MarTech360 Interview With Amanda Elam, Chief Marketing Officer, Bloomreach

“By optimizing the customer journey and personalizing every touch point, brands and retailers can deliver on what customers are really asking of them at the end of the day — to “know me, guide me, and wow me.”

Hi Amanda, could you tell us about your journey in the Marketing industry?

My journey in the marketing industry could be defined as a “series of fortunate events.” I’ve been offered incredible opportunities with outstanding mentors, and recognizing those opportunities I put in a lot of hard work and dedication to learn messaging, data and analytics, web and digital, paid media, pragmatic marketing, and more. I wanted to ensure that I was a well-rounded and strategic marketer.

From launching products for start-ups to optimizing sales funnels for high-growth tech companies, it’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t have it any other way. These experiences led me to my current position as Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, a commerce experience cloud that helps businesses around the world connect with their customers in a unique and truly personalized way, at scale. This has certainly been my most exciting and rewarding role to date. I’m learning something new every day and am constantly humbled by the opportunity to lead an incredible group of marketers.

What challenges did the COVID-19 pandemic pose for you and your team?

On a personal level, the last couple of years have been life changing in so many ways. I started a new job in February of 2020 with Exponea (now part of Bloomreach), and because it was headquartered in Europe, my expectation was to travel and meet with the team regularly. In the end, I didn’t meet much of the team until this past July, almost two and a half years later. At home, I had three children in high school, which was ultimately a very different experience than any of us could have ever dreamed. The pandemic forced us all to adapt to circumstances we could never have predicted.

From a business perspective, as with all companies, the most pressing challenge came in the form of protecting the health and safety of our Bloomreach teams and their families. Above all, we had to make sure we were doing everything to support them on that front. Operationally, one of our big challenges was adapting to such an influx of new customers (though this was certainly a positive challenge).

As shopping shifted completely to online channels, so many businesses began to recognize the importance of their digital experience and how areas such as their cross-channel marketing or search bar experience could really add to or detract from their success. They turned to Bloomreach to help, and so we had to make sure we had the teams and resources in place to support them.

What sets Bloomreach apart from the competition?

Bloomreach is the only company in the world to unify customer and product data in a single data set that can be activated in real-time, across all channels. This ensures a connected, personalized, and consistent experience for every customer engaging with a brand. Additionally, we optimize this data specifically for commerce. Every prediction, every AI model, every dashboard is pre-built and engineered to drive significant revenue increases for our customers. This doesn’t just benefit the bottom line for our customers, it also builds better and more trusting relationships between them and their consumers.

By optimizing the customer journey and personalizing every touch point, brands and retailers can deliver on what customers are really asking of them at the end of the day — to “know me, guide me, and wow me.” “Know me” by using the data I’ve already shared to provide context and value. “Guide me” toward relevant recommendations, based on this relationship we’ve now built, to help me find what I’m looking for faster. And ultimately, “wow me” with the delight and surprise that comes as a result of excellent service and an amazing experience.

Also Read: MarTech360 Interview With Jeff Zotara, Chief Marketing Officer, Arrivia.com

How, according to you, has the Marketing and Sales landscape evolved and will evolve in the coming years?

The digital landscape has of course changed every industry. Marketing is more reliant than ever on data analytics and digital tracking, and when used responsibly, those insights can help to drive a lot of value for consumers by way of more personalized and relevant content, emails, campaigns, and so on. Yet as consumers become more aware of the misuse of that data, the coming years will see continued regulation changing the game of how those digital interactions can be leveraged — as they should. All of us are compelled to question the good and bad of technology (in marketing or elsewhere), and it’s important that we think through how our society can responsibly benefit from them.

In both the marketing and sales landscapes, word of mouth is becoming an even bigger channel, with practitioners recommending technology that is easy to use and fast to implement. Consider the rise of “dark social,” for example. The access people have to each other is increasingly digital and therefore instantaneous; sharing recommendations directly with peers has become that much easier.

Also on the sales side, more and more customers are expecting to engage with technology in a freemium or free trial model. This is changing the expectation and technical knowledge of the sales and marketing individuals who support this journey.

How do you envisage Digital Commerce evolving, in the years to come?

Digital commerce is just commerce — this evolution has become more apparent than ever over the last few years. And as digital becomes so wholly engrained in what it means to do commerce, what we need to ensure is that commerce remains responsible as it continues to evolve in the years to come. That should begin with solving for problems that are inherent in any emerging space.

We can think ahead to problems like sustainability and how returns and packaging will impact our future. We can ensure algorithms and AI move beyond the bias that is a natural outcome of their engineering and into a space that helps us improve as a society. Above all, we can create meaningful commercial relationships between consumers and brands — relationships that actually improve the world around us and create healthy, growing economies the world over.

How, according to you, has eCommerce impacted the traditional Sales and Marketing funnels?

It has certainly leveled the playing field for many companies. Small businesses can run sophisticated operations from their living rooms and benefit from the infrastructure that has been built by the giants of e-commerce. All in all, though, the funnel remains the same as ever. There are new marketing channels, new ways to distribute and syndicate content, and new ways to convert outside of your standard site or app, but the funnel itself remains largely unchanged. You acquire on marketing channels, inspire with your content, and convert on your own properties — even if there are new ways to do all of those things.

The top marketing events that you have attended in the last decade and what made them so memorable?

I’ve attended my fair share of marketing events over the years and I’ve gained valuable knowledge from all of them. A few recent ones that come to mind in particular are the Women in Retail Leadership Summit, because it was amazing to see so many powerful women in one place, and Movable Ink’s Think Summit, where I got the chance to give a presentation about marketing and personalization, my favorite topics, and chat with some incredibly smart people across the industry.

Could you name one other Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) that you would like to see featured here?

It’d be great to hear from Stephanie Davis Michelman, the Global CMO of Benefit Cosmetics. She’s led marketing at some iconic brands in an industry that I personally love. I imagine she’d have some great insights to share.

Nikki Neuburger, Chief Brand Officer at Lululemon, is another marketing leader with an incredible background that would probably have endless knowledge to share.

And I’d also add Carrie Tharp, Vice President of Retail & Consumer at Google Cloud. It technically isn’t a CMO role, but she’s a leader at the center of retail and technology, and that’s just a fascinating intersection to live in as brands are continuing to accelerate their e-commerce strategies.

As a marketing leader, what is the one piece of advice you would give to those who aspire to make a career in marketing?

Up until fairly recently I would have said: know the numbers. And not just the marketing ones. Make sure you understand how your business is built and what levers make an impact. As I’ve been growing more as a leader though, I think that advice would be to focus on relationships. Really get to know your team, as many of them as you can, and invest in the people you work with as individuals.

What do they care about, what makes them tick, why do they do what they do? Help them grow, help them progress, and handle them with care. Yes, we need to perform, yes, we need to deliver results, but what really matters most is building up those around us and leaving a mark on the world that’s about more than just profit.

Thanks, Amanda!