Katie Schaeffers (O2E Brands)
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On this episode of Marketing News Canada, Darian Kovacs interviews Katie Schaeffers. Katie is the Director of Marketing for O2E Brands.
Katie is a graduate of the University of McGill as well as the London School of Economics. She has a variety of experience from working with multiple brands and has been involved in many areas of marketing. For many years, Katie, similar to Darian, worked in event marketing. She attributes a lot of her skills and her ability to adapt quickly to situations from her event marketing experience, as it can be seen as a high-stress environment.
At her core, Katie is a strategic thinker that aspires to see businesses and individuals grow. She sees the value in teamwork and believes it is a key factor to success. Something significant to her is always staying true to the brand’s vision and values but keeping consumers in mind. As a strategist, Katie has planned for highly notable events, such as the Squamish Valley Music Festival, TED Conferences LLC, The JUNO Awards, and more.
O2E is a family of companies. Some companies included in this large family are, Big Brother, 1-800 Got Junk, Wow One Day Painting, and Shack Shine. 02E is franchise-based and works closely with its operators.
When finding entrepreneurs to work with, Katie seeks someone who portrays what she likes to refer to as “The Four H’s.” The four H’s are happy, hungry, hands-on, and hard working. A strong future entrepreneur has to love what they do, be willing to dive in at ground level and be willing to be an operator and not just an investor. This means being involved in important business decisions and understanding the workflow of the business.
In the interview, Katie stated that successful business owners are willing to take “smart risks.” Whether this be investing in a new start-up company or investing in improving an existing one. Buying a ready-made business is a wise move, but she said to take into consideration how you can really make your mark.
Wise business owners know their customers. They understand how to keep clients loyal and the significance of loyalty. It takes more money to acquire new customers than it does to retain the existing ones. Katie stated something to always keep in mind is, how to create a seamless business experience. This starts with developing a customer journey map. Know the customer’s wants, needs, desires, and most importantly their pain points.
Katie has worked in many different areas of marketing, which made this interview so informational. From working in event marketing and now being the director of marketing at O2E, Katie provides the company with a strong skill set that will help them grow their business.
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