Jenna Umbrianna
Partner & Chief Development Officer at Mediastruction
Website Address: https://www.mediastruction.com/
Each week on “Marketing for Your Future,” our host talks to media experts across the country. This week, our host speaks with Jenna Umbrianna from Mediastruction.
To learn more, check out https://www.mediastruction.com/.
What is the biggest change in marketing that you see coming in the next 2 years?
Because we are in the midst of what I consider to be The Privacy Era, with growing consumer choice about tracking and increased governmental regulations, I believe it will be a challenge for marketers to figure out the best way to reach their brand’s target consumers while being respectful of consumer privacy and measuring to business outcomes for clients. Marketers, particularly in digital, are so accustomed to readily-available target audience groups and hyper-tracking; and that’s really changing.
What is something in your career that you learned from by making a mistake?
In the very early stage of my career, working in email marketing, I made an error that greatly influenced the trajectory of my career and the principles I put into building a team, managing people, and running a business or a piece of a business. At the time, as a manager of a large email marketing budget, I inadvertently sent the wrong message to the wrong audience during an A/B test. In spite of my mistake, a top company executive reiterated it’s the team leader’s job to make sure employees are well-trained and understand enough about the project to execute their portion confidently. That message of leadership accountability is something I’ve tried to apply throughout my career.
When I manage a team, I’m always collaborating with the entire team so that people understand the totality of any given project and what the expected outcome will be. I make sure employees are given the broader context as well. While everyone has a specific role, I find that teams work better when they actually feel like they are part of a team and understand the greater goal. People work better that way.
That early mistake in my career shaped so much of my leadership style.
