Marketing Happy Hour - A Marketer's Guide to Notion (+ Influencer Marketing Tips) | Danielle Ito of Notion

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners. This week, Cassie and I are chatting with Danielle Ito, Influencer Marketing Manager at Notion, a helpful tool that blends your everyday work apps into one and allows for seamless collaboration with your team. In this episode, Danielle shares how a cold application led to her start in tech, tips for marketers curious about Notion's vast capabilities, and insights into the brand's influencer marketing strategy. She also gives us a look at their community event calendar and explains how impactful growing in real life relationships with creators has been for Notion. Go ahead, grab a drink, and let's listen in together. Danielle, welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. Thanks for being here. How are you? I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to finally get on this podcast. I feel like so many incredible marketers have been on, so I'm honored that you decided to include me in the group. Oh my gosh. 100%.

Starting point is 00:01:50 We've kind of been connected through the grapevine, as you said, a lot of mutual LinkedIn connections and have seen some of your content on social and just really excited to learn more about you and what you're working on. But first, do you mind sharing with us what is in your glass either this afternoon or what do you just enjoy sipping on on a regular basis? I'm currently drinking a Spindrift Arnold Palmer, which is my second favorite Spindrift flavor. Lemon is my first, but come five o'clock, I'm hoping to open up a nice glass of orange wine, which I feel like all the girls in New York have been drinking for the last couple of summers, but I am proudly an orange wine fanatic. I am right there with you. I love orange wine. It's like my favorite thing. And it hasn't really

Starting point is 00:02:34 caught on in Florida as much, I would say. So whenever I find it on a menu here in Florida, I'm like, oh my gosh, I must get that. But I'm actually just sipping on this afternoon, a glass of whiny baby rosé. This founder is a Gen Z founder, and she's actually on a TV show right now called food stars. And it's actually so good. I tried the white wine version of it a few weeks ago. And so I picked up this rosé and it's amazing. So Cassie, what do you have in your glass? Just water today. I'm a pretty simple trying to stay hydrated for the weekend, but maybe we'll have something a little more fun later. We'll see. I'm obsessed with this whiny baby branding. I feel like half the battle using a bottle at

Starting point is 00:03:24 the store is looking at the labels and finding what resonates with you the most.. I feel like half the battle using a bottle at the store is looking at the labels and finding what resonates with you the most. And I feel like they really crushed it on that. They really did. And if you order it online, it comes with like a phone chain or like a phone, whatever you call that, that comes on the bottle, which is like so fun. And they also, my favorite part of this is you can peel off the sticker on the back and it has like a spot for you to write down like the date, the location, like memories that you had, like, wow, this bottle. It's like so genius.

Starting point is 00:03:54 I absolutely love that brand. Anyway, we also absolutely love Notion. I don't know if you've listened to any of our past episodes, but a lot of the marketers that have come on the podcast have talked about how they use Notion in their day-to-day. And we're always fangirling over the brand and just everybody that works there because you have such a great presence on LinkedIn as well. So we want to dive in, but first, could you tell us a little bit about your journey into influencer marketing and what kind of initially drew you into this field? Yes, I'm definitely going to give my teammates a shout out for the LinkedIn content because they really do crush it. But yes, I have been in influencer marketing for around five,

Starting point is 00:04:37 six years now, which feels like a long time. I'm considering the industry still relatively new. I actually started my career in PR and I worked at a PR agency, Current Global, which is a consumer PR agency when I was living back in San Francisco. And it was funny, I actually thought that I was going to be in PR my whole life. I majored in PR, I loved media relations, I just knew when I started college that that was going to be my career. But one of my mentors at the time, we were all at happy hour after work. And she said, I think I can predict what every single one of the junior staff is going to do for the rest of

Starting point is 00:05:10 their career. And when she got to me, she said, you are for sure going to excel in influencer marketing. And at the time I thought, no, absolutely not. That was not something that I foresaw. I saw myself doing, but lo and behold, I think the team really did see that in me and the strengths. And at the time, while I was so tied to this idea of being in PR for my whole life, they kind of encouraged me to at least explore it and see if it was something that would interest me. So I got a really awesome opportunity, again, from my mentors at the time at the agency who allowed me to essentially run the from my mentors at the time at the agency who allowed me to essentially run the influencer marketing program at the PR agency. And at the time, again,

Starting point is 00:05:50 this was five, six years ago. So we were really using influencer just to, you know, bolster our PR campaign. So everything was very awareness driven for guaranteed impressions for some of our campaigns. And, um, I got to work on some really awesome brands there like Applebee's, Champion Athletic Wear, Boda Box Wine, Omni Hotels and Resorts. It kind of like really spanned the gamut of different industries. And I found that I actually did really like influencer marketing. So I, you know, sometimes people see things in you that you can't quite see, especially when you're young in your career. So I really do, you know, sometimes people see things in you that you can't quite see, especially when you're young in your career. So I really do, you know, owe a lot to my mentors for at least, you know, giving me the encouragement to try out something new.

Starting point is 00:06:32 And when you're young, I think it's so important to at least explore where your strengths may lay. So yeah, that's kind of how I got into it. It's been a journey ever since. Oh my gosh, that is incredible. And then how did you step into this role at Notion? What was that journey like for you? Yes, I started at Notion in October, 2022.

Starting point is 00:06:53 I was looking for a new role. I was doing social media, some influencer at a direct-to-consumer hair color brand before Madison Reed. And I was looking for something new. I just moved to New York. I wanted something, you know, in person where I can meet more people. And I stumbled upon the job listing for Notion and I had seen it on TikTok before. It was just around the time where TikTok or Notion was starting to blow up on TikTok. So of course it was flooding my For You page. And it kind of felt kismet. Like I saw the job posting right after I'd seen a string of Notion

Starting point is 00:07:25 videos on TikTok. I wasn't fully familiar with the platform. I wasn't a user, honestly, by any means. And I saw the post and I thought, wow, this feels like it's meant to be. And lo and behold, I am one of those success stories of a cold application in tech. And I was, you know, I got the amazing opportunity to come to Notion and it's really just been such an incredible experience. The people are incredible to work with. The product is really awesome. And I think it's one of the best places to do influencer marketing. Wow. I love hearing that. And I'm curious to hear too, like your thoughts and insights around some of your favorite, most successful campaigns at the brand, like the launches of Notion AI and Notion Calendar. What do you think

Starting point is 00:08:10 made those successful? Yeah, I think again, one of the reasons why it's so great to do influencer marketing at Notion is because there are millions of different use cases and millions of different stories that you can tell with the product. I guarantee that the three of us may all use Notion, but we probably use it in very different ways. And I think that that's really fun, especially coming from, you know, working with previous brands where you're really promoting just one product. And while we are promoting one product, I feel like we are promoting, you know, unlimited amounts of stories while also selling Notion. So with Notion Calendar and Notion AI, I think I thought it was really fun that we were able to incorporate the launch, these major launches that we had for the brand, essentially new product streams within Notion, but tell the story in so

Starting point is 00:08:57 many different ways. So the stories we were telling weren't necessarily Notion now has AI, that while of course that was a key message, it was, here's how I use Notion AI to do copywriting for my brand, or here's how I use Notion AI as an assistant for my content creation business. So again, really rooted in these stories that are, you know, secondary. It's almost like the product is secondary. Notion calendar is also a very similar type of launch, which I thought was really fun. Everyone has a calendar. Everyone has things to do, events to attend.

Starting point is 00:09:30 And we were able to really tell those stories through the launch of Notion Calendar, which was really awesome. So think of like day in my life, going through your calendar, checking off all of the events that you have to do or planning a family outing for the weekend or a trip that you're going on. Again, we can kind of tell those stories while also showcasing the use of Notion Calendar. Oh, that's awesome. And we're going to talk more about storytelling here in a second, but I have to ask you, cause something you said caught my attention. You mentioned that you got this job on a cold apply, which is amazing by the way. Do you have any tips for

Starting point is 00:10:07 resume or even like application process just to make your profile or your portfolio stand out to hiring managers? Yeah, that's a great question. I think, especially in this day and age, I feel like everyone always says lead with your successes and the things that you actually accomplish. And I really do think that that was a huge success for me in capturing the attention of the hiring managers for, or at Notion and the recruiters. So again, I highly suggest leaning into, you know, the projects that you owned, some of your major accomplishments and something that, you know, shameless plug for Notion, something that you can do throughout the process, throughout your professional career is, you know, keep a list of wins and personal accomplishments. You can do that in Notion, again, in your personal

Starting point is 00:10:54 space to kind of keep track of all these different things. So, you know, come time when you're updating your resume, you have a laundry list of all the amazing things that you've done. I think too, influencer marketing is more of a visual career. So definitely showcased that through my resume. And of course, as I was applying, you know, I had to do a project and whatnot, doing everything in Notion, of course, obviously stand out. So actually taking a look at the brand, you know, what would resonate with them the most showcase that you actually know the product you're interested in working with the product and the people is really important. Yeah, such good advice. Thank you for that.

Starting point is 00:11:30 Okay, so going into storytelling then, how do you ensure that the content created through these influencer partnerships is rooted in authentic storytelling? You mentioned there's so many different approaches and ways that people use the platform. So how do you ensure that that's kind of coming out through these different viewpoints that these influencers are creating content through? Yeah, I love to do exploratory calls with creators or even if there isn't time for a call over email to actually kind of understand how they are using the product and what their authentic use cases are.

Starting point is 00:12:04 So we always say, you know, we send them a brief. It has the key messages, product updates, information, you know, things they can include in the content, but we always say, lead with how you're actually using the product. That's the story that we want to hear. So again, I love to kind of explore with the creator, see how they're using the product. If they have a beautiful dashboard that they want to turn into a template, that's absolutely something that we love to do and incorporate. So again, kind of leading with, you know, how they're using the product and make that the story that we're telling with the product updates and the key messages kind of secondary to that. Yeah. And then how about brand love as well? You know, a lot of times we see that come out from

Starting point is 00:12:44 influencers, but how do you ensure that's being translated to the consumer and they kind of start to buy in to the brand as well and be super excited and engaged with it? We are super lucky that a lot of creators already use Notion. We are definitely open to working with creators who haven't used Notion before. And I think the story of telling how someone is learning the product is extremely important as well, because it can be a little bit daunting to learn how to use Notion. So yeah, I would say, though, it's always great to work with creators who are already

Starting point is 00:13:15 using the product. They already love the product. I think if they have a lot of love for Notion, it really does show through in their content, especially because we do require, of course, visuals of Notion. So when it looks beautiful and like they actually use it every day, that makes a huge difference. And you can tell in the content. But yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day, while we always have goals that we have to hit, we would always love to work with someone who is passionate about the brand

Starting point is 00:13:42 versus someone who maybe is newer. But again, we work with a range because it is important to show the onboarding to notion process. Yeah, absolutely. And that just really inspires like trust too, because people are following influencer to, you know, get their recommendations that are trusted and from a trusted source. And so when you're tapping into people who are already using this in their day to day, they can really speak to the product. And I think that inspires brand love in itself, just knowing the product through and through and like how it helps you on your day to day as an influencer is just like so helpful, I'm sure. Would love to hear another section of your role at Notion is focused on event strategy, I believe.

Starting point is 00:14:31 So what is your approach to event strategy at Notion, particularly for influencer and community events? Yeah, we're very lucky. We have a full community team that manages our ambassadors worldwide. They are hosting events around the world. So if you're a Notion fan, I highly suggest looking into our event calendar for our community. There's always ways to get involved with the Notion community. But the way

Starting point is 00:14:56 that we engage with content creators, of course, is a little bit different. They're always welcome at community events and sometimes we do kind of mix them together. But I think for us, again, part of the authentic storytelling and building the brand love with creators, I do really think it's important to actually build relationships with creators, whether you're spending one-on-one time with them, again, making the time to get on a call with them, understand what their use cases are, what their issues with the platform might be. So we kicked off an in-person event strategy last year where we've hosted a couple of events in our New York office. Again, I think at the end of the day too, because of the way that Notion is, our goal is to always empower creators to

Starting point is 00:15:38 run their businesses better. So that's been the root of our strategy. Again, making these connections with creators is very important to us, teaching them how to use Notion, unlocking ways that they could use Notion even better with their teams or monetize their templates, for example. So that's been a really awesome way for us to get involved with the community directly in person. And then also I have to plug Creator Camp. They are a group of content creators who are building this new community of what they call fostering organic creativity. So

Starting point is 00:16:14 kind of breaking the mold of like typical virality that we now see on TikTok and YouTube. So we've been working with them. We're year long sponsors for their events, which is awesome because again, these are actual creator communities, small intimate events. That's not, you know, pushing the brand down someone's throat. I think again, at the end of the day, we do want to just empower creators to use Notion and we want to help them, you know, build their businesses in a smarter way. So it's been a really fruitful partnership. They're awesome.

Starting point is 00:16:48 Again, kind of connects us with these creators directly in a more authentic way through demonstrations or workshops. And I think also something beautiful through all of the events that we've done, whether hosted by us or with partners, is that creators actually love to teach each other how to use Notion. They're also very willing to learn from each other. So I think these environments also foster connection with creators themselves to show how they're using Notion, whether it's for

Starting point is 00:17:17 a passion project, something totally random, like a bathroom renovation or for their brand partnerships. So that's also been really awesome to see. That is so cool. And my day-to-day role, my nine to five is an influencer marketing too. And there's a lot of that knowledge sharing amongst creators which is really, really cool to hear that you're seeing that as well.

Starting point is 00:17:38 I just looked up the Creator Camp website and it looks so cool. We'll have to like plug them in our uh show notes because that looks so awesome and now I'm like I want to go to these events um they're very awesome I actually just went to uh they do these base camp events again they're kind of like retreats where creators can get together and showcase uh their own skills and uh you know get together and talk about their jobs in a you know more organic way and it about their jobs in a more organic way. And it was beautiful.

Starting point is 00:18:06 I was so touched when I left. I was so inspired. Like they were all so sweet and willing to help each other. And, you know, it kind of allowed them to just connect with people who are in the same job function because I do feel like I do hear from careers

Starting point is 00:18:19 that we work with that it can be a very lonely environment, of course. So yeah, it's really awesome. Definitely anyone who's listening, check course. So yeah, it's really awesome. Definitely anyone who's listening, check them out. Yeah, absolutely. Well, we want to hear too. We'd like to talk about, you know, the wins and the celebrations, but we also like to talk about the real life, you know, challenges and things like that. What are some of the biggest challenges that you've faced either in PR or influencer and how did you overcome those?

Starting point is 00:18:46 Yeah, I think luckily this is not an issue that I have to deal with that notion too much. But I do think it is because influencer marketing is so new, it can be a tough function, a marketing function to understand. And I think that sometimes that's been an issue, especially when I was working with clients or, you know, with teams that weren't as familiar with influencer marketing. So again, I think it's a really, I believe in it. I think it's a very effective form of marketing and, you know, actually puts the product in the hands of someone who can authentically speak about it. That's not the brand itself, but I do think sometimes, you know, teams have a hard time

Starting point is 00:19:23 understanding, okay, what is the actual impact here? I think we've all, as an influencer marketer have overcome issues with reporting and attribution. So again, I think it's kind of a balance of, of, you know, proving the importance of the actual awareness brand driving factors for influencer marketing, but also the performance driving factors that aren't always as easily shown again, because I do think influencer has a long tail. So again, I think my biggest advice to anyone who is working on a team, trying to get influencer through to maybe their higher ups is really educate them on the power of influencer in a long tail form. So

Starting point is 00:20:04 that's something I've done a lot, especially in my PR days when we were working with clients, a lot of decks on educating exactly what influencer marketing is, what the function is in the marketing funnel, various ways that you can amplify the content to, I think really showcasing that whole story is really important. Such great advice. Thank you for passing that on. We have to ask you, of course, about just your tips and strategies for using Notion, especially in the marketing space and influencer space as well. So I'm curious, what are some of your favorite productivity hacks for using Notion in your daily workflow? I am by no means a Notion expert. We have, I know, I feel

Starting point is 00:20:47 like you can have unlimited knowledge in Notion. It's, there's really so many things you can do with it. But I of course manage all my tasks in Notion. I have a to-do list set up in my, what I call my homepage that has tasks that are due today, this week, and this month. And that's really helped me identify and prioritize a lot of my tasks. So I just use, honestly, the to-do list function in Notion for that. But otherwise, another great piece of advice that I've actually gotten recently is try to attend less meetings. I think a lot of us go through a lot of meeting fatigue and it's hard to actually get the work done. So I'm really lucky that my manager and my team empowers us

Starting point is 00:21:32 to say no to meetings, especially if we don't think it'll be that relevant or you can do the meeting async. So shameless plug for Notion AI here. I think Notion AI has been really awesome in allowing us to do meetings async, especially if there is a long document that has all of the notes, you can just have Notion AI summarize everything, summarize everything that's pertinent to me or on marketing, which is really

Starting point is 00:21:54 awesome as well. Saves a lot of time. And again, I think it's just been a really awesome way for us to meet and share information, but not spend 30 minutes on talking about one thing. Oh, that's such good advice too. And I think it's important to ask yourself, is it needed for me to attend this meeting? Is this something that just can be handled over email or over another platform, or can it be recorded and I can listen to it later or have it summarized? I think that's so important because we have less and less time in the day to actually work in our business and pushing it forward. And so

Starting point is 00:22:29 that's great advice. Thank you for sharing that because I definitely needed to hear that myself. Well, we have two listener questions kind of going along the same line here with using Notion. These questions come from Allie Golden. She is a marketer at Tidal, the music platform. And she is curious. She uses Notion on a regular basis. But first question she had was, what are some ways that Notion is helping marketers optimize their organizational habits? Yeah, that's another great question. I think one of my, again, favorite things about Notion is consolidation. You can do so much in Notion that you would otherwise use multiple platforms for, quite frankly. So again, we have, for example, with influencer marketing, we have our strategies, our briefs, our CRM with lists of influencers that we share out to the greater team all in one place. Um, and we don't have to leave the app, which I think is again, a very large time saver. So we're

Starting point is 00:23:32 doing everything in notion. We don't have to, uh, export anything to a Google sheet or an Excel sheet or find a document in a million different places. Um, we also just launched notion Q and A, which is our AI feature that will search through every single page in your Notion to answer questions easily. So you don't have to go chasing people around. But again, I think just really having everything in Notion consolidated in one place is really helpful. And also a lot of the creators that we've talked to as well, really value us using Notion, of course, to share out briefs and information because they can always access it through one link. They don't have to

Starting point is 00:24:10 download a bunch of PDFs or a deck or anything like that. Everything's just in one place that's easily accessible and all the information links out beautifully from there. Oh, that's so awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And then second question she had is, and within what you're able to talk about, is there anything that you can share about what Notion is working on in the future to develop more resources and tools for marketers or even thinking on anything that is newer? You know, you mentioned Notion AI is a big one that can really help support marketers a little bit further. Yeah, I think Notion AI is obviously a very big priority for us this year. So definitely expect some exciting changes coming out there. We'll definitely unlock your productivity a little bit more, allow you to get more work done and Notion AI will be able to work for you in other ways. And one other thing that is actually out and has been out for a while, but something I think is underrated is our template gallery. I think everyone should be utilizing our template gallery.

Starting point is 00:25:16 We have thousands of templates on there for really any use case. And again, I understand that it's daunting to log onto Notion and see a blank page and not know where to start with building. But really, if you go onto our template gallery, there's truly a template for anything, whether it's in your personal life and you need a travel itinerary or a recipe box or something all the way to, you know, a meeting agenda notes. We have our own influencer marketing templates on there as well. So I really do think it's a really great way to get started, kind of get some inspiration on how

Starting point is 00:25:50 other people are using the platform because they might be using it in a way that you might not have even thought of. Oh, that's incredible. And we'll be on the lookout for some of those things that you couldn't even speak to on the show, but that sounds really, really cool. Well, we have approached our favorite question and that is, what do you know now that you wish you knew earlier on in your career? Another great question. I think it sounds cliche, but comparison is the thief of joy. I feel like that is definitely something that I fell victim to earlier in my career. And I think that, you know, as I was going through my career, I've learned so much. I've met so many amazing people, but I think I suffered from the mentality of how do I get to the next spot? You know, how do I reach this next

Starting point is 00:26:40 level? Especially when you're in your young twenties, you're kind of looking at everyone around you and you're thinking, oh my gosh, why am I not there yet? And whatnot. But again, I think now that I've realized later and I have some perspective that, you know, I was learning so much and I, without those experiences, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now. So yes, I definitely don't think that anyone should take their experiences for granted. And then also I would say, even though this is kind of annoying, I think something I wish I told myself earlier is your connections and your relationships are extremely valuable. And I think that a lot of where I've gone now, especially within the field that I do, influencer marketing is obviously a very social function, but I do think that a lot of the relationships and connections I made along the way have helped me immensely,

Starting point is 00:27:29 whether it's, you know, getting a job for a referral for a job or even just learning. I think especially in marketing, things change all the time. And the best way we can learn from learn and grow is from other people and whether they're in your industry or not, I think there's always something to learn. So yeah, definitely don't be afraid to reach out to people learn. Um, if anyone listening wants to pick my brain, I am always happy to get on a call, meet for coffee. Um, I really do think that that's so valuable. Oh, well, thank you for that. And thanks for offering that to the listeners. I know that's incredibly valuable. And even just hearing that to the listeners. I know that's incredibly valuable.

Starting point is 00:28:05 And even just hearing that open invite is a little bit encouraging because I know a lot of times, especially being earlier in your career, it's a little bit daunting to reach out to a new connection and spark that relationship for the first time. So thank you for that. We appreciate it. Well, Danielle, this has been awesome. Thank you for all of the insights that you've passed along and we'll have to, uh, have you back on just to chat even more

Starting point is 00:28:30 about your career and what you've learned so far. Uh, but in the meantime, uh, do you mind sharing with us where we can stay in touch with you personally online, but also with a notion? Yes, definitely follow all notion channels at, at notion notion hq um our social media team is absolutely killing it i think our content is um both fun but also informative um and then you can of course connect with me on linkedin at danielle ito like i mentioned my dms are open uh even if it takes a while for me to respond i will get back to you you. Excellent. Well, thank you again, Danielle. We appreciate you coming on today. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast.

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Marketing Happy Hour - A Marketer's Guide to Notion (+ Influencer Marketing Tips) | Danielle Ito of Notion

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