Chase your curiosity! Identify what excites you, chase the sunrise pursuing that and go down as many rabbit holes as it takes to land where you want to be.
MEDIA 7: Congratulations on being listed as one of the ‘Top 100 Product Marketing Influencers 2020’! What inspired you to get into marketing?
MAEGAN LUJAN: My career path has really been an ever-evolving progression over the past 17 years. I originally started as a sales rep in this industry when I was 18 years old. I had SO many questions and a thirst for knowledge that I just couldn’t seem to quench. My curiosity grew as the years passed, and I transitioned from sales and business development type roles into marketing. I feel like it was a natural progression as I continued to evolve as a young professional.
There is a common stigma that marketing doesn’t understand sales, and therefore there’s a disconnect between what products are needed (the industry void you’re trying to fill) and what is actually pursued. As someone who spent nearly 10 years in a sales related capacity, I knew that I could bridge the gap between marketing and sales, and basically empower an entire corporation to be more effective than ever before. Today, I manage not only products that I bring to market, but also the overall solutions strategy across multiple channels and it’s pretty awesome!
M7: After the COVID-19 outbreak, the print industry had come to a halt for a brief period- people were working from home and businesses were going paperless. How did you manage to get the ball rolling post the threat?
MJ: That’s a fantastic question! In fact, this has been one of the busiest and most progressive years of my career and for our industry as a whole. Thankfully, Toshiba has a great executive leadership team. When events like COVID-19 arise, you have two options: be on the cutting edge of change or succumb to it. Being a distant memory is not Toshiba’s style, so we brainstormed and produced like never before! Empowering the remote
workforce became our highest priority. It was not easy; several 12 plus hour days and a lot of caffeine! We were stretched to our limits so to speak, and it was awesome.
In my entire career, I have never seen a group of people from all different walks (sales, marketing, operations, leadership) unify and produce such amazing results. Yes, COVID has affected our hardware sales, but our solutions and managed print division is up and producing like never before. Sometimes what appears to be a massive challenge is the best possible catalyst for positive change.
Research, learn, and overcome any self-doubt or imposter syndrome that you may have by just doing the workday in and day out.
M7: Given Toshiba’s target customers, what marketing channels do you use and which ones do you see as the most promising?
ML: Most promising… another great question. There is currently a tremendous amount of disruption in communication channels as businesses are virtualizing overnight and brands are desperately trying to establish an authentic touchpoint with their target audience. So I think in the upcoming year we will see a lot of diversification in how B2B brands use personalization in their social media marketing strategy. For example, as a consumer on all platforms I’m connected with, I have very specific and curated content hitting my feeds and influencing my buying behavior.
As an executive, I don’t see much of this in the B2B world. I believe we are going to see the tactics that worked for solopreneurs and entrepreneurs be upscaled and refined for the corporate B2B worlds.
At Toshiba, we are placing a heavy emphasis on our direct sales and resale channels from a content marketing and social media side. More now than ever, being relevant and connecting effectively with our target audience is crucial to our ongoing success. So we’re redefining our positioning, analyzing data like never before, and 100% focused on forging ahead to streamline our frictionless buying experience.
M7: How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a Business Leader?
ML: Well, I can come at this from a few directions. I think we need to first ask ourselves if we consider AI to be a pro or a con. I’ve always believed the power of technology was to improve the quality of our lives and we get to determine how that happens. AI is another horizon for businesses that we are experiencing similar to decades ago when outsourcing for the purpose to reduce expenses became a trend. AI will simplify and automate a tremendous amount of manual tasks; it will reduce errors and provide value. As a Technology Leader, I understand it so I am less fearful and more optimistic as I foresee the abundance of opportunities that it provides.
I most commonly hear these types of questions asked and followed up with concerns around the ability to keep one’s job. As with any progression into new tech, there will be a shift in the types of jobs that arise. You should focus on cultivating the skillsets that computers don’t possess, and are based around intuition and emotion helping you manage the outcomes of non-binary tasks.
Let’s apply AI and the progression that technology can bring to something common like reporting the news. Basic reporting, world updates, weather, etc. can and will be automated by AI just like the flight trackers were at airports. Does this mean that news anchors will be displaced? I don’t think so. Storytelling is an art that people possess and tech does not.
However, just like the changes the business world has experienced with COVID-19, I think there will be an adaptation period separating those who can versus those that cannot adapt. So if I was a journalist and wanted to future proof my career, I’d get into narrative writing (storytelling) that evokes emotion and connection in a way that the “programmed news” and tech won’t be able to in the not so distant future.
When you get into a particular function that doesn’t serve you or your future path, make sure that you maintain connection points and end all endeavors on good terms. Relationships in the tech world matter, and you need to think long term.
M7: What marketing strategies are you are looking forward to implement in 2021 and why?
ML: It's all about being intentional on social media; building, engaging, and retaining your target audience. It’s one thing to post random updates on social or create a new campaign, it’s another to identify a defined outcome and obtain it. And that is one of my goals. Personally, I’ll be getting into subscription-based thought leadership, video marketing, and SMS marketing. I have a message that I want to get out, a revenue target that I want to achieve, and a path forward to make the goal become reality. I’ve been testing the waters so to speak for about a year now, have identified what does and does not accomplish my desired results, and am currently executing the practices that yield success. It’s pretty exciting stuff really!
M7: In all these years, what has been the most challenging project that you are proud of pulling off?
ML: Oh man… I’d have to say launching my personal brand(s) while navigating the growth of my corporate career and an unprecedented shift in how the corporate world operates due to COVID-19. It’s been an insanely busy, trying, and rewarding year to say the least. Like most Virgo’s, when I embark on a project I go ALL-IN! As a marketing professional, I similarly tackled my personal brands to my career; identify a gap, define a goal, and research to the extreme. What I didn’t take into account at first, was just how much research this journey would entail. Several books, thousand of hours, and a million little clicks later, I feel like it’s all come together nicely. I could use a week-long nap, but hey… I had a dream and I’m making it happen!
M7: What is your advice to young women considering a career in high-tech?
ML: Chase your curiosity! Identify what excites you, chase the sunrise pursuing that and go down as many rabbit holes as it takes to land where you want to be. Research, learn, and overcome any self-doubt or imposter syndrome that you may have by just doing the work day in and day out. More importantly, when you get into a particular function that doesn’t serve you or your future path, make sure that you maintain connection points and end all endeavors on good terms. Relationships in the tech world matter, and you need to think long term.