Double Dip: Erin Ongena

On Monday's episode, we welcomed Sylvia Montgomery, CPSM to talk to us about how original research can be used as a content marketing tool. For today's Double Dip, we’re back with Sylvia to learn more about how her career, and how she went from a graphic designer to a brand and marketing expert in the professional services niche.

As consumers in a data-driven world, we are all more informed than ever before. Buying a new camera? Check out Consumer Reports. Thinking about trying a new restaurant? Not before seeing it's Yelp rating. Whether we know it or not, we're constantly conducting original research to learn more about companies, products, and services before we invest our time and money. But as marketers - or professional services firms - we don't always apply that same level of due diligence when making decisions that impact our clients or marketing strategies. Today we're excited to be chatting with Sylvia Montgomery, CPSM, Senior Partner with Hinge about conducting original research, and how you can leverage your findings to create value for your firm.

Susan has come a long way from being a shy English teacher to today, an inspirational presentation coach for AEC firms across the country. On today's double dip, she is sharing some great stories and advice she's learned along her glamorous journey.

As in-house marketers, we're often the go-to internal resource on coaching technical staff for presentations - be it for a client interview, speaking opportunity or internal meeting. And while most of us are natural-born communicators, presentations bring unique challenges. Before we can coach others, we must be great presenters ourselves. That's why we're excited to welcome Susan Murphy of Murphy Motivation and Training to the podcast this week to share her valuable insight surrounding her 20-years as a presentation coach.

We're back with Heather Davis, Managing Director of Brand + Culture and MGAC, to learn about her career journey - and how a design background has led to her current marketing role in the AEC industry.

If you've made it to this point in your career and have never faced a difficult conversation in the workplace, I'd say you've most likely either avoided them or you're simply a lucky individual! Whether related to performance issues, personality conflicts, or a hostile work environment - these confrontational discussions are by no means easy, but extremely necessary. Learning how to face these direct conversations head on is an important step in everyone's career, and we're excited to be chatting with Heather Davis this week to hear about her experience and tactful approach.

On Monday's episode, we chatted with Joanna Hoffschneider about the challenges of taking on a new team and how to overcome them. Today, we're back with Joanna to hear more about her career as a marketer, the impact of her personal network, and why she's making the next year about getting back to the basics.

Starting a new job is hard. There's a new culture to adapt to, and new projects and procedures to learn. And if you're a manager, you also have the challenge of taking on a new team. Today we'll be talking with Joanna Hoffschneider, industry vet and Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Grimm + Parker, about how to turn your NEW team into YOUR team.

We're back today with Mindy Hinsley, CPSM to learn more about her career experience and challenges.

Strategic planning. It's one of those things that we all know we should be doing, but don't always dedicate the time and resources true to our intentions. When done right, a strategic plan will act as a roadmap to not only plan for the future, but also guide and motivate each employee in their daily decisions. Today we're chatting with Mindy Hinsley, CPSM, about the value she sees in keeping the plan alive, and how to incorporate the strategic planning process into you everyday routine.