Posts by Shawn Strawser
Shawn Strawser on Using Data Without Losing the Human Side of Marketing
Modern marketing gives us more information than at any other point in history. We can measure traffic. Clicks. Conversions. Search rankings. Email engagement. Calls. Leads. Revenue. Customer behavior. That information is incredibly valuable. But there is one danger. It is possible to become so focused on the numbers that we forget the people behind them. …
Read MoreShawn Strawser on Self-Leadership: The Discipline Behind Consistent Performance
Leadership is usually discussed in terms of leading other people. Managing a team. Setting expectations. Creating culture. Motivating employees. Those things matter. But I believe leadership begins somewhere else. It begins with leading yourself. My name is Shawn Strawser, and one of the biggest lessons I have learned throughout my career is that long-term performance…
Read MoreShawn Strawser on Why Execution Matters More Than Ideas in Sales and Marketing
Ideas are everywhere. Every business has ideas. Every sales team has ideas. Every marketing meeting seems to produce another list of campaigns, improvements, projects, and opportunities. But ideas by themselves do not create growth. Execution does. My name is Shawn Strawser, and after more than 20 years working across advertising sales, business development, digital marketing,…
Read MoreShawn Strawser on Why Salespeople Should Understand Marketing — and Marketers Should Understand Sales
For most of my career, I have worked somewhere between sales and marketing. I started in advertising, moved into high-volume new account development, transitioned into outside sales, and eventually expanded into digital marketing and broader marketing strategy. That experience has convinced me of something I believe strongly today: Salespeople should understand marketing, and marketers should…
Read MoreShawn Strawser on Building a Professional Reputation That Creates Opportunities
My name is Shawn Strawser, and one thing I appreciate much more today than I did at the beginning of my career is the value of a professional reputation. Job titles change. Companies change. Industries change. Technology changes. But the way people remember working with you can follow you for decades. A strong professional reputation…
Read MoreHow Customer Conversations Improve Marketing Content
Customer conversations reveal the words people use when they are trying to understand an offer. They can expose missing information, confusing claims, and assumptions that a marketing team may not notice from a dashboard alone. My background in sales has made listening an important part of how I approach marketing. The useful step is to…
Read MoreWhy Marketing Strategy Starts With Business Goals
Marketing strategy becomes easier to evaluate when it starts with a business objective. Before choosing advertisements, content, or platforms, decide what the business needs to achieve and whether it can support the resulting demand. My experience in sales influences that approach. A campaign creates little practical value if the resulting conversations do not fit the…
Read MoreSales Discovery Questions That Improve the Conversation
Good sales questions help you understand whether you can offer something useful. They reveal the customer’s objective, constraints, decision process, and expectations before you recommend a product. My sales background has made me cautious about assuming that two businesses in the same category want the same outcome. One may need more inquiries, another may want…
Read MoreShawn Strawser on Building Trust: The Sales Principle That Never Goes Out of Style
My name is Shawn Strawser, and after more than 20 years working in sales, advertising, business development, and marketing strategy, one principle has remained more important than almost anything else: People do business with people and organizations they trust. Technology has changed. Advertising has changed. The way customers research businesses has changed. Sales tools have…
Read MoreWhy Follow-Up Matters in Sales and How to Manage It
Follow-up matters because a customer’s decision often involves more than one conversation. The person may need information, approval, time, or a change in circumstances. A dependable process helps you respond to those needs without relying on memory or repeated generic messages. My advertising-sales experience taught me to treat follow-up as a commitment to manage. It…
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