What Does It Take to Become a Kicksaw Marketing Implementation Consultant?

So far in our series highlighting what it takes to succeed in the various roles Kicksaw hires for, we’ve looked at a few of our Sales Operations roles: Salesforce Consultant, Solution Architect, Salesforce Admin, and RevOps Strategist. We’re switching gears today, but only slightly — it’s time for a deep dive into the life of the yin to Sales Operations’ yang: the Marketing Implementation Consultant! 

Working at Kicksaw is not your average consulting firm experience, and one of the main reasons for this is the fact that we do business differently. Our company mission is to transform consulting by putting our customers and employees first, and those aren’t just words. They’re our bedrock. 

One of the most practical ways this difference comes into play for our employees is that we’ve eschewed rigid SOWs and locked-in contracts for a more flexible approach that allows us to create a better product for clients while also taking care of our employees. We accomplish this by offering two different business models for our clients: Fractional Operations and On-Demand. Whereas On-Demand services essentially boil down to a certain amount of work per month from our team members, Fractional Operations are a little more nuanced. Check out this video to learn more about what Fractional Operations entail.

In contrast to most roles on the Sales Operations team (SOPS), the Marketing Operations team members (MOPS) work with both the Fractional Operations and On-Demand business models. And while understanding the intricacies of the two models is not critical to success as a Marketing Implementation Consultant, it definitely helps. So, we’ll be brief. 

Essentially, there are two different ways a client can engage with Kicksaw: Fractional Operations or On-Demand services. If the customer comes to us with strategic-level business problems that necessitate agile project management methods, then Fractional Operations is likely the way to go. If the client simply needs routine maintenance, ongoing support, or tactical project help, they’re likely going to fall into the On-Demand services camp. Marketing Implementation Consultants routinely work with clients in both programs. 

The biggest difference between the SOPS and MOPS experience at Kicksaw is that SOPS Fractional Operations clients work with a three-person Pod (see any of our posts on the SOPS roles to learn more about a Pod), but MOPS Fractional Operations clients work with a single, uber-talented marketing operations maven, AKA the Marketing Implementation Consultant. 

The Marketing Implementation Consultant handles all consulting, architecting, and administrative work for the client, regardless of business model. That’s not to say that they operate in a vacuum, of course. The MOPS team members rely heavily on each other, as well as SOPS team members, to collaborate on complex business problems, buggy solutions, or any other road bumps they encounter. Marketing Implementation Consultants are trusted to run their own engagements and manage their time accordingly, and they usually work with five to ten organizations every week, depending on project scope and complexity. This, of course, means a lot of different types of work and clients, and also a lot of different deadlines — if you’re a strong organizer who loves solving client problems, managing multiple projects, and wowing your customers with elegant solutions that exceed their expectations, this could be the role for you.

My favorite things about being a Marketing Implementation Consultant at Kicksaw are interacting with my teammates and training customers on how to utilize their new tools — both of these types of collaboration are rewarding in their own way, and I never know when I myself am going to learn something new as well.
— Kicksaw Marketing Implementation Consultant

What sets the Marketing Implementation Consultant role apart? 

Probably the biggest differentiator for the Marketing Implementation Consultant role can be deduced from the title — it’s marketing solutions, not sales ones. While a working knowledge of Salesforce is definitely needed, the MOPS team works with Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPS) including Marketing Cloud Engagement, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, and HubSpot. Other solutions are brought into the mix as our clients need them.

Similarly to the RevOps Strategist role, the Marketing Implementation Consultant is…everything, as far as the client is concerned. As a Marketing Implementation Consultant, you’ll consult with the client on their business needs, work to determine the best marketing technology strategy, design the solution, put in the HOK work, demo it, debug it, etc. You’re a multifaceted project manager with some serious marketing automation platform (MAP) chops, plus a savvy eye for getting to the heart of what a client truly needs, rather than just what they’re asking for (sometimes they’re the same thing, sometimes they’re not). 

Our unique business models have yet another benefit for our team members: incentivization is off the table, so burnout doesn’t typically happen. Sure, you’ll track your hours, and you can always count on a full day with plenty of client calls. But more importantly, you can also count on being so much more than another number in our system — you aren’t 40 hours of work per week. You’re a valuable member of our team, and we’ll treat you as such. You’re a person, not a resource to be leveraged.

To succeed as a Marketing Implementation Consultant, you need to be able to put yourself in the feet of the marketer, as well as the end user in the customer journey. This will allow you to ask the right questions, gather the right requirements, and build goodwill with your client to ensure they have a successful implementation. It's always a good idea to remind your clients that no questions are dumb questions, and that feedback is a necessary part of the process and contributes to everyone's success.
— Areesya Bullock, Kicksaw Marketing Implementation Consultant

Curious what to expect from an average day as a Marketing Implementation Consultant? Expect around five to eight hours of client meetings per week and less than that for internal meetings, but aside from those blocks of time, you set your own schedule and determine the best way to spend your time in order to finish the work that you’ve been given. A typical-ish work day might look like this: 

Your Morning:

• You kick off your day by assessing your calendar and prepping any necessary client notes. Once that’s done, you review your inbox and make any pertinent edits to your to-do list for the day based on what you see. 
• Before the first call of the day, you spend some quality time answering client emails and poring over call notes from the previous day.

9:00 - 10:00 AM

Time for the first client meeting of the day! Today, you are training a client on how to create a campaign and ensure that all the data they need to capture is synced to Salesforce without issue. Your deck is prepped and ready, but before the call kicks off, you review the slides to make sure nothing was missed. 

• Once the demo is over, you type up an email recap that includes a link to a recording of the meeting, a high-level overview of items discussed, a list of tasks to be worked on with assignments and due dates, and a summary of what will happen during the next call.
• While you were on your client call, a different client sent you an email asking why one of their automations wasn’t firing. You look into the issue, discover the problem, and quickly fix it.
• One of your clients has an interesting business problem that you think might be best resolved using an app you’ve never integrated to a MAP before. You spend some time researching the issue.
• In the company Slack exchange, you see that one of your colleagues needs help on an issue you’re familiar with. You offer to hop on a quick call with them to troubleshoot, and the problem is resolved. 

Lunch

You break for lunch a touch early today because you’re coupling it with a virtual coffee with a coworker you don’t normally get to talk to. Kicksaw uses an app called Donut to facilitate “water cooler conversations” in our 100% remote environment. 

12:30 - 1:00 PM

Every week, you and your fellow MOPS team members get together to discuss client work, problem-solve, and connect on issues that are important to MOPS, the clients, and Kicksaw. It’s a work meeting, yes, but it’s also a chance to catch up a bit and make each other laugh — essential components of the job. 

After that meeting, you buckle down for another couple of hours of client work:

• You email an on-demand client to let them know that they’re nearing the limit on the number of hours they’ve purchased for the month. Most On-demand clients purchase “buckets” of hours, and if they need more work done than can be accomplished within the remaining hours, they can easily purchase additional hours.
• One of your clients emails you asking for help cleaning up their lists. You review the request and create a list of clarifying questions, then send that off and make a note to follow up tomorrow. 
• Another client needs some help creating an email campaign. You review their goals, take a look at their existing lists and similar campaigns they’ve done, then create a written version of your recommendations for their review. Once approved, you will build the campaign for them.

2:00 - 3:00 PM

It’s time for the second client meeting of the day! This is a discovery session with a relatively new client. You have a list of talking points you want to discuss as well as some suggested action items based on what you know about the client’s needs, but you’ve left plenty of room on the agenda for the client to bring up anything they want to spend time on.

3:00 - 4:00 PM

Today, the Delivery team has an internal meeting to align on departmental goals. Much of this meeting will be listening and note-taking for you, but the second half of today’s meeting features a guest speaker who will present some teamwork strategies Kicksaw has been implementing internally. You prep a tasty snack and your favorite hot beverage, then settle in. 

4:00 - 5:00 PM

To cap off your day in front of a screen, you spend a half hour studying up for your next certification. When that’s finished, you prepare to end the work day with an activity that doesn’t require a screen — you gear up and drive out to the local community park to pitch in on an invasive plant weeding project. All Kicksaw employees can take 24 hours of paid volunteer time off per year, and we greatly encourage you to take that time and donate it to a cause you’re passionate about.

Life as a Marketing Implementation Consultant is full of twists and turns — every day is different, as is every client. Time management skills are critical to success, as are creative problem solving skills. And if that sounds like the perfect recipe for a motivating day full of opportunities for professional development, this could be the role for you!

What does career growth look like for a Marketing Implementation Consultant?

There are four tiers for Marketing Implementation Consultants at Kicksaw, and we like to break them down this way: 

• Tier 1: Associate — Can tie a knot, and participates when others tie complex knots.
• Tier 2: Mid/Developing — Ties complex knots, calculates rope strength, and knows a lot about knots of all sorts
• Tier 3: Senior — Creates their own knots, teaches others how to tie these new knots, and uses these new knots strategically
• Tier 4: Principal — Uses their extensive knowledge of knots to solve complicated problems that affect their Pod/department and result in positive change for Kicksaw

Employees and managers maintain regular communication through a user-friendly performance-management platform, with performance reviews conducted biannually. It’s easy to gauge your standing with the company without contacting HR or scheduling meetings, as an internal rubric for assessing tiers within each role, along with salary ranges, is readily accessible.

Additionally, every position at Kicksaw follows a well-documented career progression track. While there are tracks available for those aspiring to managerial roles, there's also a non-management track that we call the "individual contributor track." Both tracks carry equal importance — managerial positions are not the sole path to achieving career success at Kicksaw.

We place a strong emphasis on self-improvement and actively encourage all employees to enhance their skill sets. Kicksaw provides support for attending classes, participating in conferences (such as Dreamforce or other Salesforce events), and expanding professional abilities. This support includes reimbursement (subject to a cap), an annual tech stipend, access to internal resources facilitating class discovery, and more. 

Suffice to say, you can go as far as you see fit as a Marketing Implementation Consultant at Kicksaw! 

To succeed in this role, you need experience in digital marketing, as well as marketing strategy in general, but it goes beyond that. You need curiosity, a hunger to learn, and a real desire to see your clients succeed. Marketers can sometimes feel overlooked, but it's our job to give our clients the tools they need to create superstars out of their own marketing team. We're the muscle behind their muscle, and that makes me incredibly proud.
— Ali Waguespack, Kicksaw Marketing Operations Delivery Manager

How should I prepare for an interview for the Marketing Implementation Consultant role?

The People Operations team considers various factors when reviewing resumés, and they’re looking for more than just a lengthy list of certifications. 

Don’t get us wrong here, we love seeing those certs. However, what truly matters to us is practical experience. Candidates for the Marketing Implementation Consultant role should have a substantial background in marketing automation platforms, including email setups, journeys and workflows, SQL, and light coding (HTML, CSS, etc). If you’ve never implemented a MAP end-to-end or aren’t sure where to start when integrating a MAP to Salesforce, we probably aren’t the best fit for you right now.

After the initial screening, you will be given a technical “take-home test” to help us better gauge your skills and abilities in the MAP. Once you’ve completed that, if there's potential for a good fit, you'll meet with a Delivery Manager and likely a peer panel. These interviews provide an opportunity for us to understand your approach to solving customers' business problems. Meetings with the Director of Delivery and other leadership figures will also be part of the interview process. Despite the number of interviews, we encourage you to think of this process as an opportunity for you to get to know our team and start to understand our methods. And everyone you speak with here is genuinely interested in seeing you succeed — we want to make sure we’re a good fit for you and your goals.

Preparing for a Marketing Implementation Consultant role interview at Kicksaw (or any role at Kicksaw) really boils down to one key principle: be yourself. Our "Be You" core value is central to the interview process. We recognize that we're hiring people, not just resources, and personalities play a role in how individuals work and interact with their colleagues. Embodying all four of our core values — Work Together, Be You, Own It, and Keep It Simple — is crucial.

Kicksaw attributes our success to our team, and creating a people-centric culture is a priority. Our remote-first work mindset, additional employee benefits, and ongoing efforts to enhance our workplace reflect our commitment to prioritizing our people. Aligning with our core values and contributing to our unique culture are essential qualities we seek in candidates, no matter the role. 

So, don't hesitate — send us your resumé! While applying for a new role may feel overwhelming, rest assured that real people will carefully review your application. The Marketing Implementation Consultant role at Kicksaw offers an exciting opportunity for individuals who enjoy impressing clients with innovative solutions, leading talented teams, delving into user stories and adoption rates, and seeking growth in a distinctive consulting firm.

We look forward to hearing from you!