326. Calling all marketers 📞
Kicking off a new interview series. Who should I talk to?
Hi there 👋
One of the things I most appreciate about the community of folks who read this newsletter is how great you all are to give me feedback and ideas for what you’d like to read about next. That’s where this new interview series came from (see below). So while I’m on the topic of feedback, I thought I’d also ask: If I’m sharing interviews on this newsletter, when would you like to receive them? How frequently? What day of the week is best? Feel free to drop me a note to let me know your preference.
Wishing you a great week ahead,
Kevan
(ᵔᴥᵔ)
Thank you for being part of this newsletter. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world and my time at Oyster, Buffer, and more.
Say hi anytime at hello@kevanlee.com. I’d love to hear from you.
I’m kicking off a new interview series. Who should I talk to?
I can’t help myself. I see an interview on any of my favorite newsletters, and I must click. It’s just too compelling and special to get a view into how someone else sees the world, how they work, how they market.
Seems like the same was true for many of you. “Interview series” was one of the most-requested types of content for this newsletter when I asked in my annual survey in January.
Well, I’m getting around to it (finally).
I’m kicking off a new interview series where I’ll ask super cool marketers a handful of questions to get to know them better, to go inside their day-to-day work, and to gain some inspiration and ideas on how to do startup marketing and brand-building better.
Next step: I’m making a list of super cool marketers.
Do you know some? (I’m sure you do.)
Are you one? (I’m sure you are.)
It’d be amazing to get your input: Who would you like me to interview? Who do you want to hear from?
Click the big button below to leave a comment on this newsletter with a name or two or three …
… or drop me an email. You can reply to this newsletter, or email me directly at hello@kevanlee.com.
I have a few goals with this interview series:
Elevating voices and perspectives that are different from my own
Giving a platform to amazing marketers who are doing awesome work
Learning about brand-building, PLG, startup marketing, etc. at companies I admire
The first interviews will happen later this summer (or winter, if you’re reading this in the Southern Hemisphere). They’ll be text Q&As, no podcasts — yet. I’m refining the list of questions, making the list for the first cohort of interviewees, and still generally getting my act together. Your input would be really helpful!
And of course I’ll be “standing on the shoulders of giants,” as it were, since so many of my favorite newsletters and websites have amazing interview series that I love. Check some of them out below if you haven’t heard of them yet.
Inspiration. Here are some of my very favorite interview series:
Example: Calendly CEO Tope Awotona
Why Is This Interesting? Monday Media Diet
Examples:
Lenny’s Newsletter: Lenny’s Podcast
Suzan’s Field Notes: Leader Interview Series
Misc.
How Amazon achieves its operational excellence (and you can too)
Collection of frameworks for business strategy and marketing
About this newsletter …
Hi, I’m Kevan, a marketing exec based in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I currently lead the marketing team at Oyster (we’re hiring!). I previously built brands at Buffer, Vox, and Polly. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world. Not yet subscribed? No worries. You can check out the archive, or sign up below:
Thank you for being here! 🙇♂️
I’m lucky to count folks from great brands like these (and many more) as part of this newsletter community.
I'd love to be super obnoxious and put myself forward too! Was the sole marketer to launch a UK startup in Aus, going from 0>$1M ARR in 10 months, then had to respond to covid right as our first contracts were coming up to 12 months, and currently a product marketer for digital twin technology. I also had my own substack which interviewed Aussie marketers!
I'm down to talk about the future of content marketing and how thinking like a media company (not necessarily building one) is how we'll finally see what Bill Gates meant when he said "content is king" way back in 1996.
You should talk to Melisse Lombard (https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissehinkle/) about her mental health series (https://hopin.com/blog/mental-health-stories-professionals) and the pursuit of human-centric content.
If you haven't already, connect with John-Henry Scherck about the work his company Growth Plays is doing in the SEO space — it's truly innovative.
Tommy Walker (https://twitter.com/tommyismyname) would be a great person to interview also. His "Cutting Room" series stands out in a sea of basic resources about content marketing by exploring the philosophy of successful content marketers and having them edit a piece live.
I'm sure I can think of more.