Suggestions
Kate DeGroot
VP of Growth at PromoTix - Helping music festivals and venues events go viral and ticket sales skyrocket 🚀
Professional Background
Kate DeGroot is an accomplished professional with a rich and dynamic career in public relations, marketing, and digital strategy, particularly within the vibrant realms of music, theater, and arena sports. Currently serving as the Vice President of Growth at PromoTix, she is instrumental in helping music festivals and venues effectively increase their profit margins and boost attendance. Under her guidance, PromoTix has consistently aided clients in achieving remarkable financial success. For example, Backwoods Music Festival generated an impressive $404,011.30 through ambassador programs over two years while also benefiting from eliminated ticketing fees that contributed an additional $42,284.15 in profits.
Kate's expertise extends beyond just the numbers; she emphasizes a culture of innovative thinking that allows clients to reimagine their ticketing strategies. Her extensive case studies document how venues like Venue 578 and Kicker Country Stampede have realized tremendous successes, including a 10% increase in VIP reservations and selling out attendance of 80,000 people, respectively. With a track record of attracting and engaging over 1,000 ambassadors for events like Snails, she showcases how unique approaches can lead to significant business growth.
With substantial experience in both large corporate environments and vibrant startups, Kate has successfully nurtured relationships with small business owners, guiding them in amplifying their web traffic and elevating their conversion rates. Her passion for digital marketing and strategizing has seen her develop successful content plans, execute pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, and harness analytical data to drive initiatives.
Education and Achievements
Kate's educational background is equally impressive, holding a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Social Media Marketing from Bradley University. Kate has further expanded her knowledge in Public Relations, Communications, and Marketing at Illinois Central College. Her continuous pursuit of knowledge has also led her to study Data Science at Butler University, arming her with vital analytics skills that enhance her marketing strategies.
Throughout her career, Kate has cordially undertaken numerous roles that demonstrate her versatility and dedication. She has served as a Digital Marketing Consultant and held leadership positions such as Marketing Director at Archon Tech Strategies and CSA360. Her earlier experiences include pivotal roles in digital marketing management and social media strategy at Bradley University, as well as valuable internships that laid the foundation for her career path.
Notable Experiences
- Vice President of Growth at PromoTix: Leading initiatives to enhance profit margins and event attendance for clients in the entertainment industry.
- Former Marketing Director at Archon Tech Strategies & CSA360: Cultivated comprehensive marketing strategies to augment brand engagement and client satisfaction.
- Digital Marketing Manager at Bradley University: Played a crucial role in elevating the institution's online presence and attracting prospective students, which culminated in record-breaking enrollment numbers.
- Facility Communication Representative at Caterpillar Inc.: Engaged stakeholders through effective communication strategies, reinforcing Caterpillar's standing in the industry as a Fortune 100 company.
- Public Relations Coordinator at SMG/Phoenix Civic Center: Worked to enhance the visibility and reputation of the venue through strategic communication efforts and promotions.
- Freelance Social Media Strategist: Provided tailored social media strategies for various clients, resulting in increased community engagement and brand visibility.
Achievements
- Successfully assisted Backwoods Music Festival in generating over $404,000 through ambassador programs.
- Helped Venue 578 save over $202,000 in ticketing fees by transitioning to a tailored mobile app solution.
- Guided Kicker Country Stampede to sell out a massive 80,000-person music festival, enriching attendee experience and maximizing profits.
- Enhanced Lucidity's ticket sales by over $31,853 in their first year, alongside inspiring a surge of organic social media promotion that brought an additional 8,386 posts.
Kate DeGroot's career exemplifies a commitment to innovation, community engagement, and a relentless pursuit of goals that push the envelope of traditional marketing methods. Her deep-rooted passion for helping clients attain measurable success shines through her work at PromoTix and beyond.
Highlights
Really think about this.
Think about how you want to be treated. What does that really look like?
We’ve all been told to treat others the way you’d want to be treated, but do you even know how you want to be treated?
Seriously, sit with yourself and write out how you want to be treated because “nice” isn’t a good answer.. what does “nice” even mean?
Just off the top of my head, I want to be respected and challenged and rewarded with praise for my hard work.
Okay, so I guess that all starts with me and I should start treating myself the way I want to be treated.
Why do I feel like I need to be working non-stop to prove myself to my team, my peers, my parents… myself?
What is that even proving?
I need to take a step back and prioritize my own well-being like I prioritize getting one more thing done before closing the computer for the night.
This week, my employee reminded me of that by urging me to take a day off.
At first, I resisted, but I realized that I needed a break. And I also was left trying to figure out what my “tell” is.
I've been pushing myself to the limit, attending lengthy meetings and making significant changes to the way we work.
It’s hard for me to recognize that I’m tired because I really love what I do and I believe in the company I work for. That just makes it easier to keep the pedal to the metal for far too long.. it doesn’t cure the wear and tear it causes.
It's important to remember that taking care of ourselves as people and leaders is just as crucial to our success as taking care of our teams.
So, I took the day to rest, read, nap, and hit up a therapy session. (Everyone needs therapy, I won’t change my mind on this)
It's crucial to take the time to figure out why we feel the need to constantly go, go, go.
What is the story on loop in our heads?
Sometimes, the story we're telling ourselves is wrong. Really wrong.
Prioritize your well-being and take the time you need to rest and recharge.
One day made a huge difference and the work will still be there on Monday.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.