If you think the only way into marketing leadership is through a formal degree and textbook training, think again. In Episode 10 of Revenue Rewired, Sarah and I sat down to unpack our wildly different career paths and why some of the best marketers don’t come from marketing at all.
Before you read on, tune into Episode 10 of Revenue Rewired—available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
Let’s clear something up. You don’t need a marketing degree to be a great marketer. You need curiosity, empathy, and the ability to connect dots that most people don’t even see.
I didn’t walk into my career thinking I’d lead a marketing agency. I didn’t even know I was a marketer until someone in sales told me.
That sentence stuck with me. It changed how I thought about marketing and forced me to tie every move I made to actual business outcomes.
Too many marketers get stuck chasing impressions, traffic, or other vanity metrics. I’ve done it myself. I once celebrated a 184% increase in website traffic until I asked myself: So what?
If the sales team doesn’t care, if the leads don’t convert, if the customer drops after month one, was it a win?
It wasn’t until I launched my own business, with real payroll and real risk, that I truly understood what marketing was about. Every dollar had to count. Every tactic had to work. And most importantly, I had to understand the people we were trying to reach better than they understood themselves.
Here’s where most companies trip up: sales and marketing are working toward the same goal, but operate like rivals. That divide is cultural, not tactical.
We’ve seen it. The sales team blames bad leads. Marketing says sales isn’t following up. And the prospect? They’re the ones stuck in the middle, dealing with a fractured experience.
At StringCan, we’ve made it a mission to close that gap. We help teams align messaging, strategy, and customer experience across departments, because when those silos fall, the results compound.
If you’re a marketing leader struggling to get traction, here’s a tip: go sit with your sales team. Not once. Not for a photo op. But consistently.
That’s what I did early in my career. I sat in sales meetings, listened to real objections, and brought those insights back to our team. The result? We stopped guessing and started supporting.
Sarah had a great point on the episode—try secret shopping your competitors with your sales counterpart. You’ll learn fast where you’re aligned, where you’re not, and what your buyers experience. It’s not about ownership. It’s about partnership.
None of this works without the right culture. If your org tells people to “stay in your lane,” no strategy will stick. The best companies we’ve worked with don’t just align sales and marketing, they treat them as one smart revenue team.
If you're not creating space for collaboration at the top, you're guaranteeing confusion at the bottom. Sales, marketing, ops, finance—everyone should be rowing in the same direction. It’s not kumbaya. It’s smart business.
I became a strategist not because I studied strategy, but because I had to make real dollars count. Running a mobile pet grooming business (yes, really) forced me to deeply understand my ideal customer and how to reach them without wasting a cent.
That urgency shaped the way I lead marketing today. It’s not about chasing the latest trend. It’s about aligning every touchpoint, every team, and every tactic with the outcomes that matter.
Because at the end of the day, marketing isn’t just a department. It’s a mindset. And the best marketers? They come from all kinds of backgrounds—but they all know how to listen, adapt, and lead with intention.
If you’re tired of marketing that looks great but doesn’t move the needle, we should talk. At StringCan, we help align strategy, sales, and execution so your message means something. Let’s connect.