Our ‘Profile: A Day in the Life of’ feature takes a look at some of the global professionals working across performance marketing. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the flourishing industry. This week we head to New York to meet a the head of client services at House of Kaizen .
Name:
Peter Figueredo
Job title and company:
Partner and head of client services at House of Kaizen.
In one sentence, how would you describe what the company does?
Our capabilities and services provide better behavioural insights, media investments, and conversion experiences that deliver better digital marketing return on investment.
What are the company’s unique selling points?
We believe in challenging the norm and constantly striving for improvement. We call it the passion to improve, but our clients simply think of us as performance marketing experts. We’re constantly building on years of digital marketing heritage by working with insights, not just data. We deliver valuable customers, and we share in the risk by taking performance-based compensation.
Within the last six months/year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
Two years ago, we merged two successful digital agencies — NetX and Web Liquid Group — to form House of Kaizen. Since then, we’ve been striving to enrich existing client engagements. The best example of this effort was winning the global digital marketing business for Avis Budget Group. It had been a client in Europe for a long time, but it agreed to give us its global affiliate and display business after the merger.
Duration in current role:
I’ve been with House of Kaizen ever since I helped found NetX in January 2001.
Where are you based?
New York City.
Previous performance marketing-related companies you have worked at:
I’ve worked at pioneering interactive agencies i-traffic (which Agency.com acquired) and Mass Transit Interactive (which Horizon Media acquired).
What are your main job responsibilities?
As a partner at House of Kaizen, I focus on strengthening and growing relationships and results for all clients. As head of client services, I lead the agency client service teams based in New York City, London, and Lagos, Nigeria. These teams are responsible for client happiness and solving client problems to achieve long-term engagement and organic growth.
Take us through what you get up to on a typical working Monday:
Most of my time is spent strengthening and growing our client relationships. I speak with our clients often to understand not only their needs and challenges, but also them personally. Then I weave these goals into the strategies our team designs and executes. I rely on my amazing team to build, manage, and optimise successful performance marketing campaigns.
What top three websites can you be found browsing during your lunch hour?
- I browse Google News to keep tabs on our clients.
- I check Facebook to keep tabs on friends, family, (and clients).
- I visit Avinash Kaushik’s blog to stay up to date on the wonderful world of digital marketing analytics.
What are your top three tips for someone looking to get their hands on a job like yours?
- Listen. A great client service person is a great communicator. However, you can only achieve great communication when you listen carefully and understand. As Dr. Stephen Covey says, “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.”
- Learn. Never lose your hunger for knowledge and childlike curiosity. My team/clients rely on me to constantly provide them with new ideas, and my thirst for knowledge fuels that creativity. You should only stop learning when you’re dead.
- Focus. Keep your target in sight at all times, and avoid distractions.
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in three years’ time?
I see myself helping lead my agency into the digital marketing future by focusing on emerging markets and cutting-edge digital marketing areas, such as mobile, recurring revenue models, and better media investments based on big insights, not just big data.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
That’s pretty tough since I don’t keep any secrets from my team. I guess a lot of my staff doesn’t know that I’m an amateur Egyptologist and ferociously consume anything I can about ancient Egypt. I’m amazed at what that ancient society accomplished and afraid of how quickly it evaporated. It’s a lesson that innovation comes from meeting human needs, not just technology. It’s also a lesson that all great empires come to an end, so you better make a positive impact on the world while you can.