Janice Cain

Last Updated: December 12, 2020

Janice Cain describes herself and her consultancy as a ‘one-stop shop’ for award-winning marketing expertise and service.

Cain, a strategic marketing and business development consultant, brings years of experience backed by a prestigious marketing education to companies looking to increase their market visibility and profitability. When companies need to zero in on their clients, launch a product, or improve internal communications, they turn to Cain and her Los Angeles-based consulting firm, 1010 Marketing.

At 1010 Marketing, Cain specializes in sales and marketing plan development, thought leadership initiatives, public relations, brand building and asset development (such as website, white papers, case studies and sales collateral).

“I love the Field of Marketing because it is dynamic, challenging and gives you an opportunity to help companies better succeed and to gain more profitability as a result of effective marketing,” she said. “Just knowing that I am making a big difference in helping my clients achieve these objectives is what gets me going in the morning.”

Cain hasn’t always been in the marketing field. Originally obtaining her bachelor’s degree in communications and working in the public relations field, Cain realized over time that she wished to help companies develop their messaging and their product launch and outreach strategies.

But jumping into the marketing field isn’t as easy as simply packing up one day and becoming a “marketer.” Successful marketing professionals need a solid understanding of marketing fundamentals and strategy before attempting to enter the career.

That’s why Cain decided to enroll in the master’s of business administration program at the University of Chicago, where she specialized in strategic marketing, international business, and strategic management. That degree has paid off for Cain again and again, especially as she entered her first position after graduation as a marketing director for the world’s largest professional services firm.

“If I hadn’t had that master’s degree, I never would have had that opportunity,” Cain said. “My degree gave me the credentials, the know how, and the skill set to be able to step in and perform the full compass of marketing and communications responsibilities that went along with that position.”

Because marketing is such an evolving field, Cain says her continued focus on education allows her to stay abreast of new concepts, techniques, and revelations in business outreach. Cain’s ongoing involvement and connection to the University of Chicago give her opportunities to attend workshops, speeches, and other marketing industry events even though she graduated years ago.

“I’m very plugged into the University of Chicago alumni network,” she said. “I’ve made and maintain a lot of great connections by remaining very engaged with my university and alumni. I encourage people considering a marketing education to not only think about the short term objective (graduation), but to pick a school and a program that will give you those types of ongoing, long-term opportunities as well.”

These long-term opportunities afford Cain the ability to hone her marketing skills continuously. Today, at 1010 Marketing, Cain calls upon those skills when creating business-to-business marketing strategies for her clients’ companies. Cain’s various responsibilities, goals, and methods of marketing change on a client-by-client basis, but they always involve strong communication skills.

Cain says a large part of marketing is understanding how to approach a client’s problem, provide meaningful insight and understanding of the problem, and develop multiple pathways for a solution. For Cain, this usually means providing some qualitative market research and analysis, such as a SWOT analysis or segmentation analysis (looking at a company’s client base to help them better understand who they should market to and how they should market themselves to their target audiences).

“A big part of what I do is helping companies to more effectively articulate value propositions,” she said. “To be successful, companies must effectively engage and persuade their target audience as to why they have the best product or service out there today.”

Given her responsibilities to a company, Cain says the most important skills any aspiring marketing professional should master are solid communication skills. Companies must educate, persuade, and influence their clients, and Cain needs to provide the means for them to accomplish that.

“In Marketing, you need the ability to be able to communicate effectively with your target audience as well as internally within the company,” Cain said. “If you work in corporate marketing, for instance, you are going to work with sales, product development, executive leadership and such, and you will need to be able to communicate effectively with all of those different audiences.”

As Cain has grown and excelled in the marketing profession and has received numerous marketing and communication awards for her work, she still thinks back to her education and how it helped her succeed in the field. Her understanding of marketing case studies, her effective communication skills, and networking opportunities have helped Cain build her business and given her a reputation for success.

“Ten plus years later, I’m still leveraging my education on a daily basis,” she said. “My education truly was the foundation for all of my career success.”