Mastering Internal Communication Strategies | Jamie Bell from Workshop

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us out on pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Jamie Bell from Workshop, VP of Marketing with them. How are you doing today, Jamie?

Jamie Bell: I’m great. How are you?

Ernesto: I’m doing great. Thank you so much for asking. It’s a pleasure to have you on and to our listeners as well. I’m sure they’re tuning in wondering what Workshop is all about, so let’s kick it off with that. Jamie, in your own words, tell us.

Jamie: Yeah, you bet. Workshop is an email platform built specifically for internal communication. It’s kind of like if Mailchimp had a bunch of employee-facing features and superpowers. Essentially, we make it really easy for comms, HR, and marketing departments to send really beautiful segmented emails and track the results. You can integrate with other comms channels like Slack, SharePoint, Teams, and all that good stuff.

Ernesto: That’s awesome to hear. A lot of companies out there would want something like this. For our listeners who are tuning in to get a good understanding of Workshop, what are some key problems that you guys solve for clients?

Jamie: We focus on internal communication, creating, sending, managing, and measuring all your internal comms, specifically with email. We focus on newsletters and all-company sends, but we’ve seen great adoption with cross-department emails too. We make it really easy for internal communicators to do their jobs and track the results.

Ernesto: That’s awesome. Is there a certain vertical segment? Is there an ideal ICP for Workshop?

Jamie: Workshop has been unique, especially for me as a marketer because it’s almost entirely industry agnostic. Any company with over 200-250 employees can find a lot of value in managing their internal communications. We have a lot of customers in food and beverage, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and we have an SMS add-on for companies with frontline or deskless employees to reach them too.

Ernesto: Great. How do these clients usually find out about Workshop? Is there a top client acquisition channel for you guys?

Jamie: We rely on content marketing and event and demand gen as well, including newsletters, templates, webinars, conferences, and some paid advertising. We have a newsletter called the Happy Monday Club with positive, practical articles about work, comms, and culture. We also offer practical internal communication resources and templates. We amplify these through organic search and paid channels. We host a monthly webinar on internal communications topics with over 1000 registrations each month. We also love connecting with customers at conferences and use paid advertising for bottom-of-the-funnel keywords.

Ernesto: Awesome. I hear you guys are hosting your own conference.

Jamie: Yes, we are. We’ve done well with conferences where we are sponsors, but this fall, we’re hosting our own internal communications conference in Omaha called Brightside. We’ll have about 100 guests for a one-day event. It’s our first big event from start to finish, so it’s a career highlight for me.

Ernesto: Definitely a lot of planning and managing, but the upsides are great. Awesome. For our listeners, you can visit them at useworkshop.com. What role does the website play in client acquisition, Jamie?

Jamie: Workshop is entirely built on inbound marketing, so our website is everything. We have a solid session-to-contact rate at about 4.5%. All our content is housed there, and it’s the hub for our conversions.

Ernesto: Definitely important. Are there any tools or tips you would recommend to our listeners for website lead generation?

Jamie: Our templates have performed really well for us. It’s about offering a modern reason for someone to give you their email address. Downloadable, customizable templates have been effective. We offer them in various formats like Google Docs, PDFs, and Word docs. Another key strategy is not having hurdles for the buyer. They can see our starting price and book a demo meeting right away without a long qualifying process.

Ernesto: Great tips. Now, let’s switch gears and talk about you as a leader. What are some key tasks you focus on in your day-to-day work?

Jamie: We have a team of five, so it’s a lot of team management, project management, and overall marketing strategy. I constantly prioritize and reprioritize projects, run reviews, and offer feedback. As a startup and small team, I also fill in wherever needed, whether it’s spinning up a new ad campaign or writing a blog post.

Ernesto: Sounds like you have everything balanced. How do you stay up to date with marketing trends and strategies? Is there a preferred channel for you?

Jamie: My commute is an hour now with daycare drop-off, so I love podcasts, including this one. I also find practical advice from other marketers on LinkedIn, which I really enjoy for bite-sized insights.

Ernesto: I totally agree. Podcasts are great during commutes. Now, let’s jump into our rapid-fire question round. Are you ready?

Jamie: Yes.

Ernesto: Awesome. First off, what is the last book that you read?

Jamie: I’m in a monthly book club, and the last book we read was “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.” It was pretty morbid, but the author was a great writer. I want to read more of her work, though it was a very dark book.

Ernesto: Interesting choice. Next, what is one single thing that Workshop is focused on the most right now?

Jamie: We’re focused on scaling. We’re moving into a new office and growing past 50 employees. We’re figuring out structure and planning for continued growth. We’ve raised a Series A, so we’re in a good spot.

Ernesto: That’s great to hear. If there were no boundaries in technology, what is one thing you would want to fix in your role as a marketer today?

Jamie: Data analysis. If I could have a way to know what worked well and what didn’t without sifting through everything myself, that would be ideal.

Ernesto: Definitely important. Next, if there’s one repetitive task you could automate, what would that be?

Jamie: Personally, laundry. For marketing, I’d love to automate checking links in emails to avoid sending the “oops, wrong link” email. We have this feature for internal emails but not for external ones, and I miss it.

Ernesto: Great point. Lastly, what is one piece of advice you would give yourself if you were to restart your journey as a marketer today?

Jamie: The phrase that has stuck with me is “everything is temporary.” I would tell my younger self not to get too wrapped up in one job or place. There’s a lot out there in the world, and your identity doesn’t need to be tied to one specific thing.

Ernesto: Great advice. Thank you so much for sharing, Jamie. Before we end, if someone forgets everything about the interview today, what is one thing they should remember about Workshop?

Jamie: Internal communications is a focus that pays off in spades, especially for marketers. Consider how your company handles internal communications and if it could be improved and tracked for potential lift.

Ernesto: You heard it here. You can always check out Workshop at useworkshop.com and make every internal email a great experience. Jamie, thank you so much for being on with us today. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to our next episode on Pathmonk Presents.

Jamie: Thank you.