As Branch’s Senior Product Marketing Manager, Amanda Vandiver keeps a finger on the pulse of the mobile tech industry. She directs product positioning, structures competitive differentiation, and ensures customer needs are met across Branch’s many product offerings. She uses her passion for helping others and her knack for storytelling (honed by years of theater and improv classes) to make her work as a product marketer impactful.
Since starting at Branch in 2017, Amanda has been promoted three times and worked across sales, marketing, and product. She even took an opportunity with another company in the mobile space before returning to Branch. She attributes her success to a perspective that prioritizes learning at work as the main form of goal setting and bringing enthusiasm and excitement to all projects big and small.
What has your career path looked like at Branch?
Jan 2017: Sales Development Representative – Branch
Joining Branch for the first time was so exciting. I felt really connected to what Branch was doing: helping apps find their audience and grow their business. Branch is essential to connecting a product to the audience who is interested in it, and I was captured by that.
Being a Sales Development Representative (SDR) at Branch was one of my favorite work experiences. I was the original SDR when Branch started to sell an enterprise solution, and I got to build the playbook. I defined what being an SDR at Branch looks like and doubled down on personalized, creative outreach to get in the door with huge names in mobile. This led to a promotion to Account Executive (AE) in only six months.
July 2017: Account Executive – Branch
What I loved most about being an AE was getting a front-row seat to the challenges mobile teams were looking to overcome and helping them realize a solution to mobile fragmentation. I have fond memories of visiting teams at TouchTunes and Under Armour. I also enjoyed helping further cultivate relationships with mobile experts by moderating panels at enterprise marketing events across North America.
I’ve always been a people person, a presenter. It comes naturally to me. As an AE at Branch, I honed the ability to match others’ energy, understand what type of communication a situation calls for, and adjust my messaging to best fit the environment and stakeholders. That skill has enabled me to do what I love — present, communicate, tell a story — in an easily digestible way.
Jan 2019: Product Marketing Specialist → Manager – Branch
My transition to product marketing came about when I noticed some enablement pieces were missing and started making them myself. I built resources for the wider sales team, crafted by everything I was picking up from industry events, sales calls, and my passion for storytelling. After doing this, I realized I needed to explore marketing even more. It turns out that having a sales background while working in product marketing is a huge asset. My eagerness to take on the unknown, be resourceful, and hone my craft as a new marketer led to a promotion from Specialist to Manager.
Sep 2020: Product Marketing Lead – Radar
After almost two years in product marketing at Branch, I took an opportunity to lead product marketing for a smaller company in the mobile space. I was excited to learn a new product suite, see the industry from a new point of view, and develop my career even further.
Sep 2021: Product Marketing Manager → Senior Product Marketing Manager – Branch
I was re-recruited by Branch, enticed by what I felt I could still learn here. I dove into what had quickly become a booming product marketing team, and I got to bring tangential industry expertise and a wider perspective from my time with another company back to the Branch team. Being promoted to Senior Product Marketing Manager, just 5 months after returning to Branch, validated my continued growth and impact on the organization.
What do you love about your job?
Beyond the fact that I’m continuously learning here and working with stellar people, my favorite part of the job is translating something complex into a digestible format. I want things to be relatable, so I love taking something technical or confusing and making it exciting for others.
How have you grown at Branch?
I’ve had a front-row seat to so many facets of our business and customers across many stages of growth and have learned from every second of it. Branch offers support in identifying the best experiences to gain industry expertise and then ensures you have access to them. I have had every opportunity to grow as a product marketer, whether it’s company-sponsored training or attending major industry conferences, talks, and events.
In working cross-functionally and fielding requests across the organization, Branch has helped me learn that the key to effective prioritization is building trust in relationships. Through communication, delivering on commitments, and making people feel heard and understood, I can make tough calls about whether or not something is worth prioritizing.
Branch has also contributed to my ability to adapt and thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, which has been incredibly helpful over the last few years.
What motivates you?
I feel most excited when I am helping someone. in some way, and it’s important to me that I deliver well on my commitments . My roles at Branch have all had a common thread of solving problems and helping others do their jobs more effectively.
It’s also really exciting to see something click for someone — be it a prospect or a new member of the team. This space can seem really confusing, and being able to help someone reach their “aha” moment is extremely fulfilling.
How does Branch cultivate a sense of belonging for you?
From the top down, there’s a culture of always being able to reach out to anyone you want to talk to at the organization. No one is too busy to give you two minutes or even an hour of their time to help you learn or gain a new perspective. People believe in making time to help one another at Branch.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career?
When you set your goals, remember to also set goals for what you plan to learn. When you start to define your success based on how you’re learning and growing, you’ll accomplish a lot more than a checklist.