Building Authentic Connections in a Remote Marketing Team: Lessons from Sponsor United's CMO

Welcome to another episode of The Remote CMO, the show dedicated to helping marketing leaders build, manage, and lead their remote and hybrid teams. In today's episode, we're speaking with Michelle Harmon-Madsen, CMO of Sponsor United, a sports and entertainment intelligence platform that has raised over $35 million in funding.

Key topics discussed: 

• Michelle's early marketing experiences in the early 2000s, from selling concert sponsorships to Maytag and creating a seven-city tour with Kenny Chesney, to transitioning into a full-time marketing role and never looking back.
• The problem Sponsor United solves: providing a SaaS platform that streamlines how brands and rights holders uncover opportunities, build partnerships, and make data-driven decisions about sponsorships in sports, entertainment, and media.
• The impact of NIL (name, image, and likeness) on the sports sponsorship industry, creating opportunities for brands to partner with young athletes and for athletes to market themselves as brands.
• Sponsor United's focus on connecting with brand marketers, CROs, and agencies to help them make smarter decisions and build authentic connections with their audiences through partnerships and sponsorships.
• The global and remote nature of Sponsor United's marketing team, with 12 members spread across the US, Canada, Venezuela, and Portugal, and the importance of hiring diverse talent with international backgrounds and experiences.
• The efforts to build culture in a remote environment, including all-staff meetings, CEO video updates, mini meetups when team members travel, and fun activities like "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" games during team meetings.
• The importance of being open and honest as a leader, acknowledging when the team is "in the weeds," and finding ways to inject lightness, togetherness, and personal connections during challenging times.
• The use of various sourcing strategies for talent, including posting on LinkedIn, leveraging personal networks, and being open to interviewing a wide range of candidates while being clear about the specific skills and attributes needed for each role.
• The emphasis on continuous learning and development, with dedicated time for team members to take online courses, explore new tools like ChatGPT, and share their learnings with each other during weekly meetings.
• The advice for new remote CMOs: take the time to meet with executive team members, understand the cadence and communication channels of the business, and join the team where they are before making changes or tweaks.