Building Brands in the Transportation Industry with Mariana Vieth

I am Jennifer Purpose Romain , executive Director at the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association , which is a trade nonprofit educating and connecting marketing and sales professionals in transportation and logistics , and today on the show I have Mariana Vieth , marketing Director at Case and WSI , really excited to have you on the show .

We were just laughing before we went live that we are doing this interview in between your vacation and my vacation . So , but you know transportation never sleeps , so here we are doing our interview in the small pocket of time . But welcome to the show . How are you doing today ?

But about a year , year and a half ago , we made an acquisition in the transportation space . We , you know , kind of raised some of our goals and so I knew I needed to step up my game . So joining TMSA was part of my trying to get more exposure , trying to connect with more people . But my actual background has like nothing to do with logistics .

Which I've recently found is a lot of people's stories Like they didn't go to school for supply chain but they somehow landed here , and that's what happened to me too .

Everybody has their own story , which is , which is pretty awesome and especially in sales and marketing .

I'm actually I like to joke that I'm a classically trained social worker who became a not classically trained choreographer , dance instructor for a decade running a small business with my friends and then a non classically trained supply chain B2B marketer . So it's like I go to school for one thing and then I'm like this looks fun .

But I mean , the dream of course I feel like for many journalists is to like write for the New York Times . But once you like get out of college you realize that that's not going to actually happen for most everybody .

Like I will snag that opportunity . It's just like in my nature . So even when I started at WSI , I was doing project management , supporting sales and marketing and the pricing team .

Well , there was really not a marketing team at the time , but sales and pricing , I guess in getting a better proposal process together , being able to turn them around faster , create better materials , and then realized we could be doing a lot more with marketing here . There isn't really a fully built out marketing department or program and the supply chain space .

It's not like we have a ton of really talented marketers in this space . A lot of them end up in the like you know , the consumer marketing side of things , and so I'm like I see an opportunity here and I sagged it .

I've gone and so like it's been a very crazy path and I wouldn't know what , I definitely would have never anticipated what my steps would have been throughout that , but I just knew like .

That's like , if I'm unhappy in a job or something like that , I'd always be like , okay , how do I absorb every single thing I can from this role , this position , this company , so that when I take the next step it's a step somewhere else that will make me happier , but I'll be more qualified , or I'll have more skills or whatever that looks like .

And so it seems that you kind of navigate that way too .

So if I'm going to try this and take a risk and like , take this opportunity , I'm going to go hard . So , four years later , I'm still pretty committed and , like having a great time building an awesome team . I feel really , really fortunate to have landed where I am for sure .

In the e-commerce space right around the you know pandemic , it was like everyone was like we have an opportunity here . We already had things set up . So we're like , okay , let's really commit and invest some of our resources in the space and make our marketing actually match the investments we're making in technology and all of these other areas .

So I already knew from the beginning it was a little bit of a challenge and I know that WSI is not the only one facing this .

Where you're trying to market e-commerce fulfillment services while you had , for the last several decades , really focused on that , like industrial space and like the larger warehousing , bulk storage , freight brokerage , small parcel and e-commerce fulfillment is a bit of a different beast and definitely a different audience and a different way you're going to need to market

to them . So when WSI acquired Shipping Tree and then we made the decision to rebrand it , I was like this is a great opportunity for us to try some things with this brand that the WSI voice wouldn't have quite been able to do as well . So we can have a unified company .

We have , you know , unified services , shared services , that we can leverage a unified network , but tailor our messaging with the different brands based on what the customer really wants and needs to hear . So very customer focused project , which it should be , and fun , fun for me and my team .

I've definitely always been a creative person , so being able to create something from scratch been a creative person , so being able to create something from scratch and I'm also like an extreme extrovert and a rebrand project is a very like collaborative project , like you're not going to do it in a vacuum and have it be successful .

Like you have to have the buy-in from the full senior leadership team you get to . You have to get the buy-in of the rest of the employees . You want to build pride around the brand . You want to communicate the brand to your employees and your customers and your prospects in a smart way .

And that challenge to me is fun and exciting One , and I already knew this , but it was like now I'm really never going to forget it that a brand is so much more than a name , and I bring this up because we had a list of like 50 different names we could have used for this company and if anyone's gone through this process before , you'll know , like trademark

is kind of a nightmare . Like buying the domain that like exactly fits the name of your company and is affordable , like that's a whole process and you know that was a little stressful , I'm not going to lie .

Like there were those moments where we're like , oh my gosh , we got so far with one concept and then it like falls through on the legal side , but realizing that we built so much of the brand without a name and then we're able to find the name that was like this is perfect , like this fits and it all came together but the name alone wasn't all of it .

The other thing I made notes don't underestimate the time it takes to project manage stuff . And I think people a lot of times will say , well , I'm not a project manager , but whether or not you have that title , like as a leader managing a project like this , like you have to project manage it . And it's not a nuisance , it's a priority .

So making sure that all of the people are doing the things that they're supposed to be doing , managing the timelines , managing expectations , really putting the time is key .

It should not be an afterthought , it needs to be a priority but I'm also a little biased because , in addition to being marketing director , my role includes corporate communications , internal comms , so I'm passionate about both .

That was always just annual conference and so then it was like Elevate and then I was like , okay , we want to do a podcast . So now that's on the move and we have our newsletter . That's moving forward . And our , we rebranded the award program and that's Rising Stars , mountain Movers , trailblazers and all of those .

They all are different , they all have movement in them . I don't know if people have actually realized that to the degree that I have sat and thought about it . Like it there , everything has some type of movement , even like our DEI committee that you serve on the tree .

Like the committee , the name is just a name , right , it may evolve , it may change or whatever , but our , our icon of the tree the roots are building down and the tree is building up . There's movement . That's why I proved that there was like multiple iterations of that logo when we went through that .

I'm like I want the tree , because the tree represents movement up and down , grounding yourself in a community and building yourself up . Like it it is . There's so much thought behind it and it's more than just a name . But how does it stand alone , how can it incorporate itself in all of the pieces ?

And so I love when those visual representations match that , because I think there gets to be a lot of confusion , both internally and externally , when they don't . And you see that a lot with acquisitions that acquire over and over and over and over , and then they don't work on any of the blending portions of that , which can get really tricky .

new customers with this branding . But also , how is this going to make our employees feel about the merging of the companies together under one culture . How does this represent who we are internally and how we the values that we live by and how rooting for this ?

You know like it's going to be hard to get that externally , so I'm super proud of , internally , the work that we've done to really collaborate with all departments .

So we continue to have a company , you know , like that's what you need to do , so , yeah , it's business , like that's the goal . And so understanding how all those pieces work together , having the buy-in from senior leadership all the way down to everyone in the company , remembering that the employees are a piece of that , I think it's really important .

It sounds like that was how you guys navigated that , which is really cool , absolutely and obviously you know being internal comms and also just talking through that culture and employees and things like that . I do want to talk about professional development a bit and what are some of the best ways to engage and learn

in the industry . So now , as you said , you've been here for four years . Tmsa was one of the things you came to to kind of learn more . But how have you navigated ? What are some advice you have for other people trying to develop ?

Yeah , I was thinking about this question in advance of this interview and I realized that what works for me is not going to work for everybody , because I am a very social person , I'm social butterfly , and I learn like this having conversations with people who I think know something more than I do are better at something than I am Watching how someone does

something . Collaborating with someone Some others might prefer , you know , reading some professional development books or attending a webinar or something I like the networking . Networking is a way that I learn . When I started in this industry , I had no network .

I was brand new , right , and so I focused on developing the internal network in the company , like reaching out , introducing myself , trying to make some friends go to some people that I could go to , when you know you're looking for the answer to something and you're like I'm kind of embarrassed to ask , but I know .

I have three people who won't judge me for asking the question . Like developing networks , like I focus on that right away , but like my personal mission in life , I've done some work to identify this and I know it's to build community . So I've done that as a social worker . I did that in the dance world .

Now I'm doing it in the logistics space , like if I'm building community then I'm happy . Right , I could do that in different functions . So right now I'm doing that through my marketing and communications work . But in order to build community , I have to meet people .

I have to connect with people and just meeting someone and shaking hands is like that's not a connection , that's just an introduction .

So when I joined , I joined IWLA well , wsi was already a member , but I was like I'm going to get involved , like there's a marketing special interest group , I'm signing up , you know , finding out about TMSA , which I found out about through IWLA and I was like , okay , I'm going to join , I'm going to attend the event and I'm going to find that DEI committee

and I'm going to serve , be introduced to vendors that have been super helpful , like writers that can help with our content strategy , make connections with people that helped us with like lead gen campaigns , and it's been incredibly , incredibly valuable being invited to speak on things like this .

I also think helps in my professional development because , even if I feel like , okay , I'm really confident in this topic , but I'm about to talk in front of a bunch of people about it , so I'm going to do that extra research and I'm going to be really confident on this topic , now , that's not going to work for everybody , but it's worked for me .

That was my first podcast I've ever done , or something like that , which has been I'm like , oh yeah , because our jobs as marketers typically it's like push our president put someone else in front of me and we stand in the corner and just make sure they don't say anything terrible , you know , and so it , because that was definitely coming to TMSA and becoming the

executive director . That was 100% the hardest shift for me . I was not a leader . I was not an executive leader . I was a director of marketing who did that . But I made sure other people went and talked , I made sure our content was great , Our booth looked great , all of those things , but I was not the thought leader I could do .

I would come to TMSA and I would speak there because I was the marketing person , so like , but so I was professionally developing in TMSA too , but that wasn't a piece . And so suddenly , yes , like being seen as the leader and people noticing me in a room , it's like , oh okay , like that's a whole different ballgame now and so .

But that's been a really cool part of this podcast for me is because I do think that marketing and salespeople have such perspective and such value and are thought leaders and they are following trends and they're doing all these things that people outside of our little pocket might not realize how much they're actually doing .

So I love leaving a space for them to share that here .

Yeah , it's amazing . Thanks for having just double asked the question . You volunteer in both places . What do you do there and how does it bring you value to your career ? That's a better question .

So actually I started with IWLA , with the marketing SIG , attended the marketing workshop and kind of helped just pitch with like ideas for things we could do , and one of the things that has helped me , I think , with that , or I should say I kind of take advantage of it right , as I'm like , hey , if I'm going to volunteer to help plan this , I'm going to

make sure that the topics that I want to hear about are on that agenda . So that's one thing right , like being able to come and say , hey , I want to know how other people are dealing with their budget struggles right now , can we hear from this person ? Can we recruit this person to come speak ?

Can we , you know , organize the schedule to include a roundtable discussion ?

Like , I kind of got to help tailor the experience I get to have by influencing the schedule and the planning of the event and then , with the TMSA and working on the diversity , equity and inclusion initiatives , not only have I met a ton of really amazing people , but have also learned about some struggles that some of our peers and other companies in the industry

are having that are similar to what we are having , or that , hey , we've been able to solve this or they've been able to solve this . And can we share some tips with each other ?

A lot of it has been around like how we communicate these things , like how we talk about these things , um , how do we get this message out in a way that's , you know , going to be really digestible , um , that won't put anybody off , um , and is really focused on like positive , uplifting , building and improving .

Upskilling , I think , is one of the terms that I've heard recently . Our industry , and then also I went to the Women in Supply Chain Forum and started to realize like , oh , hey , I know you because I met you at this other event .

I know you , I met you at this other event , got introduced to a couple different people , got introduced to Sarah Barnes Humphrey through TMSA and now I actually also volunteer with Blended .

But I had , if I did not have wsi today , I would be very sad . But I would also have , you know , 30 other people that I've now made friendships with in these other areas that I know I could lean on for support and advice . And I know I could lean on for support and advice and I wouldn't trade that . I would do it again .

I would put in all the volunteer hours to also just have that feeling of like fulfillment , you know .

I actually was looking the other day , like the people I talk to on a daily basis between , like my friends and family so many of them are TMSA people that just have , you know , become a part of my real life too , which is something . Yeah , the slack is nice , which is something . Yeah , the slack is nice .

Yeah , yeah , it is yes , we have a TMSA slack and we do . Each committee has their own space and so you can talk to your committees . You can also talk in the general spaces . I think it's really cool to be able to connect and network and just even just oh , hey , who's going to this industry show or who's doing this ?

And so you said before about building a community , and that's really what we try to be and what we try to help our members be so really excited about that , and we are , of course , thankful for all the work that you're putting in for us , and I do think having you volunteer in other places help , um , us all grow together because you know , then there there's

oh yeah , this is what people over in the more warehousing side are saying , and and this is giving that feedback , which is great yeah , well and hey you are going to be coming to speak at the IWLA marketing workshop . I am . I am as well . So I am coming to be the keynote speaker at the IWLA Marketing Summit , which is July 10th through 11th in Orlando .

I do have the IWLA website QR code right there for anyone that is interested in scanning . I'm really excited . I have heard about the IWLA Marketing Summit for the past couple of years and it just never . That time in July is typically when I either like have to like get a surgery , or like I go on vacation , like it's .

It's like four weeks after elevate , and so it's like , okay , I've paid all my bills , I've read all the surveys , like I can close things out and take a week off work . So it just has not worked for the past couple of years . And they've asked me but this , I'm like you know what ? We're just so we're going on spring

break this year , hence why I will be gone for this week . And so I was like , oh , I will actually have July open this year . So , let's talk about it . I'm so excited . I have wanted to go for the past couple of years but , as part of that group , can you tell us more about this event , what people can expect from it ?

And also speaking of like the value of doing these things and joining these organizations , this year I am bringing someone from my team and I was like hey , you are a rock star , you should speak at this event , like other people should hear what you have to say , because you're amazing and I'm pumped .

So you'll be hearing from Mary Berko at this year's event on our content strategy and I'm hoping that will also help her get some value out of the connections and the friendships too .

What would you do All that kind of stuff ? So like really walking people through it , cause I am a hands-on learner myself , so I like being able to okay , let me sit and listen to what this person's saying , but how do I actually apply that ? So I'm pretty pumped about it .

I'm excited and honored to be able to do it and to be interested to lead that conversation . So I'm excited and honored to be able to do it and to be interested to lead that conversation . So I'm really excited .

I can't wait to hear other people's .

You know , like we at one time we accidentally sent out we were like reworking our workflows in HubSpot and it sent out like a mass email that was supposed to go to like 20 people .

So it's it is like very you're in the spotlight . And when you're in the spotlight like sometimes people you're you're not going to always be on point . Um , we want to be on point as much as we can , but so much of like marketing also is experimentation and to experiment and only have success is like that's not real life .

Like you're going to experiment Some things are going to work and some things are going . Like that's not real life , like you're going to experiment . Some things are going to work and some things are going to not . So I'm pumped to hear , like , what are the other things people have tried and failed at ?

Maybe I don't have to try and fail , cause I'll learn from them .

Or like did you have to change the ad copy because that wasn't working ? like I feel like that's just as valuable of being like hey , we did this and it was awesome , okay , but like when ? Like when did you have the ? Yeah ? When did you have to adjust the copy ? Or did you realize , oh okay , this actually are was terrible in email form .

So we're going to stick to social or whatever it is , but how did you learn that ? Because that's a piece of the puzzle too .

I like journaling and every year at the end of the year , every year that I've worked at WSI , at the end of the year , I write like my reflection on the year and it'll include like a summary of like here's what our like marketing plan was for the year , here's what I accomplished , here's what I didn't accomplish and and it's like it was never meant for like

anyone else's eyes but my own . So I'm just like I had no idea what I was doing here , Like this was a mistake , but it's been funny because I go back then and like read last year's learnings and it's actually really encouraging because I can see the progression . I can look back and be like actually I was on point with this .

I just needed to wait longer . Like you know , or well , I gave up on that idea too quick . I should try that again with this . You know change . And then I actually reported to our VP of sales and marketing for the first three-ish years and then we got a VP of marketing .

So the role was split and you know what One of the first things I did is share that document with him .

But if you could go back in time and advise your younger self anything , personally or professionally , when would you go back to and what would you tell ?

And I don't know that I spent enough time thinking about like , yeah , but what do I think I have great skills , which I think is important , and I don't know that I spent enough time thinking about like , yeah , but what do I actually want to be doing day to day ?

You know , and I don't regret how my life turned out by any means , but I would have maybe cut myself a little more slack , I think , had I gone back to say , yeah , I want to spend more of my time , you know , being creative , I want to spend more of my time , or I want to .

I know that I want to get home and have dinner with my family , like that's a priority . I should . I should think about that when I'm making a career decision , right , that kind of stuff .

But frankly , like knowing me , even if , like future , madi showed up and was , like girl , you need to do this and this and this , I'd be like don't tell me what to do , I'm going to figure it out for myself . And then I would have just done what I want to do anyway .

I'm going to go home very sad every day .