About

Bobbi
Makeda

Marketing Strategist.Founder of KEYDAH.A Marketing Strategy Studio.

Bobbi Makeda outdoors in green patchwork overalls

Background

I started my career in advertising agencies, working across digital media, activation and strategy for national and global brands. That experience taught me how sophisticated marketing organizations approach audience, media, measurement and performance.

But moving from agency work into in-house marketing changed the way I thought about strategy. Inside smaller businesses, marketing wasn't one department among many. It touched sales, creative, customer acquisition, operations and the decisions being made every day.

Over the years, I've worked across agency, in-house and independent environments, giving me the opportunity to see marketing from different sides of the business. That range ultimately shaped the way I work today: looking beyond individual tactics to understand how the pieces work together.

Philosophy

I don't believe good marketing starts with a channel.

It starts with understanding the business. What are we trying to accomplish? Who are we trying to reach? What matters to them? What's already working? Where are we losing people? And what actually deserves more investment?

I've spent enough time around marketing to know that doing more doesn't necessarily mean accomplishing more. My approach is to investigate first, connect the pieces and build strategy around what the business actually needs rather than whatever tactic happens to be getting attention at the moment.

Experience

My experience spans more than a decade across advertising agencies, in-house marketing teams, independent consulting and business operations.

I've planned and supported digital campaigns for national and global brands including Volkswagen, State Farm, AbbVie Pharmaceuticals and Sony; managed marketing for fashion and wholesale businesses; developed customer acquisition strategies; worked across paid media, email, content, analytics and creative; and helped smaller businesses translate marketing into measurable growth.

Along the way, I've managed national campaigns, worked with dozens of media and technology partners, presented strategy directly to clients, built marketing functions, developed operational systems and worked close enough to sales and customers to understand what happens after the campaign launches.

That combination of big-agency training and hands-on business experience is the foundation of how I approach strategy today.

“Bobbi is a hard-working person with extreme talent. She is always eager to learn more about her surroundings and very willing to lend a helping hand where ever possible. She's an intuitive media planner and an overall pleasure to work with.”

JENN WOLFF

Former colleague, Campbell Ewald
LinkedIn Recommendation · 2012

Current Work

Today, my work sits at the intersection of marketing strategy, business and the legal industry.

I founded KEYDAH to help businesses understand what's happening across their marketing, identify where the gaps are and build a clearer system for moving forward.

I'm also developing Power to the Practitioner, an educational project created to help solo and small-firm legal practitioners better understand marketing, build stronger internal marketing capabilities and rely less exclusively on traditional relationship-building and networking for growth.

Alongside that work, my experience inside a law firm has given me a closer view of how professional services businesses operate, develop relationships and think about growth.

Work with
Bobbi

Strategy engagements run through KEYDAH, A Marketing Strategy Studio.

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