"Success for me is the elusive life balance."
Meet Angelo Ponzi, founder of Craft. Craft Marketing Architects provides consulting, interim and fractional marketing and leadership services with a focus on the strategic and analytical side of marketing, taking a holistic approach to drive business growth. They focus on small to medium size companies, $5M – $75M, both B2B and B2C.
Consider them your Marketing Architect, using research to gather the necessary insights from your customers/prospects, competition, and the market, to develop fact-based approaches to building effective and efficient growth plans.
And, much like a General Contractor, they partner with internal teams or carefully selected, vetted individuals and organizations to execute the strategies and plans, as well as provide oversight and management to ensure they stay on brand.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Angelo Ponzi: With 25+ years of experience, I am a marketing and branding strategist that works with small to middle-market companies as their fractional Chief Marketing Officer in defining market opportunities, developing competitive profiles, audience personas, brand realignment and strategies, to strategic, integrated marketing plans that help businesses compete in an ever-changing marketplace through my company, Craft.
I have extensive, practical, hands-on experience in marketing, branding, advertising, research, and sales. I have worked in a multitude of industry segments and brand categories including B2B – technology, industrial/manufacturing, payments processing, as well as B2C – food/beverage, restaurant, action sports, packaged goods, financial, healthcare and retail among others.
Brands I have worked with include SBC Global (now AT&T), Ericsson, Kendall-Jackson, La Crema, Simple Green, Seagram’s Vodka, Ketel One Vodka, Cabo Wabo Tequila, Cold Stone Creamery, Arby’s, Johnny Rockets, Green Burrito, Vistage International, Nestle Purina, Exxon Mobil, Unilever, Disney, Bausch and Lomb, Pacific Sunwear, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Western Digital, and JP Morgan Chase to name a few.
I have led both small and large teams for global, national, regional and start-up companies with very large to small budgets and have worked with products in all stages of their lifecycle, including helping to conceive and market them.
I believe in integrating marketing activities (print, broadcast, DM, outdoor, PR, guerrilla, web, digital, social media, video, lead generation, etc.), as well as integrated thinking. It’s most important to communicate with the target customer at the various stages of their buying journey based on the way and techniques they use to consume information. It’s essential to keep a pulse on market dynamics and analytics.
My focus is always on driving revenue opportunities with minimal risk and maximum return.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Angelo Ponzi: During the pandemic, businesses panicked. They cut their marketing budgets and pulled back on maintaining their presence in the market. History has shown this reaction and strategy, preserving cash at all costs is not a good strategy. Those that invested during previous recessions, came out of those times in a much better position than before it began.
While we have no experience of running businesses in previous pandemics, we learned that you have to identify and utilize the information that can help provide insights for better strategies. As a marketing consulting firm, we spent lots of time educating our clients, as well as the market in general. So, lessons learned? Don’t react.
Step back and conduct scenario planning exercises so you have various road maps on the steps to take and pivoting strategies based on real-world outcomes. Consistency and persistence pays-off in the long run.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Angelo Ponzi: Besides what I just said, get to know your customers and potential prospects. And, your competition. It’s surprising that many of the businesses we have worked with over the years have not conducted research with existing customers to truly understand their perceptions of the company, market trends, and things that influence their buying decisions.
Don’t rely on your sales team to gather the information you need to make intelligent decisions. Get intimate with your customers. And, intimate with your competitors.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Angelo Ponzi: For us, current and prospective clients seem to have taken a hard look at their brand and the relevance of their messaging. There is no silver bullet in marketing nor a one-size-fits-all message.
As I mentioned, getting to know your customers and the decision-makers within those companies will help you shape how you speak with them. Segmentation and personalization are key, and what got you here today may not be what gets you there tomorrow. Therefore, we focus more on the upfront strategic work and not the tactics.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Angelo Ponzi: I wished we knew that Zoom was not an obstacle, but an opportunity. When you’re used to seeing clients and networking in person, Zoom was a struggle.
I think we and other others just resisted seeing the value of it. After two years of Zooming, while everyone wants to get back in person, we see the real value of combining level with Zoom as a way to maximize time and budgets. So, finding new ways to make Zoom more efficient and using it to reach new geographic markets that once required an onsite presence to build our brand and those of our clients.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Angelo Ponzi: More of the same. It’s a new world and the pandemic allowed digital transformation to happen much faster than was predicted.
There are many market studies that confirm this thinking. It is not only happening in business but in the home as well. And, it is not limited to millennials of Gen z. All generations have adopted this new transformation, which frankly, has made life better for so many.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Angelo Ponzi: I wish I could say it isn’t so, but probably 6 – 10 hours a day, including weekends. As a small business owner, I, unfortunately, find myself putting in time on both days of the weekend. And, that’s just works. Add another 2 – 3 for TV, which includes looking at my phone.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Angelo Ponzi: I’m going to actually talk about my clients. While I have many examples I can share, I think one of the most consistent is having them make sure that they include their employees in their marketing. Not make creative or strategic decisions, but be aware of what is going on. For example, I had just helped a client implement a new strategy and external marketing was now taking place.
I was walking down the hallway and bumped into the head of accounting. I asked what she thought about the new messaging and campaign and she had no idea what I was talking about. I thought, there are 150 people in this company who, when they leave, become brand ambassadors for the company. Yet, they only thought about their function, but the role they played in helping to grow it, keep customers happy, and company efficiencies. Make sure every client takes the time to bring all of their employees up to speed and understand that they are part of the team that makes the company work.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Angelo Ponzi: For us, it’s balancing client work with business development. Finding the right cadence to manage the necessary tie to not only get the work one but ensure we’re doing the rights things to keep the pipeline full.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Angelo Ponzi: We focus on the strategic side of marketing, using various methodologies to gather the insights necessary for clients and us, to make intelligent decisions, drive more effective brand messaging, and build long-term growth plans.
Areas we’d like to learn more about, to implement them, but to better understand for planning purposes is paid digital communications and SEO. We think we have a good handle on it, but it changes so rapidly so it is a constant effort to stay current. I’d like to find a way to make it easier to continually access that knowledge base.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Angelo Ponzi: I think in many situations, leaders don’t see themselves as the problem. Too many articles have been written about millennials and Gen Z for example about how difficult they are wor work with, their wants in the workplace, etc. And, the pandemic gave them a chance to experience life and work outside of the office. I believe that some of those seeking fame and fortune will be successful, but not everyone leaving the workforce will be.
But, it could take some time for them to come to the realization. Therefore, I believe companies need to invest not only in looking to the market to sell their products and services but to look inward to better understand the needs and wants of their workforce and seek a balance. work behavior has changed due to the pandemic. We have to accept that and find a way to adapt.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Angelo Ponzi: The ability to read minds. I would use it to better understand what clients and customers were thinking to help figure out how to best communicate with them.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Angelo Ponzi: Success for me is the elusive life balance. Not working every weekend and having more time with my family and friends. Finish the book I’ve been working on for months that seems to take a back seat to everything else.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Angelo Ponzi for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Angelo Ponzi or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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