The Top 3 Takeaways From our Discussion With Ray Gracewood

Ray Gracewood is the President of Myomo Consulting Group, a marketing and strategy advisory located in Saint John, New Brunswick. Over the past fifteen years, Ray Gracewood has focused his attention on building national brands in exciting consumer-focused industries, tapping into the consumer psyche, and understanding how corporate objectives trickle down to disruptive marketing tactics.

Ray spoke to our cohort about some key learnings from his personal experience as a marketing leader around the executive table; here are three key takeaways from Ray Gracewood’s discussion:

1. As a marketer, you have certain responsibilities around the executive table.

You are responsible for owning strategy. Take the lead on how product and brand interrelate.

You are responsible for humanizing the business. Ensure that your consumer’s priorities are taken into account, make decisions through the lens of who’s buying the product.

You are responsible for overcoming fear. People are scared of what they don’t know… in some cases, the team may not fully understand strategic marketing. Figure out what makes your team members tick and find ways to integrate their goals with marketing goals. 

2. Prioritize your portfolio strategy.

The relationship between your product strategy and branding strategy is important here. To maximize your portfolio strategy, consider the role your product development plan plays to get your brand where you want it to be. How can you structure your current branding for success? 

3. Partner relations and briefing.

Briefing is not only important during onboarding… your creative teams, agencies, consultants, etc. need to know the problem you are trying to solve. You will lose sight of your goals if your team is not on the same page. Once you find people you can rely on, don’t let them go. 

Not everyone around the executive table understands the relevance and power of marketing, or brand building, making it even more important for you, as the marketer, to step up and take responsibility.