How Helen Youn’s international past helps her connect customers at Ooma

Helen Youn, a B2B marketer in demand generation at Ooma, first came to America from South Korea to pursue a career in filmmaking. She was an aspiring filmmaker who wanted to use storytelling to be a positive influence in the world.

However, the hardships of beginning a career in filmmaker soon took hold. Her legal status would be uncertain in the U.S. after college without a sponsor and being an independent filmmaker without the right industry connections would be difficult. She knew she needed something that would secure her visa status.

At the same time, filmmaking courses weren't what she expected. "The courses I was taking were mainly about the history-U.S. history, world history-and I was like, 'This is not what I signed up for,'" she says.

Youn had also taken some business courses as an elective. "I really liked it, the thought process behind how people behave. I was like, 'Huh, this isn't much different from talking to the audience in films,' so that made me want to transition into the marketing industry."

Ironically, Youn had put some marketing talent to work while applying for filmmaking jobs. She had created a spreadsheet tracking every one of her more than 100 applications. She would even A/B test applications, checking to see whether applications performed better if she mentioned her need for sponsorship.

As she moved into marketing, Youn applied her filmmaking soft skills to her work. Specifically, knowing her audience, as she says that if you don't know your audience and who you're talking to you're just making noise.

Knowing her audience isn't just something Youn learned from filmmaking, it's something she also lived. She moved from South Korea to Spain when she was 14, and then moved to Oxford, Ohio, for college when she was 18 before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley.

"I didn't know a single word of Spanish when my family moved to Spain, and of course I couldn't go to a local school because of the language barrier," she says. Youn attended an international school that operated on a U.S.-based system. Classes were taught in English, but most of her peers spoke Spanglish. Youn only knew English at a conversational level, so was advised to take English as a Second Language and then work on her Spanish after that.

"At one point as a young teen I asked why Korean wasn't the national language. Having a difficult time forming friendships with my Spanglish-speaking peers, I overcame my first hurdle; I passed the ESL class in a semester, which normally it takes other students longer," she says.

However, Youn still couldn't take Spanish because she moved to a British school that used British English rather than American. All of a sudden she was learning a different form of English with different terms, idioms and spellings from people with Irish and Scottish accents she wasn't familiar with, in a country where she still couldn't speak the national language.

From wanting to be a filmmaker to double majoring in Spanish and Media Studies, Youn has always been thinking about how to connect with people to make an impact in their lives and in the world. In demand generation, Youn does the work that helps customers connect with Ooma. The demand gen team is constantly looking at the buyer's journey, studying data about how customers buy things, what their options are and what features they want. She said she'll even sit in on customer interviews to directly hear their stories.

Within demand generation, Youn focuses on lead generation. Essentially, Youn identifies customers who are looking for phone service for their small businesses and how to connect them with Ooma. It's like business matchmaking, introducing small businesses to a service like Ooma Office that'll actually fit their needs.

But what do customers really need? In listening to customers directly, Youn learned that small business owners have a lot going on. They're often working hard and sacrificing their time to build a business, make sure inventory or services are good, managing staff, balancing budgets, and building relationships with customers. The last thing they want is the stress and frustration of services that can't help their business succeed.

When it comes to phones, that means affordable phone service that just works-which is exactly what Ooma offers with Ooma Office.

Youn says that, ultimately, a good deal of lead generation is marrying the right mix of ingredients to a customer. That means figuring out what combination of price, features and promotions can help a small business succeed and then delivering that. It's sort of like a waiter recommending a meal to a new diner. What combination of food items is going to make them happy and full?

Similarly, bringing the right mix of ingredients is a lesson that extends far beyond phone service. It's something Youn put into practice when she joined Ooma, as her unique experiences helped forge how she works and helps customers find what they need.

"The fact that I've lived in different countries made me realize how you need to stay open-minded and always prepare for plan B and even plan C, because you've got to know how to improvise," she says. Youn adds that's actually the fun part, because it allows her to think outside the box and get creative about how to resolve certain issues.

Helen Youn's message to customers

"I encourage entrepreneurs to ask themselves why they started their business and what is its purpose. What value are they creating in this world or, if the world feels too big, in their community? Once the 'why' is answered, figuring out 'what' to do and 'how' to do it become much easier. The reason behind this is because I strive to live a purposeful life, driven by vision. Now, this doesn't mean I always have a perfect pathway in front of me, or that I never fail. When I experience difficult times, I ask myself what is driving me to do this work, face the challenges and find ways to solve them, and most importantly, have fun doing it.

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