At 29, Jordan Ogren has reinvented himself more times than many people twice his age. From hip-hop beat maker to athletic training student to deft marketer, the common thread has been Ogren’s ability to command attention and connect audiences.
It was a skill Ogren discovered as a NWTC digital media technology student producing beats. While other producers simply posted their work online, Ogren took a different approach by creating an album review series highlighting the often-overlooked producers behind songs. The strategy earned him connections with producers who had worked with major artists.
“I didn’t know that was marketing at the time, but I quickly realized I have a skill,” Ogren says. More importantly, he found his true passion was less about making music than getting people to care about it.
That realization sparked a pivotal career decision. After moving to Green Bay in 2017, the Kaukauna native earned a bachelor’s in business administration from UWGB, launched the podcast On Marketing, and began working for a local marketing and consulting firm.
For the past six months, he’s been serving BConnected as senior growth leader, a role he helped define for the social media marketing agency. Unlike traditional business development roles, Ogren’s position focuses on what he calls “growth work” — encompassing both internal company strategy and client consultation.
“Universally, the job of marketing should help the company and its customers make progress,” he says. “Most times, marketing takes on helping the customer make progress, but rarely do they say, ‘how can I help the company make progress as well?’”
Central to Ogren’s approach is the idea that today’s marketplace operates differently than in the past. He believes that markets are conversations, which historically occurred between businesses and customers. But “the internet has decentralized the conversation” across social media platforms, online forums, podcasts and beyond.
“Where buyers go to be informed has changed so fundamentally,” he says. “Too many [businesses] are trying to have conversations in areas at which their customers or prospects aren’t in conversation. My advice is to join the conversation where your buyers are and own part of the conversation.”
