Ok! Welcome back to my podcast: The Marketing Playbook with Mark Friedman! Presented by Details Interactive. Here, you’ll take away 3 game-winning marketing plays every episode to take back to your team. I’m your host, Mark Friedman, and my career has been focused on direct-to-consumer marketing; direct mail, physical retail, and digital commerce.
This is Episode #15 and today’s guest is Bernardine Wu. She’s the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FitForCommerce. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots – subscribe and leave a 5-star review if you have your playbook!
What is The Marketing Playbook with Mark Friedman?
Mark Friedman (that’s me) knows direct-to-consumer marketing. The 30+ year industry veteran has served as the President of eCommerce at Steve Madden, Chief Marketing Officer of Brooks Brothers, mentor to dozens of startups, and even youth sports coach. You’ll take away 3 fundamental tips every episode to help your team knock it out of the park, and draw up strategies for digital marketing, eCommerce, customer monetization, and pivoting with the brightest all-stars in business. Do you have your playbook?
Podcast Episode #15: Bernardine Wu – Founder and CEO of FitForCommerce
Bernardine Wu, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FitForCommerce, adds her page to the Marketing Playbook. Hear how to use each step of your career as a building block, how to make tough personnel decisions, how to best serve your customers now, stories from Bernardine’s childhood in NYC, and lessons from the consulting world. This episode covers everything from what Bernardine likes about consulting to her time as a lifeguard. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:
- Did being a minority woman make Bernardine work harder
- What is FitForCommerce
- How do they differentiate vs. other consulting firms
- What has Bernardine learned about running her own business
- How has organizational structure changed
- How do you deal with feeling frustrated with work
- Something Bernardine wishes she were better at
- If she had one superpower what would it be
Connect with Bernardine on Twitter and LinkedIn at @FitForCommerce.
Let’s open the playbook. Ready? Break! Check out the episode, show notes, and pictures below for much more detail.
Show Notes
- Intro
- [0:19] The Marketing Playbook with Mark Friedman
- [0:21] Details Interactive
- [0:28] Connect with Mark at Mark@DetailsInteractive.com, on Twitter at @DetailsInteract, and on LinkedIn
- [0:41] Connect with Bernardine on Twitter and LinkedIn at @FitForCommerce
- [0:55] Thank you as always to Max Branstetter of the Wild Business Growth Podcast at Hippo Direct for producing this podcast. You can reach him at max@hippodirect.com to bring your podcast to life
- Bernardine’s Page of The Marketing Playbook with Mark Friedman
- [1:38] How Bernardine and her family are handling COVID-19
- [2:09] Her first story
- [2:44] Tiger parents
- [3:36] Dartmouth College
- [4:06] Did being a minority woman make Bernardine work harder
- [5:23] How did her career start
- [5:31] Corporate Recruiting, Consulting
- [5:43] Andersen Consulting
- [5:48] Management Consulting, IT Consulting, Programming
- [6:26] PowerPoint
- [6:47] How long was it from Bernardine’s graduation to starting her company
- [7:14] Accenture
- [8:58] Digital Marketing, eCommerce
- [9:42] What is FitForCommerce
- [10:08] Omni-Channel
- [10:33] Navy SEALs
- [10:41] Direct-to-Consumer (DTC), Retail
- [11:38] Steve Madden
- [12:04] How does Bernardine differentiate vs. other consulting firms
- [12:46] CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)
- [13:16] Accelerator
- [13:46] IP (Intellectual Property)
- [13:57] What has Bernardine learned about running her own business
- [14:35] Trade shows
- [14:49] Entrepreneur
- [16:33] Whitepapers
- [17:00] CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
- [17:14] Who are the stakeholders in each project
- [18:23] CIO (Chief Information Officer)
- [19:04] Private Equity
- [19:20] How has organizational structure changed
- [20:33] Chief Merchandising Officer
- [20:51] Digital Marketer
- [21:02] CDO (Chief Digital Officer)
- [22:01] HR (Human Resources), Legal
- [23:45] At Details Interactive, you can discuss your business with a seasoned direct-to-consumer marketing executive who’s helped launch and grow web businesses and integrate multi-channel marketing initiatives. Learn more at DetailsInteractive.com
- [24:41] BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup In-Store)
- [24:56] What were Bernardine’s most common projects pre-COVID-19
- [25:17] Customer Data, Enterprise Data
- [25:56] Customer Data Platform (CDP), BI (Business Intelligence), Analytics
- [28:22] P&L (Profit & Loss Statement)
- [28:47] How has business changed since COVID-19
- [29:17] Click and collect, Curbside pickup
- [29:33] Brick-and-mortar, Customer Service
- [29:48] Contactless Payment
- [33:17] How do you deal with feeling frustrated with work
- [33:39] Cynthia Kounaris
- [35:07] What would Bernardine say to retail executives
- [35:43] Flash sales
- [39:06] How do you deal with tough clients
- [41:11] NPV (Net Promoter Value)
- 2-Minute Drill
- [42:13] Airbnb
- [42:40] Life360
- [43:06] The Home Depot, Bose
- [43:29] Something Bernardine wishes she were better at
- [43:52] Soles4Souls, Dress for Success, Women for Women
- [44:08] If Bernardine had one superpower what would it be
- [44:17] Snoopy
- This Week’s 3 Game-Winning Plays
- [44:39] Connect with Bernardine on Twitter and LinkedIn at @FitForCommerce
- [45:25] This week’s 3 Game-Winning Plays are as follows:
- Use each step of your career as a building block
- Make tough personnel decisions
- Serve your customers now
- [46:39] If you want to check out more pages of The Marketing Playbook, make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast spot and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts
- [46:51] Connect with Mark at Mark@DetailsInteractive.com, on Twitter at @DetailsInteract, and on LinkedIn
- Theme Song: Jazzy Man Funk Rock – Auditone Music Library – provided by Jamendo
How can I work with Details Interactive?
That’s it! Today’s game ball goes to Bernardine Wu. Thank you, Playbook Marketers, for listening. If you want to check out more pages of The Marketing Playbook, make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast spot and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. You can also follow us on Twitter at @DetailsInteract and learn more at DetailsInteractive.com. Until next time, The devil is in the details.