IAM2775 – CMO Helps Businesses Grow and Connect With Their Consumers

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Transcription:

Paul Ronto 00:00
I think being compassionate is my nugget to take away. I think as a leader in a company, when you're building teams, I think you need to really remember that new hires or employees may not be as excited about a product as the founder or the CEO is, or as leadership is. You know, remembering that people have lives and that work is not always their top priority. I think that's important to remember. You know, treating your team well. If you treat your team well, I think they'll follow you. And if you have unrealistic expectations, I think that they'll bounce. I mean, You know, we live in a time right now that the job market's fairly strong, and if you're not treating your employees well, they have a lot of options. And so I think being compassionate about the energy your employees put into their work and into your company is a key to success in keeping them and moving your company forward.

Gresham Harkless 01:10
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today, Paul Ronto of Run Repeat. Paul, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Paul Ronto 01:18
Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:20
No problem. Super excited to have you on the show. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Paul so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Paul is the CMO of RunRepeat, the world's largest athletic footwear review site. He's worked in digital marketing for over a decade and has held a variety of positions from copywriter, SEO, social media and communications coordinator, marketing and growth director, and account executive in a large agency setting. His industry experience includes work with hyper-growth stage SaaS startups, nonprofits, $20 billion multinational companies, and dozens of small to medium-sized businesses across the nation.. He's passionate about helping businesses connect with their consumers and grow to the next level. Paul, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community? Sure am. Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about your story and what led you to kind of get started in your current position.

Paul Ronto 02:05
Sure. Yeah. So, uh, like you said, I'm the CMO here at Run Repeat. I'm not the CEO, so I'm not the founder of Run Repeat, but I, I joined a while back and, and what we do at Run Repeat is, um, we really try to connect consumers to the right shoes. The shoe buying process can be super time consuming. The average shoe buyer here, or the average person in America, buys about 7 pairs of shoes a year. And so we know that it can be daunting. You know, 20 years ago, if you would have told someone that they might be buying shoes online in the future, everyone would have thought you were crazy. And so it's really a hard thing to do because shoes fit people very individualistically. And so our founder, you know, he was running a retail shoe store. He was seeing that there was really 3 to 4 shoes that were consistently being sold over and over, and that there were tons of shoes that users actually liked better than these 3 or 4 shoes that were constantly being sold. And what he found was really was the big players that had the marketing budget and the branding budget to be able to push their product over better footwear. And so he decided to come up with a way that could help consumers find better shoes based on consumer and expert reviews rather than marketing budgets. And so that's kind of where Run Repeat came from. You know, a big thing that we do is we really try to take the pain out of buying shoes. I mean, if you look and read all the reviews online for a specific pair of shoes, you could spend hours, if not days, reading through thousands of customer reviews. We do that for our users. We'll read through over 1,000 reviews per model, you know, take 10 to 15 hours reading reviews, and then we'll go through and summarize pros and cons of each pair to kind of save people that time. We also partner with about 250 different retailers across the US. To guarantee that people get the absolute best price on the pair of shoes they're looking for as well without having to spend the time scouring the web. So that's kind of where Run Repeat came from. That's what we do. And honestly, it's a fun project to be part of.

Gresham Harkless 03:48
Yeah, absolutely. I think so much, especially in this day and age, you know, reviews are such a big part of it. And I think that, you know, one of the things that has happened, and I'm sure you guys have definitely seen this as well, is that it seems like the consumer has a lot more of the power now, whereas you don't just have those, you know, big companies, big boys, so to speak, with those large budgets that are able to kind of, like you said, push down, this is the product, this is the only product you guys know about because of all this digital marketing and kind of ways that people are taking in content. There seems to be a lot more consumer-based kind of decisions.

Paul Ronto 04:21
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think the whole world of reviews is just an amazing place. The consumer can get so much more information out of other consumers using the product rather than trying to take the word of brand, obviously there's bias in advertising. If you're gonna spend $1 million on an ad buy, you're obviously gonna wanna sell that shoe. And so I think that, you know, getting real feedback from people using the product, whether it's shoes or anything else, I think is really the future of how people are gonna be purchasing things online.

Gresham Harkless 04:49
[Speaker] Yeah, definitely. So you guys are definitely, you know, ahead of the curve, obviously for arming people with the ability to be able to get that information. So you might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for you personally or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you guys unique?

Paul Ronto 05:07
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, what makes RunRepeat unique is we really go a few steps further than just publishing user reviews. You know, like I mentioned, we aggregate reviews, we read actual user reviews, we summarize them, we score products. We have something called the core score where we score our products from 0 to 100. So that users can quickly see which shoes kind of get a higher testing score, higher user rating. We, we rely on expert testing as well as user reviews to kind of get an unbiased opinion. And we publish all those reviews on the product page with pictures, videos, unboxing videos. You know, like I said, the average consumer buys 7 pairs of shoes a year. So shoes are something that are pretty ubiquitous. Everyone has to have shoes. Everyone buys multiple pairs. And it's really aggravating when you buy a pair of shoes online and get to you and they don't fit. And so, you know, the big differentiator for us is that, that we try to take all that work out of the buying process. And then another thing that I think that makes us unique is that we're not really beholden to anyone. We don't run ads on our site. We don't take paid advertisements from retailers or brands. We partner with brands so that users have the best prices, but we don't have to promote one brand over another because partnered with them in some sort of fiduciary way. So it really sets us apart, I think.

Gresham Harkless 06:20
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think that you get kind of like that unbiased, as you said, you know, recommendation based off of the research that you've done. Let me ask you this. Do you find that because you guys are so kind of dialed into, it sounds like dialed into, kind of like the, I guess the end user, the end receiver of the product, that it allows you guys to come up with all these additional things in addition to like just being a review site?

Paul Ronto 06:42
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, again, our goal is to make the buying process simple. And so it's not just about the reviews. We really want to interact with our consumer. We want to make sure that they have the data they need. We want to make sure that we can provide customer service if they're not getting it. You know, again, shoe buying is just so unique and doing it online is a lot different than buying a shirt or jacket or some other piece of clothing or gear. And so there needs to be some sort of personalized aspect.. And if you can't get that from going into a store, if you're buying online, you know, you've got to be able to get it from very detailed reviews on how a product's going to work for your specific needs and body.

Gresham Harkless 07:20
Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, you know, I had no idea the number was that high as far as number 7, the average number that people were buying shoes. That's almost definitely obviously more than every other month. So it's something that you do want to do. You want to do it in an efficient way. You want to make sure that you get what you need and exactly how you need, so to speak.

Paul Ronto 07:36
Yeah, for sure. I mean, that 7 number, you know, obviously includes other kind of footwear than just athletic footwear. And right now we just focus on athletic footwear. But people have a lot of shoes. I mean, you got a pair of running shoes, you got a pair of sandals, maybe you have a pair of trail running shoes, you got some boots. And so it really is a big consumer market and, and it's something that is hard to shop for.

Gresham Harkless 07:53
And so that's where RubberBeat steps in. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I started to run a lot more over the past couple of years and I ran, you know, a lot of 10 miles. I did a lot of training for that. And one of the things that I realized is that I didn't have my shoes break down so much more, and you do need them for a very more regular basis than I did before, just because if you are training or you are running, you're putting a lot more wear and tear. So it's great to be able to know about all these different options that are available.

Paul Ronto 08:19
Yeah, really, running is basically the biggest participant sport in the world. In the US alone, I think the recent numbers were about 60 million people consider themselves active runners. And so I mean, more people are participating in running than almost any other sport. And, and so it's, it's something that most people have a pair of running shoes in the closet, maybe a couple pairs. And they do, they wear out. You go through them. If you're an avid runner, you go through them multiple times in a year. And so it's something you have to continually rebuy. And, you know, new models are coming out every week. And so you got to kind of have the right information to get the right kind of shoes.

Gresham Harkless 08:52
Exactly. Exactly. That makes perfect sense. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Paul Ronto 09:03
Yeah, for sure. You know, as CMO, I'm really focused on communication. One of the best books that I kind of like to read at least once a year is called On Writing Well. And it's a book, it was really, it's a book more for journalists than it is for marketers, but I think it's a great, it's a great tool to use to remember to communicate clearly, communicate concisely, and cut out all the fluff that too many people try to add in. You know, you mentioned, you know, a CEO hack and, and I, I don't really love the word hack. I think that there really aren't hacks to running a business. I think running a company is, is about hard work and sometimes there's some luck and hacks can kind of, you know, nowadays the way people look at hacks is they can kind of see them, I see them as a distraction. They can be somewhat shortsighted or, or maybe short-term. I think habits, you know, and time management are, are better than hacks. And so I guess if I had to say the best hack would be kind of, you know, on top of communicating well, is to really know your weaknesses as a person, as a CEO, as a marketer. And I think too many people spend time trying to get better at what they're bad at, and instead they should just focus on what they're good at, especially in the leadership roles, you know, in CEO position or CMO position. I think you find things that you're good at, you focus on them, and the things that you're bad at, you hire out, you know, you outsource. I think they just take too much time or too much of a distraction, and you'll never really get good enough at at the things you're bad at. That old adage of practice until you're good, I think in business maybe doesn't carry as much weight in my opinion. I really think, you know, focusing on your strengths and finding someone who's good at your weaknesses is a better way to be able to scale and grow a company quickly.

Gresham Harkless 10:34
Yeah, I definitely think those are, you know, two great hacks because, or habits I should say, because I do think that there's kind of this perception, especially in business, and I don't know if it's because of social media, but I'm sure that probably plays a part, but there is this idea of like a kind of overnight success, but really kind of the secret or the hack is, is definitely that it does take a lot of time, does take a lot of hard work. It does take, you know, doing the discipline of learning your craft and learning exactly what it is. So kind of the cheat code is that there is no cheat code other than hard work. Um, so I appreciate you, you know, sharing that with us and definitely, of course, reminding us of that because, um, you know, we always are trying to sometimes find the shortcut, but there isn't one. It's a lot of times just the hard work that we have to put in. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. So if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Paul Ronto 11:19
I think being compassionate is my nugget to take away. I think as a leader in a company, when you're building teams, I think you need to really remember that new hires or employees may not be as excited about a product as the founder or the CEO is, or as leadership is. You know, remembering that people have lives and that work is not always their top priority. I think that's important to remember. You know, treating your team well. If you treat your team well, I think they'll follow you. And if you have unrealistic expectations, I think that they'll bounce. I mean, you know, we live in a time right now that the job market's fairly strong, and if you're not treating your employees well, they have a lot of options. And so I think being compassionate about, you know, the energy your employees put into their work and into your company is a key to success in keeping them and moving your company forward.

Gresham Harkless 12:06
Absolutely. Absolutely. So now, Paul, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question. And I know we talked about this a little bit offline, which is the definition of being a CEO and you being a CMO. I definitely would love to, you know, get your perspective as well too. So Paul, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Paul Ronto 12:19
Yeah, again, you know, I haven't been a CEO yet and I'm happy kind of where I'm at as CMO. I like marketing, but I thought about it a lot. I've worked at a lot of different companies and I've worked with a lot of different CEOs. And I think, you know, being a CEO is all about leading a company and its people, its customers, its partners, leading them all down the right path. You know, I think it's about having big picture vision, but also being compassionate about, you know, the small things, you know. Making sure that you understand that there's interns and there's entry-level employees and they're key to your success as well. You know, and I really view leadership and the CEO position as a support role. I think the CEO's biggest job is to support the team, to help figure out what they need to accomplish to help accomplish the CEO's goal. But, you know, my background when I was younger comes from the outdoor leadership background. You know, I worked at Knolls and I played competitive sports as a kid. I was a team captain. And I've always kind of believed in this servant leadership model. And I think CEOs should as well. I think they should be there to help build people up and not direct every movement. And so that's kind of what I see as a good CEO is someone that's the biggest cheerleader, someone that's a support, someone that is big picture and kind of gets out of the way of the team to do their best.

Gresham Harkless 13:27
Yeah, absolutely. And I definitely appreciate that perspective because I know, you know, you have worked with so many different organizations and it has so many different kind of hats that you've worn as well too, as I talked about in your bio. But I mean, I think that's huge to have that, you know, servant mindset and then also still have that supportive mindset as well too. And just as you said, you know, not too long ago that, you know, businesses and organizations are made up of people. And if we forget that, we forget that compassion, forget that ability to kind of, you know, be a cheerleader and support somebody. And when somebody falls down to give them a hug, wipe them off, so to speak, we forget kind of that human aspect and what ultimately business is. So I appreciate that definition and I appreciate that perspective. Yeah, of course.

Paul Ronto 14:02
Awesome.

Gresham Harkless 14:03
Awesome. Awesome. Well, Paul, I appreciate your time even more. And what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then course, how the best they can find out about all the awesome things you're doing and of course about Run Repeat.

Paul Ronto 14:15
Yeah, I mean, I think you probably have a bunch of entrepreneur types listening to this podcast and I think that's great. I think, you know, the entrepreneurial spirit is really important, especially in this country to keep driving, you know, us forward, you know? And so I'd say for everyone listening, you know, if you have an idea you want to try, just try it, start, get going. You know, be ready to grind and work. I think the key to being a CEO or starting a company is testing new things. Don't assume you know what's going to work. Don't assume you know what your customers are going to want. And a big thing I really want to drive home to anyone that wants to start a company or lead a team is there's going to be failure. I mean, test, test, test and find what works and focus on that and then start over and test new things. Don't feel like you have to get it perfect. Before you start. You know, there's a methodology in development called Agile, and I think it really makes sense to how we run businesses as well. And the idea is, you know, getting something that's 80% ready to ship and shipping it and waiting for feedback from the customers is usually better than trying to get something 100% because you may never ship it. And so, you know, small steps, build the product as you go, build the idea as you go, and be ready to pivot and turn when customers and partners tell you like, hey, this isn't actually what is needed in the marketplace. I think that's the big thing to remember. But get out there and try. I mean, starting a business isn't really that hard. You just got to go through the steps and you got to put your passion in front and hope for the best and work really hard. And, you know, if it doesn't work, you can always pivot and change. So that's my kind of advice to people listening. Yeah, I guess that's really it.

Gresham Harkless 15:51
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And people that want to check out Run Repeat, what's the best way for them to do that?

Paul Ronto 15:55
Yeah, runrepeat.com. We were all over, you know, you can find us easily, Run Repeat. You can usually find us if you're looking up a specific pair of shoes that you're looking into. We're usually on page one of Google for, for that. We, we do a ton of really awesome research studies and we got a great blog that has a ton of content about sports and, and sports statistics and sports studies and datasets that we, we found over the years. And so check that out. Yeah. I mean, next time you got to buy a pair of shoes, check out Run Repeat and I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed at how easy it is to find the right pair of shoes for the best price.

Gresham Harkless 16:25
Nice. Well, thank you so much again, Paul. And we will have that link and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate you. Appreciate that reminder as well too, because a lot of times, as they say, it's the easiest time, uh, and I guess in history to start a business. And if you have an idea, you see a vision for something, you roll up your sleeves, but just jump out and do it because done is better than perfect, as they say. So Paul, thank you so much again. I hope you have a great rest of the day.