Debra Zimmer

Product Marketing Leader | Empathic Voice of Customer | Creative Problem Solver | Drives Business Results

I bring with me a love of innovation to creative business strategy. Insatiable curiosity, information synthesis, and the drive to problem solve is my superpower. Joyous collaboration, my sunshine. I lead with empathy and clearly communicate value. I am the voice of the customer. I drive results.

Profile

Innovative and accomplished marketing leader having revenue responsibility in the tens of millions, product adoption rates in the millions, managing budgets up to $10 million, and leading teams of 12 people.

Cutting edge marketing professional with a strong respect to keep a business financially healthy and drive top performance.  Accomplished across multiple disciplines of Digital, Traditional and Product Marketing. Easily flexes from technical to consumer to executive audiences.

Established, highly versatile, entrepreneurial product marketer with start-up to Fortune 500 experience for both B2B and B2C organizations. Product breadth is consumer to professional services, academic and business software (SaaS, DevOps, EdTech, HRTech, MarTech). Market experience spans consumers, small business, enterprises, and educational institutions throughout the US and internationally. Industries include eCommerce, retail, software, manufacturing, telecommunications, and consulting.

Sales Enablement
Product Marketing
Product Launch
Strategy

Experience

The Strategist Group, LLC, Arvada CO       

Product Marketing Consultant.

Director of Product Marketing for an enterprise HRTech company focused on measuring team behavior and leadership effectiveness. Repackaged services into products (HR EdTech).

  • Product Portfolio: Crafted the Strategy, positioning, and messaging for the company and 8+ products.
  • Sales Channel: Defined 3 sales consultant tiers with certification, sales tools, presentations, and training.
  • Competitor Response: With 2 weeks’ notice, researched and developed an Employee Engagement Platform with sales enablement materials to compete with Gallop. Took 3rd place by one point, out of 20+ bids.

Product Marketing for a Visual Thinking Company to reposition and relaunch their consulting services.

  • GTM Strategy: Strategized Positioning, Messaging, Story and Web copy.
  • Sales Enablement: Project managed and wrote sales enablement materials for their C-level clients.

MarTech: Evaluated & implemented CRMs, Automation, Email, Surveys, Learning Platforms and more

Proskins LTD, LLC, Arvada, CO (Proskinsslim.com)     

Director of Marketing, North America

Drove eCommerce sales for a UK-based bootstrapped startup selling cellulite fighting apparel.

  • Product Marketing: Researched a direct selling organization. Pilot tested party-plan revenue model.
  • Customer Engagement: Identified and engaged 100 Influencers to take a 90-day Challenge resulting in product validation and sales momentum. Authored 10 customer success stories. Developed Avatars.
  • Growth Marketing: Generated sales via online marketplaces with $0 marketing budget and limited inventory.
  • Advertising: Generated sales via online advertising: PPC, SEM, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, retargeting.

The Expert Marketing Coach, LLC, Arvada CO        

Marketing Consultant, Trainer, Speaker, Author/Writer.

  • Sales Enablement: Wrote brochures, case studies, website copy, white papers, sales presentations, webinars, PowerPoints, landing pages, and emails.
  • Speaker: Led live seminars and webinars, as well as pre-recorded training classes.
  • Author: Writer and co-author of 2 Books. Composed 50+ blog articles and web content.
  • Market Research: Conducted and published quantitative research on a social media framework proven to increase one’s likelihood to buy by 18% and likelihood to recommend by 27%.

Poshpad Inc., dba SwankSpace, Denver CO

Founder, CEO and Director of Marketing

Responsible for end-to-end business operations for an eCommerce & storefront retailer with professional services. Directed overall marketing strategy including lead generation, advertising (Google Ads) and publicity.

  • Venture Funding: Founded, funded (raised $500k in seed funding), and launched an ecommerce company. Expanded to multiple lines of revenue. Arranged financing and loans of $150k to fund business growth.
  • Product Management: Designed a best-in-class ecommerce site driving visibility, usability, and conversion.

Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA

Marketing Manager, Product Manager

Responsible for market and competitor analysis, specifying and developing new software products and enhancements, operational performance, channel development, marketing plan development and execution including all forms of advertising, PR, and sales support across all distribution channels with performance measured by customer acquisition, engagement, and satisfaction.

  • Product Launch: Conceived go-to-market strategies and successfully launched 10 products and programs including Internet Explorer, Visual C++, MSDN, TechNet, & DevOps tools, for developers and IT pros.
  • PLG, Product-Led Growth: In 18 months, expanded community of web developers and designers from 10,000 to 700,000 members who drove product downloads.

Leadership

  • Cross-functional Teams: Hired, motivated, and grew team of 12; salary, hourly and contract. – 3 years.
  • Interns:  Created an Intern Program. Hired and coached teams of 3-5 to achieve business goals. – 2 yrs.
  • Volunteer teams:  Guided social media team of 6 volunteers for Colorado Companies to Watch – 1 year.
  • Manufacturer Reps:  Supervised, evaluated, and trained worldwide sales representatives – 3 years.
  • Vendor Management: Built relationships with and managed over 50 vendors – 5 years.
  • Certified Coach: Certified Executive Mastermind Coach, Executive Coaching University, 2011.

Education

Columbia Business School

MBA
International Business & Finance

University of Rochester

BS
Optics, Engineering

Reviews

Whenever I get stuck in my business strategy or marketing, I call Deb and she get’s me unstuck. Whatever my need, she delivers.
Debra is an outstanding speaker with loads of energy and expert knowledge! She presented for the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center. If you’re looking for a top-notch speaker for your next event, I highly recommend Debra!
Andrea Kilgore
Director of Business Development
Debra is well organized and hardworking. She always has creative solutions to even the most difficult of problems.
Jennifer Gauerke
Art Director
Debra is a very talented individual. She is constantly working on multiple projects in many different facets. She is very flexible in meeting the diverse needs of her clients. I took pleasure in working as a part of her team, and I learned a great deal.
Ramond Irons
Product Supervisor

Expertise

Product Marketing

Market Strategy

Leadership

Project Management

Marketing

Management

Sales Enablement

Digital Marketing

Email Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Quantitative & Analytical

Microsoft Office