“Fail better,” Jenna Berg from G6 Hospitality

Meet Jenna Berg, VP of Brand Marketing for Motel 6 and Studio 6. Jenna joined us in our podcast booth at Advertising Week New York last month. Jenna is a big believer in the power of audio. She recently partnered with us for a Motel 6 campaign, expanding the brand’s reach even further into the digital audio world. And the results were tremendous—2000% ROAS (see for yourself).

In this Pass the Mic interview, Jenna shares the key leadership skills she’s gained throughout her career, including how she views failure as a way to understand and develop yourself in ways you may never have imagined. If you haven't listened yet, what are you waiting for? Check out the audio below. 

Test, learn, and evolve.

“You know, fail better is really the thing that I always try to live by. You're not going to get everything perfect, and especially when it comes to marketing. The world of advertising is changing so quickly that there's always new tactics out there. And we always try to carve off a portion of the budget for ‘throw it against the wall and see what sticks.’ Because what you don't know or learn, you're not gonna learn until you try things. And we always have a test and learn and evolving mindset when it comes to advertising. And making sure that we're testing audiences, we're testing creative, we're testing medium to make sure that we have the most efficient mix for us and that we are truly driving the best results for the campaigns that we choose to run.” – Jenna Berg

Say yes to opportunities.

“All throughout my career, I've had a lot of opportunities where somebody has come to me and said, ‘You want to try this?’ And I've said, yes. I have not always known how it's going to work out for me, but in most cases, even if it doesn't, I still learn something. And I still develop a skill set that I didn't have before that has allowed me to kind of grow and develop and move through different companies or through different roles. So, my advice, like I said, is to say yes to opportunities when they come up. And even if you don't know where they're going to end, because who knows, they could end up as a VP of marketing. Who knows?” – Jenna Berg

Find your blind spots.

“My motto for this year right now has really been self-awareness is the first step to self-improvement. So, if you're not aware of the areas that are opportunity areas for growth for you, you can't figure out how to either stretch your personality to assess those different situations and work with those different people. But when it comes to leadership roles, you have to work with a lot of different people and not every personality type is always going to mesh super well. 

So, if you don't understand where your blind spots are, it's hard to stretch yourself to be a good leader to someone who may have a different personality set than you. So what has been given to me is, having really strong mentors who I trust, who can give me constructive criticism or feedback. I may cry when you tell me, don't get me wrong. No one likes to get feedback right? But it's super important to understand where those blind spots are as you grow and develop as a leader so that you can be the best leader to the people underneath of you.” – Jenna Berg

Be resilient.

“Yes, I got laid off, which was really hard. You know, it wasn't anything necessarily that I personally did. It was a company decision, but it really hurts. Like when you lose your job because you're like, ‘What did I do wrong?’ or ‘What can I do better?’ But I think what I learned coming out of that is that I can bounce back and the resiliency of moving on in your career. And it wasn't the right role for me, and I was able to parlay it into something that I'm much more suited for now. So, my advice would be not to get too downtrodden if things aren't always going [well]. Being able to grow, and develop, and find a role that's now better suited to me, I've been able to grow and develop myself and advance my career forward faster by not staying in that role, whether or not I made the choice.” – Jenna Berg

From failing better to being resilient, there’s so much to learn from Jenna. And if you’re ready for more actionable advice, check out more Pass the Mic content.