As part of our Salary and Career Survey, we interviewed people about their experiences in marketing. Today we’re talking to Julia Monahan. She’s director of CRM at Greater Good and has worked in marketing for more than a decade.
What’s your career path been?
I came through graphic design, got my undergraduate degree in graphic design. I also kind of already knew which direction I was headed in because I also got a major in advertising and then a minor in marketing. My first job was at a retail Internet company called EToys. I was the website and email person. The thing I liked about that one was seeing the bigger picture and that just kind of led me more and more towards marketing. So I went back and got my graduate degree in IT, focused on marketing.
Is there any tech or information that you wish you had?
There’s all this data…But the thing I think that is missing is the context. People went from no data and just having a gut feeling and being able to follow what they knew without evidence. Now it’s the opposite. There’s a lot of data, and all we say are numbers without giving the experience context. That’s still something the marketing world is trying to figure out and get back to. Being able to say, my gut is saying this. Believe me, and I’ll get you the data. It might be one of the hardest parts because they’ll just chase data and it’ll get lost in all these scoreboards and things that have no context.
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What do you like about what you do?
I love marketing because I really feel it’s the pulse of the customer experience. It has influence and should have an ongoing discussion with all aspects of the company. I like solving puzzles and unraveling things. I love when, not only does the customer get a great customer experience, but I love it when the internal stakeholders and employees, the people working day to day, also have a great experience.
Is there a piece of jargon, or a buzzword that’s driving you up the wall currently?
I’m in the middle of looking for a new technology platform right now, so those are the ones driving me up the wall. So the fact that we can’t decide upon what to call this thing. Is it a DXP? Is it a marketing automation platform? There’s so many different words for essentially the same thing.
The 2022 Career and Salary Survey can be downloaded here, registration not required.
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About The Author
Constantine von Hoffman is managing editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications. He has also been a professional stand-up comedian, given talks at anime and gaming conventions on everything from My Neighbor Totoro to the history of dice and boardgames, and is author of the magical realist novel John Henry the Revelator. He lives in Boston with his wife, Jennifer, and either too many or too few dogs.
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