Pam Didner is a B2B marketing consultant, writer, podcaster, speaker, and author of two books: Global Content Marketing and Effective Sales Enablement.
She trains, coaches, and provides strategic guidance on sales enablement, account-based marketing, and sales and marketing integration for enterprise and technology companies.
She has given future trends, content marketing, and sales enablement presentations and workshops in the US, Europe, South America, and Asia.
She is strategic in nature and tactical in execution. She also specializes in sales, marketing, internal and external communications consulting, keynote presentations, corporate training, and planning sessions.
She shares her personal marketing stories, templates, and frameworks that the audience can immediately put into action on her podcast, YouTube channel, B2B marketing, and more with Pam Didner.
Where to Find Pam (or just Google Pam Didner)
Website: PamDidner.com
Blog: https://pamdidner.com/blog
Podcast: https://pamdidner.com/podcasts
Video: https://youtube.com/pamdidner
Social Media: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
How did you start out as a marketer?
It’s a twist of fate.
I had a finance and accounting degree and started as a corporate auditor at KPMG Peat Marwick.
I was lucky to join a company that encouraged employees to move around. I moved from finance and accounting to supply-chain management and operations.
One of the managers I worked with moved to support event operations.
He asked me if I would be interested in joining him. That started my career in marketing.
I didn’t seek a marketing position; somehow, the job came to me, and I discovered that I loved everything about marketing.
How did you get your first client back then, and what kind of service did you do for them?
I always tell anyone who is interested in doing consulting to start finding their first gig through their existing network.
Start with your former companies or past colleagues. They know you well, and they know what you can and can’t do.
Ask them if they have any projects that you can take on. Since you know the companies, you can ramp up pretty fast.
My first several projects were for content creation.
I created several content pieces for one client, which helped them create their next year’s marketing plan.
Can you tell us about a past situation where you had to juggle multiple projects with competing deadlines?
2019 was a great year for me. I had 4-5 projects going on at the same time.
I spent time understanding the scope and deadlines for each project.
There were some deadlines that I needed to meet based on my workload.
I made sure that I communicated the delayed deadlines to clients as early as possible to ensure they had no issues with that. In one case, the client asked to pull in the deadline, and I moved resources around to accommodate that.
Here is my approach:
- Plan deliverables and timelines 1-2 quarters ahead.
- Communicate any potential to clients as early as possible.
- Monitor the timeline on a weekly basis.
- Move resources around if necessary.
- Continue to communicate the progress and status updates to clients.
What recently-developed marketing strategy, technique or tool interests you the most right now?
I am interested in the martech (marketing technology) stack. In other words, what is the ideal combination of different technologies for marketing?
Obviously, it’s different from company to company. Each company’s martech needs are different.
It’s critical to understand how the back-end works to further help your clients.
What do you do to stay up-to-date with new marketing techniques?
Read blogs and books, attend conferences, network, and ask questions.
There are many ways to stay ahead. However, I think the best way to learn is to get your hands dirty by doing the work.
If you want to know how content marketing works, well, write a blog and try to promote it.
If you want to know how podcasting works, again, start producing episodes and take it from there.
Reading is great; doing it is even better.
Can you tell us about a project you’re most proud of from your past work history?
I am most proud that I made the transition from a corporate marketer to an independent consultant.
On the corporate side, I managed a team and budget. Working for myself, I had no one supporting me for the first 2 years.
I had to build “everything” from scratch, from sourcing CRM, marketing automation, and business development down to setting up my own accounting.
I learned so much as a business owner, but, most importantly, I became a better marketer.
If there’s one marketing guru you’d recommend, who and why?
David Ogilvy. His book “Ogilvy on Advertising” is a must-read. It was written in the 1980s.
Most of the concepts still apply. “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” He is a great copywriter.
He focused on giving buyers facts and making these facts interesting. “If you want to be interesting, be interested.”
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