Show notes
Ian Barkin is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer for Sykes Enterprises, host of the OneTAKE Podcast, a speaker, and educator on Digital Transformation, Intelligent Automation and the Future of Work. As a serial entrepreneur, Ian has founded firms in the Internet of Things, Critical Infrastructure & Cyber Security, and the Robotic Process Automation spaces. He most recently co-founded and grew Symphony Ventures, a leading global RPA boutique, that he sold to SYKES in 2018. Follow and connect with Ian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianbarkin/
Listen to and watch the OneTAKE podcast: https://www.sykes.com/onetake
Marketing is in a constant state of evolution, some by choice and some by force.
The pandemic this year is a very real example of evolution by force. Businesses have been forced to reimagine tried-and-true marketing tactics and strategies like in-person events and face-to-face meetings. For innovative and disruptive professionals and businesses, this challenge has illuminated tremendous opportunities for growth. One such CMO is Ian Barkin, a trail-blazing marketing leader who is making some serious waves in the industry. On this edition of B2B Mentors, Barkin shared key strategy secrets for not only building and amplifying your personal brand, but overcoming adversity and the dreaded imposter syndrome, embracing virtual events, aligning sales and marketing, and more.
What would you say is one of the biggest misconceptions of being at the tip of the spear in strategy, business development, and marketing in a billion-dollar organization?
[IB]: That I know what I’m doing every day.
The thing that motivates and energizes me the most is the constant learning, not only from the journey of improvements for myself and the team, but also from everybody we have the privilege of interacting. We’ve got teams all over the world. We’ve got partners all over the world. And honestly, the dynamics of ‘how do you build a brand’ and ‘how do you engage with prospective shoppers and buyers who are looking for a product or a service that you have’ is evolving so rapidly.
When I was building the brand of my small startup, it was ‘who is more raw’? Not because the technology wasn’t there, but because our budget wasn’t there. We just had to build a brand and a name for ourselves through our own tenacity and through our own ideas and our own voice. Now, I’ve got a much larger machine and have a much larger story to tell. I’m learning every day.
Having that entrepreneurial spirit has probably contributed a lot to your success in your current role.
[IB]: I think I bring a healthy imposter syndrome to the role in so much as I wasn’t officially trained as someone who would become chief marketing officer. I came to the craft out of both passion and necessity. I love this stuff. I love storytelling. I love trying to find the nuance in the elements that really matter to the audience — but I didn’t go to school for it.
That’s something a lot of successful people have shared with me — that imposter syndrome. How do you deal with it? How do you manage it? How do you overcome something like that?
[IB]: Just keep going. Just be honest with yourself and continue going. Don’t present yourself to be anybody you’re not. I think my team knows that I very much learn from them and count on them and would not be anything without them. So that’s it. I would never dare to present myself as knowing more than I do because I don’t think it helps me or the mission.
With all the changes, if you had to start with a mid-sized budget or from no budget whatsoever, what would you be doing? What are the immediate channels and action strategies you would be diving into?
[IB]: We are so incredibly privileged to be...
Listen to and watch the OneTAKE podcast: https://www.sykes.com/onetake
Marketing is in a constant state of evolution, some by choice and some by force.
The pandemic this year is a very real example of evolution by force. Businesses have been forced to reimagine tried-and-true marketing tactics and strategies like in-person events and face-to-face meetings. For innovative and disruptive professionals and businesses, this challenge has illuminated tremendous opportunities for growth. One such CMO is Ian Barkin, a trail-blazing marketing leader who is making some serious waves in the industry. On this edition of B2B Mentors, Barkin shared key strategy secrets for not only building and amplifying your personal brand, but overcoming adversity and the dreaded imposter syndrome, embracing virtual events, aligning sales and marketing, and more.
What would you say is one of the biggest misconceptions of being at the tip of the spear in strategy, business development, and marketing in a billion-dollar organization?
[IB]: That I know what I’m doing every day.
The thing that motivates and energizes me the most is the constant learning, not only from the journey of improvements for myself and the team, but also from everybody we have the privilege of interacting. We’ve got teams all over the world. We’ve got partners all over the world. And honestly, the dynamics of ‘how do you build a brand’ and ‘how do you engage with prospective shoppers and buyers who are looking for a product or a service that you have’ is evolving so rapidly.
When I was building the brand of my small startup, it was ‘who is more raw’? Not because the technology wasn’t there, but because our budget wasn’t there. We just had to build a brand and a name for ourselves through our own tenacity and through our own ideas and our own voice. Now, I’ve got a much larger machine and have a much larger story to tell. I’m learning every day.
Having that entrepreneurial spirit has probably contributed a lot to your success in your current role.
[IB]: I think I bring a healthy imposter syndrome to the role in so much as I wasn’t officially trained as someone who would become chief marketing officer. I came to the craft out of both passion and necessity. I love this stuff. I love storytelling. I love trying to find the nuance in the elements that really matter to the audience — but I didn’t go to school for it.
That’s something a lot of successful people have shared with me — that imposter syndrome. How do you deal with it? How do you manage it? How do you overcome something like that?
[IB]: Just keep going. Just be honest with yourself and continue going. Don’t present yourself to be anybody you’re not. I think my team knows that I very much learn from them and count on them and would not be anything without them. So that’s it. I would never dare to present myself as knowing more than I do because I don’t think it helps me or the mission.
With all the changes, if you had to start with a mid-sized budget or from no budget whatsoever, what would you be doing? What are the immediate channels and action strategies you would be diving into?
[IB]: We are so incredibly privileged to be...