Q&A with Jeanne Hopkins, CMO at Lola.com

MEDIA 7 | October 24, 2019

Q&A with Jeanne Hopkins, CMO at Lola.com
Jeanne Hopkins, CMO at Lola.com has profound expertise in data-driven, high-velocity customer acquisition and marketing organizations and inbound-based lead gen programs to support global demand for high-growth SaaS companies.

Jeanne is also the co-author of "Go Mobile"​, the #1 best-selling mobile marketing book. She has been named to Sales Lead Management Association "Top 50"​ 3 years in a row and "20 Women to Watch" in 2015/14/13 & 2011.

MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing?
JEANNE HOPKINS:
 After graduation, I took my first job in the accounting department at Baystate Medical Center. At my annual review, I was told that I was too “noisy” for an accounting department. I went on to work at Milton Bradley Company’s in-house advertising agency, MB Communications, as editor of their in-house newspaper, and later recruited to LEGO Systems to do marketing programs. I found myself at a self-funded start-up tech company in 2000, where I was running an inside sales team and building digital properties to generate leads. I moved into software, digital marketing, and lead generation at companies like MarketingSherpa, then HubSpot, SmartBear, Ipswitch (now Progress Software) – it’s all been a fantastic journey.

M7: How is agile technology transforming corporate travel around the globe?
JH:
Small and mid-sized businesses have to be fast and efficient amidst growth, and booking, re-booking, and managing business travel can seriously impede efficiency and productivity. Finance teams are trying to manage, control, and get visibility into expenditures. Travelers are trying to do their jobs and don’t have time for expense reports. And travel arrangers (executive assistants and office admins) have plenty on their plates. Finally, there are tools that are addressing these direct needs at small and mid-sized businesses. Consumers have had the ease of booking travel through sites like Kayak and big businesses can afford the services and fees associated with high-end travel agencies. But the middle segment has been left out. Now, agile tools like Lola.com are making it really easy for corporate travelers to book, re-book, and take the task of expense reports off the table. And finance teams are able to set up travel policies in minutes, and easily manage, control, and get visibility into expenditures. The corporate travel market is huge, and agile technology is making it much easier for travelers and companies all-around.


"The corporate travel market is huge, and agile technology is making it much easier for travelers and companies all-around."

M7: How does Lola.com ensure a hassle-free modern business travel experience with transparent spending for its customers / business travelers?
JH:
It’s a simple super app to use. For travelers, it has a large inventory of flights and hotels that allows users to avoid having to go between tabs or other sites to compare fares, and it saves preferences, loyalty programs, and payment options in the same place. Traveler profiles are automatically stored so users can book with one click, and the 24/7 support team ensures easy booking and re-booking due to delays and cancellations. Seriously, when someone is in the air, missing their connection due to a delay, many times, Lola.com support has them re-booked on another flight before they land.

For finance personnel, a corporate travel policy can be set up in five minutes for more control over spending, and employees automatically know what they are allowed to book. Takes the guesswork out of the booking process. All data resides in one place so there is complete visibility into travel spend. And we integrate with other tools like Expensify – receipts are automatically sent to Expensify for easy expense tracking and reporting. No messing with receipts (or missing receipts either).


"For finance personnel, a corporate travel policy can be set up in five minutes for more control over spending, and employees automatically know what they are allowed to book."

M7: What trends do you foresee in the ‘Travel & Expense Software Market’ in future?
JH:
Certainly, we are seeing “Bleisure” travel on the rise – those looking to combine business travel with leisure time. Busy people who travel with their jobs want to get the most out a business trip, and many times, even look to extend a business trip last minute to enjoy the area or do something in particular. So companies are looking for faster, agile tools that can respond to quick changes in plans. Companies are also focusing more on keeping their travelers happy and productive on the road, and don’t want them to get caught up in the red tape of corporate travel. So, the trend is simple, faster, more agile tools to make arranging and managing travel a great experience for all.

M7: As the co-author of ‘Go Mobile’, what tactics do you believe modern marketers must focus for successful mobile media marketing campaigns?
JH:  
That book was launched in 2012 and was probably ahead of its time. While at HubSpot seven years ago, I saw the growing influence of mobile search on our blog and website and wanted to make sure we recognized its impact. Today, marketers know that Google prioritizes mobile search and it is imperative to truly understand the need for content that can be delivered in a mobile setting. The ability to auto-fill a form is critical now. The ability to read your email and respond is imperative now. The ability to print from your phone is important - whether an eBook, a recipe or instructions. Your mobile device is your computer now. It wasn’t perceived as that urgent a requirement until 18-24 months ago.


"Companies are focusing more on keeping their travelers happy and productive on the road, and don’t want them to get caught up in the red tape of corporate travel. So, the trend is simple, faster, more agile tools to make arranging and managing travel a great experience for all."

M7: What is your favorite part of working at Lola.com?
JH:
The people. Transparently, everyone really values working alongside each other – all smart, motivated, driven, fun teammates who want to make Lola.com the best workplace ever.  I take a quote from Netflix on how I feel, “Loosely coupled yet tightly aligned.”

M7: What is your superpower or spirit animal?
JH:
 GSD. I just like to get stuff done. I use lists, reminders, notes, etc. to try and stay on top of all that needs to be done. More than anything, I want my team and the company to be successful. I enjoy working, and I enjoy success and - most of all - I enjoy making mistakes and sharing what I did so that others realize that you won’t die from a typo. It’s all fun and I enjoy laughing most of all (remember, I am a loud individual).

ABOUT LOLA.COM

Lola.com makes Agile Travel Management real by providing a super simple way to manage, book and report on business travel, saving employers and travelers time and money. Happy employee travel experiences within a policy can be set up in five minutes. Lola.com uses machine learning and 24/7 support to help travelers easily book trips, while empowering managers to create policies, view budgets and expenditures, and monitor their globetrotting team efficiently. Based in Boston, the company was founded in 2015 by Paul English, co-founder of the travel booking site KAYAK, and is led by CEO Mike Volpe, previously CMO at HubSpot. For more information, connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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A simple prompt like "Show me an audience to maximize conversions and increase AOV" would produce a pre-populated segment based on complex rules and variables such as CLTV, likelihood to purchase, purchased products with higher AOV, and more. The outcome is a ready-to-use segment that can be saved and passed on to the journey orchestration step or used elsewhere. Remove the guesswork and create cross-channel customer journeys at the click of a button Sirius AI™ removes complexity, alleviating marketers of repetitive and manual work. Instead, journeys are auto-generated, powered by unified data, machine learning, and generative AI. These journeys are accurate and efficient while ensuring the delivery of the right message to the right user at the right time. Additionally, Sirius AI™ adds value to manual journey orchestrations by adding inputs like automatic starter elements and auto-complete journeys based on prompts to ensure the highest efficiency. For example, a marketer wants to promote a new product launch to VIP customers to ensure maximum product discovery and conversion. With Sirius AI™, all they need to do is draft a quick prompt, such as "Design a cross-channel journey for VIP customers for a launch to result in the highest product discovery and conversion". Sirius AI™ then looks at customer data and preferences to design a ready-to-use journey with the right starter element, wait time, and channel mix to help meet their objective. Generate compelling content that inspires action automatically Marketers can create click-worthy email subject lines and engaging campaign content for their campaigns, with a simple prompt like "generate a message to re-engage VIP users with an urgent tone". These messages are automatically customized to the channel and required outcome. Prompts can include information about use cases, CTAs, the use of emojis, and more. Crucially, marketers can also give instructions on tone of voice, and ensure that messages are within brand guidelines. Marketers can enter a prompt like "Craft a WhatsApp message for holiday promotions to create urgency" to receive an output that includes promotions with discounts valid for the next 24 hours with a provision to add dynamic content to make it even more personalized. Sirius AI™ also includes a content scoring capability for messages that are handcrafted, helping marketers understand the performance of their campaigns before launching. Marketers can leverage alternatives that are suggested by Sirius AI™ to improve the message quality. Sirius AI™ enables trustworthy, two-way conversations between brands and consumers Sirius AI™ closes the engagement loop with auto-generated conversations on WhatsApp and other channels like web and app. Powered by Open AI, Sirius AI™ bots can assume any persona based on a prompt that includes your branding guidelines to facilitate human-like conversations and align a brand's tone of voice. Sirius AI™ eliminates security risks by empowering you to tune the AI engine with knowledge limits to help the bot avoid questions on certain off-limits topics. Automated two-way conversations lead to a 100% response rate for customer-generated conversations. These conversations can even be followed up with a commerce flow, allowing consumers to complete a purchase without any redirects, and with the fewest clicks possible - consumers don't even need to leave the app. Sirius AI™ also includes additional AI-led features powered by machine learning, NLP, and predictive AI to make marketing zen. Other Sirius AI™ capabilities include: Image Auto-Generator: Reduce design dependency and create relevant visuals for campaigns with prompts. For example, marketers can use the prompt: "Need an image for new sneaker launch" to access relevant copyright-free images of sneakers that can be inserted into their campaigns. Content Scoring:Sirius AI™ automatically scores messages based on relevance and past performance stats, including alternate content recommendations. A low score means the copy might not be up to the mark and requires revision. AI-led Localization: Content translation for localization to generate multi-language messages in seconds for your global audience. Marketers can select the message that needs to be translated along with the language to generate a localized version of the message automatically. Send Time Optimization: Always reach the target audience at their preferred time to maximize engagement and open rates.Sirius AI™ knows the best time to reach a particular user for optimum engagement. Next-Best-Channel: Automatically choose the best channel to reach a specific set of audiences to hit a certain journey goal without guessing the best channel for the campaign. Sirius AI™ will empower marketers by freeing their time, efforts, and energies from low-impact, manual execution and supercharging their productivity. By putting customer experience creation on autopilot at every level, marketers will be able to focus their attention on building a love-brand, and delighting customers with relevant messages, useful recommendations, and safe use of their data through personalized experiences. Unlike other Generative AI solutions, Sirius AI™ offers automation, machine learning, and large language models at every level of customer experience creation, making it the world's most robust and comprehensive Generative AI solution for Customer Experience. About Insider Insider—a single platform for building individualized, cross-channel experiences—enables enterprise marketers to connect customer data across channels and systems, predict their future behavior with an AI intent engine, and build individualized customer experiences. Marketers use Insider's platform to deliver consistent and engaging experiences across Web, App, Web Push, Email, SMS, WhatsApp Commerce, and more. Having recently unlocked unicorn status, Insider was also congratulated by NASDAQ for becoming one of the only woman-founded, women-led B2B SaaS unicorns in the world. Insider was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines 2023, The Forrester Wave for Cross-Channel Campaign Management 2021, and IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Customer Data Platforms Focused on Front-Office Users 2021-22 Vendor Assessment. The company has been named the #6 Best Software Company in the world, according to G2's Fall'23 reports. Insider is also the #1 G2 Leader in 6+ categories, including Customer Data Platforms (CDP), Personalization Engines, Personalization Software, Mobile Marketing, Customer Journey Analytics, and eCommerce Personalization. CrunchBase recently ranked Insider's co-founder and CEO Hande Cilingir as one of the top women CEOs outside the US. One-third of Fortune 500 companies and top brands across retail, automotive, and travel choose Insider to deliver AI-led personalized experiences that exceed customer expectations. Insider is trusted by over 1,200 global businesses, including Singapore Airlines, Estée Lauder, Virgin, Toyota, Adidas, IKEA, GAP, L'Oreal, Samsung, Vodafone, Allianz, Santander, BBVA, Pizza Hut, Newsweek, Coca-Cola, MediaMarkt, Nissan, AVIS, Lenovo, MAC, Marks & Spencer, Madeira Madeira, New Balance, Avon, Burger King and CNN.

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Martech

CrowdStrike Partner Ecosystem Wins Big at Fal.Con 2023

CrowdStrike | September 25, 2023

CrowdStrike Honors Exceptional Partners at 2023 Global Partner Awards: The prestigious awards recognize partners' outstanding contributions in providing cybersecurity solutions using the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. AWS and CDW Among Top Honorees: Amazon Web Services (AWS) secures Global Partner of the Year and Ecosystem Partner of the Year titles, while CDW earns Global Solution Provider of the Year. Partners like Cribl, Zscaler, Abnormal Security, Softcat, and Sekuro are praised for their innovation and commitment to advancing cybersecurity solutions. CrowdStrike unveiled the recipients of its 2023 Global Partner Awards at Fal.Con 2023, a prestigious event held annually and a cybersecurity gathering. These awards serve as a testament to the unwavering commitment of CrowdStrike's partners in providing exceptional solutions and services, leveraging the advanced CrowdStrike Falcon platform to combat the relentless and sophisticated adversaries that define today's cyber landscape. The 2023 Global Partner Awards recognized exemplary partners in various categories, highlighting their outstanding contributions to CrowdStrike's mission. Amazon Web Services (AWS) earned the prestigious titles of Global Partner of the Year and Ecosystem Partner of the Year, underscoring their deep integration with CrowdStrike's Falcon platform, enhancing cloud security through collaborations on AWS native services. CDW received the distinction of Global Solution Provider of the Year, showcasing its dedicated focus on expanding the adoption of the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. Deloitte's commitment to incorporating the Falcon Platform into their consulting services earned them the Global Engagement License Program Partner of the Year title. EY's substantial contributions, including training practitioners on Falcon LogScale, resulted in their recognition as Global System Integrator of the Year. Additionally, the impressive growth and seamless integration of the eSentire MDR platform led to eSentire being named Global MSSP Partner of the Year. Cribl's outstanding efforts in driving interoperability and eliminating data silos secured its title as Ecosystem Innovator of the Year. Zscaler's commitment to joint innovation and proactive engagement made them the Ecosystem GTM Partner of the Year. Abnormal Security's exceptional partnership launch efforts earned them the Ecosystem Fast Start Partner of the Year title. In the EMEA region, Softcat was honored as Partner of the Year, demonstrating rapid growth and extensive enablement. Sekuro, named APJ Partner of the Year, achieved remarkable results, exceeding their plan by over 500% and showcasing their early adoption of Falcon Cloud Security. These awards reflect the dedication and achievements of these partners in advancing CrowdStrike's cybersecurity solutions. These distinguished award winners have been chosen through an evaluation process that recognized their dedication to cutting-edge solutions and forward-thinking cybersecurity strategies. CrowdStrike continues to provide unwavering support and exclusive access to its partners via the CrowdStrike Accelerate Partner Program. This elite network empowers partners with the necessary tools, intelligence, and security expertise to effectively counter the evolving threats posed by advanced cyber adversaries, solidifying CrowdStrike's commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the cybersecurity landscape.

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