Miruna Dragomir: “Hiring Talented People Isn’t Enough” & Other Interview Highlights

These are highlights from our interview with Miruna Dragomir. You can learn more about her work on LinkedIn.

Business processes should evolve with your team

We often make business processes more complicated than they need to be.

We spend months building them and try to account for every possible scenario.

But they shouldn’t be set in stone.

Processes should be reviewed and improved regularly. Ideally, every quarter or at least every six months.

Things change quickly.

People, teams, and businesses evolve. And business processes need to evolve with them. Otherwise, they become outdated and make team collaboration harder.

And people simply can’t collaborate effectively if their workflows aren’t designed properly.

Map every step of the workflow

In the age of AI, companies can’t skip workflow mapping. You need to map every step and clearly document what happens: Who is involved? What work needs to be done? Who approves it? What happens next?

Clear workflows have always helped teams work more efficiently.

They make sure the right people are involved at the right time without wasting hours on coordination.

Now, AI makes this even more important.

You can’t automate any business process if you don’t understand how it works first. That’s why you need to map out your workflows before introducing AI automation.

Build business systems that leave room for change

We need to build business systems that leave room for change. Every new priority shouldn’t feel like it disrupts everything else. One way to do this is by moving away from rigid, long-term planning.

When you create a detailed three-month plan, people naturally think, “I already know exactly what I’ll be doing for the next three months.”

That leaves very little room for change.

AI is accelerating the pace of work. So, we need to adapt just as quickly.

Team alignment starts with understanding other teams

Different teams naturally develop their own routines, workflows, and processes. This can easily lead to miscommunication.

People tend to work more comfortably with teams they already know and have established processes with.

But…

Good team alignment isn’t about forcing everyone to follow the same workflow. It’s about understanding how your work affects other teams and making an effort to stay connected.

For example, teams with highly structured processes can become more isolated.

They may focus so much on their own workflows that they lose sight of how their work affects everyone else.

Involve the right people from the start

For effective project management, clearly define who should be involved at the beginning of every project. That’s where companies often fail.

A project starts. Everyone gets excited. Then, halfway through, someone says:

“Wait… now we need SEO.”

Or:

“Legal needs to approve this.”

But by then, those teams have no context. They don’t know what the project is, why it matters, or what they’re expected to do.

They may say “no” or rush to help without enough information.

If I could keep only one recurring internal project meeting, I’d choose the one that gives everyone involved a shared understanding of the bigger picture.

Even if some of the information seems obvious or repetitive, the goal is simple: everyone needs to understand what’s happening and why.

Growth requires more than individual talent

Hiring talented people isn’t always enough. Each person can do brilliant work, but if everyone is pulling in a different direction, their efforts won’t create much progress.

Each person is one piece of the puzzle. The real value comes from making those pieces work together.

That’s why coordination matters.

Company growth has never been the responsibility of one superstar. Growth is a system.

It requires consistent effort across:

• Multiple channels,
• Multiple teams,
• Multiple funnels,
• Multiple layers of the organization.

And that only works when people work together.

The two reasons marketing campaigns fail

Marketing campaigns often fail because teams lose sight of the original purpose. We add too many creative and emotional layers until people stop understanding what we’re offering.

Product marketing starts with the basics:

• Understand the feature.
• Explain the problem it solves and the benefit it creates.

But we often overcomplicate it.

Coca-Cola can afford to be abstract because everyone already knows the product.

A new feature can’t.

If you’re launching something new, explain what it does, why it matters, and how it helps the customer without being abstract.

Keep asking:

• Why should people care?
• What problem does it solve?
• What do they gain?

And then put some budget behind it because…

Many marketing campaigns fail because there isn’t enough distribution. Your distribution effort should match the effort you put into the campaign. You can’t spend months preparing a campaign and then launch it with one LinkedIn post and one email.

Use multiple channels.

Keep communicating.

Reach people where they already spend time.

And give the campaign enough time and budget to make an impact.

Create momentum across multiple channels

The product launches. Marketing creates the campaign. Then the rest of the company is told: “Okay, now distribute it.”

But other teams weren’t involved early enough. They aren’t prepared, so everyone works on their own timeline.

Social posts today. SEO updates next month. Influencers share the campaign weeks later.

The message becomes scattered.

For a marketing campaign to succeed, people need to see the same message across different channels several times over a short period. And that’s impossible if your team isn’t aligned.

For example, your audience might:

• Receive your email,
• See your LinkedIn post,
• And watch an influencer mention the product on YouTube.

When these touchpoints happen close together, people are more likely to remember the campaign.

When co-marketing partnerships win and fail

The partnership can look perfect on paper. But it only works when both sides commit equally to execution and distribution.

If both brands activate their channels at the same time and put in a similar level of effort, the partnership has a much better chance of succeeding.

Also…

The messaging in a co-marketing partnership needs to be clear and cohesive. People should understand why the partnership exists and what’s in it for them.

That’s why I started preferring time-based partnerships like webinars and live events.

They create a clear deadline. So both teams know when they need to be promoted.

Traditional co-marketing is hard. You’re asking two teams with different priorities to work together. And because commitment usually isn’t equal, many partnerships fail.

One company may have leadership asking for updates and KPIs attached to the project.

The other may simply see it as something they agreed to try. Naturally, it won’t be their priority.

Get to know your real customers

Sometimes, as part of our customer research, we run what we jokingly call “stalking projects.”We choose five real customers who represent the target audience for a specific feature. Then, we take a closer look at how they actually work. This gives the team a real picture of the customer.

We answer questions like:

• How do they use the product?
• What do they post on LinkedIn?
• What does their workday look like?
• What problems are they trying to solve?

We even look at product recordings to see what they click, what they create, and how they use the product.

That’s much more useful than a persona like:

“Our customer is a social media manager with three years of experience who works at an agency.”

You can’t fully understand your customer from a few demographic details. You need to see how they actually work, what they struggle with, and what they care about.

That’s what helps teams create marketing that speaks to real people.

Play the long game

Businesses control only about 5% of what they think they control.

We often assume that publishing more content on Reddit or any other platform will automatically increase visibility.

But it doesn’t work that way.

Algorithms are complex and constantly changing. No one fully understands them.

The good news is that the fundamentals still matter.

Build your brand. Create valuable content. Stay consistent.

You don’t need to hack the algorithm or chase every new trick. That’s short-term thinking. Do the right work consistently, and online visibility will follow.

These are highlights from our Adsy Talks podcast with Miruna Dragomir. For more insights, watch the full interview on our YouTube channel: