Since 2005, Gerrid Smith has been providing expert SEO and growth strategy services to hundreds of businesses throughout the US. In 2018, he co-founded Joy Organics with his parents and utilized SEO to kickstart the business. Gerrid says the most common mistake he often observes among CMOs and marketing professionals is that they place too much trust in agencies and fail to ask them tough questions. They aren’t challenging them, so they’re not extracting the best results from these agencies.
If there is one thing Gerrid Smith knows about being a CMO, it’s this:
“It’s my responsibility to understand our consumers, their needs, desires, and our industry. I must also be aware of the market’s direction and how we want to position ourselves.”
Gerrid Smith is the Chief Marketing Officer at Joy Organics. With more than 18 years of experience, he has established himself as an SEO Entrepreneur and Growth Strategist. In 2018, Gerrid, along with his parents, began the journey of Joy Organics and utilized SEO strategies to launch the company.
Joy Organics is renowned for its unique selection of organic CBD products. It offers the highest number of organic CBD SKUs in the market. The company primarily focuses on women aged 30-45, particularly mothers dealing with stress. Additionally, they assist women aged 60 and above in supporting joint and sleep concerns. The most common concerns addressed by Joy Organics products are stress, sleep, joint, and muscle difficulties.
Gerrid Smith shared his personal journey, evolving from an introverted marketing professional to a more empathetic and collaborative leader. He discussed the responsibilities of a CMO, current trends in the marketing industry, and the pivotal role that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will play in shaping marketing strategies for 2024.
Journey into Marketing
Gerrid always had an interest in and curiosity about marketing. He fell into the field when he was offered the opportunity to help a web design franchise take off and provide high-quality SEO services to its clients. His father and uncle, who he currently works with at Joy Organics, started a web design franchise in 2005. They asked him to join them and learn about search engine optimization, which was entirely unfamiliar to all three of them at the time. They needed someone to specialize in this and provide the service to their customers. After researching SEO, he found it fascinating and agreed to take on the challenge.
Even though that initial business didn’t work out, it set him on the path to becoming an SEO expert and offering services to hundreds of businesses since 2005. He later started an agency that served the legal community. By the time he sold the agency in 2020, he had over 80 clients.
From Agency Owner to CMO
One of the reasons Gerrid believes he has been successful in transitioning from an agency owner to a CMO is because he noticed a common mistake among CMOs and marketing professionals—they trust agencies too much and don’t ask them hard questions. Many professionals hire the best agency in a category and assume they can leave them to do their job without much oversight.
During his time running an agency, he realized that the most successful clients were the ones who constantly questioned, pushed, and challenged him. Although it could be annoying at times, it forced him to think strategically about where they were, where they wanted to be, and how to get there most effectively. He believes CMOs must actively challenge their agencies to achieve the best results.
Balancing Strategic and Tactical Work as a CMO
As a CMO, Gerrid primarily focuses on guiding the company’s strategic direction. Marketing influences many decisions within an organization, so he sees it as his job to understand customers’ needs, desires, and the industry landscape. He constantly thinks about where the company is, where it wants to be, and the best ways to get there.
On a day-to-day level, he collaborates with core agencies to enhance company growth. He believes that to effectively manage an agency or any channel, one must have a deep understanding of how it works. This knowledge allows him to ask the right questions and get the answers that will drive the company forward.
Applying Marketing Strategies Across Industries
Gerrid believes that one of the biggest mistakes marketing professionals make is focusing only on competitors within their industry. Instead, they should explore and learn from marketing practices in other sectors.
Before working in the DTC health supplement industry, he worked in the legal industry, bringing fresh perspectives. The ‘secret sauce’ in his approach came from implementing strategies for law firms that the DTC industry wasn’t using. These little nuances gave him a competitive advantage. He continuously seeks inspiration from other industries to innovate and grow.
Maximizing ROI and Avoiding Common Pitfalls
For Gerrid, everything comes down to ROI. Since Joy Organics is a small company, they can’t afford to run branding campaigns without measuring every dollar. He follows the concept of attention arbitrage—finding cost-effective ways to reach the audience and reassessing their marketing spend regularly.
One of the most common mistakes he sees is companies becoming too comfortable and failing to innovate. Many marketing professionals get stuck in a routine, assuming that what works now will continue to work indefinitely. Instead, he believes companies should always look for hidden opportunities that can stretch their budgets further.
Leveraging Social Media and Future KPIs
Gerrid is currently focused on leveraging platforms such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts. These platforms have the potential to reach a fresh audience every day without triggering algorithmic flags, making them highly valuable for expanding the brand.
Social media is evolving beyond just reaching an existing audience. Today, platforms allow companies to go viral and gain exposure in ways that were never possible before. Looking ahead to 2024, he anticipates shifting focus to brand-related metrics, such as brand awareness and views, to elevate Joy Organics to the next level.
Inspiring and Developing a Strong Team
Gerrid believes that a great team is driven by inspiration. He actively introduces new ideas and encourages his team to explore new tools and methods to enhance their work. His perspective has evolved over the years, and he now focuses on identifying team members who can excel in specific areas and ensuring they have the right resources to grow.
As a leader, one of the biggest challenges he faced was being an extreme introvert. Early in his career, he struggled with team collaboration and often hired and fired employees too quickly. However, over time, he realized the importance of working closely with his team, developing them, and pushing them forward. He now makes a conscious effort to spend time mentoring and guiding his team members to achieve their full potential.
Advice for Young Professionals
Gerrid’s most important advice to young professionals is to specialize in one area. He believes that while people can be good at many things, they can only be truly great at one. Excellence requires deep focus and commitment.
Looking back at his own journey, he excelled by specializing in SEO. For years, that was his primary focus, and it helped him build a strong career. He encourages young professionals to eliminate distractions and dedicate themselves to mastering a specific skill.
Quotes from Gerrid Smith
“Breaking out of that shell was a lot of fun, but there was a learning curve as well.”
“You must concentrate on one area. To be great, you need to specialize in one field. You can be good at many things, but you can’t be great at many things. You can only be great at one thing.”