Interviews with Marketers: Lanita Evans
Lanita Evans is a Marketing Readiness Manager II at UScellular, where she has worked since 2007 in various roles across Telesales, Process Improvement, Performance Management, and Operations. She specializes in crafting engaging multi-channel communication strategies that turn business objectives into compelling narratives, enhancing associate engagement. Known for her strong collaboration skills and impactful communication (with a little “flair”), Lanita is a key player in change management and training initiatives, ensuring effective messaging both internally and externally.
What does a day in the life of a marketing readiness manager look like?
No day is the same, which I don’t think is a bad thing. That is why I was drawn to this role and to marketing.
There are always deadlines for deliverables that we’re marching towards. We have regular meetings with both current and extended teams for projects, meetings with stakeholders, and sessions for self-development, during which we carve out time to focus on those deliverables. We are also always prepared for some sort of twist, whether it’s a last-minute communication or a high-priority shift, because promotions and pricing in marketing readiness can sometimes be unpredictable.
I’m not just a marketer; I am also an internal communicator, so my audience primarily consists of frontline associates and leaders. Sometimes, executives and other positions within the organization see our work as well.
When it comes to your role, what are some challenges you have encountered in such a large organization?
My team specifically communicates the impacts of marketing promotions and pricing. Our promotions are revenue-generating, and we are a high-performing team. Our promotional internal web pages are the most highly visited pages in the organization. Why? Because we have sales and customer service associates who rely on the information we provide to present to customers. Our promotional and plan pricing information must be accurate. When there are shifts, new pricing, or new promotions, we must work with our frontline associates to ensure alignment with our strategy. We also must be able to convey that information to customers in order to gain the revenue we are trying to generate.
Sometimes we may encounter individuals who say, “I don’t understand this” or “this is too complex.” One of the challenges is ensuring that we simplify complex messages and promotions so that most people can understand them and effectively present them to their customers. The goal, typically, is to enable them to digest what we create and deliver our messaging confidently. When working with different learning styles, communication styles, and generational wants and needs, this becomes the most challenging part. We also don’t want to inundate everyone with excessive communication. Some people may just need a single point of communication, while others may only require a resource. Therefore, we strive to find “happy mediums.” I think any other marketer would probably agree that trying to appeal to everyone is virtually impossible. But we do our best!
Are there specific tactics you use that other marketers might find helpful?
We have a style that incorporates a mix of imagery. We use many lifestyle elements in our presentations. I am a different type of presenter. I present in a way that is really engaging, based on my training, as I have a minor in communications. I’ve also learned from additional courses how to engage people when presenting to them. I am known for my upbeat presentation style; I include jokes when appropriate, as there’s indeed a time and place for humor. Additionally, I consciously fluctuate my tone to keep my audience engaged.
If you want to challenge yourself to be a better presenter, I recommend recording yourself on video. Sometimes it’s painful to watch, but it will teach you things about yourself. It will show you your habits and “ticks” when the nerves kick in and make you more aware of them. Our style as a team is to incorporate lifestyle, real imagery, and an upbeat tone, with a combination of details and highlights that leaders need to know, all presented in a visually appealing way. We also don’t take ourselves too seriously and are open to feedback for improvement. We like to create and drive people back to a source of truth instead of just inundating them with information that can get lost or outdated. Our communication style uses multiple vehicles that people can relate to and reference later.
We have different types of communications: leader-based communications and frontline-based communications. We also prepare leaders to be aware of the messaging for the frontline associates, informing them about what’s being socialized in the media, all the things they need to know and where to find the details for any given launch. We take a more detailed approach with the frontline to prepare them to present and speak to our customers about our promotions and pricing with confidence and knowledge. They may not remember every single detail, but we provide a main source of truth for them to refer to. We try to be as concise as possible and use images to paint the picture as well.
What is your advice to other marketers out there, or internal comms, or people working with sales, on how to cultivate those internal business relationships?
My advice is to take the time to learn who your sales audience and stakeholders are and talk to them often. This could mean meetings, surveys, store visits, asking for feedback prior to launches, etc. This is my 19th year at UScellular and I’ve worked in multiple roles that have thankfully created lots of relationships. These are the same people that have referred new people to me and have spoken highly of me when I wasn’t in the room.
We have the type of organization where we can easily get to know people. Our company supports Associate Resource Groups and events that allow us to network and connect on various topics. I suggest getting involved if your company offers this. I can name five people off the top of my head who have been here for over 20 years. It’s just that kind of organization. I’ve worked in frontline sales, as a supervisor, in process improvement, in operations, and in performance management. In all those different roles, I’ve built great connections, which is a beautiful thing. I would highly recommend staying in touch with those you meet along the way because you never know when your paths will cross again and who will be referring you for a new role.
I have this awesome network, from the care center to sales and now a few executives because I have worked in various departments. There are not many answers I can’t find because I’ve been here for so long, and I know someone who will at least know who to call. If you haven’t been with your company for long, just start somewhere. It could be grabbing coffee with someone new or participating in a work event and setting a goal to make at least three new connections. We all had to start somewhere at some point.
What is your advice for new grads?
My advice for them would be to crawl, please crawl before you walk. If you can get an internship first, go for it. Hopefully, if you work hard and do well, you can get hired on. However, if that’s not the path, there is a lot of networking potential for the future. I would have loved to have had a marketing internship. My experience in this industry was that a lot of the experience that I didn’t have was needed right after graduation. I asked myself, how do I get experience if I don’t get the opportunity? I never gave up hope and kept working hard. I also continued to network, and what I found was that in different capacities, I could still work in or with marketing. Sales and marketing go hand in hand, so I took the sales path when I could not get directly into marketing.
Marketing is what I wanted to do and so I would also talk to marketers when I had the chance. That is how I ended up in this current role. A couple of colleagues in marketing, were aware of my desire to earn a role and approached me. They stated things like, “we talked to you about a role in marketing. We know you have these skills, so you should interview.” When I first started to join the job force, things were harder because I was so passionate. After graduation, you have the world in front of you and you just want to go out into the world and do what you majored in. What’s also sad is that a lot of folks don’t get to work in the field they got their degree in. But it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
I’ve always enjoyed presenting, so I found ways to do it in other roles. Before I worked in marketing, I was known as a great communicator, which helped me brand myself and gain practice in preparing for the work I do now. I present a lot in this role, and I never knew I would, but I was prepared for it, because I found a way to incorporate my strong communication skills from my previous roles.
My advice would be to find places where you can somehow incorporate that experience too, and it’ll also make you more well-rounded. Because I have sales, process improvement, and operational backgrounds, I can apply these experiences to communicate and teach strategically. I can also ask questions to stakeholders to get answers that can be incorporated in our readiness planning to support the frontline. It’s not my primary role to do so, but it sets us up for success, creates efficiencies, and enhances the partnerships that I have. I feel that it is important for new grads to chase their goals, make their intentions known, and don’t be afraid to have some role diversity. It has worked well for me.
I also learned late in my career that mentors are “clutch”. I did not realize this for years. I was the type of person to just put my head down and thought my work will speak for me. Mentors can also be the voices in the room that advocate for you and they can also teach you some of the pitfalls and tips that worked for them to set you up for success.
That was a great overview of what you know. It is all about finding your strengths and personal branding. It’s also flattering too, to be selected to learn from. People need that in their life. And along those lines, did those mentors show you any particular path?
In my role, yes. Specifically, to the deliverables, not necessarily. A lot of the information or the guidance that I have received was about development: how to raise your hand and not wait to get called, how to network, how to follow up, and not to start your development plan in January and then forget about it. Also how to check in with your leader, your teams, and your stakeholders – knowing how important that is and that also keeps you relevant in certain capacities. It also keeps the lines of communication open, so people do not have to guess what your goals are. A lot of people won’t ask you what work you’re doing, so it’s up to you to inform them. I struggled with that before and a mentor had to tell me that you must brand yourself, you must advocate for yourself, you must stay organized, and follow up when necessary.
My mentor doesn’t work in marketing. She’s in a different part of the organization, which is helpful for me, because I do have so many people in marketing that I still lean on, but she gives me a completely different perspective, and I appreciate that. She has access to different tools we don’t have in marketing, like these master trackers in excel or via other software or apps. As marketers, sometimes we just take off and “fly.” She has challenged me to sit back and map out the things that I’m trying to accomplish and track them accordingly. If I have a presentation that’s in six weeks, I know I need it reviewed two weeks prior and that keeps me organized.
Alerts keep me organized as well. For me, I like reminders and notifications. I set my alerts three to five days out, it will not be set for the next day, because you must plan for ad hoc things and life. I like and recommend my team’s approach to planning. We have multiple touch points to review our trackers and deliverables with our key stakeholders as well. We schedule things, but also have meetings with our extended partners to check in so that we’re all on the same page. These things help us tremendously.
Wow, it sounds like a lot of campaign development, a lot of milestones you must hit. I can see why you’re backtracking to meet your deadlines. Can you tell us what people appreciate about your work?
They appreciate how engaging I am. With presentations, I have heard that I am engaging, thorough, and a very detailed person. Sometimes there could be lots of promotions that I have to go through, and it’s easy for people to tune out. I use ad libs, presentation themes, and a little comedy to keep them engaged. It makes me very happy when people tell me that they are looking forward to my presentations. Our frontline associates also appreciate that our team owns a customer service interaction system for the frontline to provide clarity and ask questions . When something’s wrong, my team is doing the research and/or reaching out to stakeholders to get the answers and resolutions as soon as possible. The frontline is great at giving us feedback. We are always looking for ways to improve and try to implement as many suggestions as we can.
We’ve also heard from the sales and customer service teams how appreciative they were for multiple enhancements that we’ve made to our tools and resources, from promotional searchability to our communications. Also, we’ve gotten feedback that our efforts and methods to add multiple messages within one communication is always appreciated. This keeps the frontline from searching to get all the information.
We’re doing our best to create efficiencies for our stakeholders as well. They build, create, and prepare their initiatives, and then they hand it to us, trusting us to deliver effectively and cover all details. They also trust us to present and deliver their content with enthusiasm and to teach our frontline teams. We build all deliverables with stakeholder input, a combination of our styles, and a lot of faith in us that we are going to do it justice. We get a lot of positive feedback because my team is thorough, detail oriented, and we do our best to make sure all the information is available.
You’re really honed in on the user experience, and it’s hard because you’re not physically in someone else’s shoes. Is there anything you want to get across to other marketers or others in communications?
For marketers who are out there just trying, if you don’t feel like you are a great communicator, don’t be afraid to take a class or several on aspects of marketing that you may not have considered. I’m taking a course on how to be more concise to see what I can glean from it. There are also many resources online about how to communicate with multiple people.
I think we often make the mistake of putting everything in writing or recording something and assuming that everyone is an auditory learner. Some people need to see, hear, and/or get their hands on things (when applicable) to understand. If you feel as if you’re hitting a wall or can’t get through to people, I suggest slowing down or stopping to examine how you’re communicating and the vehicles you’re using.
Organization and setting goals are a must. If you don’t set goals, the time will fly by, and you will be asking yourself, “What did I do?” or “Where did this week go?” Set goals, carve the space out, and schedule the time.
Communication is often underrated, and there is a time and place for various methods. There are moments to assume the sale and times to educate. Understanding the differences between audiences and how to reach them in multiple ways has been the most impactful lesson I’ve learned, even with internal associates. That’s how you keep everyone, quote-unquote, happy—so there’s something for everyone to relate to and absorb.
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