Deanna Ransom, the Global Head of Marketing & Marketing Services and Chairperson of Diversity & Inclusion at Televerde, comes with an experience of more than 25 years in sales and marketing. She is known for her voluntary work with shelters, helping women transform their lives, and supporting organizations.
Deanna holds a certification in Executive Leadership from Cornell University, an MBA from American Intercontinental University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Rowan University. She is passionate about books, music, and finding innovative ways to overcome challenges both personally and professionally.
MEDIA7: You have a remarkable career graph of being a marketing expert for about 25 years. Please take us through your journey.
DEANNA RANSOM: My career began in Sales. ERP sales at QAD and I was lucky enough to be present when QAD went public. That experience was one of the best in my career and I still remember the great people I worked with during that time. Then the dot-com bubble burst, caused major disruption and I continued in sales, but in the public sector with Information Builders, a privately-held data and analytics company. It was there that I began my transition to marketing.
I noticed that there was a disconnect between the Marketing organization and the Sales organization that didn’t seem to make sense or be productive. I had a hunger to find a way
to get more quality leads for my sales funnel and to understand how I could help make that happen as a partnership of sorts. It began as a series of conversations with the person overseeing Federal marketing for the field office that I sat in which was in Washington, D.C. at the time and it turned into me taking on the Marketing role based on that collaboration when some colleagues decided to move on from the organization.
Next, one of my mentors had taken on a new role overseeing all of North America and tapped me to come lead Marketing and Communications. It was such a tremendous honor and great experience which really allowed me to bring in my writing component as a content developer and published writer to the mix. The company decided to shut down East Coast operations, I landed at Bluestone Software and had the pure pleasure of being there when they were acquired by HP. My story continues with the good fortune of continuing to grow and lead in some great companies such as Clarivate Analytics, Satori Group, SAP, and Merck primarily fueled by curiosity, adaptability, vision casting and building along with a love of innovation all underpinned by data to ensure results while building great teams and intentionally building strong collaborative relationships.
Today, I’m serving at a company that I’ve had a relationship with for over 10 years. I lead marketing, marketing services, and our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative while enabling women to change their lives in the process. This is the perfect intersection of driving strategic business growth,
powering marketing as a revenue driver, and supporting the transformation of people.
Your strategy is only as good as the data you’re using to build it.
M7: In these years, what has been the most challenging project that you are proud of pulling off?
DR: I enjoy being a bit of a growth leader. I thrive on tackling tough business problems and moving the needle or building teams that really unify and enable team members to grow into their full potential both professionally and personally.
I’ve been fortunate in my time to work on many such projects that I’m proud of. One that comes to mind, that I’m particularly proud of was helping a company make a true transformation both in mindset and in digital approach. There’s a quote from Peter Drucker that says culture eats strategy for breakfast and the leadership had a solid strategy and there was a stated desire for innovation to drive growth but the culture of the company was counter to the very strategic transformation they wanted to achieve. You just can’t change what you do unless you change how you think about it and accept and adopt a new way of thinking about it.
It stands out for me because not only did we exceed the growth target for the business unit landing at roughly 127 percent of the goal, we were able to influence the culture of the company to a more evolved approach enabling digital innovation. This is the real achievement because a person can't do this alone and the partnership and buy-in at the top level along with their active support were necessary to achieve the outcome. I’m proud that we were able to take a journey of growth together that led to a great outcome for the business.
M7: What are the marketing mantras that you swear by?
DR: They are:
-Business objectives are Marketing’s North Star
-You can’t manage what you don’t measure
-Your strategy is only as good as the data you’re using to build it
-Our customer ARE our business
-The simplest approach is the best approach
You just can’t change what you do unless you change how you think about it and accept and adopt a new way of thinking about it.
M7: Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, work from home has become the new normal. How did you manage your teams effectively from home?
DR: The COVID-19 outbreak truly changed our world. I’ve been working from home in some capacity for over 13 years and I know everyone has felt the added pressures of your life primarily being contained to one space and taking on additional roles such as homeschooling while attempting to work with possibly other family members trying to do the same thing in the same one space. Then add that there was the on-going concern of the possible and real impacts of the outbreak on you or your loved ones.
No one was exempt from this new reality. As a leader, I knew I had to lean in and be aware of the needs of my team both personally and professionally. It was a tough time and still is, for everyone. With a globally dispersed team, they need to know that even as we as a business talk about agility and flexibility, that we could do that for them as well.
From my chair, it became even more important to be available, so my mobile was always on and openly shared if needed. If you need your camera off, that’s ok. You need a safe space to share how you’re being impacted, that’s ok too. My goal was to make sure my team felt totally supported and for them to know we were in it together so they could do their very best under the very trying circumstances. In spite of all the obstacles, they more than rose to the occasion.
Be curious, be data-driven, and be flexible. Always stay focused on outcomes and measure what matters.
M7: You are a great speaker and your videos are extremely informative to the professionals. Did you have any role model whom you looked up to when you started your career?
DR: Firstly, thank you so much. It’s so great to hear that kind of feedback. It is always my desire to add value and to use my voice to always power the positive in a meaningful way. I had many role models that I looked up to and each had had their own unique meaning for me. A few of my role models are Ursula Burns, Carla Harris, and Oprah Winfrey. These ladies are strong leaders and visionaries that provided me with examples and goals for trajectory.
M7: Any advice that you would like to share with the marketing enthusiasts?
DR: Yes, be curious, be data-driven, and be flexible. Always stay focused on outcomes and measure what matters. Remember the Marketing North Star is business outcomes and happy customers. The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Pilot, test, scrap or optimize, and scale.