Digital and social marketing has developed a split personality disorder that can drive marketing managers crazy. Campaigns are either “super cool” brand show pieces that audiences love but which are virtually impossible to evaluate, or they are pure ROI optimization plays that drive sales in a “today” sense at the cost of long-term brand health.
But the real revolution of social media is the opportunity to closely connect with customers and hear their changing worries and joys.
Having worked for many years on both the client side and the agency side, Byron understands how to listen to the needs of multiple stakeholders and craft strategic marketing solutions that are informed by technology and data. As a startup marketing VP, he had the ROI-driven test-and-learn approach central to search and digital sales baked into his DNA, where risk taking was rewarded and viewed as a good thing. But great marketing is more than “buy now” – it is about building loved brands that can sell, surprise and delight fans all together and one at a time.
During the 1990s and 2000s, Byron worked at both startups and large brands including Ford, Chase, Aflac, Bank of America, Electronic Arts and Owners.com. As VP of Communications for the nonprofit SubArtSF, Byron worked for a year in close coordination with Google as a Google Bay Area Impact Challenge winner, learning how to apply all the digital tools Google had to offer to make a positive social impact and bring art to public placemaking. In the last 15 years, he has helped multicultural agencies make sure customers’ voices get through to brands, helping to make marketing to multicultural segments relevant, not just warmed-over general market noise.