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Kirk Waidelich
Vice President Marketing and E Commerce at Rural King Farm & Home Store
Professional Background
Kirk Waidelich is a dynamic and impactful marketing leader with a proven track record in facilitating data-driven executive decision-making, leading successful launches of new and unique product lines, and engaging a diverse customer base to rekindle business growth and tap into new segments. With extensive experience in marketing roles at JCPenney, and currently serving as Vice President of Marketing at Rural King Farm & Home Store, Kirk has established himself as a key player in the marketing landscape. He has consistently built, developed, and mentored high-performance teams, uniquely positioned to drive digital marketing transformation.
Kirk has refocused marketing strategies on high ROI initiatives and has been pivotal in adopting advanced CRM tools and processes that engage diverse consumer segments effectively. His strategic vision and collaborative mindset have allowed him to build consensus and foster strong relationships across organizations, leading to successful marketing strategies that yield measurable results.
Education and Achievements
Kirk began his academic journey at Davenport University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management. This foundation paved the way for his success in the marketing field, as he has continuously leveraged his educational background to inform his business strategies.
Throughout his career, Kirk has achieved numerous significant milestones that demonstrate his expertise and innovation in marketing. One of his most notable accomplishments includes conceiving and implementing media mix modeling that resulted in over 100% improvement in ROI through a multi-year digital strategy, compared to traditional print media. This initiative not only increased traffic but also saved the company upwards of $20 million per year.
In addition to media mix modeling, Kirk's thought leadership also shone through when he established and led a CRM Analytics team. This team drove the adoption of enhanced CRM tools and processes, promoting a culture of data-driven decision-making within the organization. Kirk's efforts culminated in growing reactivation rates by more than 5% year-over-year for the JCPenney Rewards program, showcasing his ability to redesign loyalty programs to boost customer engagement and spending.
Moreover, during his tenure at JCPenney, Kirk partnered with the Head Merchant to develop and execute a marketing plan that enabled a 5% CAGR growth in the women’s category, alongside implementing a digital strategy that captured millions in cost savings. His willingness to innovate and his ability to think strategically have made Kirk an instrumental force within the organizations he has served.
Kirk also played a crucial role in successfully launching several prominent company, celebrity, and private label brands that resulted in eight-figure business lines, including notable names like Liz Claiborne, American Living, Nicole Miller, Charlotte Ronson, and Olsen Boy. His comprehensive understanding of product marketing and category development has well-positioned him as an industry expert.
Achievements
Kirk Waidelich has amassed an impressive array of accomplishments throughout his career:
- Media Mix Modeling: Developed a multi-year digital strategy that improved ROI by over 100%, resulting in traffic gains and savings of more than $20 million annually.
- CRM Analytics: Established and led a CRM Analytics team that enhanced the adoption of innovative CRM tools and encouraged data-driven decision-making across the organization.
- Reward Program Success: Achieved over 5% year-over-year growth in reactivation rates for the JCPenney Rewards program; redesigned the loyalty program in 2019 to enhance customer engagement and spending.
- Women's Category Growth: Collaborated with the Head Merchant to implement a marketing strategy that generated a 5% CAGR growth in the women’s category while converting to a digital approach, resulting in substantial cost savings.
- Celebrity Brand Launches: Spearheaded the successful launches of various brands that contributed to eight-figure business lines, demonstrating an acute sense of market trends and consumer needs.
Kirk Waidelich is recognized for his significant contributions to the marketing industry, marked by his strategic mindset, success in product marketing, and his ability to foster high-performance teams. His commitment to innovative marketing techniques and his passionate approach to leadership continue to influence those in the marketing sector. As he progresses in his career, Kirk remains a pivotal figure in driving forward-thinking marketing strategies and building organizations that thrive in today’s fast-paced business environment.
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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.
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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.
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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.