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Greetings, everyone! On The Leader Show With Louis Carter, our guest today is Jay Friedman, the CEO of Goodway Group. Goodway Group delivers a holistic approach to digital media strategy and execution, leveraging sophisticated techniques for data analysis, insights, and customized consulting services.
In this episode, Jay discusses Goodway Group’s journey to getting certified as a Most Loved Worplace® and shares some crucial advice for budding entrepreneurs. He talks about transforming the digital marketplace and the successes that Goodway Group has enjoyed in this segment.
Now, without further ado, let’s jump right in!
Lou initiates the discussion by asking Jay about Goodway Group and his journey as CEO. Jay highlights that Goodway Group is an umbrella company with three ad agency marketing service firms – TUFF Growth, Goodway Group, and Control V Exposed (CVE).
The company has around 550 employees worldwide- a significant increase in personnel since he joined in 2006, when the team comprised of only 30 individuals. Jay notes that Goodway Group was founded in 1929 and is currently run by the third generation of the family, with him being the first non-family member in the CEO position.
When asked about his role as a non-family member CEO, Jay responds by explaining that he focused on building trust by communicating with the founder over a period of 7-10 years, understanding and delivering on the family’s values and promises.
They also discuss the challenge of managing a global team of 550 employees, especially in a fully remote environment since 2010.
Additionally, Jay highlights that a company’s culture is created through stories, beliefs, and symbols, and it is up to the organization to manage its creation and propagation. He introduced the infinity loop approach, where everything the company does for clients benefits employees and vice versa.
Lou agrees that this approach considers the entire ecosystem and not just one portion. On that note, Jay suggests that a company must prioritize both clients and employees equally as they both help each other grow and improve.
The speakers then discuss the approach of Goodway Group in helping clients achieve their business goals. Jay emphasizes the importance of understanding the CEO’s business goals and the CFO’s focus on return on investment in marketing efforts. According to him, the marketing agency’s job is to support the CMO in demonstrating statistically significant results and the incremental value of their efforts.
They also talk about the inherent tension between the CMO and CFO and how external consultants and agencies like Goodway Group can help drive a synthesis of the goals between the C-Suite leaders.
Lou cites Dharmesh Shah’s work with an AI tool at HubSpot and asks Jay for his insights on how similar tools will transform marketing, both in digital and traditional forms. Jay replies by suggesting that AI integration in enterprise systems is the future of marketing and digital transformation.
Having AI for the internet corpus might be nice, but integrating AI in the company’s own HubSpot data, customer data platform, inventory systems, and Point of Sales systems is the future. He mentions that companies need to connect their systems to have full 360 degree intelligence within the enterprise.
On that note, he highlights HubSpot’s efforts in this area but mentions that it will need to connect with other financial systems such as NetSuite
Next, Lou and Jay discuss the importance of data strategy and hygiene in digital transformation. They also emphasize the need for humans to be involved in the loop when it comes to AI integration and data analytics.
Additionally, Jay mentions the potential of AI integration within enterprise systems, such as customer data platforms and inventory systems, and how it can lead to 360 intelligence within an organization. However, he also acknowledges that we are still early in the AI revolution, and companies need to focus on smart marketing practices before jumping into AI integration.
Lastly, the speakers discuss the importance of embracing AI and how it can help employees evolve their careers.
Moving on, Mr. Friedman emphasizes the importance of having a basic understanding of statistics to ensure a balanced viewpoint when utilizing AI in data analysis.
He notes that while AI can be helpful in pulling out insights from large datasets, it’s crucial not to overestimate its capabilities and to acknowledge the limitations of smaller datasets. One comment or anecdote does not constitute data, and it’s important to avoid making assumptions or creating data where it doesn’t exist.
Lastly, the speakers discuss the importance of grouping customer comments into themes and discovering the sentiment around them to make actionable decisions. They highlight the limitations of relying solely on customer reviews, such as Yelp or OpenTable, because negative sentiment may be overemphasized, and customers who are happy may not leave a review.
Lou and Jay go into much greater detail over the course of this conversation. Thank you for listening!
