Samy awards: celebrating Utah's Sales and Marketing Executives of the Year.
Author | Business, Utah |
You may have an amazing product--innovative and elegant, with all the kinks ironed out--but you don't have a business unless you've got customers to buy it. The SAMY awards recognize the hard-working men and women who make sure the products and services offered by Utah businesses don't go unnoticed. These 18 sales and marketing professionals have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to adapt and innovate in a swiftly changing world, ensuring that their companies will continue to thrive.
Burke Alder
Vice President of Marketing
Lendio
Creative TV advertisements are what initially attracted Burke Alder to marketing. "I thought it would be awesome to spend all day coming up with creative campaign ideas," he says. "I now know all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to put together a successful campaign. I enjoy the whole process."
One part of Alder's process is making sure he's got an A-team. He has spent a lot of time over the last year building and nurturing the leaders on his marketing team, and results have been incredible.
"Marketing has helped to triple year-over-year revenue," he says. "The business unit I manage has increased month-over-month revenue by six times. We have quadrupled month-over-month customer acquisition while decreasing the costs by 250 percent. We have put together an automated marketing machine that has turned once negative marketing ROI to a positive ROI of over 145 percent in the last 15 months."
Overall, Alder says marketing is all about creating the best possible customer experience. "It's not just the colors or the tagline," he says. "It's every touch point. The better the experience the more your customers tell their friends. The more your customers tell their friends the more people know about your company."
Josh Aston
Senior Director of Online Marketing
Progrexion Marketing
Josh Aston has always had a passion for anything digital and has never shied away from a challenge. That's why Progrexion Marketing is a perfect fit.
At Progrexion, Aston has been a key influencer with many of the online marketing channels that are pivotal to Progrexion's success, including lead generation, paid search, social media and digital media buying. His team manages the digital efforts of major brands Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com.
In addition, Aston has been aggressively fulfilling a vision of building an integrated marketing team. "An integrated marketing team is a group that works towards a common vision [by building] awareness, [educating] the consumer and [leading] them to a conversion:' he says. "I have been working to ensure that all digital channels are working together and supporting one another."
Aston has also fully integrated a digital marketing approach at Progrexion. "I redefined our digital vision, restructured our team and brought on additional team members with skills that complement an integrated approach," he says. "Search channels, PR, social media and digital media channels all work together to ensure that we are strategically delivering an effective message and that the message is provided in a coordinated and effective way"
Jonathan Bacon
Director of Corporate Marketing
Wilson Electronics, LLC
Jonathan Bacon thinks of good marketing as a well-tuned symphony. Many instruments are available: social media, web design, video, PR and others. And when they all work together--in the hands of capable players and under the leadership of a good director--the result is beautiful music.
When Bacon arrived at Wilson Electronics in 2009, he set to work to become the director the company needed. He initiated a new comprehensive, coordinated plan for the company's advertising, PR and social media efforts, which included an overhaul of the company's website and social media efforts. He also immediately changed the company's presentation plan for an important upcoming trade show, which resulted in the company booking more sales than at any previous show.
"At Wilson I get to work with an amazing and talented team to help bring to market a quality, high-tech product, and help the company continue to grow at an accelerated rate Wilson says.
Sue Bingham
Vice President of Marketing
Les Olson Company
As a member of the second generation of ownership at Les Olson Company, Sue Bingham has been instrumental in preparing for a leadership transition to the third generation. Those preparations include a fresh marketing strategy that rebrands Les Olson as not just a copier company, but a technology partner that helps businesses control the documents they create.
Since Bingham became vice president of marketing in 2005, the company has added 33 employees and opened three new branch locations. Bingham spearheaded the development of a new website that is intended to serve as...
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