In this edition of Marketer of the Week, Ignite Visibility spotlights Sarah Danzl, Head of Global Communications at Degreed.
Ignite Visibility applauds Danzl for her commitment to improving the culture and quality of Degreed—and for her unending commitment to her community.
Sarah Danzl
Sarah Danzl is passionate about disaster and humanitarian relief, education, health and human rights. These show through in not only her day-to-day actions but her career as well.
Alumni of the University of Colorado Boulder, she studied Media Relations, Public Relations, and Marketing, along with Women and Gender Studies. This coursework set the foundation for the leader and marketer she is today.
Danzl’s current position is Head of Global Communications for Degreed. An upskilling platform that connects learning to possibilities, Degreed integrates everything that people use to learn and build their careers with opportunities that fit their unique skillset.
Sarah Danzl’s Career Kickoff
Upon graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder, Danzl landed a job as a Marketing Assistant at The Peloton.
During her time with The Peloton she assisted the Vice President of Development with all the marketing for the 150 million-dollar real estate development in Downtown Boulder.
She took the reigns and communicated with sales agents, planned events, and organized press and media conferences.
On top of these tasks, she also created, developed, and executed a referral incentive program, launched the company newsletter, and designed and distributed email and mail announcements.
Sarah Danzl’s Career Timeline – Ignite Marketer of the Week
Sarah Danzl Follows Her Passion
After working with The Peloton, she left and took a new full-time job as a Capital Campaign Coordinator for the Mental Health Center of Boulder County.
Danzl was an intern there during college.
Her new role put her in charge of coordinating a 12 million-dollar capital campaign to build more functional spaces for therapy and wellness. She developed branding for the campaign, created and executed a social media plan, and managed all-things PR.
This role in social media led Danzl to a new stepping stone: recruitment.
Sarah Danzl joined TransFirst as a Social Media Recruiter. She utilized multiple social media outlets to identify, source, and hire employees. On top of that, she created and maintained the company’s social media accounts through content development and management.
She was quickly promoted to Online Communications Director. She dove in head first as she took on social media and affiliate marketing as well.
Danzl developed social media strategies for TransFirst and Merchant Express, nailing everything from content development to copywriting and blogging.
She created and then launched the company’s affiliate marketing program in 2011. Danzl curated this program not only to obtain new affiliates but to effectively manage existing affiliate relationships.
After many years of real-world experience, Danzl had become a content expert. She joined, Xyleme, Inc. as the Head of Customer Marketing. Xyleme’s industry-leading content management solutions make it easy for content teams to author, publish, and manage their work.
Sarah Danzl’s Current Position at Degreed
Sarah Danzl wears many hats at Degreed.
As Head of Global Communications, she leads 4 teams: Client Advocacy, PR, Communications (Internal & External) and Content Marketing. These teams are global, making her job a bit more complicated as she deals with time zones in the UK, Brazil, and Europe.
If you think that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is—Danzl is a fantastic leader.
Danzl is in charge of setting the global communication strategy and ensuring it aligns with Degreed’s current and future business goals. She communicates these plans to senior leadership as well as the board and reports back on progress and KPIs.
She has consistently raised the bar with her content, client advocacy, PR strategy, execution, and results. Her specialty is clients and their stories in marketing activities. She has supported and grown the team, prioritizing their wellbeing and development. Plus, she has spearheaded several initiatives at Degreed.
Under her leadership, her teams have grown to become some of the most visible in the company. Danzl has accomplished this by highlighting the individual team’s work. These teams regularly collaborate with each other and many other departments such as client success, data, and operations to name a few.
These PR and Communications teams wouldn’t be the same without Danzl’s global strategy. From it they are able to follow the company’s direction, set and meet goals, market the correct message, prioritize sales opportunities, and lean into competitor insights.
As the Head of Global Communications, Danzl is also meticulous in detail. She takes extra care to ensure she is accounting for cultural nuances and challenges in each country.
Danzl’s Passions in Her Current Work
To Sarah, work is more than accomplishing tasks and meeting goals.
It’s about taking care of yourself and building a positive work environment.
Sarah Danzl stepped up and is a part of Degreed’s diversity business working group.
She helps to improve diversity, inclusion, and a sense of belonging for employees at Degreed.
Sarah Danzl is also helping develop Degreed’s Good Deeds strategy. Each quarter, the company dedicates one day to volunteering in the local community.
Under Danzl’s leadership, Degreed now has 4 company-wide volunteer days per year. In 2021 alone they have contributed a total of 10,000 hours to giving back to the local community!
Breaking It Down: Degreed By KPIs
Sarah Danzl’s success can be attributed to her result-driven marketing approach.
Under her leadership in 2020 alone, Degreed achieved over 1,000 pieces of PR coverage, an 875% increase from 2019!
By the end of 2021 Degreed hopes to exceed the previous year’s goal by achieving over 1,500 pieces.
One of her team’s most recent PR campaigns was featured in Bloomberg, Forbes and Fortune. It exceeded its overall coverage target by 71% and unique target coverage by 330%!
Degreed’s recent event, LENS Los Angeles, hosted targeted sessions to help people harness technology and data about the skills people do and don’t have, all to improve investments in hiring, managing, and developing the workforce.
As you can see, results-driven barely begins to describe Danzl’s marketing approach.
Wrapping Up With Sarah Danzl
Sarah Danzl has proved her marketing skills are out of this world. She attacks different departments and aspects of digital marketing head-on.
Danzl’s commitment to her team is impressive. We’re inspired by her drive to make the workplace a safe, diverse, and inclusive atmosphere.
At Ignite Visibility, we love to celebrate marketers who are thinking outside of the box and driving results for their company!
