Digital Surfing Daryn Smith

This week’s guest is Sue Cho, the Director of CRM at Outside Inc, the premier destination for active lifestyle enthusiasts and home to leading brands in the endurance sports, outdoor, and healthy living spaces.


Guided by her mantra “Think creatively, proceed analytically”, Sue has been doing retention, email and engagement marketing for 14 years, focusing on e-commerce and subscription services.


People say Sue went from EDM to CRM, as she was an electronic dance music singer in the early 2000s. Based in a ski resort town in the Eastern Sierra, just 45 minutes outside of Yosemite, Sue is dedicated to digital, going so far as to have an email tattoo!


In this episode, Daryn and Sue chat about the challenges of working with large databases, her experiences with email marketing mistakes and how to respond to them, how people often misperceive email marketers as spammers, the changing landscape of email marketing due to Apple and Gmail's continuous updates.


It’s Sue Cho!


Follow Daryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynsmith

This week’s guests are Malcolm King, the Head of Creative, Marc Viljoen, the Head of Development, and Craig Johnston, the EMEA Team Lead, here at Huble.


Marc has previously worked at Imagemakers Corporate Wear, focusing on digital solutions for B2B and B2C customers, using technologies like Vue.js, Laravel, and Node.js. At Quint Group, he served as the Head of Technology for InQbate, focusing on consumer finance technology. Marc's expertise lies in creating efficient, customer-centric digital experiences in various industries.


Malcolm is a seasoned creative professional with a rich history in the advertising and creative development industry. Malcolm's career spans over two decades, beginning as a Junior Art Director at TBWA\Worldwide in 1998. 


His journey includes significant roles at Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, Grey Group, Studio4332, Switch Brand, Geometry Global, and Lobster Ink, where he was also a Creative Director. His expertise lies in creative direction, art direction, and leading creative teams, with a focus on innovative digital marketing strategies.


Craig is an experienced marketing professional whose expertise encompasses a wide range of digital marketing strategies including HubSpot, inbound marketing, CRM-based marketing, sales and customer service automation, SEO, email marketing, and more. 


Previously, Craig was the owner of Savvy Sprout, a customer-centric marketing and design company. He has a strong background in creating effective marketing campaigns, digital transformation consulting, and team leadership.


In this episode, Daryn, Malcolm, Marc, and Craig discuss the evolution of web accessibility standards, the importance of integrating accessibility considerations early in the website design and development process to avoid costly retroactive changes, the role of user experience in designing accessible websites, and future trends in web accessibility, particularly the potential impact of artificial intelligence and search engine algorithms in improving accessibility standards and compliance.


It’s Malcolm, Marc, and Craig!



Follow Daryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynsmith

In this last episode of Digital Surfing 2022 season 2, Daryn Smith shares some key highlights from the past year!


This includes the episode with Irina Chuchkina, CMO of Thunes, where she discussed the concept of "Steal Like an Artist" and how it applies in the marketing world. 


She reminded us that originality often comes from undetected inspiration and to surround ourselves with excellence to elevate our standards.


Another was the thought-provoking episode with Peter Stojanovic, the editor of Hot Topics, at a time when AI was still a new and scary topic. 


Many of Peter's predictions about AI have unfolded in real-time, confirming his deep understanding of this ever-evolving field. 


The next highlight is the insightful conversation Daryn had with Ralf Paschen, the CMO of xtype.io.


Ralf spoke about the intricacies of modern marketing strategies, particularly highlighting his research on the ineffectiveness of gated content. 


The final highlight is from the most recent episode with Gideon Thomas, the CMO of DealHub. Gideon's diverse background, spanning multiple continents, has shaped his approach as a CMO. 


His insights on the convergence of brand storytelling and demand generation highlighted how important authentic engagement is in marketing. 


Thanks to all of you, our listeners, for making this year such a success - we almost doubled the number of downloads across episodes compared to the first two years of the show.


We’re taking a break for the rest of the year, which means we’ll be back with more episodes in January, kicking things off with an overview of website accessibility and how changes in requirements will affect businesses going forward.


So have a great holiday season and catch you all in the New Year!


Follow Daryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynsmith

This week’s guest is Gideon Thomas, the Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at DealHub.io, a market-leading revenue platform, that offers an integrated suite of services including CPQ, CLM, DealRoom, subscription management, and billing solutions.


In his role at DealHub, he orchestrates the company's go-to-market strategy, utilising his extensive expertise in marketing and sales to drive growth and innovation. 


Aside from his executive responsibilities, Gideon is an active contributing member of the Forbes Communications Council and Pavilion, and is the host of the acclaimed RevAmp Podcast by DealHub, showcasing his industry thought leadership.


In this episode, Daryn and Gideon discuss how he built DealHub’s demand generation from scratch, the difficulties in modern marketing, especially in attribution, and the importance of customer experience in marketing and the ongoing potential for growth in this area.


It’s Gideon Thomas!


Follow Daryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynsmith

This week’s guests are Julia Pilkes, HubSpot’s Senior Director of Marketing for EMEA, and Crevan O'Malley, the Director of Corporate Sales at HubSpot.


Julia is a seasoned marketing professional based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she lives with her two children and her fiancé. With a rich career spanning various roles in marketing, Julia has honed her skills in both corporate and startup environments. She embarked on a new journey at HubSpot three months ago, with the primary responsibility of fostering a collaborative working relationship with the sales team to drive growth.


Crevan is a Dublin-based tech sales veteran who balances his professional life with a love for sports, albeit more as a spectator these days. He shares his life with his wife and their two boys. Despite being a college dropout who once enjoyed a fulfilling stint as a professional barman, he transitioned into the tech sales domain, accruing 24 years of experience thus far. He’s been at HubSpot for the past four years but has extensive experience from startups to big corporations, with a keen focus on CRM.


In this episode, Daryn, Julia and Crevan chat all things sales and marketing alignment, discussing common pain points that arise when the two aren’t aligned, challenges associated with trying to create this alignment, some of the approaches they’ve taken to align their teams, and advice for other leaders that are looking to create more alignment between their sales and marketing teams.


It’s Julia Pilkes and Crevan O'Malley!


Follow Daryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynsmith

This week’s guests are Amy Dwyer, Huble’s Chief Strategy Officer, and Anthony O’Connor, the Chief Creative Officer here at Huble.


Amy was the founder and managing director of a digital marketing agency for over 10 years before it was acquired by Huble in 2022. With more than 20 years experience in international marketing and CRM, Amy is passionate about combining innovative technologies with clever minds and creative ideas to truly make for a more efficient, fun and successful work environment – both for her teams and for her customers.


Anthony has over 20 years of experience in marketing from design, programming, and multimedia, leading him to become part of the senior management team at the biggest B2B agencies in Germany. Later he was founder and managing director of a digital marketing agency for over 10 years, which merged with Huble in 2022. Anthony is passionate about innovation and how one can use technology and great creative to develop amazing solutions and results.


In this episode, Daryn, Amy, and Anthony explore strategic planning for the year 2024. They discuss the influential trends that defined 2023, the emerging trends anticipated to shape 2024, changes in consumer behaviour and the rise of conscious consumption. They also explore the growing shift towards self-service among businesses with complex purchasing cycles, as well as share insights on how to effectively plan your marketing activities for the upcoming year while addressing the challenges you may encounter along the way. 


It’s Amy Dwyer and Anthony O’Connor!
Follow Daryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynsmith