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Ben Jones
Demand Generation - Northern Europe at GoCardless
Professional Background
Ben Jones is an award-winning demand marketer whose passion lies in transforming marketing strategies to deliver high-impact results across diverse business environments, ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) to FTSE 100 corporations. With a robust career that has spanned multiple roles and industries, Ben possesses an extensive skill set that includes the development of comprehensive, multi-channel marketing strategies and implementation of both paid and organic tactics. His strategic approach has consistently driven brand awareness, customer acquisition, and retention, aligning with organizational goals to achieve desired business outcomes.
In his current role as a Senior Marketing Manager for Demand Generation at GoCardless, Ben is responsible for pioneering innovative marketing strategies in the Northern Europe region. This position builds on his previous accomplishments, where he served as the Head of Global Campaigns at GoCardless, overseeing marketing initiatives that resonate globally while nurturing local market adaptations. Ben's expertise in data-driven decision-making and audience-centered strategies has enabled him to create campaigns that draw upon valuable insights and analytics, ensuring that marketing efforts not only reach intended audiences but also convert engagement into tangible results.
Prior to joining GoCardless, Ben held several pivotal roles that contributed to his holistic understanding of marketing in the digital age. As Marketing Manager for New Customer Acquisition at Sage Pay, he leveraged insights and consumer behaviors to penetrate new markets, craft compelling narratives, and enhance customer experiences. His tenure at HSBC as the Marketing Manager for Integrated Campaigns in Commercial Banking and Global Banking & Markets further honed his skills in relationship marketing and cross-channel initiatives, aligning financial services with customer expectations in a rapidly evolving landscape.
With an initial foundation in marketing and sales support at renowned organizations like BMW through the Cotswold Motor Group and as a Marketing Executive at allpay Limited, Ben's career trajectory showcases a progressive evolution fueled by his commitment to excellence in demand generation and strategic marketing leadership. Through his diverse roles, Ben has demonstrated an uncanny ability to adapt to new challenges, embrace technological advancements, and lead teams toward achieving success with creativity and analytical prowess.
Education and Achievements
Ben's academic foundation in business management and marketing has significantly shaped his career. He obtained a BSc in Business Management from Cardiff University, where he developed a comprehensive understanding of business fundamentals and the intricacies of marketing as a discipline. Continuing his education, he pursued a CIM Chartered Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing at the University of South Wales, which armed him with advanced marketing techniques and strategic thinking skills crucial for high-level marketing roles.
Seeking to further hone his expertise in digital marketing, Ben attended the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing, where he earned a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing with Credit. This diploma expands his knowledge of digital strategies, enabling him to navigate the complexities of today's digital-first landscape effectively.
Ben's commitment to continuous professional development is evident through his academic pursuits. His ongoing desire to learn keeps him abreast of the latest industry trends and innovations, positioning him as a thought leader in the demand generation space. Notably, he has earned multiple accolades for his innovative marketing campaigns and contributions to growth within his organizations, solidifying his reputation as a top professional in the field.
Achievements
Throughout his career, Ben has achieved significant milestones that showcase his marketing prowess and dedication to impactful demand generation. At GoCardless, his efforts in leading successful global campaigns were recognized, earning him awards that highlight his contributions to the company’s growth trajectory and brand enhancement.
In his previous roles, Ben consistently drove high engagement rates and conversion metrics, significantly impacting market share and customer loyalty. Each campaign he led not only met but often exceeded set objectives, exemplifying his strategic mindset and ability to translate business goals into actionable marketing tactics. His work at Sage Pay, notably, led to a demonstrable increase in new customer acquisitions and retention rates, contributing to the company's competitive advantage in the fintech space.
Moreover, Ben's ability to transcend traditional marketing practices by integrating modern techniques, such as data analytics and customer-centric strategies, has set him apart in the highly competitive marketing landscape. This forward-thinking approach, paired with his exceptional skills in storytelling, content creation, and process optimization, underlines his status as an inspiring marketing professional.
In summary, Ben Jones is a dedicated and accomplished demand marketer with a proven track record across various sectors. His strategic acumen, combined with continuous learning and commitment to excellence, positions him as a leader in delivering innovative marketing solutions that drive business success. As businesses continue to navigate the evolving marketplace, Ben’s expertise will undoubtedly play a vital role in shaping effective marketing strategies that resonate with today's consumers.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.