Main Responsibilities of a Director of Marketing and Protocol Relations at a Digital Finance Company
Houston's role as Director of Marketing and Protocol Relations is a unique blend of "partnership director and marketing manager," born from the company's restructuring. This involves managing a 10-person team, overseeing marketing strategies ("developing the GTM strategy for products"), and acting as the primary point of contact for building and maintaining crucial ecosystem relationships, "the guy who knows everyone."
Project Management, Teamwork, Communication, Executive/Leadership, Networking
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Houston Morgan
Director of Marketing and Protocol Relations
Leading Digital Finance Organization
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey
N/A
Business & Related, Communications
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing), Technology
Communication and Marketing
Scholarship Recipient, Transfer Student, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. The Director of Marketing and Protocol Relations role blends marketing and business development, offering diverse experience in strategy, team management, and budget oversight.
2. Responsibilities include developing go-to-market strategies, managing a team, planning events, and overseeing marketing activities such as SEO and social media.
3. The role also involves building and maintaining external partnerships, acting as a key contact for collaborations and integrations with other organizations. This includes negotiation, contract management, and relationship building with key players in the industry.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
In my current role, I have a very broad scope. I'm the Director of Marketing and Protocol Relations, which is an unusual title. You don't typically see it in companies historically.
You can think of this role as a partnership director and a marketing director smashed together. This happened because we shut down our business development arm. They said they needed business development, and I asked for a better title. They suggested I just add it to my existing title, which I agreed to.
With that in mind, we can talk about my responsibilities in two areas. For marketing, I develop the go-to-market strategy for products, write copy for the application and marketing activations, and plan events and conferences. I also manage a team of about ten people who handle tasks like SEO, social media, and customer or KOL activation.
I manage the budget for these areas, the team, and the roadmap. I also collaborate with other departments, including operations, product, and security. I act as the point of contact for these collaborations.
For the Director of Partnerships aspect, I am the main point of contact for coordinating and developing ecosystem relationships. For example, if we want to work with Uniswap, I'm the person to make that happen. If someone needs an introduction to CowSwap, I can provide that connection.
I'm the person who knows everyone and can facilitate connections to make things happen. My team, which includes two or three people from the former BD team, fosters these relationships and handles B2B deals.
This can involve encouraging the use of the ShapeShift API or integrating products into ShapeShift. Someone needs to manage these relationships to ensure everyone understands the scope, timing, and any financial or legal requirements.
Once the integration touches the product's design or functional building, I pass it off to the product team, and my team steps back. These are the main responsibilities within my role. It's simple but complicated, yet also simple.