Women In Marketing Interview | Yael Tamar from SolidBlock
“My message is to stop seeing gender. It’s easier sometimes to network with women, but don’t look at gender when you approach people”
Yael Tamar
Yael is a CMO and Partner at SolidBlock. She lets us into her world for this segment of Women In Marketing.
THE JOURNEY TAKEN
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career in marketing? How’d you end up at SolidBlock?
I’ve been involved in marketing for over a decade, as a part of large companies, funds and startups (some of which were my own). I entered the blockchain space 3 years ago and started a company with a similar vision to SolidBlock, looked at the major players, discovered that one of them wasn’t living too far away, got an intro and then partnered up. We’ve been successfully working together for over a year and a half now.
You have accumulated an envious amount of experience having worked for top-tier companies such as NYDSE, Ernst & Young as well as being a regional co-chair at FIBREE. What did you learn from these roles and how do you apply experiences in your current role at SolidBlock?
I learned every single aspect there is to marketing, but that wasn’t the most important part. The most important part is the addiction to getting things done, to see companies grow, to achieve results, being involved in the “plan-execute-evaluate” cycle and to make sure I supplement for the skills I lack.
As a woman in the marketing and communications environment, what challenges do you face within and outside the organisation? What message do you have for other women in the marketing fraternity?
I haven’t experienced any challenges as a woman. In fact, being the only woman in the room sometimes helped me stand out. My message is to stop seeing gender. It’s easier sometimes to network with women, but don’t look at gender when you approach people.
What made you fall in love with the world of marketing? What particular moment in time pushed you to pursue this as a career? After all, we all wanted to be Doctor’s growing up, right?
I started out as an economist, then an analyst. I delved into the world of marketing as a result of digital transformation. Our financial group needed to start social media marketing back in 2010 and web lead acquisition, and given my natural curiosity, I took it upon myself. I loved the instant feedback – you know whether your strategies are working or not almost instantly!
ENTERING THE WORKPLACE
What does your typical day of work look like? How does your calendar look and are you a coffee or tea kind of person?
I’m a workaholic. We work from home nowadays so as soon as my kids are off to school, I make my daily plan with all the elaborate tasks according to to the Harvard method – Important and Urgent, Important, not Urgent, Urgent, Not Important and Not Important not Urgent. I keep myself busy with calls. The busier I am the more I get done. We have team calls every day at the same time. When we can travel again, half of the month will go back to being spent in meetings. I think nothing can replace face to face – and that will be the differentiating feature in the post-COVID-19 world.
Forbes has an annual ‘The World’s Most Influential CMOs’ report. For the year 2019, one of the key highlights from the report was that 31 of the 50 CMO’s were women whilst there were 19 men. In your opinion, is this a positive representation of gender equality?
It definitely is a positive thing for Forbes to highlight women. It probably is not representative of the rest of the world. I also find it that women are more likely to be CMOs than CEOs.
COVID-19 has been a disruption to a number of organisations. So much that several businesses, small and big alike either having to cut down on staff or being forced to close down. On the same token, however, several organisations have used this time to regroup and use this as an opportunity for change in structure and processes. How has your organisation and specifically, your department, countered against the impact brought by the pandemic?
It definitely gave us an opportunity to get more organized and productive. However, we found ourselves being much busier than usual with a much stronger sense of urgency.
Storytelling seems to be the next rising buzzword. What’s the SolidBlock story? How are you telling it in an interesting way?
SolidBlock is looking to reinvent the way people invest in real estate. The world has gone digital and remote. Wealth is very hard to generate and many people find themselves unable to buy assets.
SolidBlock enables people to invest in great assets globally and fractionally, as well as at any stage of the project based on their risk appetite or a level of risk they could tolerate. We are creating a versatile marketplace for real estate, transforming a property into a product one can easily evaluate, buy, sell or keep while earning money.
COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
What have been some of SolidBlock biggest successes in marketing over the past 12 to 18 months?
Our brand is at the top of our industry. When you google tokenize real estate, we are #1 and a featured Google response. I have been personally invited to dozens of conferences as a speaker, panelist and moderator. We put together a host of successful events, physical and digital.
BCG published its innovation report for 2019 and at the core of its selection criteria are companies that have successfully married Artificial Intelligence in their products and services. According to you, what makes something innovative? How do you define innovation at SolidBlock?
AI plays a major role in real estate. Our next R&D milestone is to implement data and AI in property trading cycles. Innovation, in general, is redefining old processes that transform industries. It could be in the form of an incremental change which leads to a big impact, such as Airbnb to a total overhaul, such as an aeroplane.
“I think social media as a channel has become too noisy. I believe influencers will need to become more creative to remain authentic – and that could include courses, books, podcasts and other ways to provide real value”
Yael Tamar
At the time of publishing, an article from The Digital Marketing Institute estimated that the influencer marketing industry will hit the $10bn mark by 2020. Whether it is B2B or B2C, it is evident that brands and organisations have had their own success with this model of marketing. How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect this industry going forward and do you believe there is still a place for influencer marketing?*
As the world invests in digital infrastructure, It will create an even bigger need for us to know what people think about our products. Videos will still be on top; however, I think social media as a channel has become too noisy. I believe influencers will need to become more creative to remain authentic – and that could include courses, books, podcasts and other ways to provide real value.
What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?
How is SolidBlock changing the approach to marketing, growing brand affinity, user adoption, and engaging consumers living a digital lifestyle?
We are giving them an opportunity to buy products most haven’t bought digitally before.
How do you leverage data to inform your decision-making?
Numbers are everything. Let your customers decide by A/B testing.
What do you see as some of the major trends in digital in the next 12 to 18 months?
AI-based automation systems for lead nurturing
What’s your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?
Goal setting. It just works.
What are your thoughts on Marketing and Sales alignment? How do you align your Marketing and Sales team at SolidBlock?
We focus on one goal and a set of objectives. And we prioritize around what will bring revenue faster – given our company stage.
2020 AND BEYOND
What are you currently reading? (What do you read, and how do you consume information? Physical book vs eReader?)
What am I NOT reading 🙂 I just finished ‘10X by Grant Cardone‘ and loved it. I listen to audiobooks while I run errands and if I need to go more in-depth, I buy physical books of the same audiobook. I have done this with ‘Pitch Anything‘ and ‘Flip the Script‘ by Oren Klaff. I am also re-reading (or should I say re-listening) to ‘Start with Why‘ by Simon Sinek.
What is on your Netflix watch list/How do you relax?
I love documentaries. Just finished ‘Ikarus‘ about the Russian doping scandal.
A unique message for all young professionals in the marketing industry:
Pick your path. This is not my quote – I picked it up on TEDx. Doesn’t matter what it is – what matters is don’t be indecisive. Just do. Switch later.
What haven’t you solved? What challenge is on your plate?
I don’t know if I really solved anything. There are more questions than answers at any given time.
Tag the one person whose answers to these questions you would love to read
Osnat Zaretsky, CEO of DataClue.
Any bucket list items (professional as well as personal)?
Leading a company to success.
Who are some of your female heroes?
- Cheryl Sandberg
- Hillary Clinton
- Michelle Obama
What does the word feminist mean to you?
It means that those women who stood before me fought for me to not have a strong glass ceiling, for me to be able to support myself, make decisions, get (almost) equal pay and want to continue their legacy.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Something I want to put on my body as a tattoo and a reminder: No One Owes You Anything. Which means – stop complaining, no one else responsible but you, you are not entitled to anything. You sculpt your own path.
Yael Tamar contact details:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/yaeltamar
- Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/yaelgre
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaeltamar/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawmommy/
Get in touch with SolidBlock on the following platforms:
- Website: http://www.solidblock.co/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SolidBlockCo
- Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/solidblock.co/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18455935/
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Thabiso Kgabung
As Managing Director at naughtybanana, I am responsible for leading and managing the organisation’s marketing strategies and business development. I am involved in driving brand awareness, customer acquisition, and revenue growth through effective marketing initiatives, market research, and collaboration with cross-functional teams. I have experience working with clients in various industries such as defi, crypto, music and events, consumer packaged goods to name a few. I am passionate about entrepreneurship and creative problem-solving which help me stay updated on industry trends and foster innovation to drive the organization’s competitive advantage in the market.
