Speaker Feature Series: An Interview with Cara Miller, a UX Brand Strategist.
Women Talk Design has transformed over the years from existing exclusively as a speaker directory to working on a broader mission of elevating the voices of women and nonbinary folks to ultimately see a more diverse group of speakers on stage.
Our Speaker Directory has more than 500 incredible women and nonbinary people from all around the world who speak on a variety of topics and work in a range of industry disciplines– from design and data science, to marketing, user experience and more!
This week we spoke with Cara Miller, a UX Brand Strategist founder of ZIV, a marketing and advertising agency. Back in 2014, Cara followed her entrepreneurial spirit during a year of maternity leave. She saw a gap in how agencies were serving their customers and decided to do something about it. Women made up 80% of buyers but only 3% of the creative directors designing for them. The disconnect in solutions and recommendations was evident. This led Cara to create ZIV, an agency grounded in research, right-sized solutions, and a focus on business results.
During our interview, Cara shared with us her experience as a speaker and tips for how you can improve your business strategy in 2020. Check it out!
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Why do you speak?
I speak to communicate the benefits of design in the context of product development or marketing.
Tell us about your first speaking engagement.
I started speaking in 2006. I’ve given more than 10 talks and have done so on and off throughout the years.
What topics are you most excited to speak about right now?
Design and its impact on building an emotionally engaging brand and marketing strategy. I also speak on impact-driven development versus using an agile approach.
What advice would you give to new speakers?
Joining Toastmasters or going to speaking workshops can be invaluable, especially if they have practice and feedback loops built into the sessions.
What are your tips for how folks can improve their business strategies in 2020?
- 86% of consumers say that authenticity is a key differentiator that leads to a purchasing decision. So keep things real. Understand how to have an authentic voice.
- Voice and audio are big trends for 2020. Consider how to integrate those.
- Mobile continues to be in the forefront. And so, it is that the look, feel, or content of the mobile experience has to be prioritized.
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We hope you enjoyed our interview with Cara as much as we did! To learn more about her speaker topics and experience check out her full speaker profile on the Women Talk Design website.
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