Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to the Finance Friends podcast. Whether you have followed us from the beginning or you're a new listener, we are excited to have you here. Finance Friends gives our listeners a seat at the table with successful finance industry leaders. Follow us on our socials at Finance Friends Podcast, linked in the description box of this episode, and stay tuned for weekly episode releases. On today's episode we have the lovely Nat Jollo. Nat is a good friend of mine. We met through mutual friends at an industry event and remained friends ever since. It's quite interesting because she started her career wanting to be a journalist, studied journalism and absolutely hated it, and now she's the head of marketing at one of the largest fund managers in Australia. She shares her story about working at AMP, in the call center and in marketing, drawing the Royal Commission, as well as leading a team of 25 people at the age of 25, which is just incredible. Listen in this is a must. Listen to Nat share some incredible stories. Welcome to the Finance Friends podcast. And today we have Nat Jollo, who's Head of Marketing at GlobalX.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Is that right, Nat? That's it. Head of Marketing at GlobalX.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Wow, that's a pretty impressive title and you're from Sydney. You mentioned that you're up at 4am this morning to fly to Melbourne to be on the podcast, so thank you for being here.

Speaker 2: 1:32

No, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 1:34

And what else are you going to be doing in Melbourne? It's not just to be on the Finance Friends podcast.

Speaker 2: 1:38

No, I flew down especially for this. No, so I'm actually down for the ASX Investor Day tomorrow, so it's across Sydney, brisbane, melbourne, melbourne's this weekend, so I think there's about 500 direct investors who attend, and so we'll be representing Global X. We'll have a presentation all about GARP investing, and I'll be on the booth. Believe it, or?

Speaker 1: 1:59

not so when you say you're on the booth and your role as head of marketing. What did you have to do to be a part of this ASX Investor Day?

Speaker 2: 2:13

Yeah, so it's probably not traditional that the head of marketing would come in and do these events. I find it really important to speak to our end investors and really have a good understanding of exactly what their questions are, what they're looking to get from GlobalX, get a better understanding of. Do they know our brand? If they do know our brand, what do they know us for and what do they know about us as well? So I like to come to these events twice a year. So I generally come to the Melbourne one those two times a year and then the rest my team looks after, which is great.

Speaker 1: 2:46

Awesome, so talk to me more. What does your role involve? Because there's many parts to marketing, so can you share with our audience maybe like Sienna who's interested in marketing, who helps us run the podcast what is there to marketing. Like I know so many elements, can you share what your role involves?

Speaker 2: 3:09

Sure. So, being a head of marketing at GlobalX, I really think about. You know what's the objective of what I'm trying to do, and what that is is get more people, or more investors or potential investors, to know GlobalX better and want to invest their money with us, and that's the main thing. Then there's several parts that flow into how do we do that, how do we make that happen? So I look at marketing from a strategic level, both from a business perspective, but also around what initiatives we're doing as a marketing team, and so that can be across lots of different areas. So generating content, public relations, dealing with journalists, events, so one-to-ones as well. Working with the sales team is really important. It's a big piece of our strategy Advertising what social media looks like. So there are a lot of different areas.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Yep. What about data? How has data played into marketing? Because, from my understanding, data is becoming more and more important around, whether it be click rates or you know. Can you share some insight around how you use data in marketing?

Speaker 2: 4:15

Yeah, absolutely so. This is a perfect question for you to ask me, because we're a very data-driven marketing team at GlobalX, and so we leverage it quite a lot in our B2B relationships. So to get a better understanding of what financial advisors or brokers want from GlobalX as a business, but also our sales team. So we don't want to keep pestering people that don't want to talk to us for whatever reason. We really want to engage with advisors or brokers who have an interest in a certain product or GlobalX as a brand, a certain asset class as well. So we look at lots of different data sets and so that could be you know what advisor data can we get? We'll have a look at the sales team. What notes are they writing into our CRM? We'll also look at interactions on our website, email engagement as well, and we actually help the sales team determine which advisors they should speak to first, and it's all a propensity model that we've actually built and we continually refine to help them, I guess, target the right people at the right time.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Yeah, so it also beneficial for the end clients, because you're talking to the right clients, and beneficial for the sales team to contact the right clients.

Speaker 2: 5:25

Yeah, absolutely. Clients are beneficial. For the sales team to contact the right clients yeah, absolutely. And if you're thinking about a sales team I think there's is there about 14,000 intermediaries at the moment in Australia, and I mean that number's changing all of the time. But if you've got a sales team of 10 to 15 people, how do you think about who you're targeting first or who you're going to have a conversation with?

Speaker 1: 5:47

Yeah, yeah, you're right. There is, I think, 15,000 we're up to now financial advisors, so you can't talk to everyone, but also not everyone wants to talk to you. So it's about understanding who your clients are, and if you can use data and technology to improve ultimately who you want to talk to, then it makes everyone's job better. Yeah absolutely yeah. So how long have you been at GlobalX for, and have you always been in a head of marketing role?

Speaker 2: 6:13

Yeah, so it's just past my three-year anniversary at GlobalX.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Congratulations, happy anniversary.

Speaker 2: 6:18

Thank you. Thank you, so it was last month I believe, but previous to GlobalX I was at Schroders for about three years, not in a head of marketing role, just a general marketing all-rounder. And previous to that I was at AMP for eight and a half years. I did lots of different jobs there and so I haven't had a really linear kind of career progression when you think about my marketing career. But this is my first time being a head of Well, congratulations.

Speaker 1: 6:44

And when you went to university, or even at high school, did you have an ultimate goal of being a senior marketing executive within funds management or what? What did you have a goal when you went to university?

Speaker 2: 6:59

Not at all. So, as I was kind of saying, it was very nonlinear. And you know my story is. It's very different, I think, from a lot of people that work in our industry, in the finance industry, and so I actually started off going to university.

Speaker 2: 7:12

I always wanted to be a journalist, so I did that for about two years and I actually hated it so much, I failed so many subjects and I was no good. But I had a real keen interest in fashion. So I actually ended up dropping out and working in the fashion industry and I was doing a sales role for a wholesale fashion label in Australia and there was a marketing person in our team and I was so jealous of her job I thought she had the coolest job ever. So one day I just quit and I don't know why I quit from memory have no idea. I quit, but my dad said you need to get a job, like straight away. It's like okay. So I applied for every single job and I got a job at AMP in the call center yeah and so I worked in the call center.

Speaker 2: 7:57

That was my first introduction to finance, and I went back to uni to study marketing yeah, well, well done it's.

Speaker 1: 8:03

It's interesting you say that I caught up with a, a young guy during the week and he's got a double degree at Melbourne University. Super smart guy, well presented, and he's looking for the pinnacle job. And I said, just start somewhere like a call centre at an investment fund or a super fund is a great way to start. And he was like almost like, really Like, I've got a double degree from Melbourne University, I've got, you know, honours and I have to start there. I said, well, not everyone gets a grad role. Like, grad roles are really tricky. So from there you're in the A&P call centre and you did your degree.

Speaker 2: 8:40

So you did a Bachelor of Bachelor of Business with a major of Marketing, and I did lots of different roles, so I was in the contact centre. I ended up training staff in the call centre, so when we're onboarding new people, then I actually went to India and did some offshoring for AMP. I think I was 23 years old. I think it was the second time I'd ever been overseas as well.

Speaker 1: 9:00

Wow.

Speaker 2: 9:01

So I lived in India for three months doing that.

Speaker 1: 9:04

How was that experience?

Speaker 2: 9:05

as well. So I lived in India for three months doing that. How was that experience? It was amazing. I love India. I was in Bangalore. I have never been invited to so many weddings as well, and I still talk to people that I work with over there. Then it was really a life-changing experience, I would say, and career-changing as well. So I got a lot of confidence out of that experience. So when I came back, I eventually moved into a team management role, and I did that until I moved over to projects for a little while. I actually finished my degree and got a marketing job at AMP straight away. So I really skipped that entry level marketing role by going down the path that I did.

Speaker 1: 9:42

Yep. So then you started in marketing at AMP. And how long were you in a marketing role at AMP for?

Speaker 2: 9:46

I think it would have been about two years and it was a really interesting time because it was during the Royal Commission and I was focused around corporate super. So we're doing a lot of retenders at that time, so it was very busy for us.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Yeah, so it would have been quite challenging because obviously the brand was, fair to say, getting smashed during the Royal Commission and then, obviously, having to represent the brand was fair to say, getting smashed during the Royal Commission and then, obviously having to represent the brand in the best possible way. So how was that experience?

Speaker 2: 10:12

It was interesting and it was great because it built my resilience and I'd been at AMP for such a long time. I really believed in the brand very much so, and to a degree I still do now, but it was resilience building. It made me realize how important teamwork is, and I actually just got back from a weekend away with some of my colleagues from AMP where we were all working on corporate super together, and so we're still friends now.

Speaker 1: 10:39

I think it's six years later oh, wow, that's great, great to hear. And then you went to Schroed. So Schroders is a UK based fund manager, from my understanding. Yeah, quite a big one too, so very big, and you were there in a marketing manager position. And how is that role different to what you do now?

Speaker 2: 10:58

So I actually think it was an awesome entry into what I'm doing now, because I really became an all-rounder. So I'd say, working at Schroeders, I think I actually became a good marketer. I don't think I was any good before I worked there and a lot of that I have to I owe to my head of marketing at the time. Her name's Kari Arneson and I used to always say I want to be you when I grow up, and just because I admired her so much, she was a great marketer. She still is a great marketer now. So I learned a lot from her and I really learned how to work with sales teams. I think that's really, really important.

Speaker 2: 11:32

As a marketer, I think you know a relationship between sales and marketing, especially in a B2B setting, is one of the single most important things. So working at Schroders, it was a very broad role and so I sat across a lot of different areas. So this is the first introduction that I had to public relations. As an example and anyone that's worked with me knows I love working with journalists and it's one of my favourite parts of my job now, even though I failed that subject at uni and I sat across public relations. You know, building content with the fund managers. That was really, really cool. Advertising for the first time, also working alongside the sales team, and so talking about being data driven. That was really born out of working at Schroders, so it really taught me how important that relationship between sales and marketing is.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Yeah, and your role now as head of marketing. What do you most enjoy about your role?

Speaker 2: 12:29

For me, my role at GlobalX, it's really about the variety, and so I still sit across every aspect of marketing, and I've got a brilliant team that work with me as well. They're all experts in their field, but I'm heavily involved in the business, so when it comes to product development, I'm included in all of those initiatives and meetings to really get an understanding of what do we want to offer clients in Australia.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Yep, how many products does the business have at the moment?

Speaker 2: 12:58

Yes, so we have 45. 45. 45 at the moment, so we just launched two in the last month.

Speaker 1: 13:05

It must be pretty hard to get your head around all the moment. So we just launched two in the last month. Yeah, it must be pretty hard to get your head around all the products. And now you do. You need to know everything about the products.

Speaker 2: 13:12

Look, I don't think you need to know everything and I don't think anyone expects you to know everything, but I think it's important to have a good understanding of each one from an elevator pitch perspective. So if someone to ask you, okay, what's the objective of this fund, what does it do, you should be able to answer that.

Speaker 1: 13:29

Yeah, no, that's great. And what is one thing? If you could change about your job, you would change.

Speaker 2: 13:36

Oh, that's a really hard question. What's something?

Speaker 1: 13:39

I would change.

Speaker 2: 13:40

Actually, I really can't think of anything, because I think all of the things I love about my job are all of the things that also make it difficult sometimes. And so, thinking back into my answer before, around variety, the fact that there's lots of different things to do all the time is what keeps it really interesting. But that means that you also have to be quite agile, you have to be ready to change and you have to be across a lot, which can be quite difficult too.

Speaker 1: 14:08

So being agile is an important skill and working with stakeholders you mentioned before working with the sales team. What else are the most important skills to be successful in your job? Because most people. Again, you spoke about data, which is quite important, but obviously marketing is quite creative too. Again, you spoke about data, which is quite important, but obviously marketing is quite creative too. So what do you see as the three or four most important skills in your job?

Speaker 2: 14:32

So the number one is stakeholder management, I think, and that's both internal and external.

Speaker 2: 14:40

So you're dealing with a lot of different people all the time, and there used to be a perception for marketing that we were the colouring in department, and so I think lots of people have heard heard that saying before, and it's there's people in the industry and lots of different industries that actually still believe that, and so it's ensuring that your business doesn't perceive that function, the marketing function, as that.

Speaker 2: 15:01

So and that's all about, say, corner management, so communicating what your function offers to the rest of the business and how it contributes to the bottom line, that's really important too. So that's the first one. The second one would be around being agile, definitely, especially in our industry. So I'd say 70 to 80% you can be planned, but if markets change, if something happens you know recently with everything that's been going on in the US you need to be ready to pivot at any given moment as well. So that's a huge skill that you need to have, and it's something that's really important to consider when you're running a team, because you need to think about how you communicate that to your team as well. So when change does come at the last minute. They're just as ready as you are to pivot to that change.

Speaker 1: 15:48

Yeah, that's great, and you mentioned you've got a team, so can you share some insight into your team?

Speaker 2: 15:55

Yeah, sure. So I've got a team of six marketers now, and the way we're structured is I have two different channel marketers, so one that focuses on B2B and one that focuses on B2C, and then I have functional marketers. So I've got one person looks after content and communications, so that's your public relations. As well as writing content, social media, that type of thing. I've got a senior creative manager, so she's a graphic designer and she also works with some external creative agencies to help deliver our ads, banners for our emails. You know what our events look like conferences, that type of thing. I also have a digital marketing manager. He looks after the website and he also looks after our paid media strategy. So if you're seeing us on the AFR, if you're typing our name into Google, you know how do we make sure that we're ranking there, but also that we're not overpaying for media.

Speaker 2: 16:50

So that's a big piece of his work and I've got a marketing optimization manager and this role really sits across sales and marketing. So it's looking at all of that data, it's looking at our Salesforce CRM and it's also looking at our email automation campaigns.

Speaker 1: 17:05

Yeah, so how do you manage everyone? What's the skill to being a good leader?

Speaker 2: 17:12

Yeah. So I don't know if I'm a good leader yet. I would say I'm still learning. Really, it was actually quite a while between when I managed. I managed a big team when I was at AMP. I had about 25 people when I was about 25 and I had no idea what I was doing, and that was a really interesting experience because I was managing 18 year olds all the way up to. I had someone on my team who was 70, who I still keep in contact with. His name is Bill and he's lovely.

Speaker 2: 17:38

But I'd say, managing a team of professionals in your space, you really need to have a good understanding of what they're doing and rely on them to be the experts. So and I actually think that's a skill as a head of marketing you need to have you need to be across everything, but you don't need to be an expert in everything. I'm definitely not an expert in paid media. As an example, I cannot design anything. I can't draw a smiling face and make it look good. So you need to have people that can make up that skill set Absolutely, and I think you need to allow them to do their jobs and to you know, really feel fulfilled in what they're doing, and I think that makes all the difference.

Speaker 1: 18:22

Yeah, and empower them to, to use their skills to get the results, and you'll just help guiding them and leading them ultimately.

Speaker 2: 18:29

Yeah, absolutely, and I think the other thing is having a shared goal. So that especially helps during times of uncertainty. So you might not know exactly where you're going to be in six months or three months, but you know you're all working on something together.

Speaker 1: 18:44

Yep, and what advice would you give to a Nat that's 18 or 21 at university that wants to become head of marketing?

Speaker 2: 18:56

Yeah, I would say, because my career path hasn't been linear. I think it's really important to be fluid, so not be so set on. I want to do this and this is exactly what I'm going to be, because it might not end up like that. You might do that job and hate it. You might study journalism, like I did and hate it. So I think being able to being kind to yourself and being able to change your mind I think is really important. But if you are set in your ways you know you've tried a few different things Networking is super important. But if you are set in your ways, you know you've tried a few different things networking is super important. So for me as a marketer I started off as a generalist marketer, so a little bit of everything that's really helped me become a head of marketing. But if I'd really honed my skillset into one area let's just say digital I think it would be a lot more difficult for me to become a head of as quickly as I did.

Speaker 1: 19:45

Yeah, okay. So networking is important, being flexible, and you also mentioned earlier stakeholder engagement is really important, so they all sort of go well together. Where do you see marketing in the next say we look forward 10, 15, 20 years obviously data AI playing a big part you share with our audience. Where do you see marketing going in the next 10 or 15 years?

Speaker 2: 20:13

Yeah for sure. So in the financial services industry, we are behind all other industries from a marketing perspective by at least 10 years, so we're already seeing what the future looks like. Now there is a huge investment in AI. So Mirai Asset, who owns GlobalX, so that's our parent company we've all been given the task to make sure we're including AI in everything that we do, and so, from a marketing perspective, we've actually just started looking into leveraging AI a lot more from a design perspective. So if we're creating a video, how can we leverage AI to do that? If we're creating thumbnails for our website those kind of lower value tasks how can we leverage an automation to do that? But also, when it comes to data, how can we leverage automation to enhance our data, to look at insights, to drive, you know, leads for our sales team, as an example?

Speaker 1: 21:09

Yeah, so use it as an enabler and to make you more efficient ultimately yeah for sure.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Yeah Well, that's really exciting. Thank you for coming on the podcast. I don't have any other questions for you, but you've been really insightful and shared your journey and it's key themes we've seen or listened to in the podcast are a lot of people don't have a linear career. Being agile, stakeholder engagement and also networking the power of meeting people, networking and being open to saying yes and new challenges. So thanks, nat, for coming on the podcast. Thank you into saying yes and new challenges, so thanks for that.

Speaker 3: 21:49

for coming on the podcast Disclaimer this podcast exists for informational and entertainment purposes only. The personal opinions of the speaker and guests do not represent the view of any other party. If this recording contains reference to financial products, that reference does not constitute advice nor recommendations and may not be relied upon.