Marketing & Social Media | Caroline Marchionna
The world has shifted, tilted, been turned upside down, inside out over the last few decades in regards to marketing. Companies used to only pay for broadcast or print ad space. Nowadays, the options are endless and the only way to sort through is to strategize via demographics.
Caroline Marchionna, a Sr. Brand Marketing Manager and Creative Director at Travelon has kindly shared her experience and thoughts on the current market with me. She has produced a multi-million dollar storefront on Amazon for the brand, created and distributed company catalog’s from photoshoots to final form and redone the entire website in her seven years there. Additionally, she introduced PR and influencer engagement to the company’s strategy. Her efforts have resulted “in an overall 370% ROI, 55% cost reduction, 16.2 ROAS, and transitioned Travelon from a traditional B2B model to a successful B2C online seller” (Linkedin). She is one impressive lady for the things she has accomplished in this job, but also her full career. An example of this is that we all have her to thank for the Metra Train Logo. Her full and successful career gives her unique insight into how the market has evolved, and how she has had to evolve with it.
Early in her career in advertising, she had access to multiple teams of creatives and managers to throw ideas against and create advertisements. Now, not so much. Her accomplishments are truly her own. In her current role, she used to have a full 5–8 person team under her that has now dwindled to 2 people. I bet you can guess the reason… not thinking of it? It starts with a C and ends with an OVID. Yeah, you got it. Her company cut down on people because of impacts on the business during the pandemic and is only now recovering. Despite this, she managed to introduce new product lines that are “antimicrobial and sustainable travel bags and accessories products, refocusing and help keep Travelon viable in a COVID era” and “ Launched e-commerce strategy and new Salesforce Commerce Cloud website including re-platforming and rehosting.” This resulted in an overall 320% ROI in year-one, and 150% growth YOY.
You may be wondering, how the heck is she doing all this! Well her typical day is filled with work and collaboration. She starts her day out with a good ole cup of joe and heads to the office early in the morning and doesn’t get out till late. For her, the best part of the job was implementing new strategies and seeing them become successful. The worst part is the demanding schedule and lack of team underneath her.
In order to compensate, she has a professional photo/video studio in the office where they shoot most of their product and model shots. Then a few times a year, they schedule full location shoots with influencers, models, and locals. She also contracts our repetitive work to a studio in China, reducing costs further. All this helps aid in gaining reach and connecting with their audience because she works with what we would note as “normal” people. For now, they have more stand-alone campaigns but she hopes to change that as funding is put back in place. Caroline mentioned using Hootsuite and analytics tools provided by her key platforms (Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and the Travelon website). She feels that while she has accomplished quite a bit, the road is still a long one on getting their brand in synced and successful on each platform, for a true omnichannel experience. The success rate on Instagram isn’t nearly as high as on Facebook, for example.
Her advice to break into this field is simply to get creative with your portfolio. It should consist of both analytical and strategic skills as well as creative ones. This can be shown through previous works, certificates showing skills on how to use relevant tools, and proof of knowledge of social media through your own dedicated accounts. “There are plenty of people in this field, but few know how to wear multiple hats and solve problems both top bottom and bottom top.”
