Forrester Bio
Debra has a unique ability to get into the mind of the prospect (largely following the discipline of market research). She utilized that talent to write a marketing plan for Nike that won her a product line management position for the athletic wear company where she led a team that created a channel-friendly product (placed for the first time with major department stores like Nordstrom, Macy's and JC Penney). The marketing campaign broke the mold as it featured models resembling the target -- 50+ men and women.
When newspaper readers reported time and time again that they didn't have time to read, Debra used the finding to influence the editorial side of the business with the development of new sections and new layout/design aimed at the younger reader, and a reader who wanted a faster, easier read centered around topics that mattered more to their personal lives - the end result being both circulation and readership gains in just one year.
She was also one of the first to use a direct mail campaign to market newspaper subscriptions. The focus on the database would later take her to Knight-Ridder newspapers where she lead a FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS project where she wrote a blueprint for how newspapers could build and put databases to work.
Understanding the customer and prospect database also became the cornerstone of Debra's work with a home furnishings retailer, a software reseller, a packaging company and a flooring company. For the latter, three segments were identified: retail, builder and direct consumer. Each had their unique challenges and the small company had to make some decisions to focus resources more appropriately. That assignment resulted in web site re-design, portal development, email marketing and direct mail. As a consequence, lead value was increase dramatically.
Another key cornerstone of Debra's career has been her alignment with the sales department. Understanding that relationship and alignment led her to be an early adopter of Salesforce.com and other CRM tools, integrated with marketing automation tools. Born out of necessity, when technology companies gravitate to cutting marketing in tough economic times, Debra has used her analytical skills to justify ongoing expenditures. She is unique in her affinity for analysis as well as her ability to creatively find solutions to business challenges.
In her most recent assignment Forrester led the way implementing a Marketing Automation system, turned around the SEM Google Adwords buy, analyzed the database and used direct mail to reach the right IT Directors in the 10 U.S. markets, started both customer and prospect newsletters, established a lead scoring practice, demand-booster and re-market process. The net, net was a way to plug a very leaky lead funnel, nurture prospects and improve both the quantity and quality of the leads passed to the sales force.
Even within the same industry, each company as a unique identity. Debra upholds the three C's of Branding (Character, Consistency, and Clarity) by focusing on ways to match external character views with internal corporate belief systems (social media), and understanding the value of multi-touch campaigns as they relate to the consistency portion of the branding formula.