Amanda Meinert
May 21, 2019
Amanda Meinert (2019).
With an extensive background in marketing automation, Amanda is passionate about new technologies and creating customer advocates. Driving customers to participate in customer stories, online reviews, referrals, and marketing programs are her favorite parts of the customer marketing role. When not doing advocate related things, you can find her playing with her dogs, Cooper and Pudge, traveling or doing home projects with her husband, or spending time outdoors.
What year did you graduate and what was your concentration?
I graduated in 2013 with a BA in Public Communication.
Did you go to grad school? If so, where? Was it immediately after you left Truman or did you wait? Why?
No, I did not attend grad school. I jumped into my career with both feet.
How has your Liberal Arts/COMM education helped you?
A large part of my professional career has been focused on the implementation and management of marketing automation platforms and owning the creation of copy for emails, landing pages, etc. Truman gave me the toolkit necessary to be a strong writer, as well as the interpersonal skills to interact superbly with coworkers, customers, vendors, etc.
Why is Truman a good place for a student to study?
What I most enjoyed about Truman was the size, both overall and class-wise. You have the ability to truly cultivate a relationship with professors as mentors as opposed to just teachers. You are also exposed to a wide variety of courses that allow you to gain experience outside of your degree requirements.
What was your first job after graduation?
Amanda at graduation (2013).
My first job was with an online employee training company where I was the Marketing Automation Specialist. I implemented various technology platforms and led outbound marketing campaigns. My technical aptitude allowed me to fall seamlessly into a marketing role that granted me the ability to be more technical. This role set me up to be where I am today.
What work do you do/What are you doing now?
I currently lead Customer Marketing at Gainsight, where I drive the strategy and results for how advocates at our customers will accelerate the growth of our business. My role is dependent upon being able to collaborate cross-functionally and understanding, prioritizing and addressing the needs of the Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams. I work closely with customer advocates (both execs and practitioners) to develop customer stories, testimonials, sales references, field marketing events, and industry conferences.
What would you say a COMM student should absolutely do while at Truman?
Take the time to get to know your professors and do so genuinely. I leveraged those relationships when applying for jobs and am convinced they played a major role in accepting a job, months prior to graduation.
Which class did you dislike at the time you took it, but now you’re grateful you took it?
Honestly, Public Speaking was my least favorite course but have been truly grateful for the experience it has provided. It has helped me speak at conferences, most recently at the 2019 Summit on Customer Engagement. It also gave me the confidence to present internally when I would have otherwise been very anxious.
Amanda at the 2019 Summit on Customer Engagement.
What advice would you give someone who wants to go into the same line of work as you?
Take a variety of courses, not limited to COMM. My role requires the technical aptitude to implement and manage platforms, create content, interact with customers, and manage projects. It would have been beneficial for me to have taken more marketing courses, but my technical interest was more appropriate for the role I was looking at right out of college.
If you could come back to Truman and teach a class for a semester, what would be its title and what would it be about?
Customer Marketing for SaaS (Software as a Service) – How to create customer marketing content that keeps your customers loyal for longer.
If you would like to learn more of Amanda’s story, you can follow her on LinkedIn.