Carlota Pico recently sat down with Inken Kuhlmann-Rhinow to discuss her role as EMEA marketing director at HubSpot. Inken talked about the most valuable things she’s learned over the last decade, how HubSpot managed to reach new audiences during the pandemic, and how brands can develop a winning go-to-market strategy on a low budget. She also shared her clever system for helping colleagues to better understand each other. 

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and read our recap below.

Key takeaways

  • Three tips for brand success: invest in organic traffic (which will bring a ton of value for long-term growth); don’t try to do everything at once (prioritize a few channels and get them right); and scale teams (hiring the right people is time consuming but worth it).
  • Successful teams are made up of people who you can trust—especially in the work-from-home era. Additionally, teams that have empathy and are able to adapt to change are paramount.
  • Good communication in the workplace is essential. At HubSpot, members of the team brief their colleagues on their preferences in terms of communication, schedule organization and work style. These “personal preference documents” help team members understand each other and foster harmony in the office.
  • The companies that have been particularly successful during the pandemic are those that have offered real support to their audiences in times of need. For example, Zoom, Slack and Shopify have been very responsive, allowing people to leverage their tools easily and/or for free.
  • Recycling content is a great strategy to save time, money and effort. Get creative and think about how you can repurpose what you’ve already created, which is especially helpful when working with a limited budget.

Remote work has opened up so many possibilities, like the ability to connect with people who were previously inaccessible due to geographical constraints.

Rapid-fire recs

A source of inspiration or an influencer you follow?

I really admire Simon Sinek. He always has great content. He interviews really interesting people and gives advice on why leadership is so important, and how to build a strong culture and team. He’s written some great books as well, such as “Leaders Eat Last.”

What’s your favorite app at the moment?

I get asked this question all the time, but I think the obvious answer for now would be Slack, Zoom and Loom. They’re fantastic for remote management. I love being able to quickly share important information and easily connect with my team through these apps.

Check out this blog post for more of Inken’s thoughts on managing remote teams!


Connect with Inken and Carlota on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Mary Kresge, a freelance content creator based in Madrid.

For more insights into the life of an EMEA marketing director, check out:

Really get to know your customer – Teodora Takacs, EMEA marketing director

Bridging the empathy gap – Amy Kelly, EMEA marketing director and customer experience expert

The art of demand generation – Ertan Benzes, EMEA and India digital marketing director

To see the full transcript, click on page number 2 below.