Nathan Murdock - JDM Impressions

Working remotely, like we do at JDM, doesn’t mean being disconnected from colleagues. As part of our culture-building initiative, and to introduce the digital marketing world to our awesome team members, we regularly peel back the curtain on the lives of JDMers. This week, we’ll get to know Performance Marketing Manager Nathan Murdock!

Name: Nathan Murdock
Position: Performance Marketing Manager
Location: Salt Lake City, UT

When did you begin working at JDM?
November of 2021.

How did you know JDM was the right fit for you?
The processes for business operations, client reporting, and employee expectations were clearly explained, organized, and well thought-out. This differs compared to some of the previous organizations I’ve been a part of. In addition, the ability to work anywhere with internet access has helped me be flexible when I’ve needed to travel and still be able to get client work done without any roadblocks.

What’s your favorite part of the workday?
I’d say it’s when I’m in “the zone” and focused on optimizing client campaigns. I can analyze our own dashboards or work in the various advertising platform interfaces to optimize budgets, ads, demographics, etc. Days later, when reporting to my clients on the optimizations we made, pointing out the positive results from said optimizations is very rewarding.

What’s the most gratifying part of working with your clients? 
Seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces – clients, my teammates, and my own – when our media plans and strategies we spend a lot of time crafting are built out and achieve success for the client for months on end. Since we serve mainly B2B clients, that usually equates to helping them acquire qualified leads at efficient rates of spend.

In a remote company, how do you stay connected with your team?
I stay in regular communication with teammates via Slack, email, our online project management tools, and meetings. There are teams of people assigned to each client, so having those communication lines is important. It’s also important to spend some time during meetings to catch up with each other and foster good relationships with them.

What three words would you use to describe the JDM culture?
Collaborative, Organized, Bold.

What's something you love about JDM?
“Remote-first, remote always” was a company pillar even before the large shift to remote work occurred a few years ago. As such, JDM has the experience and refined processes for running a remote company more so than other organizations which are still trying to figure it out or have since given up and gone back into the office.

Can you recall a time when JDM challenged you, and how we supported you through that time?
There have been several instances where I was finishing high-priority tasks for a client and have had to delegate lower-priority, but still important, additional tasks to other teammates. All of my teammates have been supportive when those times arise, and we have a great record of collaborating together to complete tasks on time which helps our clients grow their businesses.

What’s the best thing you’ve done with your unlimited PTO?
There’s been several, but the best so far is being able to visit Brazil, where my wife is originally from. I was there for about a month and a half, and I was able to take PTO for a few weeks to explore and meet her family and several friends. For the rest of the time there, I worked normal hours (as we are a remote-first agency!) without any issues, and we got to explore additional places during the evenings and weekends.

What's something you love about the marketing industry?
As marketers, we’re able to use a vast amount of tools to help connect people to various goods and services that can help make their lives easier in some way. There’s a lot of noise from other advertisers and competitors, but at the same time it’s exciting to strategize on how we can brainstorm enticing value propositions and communicate our messaging through that noise to reach the people who will benefit from it.

What do you think has been the most interesting change in the marketing industry or in your channel this year?
The new tools from AI that can make our jobs easier and more efficiently improve performance for our clients.

What digital marketing platform, technology, or skill do you see gaining the most traction in the next 1-2 years, and why?
Being able to focus, i.e. the ability to focus on the high-priority tasks and utilize the tools which will help us more easily bring the best return on investment for our clients and our time.

What are the names and ages of your kids?
Hans - almost 2 years old.

What's something you've implemented or tested, and what was the outcome?
Document Ads on LinkedIn have worked well for one of my clients both in terms of lead volume and efficiency. Advertising platforms are regularly creating or refining tools for advertisers to reach users in various, enticing ways.

What’s a project that you’ve worked on that you’ve really enjoyed?
Restructuring a client’s account after onboarding them from a previous agency. We are confident in the way we structure and optimize campaigns of all tactics, and being able to complete the restructure and see the client’s revenue improve was quite enjoyable.