Product Marketing requires good storytelling.
