API Platform CMO reveals what she wants in agency partnerships

Credit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaarthur/

Sensedia, a Brazilian API platform management firm, recently tapped Lisa Arthur to lead as CMO. Clients like Starbucks and McDonald’s rely on Arthur and Sensedia to keep their digital integration running smoothly.

Arthur is up to the task. Before coming to Sensedia, she held the CMO role seven times before, ran her own advisory firm, and is the author of Big Data Marketing: Engage Your Customers More Effectively.

Recently, Christian Banach sat down with Arthur to find out how she determines which outside agencies to partner with and her vision for the future of Sensedia’s business strategy. They also discussed her collaboration with Upright Position Communications and heard from the firm’s CEO, Paul Wilke, on why he values their partnership.

How Sensedia serves big brands

Firms like Sensedia help companies with digital integration by creating API (application programming interface) platforms that seamlessly incorporate customized application software.

For example, an API platform enables the Starbucks app to live comfortably in the Apple Store and lets customers make purchases without friction. Banach asked Arthur about how Sensedia is meeting the needs of their clients.

Christian: What does Sensedia do? Who are your customers?

Arthur:
“We are the leading API management platform and also have the expertise to set a new path for digital integration for our customers.”

Quite simply, we help customers develop an API [with] an open strategy, trying to bring our customers closer to their partners, their customers, and their employees.

Christian: What are the key verticals you’re working with right now?

Arthur: Financial services has been a hot one for us… [With customers who are] moving to what we call “bank as a service.” That means going beyond just open banking and providing a service through partners and ecosystems.

In addition to finance, we cater to retail, healthcare, and consumer goods—global entities like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Natura (the parent company of Avon); all of these brands use our API platform.

An American CMO in a Brazilian market 

Sensedia is a big player in the Brazilian market. Since it’s the world’s 12th largest economy and one of the fastest growing, Banach was curious about how Arthur, who resides in the US, is adapting and whether marketing in such a dynamic climate has changed her perspective.

Christian: So tell me a little bit about the dynamics of working here in the States while the company is based in Brazil. 

Arthur:
The dynamic is really [about] putting myself and our marketing team outside our “geo” and looking at the global trends that our customers, solution architects, [and] chief digital officers need in an open, connected strategy. The ultimate goal is to find out how our solutions can meet that need.

It’s not looking at “the US as the launchpad,” but “the US as the growth market.” I really love that dynamic.

Brazilian culture is amazing. Have you ever spent time in Brazil or worked with a Brazilian company?

Being a big soccer fan is the closest relationship I personally have to Brazil, so I haven’t gotten to work with a Brazilian company before.

Arthur:
I have been getting into soccer since working here. RIP Pelé. Brazilian culture is very person-centric and very family-centric… and then you layer on top of that our US investors. Our co-founders at Riverwood were university professors before they built Sensedia.

So, you’ve got this smart group of people that are humble but aggressive; that have big dreams but want to do it the right way. Culture, in the end, is everything. Culture eats strategy and execution for lunch, I think.

In balancing this new world of working for a Brazilian company… you can probably hear it in my voice: it is amazing!

Sensedia’s structure and strategy for reaching new markets

Sensedia is looking to continue to branch into new markets, like the US and Latin America, in the immediate future. The work that Arthur’s team has been doing is the cornerstone of their strategy for accomplishing that goal.

Christian: I would love to hear a little bit about how you approached the first 90 days. Was it just business as usual, and you naturally stepped into it, or have some of your roles, responsibilities, or objectives changed?

Arthur:
Have you read The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins?

I have; I actually have it right here!

Arthur: I approached every quarter like my new 90-day plan. That’s one of the things the book talks about: “When you’re done with your first 90, you’ve got to keep going.”

For us, the first 90 days have been [about] getting the team organized for success and delivering an evolved message that resonates globally. We are beginning with an overhaul of our website.

Christian: What does your team look like? Are you working with external agencies? What capacity and what is your in-house team looking like? What are their capabilities?

Arthur:
We’ve recently put this structure in place, so we can scale. We have:

• Sensedia worldwide marketing, which [includes] all the marketers on the planet.
• A corporate brand team, focused on our digital center of excellence and solutions marketing.
• Field marketing, which is a combination of deep expertise in account-based marketing and regional events to bring the brand to life in the region, areas like LATAM, Brazil, and the US. globally focused, but locally executed.
• Focused agencies (as opposed to big powerhouses).

We have also taken a more “boutique” approach with our branding agency. A lot of the assets we produce are internal, and then we blend them out with a branding agency. Depending on projects and execution needs, we’re also working with precise digital marketing firms that can help us in new markets, not exclusively in Brazil.

Christian: You mentioned boutique agencies, so you’re looking for specialists in certain areas—is it more important that they have specialized capabilities as opposed to being more generalists?

Arthur: Correct. I always think of agencies as part of my team. They aren’t a separate entity, and they aren’t a separate company. That means agencies collaborating on shared branding processes. After doing this for 30+ years, I definitely have a point of view on the process for branding, positioning, messaging, and website overhauls.

PAUL WILKE (CEO of Upright Position Communications: We’re empowered at Sensedia… As you know, sometimes clients don’t get out of the way, or they’re not receptive to new strategy ideas, but Lisa and her team have just been receptive. Honestly, we’ve thrown some crazy ideas out there, and tried to mix some unconventional approaches with conventional approaches, and Lisa gives us a fairly long rope—we really appreciate that.

Arthur:
Agencies will do their best work when you let them use their superpower. And I know I read something of yours (that I loved), Christian, talking about your superpower. I sometimes think that if we try to micromanage or dictate to agencies, they don’t get to use their superpowers.

What Arthur looks for in an agency

Since Arthur had experience with both working within an agency and hiring them as partners, Banach asked her to outline:

Christian: What do you look for in new agency partners, and how do you find them? 

Arthur:
I have a few sources, so: 

• Personal networks. I’ve got a host of CMOs that either worked for me or are my friends. Our team in Brazil has a rich network. Our investors have networks. We start there.
• Pinging people like Paul and our agency firms. We work with great agencies, and usually great agencies know other great agencies.
• The power of Google. If we’re coming up short and those networking word-of-mouth capabilities haven’t kicked in, it’s using Google, followed up with thorough due diligence.

Christian: What one piece of advice might you give an agency or even a martech company that is looking to work with a company like Sensedia? How do they make themselves visible?

Arthur: My biggest advice to agencies looking to work with brands like Sensedia: do your homework deeply and…Come prepared to make an impact.

Don’t just take what you see on the website. There are many tools now to find out information, whether it be through Glassdoor or tools like 6sense, which give more insight and color.

Christian: That reminds me of a great quote I once heard: “Doing the basics makes you advanced.” Where can people go to learn about you or the work at Sensedia?

Arthur:

Check me out at LinkedIn, I’d be happy to connect, and of course, www.sensedia.com.”

Arthur offers an invaluable perspective on how tech companies decide which agencies to collaborate with and what makes those partnerships effective. For agencies that want to get noticed by firms like Sensedia, it starts with the right approach. Know your strengths and do the research to understand how those strengths can be applied to help the firm reach its business objectives.

Edited for Clarity