Episode Summary

In this episode of "YouShouldTalkTo," our host Daniel Weiner chats with Kimberly Bean, the VP of Integrated Marketing + Menu Strategy at Papa Johns. Kimberly has had an unconventional career path, having worked in operations before pivoting to marketing. Nevertheless, she’s glad that she did. She loves introducing people to newer and tastier experiences with Papa Johns. Kimberly is an innovator who knows her audience, and today, she’s sharing a few tips and tricks she’s picked up as a VP of Marketing.   

Now, we do have to address the elephant in the room - you can get pizza everywhere. You don’t always call up your favorite pizza place, sometimes you just order what’s nearby. So what do you do when you know pizza customers are notoriously inconsistent? Kimberly shares how she navigates such a fickle audience and how she strengthens brand loyalty among her customers. Papa Johns has amazing customer loyalty, it’s her job to make sure it stays that way. As well as attracting new customers with fun new menu items!

But, there is a limit to how much you can innovate before you’re just going off the rails. Kimberly loves to think outside the box, but there is a method to her madness. She loves gochujang, for example, but does it have a place in pizza? Along with thinking outside the box, you also have to stay true to your customers. It’s her job to figure out what they want and find a way to give it to them. 

This is also true about agencies! Kimberly and Daniel discuss her best and worst agency experiences. Her worst experiences involved agencies not doing what they were hired to do. They wanted to be flashy and innovative without prioritizing the consumer. All of the data they presented meant nothing to her because it wouldn’t work for their audience. Most of the time, clients tell you what they want, so do that before you start getting flashy. 

Check out this week’s episode to learn more about Kimberly Bean’s best and worst experiences in the marketing industry and how they have improved her work today. 

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Kimberly Bean

💡What they do: VP of Integrated Marketing + Menu Strategy  

💡Company: Papa Johns 

💡Noteworthy: Pizza + Industry 

💡 Where to find them: LinkedIn

Key Insights

The Consumer is Always the Priority 

In this week’s episode, Kimberly shares how she prioritized her consumers at Papa Johns. She is not a shock-and-awe kind of marketer. For her, slow and steady is always the way to go. By focusing on the data and always thinking of the customer, she is able to create new and innovative menu items that her audience will love. 

Pizza is Promiscuous 

It’s pretty obvious that it can be hard to keep a pizza enthusiast's attention. You can get a decent slice of pizza anywhere. It’s Kimberly’s job to analyze the data and support menu items that will keep Papa Johns’s customers coming back for more. 

Is this thing on? 🎤

Kimberly’s work experiences with agencies usually involve them not listening to a thing she says and presenting something completely different to her team. Sure, their presentation was cool and interesting, but it wasn’t what her company needed, and now she has to take the fall for it. If you want to have a great relationship with your clients, do what they asked you to do the first time. Then you can think about innovating, as long as it aligns with their customers. 

Episode Highlights

Slow and Steady

Timestamp: [Around 00:02:00] 

Want to become a VP of Marketing? Take a page out of Kimberly’s book and focus on strategy. Being flashy may get you noticed, but it’s not the most sustainable thing for your career. Make sure the data is aligned with your goals, and more importantly, aligns with your customers. 

“Some marketers like to be flashy and out there. I am more of a strategic marketer. Slow and steady wins the race.”

Listen to Your Intuition

Timestamp: [Around 00:04:00] 

Sometimes it’s not just about the data. It’s also about listening to your intuition. If you’re in marketing and you're wondering what you can do to better support your company, listen to the guy in the back of your head. He might be onto something.  

“You need to listen to that guy in the back of your head that’s like, ‘This is a good idea. You need to follow it through.’”

Show us what you got!

Timestamp: [Around 00:10:00] 

If you’re looking to impress a dream client Kimberly’s got you covered. The best way to stand out is to go above and beyond. That doesn’t mean ignoring your job and pulling out some crazy, convoluted idea, but showing your value. How can you help them? 

“I love it when people do what they need to do. But also, like, how are you helping us look through the ahead of the curves that we don't know are coming?” 

The Best of the Best

Timestamp: [Around 00:20:00] 

When asked about her best agency experience, Kimberly shared the time she had this amazing agency that did everything she hired them for AND they taught her a new way of using the data they collected. Her company was able to see her customers in a whole new way because of this agency and they didn’t even ask them to. They did it because they knew it was valuable to her and her company. 

“They're actually like, “If you layered on X, Y, or Z, you could cut the data this way and you could see these additional people. And we were able to see another side of the consumer that we weren't able to see internally. It was because they knew what we were looking for. They had listened to what we were trying to understand and they had taken their own initiative, still did what they needed to do, but then brought in some additional data points and facts that we didn't have access to.”

Top Quotes

1. [00:05:00] Kimberly Bean: “I was like, man, this is really cool! You can bring an experience to people. They may not know about it, but how do you bring that to them? And so I fell in love with the ability to bring an experience to people that maybe they didn't know about.”

2. [00:08:30] Kimberly Bean: “Papa John's has great brand loyalty. People love them, but they're not always, they're either not top of mind. Either that's due to marketing or they're just not the chosen one. I say this, it sounds dirty, but like pizza is promiscuous! 

3. [00:10:00] Kimberly Bean:  “We are about innovation. But it's not innovation for the sake of innovation. It's bringing quality products at a fair price point to people who see value in coming to us for that versus the competitors. Who's just maybe a quick bite or a nostalgic play. But you have to stay true to that. And it's really easy to get sidetracked.”

4. [00:11:00] Kimberly Bean: “There is that 20% magic or intuition that's going to bring us along. And so I would say there's some things that we've done out here in our world that are based on the data and the consumer. And then there's, you know, you need to listen to that guy in the back of your head that's like, ‘This is a good idea. You need to follow it through!’”

5. [00:19:00] Daniel Weiner: “I tell people for most stuff like within reason you can align on any budget. Again, like rooted in reality, like you can't pay pennies for some stuff, but there are just so many agencies.”

6. [00:28:00] Kimberly Bean: “I love that when people do what they need to do. But also, how are you helping us look through the ahead of the curves that we don't know are coming?”

Short-form Social Posts 

1. In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Kimberly Bean, VP of Integrated Marketing + Menu Strategy at Papa Johns! Kimberly shares how she balances both innovation and strategy in her work. Tune in to our latest episode to hear his incredible marketing tips and tricks. 

2. Beyond data, sometimes the best ideas come from that voice in the back of your head. Kimberly's advice: trust your instincts and follow through. Listen to her episode now for more marketing tips from a marketing VP.

3. Want to impress a dream client? Go above and beyond by showing them your value and helping them see ahead of the curve. 

4. Everyone knows you can get a decent slice of pizza anywhere. So how do you encourage customer loyalty for a company like Papa Johns? Listen to this week’s episode to hear Kimberly’s answer.  

5. In this week’s episode, Kimberly stresses the importance of doing what you're asked before you start with the flashy metrics. Do what your clients hired you for first, and go beyond that after. 

6. Want to improve your relationship with your client? Be flexible. Adapt to whatever your client needs. Within reason, of course. 

Long-form Social Posts

Post 1:

Kimberly talks about the challenges of marketing in the pizza industry. With pizza available everywhere, maintaining customer loyalty is no small feat. But if anyone can make it happen, it's her. Kimberly shares how she uses innovative menu items to keep customers coming back while staying true to their preferences. Discover her secrets to success and how she balances creativity with consumer needs on this week’s episode of the YouShouldTalkTo Podcast.

Post 2:

In this episode of "YouShouldTalkTo," Kimberly shared a story about her best agency experience. The agency not only met her expectations but also taught her new ways to use the data. They went above and beyond by providing invaluable insights into her customers. This kind of proactive approach has a significant positive impact on your clients. Tune in to hear more about building strong client-agency relationships.

Newsletter Template 1: 

"I think agencies have to build in a layer of flexibility into their scopes. Because all I hear from folks in your position, and marketing leaders, in general, is our business changes so frequently, and if every time I change something we have to have a grand come-to-Jesus moment, or scope meeting that gets scheduled a week out, like we lose time. I just don't have the patience for it. 

And they're not it's not that they're opposed to paying more. They're like, yeah, I just need them to do it and, we will figure it out if we're actually partners.”

In this week's episode of "YouShouldTalkTo," Daniel and Kimberly discuss why flexibility is absolutely crucial for agencies. Oftentimes, clients need quick changes that require quick adjustments, not endless meetings. Agencies that can swiftly adapt to new demands without getting bogged down in bureaucratic processes stand out. 

You don’t want to be the person bottlenecking the project. Be as flexible as you can while still keeping an open line of communication with your client. Adaptability is a skill and it's something clients look for in this industry. 

Check out this week's episode of "YouShouldTalkTo" to hear more about how you can improve your client-agency relationships.

Listen to the full episode in the comments below 👇👇👇

Newsletter Template 2: 

“There are so many agencies who want want to be your thought partner and these grand things, And, to your point, sometimes you were literally just checking a box for bandwidth, and that's okay. 

The money's still green, you know, you're still a partner or thought partner, whatever you want to call it. But I feel like sometimes agencies turn their nose to stuff like that. They want the bigger thing. ”

Agencies bring so much value to the team. But they have to make sure they maintain that value before they start doing anything else. Do what you were hired to do first, perfect that, then start showing them what you’re capable of.

If you want to start taking on more responsibility, show your client the value you bring you the company. You can do that by: 

• Sharing metrics that the company wants but can’t find on their own 

• Be as adaptable as possible while also being communicative 

• Follow your intuition. If it prioritizes the customer, it’s probably a good idea.

Tune into the full episode to hear more 👇👇👇