Hasta La Creative!

Marketing sometimes feels like a race that can’t be won. Not only must one continually edge out the competition to succeed, but the finish line keeps moving. Even as our marketing savvy advances, consumers, who are barraged with messages left and right, continue to find ways to evade our attempts to connect. Maneuvering into a position of advantage indeed takes skill, strategy and practice and is a struggle familiar to any marketing leader.

Rich Smith, CMO of mortgage provider Ditech, grabbed his company’s proverbial wheel in 2014 and navigated Ditech into an enviable lead supported by a cost-effective sponsorship deal with NASCAR. Here are three insights from Mr. Smith that can help any organization’s marketing engines run more smoothly:

1. Chase live events. Ditech became a household name in mortgages in the 1990s, but like many in the industry, the company experienced its fair share of detours over the past two decades. When Mr. Smith joined the team in 2014, it was his priority to refresh the brand. His department then put rubber to the road in a sponsorship deal with Stewart-Haas Racing of NASCAR that September. While the move took some months to gather momentum, Ditech experienced a noticeable boost from having its name televised with each NASCAR event. “It’s been a great relationship for expanding our brand awareness in a relatively low-cost way,” says Mr. Smith.

Continue reading at AdAge.com