This post is a part of series that profiles our leadership team here at Clix. We hope you enjoy getting to know us!
She’s the newest addition to our team and a great one we might add! Kayla’s energy and love for her job have already been a lovely addition to our team! It’s our pleasure to introduce you to our new Director of Sales, Kayla Kurtz.
How did you get started in digital marketing sales?
After about a year in digital marketing, I realized the traditional account manager role wasn’t where I wanted to grow my career because I didn’t love working on the same set of clients every day. My agency team at the time was also focusing more dedicated resources on new business development, so it wound up being a pretty perfect opportunity to transition to a sales position.
I started by helping explore the challenge areas in initial discovery calls, from there producing the analysis of where we could improve performance and delivering the more tactical aspects of our pitches. The change allowed me to work on a fairly constant revolving door of different accounts, while still participating in our plan of attack and strategy to be a great agency fit for clients. The rest is history!
What is your favorite thing about this industry?
It is certainly always changing! But honestly, the knowledge sharing that occurs in so many blogs and through various mediums in this industry is second to none and I love that folks truly work hard to make sure innovative strategies keep coming out of what might be technically competing agencies.
Do you prefer selling to new-to-digital brands, or those with a lot of paid marketing history?
This is definitely a trick question, but ultimately I would say I really like both! The part of my background that’s rooted in teaching truly enjoys helping explain how the campaigns our team manages will participate in marketing plans for new-to-digital brands. On the other hand, companies with a lot of paid marketing history are usually ready for expanding or testing budgets in less traditional PPC channels, and participating in their scalability is super fun.
Do you have a sales moment in your career that you’re most proud of?
It once took me three years to lock down an engagement with a big retail/ecomm client who had quite proudly never leveraged agency assistance with their digital marketing before. We stayed in touch at industry events and I shared precisely relevant content with them consistently, so when my contacts finally got approval to retain additional management resources (but couldn’t hire in-house), the actual “sales” process was simple and our teams were mutually excited for the partnership. Certainly a proud moment, but it also taught me to stay diligent in this industry because meaningful relationships are what drive new business, not flashy tools or algorithms.
What’s a project you’re working on that you’re really excited about?
There are no shortage of awesome client stories and case studies within the existing and previous Clix book of business, so one of my most exciting projects is figuring out how I can be a channel to collect those.
Are there any causes you’re particularly interested in?
I absolutely love helping our local animal shelters or anything to do with care for pets who may be temporarily or permanently displaced. The team at Wings of Rescue fly animals from at-risk environments to no-kill shelters and provide extra support during hurricanes and wildfires to ensure shelter pets get out safely, so I try to donate their way anytime I can. I’m also beyond bored of misogyny and consider myself a fierce supporter of women’s equality.
That’s a wrap! We hope you loved learning more about Kayla!
