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What’s up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Julz James, Senior Marketing Ops Manager at 6sense and Adjunct Professor at St. Edwards University.

Summary: Julz is a marketing ops leader and a martech Professor who’s rewriting the rulebook on how to navigate the martech galaxy. She walks us through automation inception, like a dream within a dream, and how she’s leveraged an iPaaS tool to automate her automations. She also unravels intent data and how her team has moved beyond lead scoring to adopt account scoring. Sprinkle in her freelance learnings, and you’ve got a recipe for someone who’s not just working in marketing ops but thriving, bringing fresh insights and strategies to the classroom. This episode is a nice reminder that with a bit of curiosity, a dash of adaptability, and a love for teaching, the galaxy of martech tools isn’t just approachable—it’s yours to automate.

Jump to a Section

• A New Approach to Educating the Modern Marketer
• Unlocking the Secrets of Martech Without Coding Skills
• Why Qualified Accounts Beat MQLs in Modern Marketing
• Finding the Sweet Spot Between Lead Scoring and ABM
• Intent Data Giving Way to New Ways to Measure Campaigns
• Automation Inception with Workato
• The Freelance Edge in Marketing Ops

About Julz

• Julz got her start wearing multiple marketing hats including website management and SEO for variety of SMBs and later a big recruiting firm 
• Julz then decided to go back to school to pursue a PhD at the University of South Wales, undertaking work-based doctoral research while working with an growing ecomm company
• She later worked as a Marketing Automation Manager at a few different tech companies including Mitel and a talent software startup
• Julz then decided to move from the UK to Austin Texas to take an Assistant Professor of Marketing gig at St. Edwards University and is currently still a Part-time Adjunct Professor
• She also started freelancing in marketing operations and would later join Blue Prism as their srn Marketing Ops Manager
• Finally she had a short stint at Adobe before settling in at 6sense where she’s currently leading Marketing Operations

A New Approach to Educating the Modern Marketer

Imagine walking into a marketing class and instead of cracking open a dusty textbook that smells like the ’80s, you’re handed a sandbox loaded with today’s leading marketing software. This isn’t a scene from a futuristic movie; it’s what Julz is bringing to the table in her marketing courses. Gone are the days of learning marketing theories that feel like a DVD. Julz has swapped them for lessons on the tools that marketers actually use in their jobs today.

Julz loves teaching not for the sake of it but for the lightbulb moments she sees in her students when they connect the dots between class material and their day jobs in marketing. She draws from her own reservoir of experiences, sharing how she navigates the marketing world with tools like Marketo and Salesforce, making her classes a treasure trove of real-life wisdom.

Her approach is refreshingly practical. Remember learning about the four P’s and Porter’s Five Forces? Julz believes those concepts are as relevant to today’s marketing as a pager is to personal communication. Instead, she’s all about diving into the digital tools that shape modern marketing strategies, shifting the focus from memorizing models to mastering martech.

Creating course content is no walk in the park, especially when the galaxy of martech tools changes faster than you can hit refresh. But Julz is on top of it, crafting her materials from a blend of up-to-the-minute blogs, community discussions, and the latest ebooks. It’s about making sure her students aren’t just keeping pace but are ahead of the curve, ready to apply what they’ve learned in real-time scenarios.

Key takeaway: If you’re in marketing and looking to make your mark, take a page out of Julz’s playbook. Forget the dry theories that gather dust on a shelf. It’s all about rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty with the tech that’s shaping our world right now. Being quick on your feet, always hungry to learn something new, and getting cozy with the latest martech? That’s the secret sauce for not just making it but also having fun.

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Unlocking the Secrets of Martech Without Coding Skills

Ever think you need to be a coding guru to rock at marketing tech? Julz has some news for you: that’s not the case. Picture this: you’re more like a tech-savvy wizard, weaving different digital tools together, making them do exactly what marketing needs them to do. And guess what? You don’t need to write lines of code to pull it off.

Julz puts it simply – her gig in marketing operations is kind of like being an IT whiz but all jazzed up for marketing. You get systems to play nice with each other, not by coding from scratch but by knowing just enough to make smart tweaks here and there. It’s like knowing how to change a tire without being a mechanic. Sure, dipping your toes into HTML or JavaScript is helpful, especially when you need to adjust something small on a website or in an email. But the real game? It’s all about seeing the big picture, understanding how different platforms and tools fit into the marketing puzzle.

Drawing from her own adventures, Julz shares how her journey through engineering and tinkering with gadgets wasn’t about the math or the mechanics but about solving puzzles and being curious. Whether it’s figuring out why a campaign isn’t performing or integrating a new tool into the tech stack, it’s this curiosity and problem-solving drive that counts.

Here’s the kicker: the world of marketing tech is becoming more user-friendly by the day. Tools that used to require a developer to set up can now be managed with a few clicks and drags. This shift doesn’t mean technical skills aren’t valuable; it just means the focus is shifting towards strategy and understanding how to connect the dots between different technologies to create a seamless marketing engine.

Key takeaway: Jumping into marketing tech doesn’t mean you need to bury yourself in code. It’s all about understanding the flow between different tools and technologies and using that knowledge to craft marketing strategies that hit the mark. So, if you’re curious, ready to tackle problems, and can think on your feet, you’re already well on your way to making a big splash in martech, no coding required.

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Why Qualified Accounts Beat MQLs in Modern Marketing

When Julz landed at 6sense, she walked into a whole new playbook for marketing ops. Gone were the days of obsessing over who’s scoring what in leads. Here, it was all about tuning into accounts showing us buying signals, loud and clear. It took her a hot minute — okay, six months — to really get why they weren’t sweating over lead scores. Ditching lead scoring felt like saying goodbye to an old friend, but it opened her eyes to a smarter way to connect with potential buyers.

Think of it this way: It’s not about waiting for someone to wave a flag saying, “Hey, I downloaded your ebook!” It’s about catching those signals that someone’s already scoping you out, ready to chat about what you do. They call these signals from their AI buddy at 6sense, the 6QAs. It’s like having a secret decoder ring that shows them who’s already thinking about buying without them having to say a word.

But here’s the wild part: Once you spot these ready-to-buy accounts, how do you know who to talk to? That’s where things get really interesting. They dove into their win stories and figured out who’s usually in on the buying decision. Not by names, but by their roles. Are they in ops? Sales? Marketing? This wasn’t just a wild guess; it’s about knowing the committee that’s going to nod yes or no to what you offer.

Their sales conversations shifted dramatically. Instead of chasing down every single lead, they started having real talks with the right folks in these companies, all thanks to a mix of their own tools and a hefty dose of strategy. They’re not just throwing darts in the dark; they’re laser-focused on people who are genuinely peeking at them, considering bringing them into their world.

Key takeaway: Jumping from chasing leads to engaging with already interested accounts was a game-changer for 6sense. But it’s about being smart with where you aim. Understanding who’s on the buying team and reaching out to them directly means they’re not just another noise in their inbox. They’re the answer they’ve been looking for, and getting this strategy right has everything to do with using intent data to meet potential buyers exactly where they are.

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Finding the Sweet Spot Between Lead Scoring and ABM

When Julz stepped into the scene at 6sense, she faced a bit of a puzzle. The marketing world was buzzing about account-based marketing (ABM), yet there was a lingering question: What about the individuals within these accounts? This question sparked a journey to find a balance between targeting whole accounts and zooming in on key players who kick-start the buying process.

Julz quickly noticed that not every company is ready to dive headfirst into ABM and leave behind lead scoring, the tried-and-true method that many have relied on for years. The idea of saying goodbye to lead scoring seemed almost alien to some. However, Julz found that you don’t have to choose one over the other. There’s a way to have the best of both worlds. By marrying lead scoring with the rich insights of ABM, companies can create a more nuanced picture of who’s ready to talk business.

This hybrid approach takes the strengths of both strategies. It looks at the actions of individuals, like downloading an ebook, and layers on intent data showing which accounts are in the market for what you’re selling. Imagine you’re a detective piecing together clues. Some clues come from what people do on your site, and others come from signals that an entire account is leaning your way. When you put these clues together, you get a sharper image of who’s really interested.

Julz has seen this approach in action, blending the who with the where and the why, creating a dynamic model that keeps up with the complex dance of modern buying. It’s not just about filling out a form anymore. It’s about understanding who’s behind the form and what the broader movements at their company say about their readiness to engage.

Key takeaway: There’s a powerful synergy in combining lead scoring with ABM strategies. This dual approach lets marketers and sales teams pinpoint not just interested accounts but also the key individuals within them. It’s about creating a fuller, richer view of potential buyers, ensuring that outreach is timely, targeted, and incredibly relevant. By embracing this blend, companies can navigate the intricate B2B landscape with agility and insight, leading to conversations that are genuinely welcomed and far more likely to convert.

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New Ways to Measure Campaigns with Intent Data

Julz’s experience with 6sense illuminates a transformative approach to marketing that prioritizes strategic freedom over rigid lead scoring metrics. This paradigm shift allows her team to launch dynamic ad campaigns and nurture strategies that focus on engaging potential buyers at various stages of their journey, rather than zeroing in solely on direct revenue generation from every marketing move. The essence of this approach is to foster interest and move accounts through the buying process in a more organic and less forced manner.

With 6sense, Julz’s team has the capability to track engagement over time, offering invaluable insights into how individuals interact with their campaigns and, importantly, how these interactions translate into buying intent. It’s about understanding where a potential buyer is in their journey and what moves them closer to considering a purchase. For instance, launching an awareness ad or a peer-to-peer nurture campaign provides a touchpoint that’s less about conversion and more about sparking curiosity or providing value.

This method acknowledges a crucial marketing reality: not every interaction needs to culminate in a sale to be valuable. By monitoring how accounts progress through buying stages, Julz’s strategy underscores the importance of building a narrative around the brand that resonates with potential customers over time. This narrative-building goes beyond traditional MQL generation, avoiding the trap of producing content for content’s sake, and instead focuses on genuinely engaging content tailored to specific interests and stages in the buyer’s journey.

Moreover, 6sense’s insight into competitive interest and relevant keyword searches offers a strategic advantage. This data informs content strategy, allowing for a more focused approach that targets genuine interest rather than casting a wide net in hopes of capturing any engagement. Such targeted strategies enable the creation of unique campaigns, like their Valentine’s Day-themed promotion, that stand out in the B2B space for their creativity and engagement rather than their direct link to sales.

Key takeaway: Forget chasing every lead with a number attached; it’s time to think bigger and bolder. By tuning into your audience’s journey with a tool like 6sense, you can craft campaigns that resonate deeply, moving beyond the click to genuinely engaging future customers. Whether it’s turning heads with a quirky campaign or simply knowing when to whisper instead of shout, the secret’s in connecting on a level that numbers alone can’t capture.

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Automation Inception with Workato

Julz’s exploration into the realm of automation through Workato has sparked a significant transformation in her team’s approach to marketing operations at 6sense. What began as an endeavor to escape the time-consuming clutches of manual labor evolved into an innovative strategy that leveraged automation to enhance productivity and unleash creative potential. This shift was not merely about adopting a new tool but about reimagining the workflow itself, making a leap from manually managing tens of thousands of leads in spreadsheets to automating complex processes that previously seemed insurmountable.

The crux of Julz’s journey into automation lies in her realization that human effort is better spent on tasks that require creativity and strategic thought rather than repetitive, mundane work. Workato offered a solution that was akin to discovering a secret passage that bypassed the mountain entirely, allowing her and her team to focus on scaling new heights instead of being bogged down by the boulders of manual work.

Julz’s innovative use of Workato extended beyond just simplifying existing tasks. She ventured into automating the automation process itself, streamlining operations in a way that significantly reduced the time and effort required to execute marketing campaigns. The automation of cloning webinar programs is a prime example. This task, which previously required a meticulous and time-consuming manual process, was transformed into a swift operation that could be completed in minutes. It wasn’t just about the efficiency gained but also about the shift in how tasks were perceived and managed. This change is akin to moving from manually drafting every letter of a document to having a smart system that not only types but also anticipates the next word.

One of Julz’s notable achievements with automation was the management of the CMO coffee talks. These weekly events, crucial for their high visibility and engagement within the organization, were once a source of repetitive manual work. Julz’s automation strategy turned this around, creating a system where attendee information from Zoom was seamlessly integrated into Salesforce, ready for immediate action post-event. This level of automation, which streamlined the post-event follow-up process, exemplifies the “automation inception” Julz aimed to achieve—where even the task of automating becomes automated, saving not just hours but days of work.

The broader impact of Julz’s foray into automation with Workato reflects a paradigm shift in marketing operations. By automating not just simple tasks but the entirety of complex processes, Julz has demonstrated that the potential for efficiency gains is vast. The transition from manual list management and program setup to an automated workflow didn’t just free up time; it fundamentally changed the nature of the team’s work. Freed from the drudgery of repetitive tasks, the team can now invest their time in innovation, strategy development, and other high-value activities that drive the company forward.

Key takeaway: Julz’s journey with Workato is a testament to the transformative power of automation in marketing operations. It highlights how leveraging automation for both simple tasks and complex processes can significantly enhance efficiency, freeing up valuable human capital to focus on growth and innovation. For marketers mired in the quicksand of manual tasks, Julz’s story offers a beacon of hope: with the right approach to automation, it’s possible to not only streamline workflows but also to reinvent the role of marketing operations within an organization, paving the way for a future where creativity and strategy take center stage.

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The Freelance Edge in Marketing Ops

Diving into the freelance world versus the in-house path is like choosing between exploring diverse islands or cultivating one’s own patch of land. Julz, with her vast experience in both terrains, shares insights that illuminate the unique advantages of freelancing in marketing operations. Through her journey, navigating over 30 different Marketo instances via freelance projects, Julz uncovered the richness of experience that comes from seeing a myriad of setups, strategies, and solutions in action. This exposure is invaluable, offering a perspective that’s hard to gain when tilling the same ground day in and day out.

Freelancing, Julz points out, peels back the curtain on the so-called best practices that are often touted in the marketing world. The truth she discovered is that best practices are not one-size-fits-all but deeply personalized to each organization’s needs, goals, and structures. This realization came from hopping from one Marketo instance to another, each time noting the differences in execution and strategy. It’s like being a chef who has cooked in kitchens around the world, gathering a plethora of recipes that can be tweaked and tailored to suit any future culinary challenge.

The breadth of experience gained from freelancing equips a marketing ops professional with a toolbox of strategies that can be adapted and applied to various scenarios. For Julz, it meant being able to walk into any in-house role with a playbook enriched by her diverse freelance experiences. It’s about bringing a global perspective to a local challenge, ensuring that solutions are not just effective but also innovative and customized. This advantage is akin to having an aerial view of the landscape, allowing for strategic navigation that avoids common pitfalls and leverages paths less traveled.

However, the freelance journey is not without its challenges. The solitude of working as a one-person team can sometimes feel like navigating a ship without a crew. The key to overcoming this isolation is the pursuit of continuous learning and connection with the broader marketing ops community. It’s about being both a student and a teacher—constantly asking questions, sharing discoveries, and leveraging the collective wisdom of peers.

Key takeaway: Freelancing offers a unique opportunity to expand one’s skill set, understand the multifaceted nature of best practices, and cultivate a holistic view of marketing ops challenges and solutions. It prepares you to be both an educator and an architect, capable of building strategies that are as effective as they are innovative. Whether charting your course through freelance projects or contributing to an in-house team, the depth and breadth of your experiences will be your compass, guiding you to more informed, creative, and impactful marketing operations decisions.

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The Secret to a Vibrant Career and Life

Julz keeps busy with her vast array of interests and hobbies, from leading mops initiatives to running a tattoo and piercing studio, her life is filled with diverse passions. When asked about the secret to staying happy and successful in her career while balancing a multitude of interests, Julz points to her innate curiosity and thirst for novelty as the driving forces.

Julz admits to getting bored easily, a trait that propels her to constantly seek out new challenges and experiences. This quest for variety and learning is what keeps her engaged and excited about her work every day. The ever-changing nature of marketing operations, with its advancements and shifts, offers her the perfect playground. From the evolution of mops from its inception to the potential transformations in the coming years, Julz finds joy in the journey of adaptation and discovery. The anticipation of navigating through the uncharted territories of AI and tech advancements keeps her motivated and forward-thinking.

Her approach to work mirrors her approach to life: a relentless pursuit of learning and exploration. Julz’s evenings are not for idleness; even after the workday ends, her quest for knowledge continues. Whether it’s through pursuing new courses, teaching, or simply dabbling in new hobbies, her brain is always in motion, absorbing, creating, and innovating. This constant engagement is not just a means to ward off boredom but a deliberate strategy to ensure her growth, both personally and professionally.

However, Julz is quick to acknowledge that this high-energy pursuit of passions and continuous learning isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula for happiness or success. It’s exhausting, and it’s not meant for everyone. Her story is a testament to the idea that happiness in one’s career and life comes from understanding and embracing one’s unique desires and inclinations. For Julz, happiness is about keeping life interesting, challenging the status quo, and always being on the lookout for something new to learn.

Key takeaway: Julz is the embodiment of curiosity and a willingness to embrace change. Her story encourages marketers to stay agile, continuously seek out learning opportunities. But beyond professional advice, Julz’s life reminds us that balance doesn’t mean splitting time evenly among our interests but giving ourselves fully to the pursuit of what genuinely excites us. Whether you’re deep into mops, managing a side hustle, or exploring new hobbies, the secret to happiness and success lies in fostering a mindset of growth, exploration, and relentless curiosity.

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Episode Recap

In this episode we explored the martech world through Julz’s eyes, a marketing ops leader and professor whose story reads like an adventurer’s guide to the martech galaxy. Julz’s approach is straightforward: immerse yourself in the tech that’s shaping our industry, learn on the go, and apply this knowledge to build marketing strategies that resonate. It’s her willingness to dive into the deep end, to experiment and teach others, that sets her apart. 

Transitioning 6sense’s focus from a broad lead pursuit to engaging qualified accounts marked a pivotal shift in their strategy. Julz likens it to moving from casting wide nets to spearfishing, where precision and timing are everything. Combining the traditional benefits of lead scoring with intent data to pinpoint where potential buyers are in their journey, she’s crafted a marketing approach that’s as targeted as it is effective.

Think of automation inception, a dream within a dream. Julz navigates layers of automation to transform her marketing operations. By using Workato to automate the process of automation itself, she’s essentially creating a system that can independently initiate and manage its own set of tasks without human intervention. It’s like setting a series of dominos in motion; Julz only needs to flick the first one to set off a chain reaction that runs its course, each step activating the next in a seamless flow. This strategy doesn’t just multiply her effectiveness, allowing her to tackle multiple projects simultaneously—it also opens up new avenues for creativity and efficiency, pushing the boundaries of what’s traditionally been possible in the field.

Her freelance ventures add another layer to her expertise. Hopping from one marketing automation platform to another, she’s gathered a wealth of knowledge on how different organizations tackle similar challenges. It’s these experiences that enrich her in-house role, allowing her to draw from a diverse set of strategies to find what works best.

Julz’s narrative is a testament to the power of curiosity, adaptability, and the drive to continuously learn and teach a new generation of marketers. It’s a reminder that in the vast and sometimes overwhelming galaxy of martech, the right mindset and passion can truly set you apart.

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Follow Julz and 6sense👇

• LinkedIn
• 6sense
• St. Edwards University

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Intro music by Wowa via Unminus
Cover art created with Midjourney (check out how)

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