Welcome to the EVP Talent blog! This blog series exists to demystify common startup roles, create clearer pathways and tell the stories of exceptional operators within the EVP Portfolio.
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Josh Oxlee is the Marketing Manager at Programa, a Melbourne based company that provides workflow software for interior designers and brands. Its software-enabled marketplace brings together designers and brands with a single, fully integrated platform that helps them manage projects, workflows, products and procurement.
We had the pleasure of (virtually) sitting down with Josh to learn more about his experience and what he does as the Marketing Manager at Programa.
How do you explain what you do?
I help companies make more money through any channel or means. I do that by getting into the product, basic digital advertising, cost per click, SEO and messaging. My role spans the whole customer journey, from them not knowing they need the software, through to retention and why did they churn. For me in particular, I lean into the technical side of marketing as well, looking at the data tech stack - why, where and how we capture conversations, and how to apply it.
Broadly speaking, can you give us a sense of what activities you’re accountable or responsible for?
I am responsible for acquisition through conversion. I typically own up to the first five minutes after the user signs into Programa.
What could a day, week or month look like for you as a Marketing Manager?
At the moment we’re overhauling our data infrastructure in preparation for not having access to retargeting pixels (third party cookies). So that means implementing a customer data platform like segment and going through the whole consideration of what data we're collecting.
But more broadly the biggest challenge of the role and especially at Programa where the growth has been very fast, is that we have so many opportunities and a lot of the new work you start becomes business as usual. So to answer your question it changes every day. So part of that is learning when to say this isn't working well enough for us to pursue right now and dropping those things off. We've got our top level metrics we want to get to, so my time is spent doing things that get the most from the squeeze.
Tell us about your past experience and journey to Programa
My journey started with being a nerdy kid on social media. I picked up social media marketing skills when it was just an idea. I then started interning at Modular Records who originally published Tame Impala and a bunch of big Australian acts. I was amazed and excited that I got the opportunity just through being a kid online, and I dropped out of my law degree.
I spent a few years just living. Doing things like playing in bands, trying to be a writer, failing and realising that’s not what I wanted to do. I went back to uni and by chance got an internship at Zomato who were launching in Australia. Since then I have had a bunch of different roles from content and SEO to pure digital advertising and growth at companies like Honee and Tixel.
What prior experience set you up to succeed at Programa as a Marketing Manager?
I think just being creative and trying a bunch of different stuff out in my twenties allowed me to get comfortable with not seeing success right away. A lot of the time my role is to find a creative solution or idea, a way of looking at something that someone else hasn't.
Equally working across different digital advertising roles has given me the opportunity to pick up the hard skills around how to approach problem solving and use different software and soft skills in how to speak to customers.
Was there anything that you needed to upskill in or unlearn from your prior experience that was no longer serving you?
I think especially when you're in sort of a fast growing company, there's gonna be a lot of stuff that you'll start that then someone else owns moving forward. Learning to give that away without being too precious or seeing everything as your own personal project has been really helpful.
In past start ups I worked in, there has been a mindset of creating 10 variations of creative and AB test them until we get the ultimate creative that works. But we’re in an industry with such a high visual standard, our approach needs to be different.
Who do you work most closely with?
I work most closely with Travis the CEO, largely because he has a very strong brand design background and can share his vision of the bigger picture. I also work closely with Zoe who heads up the designer product. She was an interior designer and knows the customer inside and out. I have a million questions for her every day from, does the wording make sense? To, which of these five products should we feature on Instagram? I work with our graphic designer on new outbound strategies and the product team to manage and kick off things like new data collection and storage solutions.
Within a 24 hour period I work with everyone.
What do you love about your role as a Marketing Manager? What is hard?
I love how open Programa is about the big strategic discussions. The team always knows what's going on, why decisions are being made and where we're going to be in one, three, six months time. I also love working with amazing people who create an environment that pushes a high standard of work.
What can be challenging is that there's so much going on, so you need to learn how to prioritise your time and switch off.
What misconceptions do people have about your role as a Marketing Manager?
I think if you tell someone you work in marketing it can be unclear what that means because marketing can be anything from a kid who knows how to use social media or advertising and picture Mad Men. The truth is the title Marketing Manager is so broad and can mean something completely different depending on the company you work for.
I think a lot of people have a negative perception of marketing. I try to approach it from a place where I'm selling someone a solution that's going to help make their lives better.
What does good look like as a Marketing Manager? Who are your role models?
Good looks like when a particular metric that has been stressing me out has moved up. An example of that could start by me asking questions like; why is our day three retention post signup so low? And seeing that improve when we change things like when the welcome email, the problem is solved.
There are so many colleagues I've worked with who do amazing work and never sell themselves short. Those are the people I look up to and respect.
Do you have a moment, day, team or piece of work that you’re immensely proud of since starting your current role as a Marketing Manager?
I think it would be the month we had in August where we were noticed by our competitors and had to adjust our marketing mix and strategy. After working really hard as a team and pivoting our marketing strategy, I was really proud of the team for finishing the month with great results.
What advice would you give yourself or a friend starting as a Marketing Manager?
Take the first month slow. While you want to start proving your worth, getting some campaigns out and making changes to the messaging. Take the time to learn the market, learn the customer, learn the product and set a strategy to approach the challenge.
A great way to accelerate this ramp up period is to work on the customer service lines and tickets, this is a great way to understand your customers, what they care about and what problems they are trying to solve.
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Interested in Marketing roles? Check out Talent_OS to see opportunities across the EVP Portfolio, or reach out to Fred or Charmaine from EVP's Talent Team!
Welcome to the EVP Talent blog! This blog series exists to demystify common startup roles, create clearer pathways and tell the stories of exceptional operators within the EVP Portfolio.
****
Josh Oxlee is the Marketing Manager at Programa, a Melbourne based company that provides workflow software for interior designers and brands. Its software-enabled marketplace brings together designers and brands with a single, fully integrated platform that helps them manage projects, workflows, products and procurement.
We had the pleasure of (virtually) sitting down with Josh to learn more about his experience and what he does as the Marketing Manager at Programa.
How do you explain what you do?
I help companies make more money through any channel or means. I do that by getting into the product, basic digital advertising, cost per click, SEO and messaging. My role spans the whole customer journey, from them not knowing they need the software, through to retention and why did they churn. For me in particular, I lean into the technical side of marketing as well, looking at the data tech stack - why, where and how we capture conversations, and how to apply it.
Broadly speaking, can you give us a sense of what activities you’re accountable or responsible for?
I am responsible for acquisition through conversion. I typically own up to the first five minutes after the user signs into Programa.
What could a day, week or month look like for you as a Marketing Manager?
At the moment we’re overhauling our data infrastructure in preparation for not having access to retargeting pixels (third party cookies). So that means implementing a customer data platform like segment and going through the whole consideration of what data we're collecting.
But more broadly the biggest challenge of the role and especially at Programa where the growth has been very fast, is that we have so many opportunities and a lot of the new work you start becomes business as usual. So to answer your question it changes every day. So part of that is learning when to say this isn't working well enough for us to pursue right now and dropping those things off. We've got our top level metrics we want to get to, so my time is spent doing things that get the most from the squeeze.
Tell us about your past experience and journey to Programa
My journey started with being a nerdy kid on social media. I picked up social media marketing skills when it was just an idea. I then started interning at Modular Records who originally published Tame Impala and a bunch of big Australian acts. I was amazed and excited that I got the opportunity just through being a kid online, and I dropped out of my law degree.
I spent a few years just living. Doing things like playing in bands, trying to be a writer, failing and realising that’s not what I wanted to do. I went back to uni and by chance got an internship at Zomato who were launching in Australia. Since then I have had a bunch of different roles from content and SEO to pure digital advertising and growth at companies like Honee and Tixel.
What prior experience set you up to succeed at Programa as a Marketing Manager?
I think just being creative and trying a bunch of different stuff out in my twenties allowed me to get comfortable with not seeing success right away. A lot of the time my role is to find a creative solution or idea, a way of looking at something that someone else hasn't.
Equally working across different digital advertising roles has given me the opportunity to pick up the hard skills around how to approach problem solving and use different software and soft skills in how to speak to customers.
Was there anything that you needed to upskill in or unlearn from your prior experience that was no longer serving you?
I think especially when you're in sort of a fast growing company, there's gonna be a lot of stuff that you'll start that then someone else owns moving forward. Learning to give that away without being too precious or seeing everything as your own personal project has been really helpful.
In past start ups I worked in, there has been a mindset of creating 10 variations of creative and AB test them until we get the ultimate creative that works. But we’re in an industry with such a high visual standard, our approach needs to be different.
Who do you work most closely with?
I work most closely with Travis the CEO, largely because he has a very strong brand design background and can share his vision of the bigger picture. I also work closely with Zoe who heads up the designer product. She was an interior designer and knows the customer inside and out. I have a million questions for her every day from, does the wording make sense? To, which of these five products should we feature on Instagram? I work with our graphic designer on new outbound strategies and the product team to manage and kick off things like new data collection and storage solutions.
Within a 24 hour period I work with everyone.
What do you love about your role as a Marketing Manager? What is hard?
I love how open Programa is about the big strategic discussions. The team always knows what's going on, why decisions are being made and where we're going to be in one, three, six months time. I also love working with amazing people who create an environment that pushes a high standard of work.
What can be challenging is that there's so much going on, so you need to learn how to prioritise your time and switch off.
What misconceptions do people have about your role as a Marketing Manager?
I think if you tell someone you work in marketing it can be unclear what that means because marketing can be anything from a kid who knows how to use social media or advertising and picture Mad Men. The truth is the title Marketing Manager is so broad and can mean something completely different depending on the company you work for.
I think a lot of people have a negative perception of marketing. I try to approach it from a place where I'm selling someone a solution that's going to help make their lives better.
What does good look like as a Marketing Manager? Who are your role models?
Good looks like when a particular metric that has been stressing me out has moved up. An example of that could start by me asking questions like; why is our day three retention post signup so low? And seeing that improve when we change things like when the welcome email, the problem is solved.
There are so many colleagues I've worked with who do amazing work and never sell themselves short. Those are the people I look up to and respect.
Do you have a moment, day, team or piece of work that you’re immensely proud of since starting your current role as a Marketing Manager?
I think it would be the month we had in August where we were noticed by our competitors and had to adjust our marketing mix and strategy. After working really hard as a team and pivoting our marketing strategy, I was really proud of the team for finishing the month with great results.
What advice would you give yourself or a friend starting as a Marketing Manager?
Take the first month slow. While you want to start proving your worth, getting some campaigns out and making changes to the messaging. Take the time to learn the market, learn the customer, learn the product and set a strategy to approach the challenge.
A great way to accelerate this ramp up period is to work on the customer service lines and tickets, this is a great way to understand your customers, what they care about and what problems they are trying to solve.
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