Considering the number of current channels and platforms that didn’t even exist at the start of James Hamlin’s marketing career, it’s evident that the emergence of new technologies is presenting opportunities to disrupt sectors.
Tutorful CMO, James Hamlin; Disrupting Sectors Through Technology – Episode 15
James, now CMO at online EdTech marketplace Tutorful, joins Alex on the Scale of One to Tech podcast to discuss how the necessary tech shift that we’ve seen in the past two years has changed marketing strategies, the need for an authentic and transparent voice, and creating career opportunities when entering a startup.
This episode covers
- James’ illustrious career prior to Tutorful
- Catalysing opportunities to work in a startup
- The focus on being authentic, upfront & transparent
- Changing your marketing proposition/approach for the effects of Covid on the industry
- How to alleviate common solopreneur/startup mistakes
Links & references
Alex Marriner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalmarketingrecruitment/
Acquire Digital Talent:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-marketing-recruitment-london/
http://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
James Hamlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahamlin/
Tutorful: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tutorful/
Episode highlights
“I would say that to anybody that wants to work in startups now, get in at the bottom, raise your hand for opportunities, and sign up for doing stuff, because there’s gonna be more things to do than previously existed.” – 5:45 – James Hamlin
“The pandemic has been on top of all sorts of things in education, and schooling has certainly been one of them. Tutorful had an interesting ride like a lot of businesses in that particular period. What the pandemic has certainly done is promote the channel shift to online and education as part of that, certainly a lot faster in this particular country.” – 13:27 – James Hamlin
“I think it’s challenging from a marketing standpoint, not just for us but just for lots of businesses in the EdTech space to navigate and say, ‘Technology is now a part of the learning curve, and here’s what it means, and here’s the difference between Tutorful vs a Udemy course vs something else’. I think that’s the challenge from a marketing standpoint: to say that we’re using technology to help with the human angle, not replace the human angle.” – 21:40 – James Hamlin
“Going into an office just to do Zooms with people that you could be doing at home isn’t the most enticing ask, because that’s not what it’s about. It’ll be interesting once we get a home of our own back to see who starts to come in, and how often it is? I think this needs to find its place, because right now it’s still a little bit in flux.” – 30:10 – James Hamlin
“Be authentic, be upfront, be transparent about who you are and what you believe in. We had a similar mission statement which we leant on, and ultimately that’s going to differentiate you and unify you.” – 34:20 – James Hamlin
“The question I get asked a lot is this classic thing of ‘There’s so much I CAN do; What DO I do?’, and that’s really valid. With all of the platforms that exist – social platforms, blogging, whatever it may be – there’s so many options to go out there and market yourself and your brand that never used to exist.” – 37:00 – James Hamlin