Ilana Shabtay, Vice President of Marketing at Fullpath, has carved a significant niche for herself in the dynamic and highly competitive world of automotive marketing. Her journey began a decade ago when Fullpath was a modest startup with only six members and a product offering centered around smart pop-ups for small and medium businesses. Despite the saturated market and limited resources, Ilana was not discouraged. Surrounded by a team of talented and visionary founders, she felt confident that they would find their breakthrough. 

Fullpath’s transformation lies in its unique value proposition. The company has pioneered the integration of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) within the automotive industry, tackling the long-standing issue of fragmented data across dealership systems. Fullpath offers a unified platform that consolidates data and empowers dealerships to activate it in real time. With an unmatched speed to value and an accessible, sophisticated suite of tools, Fullpath enables dealers to regain control over their data and leverage it for precise targeting and marketing automation.

Ilana’s marketing philosophy is rooted in demand generation. Rather than casting a wide net for leads, Fullpath focuses on engaging audiences who are already familiar with the brand and aware of the challenges it addresses. She believes that transparency is essential to building authentic relationships in B2B marketing.

Being a data-driven company, Fullpath tracks every aspect of its marketing initiatives with rigor. Along with estimating paid campaign performance, monitoring keyword trends, organic search traffic, and PR presence, the team focuses on a key performance indicator: the cost per dollar of revenue. 

Looking ahead, Ilana sees that the automotive retail industry is undergoing dramatic shifts, largely driven by the rise of artificial intelligence. In her view, AI agents will soon function as virtual sales assistants, while predictive analytics will play a pivotal role in shaping business decisions. AI-enabled inventory and pricing systems will further optimize operations. Ilana believes that every employee will eventually need to harness AI to drive performance improvements. 

Striking the right balance between automation and personalization is another area where Fullpath excels. The company uses platforms like HubSpot to automate email workflows triggered by customer actions, ensuring communications remain relevant and contextual. Rather than pre-defining users into top, middle, or bottom-of-the-funnel categories, Fullpath lets user behavior determine their journey, thereby delivering the most timely and effective content at every stage.

When it comes to marketing a data-intensive SaaS product, Ilana’s strategy focuses on dual-layered content. Simplified content helps broaden reach and clarify value, while more technical, in-depth content appeals to a specialized audience and reinforces Fullpath’s thought leadership. This two-pronged approach also strengthens SEO and ensures that the brand is easily discoverable online. Fullpath relies on an integrated tech stack. HubSpot remains the core of their marketing operations, connecting seamlessly with their CRM, advertising platforms, and website. Tools like Supermetrics and Google Analytics provide deep insights into attribution and user behavior. According to Ilana, the key to successful implementation of such tools is having a technically savvy team member focused on system synchronization, which is often overlooked but a critical element of a successful marketing operation.

Ilana is excited about AI’s ability to process vast datasets to reveal strategic insights. In her view, the power of AI to augment decision-making is transformative. Intelligent chatbots, for example, are becoming essential tools for managing inbound queries and nurturing leads more efficiently.

Storytelling remains central to Ilana’s marketing vision. While data and analytics offer the metrics of success, compelling narratives forge emotional connections with customers. It’s the thread that ties the brand to the buyer in a crowded digital world. Dispelling the myth that automotive marketing is old-fashioned is another mission Ilana takes seriously. While many still envision dealerships relying on traditional commercials and legacy methods, today’s auto retail environment is anything but. With a $2 trillion contribution to the U.S. economy, the industry is investing heavily in modern, digital-first marketing strategies to stay ahead.

To ensure seamless alignment across departments, Fullpath has created a “Go-To-Market” pod, bringing together sales, marketing, product, and customer experience teams to drive unified, revenue-focused initiatives. Fullpath maintains a “testing” budget dedicated solely to experimentation. This has recently led to the production of emotionally charged short commercials distributed via CTV and OTT platforms.

Ilana emphasizes continuous learning and growth for her team. A dedicated learning and development budget enables marketers to take courses and attend conferences, with a strong culture of sharing insights across the team.

As for the road ahead, Fullpath plans to double down on its data capabilities, cataloging its vast inventory of behavioral insights and weaving those into targeted content campaigns. By turning raw data into strategic assets, the company aims to solidify its position as a trusted advisor and innovator in automotive marketing. Through storytelling, data, and relentless innovation, Ilana Shabtay and her team are redefining what it means to market in the automotive space.