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OhHello - Jess Cook
74 Plays2 years ago
This creative director turned content marketer, with more than 15 years of experience on B2C brands, like the Kellogg Company, Kimberly-Clark, and McDonald's, made the move 4 years ago to B2B SaaS and hasn't looked back.
A mom of 2 great girls, a wife, a proud Michigander, an avid runner, and someone that I've had the pleasure of watching turn into an absolute powerhouse!!
She's a #contentmarketing EXPERT that drives conversation and talking points, here on LinkedIn, daily ---> please follow her; you'll learn something, well, daily 💅
This Oh Hello, Inc. pod/vod guest is perfect for Episode #23 b/c she's the GOAT of B2B #contentcreation ! In episode 23, we tackle #impostersyndrome #copywriting #vulnerability #growth
This "Hello" is so excited to be on our platform where she can mentor marketers near and far. She's currently the Head of Content at LASSO (a software platform for event production companies) and the co-host of That's Marketing, Baby (w/ Susan Wenograd 👋), a weekly pod filled w/ hot takes, actionable insights, and plenty o'sarcasm :)
Once Oh Hello, Inc. gets out of beta and fully launches to the public, this OhHello.io mentor will be donating some of her proceeds to Girls Who Code.
The "chef's kiss of content marketing" and one of the best in the biz --> Jess Cook!
Jess, this was a blast, thank you so much for recording this just a wee bit ago ;)
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor
00:00:00
Speaker
Our sponsor for the Oh Hello Pod is Flash Talking by Media Ocean. Say oh goodbye to the headache of personalizing your ad creative. With Flash Talking, you can easily create, automate, activate, and iterate.
00:00:18
Speaker
That's four eights for those keeping score. And I'd say overall, that's pretty great. Open web, social, mobile, and CTV. Do it all in a flash with flash talking. Visit mediaocean.com slash flash talking to learn more. That's mediaocean.com slash flash talking. Thanks. And now for our pod.
Meet Jess Cook: From Ad Agency to SaaS
00:00:57
Speaker
All right. Hello, Jess Cook. And hello. Oh, hello. Hi, all. Hi, Jess. How's it going, Jeremy? I am great. Anytime I get to talk to you, it puts a smile on my face. You like why such amazing energy every time that we talk. So I know this about you. But why don't you tell everybody? Who are you? Why are you here?
00:01:30
Speaker
So existential. I am Jess Cook. I'm currently head of content at Lasso. But in my last role, I worked for you, Jeremy Bloom. Yes, with, with, with. I worked with you at Marpipe. And so that is how you and I know each other. And we've become very good friends. Absolutely.
00:01:57
Speaker
Let's see what else. The first major portion of my career was spent in ad agency world. I was a creative director and copywriter, worked on some really fun stuff and some fun brands there. At one point, I decided I wanted to do something totally different, make a huge pivot, but use that same skill set. I found myself
00:02:19
Speaker
in SaaS content marketing, which is absolutely, having been in both worlds, the right place for me. So now I'm over at Lasso, which is a platform for event production companies.
00:02:36
Speaker
when you go to a football game or a concert or like some sort of corporate event or conference, there's a million things that happen before you walk in that door. And so Lasso helps the companies who put those events on, who do all the lighting and the sound and the video and just pushing the stage together and putting everything in the right place. So
00:03:02
Speaker
We are a platform for helping them plan and grow and do all of the things. That's a good description of of who you are. Also, a mother, a wife, an entrepreneur. Oh, yeah. A Michigander. That's right. Thank you. Yes, that's funny. I kind of forget those parts of myself sometimes during work hours. You know, sometimes it's easy to forget.
00:03:31
Speaker
Sure, sure. Easy to forget during work hours, but you are a mentor to many and a lot of folks look up to you as someone who is both entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial working within a company and just building and also someone who is entrepreneurial on the side who has a ton of grit and hustle, which is amazing and I truly respect that.
00:03:55
Speaker
So thanks for explaining who you are.
Passions in Content Marketing and Personal Branding
00:03:58
Speaker
How would you characterize your skillset and what you're going to be sharing with the Oh, hello community. One, I am like so excited to be a part of this simply because I think the, my favorite part of what I do and like,
00:04:17
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having become a pretty avid poster on LinkedIn is people reaching out to me and being like, can we just talk for a bit? I just want to pick your brain. I'm in a similar position or I'm new to content marketing and I just want to learn everything I can. And so that's always one of my favorite things to do is hop on a call with someone and talk through whatever they're stuck with or struggling with or curious about at the moment.
00:04:46
Speaker
And so I'm so excited to be part of a community now that that's the sole purpose, right? Is like connect the people who want to kind of like get that information out of their heads and the people that want it in their heads. And so I'm really excited about that. As far as what I would talk about.
00:05:06
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or kind of where my expertise lies. Definitely copywriting and content marketing, strategy, creative, repurposing. I'm a huge fan of like creating one thing and then turning into 70 other things. You were so good at that. It's so fun to me. I love that. I love that I think because I get to work a little smarter and not harder. Totally. That is a huge perk for me.
00:05:37
Speaker
what else, personal branding. And I think one really important thing that really just you can't learn anywhere else like in school or in a book is just like building confidence.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
00:05:51
Speaker
I think actually, you know, when I first started working with you, Jeremy, I remember
00:05:56
Speaker
talking to you and saying, I suffer really badly from imposter syndrome. And I think over through working with you and building what we did together, I feel like I have shed that for the most part. And so I love when people come to me and they're like, how did you do that? Or like, how can I get rid of this feeling that I don't know what I'm doing?
00:06:22
Speaker
because it is really hard and it can really hold you back. And so that as well, just like, how do I get more confident in this thing called marketing?
00:06:33
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Thank you for showcasing that vulnerability to our listeners, our viewers, and just for always being so transparent. Having had the pleasure of partnering with you and seeing you grow into yourself and shedding those layers and becoming who you are, the expert of content marketing, the chef's kiss, the gem. It's been fantastic watching you through that journey.
00:06:59
Speaker
because you have showcased your vulnerability. And you've basically, you've realized that none of us know exactly what we're doing. But if you give it your damnedest, and if you just try and expose both your strengths and your weaknesses, it makes a difference. So absolutely. Yeah. And I think you'll find like the people who are trying to grow the most
00:07:25
Speaker
will feel those insecurities the most, right? Because if you're trying to grow, it means you're trying to do lots of things, new things you've never done before. And like, how could you not feel anything other than like, I've never done this before, what do I do? I have no idea how to start, right? And so I think part of shedding that is knowing it's okay to feel that way because it means you're growing.
00:07:50
Speaker
Well said.
Mentorship and Its Impact
00:07:51
Speaker
Well said. With growth, how did you become who you are? Who are some of your mentors? You, JB, I think you are just a fantastic one, just human being. And I think you give people the space and the autonomy they need to like do their best work.
00:08:11
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along with the direction they need to do that work. So thank you for sure. Thank you. I was not. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Yes, of course. It's absolutely genuine. Um, I had a creative director early on his name's Andy Gould and he was also a copywriter and he was someone who would just
00:08:34
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He would sit with me and take time with me and help me develop my craft as a copywriter and therefore my confidence as a copywriter.
00:08:45
Speaker
That was huge. I think sometimes we need to find those people who even show the smallest interest in us in our career and hang on to them and like ask them questions. What can I do next? What would you do in this situation? And so he was absolutely someone for me who I felt like took me under his wing. He had a really impressive career and I felt like some, even just a small fraction of that was able to rub off on me because
00:09:13
Speaker
I could tell that he cared and I took advantage of that, right? Like I was like, I'm gonna stick with him and I'm gonna learn so much from him and I did and he's a big reason that I think I just think the way I do about writing about content.
00:09:29
Speaker
Sounds like Andy made a profound impact and thank you so much for saying what you just said as well, Jess. Knowing that you're gonna have the opportunity to give back to the community, that you're gonna feel that sense of altruism and give a portion of the proceeds and back to a handful of different charities. Of the charities that are gonna be piped into the ohhello.io platform, what charity is near and dear to your heart and why?
Girls Who Code: Empowering Future Generations
00:09:59
Speaker
So I love Girls Who Code. I think it is, one, I don't know that there are going to be very many jobs in the future where you don't have to know some bit of code, right? And so I think every day that passes, that becomes more and more imperative. Two, I mean, I have two daughters and I know that
00:10:26
Speaker
that like this whole idea of like knowing how to code and understanding you know how something is built that will affect them the rest of their lives like to be successful someday they will absolutely have to understand that world. I also know that girls tend to you know lose interest in in STEM activities as they get a little bit older
00:10:51
Speaker
And so I think trying to get them interested in them while they're young and really instilling that in them, that it's fun and interesting and look at all the cool things you can build and do. And there are so many examples now, right? Which is really exciting. Going back to that idea of those who are most interested in self growth,
00:11:11
Speaker
are always gonna have that little bit of fear of like, I don't know what I'm doing, this is new, how do I accomplish it? And so I think Girls Who Code is one of the organizations that are helping girls overcome that by teaching them that new skill. That's difficult, right? And once they become confident in it, they see they have this room for growth that is really all within their control. As a female leader in the space that was so wonderfully said,
00:11:38
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We so much appreciate you being on the pod,
Closing Remarks and Connections
00:11:41
Speaker
Jess. Absolutely. You are an inspiration of so many. Everyone listening, please, please follow Jess Cook on LinkedIn. And more importantly, go and sync with her on ohhello.io. Thank you, Jess. Appreciate you. Thanks, Jeremy. Bye. Thanks, listeners.