Mike Herman

Eden Prairie High School

North Dakota State University

Senior Director of Growth Marketing at Fuzzy

United States

Fuzzy is a Series C for-profit company, raising a total of $88M.

Fuzzy provides everything from vet care to pet care, giving modern pet parents everything they need to take care of the pets that mean everything to them.

My role is to leading the Growth Marketing Team at Fuzzy, including but not limited to…

-  Managing 7-Figure annual media budgets
-  Overseeing team including multiple FTE’s, Contractors, Agencies and Vendors
-  Testing / scaling of performance marketing channels (SEM, Paid Social, Google Shopping, Affiliate and Direct Mail)
-  Launching and testing new channels (OTT, Linear TV, Podcast, YouTube, Influencers, Local Radio, Streaming Audio, Sirius XM, Display and other channels)
-  Prioritize & execute high leverage a/b testing (pricing/bundling, creative, product, onboarding, site experience, CRO, Funnel improvement)
-  Media attribution & forecast modeling (growth, volume, revenue, CAC/LTV, PBP, ROAS)
-  Measure, Track and provide detailed reporting on impact of growth marketing efforts

Fuzzy

Senior Director of Growth Marketing

Led customer acquisition and growth testing as a short-term Head of Growth across several venture funded companies. Created and worked through framework development and performance marketing channels of various Series A - B CPG brands such as CleanCult, Healist CBD, Loum, and Act+Acre via e-Commerce.

Led the development of a digital marketing expansion plan, management of P&L and
ongoing performance of the advertising, subscription, and e-commerce platforms - working closely across departments and with key executives.

Early Paid Media Wins:
-  Scaled budget profitably 40%
-  Increased sales/revenue 102%
-  Lowered CAC 31%
-  Increased ROAS 46%

MIke Herman

Head of Growth + Paid Media Consultant

MakeSpace is a Series E for-profit company, raising a total of $150M and valued at ~$500M.

A rapidly growing challenger brand that offers a convenient, seamless, and sustainable storage experience that picks up any belongings for storage, stores and then delivers them back to customers on-demand.

I work to contribute to the growth of the MakeSpace customer base by leading the development of media strategies, campaign planning, and performance marketing alongside the Sales, Brand, Product, and Growth teams.

I focus mostly on delivering macro business objectives, including lead generation, total sales and revenue, by creating an audience-and-results driven acquisition strategy that is assisted through branded performance and audience development across multiple channels.

Some tactics I lead include selecting the right media channels, investment mix, performance/brand trends, and identifying acquisition insights to improve demand generation and acquisition in all 12 of MakeSpace’s current markets.

I strive to create a culture focused on sustainable, efficient, and effective media plans that are built on data, performance metrics, and rigorous a/b testing and measurement that includes managing a team of (2) FTE's and several media agencies.


Wins
- 11% increase in revenue during peak season in 2019 vs 2018
-  Lowered TV CAC 400% in 6 months, scaling spend in double
-  Increased lead volume 2x YoY (maintaining qualifiable lead rate) while scaling budget
-  2x qualifiable leads in paid search, connected tv and branded performance YoY
-  Lowered CPA in paid search, connected tv and branded performance
-  Launched product rollout in (6) new markets, hitting CAC goals within 60 days
-  Launched new channels such as Affiliate, Direct Mail, and Paid Influencer campaigns
-  Full rollout of omnichannel "storage without the struggling campaign" across streaming tv, paid social, direct mail, brand partnership, content, and OOH
- Company ARR increase from ~$10m -> ~$25m

MakeSpace

Director of Customer Acquisition

HOMER (formally Acquired by Speakaboos) is a Series C for-profit company raising $52.5M.

I direct customer acquisition growth by utilizing paid, owned and earned media to achieve scalable and efficient monthly, quarterly and annual customer growth in full-funnel multi-channel strategies. Channels include: social, search, programmatic, television, audio and affiliate/influencer campaigns.

Day in the Life:
Daily work includes planning, projecting and optimizing paid media and other cross-departmental marketing strategies to grow our subscription business profitably and sustainably while supplementing organic customer acquisition for both the Speakaboos and Homer app products across all platforms. This includes everything from meetings with the C-Suite, managing work across all marketing channels, getting in the nitty-gritty with the data team and collaborating with the creative, product and content team.

Team:
Overall, I direct and oversee a team including a Marketing Manager, (4) agencies and projects including content, finance, data and engineering teams.

Metrics Responsible For:
Metrics related to blended and paid customer acquisition cost (CAC), influencing customer lifetime value (CLTV), and the performance of the overall acquisition strategy from concept to execution.

Key Wins:
- 28 straight months of customer growth
- Scaling marketing budget and spend 10x while improving blended, paid and overall CAC
- Improving, organic acquisition utilizing ASO and other Optimization techniques
- Implementing top of funnel brand awareness campaigns (PBS Kids, Pandora, Spotify, TV, Digital Video) to build brand awareness, improve performance and develop our targeting customer audience.
- Part of a team that helped secure 2 rounds of Series B investments

- More specific KPI's available on request

HOMER

Director of Customer Acquisition (Acquired by Speakaboos)

HOMER (formally Acquired by Speakaboos) is a Series C for-profit company raising $52.5M.

I lead and operate all omnichannel paid programmatic marketing and organic user acquisition strategies in order to impact top-line revenue, increase retention and grow the mobile app and web subscription business of Speakaboos and Homer.

My average day will touch upon every piece of the company roster - from high-level strategy with the C-Suite to digging in the nitty gritty data and operations mechanics. I'll review performance as it pertains to sales and brand lift while moving projects forward and keeping a close eye on core channels to ensure performance and properly scaling.

Responsibilities:
- Creating and executing user acquisition and retention marketing strategy through paid media
- Selecting and self-executing omnichannel DSP partner
- Leading sales cycle analysis and data-driven bid and audience targeting strategy for major digital media spend ($100k+/month)
- Creating and optimizing all paid marketing campaigns across programmatic digital channels (social, display, ppc)
- Creative direction for digital media assets
- Identifying opportunities to help form and grow the Speakaboos brand
- Social Media, Display, Mobile, Video and Rich Media creative and vendor recommendations for Speakaboos

Accomplishments:
- Increased click-to-install rate 10%, decreased cost-per-install and cost-per-trial while scaling marketing spend 4x
- Improved CAC (customer acquisition cost) efficiency by 50% in first 4 months
- Improved Cost Per Install by 10% and Cost Per Trial by 58% in first 4 months
- Implementing and optimizing effective retargeting campaigns
- Identified and adopted new company-wide KPI's for paid advertising campaigns

Paid Marketing Manager - User Acquisition (Speakaboos)

Star Tribune is the 15th largest daily newspaper in the country, with over 50,000 paid digital subscribers, 250,000 paid print subscribers, and nearly 2m monthly visitors to <a href="http://startribune.com">startribune.com</a>.

I work with Star Tribune Leadership in the Circulation, Marketing and Digital Departments to create, execute and manage a strategic marketing vision for growing digital subscriptions.

Responsibilities/Oversight for Digital Subscription Marketing
- Customer Acquisition Campaign Development (digital, social media, programmatic, email)
- Audience Development & Partnership Marketing
- Customer Communications & Retention Initiatives
- Detailed Digital Subscription Audience Analysis
- User Payment Flow Optimization
- Redesign of New Subscriber Invoice
- Managing 12-person telemarketing team

Accomplishments
- Increase of 18,000 net paid digital subscribers
- 1.07 million (52%) increase in digital subscription revenue in first year
- 30.6% increase in on-site subscription purchases versus 2014
- 69.1% increase in overall on-site subscription purchases versus 2014
- 13% improvement in digital subscription retention + 6% increase in early payments
- 20x increase vs. previous subscription purchases through programmatic advertising/DCBM
- Vacation Policy/Digital Product-Trial implementation -> 2,000 digital subscription product trials per week and an additional $800,000 revenue/year with less than 0.5% loss of affected customer base.

Star Tribune

Digital Subscription Marketing Manager

As Communications, SEM and Social Media Manager, I worked closely with Nerland management to develop and lead the clients of Nerland Co. in growing their business in the digital and social landscape on the brand and campaign level.

Managed responsibilities include: developing social and digital marketing strategy, implementing campaign structure, launching projects, monitoring and optimizing all projects on a consistent basis. Acted as Community Manager by creating and executing strategic content posting and ad management on a variety of social platforms (Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, etc.)

I also assist Nerland Co. in creating and reviewing effective copy, small website builds, mobile website builds, content creation and web traffic strategy using Google Analytics.

Look at our online home here : <a href="http://www.nerland.co/">www.nerland.co/</a>
Go ahead and like us on Facebook here : <a href="http://www.facebook.com/nerlandco">www.facebook.com/nerlandco</a>
Tweet at us on twitter here : <a href="http://twitter.com/nerlandco">twitter.com/nerlandco</a>

Nerland Co.

Communications, SEM and Social Media Manager

As Marketing Manager, I work closely with Olup & Associates management to develop and lead the company's growth in all business development and strategic local marketing decisions. I supervise the firms corporate image and online advertising programs, media & PR relationships, in-house business development training programs, referral networks, external communications, digital presence, and market research.

Duties/Achievements include:

- Developing PR relationships .

- Direct and coordinate (2) Family Law related articles written by O&A, to be published by the Minnesota State Bar Association.

- Achieve strategic digital market penetration in targeted areas such as Edina, Eden Prairie, Excelsior, Lake Minnetonka region, and parts of Minneapolis.

- Google AdWords optimization --> Achieved Google ad placement in the 1-2 position, resulting in a 75% increase in client inquiry from target market locations/demographics. Reduced overall Google advertising budget by 20%.

- Increase pipeline of potential "A & B" clients --> overall average household income of client inquires grew 300% in 6 months.

- Event planning for firm related events

Olup & Associates Family Law & Dispute Resolution

Marketing Manager

As Marketing Manager for Kaskaid Hospitality (most notably known for "CRAVE" restaurants), I was tasked with executing multiple marketing campaigns for 5 separate restaurant locations, as well as the CRAVE Catering brand. Initiatives included:

- Project management and execution of "CRAVE Cares" cause marketing campaigns in 2012 with local and national non-profit organizations.

- Direction and management of MOA in-mall marketing campaigns.

- Continued growth of dozens of business relationships with targeted retailers in MOA to drive business referrals and brand loyalty.

- Full direction and management of hotel hospitality programs, including development of over 45 direct business relationships with targeted destinations in order to drive referral business, customer loyalty and generate invaluable brand advocacy from key influencers in the market.

- On-site and off-site event planning for CRAVE, figlio, Sopranos Kitchen and UNION.

- Collaboration with Creative Director and Director of Social Media to help drive social engagement, promote CRAVE Cares partnerships, and increase overall restaurant traffic.

- Small copywriting & photography/video shooting for website, blog, Facebook and Twitter.

- Approved and coordinated in-store and direct marketing materials.

- Managed Marketing Interns & Marketing Coordinator.

CRAVE Restaurant

- Created and directed CRAVE Mall of America Referral Program, personally initiating and developing dozens of business relationships with targeted retailers that matched the CRAVE demographic in order to drive business referrals and brand loyalty.

- Managed and executed marketing promotions and programs for 4 Twin Cities CRAVE locations.

- Specialized in building beneficial/profitable relationships with local retailers and community members

- Head Trainer of 4 CRAVE Marketing Interns

- Assisted in digital and social media management (Twitter, Facebook, OpenTable)

- Assisted and executed marketing presence at local charity/company events

Marketing Coordinator

Assisted Director of Marketing and Marketing Manager in execution of CRAVE presence at live events, as well as launch CRAVE's Mall of America Retail Referral Program, which increased brand awareness and advocacy to over 40 strategic retail partners in the Mall of America.

Since it's inception, the program has accounted for over $2 million in incremental revenue to the MOA specific restaurant. Identical programs are now implemented at each CRAVE location nationwide.

Marketing Intern

As Marketing Officer, I directed all of KNDS FM (NDSU) marketing efforts, including local outreach, event promotion, targeted partnerships, and market research initiatives that focused on gaining higher market share with NDSU students and listeners in the Fargo/Moorhead community.

- Managed and led a team of 5 underclassmen to execute a campus-wide research initiative to gauge brand awareness and demographic listener data. Information gathered led to changes in station philosophy and programming, as well as marketing strategy.

- Increased visibility by managing official involvement at 26 major live concerts and events.

- Exceeded student and community attendance for annual “Block Party” fundraiser by over 100 attendees, leading to a record attendance and fundraising for the station.