Khanh’s curiosity and dedication to ensuring success for the companies she has worked for are what makes her such an in-demand marketing and market research specialist. Her experiences living on three continents and traveling to 25+ countries—which resulted in her being profiled on Myanmar National TV—along with her 14 years of classical music training, enable Khanh to expertly engage all type of consumers through a wide range of media. A sophisticated professional, she brings a unique value to all her work. 

Sitting over a cup of coffee, Khanh graciously shared with us some of her thoughts about the state of marketing, her professional experiences, as well as her plans for continuing to make an impact.  

Khanh, can you tell us more about your expertise? 

 I have a degree in Romance Studies and I speak French, Spanish, and Vietnamese. At my current company Shoptalk, I use my language and creative skills to conduct analyses and original research for top brands and companies such as Amazon, McDonald’s, Walmart, etc. to provide them with insights on consumer trends and emerging retail tech innovations. 

I also research, evaluate, and recruit hundreds of global industry leaders to speak at three of the world’s best-known retail conferences: Shoptalk, Groceryshop, and Shoptalk Europe.

So my expertise is in understanding brands and their messaging and advising said brands on how they can effectively market to consumers. 

That’s so interesting! Have you always done this? 

Well, I’ve been very fortunate to have worked in all facets of marketing, including strategy, social media engagement, and growth. 

 I used to work for Scaleflex, a company partnered with Google and Amazon, located in Paris, France. As a Growth Marketing Specialist for a top European tech company, I was responsible for redesigning and revamping copy for the product landing pages to incorporate more prominent call-to-action verbiage and product feature walkthrough. My work resulted in a 138% increase in free trial conversion rate. I also proposed and implemented two customer-segmented email campaigns that led to a 27% increase in open rates over benchmark.

 I also was an Engagement Marketing Specialist in Budapest, Hungary for Hostel One, an award-winning hostel in Europe. In this position, I formulated and implemented engagement marketing strategies (through user-generated content, group activities, competitions, and engagement rewards) to drive customer engagement and revenue, delivering offline participation rate upwards of 75%. I established best practices for customer relationship management, reducing response time to 24 hours. I also created benchmarks and reengineered processes for social media campaigns through new tech tools, reducing lead times by 60%.

 Amazing! What advice would you offer a company that is seeking to increase their engagement? 

There are countless marketing analytics and AI tools that can analyze and predict customer behavior with incredible granularity. But marketing is, at its core, both a science and an art. The more you can view your customers as human beings, the more you can empathize with their hopes, anticipate their needs, and engage on a human level, the more authentic and effective your marketing will be. 

 What do you hope to do in the future? 

I hope to continue working within the startup ecosystem. That’s where I can challenge myself and stretch my creativity to the fullest.