Jayca Pike: Marketing Director, Demand Gen & Paid Media

Teams are still my jam.

I spent my early career as an over-achieving individual contributor, which turned out to be good training for the actual job: coaching, developing, and bragging about the people who work with me when I get the chance. I've led everything from a lean, high-output in-house team to 50+ strategists and specialty leads on an agency floor. I still remember what it's like to be the one doing the work, which is why I don't manage like I forgot.

Demand gen, paid, brand.

Demand generation, paid media, conversion optimization, brand. I'm not precious about the channel or the specialization, I'm precious about the return. Give me a budget and some time and I will make it uncomfortably efficient. I've done it in-house and I've done it across dozens of client accounts at once, which means I've made basically every mistake once (and most of them only once).

If it spends money, it should make money.

Millions in budget. Teams of 50+. Every channel accountable to revenue, not just activity.

Not adjectives. Numbers.

A sample of what efficient marketing looks like when someone follows through on it.

Cost-per-lead, cut through paid media strategy and bid management overhaul over 6 months

+0%

Relative lift in paid conversion rate via funnel and landing page redesign, analytics overhaul

0%+

Reduction in total ad spend, with performance going up, not down. Install better tracking, folks.

Strategists and specialty leads managed across a full agency floor

0+ yrs

Building demand gen, paid media, analytics and tracking, algorithm massaging, B2B SaaS and ecommerce

$45K-$850K

Monthly ad spend range across the client accounts under my leadership

A few rules I follow.

Make an honest first impression

I use data to make my points and emoji to make friends, not the other way around. I don't know everything, and I've made peace with that. It's a better use of energy than pretending.

Go looking for good ideas, wherever they're from

People, problems, competitors, client reviews: I've never met a source of good thinking I was too proud to steal from.

Care hard, even when it's inconvenient

Not everything I've built has aged well. All of it got my full effort at the time, which is the only part I control.

Test. Optimize. Test again.

The point of testing was never to be right the first time. It's to be less wrong every time after.

Ask. Curiosity outranks confidence.

The fastest way to look smart is to know the answer before anyone else. The fastest way to be useful is to ask better questions.

Brands are good.
I make them money.