An Interview With Kieran Powell
Prioritize personalization: To increase engagement, tailor every message. For instance, our personalized email campaigns boosted customer retention and re-engagement rates. The more we refine personalization, the more relevant our emails are — and our customers love that.
In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving marketing landscape, effective marketing strategies are the cornerstone of business success. CMOs hold the key to crafting innovative approaches that resonate with consumers and drive growth. We would like to feature and interview accomplished Chief Marketing Officers to share their insights, strategies, and personal stories about what it takes to lead in this dynamic field. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Anne Ghaltchi.
Anne Ghaltchi is the Chief Marketing Officer at ZeroBounce, the email validation, deliverability, and email-finding company. With more than 15 years of experience, she drives innovative marketing strategies to boost brand visibility, customer engagement, and business growth.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Funny enough, I started college thinking I’d be a pharmacist! But during finals one semester, I realized I wanted something more creative. I tried marketing and advertising courses, and that was it — I knew I wanted to change my major from pre-pharmacy to advertising and business.
After college, I dove into the world of advertising and martech, and here I am, now CMO of ZeroBounce. It’s been quite the ride, and I’ve loved every twist and turn.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
When I joined ZeroBounce, the company was already on a fast growth track, but seeing how it’s skyrocketed since has been incredible. Watching our team work hard to hit new milestones, quarter after quarter, and knowing I’ve been part of driving that momentum is super rewarding.
Growth like this doesn’t come easy — it’s about experimenting, tweaking, and not being afraid to make bold moves. Every new win reminds me just how much potential this company has, and it’s thrilling to be part of that journey.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
During college, I interned at a local newspaper. I was asked to deliver envelopes to a client but didn’t push for a meeting because I didn’t know they were invoices. My boss wasn’t happy when we didn’t get paid! Lesson learned: always ask about priorities and deadlines upfront.
Marketing is always evolving. Is there a strategy you swore by five years ago that you’ve completely rethought today?
Five years ago, marketers relied heavily on basic email blast campaigns, typically sending one-size-fits-all messages to entire email lists. At the time, personalization wasn’t as advanced or expected, and this approach could still yield decent results.
But today, customers expect tailored experiences. Simply blasting emails doesn’t cut it anymore. Now, advanced segmentation, automation, and personalization drive email marketing success. This shift has made it crucial to understand your audience and cater specifically to their needs, rather than treating everyone the same.
Can you share a campaign or project that didn’t go as planned? What did you learn from that experience, and how did it shape your approach moving forward?
We once launched a campaign where we leaned heavily on automation to handle syncing and performance tracking. Everything looked fine on the surface, but we later realized some key elements weren’t syncing correctly. Campaigns were overspending for non-critical priorities, and we didn’t catch it fast enough.
The lesson? Technology is awesome, but it’s not foolproof. Always double-check and stay hands-on to make sure everything’s working as planned. Now, we’ve built in extra checks and monitoring to avoid similar hiccups in the future.
Data is everywhere now, but it can be overwhelming. How do you decide which metrics to prioritize when shaping your strategies?
Data is abundant, but I focus on metrics that align with our key objectives for set periods of time. For example, if awareness is the goal, I track impressions and reach. For conversions, I look at CPA and ROI. By linking metrics to business goals, I filter focus on what truly drives success.
What’s one unconventional or bold marketing move you’ve made that turned out to be a game-changer for your company?
One bold move was introducing dynamic, personalized journeys in our email marketing campaigns. Instead of static, one-size-fits-all emails, we use activity-based data to tailor subject lines, offers, and messaging for our contacts. It dramatically boosted open rates and engagement. This shift reinforced the power of hyper-personalization and has since become a cornerstone of our marketing strategy.
Based on your opinion and experience, what are your “Top Five Marketing Strategies” and why?
1. Prioritize personalization: To increase engagement, tailor every message. For instance, our personalized email campaigns boosted customer retention and re-engagement rates. The more we refine personalization, the more relevant our emails are — and our customers love that.
2. Use data-driven insights: Use customer behavior and analytics to refine targeting. For example, segmentation based on purchase patterns improves ad ROI. We keep track of these patterns to observe any changes and adapt in real time when we need to.
3. Adopt multi-channel marketing: Integrate email, social media, and paid ads to ensure a cohesive customer journey. Your audience will see consistent messaging and promotions across different channels. You want your ideal customer to be exposed to your messages cross-channel.
4. Focus on storytelling: Narratives humanize your brand. One way is to use customer success stories to showcase how your product or service can improve. At ZeroBounce, we also love featuring our team on social media and in emails.
5. Experiment with emerging trends: Explore new ad platforms or new types of content, but be sure to monitor performance and make quick decisions if the campaign is not meeting your KPIs. We enjoy trying new things, like video marketing or new social media platforms.
With so many platforms and trends popping up constantly, how do you strike the right balance between trying new things and sticking with what you know works?
It’s a mix of staying curious and making smart decisions. Try new things, but don’t jump on every bandwagon. Keep a core focus on what’s already driving results and sprinkle in some experimentation to see if something fresh sticks.
For instance, ZeroBounce is a B2B software company. At first glance, you’d think our industry wouldn’t allow for much experimentation or creativity. We’ve found it to be quite the opposite: the more technical your product is, the more it stimulates your creativity. Our team knows how to translate complex ideas into stories and tips that are easy to understand. We then share those ideas on social media — and use humor as often as possible, even on more formal platforms like LinkedIn.
Looking ahead, what’s a major shift or trend in marketing that you think CMOs need to prepare for in the next five years?
No doubt, it will be AI. It’s going to keep evolving and changing how we do everything — from content creation to data analysis. The key will be finding the balance between automation and keeping marketing human.
While AI is already saving us time and energy, there’s an abundance of AI content everywhere. Our audiences are smart and can detect that pretty quickly, so we can’t afford to lose our human touch.
The best way marketers can prepare is by placing an even bigger focus on their creative and critical thinking. Building teams that understand how to make the most of AI while maintaining authenticity will help companies stand out.
Because of the role you play, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could kick off a movement, it’d be all about spreading small acts of kindness. Think: paying for someone’s coffee, sending a quick compliment, or holding the door for a stranger. These little things can totally brighten someone’s day and create a domino effect of good vibes.
It’s easy to show empathy, do what you can to help, and watch how those small moments connect people. It could inspire others to pay it forward and make the world a bit warmer.
This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.
About The Interviewer: Kieran Powell is the EVP of Channel V Media a New York City Public Relations agency with a global network of agency partners in over 30 countries. Kieran has advised more than 150 companies in the Technology, B2B, Retail and Financial sectors. Prior to taking over business operations at Channel V Media, Kieran held roles at Merrill Lynch, PwC and Ernst & Young. Get in touch with Kieran to discuss how marketing and public relations can be leveraged to achieve concrete business goals.
Marketing Strategies From Top CMOs: Five Marketing Strategies From Anne Ghaltchi Of ZeroBounce was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.