Employee Spotlight: Nghi Ho, Sales Planner, on Gen Z Marketing
A vital member of our Partnerships team, Nghi Ho is a Sales Planner at Gear Patrol. We sat down with her to talk about her experience at Gear Patrol, best practices for Gen Z marketing and even her favorite meme.
Q&A
Hey Nghi! So tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do at Gear Patrol?
I’m an Advertising Sales Planner at Gear Patrol and I handle campaign management from pre-sale, through production, and post-sale. Basically, that means I wear a lot of different hats and get to flex a lot of different muscles! I love being able to build relationships with our clients, from putting a proposal in front of them, WOWing them with a story only GP can tell, iterating and working together on a product that aligns with our brand and supports theirs, and putting something of value in front of our audiences.
As the resident Gen-Z member of the team, how do you think your perspective influences your work at Gear Patrol?
Coming to Gear Patrol right after graduating from Boston College, I’ve learned a tremendous amount from my coworkers who’ve shown me the ropes of our industry. As a small-mid sized publisher, the trust and responsibilities that I have are unrivaled. I am able to take ownership of projects and am grateful for a team that continues to support me along the way.
But at the same time, as a young WOC, working at a men’s lifestyle publication, I bring a fresh pair of eyes and a new perspective! I’m heavily in tune with what it’s like to market to a younger audience and what it takes to captivate that audience.
Speaking of marketing trends, what have you seen that especially resonates with Gen Z?
There are a lot of methods for successful marketing and I’ve noticed the following resonates strongly with “kids my age”.
Engaging Marketing Campaigns with Real People — Gen-Zers want to see real, relatable people in marketing campaigns. An authentic story-telling approach is so important, which is something our branded content team, GPS, does so well. Paint a story with broad strokes, explore how products impact and inform our lifestyles and focus on how they can improve them.
Content That Captivates... And Quickly! — Another important marketing trend is content that immediately gets your attention. So many people are starting to talk about TikTok, but there’s still a lot of opportunities on different platforms — especially Instagram Stories and Facebook that call for engaging and beautiful storytelling.
Authentic Social Justice — Be a business we can look up to! Businesses and brands can seem like lofty structures that are so far removed from the people it is serving. Social justice is incredibly important to my generation and we carry this through all that we do. We want to positively change the world through our work, so we want to shop brands that can do the same. Using your platform to take a stance shows care and connection to your consumer base. I’m proud of the work we do at Gear Patrol and our stance with Going Beyond Products and our editorial shift to highlight more marginalized groups — it’s small steps we can do as a company to help push us forward.
Mobile-First Marketing — As the most hyper-connected generation, digital, online, and mobile-first marketing will be vital to your strategy! We purchase through apps, on social media and mainly on our phones. The majority of my purchases that I’ve made within the past week have been made through my mobile device. So, if you really want to attract attention from us Gen Z-ers you'll want to create mobile videos, mobile-first eCommerce sites, or other phone-based experiences that cater to them. Grow your social media presence and make sure it is prominent!
As our Gen Z expert, we like to end our weekly RevOps meetings with a fun word of the week. What's your favorite meme?
This is my favorite segment of our weekly Revenue Operations meetings. I introduce a new slang term that my generation use. STONKS is my favorite meme — but honestly, no one gets it. My generation loves taking phrases and adding some new energy to it!
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