Digging Deeper

The Easier Path to Audience & Influence Insights

Tue, 10 May 2022 15:13:00 -0000

If you want consumer insights for your brand, you have traditionally relied on focus groups, surveys and other research studies. Those are typically time-consuming, difficult to gather and analyze, and expensive. Rand Fishkin sat out to solve for that problem.

Fishkin is known for founding MOZ. Now he's building an easier path to discovering insights about a given audience, including who influences them, without expensive research. He visited #DiggingDeeper this week to talk about SparkToro and what the future of consumer insights looks like.

This episode of Digging Deeper is presented by the Marketing Podcast Network. If you happen to be someone whose company or perhaps clients sell to marketers, you look for advertising channels that guarantee business marketers are paying attention, right? Enter the Marketing Podcast Network.

MPN is a network of podcasts all about marketing. On Brand with Nick Westergaard, Marketing With Empathy, The Copy Arena with Tania Dakka, The Rethink Marketing Podcast, Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast, Digging Deeper and many more are there.

What that means is 100 percent of MPN's audience are marketers. Your brand or clients can reach them by advertising on the Marketing Podcast Network. Learn more and find our media kit at MarketingPodcasts.net.

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The Sustainability Concerns with Blockchain, Bitcoin and NFTs

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:41:00 -0000

We’ve talked a lot about the blockchain, NFTs and Web 3.0 on Digging Deeper recently, but there’s a big concern out there over blockchain technology and its carbon footprint. It’s estimated that one Bitcoin transaction uses around 2,100 kilowatt hours. That’s the same energy the average U.S. household uses in 75 days. When the energy source powering the computers that churn out that transaction is non-renewable, more greenhouse gas emissions happen and the environment takes another hit.

But Bitcoin is one of hundreds of options for cryptocurrency and blockchain access. And this is where competition makes the market balanced for everyone. There are simply better options out there.

Matt Rickard is the co-founder of Task, a Stellar blockchain-based platform that helps companies connect their teams with the organizations social missions. But he is also the co-founder of The Blue Marble, a Steller-based NFTs marketplace. The common thread there is the Stellar-based blockchain which alleges to be faster, cheaper and more energy efficient than typical blockchain based systems.

Rickard educated us on the sustainability issue and blockchains, talk to us about The Blue Marble and how brands can be more responsible with NFT work in marketplaces like his and then help us understand the connection between a company, its employees and its social good.

This episode is supported by Storyblok, which has a new report to make you smarter. It’s a new report called The State of Content Management and is a very useful survey of 515 businesses in the U.S. and Europe – companies just like yours – and how they are approaching content distribution through their digital channels in 2022.

Think about it: You have to provide content for your website. Maybe a mobile app. Then there’s e-commerce platforms. Voice-activated speakers … Managing content is more complex today than ever. Get insights and ideas on how companies like yours are tackling the content challenge with The State of Content Management Report from Storyblok. Just go to Storyblok.com/diggingdeeper.

Storyblok is a headless content management system, rated as the #1 CMS for 2022 by G2. It is also a new partner of the Marketing Podcast Network.

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Improving the Sales Function by Getting Rid of Pitch Decks?!?

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 16:01:00 -0000

Jarron Vosburg from JumpCrew says we can do away with the pitch deck. He is disrupting B2B sales and will share his perspective on what we're all doing wrong but may not know it on this episode of #DiggingDeeper. Vosburg is the vice-president of Sales at JumpCrew. That is an acquisition marketing platform company out of Nashville. They’re all about helping you optimize sales.

We talk about the pitch deck concept, but also more specifically about how sales and marketing work together, compliment one another and ways they could be structured to optimize both. Some good ideas from Vosburg today on the show.

Also, have you downloaded The State of Content Management from Storyblok yet? We’ve told you about it for a couple weeks now. You certainly owe it to your company to do so. Our friends at Storyblok surveyed 515 businesses in the U.S. and Europe – companies just like yours – to find out how they are approaching content distribution through their digital channels in 2022.

You have to provide content for your website, maybe a mobile app, then ecommerce platforms, voice-activated speakers … Managing content is more complex today than ever. Get insights and ideas on how companies like yours are tackling the content challenge with The State of Content Management Report from Storyblok. It’s free and just good information to make you smarter!

LINKS:

Jarron Vosburg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarronvosburg/

JumpCrew: https://jumpcrew.com/

Storyblok State of Content Marketing Report - https://storyblok.com/diggingdeeper

Digging Deeper on YouTube: http://cornett.online/digdeep

Digging Deeper Podcast Subscriptions: http://cornett.online/diggingdeeper

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The Legalities of NFTs, Crypto, and the Metaverse

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:48:00 -0000

Web 3.0 is an exciting new territory to play. But with new territory comes new risk.

On this episode of Digging Deeper, we dig deeper into the world of Web 3.0 and conduct our due diligence around the legalities of the Metaverse, NFTs, and Cryptocurrency. Enrico Schaefer from Traverse Legal bills himself as the NFT lawyer. He specializes in consulting and representing clients with a need in technology and intellectual property issues. He’s been doing it for 30 years, so through Web 1.0 and 2.0. He’s now making sure we’re staying out of trouble in Web 3.0.

The conversation gets in the weeds a bit, but in a way that you can understand and know more about how to watch yourself wisely as your business or brand steps into those uncharted waters.

This episode is also supported by Storyblok, which has a new report to make you smarter. It’s a new report called The State of Content Management and is a very useful survey of 515 businesses in the U.S. and Europe – companies just like yours – and how they are approaching content distribution through their digital channels in 2022.

Storyblok is a headless content management system, rated as the #1 CMS for 2022 by G2. It is also a new partner of the Marketing Podcast Network.

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Smarter Marketing Through An Entrepreneurial Spirit

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:44:00 -0000

The entrepreneurial spirit can make you a better marketer. That’s the underlying gist of Tim Hines’s new book The Marketing Starter - How an Entrepreneurial Spirit Will Make You a More Savvy Marketer.

Hines is a 17-year veteran of the startup marketing world. He's worked at agencies and brands, but always with a marketing-first mindset. He combined the two things he knows best – marketing and startups – into a refreshing and useful new book and outlook on what can make all marketers better. We dive into more about the Marketing Starter mindset on this episode of Digging Deeper.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

If your company or perhaps one of your clients sells to marketers, you look for advertising channels that guarantee business marketers are paying attention, right? The Marketing Podcast Network is a network of podcasts all about marketing. On Brand with Nick Westergaard, Joseph Jaffe is Not Famous, For Immediate Release, Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast, Digging Deeper and many more are there.

What that means is 100 percent of M-P-Ns audience are marketers. Your brand or clients can reach them by advertising on the Marketing Podcast Network. Learn more and find our media kit at MarketingPodcasts.net.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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Presenting Own It: Attacking the Gender Gap in Advertising Agency Ownership

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 11:00:00 -0000

Less than one percent of all advertising agencies are owned by women. Read that again. It's kind of astonishing when you think about it.

For Cornett owner Christy Hiler, that's a problem. Today, she launched an effort to do something to close the gender gap in ad agency ownership called Own it.

The effort is being cataloged at UntilYouOwnIt.com where female and non-binary agency owners can join and participate in mentorship and other activities to help more women, Own It.

Part of the effort for Own It is a new podcast hosted by Hiler herself where she interviews and celebrates the growing number of women and non-binary ad agency owners to talk about buying out of the boys club of advertising, one agency at a time.

On this special, audio-only edition of Digging Deeper, you'll hear an excerpt from Own It's first episode. In it, Hiler talks to Jean Freeman from Zambezi, the largest female-owned ad agency in the country.

After you listen, be sure to subscribe to Own It at UntilYouOwnIt.com or wherever your get your podcasts.

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Taking Charge of You with David Novak

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 15:32:00 -0000

The best coach one can buy is one's self. That is the premise of the new book from David Novak, the former chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands. Yes … that Yum! Brands. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s, Pizza Hut. Novak lead the growth of some of the biggest brands in the world at the largest restaurant company in the world for many years. He's been called one of the most influential people in business by Forbes and others.

Since his retirement from Yum! Brands , he has been writing and podcasting. You may well know about his incredibly useful podcast called How Leaders Lead. He authored the New York Times bestseller Taking People With You. His latest book is called Take Charge of You: How Self-Coaching can Transform Your Life and Career.

Novak joined Digging Deeper to give us all a very pleasant kick in the pants to do that.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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Continuity in Brand Storytelling

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:34:00 -0000

Cornett creative director Jason Majewski joins #DiggingDeeper to discuss a case study in brand storytelling with corporate filmmaker Gary Miller of Eye Level Films and film composer A.J. Hochhalter. The trio are part of the team behind several years worth of Cornett's video production work for UK HealthCare.

Majewski led a discussion through the case study of the brand's primary commercial video work. That includes a consistency in storytelling, both visually and sonically, that continue to anchor UK HealthCare's messaging to consumers.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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The Present & Future of Public Relations

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 16:36:00 -0000

Public relations is perhaps one of the segments of the marketing world that has changed most in the last 20 years or so. That’s largely because the media landscape has changed and media relations is a big part of the PR world. When traditional journalists, editors and producers are no longer the gate keepers, but you’re still charged with earning coverage and attention for your company, you have to shift with the market.

Robert Dilenschneider has weathered the storm and guided many a brand successfully through the last 30 years or so. He founded The Dilsenschnieder Group in 1991. They not only work with many Fortune 500 companies but also provide counsel and strategic advice to leading families and individuals around the world. His new book is called The Public Relations Handbook. It’s a little different approach, though. Robert has sourced the expertise presented in this book from 20 of the world’s top PR thinkers, including himself, of course.

He is technically listed as the editor of the book, but when you see the roster of names in this book … my pal Shel Holtz, William Adler, Donna Heiser, Virginia and Michael Kamsky, Sarah Manly Robertson … a Who’s Who of smart thinkers in the industry … you know this is worth the read. And it’s worth our time to talk about it.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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The Creative Minds of The Grill Dads

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:54:00 -0000

What happens when you put two advertising creatives behind a grill feeding their friends? Discovery by Guy Fieri and your own Food Network show apparently. Mark & Fey … or more formally Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey are The Food Network stars of The Grill Dads . That’s the sizzle. But the steak for Digging Deeper is they’re both experienced marketing and ad creatives.

Mark & Fey joined host Jason Falls to talk about their backgrounds, the rise to success of the show and social influence, and their take on creating engaging content in today's frenetic media environment.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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The Strategy of Digital Customer Care for an Audience of Billions

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 16:43:00 -0000

The concept of digital customer care is something most companies now understand and implement. But it has taken a while for the majority of companies to migrate from old call centers and email support responses to plugging in to customer concerns in real-time, via apps and on social media.

But imagine having to handle digital customer care on a scale most businesses never see. Elly Moody is the Digital Customer Care Program Strategy Manager for McDonald’s … yes, that McDonald’s. She is guiding a modernization strategy for holistic customer care for McDonald’s USA. And that covers all channels … voice, web, app and social e-care.

She joined Digging Deeper to help us dig deeper into how to think about digital customer care on scale. She shared insights we can all use, as well as some good food for thought as your companies grow.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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The Power of Women in Brand Leadership

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 16:51:00 -0000

The Gooder Podcast highlights the powerhouse women in the consumer product goods industry. It’s a great show to inspire everyone, but particularly women, to achieve success and build leadership in business. The show is hosted by Diana Fryc from Retail Voodoo who visited with Digging Deeper to talk about women in leadership, but also cause marketing, CPG and food and beverage marketing and beyond.

Her firm is a branding agency that focuses on guiding mission-driven consumer brands to attract a broad and passionate fan base.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by the Marketing Podcast Network.

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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Are Your Digital Assets Accessible? ADA Lawsuits Are On The Rise!

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:30:00 -0000

The American’s With Disabilities Act or ADA is no less meaningful and relevant that the Civil Rights Act to companies today. But businesses often fail to consider how people with vision, hearing or physical disabilities can or cannot consume their online content.

When one fails to provide accessible user experiences, they subject themselves to legal action. Well, lawsuits holding brands more accountable for their digital accessibility efforts are on the rise.

Jason Taylor joined Digging Deeper this week to talk about the topic. He is the chief innovation strategist and advisor to the CEO of UsableNet. It monitors and documents all digital accessibility related lawsuits where a website, mobile app or video content is subject to a court claim. There has been a steep rise in claims since 2018.

UsableNet's newest report reveals an alarming increase in the number of ADA-driven lawsuits against brands and shows that many brands are repeat offenders. That underlines the problem that many don't take accessibility serious. Taylor addressed what solutions your business can take to ensure it is not just avoiding litigation, but doing the right thing for your disabled consumers.

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PodChaserPro is the professional version of Podchaser, which helps anyone find, manage, rate and follow podcasts. PodchaserPro, however, gives you access to that critical audience information you need for media planning and buying, or public relations or influencer outreach to podcasts.

If your brand or agency would like to find out more, go to PodchaserPro.com/falls. Sign up there and make your podcast outreach and media planning more effective!

Digging Deeper is a podcast on the Marketing Podcast Network.

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The Case for Your Brand and the Metaverse

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:01:04 -0000

Mitch Jackson thinks the Metaverse is the perfect opportunity for brands to standout and strengthen relationships with their consumers. His new book, The Metaverse Handbook - How to create, market and sell in a virtual word, is out this month. Jackson is all-in on showing people how to go virtual and find ways to connect with your audiences there.

Jackson stopped by Digging Deeper to explain and try and talk host Jason Falls off his skeptical ledge about Web 3.0, brands in virtual worlds and such. The two even showed off a virtual meeting on the live stream of the program. You can access the video archives at https://cornett.online/digdeep.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

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Attacking The Healthy Beverage Vertical with Hello Water

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 16:42:00 -0000

The healthy beverage aisle in your grocery or convenience store just keeps getting more and more crowded. The so-called Functional Beverage market is already a $50 billion industry. Amid fighting one another for dominance, brands in the category also have to battle the big-budget sugary drinks brands for consumer's attentions.

Why on earth would someone enter that market with a startup brand, then? Rusty Jones, the co-founder and chief strategy officer at Hello Water knows. He and his partner did it in 2017 and are now behind one of the upstart brands in the space.

Hello Water is a brand of healthy hydration beverages. They have pro-biotic drinks that help with immune defense, better pH balance and digestive health.

Rusty joined us on Digging Deeper to help us find out more about the brand and how it started, but also more about the highly competitive space of healthy drinks and battling the sugary soft drink segment to get more people to get inspired to be more healthy.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

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The Man Behind Lexington's Psychedelic Experience

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 13:00:00 -0000

We’re walking the walk here on the show by digging deeper into conversations with the type of folks we often interview on the live stream version of the show each Tuesday morning. But not everyone we want to talk to there can make it to a regimented, scheduled show. And, we have some very interesting people within the walls at Cornett whose expertise comes to bear for our clients. We also do some pretty neat things as a group that are well worth sharing with you. Why not give you access to those subject matter experts, and experiences too?

In today’s episode, we get to know a familiar face to anyone who has come through the doors at Cornett. Jared Lee is the agency’s business support lead. My translation of what that means is he’s the guy to ask for solutions, to fix things, help find everything from supplies to a free-lancer. The guy does it all. He even helps man Cornett’s social media channels, acts as a staff photographer … there’s nothing he doesn’t do.

One thing he does besides keep everything together at the agency is produce music events. Jared’s Expansion event, which happens every September, is Lexington’s very own Psychedelic Experience and Music Festival. It started in 2019 and is putting Lexington on the map as a magnet point for bands that are, as he puts it, weird and loud.

AdWeek thought Expansion was so cool, it awarded him with one of its Side Show awards for 2021. Expansion was the Best in Category for Performance Art. It was nice to see Jared earn some recognition for his work outside of Cornett.

We’ll talk more about that and him. Today on Digging Deeper.

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Preparing Brands for a Browser Cookie-less World

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:41:00 -0000

Google announced last year that sometime in 2023 it will no longer support browser cookies that advertisers often use to both target and retarget online ads. Firefox and Safari were ahead of the Google curve on that, but it wasn’t a dire concern until Google’s Chrome browser fell into line.

Now, you still have 2022 to make adjustments and figure this all out. We’re going to start talking about it today with Joe Singer of Merged Analytics. His firm is a website visitor intelligence company, but one that doesn’t use cookies. We’ll find out what they provide, how and talk about the challenges brands like yours will have to overcome to keep targeting and retargeting with success.

If you like this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague. Don't miss the video show each week by subscribing to our YouTube channel or our audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify. And we could use some reviews on each platform, so do give us a quick rating or review!

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What Brands Should Watch For in 2022 Trends

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 16:58:00 -0000

Happy New Year everyone!

On this first episode of Digging Deeper for 2022, we usher in the new year by talking about the hot topics and trends that seem to be on everyone’s mind. The Metaverse. NFTs. The Blockchain. Influencers and more.

Host Jason Falls shares practical advice for brands on learning, experimenting and understanding without committing unnecessary resources out of the gate.

Plus, we share a recent client video that gave everyone a bit of a laugh about NFTs before the holidays. We always love showing off what VisitLex is up to.

Some links we referred to in the show include:

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Finding Your Capital S Story

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 16:54:00 -0000

As we close out Digging Deeper for 2021, I thought it best to return to a core focus of all good marketing communications and that is storytelling. All the technical wizardry and business objectives and channel approaches do you no good unless you are able to leverage all of them to tell a strong story.

Paul Furiga has written and edited 20,000 stories as a journalist, covering everything from murders to the White House. When he moved into the agency side of the marketing world, he spent a few years at Ketchum, long known as one of the world’s top PR firms. And for the last 20 years, he has lead his own firm, WordWrite, where storytelling is the linchpin of the offering and its client’s success.

Paul has brought his results-driven approach to storytelling for business to bear in a new book called Finding Your Capital S Story. He’s here today to send us into the holiday with some good advice to ponder as we ready to tell our own story in 2022.

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Meet Cornett's own TikTok Influencer – Senior Web Developer Matt Hudgins

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 13:30:00 -0000

In today’s episode, we get to know Cornett senior web developer Matt Hudgins. Not only is he an award winning web-developer and incredibly talented coder, but he has an interesting side gig, if you will. He’s our resident TikTok influencer. Matt produces how-to’s on coding and technology, showing off the cool tricks and inventions he tinkers with on the side. Some of his videos have earned over 1 million views and he’s collected almost 40,000 followers on the platform.

AdWeek thought Matt’s nights and weekends hobby was so interesting, it honored him with a Gold Winner award at the magazine’s Side Show Awards this fall. He was one of two Cornett employees with Side Show awards. You’ll meet the other soon enough here on Digging Deeper.

We talked to Matt about his rise on TikTok, got some tips and tricks from him for you to use on the platform, and found out that one of his favorite TikTok-ers is the tech talk drag queen Anna Lytical.

Enjoy!

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The Challenge of B2B and Tech Marketing

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 16:38:00 -0000

Business-to-business marketing is different than the business-to-consumer approach. Add the complexities of technology to the product and it can get far more layered and confusing.

Marcy Massura is not only very skilled at translating the complex to drive marketing success for B2B and tech companies, but she has a specific focus on aligning brand marketing strategies with business objectives.

Massura is the chief marketing officer at Brightspot which is a technology company that provides content management systems for websites, apps and other executions, as well as other services. We talk to her about that, the challenges of B2B and tech marketing, the fight for prospect’s attention and more.

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Finding Consumer Insights Via Social Media

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 16:39:00 -0000

When you think social listening, you probably, by default, think customer service and social consumer care. But did you know that advanced brands use social listening to gather consumer insights? You can mine social media conversations for the types of information you might expect from focus groups or research.

On this episode of Digging Deeper, we pick the brain of Todd Grossman, the chief adoption officer for Talkwalker. That platform is one of the top social analytics and market insights platforms on the market today.

Grossman moved into his current role after being the CEO for the Americas for the company since 2015. Prior to that he was in leadership at Precise Media and spent a good long tenure at PR Newswire and Multi-Vu, both of which I believe were acquired by Cision along the way. So his background in the media insights world is deep.

Also mentioned on the show:

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Advertising Trends Heading Into 2022 with AdWeek's David Griner

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:06:00 -0000

As we head into the last month of 2021, the inevitable barrage of 2022 planning blog posts and trend predictions will flood the social medias for those of us in the advertising and marketing business. We thought we'd get a more direct from the horses mouth jump on what's new and next in the industry by inviting one of those ad biz watchers to the show.

David Griner is AdWeek's international editor and host of the publication's Yeah, That Might Be An Ad podcast. His role has evolved through covering and editing content around innovation in the advertising space to now covering the industry on a global scale. He writes about the most innovative creative ideas and brands in the space and keeps a finger on the pulse of what's happening and what's next.

Griner isn't just an industry scribe, however. Prior to AdWeek, he oversaw digital content and social media at Luckie & Company, a great agency in Birmingham, Ala. He brings a wealth of knowledge of the business, as well as the industry to the table.

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How Lagunitas is Disrupting the Beverage Industry

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 16:45:00 -0000

When your brand is highly dependent on event marketing to grow and a pandemic hits, what do you do? Paige Guzman, the chief marketing officer at Lagunitas Brewing Company, knows the answer all too well. She had to pivot the brand in her new role and find different paths to consumers. The result is a disruptive approach to the beverage industry that has elevated Lagunitas from a regional craft brew to a global brand taking the concept of craft beverages to new heights.

Guzman joined Digging Deeper to talk about the pandemic pivot, how digital has infused a new approach and connection to its consumers, and what shaking up the beverage space is really like.

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Audio Exclusive: Cornett's Black History Trivia Night

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 12:00:00 -0000

In the first of new audio-only, exclusive episodes of Digging Deeper, host Jason Falls reports back on Cornett's recent Black History Trivia Night event. The entire agency got together at a local art gallery to have a bar trivia style learning experience around Black History. It’s part of an ongoing effort at Cornett for us all to recognize, learn and embrace a more diverse cultural, racial and social makeup, as an agency in service to our employees and clients, but also just as citizens of the world and our community.

So what did the Cornett team learn at our Black History Trivia Night event? Quite a bit. And we had such a good experience learning and socializing together around this idea, we wanted to share it with all of you.

Cornett’s Black History Trivia Night organized by our Action Plan team. Their broad task is to keep us on task and not just pay lip service to the agency improvement initiatives we’ve started in the last 3-4 years. The team, which consisted of Audrey Moeglin from our account planning team, Camille Wright, a junior graphic designer here, Sara Reising our creative resource manager, and Tajah McQueen who is on my team as a digital engagement manager.

The rules were set like bar trivia. The winning team took home bragging rights. We all took home more knowledge and understanding of Black History.

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How to Inspire Cult-Like Brand Followings

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 16:46:00 -0000

Every brand probably wants to have followers it describes as cult-like in their adoration and worship of the brand. But how do you foster the good from that description and avoid the bad?

Chris Kneeland knows. He is the co-founder of Cult Collective, a firm based in Calgary, Alberta, focused on helping brands drive irrational customer loyalty. He’s also behind The Gathering, an annual event that brings folks together to talk about those brands. He also has a book called FIX: A New Presecription to Cure Disengaged Customers, Prospects, or Staff.

He joined Digging Deeper to dig deeper into the mindset of employees and customers to inspire cult-like followings for businesses and brands of all sizes.

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Brand Hacks to Connect Consumers with Meaning

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 15:24:00 -0000

The new book from Dr. Emmanuel Probst is a thoughtful and interesting look at how brands can build their direction on helping customers fulfill various needs. Brand Hacks - How to Build Brands by Fulfilling The Consumer Quest for Meaning is on sale now online and in bookstores everywhere. From personal to social and emotional need seeking, the book details reasons, ideas and examples of brands hacking their way to long-term success.

Dr. Probst is a long-time consumer researcher and is currently the senior vice-president for brand health tracking at Ipsos, a global market research firm. He is also an adjunct professor at UCLA.

He joined host Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to talk about how brands can be built on fulfilling those consumer quest for meaning.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

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Managing and Marketing Small and Medium Businesses

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 15:41:00 -0000

Managing and marketing a small to medium business is a world of headache and heartache for many. But for some, it can be optimized and fine tuned to the skills and abilities of the business owner and their team. Sometimes, staffing or freelance help balance it out. Other times, software comes to bear on making the SMB run more smoothly.

Gordon Henry is the chief strategy officer for Thryv, a management and marketing software solution catering to small and medium businesses. He joined Digging Deeper to talk about the challenges and potential solutions, both software and not, to making being a small or medium business owner more fun than not.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

If your brand or agency would like to find out more, go to PodchaserPro.com/falls. Sign up there and make your podcast outreach and media planning more effective!

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Are you Winfluencing?

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:13:00 -0000

Once upon a time an influencer named Arii tried to turn her 2 million followers into a buying audience for a new product line. It failed.

In Winfluence - Reframing Influencer Marketing to Ignite Your Brand, Cornett's own Jason Falls explained what Arii either did wrong, or more accurately didn't do, that could have spelled a very different outcome. Jason shares the story and Richard Cialdini's six principles of persuasion on this week's episode of Digging Deeper.

He also takes you through the Winfluence Priority and Winfluence Success Scorecards from the book to help you pick and measure influencers more successfully.

This weeks episode of Digging Deeper is sponsored by Tagger, our influencer marketing software of choice. Learn more at jason.online/tagger.

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New Book Wraps Useful Advice Into the Marketing of Space

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 13:09:00 -0000

Space Marketing is the new book from communications veteran Izzy House. The work dives into the history of the marketing of the U.S. and other space programs to set the stage for our current era of the commercialization of space travel.

But nestled in the folds of interesting stories and thoughts about everything from Sputnik to Space X is a book full of just good, old fashioned, smart marketing advice. In fact, people who don't have any interest in space can get a lot out of this book to market their own businesses.

House is a veteran of the transportation communication space. She and Cornett's Jason Falls dive into her background, her love of space and what the marketing of the next frontier looks like now that commercial space travel is emerging.

You can find the book on Amazon and more about Izzy House on her website.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

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The Path of Digital Transformation Tastes of Chicago

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 16:05:00 -0000

Few companies have experienced digital transformation quite like Tastes of Chicago. The e-commerce brand within the Lou Malnati group of brands was almost an afterthought a few years ago. They sold Chicago-style pizza direct-to-consumer online.

Then COVID hit and business exploded. Now, Tastes of Chicago was a big revenue driver for the corporation and engineering the shift fell on the shoulders of Ahin Thomas.

He joined the company after years in the tech startup and investment space and was named chief revenue officer. His challenge was to help Tastes of Chicago latch on to the reigns the sudden boon in online sales presented and grow the brand.

We connected on Digging Deeper to find out more about the digital transformation of the e-commerce brand and see what the future holds for Ahin and Tastes of Chicago.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

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Tackling the Challenge of Earned Media Measurement

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 15:34:00 -0000

Does your brand have a grasp on measurement and analytics for earned media? Not many do. In fact, public relations and earned media have been some of the most difficult marketing outputs to quantify success with for decades.

The digital nature of both today should make it easier to know what you get out of your public relations efforts. But the combination of indirect or soft business goals (awareness, impressions, public opinion) and PR professionals lacking the analytics experience to translate those to business value has kept the return on earned media cloudy.

Kelsey Raymond has spent 10 years solving for this at Influence & Co., a content marketing and public relations firm based in Missouri. She joined Digging Deeper to talk about the challenge of earned media measurement and share her thoughts on how your brand can clear the water.

Some additional resources for the thinking include:

Influence & Co's Modern Guide to PR: https://offers.influenceandco.com/download-your-guide-to-modern-pr
Influence & Co's 2021 State of Digital Media report, which includes an analysis of 127,000+ pieces of digital content and insights from publication editors: https://offers.influenceandco.com/state-of-digital-media

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

If your brand or agency would like to find out more, go to PodchaserPro.com/falls. Sign up there and make your podcast outreach and media planning more effective!

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What Marketers Need to Know About Artificial Intelligence

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 15:36:00 -0000

Few buzzwords have been as hot or used as "artificial intelligence" or "AI" and "machine learning" in the last few years. Marketers are pitched dozens of tools and approaches each month my martech companies promising this is how one or other other will revolutionize your business.

But the reactions to using AI for marketing are mixed. Some joyously say "yes" and dive in hoping they figure it out. Others are scared that it requires massive investments in staff and technology just to have a modest practice using AI.

Raj Venkatesan joined Digging Deeper to talk about his new book, The AI Marketing Canvas - A Five-Stage Road Map to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, which is a how-to book for marketers and businesses looking to build smart AI strategies. The book is co-authored by Jim Lecinscki. Venkatesan is also the Ronald Trzcinski Professor of Business Administration in the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, and the co-author of the book Marketing Analytics.

He explained the difference in AI and machine learning, talked about neural networks and deep learning, then took us through the five stages of the AI Marketing Canvas.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

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Marketing Your Startup

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:33:00 -0000

Andrew Lee Miller knows all about startups. He’s even known as a prolific bootstrapped startup marketing expert. In the past 15 years, he has driven three venture capital-backed startup exists and dozens of successfully funded companies.

His new book The Startup Growth Guide is chock full of helpful advice for entrepreneurs to build their businesses without a marketing budget. He joined Digging Deeper to share those tips and tricks, help us know when to step up and create a marketing budget as you scale and more.

You can find his book at StartupGrowthBook.com and him on LinkedIn.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro.

One hundred million Americans each month listen to podcasts. For your business, or if you’re at an agency, your client’s business, ignoring podcasts as a method to reach an audience is not smart. But podcasts are hard to find, hard to track and it’s nearly impossible to find reliable audience size and demographic information to know which podcasts to sponsor or to pitch right?

PodChaserPro is the professional version of Podchaser, which helps anyone find, manage, rate and follow podcasts. I think of it as an IMDB for podcasts. You don’t have to clutter your podcast app with a bunch of subscriptions you never listen to. Podchaser helps you find and manage them like you’re subscribing to blogs in one place.

PodchaserPro, however, gives you access to that critical audience information you need for media planning and buying, or public relations or influencer outreach to podcasts. You find a podcast, click on the Pro tab and see everything you need right there. If there’s a piece of information you don’t see or can’t find, PodchaserPro subscribers have a personal concierge. Just ask them to go find it and within a day or so, they get back to you.

We have used PodchaserPro to make recommendations for media buys and sponsorships to clients. We have also used it to prioritize podcasts for pitching guests and trying to be a part of the show itself. It’s a must-have tool for finding, prioritizing, targeting and tracking podcasts for your business or clients.

If your brand or agency would like to find out more, go to PodchaserPro.com/falls. Sign up there and make your podcast outreach and media planning more effective!

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Learning to Wholesale to Ignite Your Retail Business

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 15:38:00 -0000

There are three types of retailers: Those that sell their own products exclusively, those that sell other's products and those that do both. If you're one that sells your own products, Emily Grey has some advice for you.

She not only owns her own clothing and gift store in Raleigh, North Carolina called The Flourish Market, which has a great story to tell, but she also moonlights helping makers and businesses get their products on the shelves at retailers by educating folks on approaches to wholesaling.

We talked to Emily about purpose-driven businesses, leveraging other retailers in your own business and building out wholesale business for your retail store.

Also, Twitter has announced another advertising-focused feature. Our own Jason Falls shares his typical contrarian rant about the resounding "meh" of the move.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by PodchaserPro. One hundred million Americans each month listen to podcasts. For your business, or if you’re at an agency, your client’s business, ignoring podcasts as a method to reach an audience is not smart. But podcasts are hard to find, hard to track and it’s nearly impossible to find reliable audience size and demographic information to know which podcasts to sponsor or to pitch right?

If your brand or agency would like to find out more, go to PodchaserPro.com/falls. Sign up there and make your podcast outreach and media planning more effective!

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What You Need to Know About Customer Experience

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 14:35:00 -0000

How much time do you spend thinking about or working on your customer’s experience? The guest on this episode of Digging Deeper would probably argue that if you’re not spending a good portion of your time there, you need to. Brad Cleveland is an expert on customer experience and the founding partner and former CEO of the International Customer Management Institute. He’s the author of the new book Leading the Customer Experience: How to Chart a Course and Deliver Outstanding Results.

He and host Jason Falls talk about the state of customer experience in a world that seems to be overrun with volatile customers and bad experiences. What does your brand need to know and do to address customer experience today? Give the episode a watch or listen and find out.

This episode of Digging Deeper is less sponsored by someone and more just presented by a new project Jason Falls has built he wants you to know about. Our friends at Get.Online, the domain name provider, along with Ryan Foland and Kim Garst have produced three online courses that combined, form the .Online Business Academy.

It’s a series of easy to follow online courses built to help you start your own business, make a business plan, build a website for your business and start driving revenue for that thing you’ve always wanted to launch. Ryan starts off the academy’s curriculum with a course on how to come up with a business idea that doesn’t suck. The course from Kim is how to write an online business plan you will actually use. And then Jason's course is how to set up and launch your business website to attract customers.

The .Online Business Academy is FREE! The lessons are broken up into short videos and activities, so you can do a little at a time. Or, of course you can dive in and complete the entire academy lessons all in one day.

So if you’ve been thinking about starting your own business or you or someone you know needs help to take that idea to the next level, The dot-Online Business Academy is live and waiting for you. Visit jason.online/academy right now.

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Slacking Off: Tips on Working from Home with Mike Arnold

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:16:00 -0000

Mike Arnold has worked from home for 15 years. In fact, he calls himself a work-from-home entrepreneur. His careers has put him in consulting roles with some nice brands like Cox Automotive, Verizon Super Pages and several major finance companies. He’s boiled all that experience into a new book called Slacking Off: A Successful Way to Work From Home. As we settle into new work environs, he has some tips and ideas for the new post-COVID workforce.

Also on this episode, Jason reveals his top five word-of-mouth marketing books.

This episode of Digging Deeper is sponsored by Julius, the end-to-end influencer marketing solution. If you’ve read Jason Falls' book Winfluence - Reframing Influencer Marketing to Ignite Your Brand, you know he and Cornett have depended on Julius for influencer discovery and campaign management for some time. When we look for the right influencer for client projects, Julius allows us to search across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs and more. When we click into an influencer’s profile, we see their audience demographics, what other networks they have reach through and quickly scan their recent posts to decide if they’re a right influencer for the client in question. All the pieces of campaign management are there, too. Julius allows you to reach out, document contracts, share and approve influencer content and, of course, measure the ROI of each campaign, influencer or post. You owe it to your brand or agency to do a demo of Julius today. Go to jason.online/julius and request one.

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Is Your Business Ready for the Digital Pivot?

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 14:42:00 -0000

Shockingly, a good portion of both marketers and businesses are not hip to the digital world. These laggards are in danger of falling behind, then falling off the ability to succeed in today's marketplace.

Eric Schwartzman wants to put an end to that and help those not yet in transition, or those who are finding the transition difficult. His new book The Digital Pivot is a blueprint for any business, owner, marketer or entrepreneur to not just understand all the facets of digital marketing, but excel in implementing them. He joined Digging Deeper to talk about the book, why some have fallen behind, and what they need to do to catch up.

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Find Your Red Thread

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 13:49:00 -0000

There's a huge difference in a brand strategy and a content strategy. There's also a huge difference in brand messaging and the everyday, tactical social content that delivers it. But in order to be ultimately successful with all of the above, brands need to weave them all together into a cohesive execution. And most brands don't.

Tamsen Webster has studied this problem and has a solution in her new book Find Your Red Thread. She joined Jason Falls on Digging Deeper this week to explore how to execute on a messaging strategy in day-to-day social posts, how to connect your brand's voice and promise through the creative and strategic process to execute well and beyond.

The book is fantastic. Enjoy the interview, then go get your copy and Find Your Red Thread.

This episode of Digging Deeper is brought to you by MarcomGather. There is nothing worse than wasting countless hours looking for digital files on your intranet, shared drive, desktop, cloud storage, or excel files. Say goodbye to the days of overflowing, unorganized file storage, and hello to finding files with speed and clarity. MarcomGather, your new favorite digital asset management solution, empowers your team to stay organized, so you can get back to the parts of your job you enjoy. With MarcomGather you can quickly centralize assets, eliminate unorganized file storage, and best of all - never lose track of your files again. Experience MarcomGather free for 30 days at jason.online.marcom.

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How Can Your Brand Bridge The Trust Gap?

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:44:00 -0000

There's a trust gap between consumers and brands that has been growing for decades. For some, social media has helped close the gap, but only for those who truly understand the dynamics of social media. For others, the spray-and-pray, blast messages just push consumers farther away.

Margot Bloomstein is a well-known content marketing strategist who has written a new book about closing that gap. It's called Trustworthy. She joined us on Digging Deeper to help brands understand the gap, how to close it and how to ultimately earn trust from your audiences.

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What happens when a Creative Director leads with social and digital?

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 15:50:00 -0000

The typical advertising agency creative director is someone steeped in television, print, radio, outdoor and the like. They probably went to art school and have spent time building creative strategies. But the world of digital and social media has changed the requisite background for what we call creative directors today.

Bridget Jewell is one of the fabulous creative directors at Periscope, an agency with offices around the world, but based in Minneapolis. She has developed award-winning social, PR and influencer programs for the likes of Hefty, Trolli and Black Forest candies, Great Clips, Target, the Minnesota Twins, Intuit and many more. She’s joined Digging Deeper to tell us about it and talk creativity with brands.

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Digging Deeper on Influence and Persuasion

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 15:55:00 -0000

Brian Ahearn knows a thing or two about persuasion. After a two-decade plus career in sales he started teaching people his techniques. Fast-forward another decade or so and he's a certified Cialdini instructor and author of two books.

His first book, Influence People, was declared one of the top 100 all-time books on influence by BookAuthority. His latest book, Persuasive Selling, is focused on insurance agents, but has cross-vertical approaches to help everyone. More than anything, techniques Ahearn teaches help bridge the gap that sometimes exists between marketing and sales.

Jason also discusses the latest influencer fraud statistics and report by HypeAuditor in the episode. Find more about that data at HypeAuditor.com.

This episode of Digging Deeper is sponsored by Julius, the end-to-end influencer marketing solution. If you’ve read Jason Falls' book Winfluence - Reframing Influencer Marketing to Ignite Your Brand, you know he and Cornett have depended on Julius for influencer discovery and campaign management for some time. When we look for the right influencer for client projects, Julius allows us to search across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs and more. When we click into an influencer’s profile, we see their audience demographics, what other networks they have reach through and quickly scan their recent posts to decide if they’re a right influencer for the client in question. All the pieces of campaign management are there, too. Julius allows you to reach out, document contracts, share and approve influencer content and, of course, measure the ROI of each campaign, influencer or post. You owe it to your brand or agency to do a demo of Julius today. Go to jason.online/julius and request one. That’s jason.online/julius.

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The CEO's Perspective on Marketing

Tue, 18 May 2021 15:50:00 -0000

Marketers often exist in their own bubble. A select few get some face time outside of that bubble with the CEO of the company they work with or of the brands they work for. We wanted to change that on Digging Deeper, so we invited a CEO in to give us that executive position on marketing, sales, social media and more.

Ken Romanzi is the former CEO of B&G Foods who now serves as an advisor and principal at The New England Consulting Group. That company produces some of the most well-known consumer brands out there. Crisco, Cream of Wheat, Green Giant, Ortega, Molly McButter, Snackwells, and Weber, among others. His background also includes time at WhiteWave Foods, OceanSpray and he was once president of U.S. Toys for Hasbro.

He stopped by Digging Deeper to talk about the breadth and depth of B&G Foods, how they were organized, where marketing and sales meshed and beyond. The discuss was a valuable peek behind the C-Suite's curtain for all of us.

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Defining Your Brand

Tue, 11 May 2021 15:45:00 -0000

Lots of agencies, consultants and experts throw around the word "brand" but don't ever seem to really grasp what it is and explain it in a way you can understand it. Nick Westergaard has spent a career trying to fix that. His Brand Driven Digital agency has done so for many businesses over the years. He's turned that expertise into two books: Brand Now - How to Stand Out in a Crowded, Distracted World, and Get Scrappy - Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small.

Nick joined us on Digging Deeper to help better define the concept of brand and branding. He also explained what brand storytelling is and how businesses should use it. His ideas can help you understand your brand and what it takes to make it stand out in today's noisy marketplace.

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Hacking Growth Hacking

Tue, 04 May 2021 15:55:00 -0000

Growth hacking strikes some people as something that computer software companies do. But Shopify's Morgan Brown, co-author of the book Hacking Growth, knows that it's a process any business can leverage to leverage data and efficient budgets of time and resources to grow more effectively, and in some cases, to be more successful than originally planned.

Brown is a former product director at Facebook and current vice-president for growth at Shopify. He joined Digging Deeper to demystify growth hacking for the rest of us and talk about the future of his company, one of the world's largest e-commerce software solutions for businesses of all sizes.

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How to Find and Use Your Cumulative Advantage

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 15:52:00 -0000

Best-selling author Mark Schaefer's new book is called Cumulative Advantage. It is a fantastic investigation of the secret sauce that seems to make some people successful and others perhaps not so. He explains the concept of Cumulative Advantage and how you can set yourself up to be successful with it rather than sitting by and watching other people do it while you do not.

Schaefer is a multiple-times best-selling author, the man behind the popular marketing blog Businesses Grow and a highly sought-after keynote speaker in the marketing ecosystem. He and host Jason Falls also discuss their common topic passion of influencer marketing and how it impacts the world of marketing to day.

Schaefer and Falls are fellow West Virginia University graduates. The pair playfully throws a stake in the ground about who invented the burning of couches for sports celebrations, as well.

Falls then offers up some perspective on the recent SAG-AFTRA influencer agreement in a follow-up to his article on the topic at Entrepreneur.

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Reclaiming and Growing a Family Brand

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 13:40:00 -0000

Stephanie Stuckey wasn't satisfied with her family's brand being controlled by someone else. So, decades after her grandfather sold the roadside oasis brand popular among travelers and for its famous pecan rolls, she bought it back.

Stuckey is now revitalizing a brand that is dependent on highway travel and family road trips. But that looks very different in 2021 than it would have 20 years ago. Heck, it even looks different than it would have two years ago.

She joined Christy Hiler and Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to talk about the revitalization of Stuckey's, controlling her own pecan supply chain and more.

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Why Your Copywriting Sucks ... And What To Do About It

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 14:28:00 -0000

Copywriter Jerry McTigue says we should stop using words that sound good but say nothing. His new book Business Blather is a short primer on why your copywriting sucks ... or perhaps other people's copywriting sucks. He is on a mission to help eliminate corporate speak and jargon soup from everything from Ads to LinkedIn profiles.

Jerry joined Digging Deeper to chat with Jason Falls about the confluence of sedentary thinking and synergistic extrapolation that is riddling the infrastructure of today's corporate communications zeitgeist. (See what we did there?)

For the seasoned copywriter all the way across the continuum to business owner who doesn't know a thing about writing, this episode of Digging Deeper will prove useful.

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What Brands Can Learn from Content Marketing in College Athletics

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 14:40:00 -0000

Content marketing is a very unique animal in the world of sports. But it's a unique animal brands can learn from.

Charles Bloom spent over 17 years as the Associate Commissioner at the Southeastern Conference and helped forge that league's moves into first the digital space, then the branded content world with the launch of its own television network. He returned to campus a few years ago and is now the Executive Associate Athletics Director, Chief of Staff and Chief Communications Officer at the University of South Carolina, his alma mater.

Bloom joined Digging Deeper on the morning after the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game to talk college athletics, content marketing and more. Dive in and hear how brands can take a page from college athletics and build their branded content in ways they perhaps never thought possible.

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Getting the 2021 Download on Consumer Behavior and Social Media

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 15:50:00 -0000

The 2021 edition of The Infinite Dial is out. The annual research report from Edison Research and Triton Digital has become the gold standard survey of U.S. consumer behavior and the use of both technology in the form of smart phones, tablets and connected devices; and social media, including streaming audio and podcasting.

Tom Webster is Edison's senior vice-president for strategy and marketing and one of the authors of the research. He joined Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to discuss the findings of this year's study. Podcasting is up, TikTok is bullish and connected devices continue their growth. The pair dive deeper into the data and uncover what brand marketers need to know.

Also in this episode, host Jason Falls shares insights from a recent article by analytics guru Christopher Penn. He thinks the coming constriction on third party cookie targeting by Google, Apple and others will open the door even wider for brands to leverage influencer marketing. Falls explains.

The Power of the Purpose-Driven Brand

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 15:46:00 -0000

The concept of the purpose-driven brand often gets lost in the assumption that means a company that gives to charity or supports a cause. Purpose-driven is a deeper concept that can not just be a great feather in the cap of a brand, but the driving force behind everything it does.

Jeff Hilimire has made a career out of building purpose-driven brands. His agency Dragon Army specializes in it. Jeff spends a lot of his free time doing purpose-driven things like building 48 in 48 which provides free websites to non-profits and Ripples of Hope which provides incubator support for businesses with a higher purpose.

On this episode of Digging Deeper, we dive into what being purpose driven means and how it can benefit businesses and brands of all sizes.

You can find Hilimire on LinkedIn, Dragon Army online and the other ventures we discussed here:

Digging Deeper listeners get 20% off the book's retail pricing by buying online at jason.online/buywinfluence and using the code FALLS20.

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Is this a New Renaissance in Communications and Technology?

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 12:49:00 -0000

David Armano has always been on the bleeding edge of communications. The futurist, brand builder, designer and thinker spent much of the last decade leading thinking at Edelman, the world's largest PR firm. He now says indicators are ripe in telling us we're entering a new Renaissance of communications and technology.

Armano says social audio, the token economy and subscription-based content, feel a lot like the era after the recession of 2008 when the social media world exploded with Snapchat, Instagram and other shifts in how consumers use the Internet, their devices and how brands connect with them. Is he right?

Digging Deeper listeners get 20% off the book's retail pricing by buying online at jason.online/buywinfluence and using the code FALLS20.

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The Power of Live Streaming for Brand Content Strategy

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 13:55:00 -0000

Live streaming has begun to revolutionize the way many brands, podcasts and even consultants reach their customers. Christoph Trappe has been in the middle of the live streaming revolution and says all brands should look to live streaming as an effective way to engage their audiences.

He joined Digging Deeper to talk about his Create Once, Publish Everywhere approach and discuss the ins and outs of live streaming. He also has a new book out called Going Live that helps businesses understand and execute live streaming projects.

Trappe actually credits Digging Deeper for inspiring a lot of his work in the area. He came on the old version of Jason Falls's live streams that became Digging Deeper and realized live streaming was the content strategy wave of the future. Dig in and learn more from him today on the show.

Digging Deeper listeners get 20% off the book's retail pricing by buying online at jason.online/buywinfluence and using the code FALLS20.

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The Global Marketing and Sales Dynamics for Manufacturers

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:01:17 -0000

Readying your brand for a product launch and aligning sales and marketing is one challenge. Doing it for a global product launch is another. Andrew Deutsch of Fangled Tech International specializes in helping ready manufacturing brands for go-to-market sales and marketing strategies, both domestically and globally. His extensive experience in international markets and the industrial space helps him create successful programs for dozens of clients.

Deutsch joined Digging Deeper to dive into the things marketers need to be aware of when going global, how to assess whether or not a given market is right for your brand and the challenges you might face in doing so. He also breaks down the often tortured line between sales and marketing, diagnosing the reasons behind most dysfunctions between the two.

Give it a listen and share the episode with a colleague who might enjoy it as well.

Digging Deeper listeners get 20% off the book's retail pricing by buying online at jason.online/buywinfluence and using the code FALLS20.

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Do We Need to Be in the Clubhouse?

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:29:48 -0000

Few people see the future like Mitch Joel. The best-selling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTL ALT DEL is a digital thinker and futurist who always has a finger on the pulse of what's new and what's next.

Joel joined Digging Deeper to talk about the latest social networking sensation, Clubhouse, and the world of social audio. He and host Jason Falls also dive into what the world of work and digital will look like in a post-COVID world and the potential regulatory impacts if various governments begin poking into the various monopolies at play.

See the future of digital and social networking with Mitch Joel on this episode of Digging Deeper.

Find Mitch Joel online at MitchJoel.com. His podcast is at SixPixels.com. You can also find him on LinkedIn.

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Improving Your Business Communications by Using the N.I.C.E Method

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 13:52:00 -0000

Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were all more NICE? Wouldn't businesses run more smoothly if we were all more NICE? Dave Delaney thinks so. The Nashville-based communications consultant developed a method of training and teaching businesses how to communicate and function better by using a method he calls NICE.

Dave joined Digging Deeper to chat about the method, why we've reached a state of businesses being dysfunctional and what the world of social media may have to do with it and more. Dave also recounts the story of how he was one of the first people to launch, build and sell a social network. He did so in Ireland in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Learn to be more NICE as a business today on Digging Deeper.

You can find Dave Delaney online at DaveDelaney.me. His NICE podcast is at nicepodcast.co. Dave is also on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Digging Deeper listeners get 20% off the book's retail pricing by buying online at jason.online/buywinfluence and using the code FALLS20.

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What it Takes to Create, Disrupt and Thrive

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 13:52:00 -0000

Lots of businesses and agencies talk about creativity and disruption. Paula Dezzutti lives and breathes it. "Pixie Paula" as she is known, is the CEO of Local Choice Spirits, which is disrupting the spirits industry with celebrity and influencer-driven brands like Tyler Boone’s Boone’s Bourbon, hip-hop start Booze Bad Azz’s Boosie Juice and Trina Braxton’s Bar Chix. She also heads up Striped Pig Distillery.

But Paula is also the force behind Skirt Magazine and a dozen other projects. She joined us on Digging Deeper to talk about creativity, being the disruptive force in the room and beyond.

Find Paula on LinkedIn and Local Choice Spirits at LocalChoiceSpirits.com.

This episode of Digging Deeper is supported by PodchaserPro, the podcast research and analytics platform Jason talked about. If you're a media planner or public relations professional looking for demographic and audience information on podcasts, you can join PodchaserPro at PodchaserPro.com/falls.

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Discovering Heartbeat Leadership for Organizational Growth

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 13:42:00 -0000

Leadership today is challenged. Whether it's adjusting to an at-home or even reduced workforce because of COVID-19, or navigating a company's way through integrating into the social conscious of consumers demanding companies take stands for the betterment of society, leadership is taxed.

Dawn Kirk has some advice and answers to guide leaders of all walks of life in her new book Heartbeat Leadership. She joined Digging Deeper to talk about leading large organizations and tackling the challenges 2020 and 2021 have brought businesses.

Kirk spent over 26 years with Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, then also spent time at Coca-Cola leading teams of up to 5,000 people. She was recently named one of Georgia’s 100 Most Powerful and Influential Women.

Hear what Kirk had to say about how even a company's employees can contribute to leadership on this episode of Digging Deeper.

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Digging Deep into SEO and Domain Names for Merchandising Your Brand

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 13:44:00 -0000

New top level domains are popping up with more frequency these days, but are they reliable? Is a .Store .Online or .Tech domain as SEO-worthy as .com or .net? Domain name and search expert Bill Hartzer has done the testing and research to find out. He shared several insights and tests on Digging Deeper to illustrate that new top level domains can even be more effective at getting indexed and ranking well for search terms than their older counter parts.

Host Jason Falls and Hartzer discuss SEO in 2021, the domain name issue and much more on this week's edition of Digging Deeper. Falls even vets his new white paper, The Power of Your Brand in Merchandising, through Hartzer's data. The show is presented by Get.Store where the .store new top level domains are just $1.99 when you use the code JASONWP.

Bill Hartzer can be found online at BillHartzer.com where he blogs or at his consultancy website at HartzerConsulting.com. He has a digital marketing podcast that is broadcast as a YouTube show, and can be found on LinkedIn as well.

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Building Credibility for You or Your Brand

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 14:01:00 -0000

Credibility expert Mitchell Levy interviewed 500 industry thought leaders on how to be credible. The output of that project is his new book Credibility Nation. In the book, he redefines how we think of credibility and teaches new ideas on how to build it for you and your brand.

Levy's background is in book publishing where he has helped hundreds of authors establish credibility for themselves through expressing their expertise in print. But his new focus makes the process less constraining. He says we should say goodbye to the unique selling proposition and the sizzle reel, replacing them with slight variations that help communicate our credibility more effectively.

Plus, host Jason Falls shares some of Cornett's recent work with VisitLex and 21c Museum Hotels to pay homage to The Queen's Gambit.

If you learned something from the episode, please rate the podcast wherever you listen. And share it with a friend who may enjoy it as well.

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Getting Fancy with Social Commerce and Sales Channels

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 13:45:00 -0000

Social commerce is a big term with a lot of meanings. Fancy.com is trying to put more definition around it for consumers of the site's marketplace of custom and interesting items for home decor, fashion, accessories and beyond.

Abbey Schoenberg, Fancy.com's director of marketing, joined Digging Deeper to talk about the site's approach to growing its online retail presence, incorporating social commerce into how people shop and the sales channels and strategies she uses for the site's growth. Schoenberg spent time at Forever21 and Oakley, as well as travel brand Contiki Holidays before landing at Fancy.com.

Give the episode a listen and pass it along to your colleagues so they can get Fancy about social commerce.

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Kicking off 2021 with KickHouse CEO Jessica Yarmey

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 14:08:00 -0000

Jessica Yarmey started KickHouse, a franchise fitness studio brand, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, she started it in many ways because of the pandemic. The concept grew quickly. She added 35 stores in a matter of weeks and has a goal of 200 studios by the end of 2021.

Yarmey joined Digging Deeper to share the creativity that went into filling what she called a void in the fitness marketplace—not a void in kick boxing concepts—a void in how studio owners were supported. Christy Hiler and Jason Falls chat with Yarmey about what appears to be a bright 2021 for her.

Give it a listen and share it with someone who you think will be inspired to kick-start their 2021 with an interview with the CEO of KickHouse!

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Unwrapping Creativity for the Holidays

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 13:55:00 -0000

As the holiday season comes upon us and 2020 comes to a close, we thought it appropriate to unwrap creativity a bit on Digging Deeper. Whit Hiler, Cornett's executive creative director, joined Jason Falls to talk about creativity, how COVID has impacted creative thinking and what his litmus tests are for ideas and new hires.

Hiler was named one of AdWeek's Creative 100 last year and was once called the most talented creative in America by Digiday. We certainly won't argue with that. He's one of the reasons Cornett helps make creativity a business advantage for our clients.

Whit and Jason talk about the successes our client at VisitLex has had being creative in a challenging year for the tourism industry, the thinking behind the now famous NeighSMR video (which has 1.9 million views on YouTube) and a lot more.

So grab the ribbon and rip into the gift that is creativity and Whit Hiler. (And have a happy holiday, too!)

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Driving Search Visibility with Public Relations

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 13:48:00 -0000

Search visibility refers to how many links on a given search result page lead to your brand. They may not be your website, especially if you have e-commerce or retail channels that compete for terms, too. But it's not just SEO that effects visibility, either.

Chris Dickey is the CEO of Visably, a software that offers an analysis of your true search visibility -- accounting for third party websites and sources as channels -- to illustrate just how visible you are. He joined Digging Deeper to explain the role of public relations in search visibility and how brands can improve how search result-optimized they truly are.

Give it a listen and share it with a PR, or SEO, professional you know.

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The Power of Corporate Storytelling

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 13:56:00 -0000

Few people are more widely known for social media marketing than Scott Monty. The first executive specifically dedicated to social media marketing at a Fortune 10 brand, Monty led those efforts at Ford Motor Company from 2008-14. His work has often been credited with helping Ford turn around its fortunes after the bailout controversies in the auto industry and the recession of the late 2000s.

Known for his relationship-building influence marketing programs and engaging executions with customers through Ford's social channels, Monty set a shinning example for future company social leads. But Monty was known in the industry before Ford. He was one of the original strategists for Crayon, Joseph Jaffe's groundbreaking social marketing firm that was one of the first dedicated social shops in the U.S.

Monty has spent much of his time since Ford building strategies for and counseling corporate executives and companies on the power of storytelling, transformational change in organizations and leadership. He joined Digging Deeper to talk about the power of storytelling, level set on influence marketing in 2020 and more.

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How to Drive Leads Using B2B Content Syndication

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 13:54:50 -0000

For business-to-business marketers, lead generation has become something of a puzzle. COVID has forced the postponement or cancellation of may conferences, exhibitions and events that some brands use as primary lead sources. But replacing part or even all of a company's leads with digital and virtual content isn't easy.

Netline is a company that offers B2B content syndication to drive leads. David Fortino, Netline's chief strategy officer, sat in on Digging Deeper to explain how that works, what the shifts he's seeing in the B2B space are and where companies can make up some of that difference. We also talked about the B2B research report Netline and On24 collaborated on as well.

Discover a creative way to drive leads with content syndication in this episode. And be sure to share it with a B2B marketing friend when you're done.

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Black Friday, Social Commerce and Pitching Your Clients

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 14:03:00 -0000

It's Thanksgiving week, so in lieu of a guest, Jason Falls opened the topics on the live stream and fielded questions from viewers on a variety of topics. With Black Friday upon us, the search and use statistic came to the forefront which opened a nice conversation and social commerce and advice for preparing your brand for the direct to consumer future.

Jason also shared an experience of being pitched an idea for a show guest that led to a cautionary tale for those doing similar public relations work for their brands and clients. And one viewer had some interesting questions on B2B marketing that opened the discussion as well.

Enjoy this open topic episode of Digging Deeper and have a happy holiday!

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In Search of Your Creator Mindset

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 13:48:16 -0000

Creativity fuels a good portion of what we do every day -- the universal "we," not just those of us at Cornett. Creativity expert Nir Bashan says as a species we've been lulled into turning off the creative side of our brand in favor of the analytical side to our detriment.

He joined Digging Deeper to talk about his approach to creativity, which he captured with useful ideas in his new book The Creator Mindset. He talks about why businesses don't know how to manage creativity, what we can all do to change that, how we can think differently about problems to fuel our own creativity and more.

Give the episode a watch or listen and let us know what drives your creativity as well.

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Inside the Influencer Mindset

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 13:25:00 -0000

Influencer marketing is on track to be a $50 billion industry by next year. That's one of the reasons we talk a lot about the topic on Digging Deeper. But we don't often get to look at the opportunity to connect with audiences via a trusted third party influencer from the other perspective -- that of the influencer themselves.

Malvika Sheth is a rising fashion, beauty and style influencer with her engaging channels found under the Style by Malvika brand name. She's active on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and her website. She joined host Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to talk about the life of an influencer, her entry point and relationships with brands and how she sees the industry evolving.

Dive into the episode and be sure to share it with colleagues who might benefit from being inside the influencer mindset.

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How COVID Couldn't Stop The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 14:02:11 -0000

COVID has certainly had an incredible impact on many businesses. The travel and tourism space may be affected as much, if not more, than any. But 2020 couldn't hold the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame back.

Risa Goehrke is the Hall's director of brand and content strategy. She joined Digging Deeper on induction ceremony week to talk about how COVID changed her team's plans, how they took a unique, authentic position about content but still engaged fans and followers during the down months and how the Hall has come out of the wave of summer obstacles with optimism and a new, amazing digital exhibit.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction program airs Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max. But Risa Goehrke gives Digging Deeper the scoop in this episode.

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The Shifting Scope for Creatives and Creativity

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 12:43:19 -0000

The creative scope of work has changed in the last decade. Copywriters, art directors and designers are being called upon to do very different work thanks to the explosion of digital and social media. David Bonner from On Ideas has overseen creative departments through those changes. He stopped by Digging Deeper to talk about the shifting landscape of creativity and creative.

Bonner is a former Navy Intelligence officer turned award-winning creative director. He an host Jason Falls discuss the impact of COVID, an agency's role in pushing clients toward social responsibility and more.

Plus, Jason shares a new creative community he's discovered for industry creatives over 40.

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Is Your Business Built to Suck?

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:58:00 -0000

Few people have had the impact on marketing and how marketers think in the last 15 years Joseph Jaffe has. From his five best-selling books to his frequent provocateur status in the media and on keynote stages, he has been the marketing industry's chief executive instigator.

His latest book declares that corporations are Built to Suck. In this episode of Digging Deeper, Jaffe talks about why and how businesses can avoid the inevitable evolution to such a status. We also talk about what he's learned from his new venture -- CoronaTV -- an interview show where he talks about the state of today and tomorrow with business and marketing leaders from around the world.

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The Delicious Creativity Behind Honey Baked Ham

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 12:46:57 -0000

Honey Baked Ham CMO Jo Ann Herold oversees a brand with over 400 retail locations, a booming direct-to-consumer business and an indelible brand. She joined Christy Hiler and Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to explain everything from the brand's history to its recent re-branding efforts.

Honey Baked Ham was founded 60 years ago in Detroit by Harry J. Hoenselaar, who invented the spiral slicer. The brand is bordering on the territory of being a generic label, like Kleenex or White Out. You don't typically hear people saying they're getting just a ham, but a Honey Baked Ham.

Hear how Jo Ann Herold approaches marketing, creativity and beyond on this week's Digging Deeper.

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Can You Engage Influencers Without Paying Them?

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 12:56:00 -0000

Zak Stahlsmith of ApexDrop which is a company based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They have a decidedly different take on influence marketing, one that I think is important for you to hear.

ApexDrop believes you don’t have to pay influencers to ignite passion around your brand. They specialize in leveraging micro and nano influencers to try and share opinions about your product for little cost other than the product itself. ApexDrop's clients use these influence programs to drive product trial, reviews, build content libraries and even move the needle on sales. Zak and I talk about how and touch on other issues important to influence marketing like the interpretation of FTC disclosure.

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How to Better Manage Social Media and Creative Workflow

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:48:30 -0000

The more cooks in the kitchen, the harder the meal is to make. Xenia Muntean, the CEO of Planable, realized that when she ran her own social agency and decided to build a software to make the meals better, faster and with optimal collaboration from the cook. She stopped by Digging Deeper to help us all tackle ways to streamline social media and creative management.

Mutnean is a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree and has been called the "queen of content creation" by our friends at Vera Content. Give the episode a watch or a listen and share it with someone who might find her insights useful!

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Tackling the Challenge of Tourism Marketing in 2020

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 04:00:00 -0000

COVID-19 has crippled many industries. None more so perhaps than travel and tourism. But some tourism marketers hit above their weight class, both in and out of a pandemic. Gathan Borden is one of them. He is the Vice-President of Marketing for VisitLex, the convention and visitor’s bureau of Lexington, Kentucky. His team entered 2020 with the challenge of building a new convention center. So coming into the year, meeting space was tight, then you lob a pandemic on top of it all and well … 2020, right?

But VisitLex has persevered. It launched daily content to uplift local businesses during the quarantine months, launched a new website that Inbound fans will appreciate as it is built to be more of a lead-generation mechanism, continued it’s reputation of outstanding creative with a confidence campaign we’ll describe in more detail. This coming off a year in 2019 when it was a finalist for a Shorty Award and swept regional ad and tourism awards for its marketing.

Jason Falls digs deep with Borden in this special podcast episode for the listeners at Inbound 2020.

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When is Your Business Big Enough?

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 12:30:00 -0000

You may remember the clever explainer videos of social media and Internet culture from back in the mid-2000s by Common Craft. That business, run by Lee LeFever and his wife Sachi, continues to produce clever explainer videos for clients and its community of subscribers still today. LeFever's new book Big Enough chronicles his entrepreneurial journey and explains how others can build a business on their own terms.

He joined Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to talk about his company's path, his insistence on shaping a company built to suit him, his wife and their lifestyle and not falling victim to the predicable choices of bigger, faster, richer capitalism often projects.

Give the show a listen, then head over to Amazon and buy Lee's book!

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Closing the Multicultural Marketing Gap in the Advertising Industry

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:13:02 -0000

By 2042, minorities in the United States will be the majority. Yet, we’re focusing single-digits percentages of our marketing dollars on reaching non-white consumers. Wilson Camelo is on Digging Deeper to help us close the advertising industry's multicultural marketing gap.

Camelo is the CEO and founder of Camelo Communication, a firm with offices in Florida and Connecticut. He points to the reality of the U.S. population and underline how we in the marketing world have been deficient in accurately representing our true consumers. He then gives us ideas on how we can close the gap in our own brands, agencies and businesses.

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What is Your Business Story?

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 19:45:31 -0000

Ask anyone who has been around the social media space for any length of time who the experts on the practice are and you'll very quickly hear the name Chris Brogan. An original social media guru, best-selling author and business storyteller, Brogan has been a trusted and prolific resource for businesses trying to navigate the social world since the early 2000s.

He spends much of his time now helping define your business story with his consulting and content marketing training and seminars for top-level executives. He sat in on Digging Deeper to talk about defining your business's story and how storytelling can open up many possibilities for success.

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Feeding the Crave - White Castle's Creativity

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 13:10:06 -0000

White Castle is one of those interesting challenger brands in the quick service restaurant space frequently popping up with creative ideas. Lynn Blashford is the White Castle CMO. She joined Jason Falls and Christy Hiler on Digging Deeper to talk about the brand's creativity, how it has had to adjust to a different world with COVID-19 and beyond.

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Marketing Films That Matter - And She Could Be Next

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:07:23 -0000

Jyoti Sarda is one of the producers of the documentary “And She Could Be Next” which aired on PBS in June and is still available to watch on the film's website. It’s a two-part documentary that follows current history-making women of color blazing trails in American politics and changing the world. On the eve of Kamala Harris's selection as the vice-presidential running mate on Joe Biden's ticket, Jyoti joins Digging Deeper to discuss the film

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Your Brand Essence and Determining Your Perfect Customer

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 13:01:01 -0000

Makayla Ervin helps businesses define their brand essence, define their perfect customer and become authoritative to them. She joined #DiggingDeeper to help both small and large businesses understand all those processes. She and host Jason Falls also dug into a playful discussion about the use of the word "coach" and "life coach" and their various merits.

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Will Unions Make or Break Influencer Marketing

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:01:43 -0000

Will unionizing make or break influencer marketing? That question was up for grabs on Digging Deeper this week as Crystal Duncan, Edelman's senior vice-president for influencer marketing stopped by. She and Jason Falls grappled about unions, the advertising versus PR angle of influence marketing and more. For those interested in influencer marketing, this is a good one!

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Leveraging Content Marketing to be a Brand Publisher

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 13:03:46 -0000

Good content marketing is all about turning your brand into a publisher. You can just publish your content on your website and social channels or you can turn your publishing into its own brand. Andrew Hanelly is an award-winning content strategist at Washington D.C.-based firm Revmade. He stopped by Digging Deeper to chat with Jason Falls about the differences in content marketing approaches and how building a content franchise is a smart play for businesses.

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How to scale your business with virtual and freelance talent

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 13:03:27 -0000

If you've ever wondered how to use virtual and freelance talent to grow and scale your business, Nathan Hirsch is someone to talk to. He scaled a small e-commerce business to a multimillion dollar venture, then solved his own problem by building another one -- FreeUp. That business helps people find and hire virtual and freelance talent for scale. Now Nathan spends his time teaching people how to build systems and processes to leverage virtual workers at Outsource School.

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What we may need is Rethinking Success

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 13:10:35 -0000

In his years of dealing with highly successful people, Doug Holladay found many were alone and gave up to much meaningful facets of life for success. His new book, Rethinking Success, helps anyone motivated for success see that redefining what winning looks like is the key to achieving it and being happy with where you are. Holladay, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Reagan White House staffer, sat in with Cornett's Jason Falls to talk about his experiences and the book.

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How Kroger is navigating 2020

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 13:15:56 -0000

Curtis Midkiff, Jr., is the senior social strategist at Kroger. He joined Digging Deeper to talk about what the conversations, planning and response has been for his company and its reaction to social issues of the day. He and our own Jason Falls talked about influencer marketing social technology and much more in a revealing episode of Digging Deeper.

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Will Brands Boycotting Facebook Make a Difference?

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 13:11:04 -0000

Brands are boycotting Facebook and other social media platforms to fight against the often passive way the social networks have handled hate speech from users. Though a daunting list of advertisers pulling billions of dollars from ad spend, will it make a difference? New York Times bestselling author Jay Baer visited Digging Deeper this week to offer his thoughts.

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Can you measure creativity?

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:08:37 -0000

Can you measure creativity? You certainly can if you're speaking about marketing or advertising creative. We put that question to data analyst and marketing analytics guru Christopher Penn in this week's episode of Digging Deeper. Penn is the chief data scientist at Trust Insights and one half of the long-running Marketing Over Coffee podcast. Our Jason Falls put him to the test of measuring creative and creativity, among other things.

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We have entered the Age of Influence

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 13:01:56 -0000

Neal Schaffer's fourth book is out now and is called The Age of Influence. He visited with our Jason Falls on Digging Deeper to talk about influencer marketing today, how businesses can embrace it, what the challenges facing the practice are and how COVID-19 affects the marketplace.

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What making creativity your business advantage means

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:10:57 -0000

Cornett president Christy Hiler joins Jason Falls to talk about the meaning of "Make Creativity Your Business Advantage." She also shares the challenges of managing a business and agency in the COVID-19 era and what she's learned working in a non-traditional office setting as both a leader and strategist.

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