An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Taking a step beyond the expected is the reason people use a product or service. We ask about the problem they need to solve. What solution are they looking for? We want customers who care that students and professionals have a fair chance at taking an exam, so we ask questions about what they are trying to accomplish. Your brand and your mission should speak to what the customer is trying to accomplish.
As a part of our series about Wisdom From The Women Leading The Blockchain Revolution, had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie Dille.
Stephanie Dille has spent her career in a variety of marketing roles in the testing industry. Prior to joining Meazure Learning, she served as Vice President, Global Marketing at Pearson VUE where she led the transformation of marketing into a strategic, integrated global function that provided marketing services to grow the professional, IT, academic, and government markets. At Meazure Learning, she leads marketing, sales operations, and product marketing including the implementation of pragmatic marketing and product management methodologies to align innovation and evolution around user needs.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I started pursuing a pre-med career track in college and hit a couple of challenging organic chemistry classes when I decided that pre-med wasn’t for me, so I switched to psychology. Not only were the courses and requirements a better fit, but I also thought I’d eventually end up in patient care as a psychologist. However my dad advised, “You won’t find a job in psychology. That’s a waste of time.”
Even with his caution, I planned to pursue my Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, which is well known for psychology, but I still needed a few years of experience in psychology to apply. My first real job was marketing psychological tests for NCS Assessments. I couldn’t wait to tell my dad that I had found a job related to psychology that I could use every day!
Ultimately, I decided not to go back to get my Ph.D. in psychology but instead to get my MBA embracing the opportunities offered by the business world. I gravitated toward marketing and that was my jumping-off point. I transitioned from psychology to marketing and business.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
A funny thing happened when I first started working at a very fast-growing segment of Pearson. We were all wearing several hats, and one of mine was to create marketing plans and memorable customer events. We were going to an industry conference, and at that time, Pearson didn’t have a notable presence there. We needed to do something to stand out, so we decided to have an island-themed party since the event was in Florida.
As you are no doubt aware, there are double entendres with coconuts and leis and other island-related items. I had proposed filling zippered coconuts with a flower lei, sunscreen, and other island-themed gifts. Several of my colleagues wanted to scrap the whole idea because it was fraught with pitfalls, but we needed a memorable event (and I had 450 zippered coconuts in my office!) I knew it could work, so I followed my instincts and went forward with the idea.
The party was hugely successful! As a result of that event and subsequent events, customers started to associate our company with positive, fun opportunities to connect and this helped us stand apart in a pretty conservative industry. These events generated an enormous amount of goodwill and put a human face on our organization.
When I eventually moved to a new company, that history of creating blockbuster events followed me and now that is one of my hallmarks. Events are very important in branding a company because people prefer to know and associate with other people rather than a company without any personality. I believe that if you can convey that your corporation has a heartbeat, you’re being successful in branding. My point is that good marketing can connect industry leaders with their customers. In this regard, events are a stepping stone to interacting and learning from each other, to developing best practices, and to setting an industry standard.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Now I work at Meazure Learning which is the parent company of ProctorU. The backbone of our organization is technology and solving a need for our customers. We want to understand what problems our customers have and develop innovative applications of our technology to solve those problems.
Our mission is to help academic and professional credentialing programs move people forward in their academic and professional pursuits. Skills can be measured but securing exams to get an accurate measure of a person’s competency is critical, especially in credentialing exams or for those that earn a professional license. We provide a secure testing environment so that everyone has the same opportunity to do their best on these exams.
One example that speaks well to the intersection of technology and service is from five years ago. At that time, we discovered that the market needed a fully automated proctoring solution that excluded a human proctor from the process. The initial reason was that it would be cheaper and it could be budgeted differently. In addition, a fully automated proctoring solution could provide predictable costs, which for some universities and testing organizations was important. ProctorU was ahead of its time with machine learning — also known as artificial intelligence. We created a product that met the need and made it available in the market.
However earlier this year, we took a closer look at the AI-only solution and its utilization. We found that only 11 percent of test sessions flagged for suspicious activity by the AI tools were reviewed by the school or testing authority. That meant that even if a test taker had violated an exam rule, no one was viewing the tapes to note the event or to take action. So earlier this year, we announced that we were discontinuing AI-only monitoring, because it was not being used as intended nor was it being used in a way that was fair to everyone. You see, ProctorU is all about human proctoring which is when a trained and qualified professional works in concert with technology to secure an exam. That is what we do. We combine service with technology to solve a need.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We will continue to invest in AI because it’s improving as time advances and as we train the technology to be more intelligent and in tune with human monitoring. But AI will never operate alone in our products. We’re also working on a secure browser for our exams to prevent people from googling answers or copying content during exams. We’re working hard to create our own secure browser because using browser extensions for Google or Firefox isn’t safe enough. We’re also looking into other services needed by the market and “filling our solution gaps” to make sure we are a full-service provider.
Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
Our goal for branding is to be a leader in the industry, a thought leader, and an innovator. We want people to come to us looking for solutions to their problems. We want them to see us as a partner and a team invested in their success.
Advertising a product is more message-driven. Here we explain how we do certain things, and solve problems, so we paint a picture with case studies and social proof of how we’ve helped other organizations. Advertising is more about data showing engagement statistics, and providing evidence that our solution works. It’s still about being a thought leader and an industry leader, but it’s a little more targeted rather than the broad impression and feeling conveyed through branding.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
The concept of marketing has gone digital. In fact, we use the word “digital” almost synonymous with advertising. The content on the company website and how people interact with it is what is essential. You drive potential consumers back to your company website, where they research and find what they need before signaling that they’re ready to purchase. People need to understand who you are, what your solution looks like, and how you are different before filling out a form to have a salesperson call them. They need the freedom to explore. It’s the same concept as going to a physical store to browse. It’s a turn-off if the first touchpoint is to make a sale. Website content should be easy to understand and at the right level. Drive people to that web property using search engine optimization and paid social — tapping into all the different digital tools.
We also focus on sales enablement, making sure we have the right tools for our salespeople to do their jobs effectively. This could be a sales deck, data points, studies, or testimonials. Depending on where the customer is in the pipeline, they might require different tools, but we create a wide variety of collateral from customer-supplied data using our products and services.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each.
- Having a thorough understanding of your audience is important. How does your audience purchase? Where do they go for information? What kind of information do they need to understand a solution? How do they want that information delivered? Do they subscribe to podcasts? Go to webinars or websites? Do they read magazines or journals? Where are they learning about the products, and how do they want to purchase them? These questions give an understanding of the audience, which is the first step in any brand work.
- Taking a step beyond the expected is the reason people use a product or service. We ask about the problem they need to solve. What solution are they looking for? We want customers who care that students and professionals have a fair chance at taking an exam, so we ask questions about what they are trying to accomplish. Your brand and your mission should speak to what the customer is trying to accomplish.
- Your brand must permeate throughout your organization, meaning it can’t only be about external perception. It has to live internally, too. For example, suppose your mission is to move people forward — which is Meazure Learning’s mission. In that case, you need to propel your customers and employees alike — helping your workers move forward by improving their future careers. That being said, we pay attention to employee training and certification, just as we expect our clients to provide secure exams.
- Externally, there must be consistency in your brand. We serve different markets: higher education and professional testing — both are equally important to our business but have distinctly different audiences. They have different buying criteria, and different parts of our solution are of greater importance. We need to make sure that our messages are customized regardless of the market segment, but our branding remains consistent. We need to appear as one organization while still serving both uniquely.
- Finally, make sure that your brand is meaningful and relatable. You’re explaining the why and making sure the customer can connect and understand the offering. Do some brand analysis and talk to customers to make sure they understand the mission of your organization. Your research tells you if they are on board with that mission. Then tweak your brand based on the study and what customers tell you. I think we tend to either overlook their input entirely or give it too much weight. To balance, use the research to help you understand the significance of the feedback.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
I tend to think more of a brand when it has a bigger purpose behind it. A company like TOMS Shoes is an example because they donate shoes for each purchase. I like brands with a social mission and purpose. This current generation cares a lot about the social mission, which drives their behavior and purchasing choices. If you can attach your brand to a stronger, bigger mission, you have better employee engagement and less attrition, too.
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?
We are concerned with the whole funnel, and we want to reach customers in as broad a manner as possible. For example, we ask how many people are new to our product? How many people have we brought in from the market to gather information? We look at new contexts created, whether it’s because they came to something that we presented or they landed on our website from an outside digital push. We measure our reach in addition to sales because we need buyers to understand our overall brand.
I also look at engagement — how many times a customer, or a prospect, interacts with the content we’ve published, including white papers, blog posts, webinars, press releases, and articles. I focus on driving up engagement over the less dynamic numbers. Tracking engagement is important because our buyer has a long decision trail. Maybe this year, they’re not ready to take their exam program online, but they might be ready in a year. We want our name, our brand to be the first thing they think about because they’ve seen all our thought leadership content along the way, and they have a favorable impression of us. I also watch loyalty. How long are we keeping customers? How happy are they?
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Social media is important to us. We’re in the process of taking two brands and collapsing them into one. So right now, we have a ridiculous number of social media platforms to support. We use social media in two different ways. We use it to push out thought leadership content, but probably more importantly, we use it for social listening. If test takers are frustrated, they might go on to Facebook or Twitter to complain. We scour our properties for those comments, and one person is exclusively devoted to working on social media.
It is important to respond to those individuals. We get them the support they need. We tell them where to go for more information. Sometimes we even have to remind them we are here and not to worry. Exams can be stressful, so we need to be human and be relatable.
What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
My advice is to keep learning. Opportunities and trends evolve and change at a faster pace every year, even every month. Technology has impacted the marketing field, just as it has influenced everything else. The digital tools and data we now have at our fingertips are powerful intelligence, so take the time to hone your skills and learn as new tools enter the market.
Try things. Some will work, some won’t. Your audience is never going to be entirely predictable. Surround yourself with a good team that is high energy and positive. Just understand that at your core what you’re doing is real. You can’t sell people what they don’t need. Instead, think of helping people do whatever it is — better. For us at Meazure Learning and ProctorU, this is the chance to deliver higher-quality exams more securely. How this impacts our mission is that more people have access to exams they might not otherwise have had access to, and the exams they take are fair and secure. Consequently, more people are getting educated and credentialed, and they are moving forward in their careers. That’s at the core of our mission.
At the end of the day, we’re here to help people.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Bringing continuous learning to more people would change the lives of individuals and society. Some may think, ‘I have my degree, so I’m done with school.’ That’s so untrue — we’re always learning. I’m doing a book club with my team right now. We’re reading a book called Measure What Matters. I’ve worked in marketing for 30 years, and I’m still learning. We need to be open to change, and doing things differently for our entire lives.
Wouldn’t it also be nice to have a kindness movement, too? I see so much negativity in the world. Everyone’s suspicious and not treating each other well, and I think kindness can go a long way to overcoming this problem.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite character growing up was Winnie the Pooh, and my kids loved the Pooh books too. My life lesson quote is hanging on my wall. It reminds me of my Mom. She’s not with us anymore, and I always think of her when I see it. It’s a quote from Winnie the Pooh. It makes me cry. I’ve shared it as I’ve transitioned through my career.
“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart, I’ll always be with you.” (A.A. Milne for the character Christopher Robin in Winnie-the-Pooh).
I always share that quote with my team. You’re a combination of all the experiences you’ve had, all the bosses, all the colleagues — and we’ll always be with each other — even if we’re not, even if we’re physically apart. You’re always going to carry some portion of those people’s thoughts and lessons with you.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Brené Brown. She has a great TED talk called Daring Greatly. I have listened to her podcast and her TED talk. I think she would be fascinating to meet. Her message is that you need to take risks and dare yourself to grow and change. You can’t be afraid of that, especially as a woman, but her message is for anybody. I’ve wanted to sit down and talk with her for 20 years.
Additionally, my dad was an entrepreneur, so I find entrepreneurs, in general, fascinating, too. I like to find out what makes them tick. How did they develop their ideas, and how did they know that it was the right idea? Brené Brown would be my first choice for a sit-down, lunch, or breakfast.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
My LinkedIn profile is here but our most active company social profile is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ProctorU.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Wisdom From The Women Leading The Blockchain Revolution With Stephanie Dille Of Meazure Learning was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
