Kicking off the Series with Joe Glover. Inspirational in his refreshing approach to business, which pulls strongly on his personal values of creating a positive difference and helping people. Joe is the founder of the Marketing Meet Up. With free beer and pizza, and a discussion or two from great speakers involved in many aspects of marketing, its a fab monthly event that offers “the opportunity to meet and learn from some nice people” What started in Cambridge has now grown to over 12 UK venues and 10,000 members and its where I first met Joe.
The Marketing Minds Series delve into the minds of some inspirational people involved in the wonderful world of Marketing and asks them to answer a set of questions that probe into their career journey and what inspires them. This is what Joe had to say….
1. Whats your name?
Joe Glover
2. Where do you work and what do you do?
I am the founder of the Marketing Meet Up – a marketing community for 10,000 people with 120 events a year in 12 locations from Torbay to NY. Its positively lovely.
3. What’s your career path been like and how did you end up where you are?
I started as a SaaP consultant building database systems for FTSE100 companies. I was sold on a promise of earning £100k after 5 years, which at the time I thought was the most wonderful thing. I realised, very quickly, that wasn’t where I wanted to be so I got a job in a software company where I was the only marketing person there. While that was going on I started the Marketing Meet up as a place where I could meet people and learn about marketing but it turned into a bit more of a beast as the events went really well. As the Marketing Meet Up grew I moved to a company called Genie Goals who specialise in digital marketing for the retail sector. They were incredible and supported my learning and focus in marketing. 6 months ago I took the decision to leave so that I could concentrate on the Marketing Meet Up full time.
4. What elements of your job do you dislike?
Unreliable people. We work really hard to put on great events for great people. And when you build your hopes up that 100 people are coming and only 60-70 turn up you are impossibly grateful to those that came but I just can’t understand why those other 30-40 just couldn’t tell me that they weren’t coming.
5. What’s your favourite brand and why?
At the moment I have 2
6. What’s your favourite advert of all time?
2013 – I was living in Canada and I wasn’t going home for Christmas. It was an Asda advert – not a particularly special advert but it picked up on all those little things that I wasn’t going to have that year and it left me crying like a baby.
7. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your 20 year old self?
a) To celebrate achievements – I am not good at patting my self on the back.
b) Money isn’t everything – optimise for happniness not money.
c) Real life is not like the Apprentice – so look after people.
8. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
The ability to help people. It’s my life’s’ mission.
9. What is the creative idea or innovation that you wish you’d thought of first?
I don’t know to be honest.
10. What’s your favourite way to spend a day off?
Spending time with my wife and dog, everything else comes second.
11. Whats the last thing you learnt?
Being your own boss is really really hard.
12. Which blog or podcast are you currently listening to / would recommend?
The Marketing Meet up podcast is a great one! But otherwise I’d recommend an audio book by David Goggins called Can’t Hurt Me about a guy who used to be in the Navy Seals. This man dedicated his life to being the “Hardest Mother F*cker in the World” but also manages to show vulnerability to tell his story. And in the end he manages to find peace which I think we are all striving for. No matter how driven we are.
13. What 3 words sum you up?
Quiet. Kind. Open
14. Who do you most admire and why?
My Dad and my Grandad more than anyone else in this world for their examples of looking after people and striving for a life that makes the most of people.
15. Do you think technology is killing creativity in marketing or helping it?
Killing it – we have less time to think creatively. I am constantly distracted by my phone, my inbox and my business. I am never bored and therefore I don’t have time to think creatively. However there are tools out there to help us be more creative and I don’t think we can blame the technology itself for killing creativity. I think we have to blame ourselves for our additction to the technology.
16. What’s the work you are most proud of?
The Marketing Meet Up. Whilst we are a business we are also creating a community that values humanity and doing business in a way that makes more sense than just focusing on money.
17. What are you going to do now?
Go run a Marketing Meet Up event in Newcastle!
If you’ve enjoyed this post why not read the other interviews in the Marketing Minds series here and if you want to find out more about GingerTree then visit my homepage here.
Mix a tear jerking creative with a crowd pleasing political sentiment and you’re onto a winner! But the recent Nike “Dream Crazier” ad, which aired during the Oscars this weekend just feels too forced for me to get on board with. The ad is a follow up to the brand’s equally politically charged “Dream Crazy” commercial…
Increased consumer expectations, global connectivity, digitisation, and data are transforming how businesses compete and operate. Meeting these evolving needs is becoming increasingly challenging for any single business to achieve alone. However, the evolving landscape of technology and connectivity enables businesses to collaborate and tackle complex operational and market challenges together. Strategic collaboration, promoted through partner…
Outsourcing eases budget, saves time… and adds value You’ve agreed your objectives. The business has set its goals. Now you’re juggling time, budget, staff, and politics, and it’s quite a challenging mix to get your head around. Every marketing manager knows the score; but it’s the canny marketing manager who knows when to delegate and…
When Lockdown hit The Marketing Meet Up was a national networking community, with 16,000 member and 140 events a year. Founder Joe Glover is a shining example of how a business successfully, and seemingly overnight, changed how it operated. Here he talks to me about the affect of the pandemic on his business and how…
When I started the Marketing Minds series, I reached out to people that I knew who inspire me, hoping that through their words and wisdom I could engage with a wider audience. So, you can imagine my delight when Mike Berland got in in touch and wanted to be part of the lockdown series. CEO and Founder of Decode-M, Mike…
Spotify is THE number 1 music streaming company globally and Marco Bertozzi is their Vice President of EMEA Sales. Marco and I grew up in the same area and started our working life in the same place at Zenith Media. Our careers have evolved and gone in very different directions and that’s why I was…
Any business that takes its marketing seriously needs to create an effective marketing funnel. You know… a strategy that involves seeking out new potential clients and then moving those leads through the various stages of their buyer’s journey, with a proportion dropping off, until a sale is made. It’s been a proven approach that’s worked…
The challenges facing a CMO have evolved expodentially over the last few years. CMOs have faced interesting challenges from the start of marketing time, of course. But with ever changing technology, ever adjusting customer wants, and an ever increasing need to deliver immediate results, now more than ever investing in a strategy takes guts, determination,…
Blog or newsletter? This is a question we get asked a lot, and we’re always glad people ask it because it’s a good one. However, to get started on an answer, we actually need to ask you a couple of other key questions first… Are you trying to further engage existing contacts? Or are you seeking…
Last week I went to MWLIve – I wanted to listen to a few of the debates and speakers as I’m always interested in hearing others views on marketing. Amy Lees, Brand Manager at St Johns Ambulanceand Kerry Chilvers, Brand Director at Direct Line spoke about “Marketing on a shoestring: Being creative with tight budgets” They shared their experience of creating marketing…
