How did a Birmingham, Alabama, native go from studying psychology in New Orleans to working as a content writer in New York, to Director of Product Marketing for MarginEdge? And when did she vlog herself skydiving out of a plane? It’s a story sweeter than homemade beignets.
Maggie Aland grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. “I don’t have a Southern accent for some reason,” she mentioned. She went to college in New Orleans and fell in love with staples like gumbo, red beans and rice and fried chicken. After college, she got a marketing internship in DC. “In that job, I learned the basics of marketing,” she said. “It was like a crash course in marketing: email, direct mail, digital, just doing everything and learning the ropes. Then I was like, ‘I want to move to New York.’” She got a job as a content writer in New York for small business owners, where she learned a lot.
“I definitely learned in that role how to take a complex topic and distill it into simple terms, as well as how to run a successful marketing campaign. It was a learning experience because it was a startup and was growing super fast. I was able to be promoted a few times and got to manage a team for the first time.” From there, she landed a role in tech as a content marketer, which was where she was first introduced to product marketing.
At that company, she made a lateral move into product marketing and was quickly promoted to director and got to manage a team. “You're aiming to understand your audience and what their pain points are, and then tie that into the value that your product provides in a way that's going to be compelling and make them want to use your product.” Then one day, a few years into working in tech, she saw a job posting for MarginEdge.
“I think what excited me about the role was that I would be marketing to restaurants. When I interviewed, everyone was so nice and welcoming. So that’s what drew me in. Plus, restaurants are fun. The MarginEdge brand has a playfulness to it, so we can have fun and be creative with marketing. It was also my first time working at a company where so many people had experience working in restaurants, the exact audience I was marketing to. So I had people internally that I could bounce ideas off of or interview or be like, ‘Hey, does this phrase resonate? Or what were the pain points that you felt when you were in this role?’”
Now two years into her role, Maggie says her favorite thing about being Director of Product Marketing is when she gets “to interview or talk to customers and hear how much our product is helping them. That's just music to my ears when they tell me a story like, ‘Wow, I started using MarginEdge, and I didn't realize how much money I was spending and losing, and I actually saved $30,000 because I started using MarginEdge.’ Or recently, we've released new AI functionality. And people are saying things like, ‘Wow, your AI assistant is the best one of any software that I've used.’” The new AI functionality is something Maggie is super excited about; it’s going to do a whole lot more for restaurants and automate a lot of the busy work.
One fun fact about Maggie is that she once went skydiving in South Africa (and the video is still up on YouTube!). In her free time, Maggie enjoys reading books, watching television and spending time with her baby (!). We’re super happy to have her here at [me], and excited to see what projects she “dives” into next.