Balancing Act: Deb McGranaghan on Marketing, Motherhood, and Empowerment

Kristy: Welcome back to another episode of the Free Dive podcast I’m your host Kristy Billingslea. Welcome back thank you so much for being here um today we have a special episode for you um and it’s not going to be with me. I am fighting a summer cold so you don’t want to listen to me um however I’m going to introduce you into our episode um we have been doing if you’ve been here a while you would know um a women in marketing series through time since March so we’re keeping that ball rolling uh we did some with some fantastic women we did one with Tina Gammon um Christina Garnett, go back and listen to those episodes if you
have not beautiful ladies beautiful episodes and we’re continuing on today with Deb McGranaghan. Um we recorded this episode back in March um and it’s worth resharing so we’re going to reshare it with you today we have more beautiful women in marketing episodes to come I have guests lined up ready for you I’m really excited about these ones that are com- coming um but for now please enjoy this interview um with Maddie and Deb.

Maddie: Deb.

Deb: Hi

Maddie: How are you?

Deb: Good.

Maddie: So glad to have you here with us today thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk with us.

Deb: Thank you for having me.

Maddie: Excited to talk about women in marketing and you’re a woman in marketing what is your job title?

Deb: I am a marketing analyst here for Seapoint.

Maddie: Awesome that’s very cool can you share a little bit with me about your journey and how you got started in the field of marketing.

Deb: Well I- I guess you’d say I married into it kind of because I married a self-employed contractor um and with that came needing to Market to help him get work so I worked for him um throughout I mean we’ve been married 27 years tomorrow.

Maddie: Oh congratulations happy anniversary.

Deb: Thank you um yeah so I was um we did lots back then we’re talking in the 2000 early 2000s the internet was there but we weren’t marketing on it yet um so it was all like direct mail and flyers and things like that.

Maddie: Wow.

Deb: Um so that’s kind of was the first step and that has always been like a recurring thing
that’s been needed throughout the years um because he’s always worked for himself we’ve also done some real estate stuff so there’s Marketing in there um a lot of direct mail stuff initially um but it was a part-time thing I always had a regular day job um and just kind of did that on the side until I started here and started doing it for an actual company.

Maddie: Wow that’s really cool so you’ve been able to sort of grow along with the marketing world over the years.

Deb: Yeah for sure because like I said it was definitely more- more um boots on the ground initially.

Maddie: More physical media.

Deb: More physical for sure um and actually about 11 years ago um shortly after I had my daughter I started working for myself and then and that was more things were online then um so I was started working as a virtual assistant.

Maddie: Oh cool.

Deb: Yeah and I was actually helping people with their social media and um email marketing and things like that um so I started doing it a little more for myself um and then ended yeah ended up here.

Maddie: Awesome were there any particular challenges that you experienced um either at the start of your career in marketing or since then.

Deb: Um I would say my biggest challenge was when I started working for myself marketing myself that was always my biggest challenge I can sell other people all day long um and help clients know what to do but the actual marketing- marketing of myself to find the clients um was
always my biggest downfall and my biggest struggle.

Maddie: I understand that completely I think for most of us it can be hard to sell ourselves because we’re we’re hard on ourselves.

Deb: Of course.

Maddie: How have you been able to um battle with those feelings.

Deb: Um it’s actually helped since I’ve been here and working um with other people and a lot of the collaborations that’s have happened here and like hey people are actually like valuing my opinion and I do bring good ideas you know like seeing just that and- and then everybody has bad ideas too and like every idea is welcome and nothing is shot down and- and just learning to trust myself a little bit more in those environments cause I haven’t really had a position before where I had that opportunity to like interact with others it’s either been me and my husband or me myself and I alone in my office as a new mom and and all the emotions and things that come with that so um so I feel like that’s been really helpful to have other people that are supportive and that um value your opinion.

Maddie: Yeah absolutely professional validation is- is huge for confidence building that’s for sure.

Deb: For sure.

Maddie: Are there any key traits or skills that you feel are important in the marketing field?

Deb: Um I feel like definitely having a willingness to adapt um you can’t just stay in one lane forever because everything is changing yeah um but at the same time you need to be able to
kind of see things through so there’s that balance of um not hopping around too quickly but then if you see something moving in a direction being willing to maybe try something new even if it’s in addition to what you’re currently doing just um not getting too stuck in a rut um and then like I said before like being willing to work with others and kind of check your ego at the door um what you think is the best way and like okay what’s what can the group come up with um and maybe that’s your idea or maybe it’s not and.

Maddie: Not taking things too personally it sounds like too.

Deb: Yeah which is hard yeah I am a person who takes things personally so.

Maddie: Well we’re naturally the center of our own worlds that’s just the way it is.

Deb: Yeah, yeah and overly self-critical so when outsiders than validate that criticism that you have that can be hard so um so being with a supportive group is definitely helpful where it’s not like even the bad ideas aren’t like criticized as such.

Maddie: Yeah or a job or an idea not being the chosen one doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad idea it’s just not the right idea for the scenario.

Deb: Exactly.

Maddie: That makes sense.

Deb: Or not what the client wants to do at the time.

Maddie: Right right so Deb how do you think that companies can create a more supportive and inclusive environment for women?

Deb: I think allowing women to be women and to show up as women and think as women and also um allowing space for the responsibilities that women have outside of the workplace as well that is going to influence their thinking um remote options is a big thing a lot of marketing is online now um being able to not have to clock in clock out at certain times especially for moms um that can be really important to to allow them the um flexibility to not feel they have to choose between their home life and their work life um now are there some fathers who are the primary
caretakers of their children absolutely but we can probably agree as a majority um the majority is women that are primarily responsible for bringing the kids to school and picking them up and after school stuff and helping with homework and- and just all of those things that are real demands on their time and the time that they can spend at work but that doesn’t mean they can’t get the job done that doesn’t mean that they’re not smart and that their ideas aren’t needed in the industry in any industry really like the world needs that because again that’s who’s doing
all the purchasing that’s these women are starting these companies but being allowed the flexibility um with your time and the space to um to not feel like you have to pick.

Maddie: Yeah.

Deb: What’s going to get your attention like I’m a mom first my daughter is my top priority right the fact that I’m allowed to work from home I do come into the office. She is welcome to come with me cause I homeschool if I couldn’t do that I would not be able to do this job if I had to choose I’m going to choose to be home and someday when she’s out of the house then I would have to work on that whole revisit reestablishing yourself in the workplace which is really hard and it’s a shame because you’re missing out on some of those best years in from a career standpoint and just there women have so much to contribute.

Maddie: Absolutely.

Deb: You know we have a different experience than men and if you want to talk to women who are purchasing your stuff you need to know what they’re thinking about and that can be hard if it’s only men in the room that are making those decisions.

Maddie: Absolutely.

Deb: So allowing- allowing space for that and not being made to feel like you’re an inconvenience if you need that.

Maddie: Yeah absolutely.

Deb: Um that’s really important because there’s a lot of really really smart women out there who maybe don’t get the opportunity to or haven’t found the right place where they can showcase that in a way that fits the rest of their life.

Maddie: That makes perfect sense yeah and um to your point women in general but specifically mothers if they don’t have the opportunity to work um like you said their their perspectives won’t be heard and that’s an important perspective.

Deb: Absolutely.

Maddie: You’ve been able to as a mother and a woman do your job and- and be successful.

Deb: Yeah and it’s because I don’t have to worry or I don’t feel like I have to choose yeah um like when we come into the office she has her schoolwork with her and she does her
thing and I have to worry about where she is or that she’s not getting School done that day or- or all of that I don’t have to choose to like send her to school when for us we don’t feel like that’s the right choice right now for many reasons um and even at home the same thing it’s like I can get up and do my work at six o’clock in the morning before she gets going for the day so that I can then focus some time on her and that’s okay as long as the work is getting done and I’m there for any client facing meetings that I am expected to be on and as long as those criteria are met when you do the work doesn’t really matter to anybody yeah which is great because not everybody thinks best between 8 and 5 o’clock.

Maddie: Absolutely.

Deb: Like I don’t so sometimes it’s a Saturday afternoon or whenever I’m allowed to have some space so it’s it’s nice that that is um welcome and encouraged here just do- do good work we don’t care when and- and that’s great that it can be that way.

Maddie: Absolutely so how would you envision how do you envision the future of marketing and where do you see yourself in that future.

Deb: Um that is a good question of which I’m not certain um all I know is that the future of marketing is going to be different than it is today that’s pretty much all we can guarantee.

Maddie: Yeah, can’t predict the future.

Deb: It’s going to be changing um I’m not going to try to to guess where it’s going to go um I know that what I am doing within that field right now I am still enjoying so it’s just a about matter of being willing to Pivot with with where it is right um with where it heads but things can change overnight.

Maddie: That does speak to your point about flexibility um whatever the future brings if you are flexible and willing to put the work willing to learn new technologies and skills you’ll be able to maintain a Competitive Edge in the industry yeah for sure. What advice would you give to young women who are interested in a career in marketing?

Deb: There’s so many different Avenues you can go down in the world of marketing like just thinking from just our agency we’ve got the creative team like so the writers who like to create content we have the graphics team we’ve got the um account managers people who are more technical technically Savvy um I’m the analyst so I got the like looking at the numbers so there’s all these different Avenues um that you can try and knowing your value I feel like is a big thing um even if you are new in it uh you’ve been shopping for years probably so you know and you’re you’re on social media you’re out in the world you know what speaks to you and even if you’re younger like those voices are needed too because you can’t reach from a marketing perspective you can’t reach uh an 18-year-old girl who’s just out of high school if you’re a 60-year-old man that’s a lot harder to do so the industry needs different ages and different voices and different perspectives um so why not you.

Maddie: Yeah that’s a great point.

Deb: And- and just trusting that even if you’re the new person in the room that you have a
different perspective you’re coming in from a different viewpoint than everybody else in the room and that might be the shift that’s needed to get better results um so yeah knowing your value and- and playing to your strengths like if you know that something you know I’m not a numbers person but hey I’m really creative I love to write well then try that don’t try to force yourself into an area that isn’t a good fit um but be curious be curious to try different things to see- see where I never would have picked where I am I wouldn’t have guessed that at all and I actually really enjoy it.

Maddie: Nice so there’s a place for everybody.

Deb: There’s a place for everybody for sure.

Maddie: Well thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us it’s great hearing your insights and um we appreciate you so much and your hard work.

Deb: I appreciate you too thank you so much this is great.