October 2024 Bonfire Marketer of the Month: Hachette Book Group’s Michelle Forde

Each month, Braze selects one individual as our Marketer of the Month in order to celebrate the exceptional work being done by members of our Braze Bonfire community. Whether it's providing support for their fellow marketers or going above and beyond by sharing their innovative ideas and strategies, these individuals are making essential contributions to their companies, their users, and the customer engagement space as a whole.

This month, we’re recognizing Michelle Forde, Senior Marketing Manager at Hachette Book Group. Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world.

Please tell us about your role and how you got there.

I’ve worked in the publishing industry for over ten years and at Hachette Book Group for over two years. I was freelancing during the start of the pandemic, and as restrictions loosened, I wanted to get back into a more structured role that had a team. That was an element I missed. I applied for a few roles, and the one at Hachette specifically focused on email marketing caught my eye—it was like a spotlight shone directly on it. I did email marketing as part of my previous job and always liked it best, and I wanted this role where that was the primary focus. Thankfully, it turned out I was the perfect fit.

What is your favorite part of your job?

Ask this question of anyone who has always wanted to work in publishing, and they’ll tell you the same thing: The free books! And that’s true, but I also love working specifically in a central marketing team because I get to talk to people across all our divisions and learn about all our books, not just one genre. Typically, in publishing, marketers work in one or two genres, e.g., romance or literary fiction, and don’t have much insight into what’s happening in the history or cookbook titles. While I don’t work directly with authors on individual book marketing plans, I get to know what’s happening book-wise across the company. And when you’re really nosy about books like I am, that’s the best part of the job.

How do you see Braze as a career accelerant?

I spearheaded our company’s transition from our previous ESP to Braze for all our consumer marketing. I continue to be our point person for Braze internally, training and onboarding new team members. I use Braze daily as a marketing manager to create and send campaigns featuring titles across divisions. I received a promotion that I consider strongly due to my successes with Braze alongside my other work in my role.

Have you taken any of the Braze certification exams?

I am currently certified as a Braze Digital Strategist. I was selected to participate in a new boot camp for this certification, and I found it immeasurably helpful in preparing for the exam.

What initiative or campaign are you most excited to work on this year?

We’re incredibly excited to plan our Cyber Week and holiday campaigns this year, with both Canvases under our belts and the SDK implemented on our website. We’re extremely excited to see what we can do with targeted ads and retargeting to increase sales during our busiest season.

Interested in collaborating to build the future of customer engagement? Join a collective of experts to forge connections, share ideas, and accelerate your career at the Braze Bonfire Community.