Q&A with Sharlene Reimer, HubSpot Implementor at Roadmap

We met Sharlene when we started working with Graphic Intuitions back in early 2020. Sharlene is an integral piece of our tight-knit team and you can see that she takes great pride in helping the people and businesses she works with grow to reach their potential. With a background in digital marketing, email marketing, SEO, and project management she helps provide our customers and teams with creative solutions to reach their goals. We know a lot about what she provides to our customers and how she helps our teams, but we wanted to get to know a little more about how Sharlene ended up with Roadmap, why she got into marketing and some of the personal interests and motivations that drive her day-to-day.

Really, just get to know the human behind the professional we love.

Can you tell me about your background?
I’ve lived in a rural community all my life. Growing up my parents owned a restaurant and led by example, passing along a strong work ethic and solid values to put people first.

Where did you go to school? What did you choose to study and how did it prepare you for what you do today?
After high school, I received a diploma in professional photography from Red River College, which led to running my own side business for a few years, giving me some of the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, marketing, and creating value in the work you do.

A couple of years later, while running my business and working part-time, I also completed my Business Administration diploma with a major in Marketing at Red River College.

Can you tell me about the different roles that you have had at Roadmap?
At first, I started off in more of an admin role to the sales and marketing teams, which included assisting in proposal writing, creating marketing content, etc. After doing this for a few months, I distinctly remember a co-worker jokingly stating that it annoyed him off how fast I was catching onto things, haha. And from there my role continued to evolve into a marketing strategist and fully carrying out campaigns, planning websites optimized for conversions, and creating overarching marketing plans for our clients.

As our team grew, we saw an opportunity to enhance our clients’ businesses by ensuring customer relationships were managed effectively and there was clear communication between the sales and marketing teams. I initially researched customer relationship management (CRM) software for our business and recommended HubSpot to the managing partners. Since then we have become HubSpot partners and now provide this as one of our capabilities at Roadmap and it is the area that I lead.

What does your role look like today?
As you can tell and like many of us, I have worn many hats in the business and that equipped me to implement HubSpot solutions. Today when working with clients, we start by looking at the business as a whole to determine what the goals, plans, and challenges are in the business. From there we come alongside to find solutions, customizing the HubSpot portal to meet what each business is needing.

What made you want to become Hubspot Certified?
When we started looking at CRM’s for Graphic Intuitions, there were so many that were either not robust enough, or so complicated that even someone like myself, who is tech-savvy, would not know how to set things up. When I came across HubSpot in our search, it was so user-friendly, and a perfect fit for what not only we needed, but it filled the gap that a lot of our clients were missing as well.

What are the biggest benefits you see of using Hubspot? Hubspot Sales? Hubspot Marketing? Etc.
A big piece is having a centralized place for everything. The ability to give marketing and sales teams a better view into what is happening that can lead to sales. Secondly, is a way to streamline your processes and make those repetitive tasks much faster to complete.

What kind of clients are your favourite to work with?

Oh gosh, that’s a hard one! I guess it’s the type that are willing and excited to accept change. Our world has been digital for a while now but it’s still a big unknown step for many, so I love working with people to figure out how we can turn what they are currently doing, into something that is online and scalable.

Most memorable project you’ve worked on?
I love dogs so I have to say working on Waldenway Canine & Kitty Camp’s website was a lot of fun!

What qualities do you value most in your staff/clients/vendors/partners?

I love when I get to work with people who are passionate and excited about what they do. It seriously takes the project to a whole new level when we can get a glimpse into what our clients value most and represent those values in the project.

Who do you admire and why?
Definitely my mom, because, well life-giver really says it all.

What are the most rewarding things you’ve done/learned in life so far?
Marrying my best friend has to be one of the most rewarding things, having a partner to do life with and have fun together.

As far as life lessons, everyone is doing life in their own way and time. None of us have to check a list of specific things to be successful or strive to meet other’s expectations.

What are your favourite hobbies? What do you do on your off time?
I have to admit to being a nerd. My husband and I both love games (video or board), I also love crafting hobbies and currently have a little side hustle making macrame called Sweet Knothings.

What books are on your bookshelves? Any good shows you’re watching?
I’m slowly getting caught up on my classics and currently reading Pride and Prejudice. As for TV shows, I’m swinging in a totally different direction and have to say Brooklyn 99 is a definite favourite.

What are your favourite podcasts?
I’ve been slow to the podcast trend, I’ve started listening to a few but don’t yet have a favourite, I’m definitely down for any fun recommendations!