Kevin and David discuss Critical Event Management and contemporary marketing issues, including marketing austerity, the need for measuring and optimizing marketing performance, understanding the customer journey, and future-proofing strategies against emerging technologies. Their conversation highlights the importance of data visibility, automation, and customer experience in terms of driving business growth, along with the evolution of marketing's role in the customer journey, particularly in the post-COVID era.

Additional topics covered in their talk include:

- The definition of “Critical Events,” which may include weather events, political events, and other events challenging the readiness and resilience of corporate entities.

- The importance of data visibility, automation, and effective communication for building relationships with CFOs, CROs, and CEOs.

- How Using data and AI can be used to make informed marketing decisions.

- AI's impact on marketing, including automation, creativity enhancement, and decision-making.

- How AI represents an opportunity for students to learn new skills and stay competitive in the job market.

- In a marketing context, the importance of the importance of focusing on existing demand and harvesting it before creating new demand.

- The importance of a “single source of truth” for KPIs in B2B marketing.

- Why marketers need to learn to “speak the language” of other organizational departments in order to have their communications understood.

- The importance of identifying and building relationships with key decision-makers in the organization, and how Everbridge uses a multi-threaded approach to reach these individuals.

- The key role of thought leadership in building relationships and driving engagement.

- How people at different levels of the organization can be used to provide thought leadership, not just the CEO or chief security officer.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voice search is a hot field pegged to constitute a $98 billion sector by 2028. Peter and Kevin cover a lot of ground in their chat; topics include:

- The degree to which innovation in LLM-driven Voice Search will progress ahead of text-based search, given there is less risk for its monetization model.

- How LLM-powered search engines and voice search applications create a "winner take all" scenario for marketers (and what marketers can do about this).

- Why Perplexity is in a good position to innovate in Voice Search, as they have reimagined search and presented it in an organized and addictive way for users.

- The degree to which open source and proprietary technologies will coexist in the industry.

- The high costs of AI-powered voice search and the degree to which costs may moderate in the near future. (example of a network of gaming computers to perform inference tasks at pennies on the dollar compared to traditional models).

- Speculation as to whether Perplexity will be acquired this year (and by whom).

- The costs and benefits of AI systems in education, given that they may "dumb down" languages and dialects.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Alexis discuss event marketing best practices for 2024, with Alexis providing some great insights for event organizers, prospective exhibitors, and event attendees. They cover a lot of topics in our talk, including:

- The importance of targeting the right audience at trade shows, rather than just showing up.

- The importance of aligning events with business goals for maximum ROI.

- Booth activation strategies for trade shows and in-person events.

- How marketers can determine the best mix of salespeople and people in other roles to handle meetings and provide information to prospects.

- The importance of preparation before attending events, including informing CRM, pre-promoting the show, and setting appointments with VIP-level people.

- Why marketers shouldn’t overlook the opportunity to create content at events, including selfie content, testimonials, and on-site podcasts, which can be repurposed for months to come.

- How event organizers are stressing “zero waste” and sustainability.

- The importance of aligning trade show “swag” with business goals and objectives, and ensuring it has purpose and meaning.

- The value of creating exclusive content for attendees at conferences, such as reports or panels to position clients as thought leaders.

- The resurgence of QR codes at trade shows, allowing attendees to easily access digital content without needing to use printed collateral.

- The role of virtual events in activating and engaging with audiences who cannot attend in person.

- How smart marketers are making presentations “snackable” and adaptable for repurposing, with a focus on engaging the audience and creating a connection point.

- The challenges of selecting the right person to be on stage at events.

- Why trade show exhibitors need to have a laser focus on getting details right so that target audiences aren’t disappointed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Richard talk about what led Richard to launch his brand, how it’s doing now, and what he plans for it next. They also chat about topics related to startups, brand-building, running an authentic non-profit organization, and the dynamics of the computer game industry. They cover many topics in our talk, including:

- Ivory Ella’s origin story, including an account of how it arrived at its partnership with Save The Elephants.

- The importance of having local “boots on the ground” in causes related to animal protection, understanding the local context, and supporting community-led initiatives to achieve meaningful impact, rather than solely focusing on direct conservation efforts.

- How the decision to make funds that were raised unrestricted was helpful in Ivory Ella’s efforts.

- The importance of understanding marketing fundamentals.

- For startups, the importance of building a strong team and having a good reputation in the industry.

- For game developers, the pros and cons of available game distribution platforms.

- The various monetization methods available in gaming, including virtual goods, advertising, sponsorships, and subscription models, and how making decisions about choosing which method to use can be weighty for the product team.

- The importance of building a game that is enjoyable and rewarding for players, rather than focusing solely on monetization practices.

- Why game designers need to balance rewarding participation with incentivizing desired behavior to create a sustainable, enjoyable experience.

- The importance of making social impact native to a brand, rather than just attempting to add it on later.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

- How brands are adapting adapted to the "new normal" of events in the post-pandemic era.

- The pandemic's impact on event planning, specifically the fact that lead times for commitments have decreased significantly (from 30-45 days to less than a month)

- The importance of having backup plans and flexibility in event programming.

- Challenges faced by event programmers with respect to selecting venues and accurately forecasting attendee numbers and event requirements.

- The importance of event programmers understanding the “fine print” of event cancellation insurance policies.

- Why anchors and sponsors are crucial for event success, given that they provide name recognition and help control the narrative.

- How the value proposition of events depends on the audience's goals, which may include learning, networking, or transacting business.

- The benefit of independent events (vs. events organized by a single vendor), where attendees can see “the whole story” and hold industry leaders accountable.

- Why the structure and format of a given event should be tailored to the specific industry and the type of attendee, with a focus on experiential aspects and networking opportunities.

- The differences between an exhibit hall with elaborate booths and a more informal exchange area, and the importance of managing traffic and building an agenda that allows attendees to get a variety of information.

- The importance of understanding the venue's footprint and how it impacts the event's agenda and sponsor/exhibitor setup.

- The challenge of managing the flow of traffic and ensuring that all parts of the event work in concert with one another, while also maximizing the value of attendees' time spent on site.

- The challenges of choosing a venue for events, particularly in cities like New York where there are limited options and high demand.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Joe discuss numerous topics related to events and event planning, including:

- The dynamics of event funding, including sponsorship and exhibitor revenue, and the optimal balance between these models versus conference revenue streams.

- The importance of knowing the target demographic and creating an event that caters to their needs, rather than just focusing on revenue generation.

- The challenges of maintaining strong relationships with content partners, particularly when they lack subject matter experts on their team.

- Why it’s important to be a supportive and consultative event producer, checking in with speakers beforehand to offer stage tips and provide a guide.

- The shift among event organizers towards making event content available post-event, benefiting both speakers and attendees.

- Why event organizers must balance providing intimate, highly-qualified content with large-scale entertainment and networking opportunities to keep attendees engaged and satisfied.

- Common event fails, such as poorly designed badges and registration snafus, that can be easily fixed with simple solutions.

- The potential of QR codes as a green alternative to printed materials in the events industry.

- Why hybrid events, which often promise an equivalent user experience for both in-person and online attendees, have not yet been successfully implemented.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Alex discuss what's new on the creative optimization front as well as in the larger digital marketing ecosystem, which is currently going through a transformation due to the emergence of useful AI tools. They cover many topics in their talk; including:

- Alex’s recent trip to Rwanda to help build homes for homeless women and support girls' education through the VidMob Gifts Foundation.

- How VidMob uses AI to programmatically understand creative decisions and compare them to behavior data, providing insights to marketers on why certain ads work or don't work for specific audiences.

- The potential of AI in marketing, especially with respect to its ability to analyze customer data and provide valuable insights for competitive advantage.

- The potential benefits of using existing customers as influencers, given their inherent authenticity and existing brand affinity.

- The mix of upper and lower funnel KPIs used by VidMob customers.

- The potential for AI to improve the creative supply chain by providing valuable insights and eliminating creative waste.

- How the platform's scoring system can help identify creative messages that don't work in a particular platform and inform changes in positioning and pricing.

- Why audience expectations and preferences play a significant role in determining which types of creative content perform well on different platforms.

- The importance of creative agility in marketing, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and mid-market marketers.

- The challenge of balancing creative agility with control and visibility for larger marketers, who may be hesitant to give up control of their brand and learnings from their marketing efforts.

- How VidMob is building its own LLM to make insights more accessible and is partnering in the measurement world to provide better visibility into the impact of creative decisioning.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Ron discuss how AI is used in BrandDiscovery, the powerful role that emotion, and emotional context, plays in effective advertising, and about the evolution of CTV, including its potential to function as a fully-addressable medium permitting unparalleled levels of ad targeting. We cover numerous topics along the way, including:

- The inefficiency of traditional TV advertising, with attention spans decreasing and ad skipping becoming more common.

- How the shift to CTV provides an opportunity for more storytelling-style video ads, as viewers have more time to engage with content.

- Why advertisements tailored to a viewer's emotional state show much better results.

- How AI can measure emotional dissonance in CTV ads and avoid negative associations for brands.

- How creating ad variants for different emotions can unlock unsold inventory and lower CPMs.

- The importance of understanding the customer journey and tailoring marketing strategies accordingly.

- The value of brand recognition and long-term emotional resonance in building a successful brand.

- The evolution of CTV, with a focus on discoverability and educating viewers about the content available to them.

- How, in the next 5 years, CTV will complete its transition to a more seamless and personalized viewing experience, with AI playing a key role in content discovery and recommendation.

- How AI will produce significant improvements in content production efficiency, making it easier and less expensive to create high-quality content.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Cristy discuss issues related to influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, and Impact.com's new influencer campaign management product. Discussed topics include:

- Why today’s influencers are working in a way very similar to the way that publishers work, creating content that educates and promotes products, often using affiliate links for monetization.

- Why education is often needed to inform brands about the nuances of affiliate marketing and hybrid payment models.

- Why brands should trust their influencer partners' instincts on audience and content, balancing brand priorities with creative control.

- How influencers are recognizing the need to diversify their platforms to avoid relying on a single channel for growth.

- How micro and nano influencers are often seen by consumers as more trustworthy than macro influencers.

- How brands – which want authentic ambassadors and influencers that match their brand -- may struggle with compliance issues when giving too much creative latitude to mid-tier and nano influencers.

- How technology can help automate messaging and discovery of creators, making it easier for brands to manage their influencer marketing campaigns.

- The resurgence of long form video content, with storytelling methodology and VSLs (Video Sales Letters) being the driver.

- Why brands must constantly test new channels, given that what works now may not work in the future.

- Why B2B marketers should target multiple contacts within an account, rather than just the mythical decision maker, to increase the chances of a sale.

- How AI will impact influencer and affiliate marketing and shape its future.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg and Kacy cover other topics, including:

- The importance of reaching the right person with the right message at the right time and the right environment to deliver the right outcome.

- How, after analyzing the behavior of high-value, high-affinity guests, Holland America's food and beverage team reprogrammed the supply chain to bring in more fresh fish.

- How marketing at Holland America is very much a “team sport” where collaboration is key to innovation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

- The degree to which traditional SEO link building strategies will remain viable.

- How Dixon’s current project, Inlinks -- an SEO technology that focuses on entities instead of words –provides value.

- How LLMs are voraciously ingesting content across the public web, including YouTube transcripts, and their continuing hunger for additional human-generated content.

- How forward-looking SEOs have moved from a keyword-centric mentality to a topic-centric focus.

- The wisdom of making one’s brand closely aligned with the exact same things that one’s customers are interested in.

- How Google Suggest can be used to generate new content ideas by analyzing related search terms and their semantic context.

- The importance of identifying the relationship between the person talking and their area of expertise in order to estimate this individual’s authority and credibility.

- The efficacy of applying a “Barnacle SEO” strategy in today’s search environment, where LLMs and single-result search engines such as Perplexity are growing more important.

- The potential for LLMs to successfully disambiguate certain terms (such as “Mustang,” which may indicate a vehicle, a fighter aircraft, or a type of horse).

- The fact that today’s current generation of AI-generated content checkers often fail to perform correctly.

- The degree to which blockchain technology may have a role in authenticating content in the future.

- How companies such as Adobe may be in a better position to survive potential copyright infringement lawsuits related to AI, given that the images used to train its LLM have all been licensed.

- The dubious wisdom of attempting to quarantine one’s content against LLM ingestion.

- How a new generation of JavaScript-based SEO tools may be able to implement needed site changes rather than merely point them out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Christine discuss issues relating to making better use of marketing teams within organizations. They touch on the challenges faced by organizations, teams, and individuals, when corporate re-orgs or turnarounds become necessary, and delve into the question of whether the generally short tenures of CMOs are due to failure or to success. Discussion topics include:

- The mistakes that marketing teams often make by prioritizing new leads over nurturing existing customers.

- How companies, even otherwise sophisticated ones, often lack the backend business intelligence necessary to understand who their best customers are.

- Why smaller companies often seem to have a clearer view of their competition and create more content to drive demand, while mid-sized companies struggle with this.

- The challenges associated with fixing a broken organizational structure without buy-in from senior management, given that employees may resist change and feel uncomfortable with the potential consequences.

- Why marketing teams are often relegated to a secondary or assistant role within the organization, instead of serving as critical hubs and/or filters for the entire business.

- How PE firms and activist investors often catalyze change in organizations by providing a fresh perspective and new ownership structure.

- The need for a punch list or prioritization list to help senior teams make informed decisions about where to invest their time and resources, with a focus on quick wins and long-term strategies.

- The importance of understanding the value of existing content and repurposing it to improve SEO and marketing efforts.

- Why marketing teams must continually adapt to various stakeholders' needs, including product and engineering teams, client services, buying committees, data science teams, and CMO/VPs of marketing.

- Why high-level executives, such as CMOs, may experience high turnover rates due to their inability to take credit or blame for outcomes outside of their control.

- Why candidates for CMO positions need to ask crucial questions during the hiring process to avoid surprises and ensure a smooth transition.

- Why startups blessed with heavy funding during the pandemic may face opportunity cost and wasted budget due to hiring sprees.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Adam discuss the present and future evolution of creativity, marketing, and advertising, with a focus on the role that Generative AI and LLMs will play in this evolution. Along the way they discuss topics including:

- How Traction started as a freelance cooperative in a spare bedroom, later growing into a marketing accelerator with a “liquid” workforce.

- How Traction adapted to changes in the market by pivoting to a remote workforce model in 2019.

- The future of marketing agencies, which must work to adapt to changing client needs and provide value beyond just media buying.

- How Traction helps brands leverage emerging tech through community, events, and workshops, driving enterprise adoption and problem-solving.

- The potential of AI tools in the creative process, especially with respect to their ability to speed up the insights generation process and provide valuable inspiration.

- How AI tools such as Gemini, ChatGTP, and others help to organize thoughts and create a consistent voice.

- The efficiency gains of using AI tools for image selection and manipulation, for example, Canva's ability to suggest alternative backgrounds without manual effort.

- The potential impact of AR/VR on brands and potential role in creating more immersive apps and games.

- How Lowe's and other brands are creating immersive retail experiences with AR technology, potentially revolutionizing the industry.

- The importance of creative excellence in a rapidly changing media landscape, where mistakes can be costly and competitors are always one step ahead.

- The evolution of targeting in advertising, from the "big idea" of the past to personalized messaging and AI-driven optimization.

- The challenges of over-segmentation and the importance of data quality in optimizing ad performance, even with AI.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Vladimer discuss personal branding, AI, community-building, and the future of marketing and advertising. Other topics discussed include: - The importance of personal branding in today's marketing landscape.

- How personal branding is the key to sustainable competitive advantage in the age of AI.

- Examples of individuals who have been exceptionally successful using social media for personal branding.

- Why individuals and brands should prioritize content co-creation and partnerships with other creators, rather than solely focusing on content creation and editorial calendaring.

- How audience and community need to be distinguished from each other.

- The importance of trust, personal branding, and networking in digital marketing.

- Why consumers' trust in advertising is diminishing.

- How many large brands fail to build authentic connections on social media, instead preferring to "broadcast" to online communities.

- Why curiosity and agility are key to growth in today's fast-paced digital landscape.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Kate discuss game development, the gaming industry, working conditions within this industry, and concern over how AI is likely to impact things now and in the future. They cover much ground in our talk; topics include:

- Kate’s experiences working in the gaming industry, which included work on popular games such as Halo, Fable, Age of Empires, Dragon Age, Modern Warfare, Mass Effect and others.

- Why the topic of AI in the creative arts, including games, is a hot topic among game industry employees today.

- How the SetJetters app helps fans find filming locations of their favorite TV shows and movies by providing a map and synchronizing scenes from the film with what the location looks like today.

- Why fans attracted to filming locations while production is ongoing may either be embraced or encounter hostility form the film crew.

- How Kate created a team at Microsoft to help the company navigate political and cultural risks, and later left to focus solely on video game development and consulting.

- Kate’s experiences advocating for greater workplace diversity within the gaming industry and her role in the infamous “Gamergate” episode of 2014.

- Why mental health issues are endemic in the game industry but are seldom mentioned or addressed.

- How the game industry is characterized by a lack of empathy and understanding among gaming industry managers, which can lead to poor decision-making and unrealistic schedules.

- Why recent layoffs and RIFs (Reductions in Force) in the gaming industry are largely the fault of management, which scaled hiring too quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will provided a lot of great info -- including some unbeatable tactical tips -- about selling on Amazon that should be of great interest to anyone selling products on this important commerce platform. We cover a lot of ground in our interview, including:

- The importance of the law of reciprocity in sales, where small gestures of goodwill can lead to increased likelihood of purchase.

- How Amazon sellers should go about selecting 3rd party software to improve their selling results.

- SEO strategies for Amazon sellers and the key role played by user-generated content in terms of improving one's chance of ranking outside of Amazon.

- "Grey hat" SEO tactics that e-commerce merchants can use to improve their chances of ranking.

- Apps that Will finds indispensable, including clipboard managers and password managers.

- The challenges of managing a large number of SKUs on Amazon, including the potential for penalties and the importance of authentic reviews.

- The utility (and danger) of using review syndicates (often referred to as "review mafias") on Amazon, give that they can lead to account flagging and extra scrutiny on future reviews.

- The role that AI will likely play in ferreting out inauthentic Amazon reviews.

- Amazon marketplace trends, which recently have included large moves by brand aggregators.

- How sellers should regard and quantify the interaction of paid and organic strategies on Amazon.

- The fact that Amazon's real-time reporting data may not always be reliable and that sellers need to wait a minimum of 14 days before acting based on this reporting.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the topics covered in this interview include:

- The different flavors of UGC (User-Generated Content), including BGC (Brand-Generated Content), and EGC (Expert-Generated Content)

- The importance of verified reviews for businesses and in terms of not running afoul of regulations from the Federal Trade Commission.

- The process by which reviews are syndicated across multiple websites.

- The fact that today’s generation of young people “live by video” and are quite comfortable creating – and consuming – video reviews.

- The SEO value of strategic Q&A-style content.

- Industry sectors where reviews are particularly more powerful, such as retailers with house brands or manufactured brands from different manufacturers.

- Why consumers in certain health-related sectors may resist leaving authentic reviews due to privacy concerns.

- The fact that having some negative reviews can actually improve one’s trust level among consumers.

- The importance of brands responding reviews in order to show they care about customer feedback and are adept at solving consumer issues.

- Why executives – not just line staff – need to pay attention to consumer reviews, which cumulatively serve as an index to a brand’s overall reputation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics discussed in this interview include:

- The common mistake made by business of targeting average customers, instead of their best ones.

- The challenge small businesses face in competing with larger brands in advertising, particularly in acquiring high-quality customer data.

- How small businesses can profitably use Facebook "instant lead" forms, which can capture leads without requiring prospects them to leave the website.

- The importance of proactive measures in digital marketing, such as conducting audits, to identify potential problems early on.

- The importance of marketing on YouTube and leveraging its community aspects, especially when trying to reach younger audiences.

- Mistakes made by hospitality and e-commerce brands, such as running outdated software and poorly managing marketing emails.

- How marketers can create compelling content, even for "boring" industries.

- The importance of aligning marketing and sales efforts to deliver on brand promises.

- The fact that email is hardly "dead" and can prove a valuable marketing channel if used correctly.

- The continued effectiveness of push marketing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As James notes, the most common website issue he sees when doing site audits is a lack of strategy, not deficiencies related to design or copy. His preferred strategy is known as the "hub and spoke" model -- a proven method of organizing one's online assets for maximum effectiveness. "If you think about your website as the hub, and you think about all these different channels you use to talk to consumers as spokes, email marketing is a spoke, LinkedIn is a spoke social media is a spoke, advertising is a spoke, PR is a spoke, these are all ways to get your message out to people and for people to come back into the hub, which is your website."

James highlights the importance of creating valuable content and building a permission relationship with customers -- the latter being something that many platform-dependent influencers may be ignoring at their own peril. He emphasizes the importance of having a strong "rim" (content and messaging strategy) in a hub and spoke model, as it ties in with the audience's journey and provides clarity and focus on messaging.

The conversation shifts to a discussion of consumer loyalty, with James observing that that 90% of loyalty problems can be traced back to a flawed sales process, whereas a 1-2% increase in loyalty can lead to a 60-80% increase in net present value. He emphasizes the need for marketers to prioritize user experience and conversion rate optimization across the entire funnel.

The talk wraps with a chat about website optimization and user engagement, with James highlighting the role that technical site performance -- particularly page load speed -- plays in creating an important first level of trust with prospects.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Gregory cover a lot of topics in this conversation that should be of value to anyone involved in online business today, including:

- The degree to which SEO can cause an online business to succeed or fail.

- The negative impact of Google’s recent “Helpful Content” update on many content-focused online businesses.

- The rise of “zero-click” searches.

- The resurgence of direct mail as a marketing channel.

- The importance of diversifying revenue streams in business, particularly for content affiliate sites, to reduce concentration risk and increase valuation.

- The pros and cons of in-house marketing teams versus agencies.

- How proprietors of online businesses should prepare their properties for sale.

- M&A marketing trends.

- The importance of content creation in terms of building trust and engagement with potential customers.

- Best practices for ideating content, including looking for inspiration from other people and feeding curiosity through great content.

- The importance of understanding the emotional needs of customers when selling products.

- The importance of transparency and honesty in marketing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lesley and Kevin cover a lot of ground in this interview that should be of great interest to anyone with a storefront on Amazon, including:

- The many the challenges of working with Amazon, including unreasonable testing requests that make no sense.

-The importance of diversification for businesses on Amazon (i.e. maintaining presences on their own sites or via Shopify).

-"Brand gating" and how to avoid it.

- Do's and Don'ts when using AI to create Amazon product descriptions and imagery

- The importance of keeping accurate invoices and testing documents, given that Amazon may request them in the event of a suspension or issue.

- The key forensic role that Returns Reports play in helping sellers identify and address issues with their products, reducing risk and improving customer satisfaction.

- The importance of optimizing Amazon product listings for SEO, as they can rank higher in Google and Bing than a seller's own website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Andrew discuss the origin story behind Andrew's project, why IRL events are hot right now, and delve into Andrews' motivations for running events. What’s intriguing and a bit unusual about what Andrew is doing is that a lot of his motivation is powered by a desire to do good, not just to get ahead. As he explains, “I approached it from the perspective from a very human angle, you know, there's nothing in it for me, other than just wanting to make friends and give back to the community.”

Andrew and Kevin agree that there’s a tremendous pent-up demand for real-world networking events, and that many younger technology industry people feel awkward when it comes to networking. As he notes, “we've seen so many reports on the impact of loneliness and people just wanting to find their communities, especially in the Gen Z millennial age range, where people just graduated college at a time where it was unacceptable to leave the apartment. So people are attending for social reasons, business reasons and just craving that community aspect, which is why in New York alone, you’re seeing 10 new social clubs pop up every month.”

Beyond hosting events, Andrew is an angel investor, and they spend a bit of time chatting about his philosophy towards investments. As Andrew explains, he looks for companies with a large growth potential, a brilliant founder, and a problem that could be addressed with a venture-scale product.

Later, they debate the best approach to product development in an agile environment, with Andrew advocating for prioritizing customer feedback along with a more flexible approach to product road mapping, touch upon the impact of AI to speed up product development, and discuss Andrew’s approach to management, which focuses on empowering team members to make decisions and work on tasks they're passionate about.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Mike explains, the costs for delivering hyper-personalized, relevant direct mail pieces have dropped while the capabilities have grown: "I can do full, variable digital color printing at scale -- 100,000, 500,000, a million pieces of mail, whether it's a post card, whether it's a letter, whether it's inline or not -- and I can develop it all without using plates."

Kevin and Mike trade notes on the history of QR codes and their resurgence in the pandemic and post-pandemic era. As Mike notes, QR codes are powerful tools for direct mail marketers, allowing them to pre-fill landing pages or CRMs with customer information, and track back-end database records for retargeting ads or sales calls. Additionally, consumers are much more familiar with using them than they were pre-COVID. At the same time, he notes that it's important that marketers not make any technical mistakes when incorporating QR codes into marketing materials and campaigns.

Mike speaks about a technology his company has built called Post Reminder, which uses QR codes to send reminders to customers about upcoming sales or events. Then Kevin and Mike chat about how the USPS is offering new products, including one called Informed Delivery, that are gaining traction today.

As Mike notes, "they took technology that they're using anyway to track to track letters and said, 'hey, how can we turn this into a benefit for the consumer?' And I think they did a really good job with implementing that and making it more useful for both the consumer and marketers alike."

Direct mail is a powerful channel that's often underutilized by marketers who should know better. Given its potential for delivering and tracking hyper-personalized messages that can cut through the clutter, Mike and I agree that it's a channel with a strong future.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They cover lots of topics in our interview, including the frustration that many marketers are feeling right now with the forced "upgrade" to GA4. As Samir notes, while the move to GA4 might have great payoffs in the long term, in the short term it's a "hot mess" that is imposing major costs on marketers.

Samir and Kevin trade notes on the potential impact of LLMs on SEO, how they are useful from a content creation perspective, the likelihood that they will be abused by spammers seeking to flood the web with robotic, low-authority content, and the countermeasures that Google might employ to downrank AI-generated spam.

Samir notes that many SEO practitioners he works with don't seem to be making any real effort to get up to speed with LLMs, despite the fact that AI-enabled search is likely to have a profound impact on SEO tactics and strategies that have remained relatively stable over the past decade.

Samir and Kevin agree that voice search might be the first area where AI will make a major impact, given that those making voice queries are accustomed to single, (hopefully) authoritative results. The conversation then progresses to a discussion of how LLMs might improve their utility should they be given access to more personal, historical data relating to the user and chat about the trade-offs between user privacy and user convenience that might be necessary for LLMs to further enhance the online user experience.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Ashley discuss how inertia is a common challenge for large companies, while small brands are often nimbler in adapting to change. Ashley is a strong exponent of promoting agility in marketing plans, with a focus on disrupting oneself and one's company to build a sustainable future workforce and media plan. She also emphasizes the importance of bringing fresh perspectives and high-value ideas to the table, rather than simply disrupting existing processes.

Another challenge lies in the fact that brands must create media plans that are more complex -- and subject to iterative modification -- than in prior years. They discuss the importance of understanding the core consumer and their aspirations in order to create personalized marketing strategies that resonate.

The discussion then pivots to consider the potential for fractionalizing talent to help organizations achieve their marketing goals while reducing costs.

Ashley is clearly optimistic about what 2024 will bring and believes her consultancy will add a lot of value to forward-looking companies in the years ahead.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They discuss the power of audio in terms of influencing visceral responses and long-term memory, and how its impact on listeners can be discovered through the application of scalable testing methods. We touch on how different physical environments (e.g., car, gym, work) can elicit different reactions to audio ads, making it challenging to generalize results, and how consumer responses to audio will be different if audio formats are skippable or non-skippable.

Scott notes that while digital audio advertising is still in its early stages, there is a growing expectation that data-driven optimization and attribution modeling will be applied to the audio channel in the same way they've been applied to non-audio advertising channels. He notes that "as a medium audio has got a lot of advantages. And I think we'll continue to learn the right way to do it. But I think one thing we're really fighting for, is to compare audio to other things that you do from a media standpoint and dollar for dollar."

The discussion turns to the growth of podcast advertising, along with the importance of sonic branding in advertising generally, particularly for brands with large audiences.

Finally, they turn our attention to the power of audio advertising during the holiday and political seasons.

Scott is clearly bullish about the future of digital audio advertising and is eager to have his company be part of the solution in terms of providing research and reliable attribution modeling to encourage future growth of the audio channel.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a hot topic because the level of granularity and transparency in data is evolving towards more opacity, rather than more transparency, in the post-cookie era. Given this evolutionary trend, Tim suggests using multiple sources of data to compare and find the "single source of truth" for campaign performance, while focusing on trends rather than exact matches between disparate reporting systems.

Tim and Kevin agree that the imminent abolition of 3rd party tracking cookies is elevating the role that first-party data will play in effective marketing campaigns, which runs the risk of creating two classes of marketers: “data haves” and “data have nots.” They also agree that savvy marketers – especially those working in a B2B context -- shouldn’t ignore Microsoft’s paid ad offerings, which in some important applications offer more control over campaigns than Google’s.

They trade notes on lead scoring best practices and move on to the topic of the GA4 migration, an event that’s caused a certain amount of frustration for marketers who grew accustomed to Universal Analytics’ rich functionality and ease of use. As Tim notes, “GA4 is intimidating, especially for a small business owner, it’s not going to be easy to set up. I do think it’s valuable to maybe take some time to learn to set it up – to at least get some basic events and conversions firing.”

While Tim acknowledges that mastering GA4 can be frustrating, making the effort is worthwhile, given that GA4 provides sophisticated custom reporting capabilities that have never existed before.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Lauren discuss how creators in the music space are now acting more like broadcasters or publishers, while others remain tied to their favorite platforms. Lauren notes that some creators are entrepreneurial-minded and actively pursue direct relationships with their fans, while others rely on their teams and existing opportunities. She emphasizes the importance of direct relationships between artists and fans, citing Master P and 50 Cent as examples of successful entrepreneurs who have built their careers through hard work and direct communication.

Lauren emphasizes authenticity in brand relationships, urging marketers and creators to understand the needs and perspectives of their target audiences. A particularly important skill is to understand cultural narratives and values in order to create authentic campaigns or events. She advises against relying solely on data or focus groups to inform decisions, instead advocating for a deep absorption into the subject matter.

Kevin and Lauren agree that it's a mistake to regard any demographic or cultural group as monolithic. Brand managers must avoid oversimplifying diverse groups, as even within a single subculture, there may be subgroups with distinct needs and preferences.

The conversation closes with a discussion with what’s ahead in the media world in 2024, which, as we all know, will be a presidential election year. Lauren shares insights on how to better leverage music for political campaigns, while avoiding potential legal issues. She suggests partnering with a consultant to help manage collaborations between artists and politicians, citing the potential for authenticity and quality content.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julie is a big advocate of putting customer experience at the center of every marketing decision made by a brand. She maintains that marketing efforts should always be aligned with company KPIs, such as conversion and margin, in order to demonstrate value and credibility. By focusing on these KPIs, marketers can change the way they are perceived by operations and finance teams, leading to more productive collaboration and innovation.

Julie and Kevin agree that marketers should identify low-hanging fruit in any transformation or change initiative, even if it's not part of one's direct responsibility. She highlights the value of pressure testing and journey mapping to identify areas for improvement, a process involving members from various departments for a comprehensive understanding of the customer experience.

They trade notes on the new crop of tools for content creation, including AI-generated animation software capable of creating high-quality moving images. Julie agrees that these tools are game-changers, but warns that because they make content creation so easy, thus allowing an almost infinite set of variations to be produced for every creative concept, there's a risk that marketers will be overwhelmed and lose focus. Finally, they chat about the growing role of influencers in marketing and how their status might evolve in an era quite likely to see more regulation by governmental entities such as the FTC.

Julie is excited about the coming year and sees AI as a major continuing driver of transformative change within marketing and in society at large.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They discuss the potential for Microsoft to gain market share in search advertising with the help of AI and proprietary technology. We agree that Microsoft has an opportunity to increase coverage in the mid-market and lower segments, and that the current antitrust suit could impact the search landscape. Nate observes that that while mobile users are a smaller percentage on Microsoft, the platform can still convert well for certain industries, and shifting desktop traffic budget to Microsoft can lead to improved performance.

The discussion turns to the topic of B2B marketing, whose long sales cycles require nuanced KPIs and the use of signals that can serve as proxies for engagement and interest. They then talk about the increasing adoption of AI in various industries, including marketing, where AI tools are being used to automate tasks such as product listing creation and bidding algorithms, with Nate noting that while AI can save time and improve efficiency, it's important to develop critical thinking skills and expertise to use it correctly.

Nate is excited about potential changes in the search industry which may happen in 2024, including the prospect of increased competition and the possibility that some large tech companies may be broken up.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As TAG notes on its website, “Malvertising is now a problem at scale. Recent research suggests that despite improvements in the digital ad landscape, nearly 1 in every 100 ad impressions were still impacted by a malicious or disruptive ad, suggesting that more than 20% of user sessions may be impacted by malvertising. The financial impact of malvertising has grown apace as well. In 2018, it was estimated that the industry lost $210 million annually to auto-redirects, and another $920 million from the ads auto-redirects facilitated with click fraud.”

Kevin and Michael discuss the current threat environment and talk about what TAG is doing to make things better. As Michael notes, social engineering is rising as a malvertising modality. “Because modern browsers have gotten so secure, it's harder than ever to download malware from an ad. It really requires you as the internet user to do something: to click through a series of prompts and install the malware or install some other kinds of software at the behest of a criminal group. So social engineering really becomes the key method for criminal groups to get you to do something.”

Michael and Kevin discuss the potential risks of generative AI in digital advertising, including its abuse by criminals to create convincing content and bypass traditional countermeasures. Michael notes that criminals are opportunistic and will exploit weaknesses in the industry, making it essential for digital advertising to stay vigilant and adapt to new threats. He emphasizes the importance of staying nimble, advancing cooperation within the industry, and liaising with law enforcement entities to keep malvertising at bay.

The discussion then turns to the topic of potential vulnerabilities within the affiliate marketing industry to nefarious actors, given its complex ecosystem and lack of information sharing among a large group of independent companies.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda is an expert at local SEO and shares the most common challenges faced by businesses struggling to compete with larger competitors due to content quality and topical authority. She notes that one common mistake made is to focus too exclusively on the lower funnel. Other common mistakes include having too much "thin content" on their sites and failing to optimize their Google My Business profiles.

Additional issues typically include duplicate content, internal linking issues, poor navigation, and indexability issues. As she notes, issues such as these are often hard issues to overcome, given that most small businesses do not have the resources required to produce content whose quality is high enough to be ranked well by search engines.

Kevin and Amanda discuss the importance of businesses having a presence on secondary sites like directories and review platforms to improve local SEO, with Amanda opining that it's sometimes worth it to paying for listings on some platforms to increase visibility.

The discussion pivots to video, and how employees can be effective content creators, especially in healthcare and related industries, as they may have more personal experience and knowledge to share than people at higher levels of the organization. Amanda acknowledges that there may be a learning curve for employees to become comfortable with creating content, but it can be a valuable way to personalize the brand and engage with customers.

Amanda shares her take on the GA4 migration, which has caused a good deal of frustration among marketers accustomed to the rich functionality of GA4's predecessor, Universal Analytics.

Amanda sees big changes ahead in 2024 for SEO and believes that the best way to prepare for them is to put oneself in the shoes of searchers. "Don't worry about Google. Do the right things for your customers, and you'll likely be in the right side of whatever update comes."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Jeffrey explains, "what this platform really does is democratize the ability for any advertiser -- big or small -- to book their media campaigns, set their targeting and audiences they want to reach, to add their creative, and create a campaign. So we're kind of opening the door for anyone to buy media without the exorbitant costs they would typically get."

Jeffrey explains how DanAds' AI-enabled tools, such as video and audio builders, reduce production costs for small advertisers by creating clean and professional ads at a fraction of the cost of traditional production methods. He talks about how it's possible for advertisers to connect their third-party ad tags directly to the DanAds platform for easier ad serving.

Kevin and Jeffrey trade notes on the continuing importance of automation in media transactions, with Jeffrey citing examples of successful campaigns run through DanAds.

The conversation then pivots to the subject of AI in media, with Jeffrey noting that he's excited about its potential while recognizing that it may not live up to the hype. Finally, they chat about how platforms such as DanAds may acquire new relevance this year as the political advertising season heats up.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Mordy notes, “the general sense I got, talking both on stage but also talking to average SEOs, is that they’re not. The SEO tools were built, I’d say, 15 years ago. At this point, not much has changed about them. Yes, they've added all sorts of bells and whistles and reports and graphs and this and that. But they're fundamentally built on a link building model, which is clearly not where SEO is anymore.” Mordy does acknowledge that today’s SEO tools do provide value in terms of their auditing capabilities but are far less useful when it comes to assessing issues relating to content gaps and content quality generally.

The discussion shifts to the topic of negative SEO and the potential for Google to accurately determine which links are toxic and require disavowing, with Mordy expressing skepticism about the need for the Disavow tool itself while noting that Bing’s Disavow tool has already disappeared. Mordy and Kevin then get into the issue of spam and low-quality sites which continue to pollute the web, despite the best efforts of search engines to ferret them out, and speculate as to whether AI will make an already dire situation measurably worse.

They trade notes on the issue of future-proofing SEO through content syndication and content co-creation and move on to a discussion about the importance of authenticity in influencer marketing. Then they tackle the issue of video SEO and the degree to which it is ignored by marketers.

Mordy and Kevin agree that SEO – which has historically been a moving, evolving target – may be about to undergo more radical changes in the next few years than it has in the past two decades. As he notes, “something is changing under the surface of everything. Something very fundamental is changing. And I think it's the combination of AI, obviously, but also user content consumption trends, which are changing very rapidly, and they're very powerful.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ezra explains that the data collected from mobile devices is limited to latitude, longitude, GPS coordinates, timestamp, and anonymous ID, regardless of whether the device is iOS or Android. He emphasizes that the company does not collect any personally identifiable information and maintains a strict separation between anonymous mobile data and personally identifiable information.

Kevin and Ezra discuss how the ad calls from browser-based devices are very different from SDK-delivered ad calls, with Ezra noting that "the difference really, with SDK based (ad calls) is that it is only as accurate as the blue dot on your phone... it's not perfect. Sometimes you're on the other side of the building, or whatever, but it's pretty close. And that's the degree of accuracy we have with SDK based (ad calls). "

One thing that's fascinating about gathering and analyzing location data is that it provides the marketer with opportunities to discover unexpected insights, for example, the likelihood that individuals making multiple visits to a store such as Home Depot within a certain time range may also be in-market for other goods and services of interest to homeowners. Ezra and Kevin discuss the power of such correlations and other insights derived from studying cross-shopping behavior.

Ezra is a strong exponent of retargeting customers who have visited a brand's physical stores, as they are more likely to convert than website visitors, and they trade notes on this, as well as how competitive conquesting, where a brand targets customers of competitors, can be achieved using location-based data. As Ezra notes, "conquesting is obviously big... lifestyle targeting, you know: I want to target somebody who was at a ski resort or a golf course or amusement park -- you can think about a lot of use cases around that."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Damian recounts Revry's origin story and notes that the network has grown to 5 million monthly active viewers in over 140 countries, with viewers mainly consuming content on connected television platforms. He credits this growth to forging partnerships with TV manufacturers and conducting direct sales to big brands for scalable growth in LGBTQ content distribution.

Damian and Kevin discuss the role of branded content and sponsorships in Revry's current programming, which relies on non-scripted content, such as reality TV shows and sports programs, where brands can easily integrate themselves into the content at different levels. Damian recounts the network's experience working with Nike and Lexus on an awards show, highlighting the success of the event and the engagement of the audience.

Kevin and Damian chat about the particular strengths of free ad-supported streaming TV, which does not allow viewers to skip advertisements, and the purchasing power of the LGBTQ+ community, which has a disposable income of $1.7 trillion in the U.S. Then they tackle the issue of brand safety, which rose to the forefront in 2023 due to the Bud Lite controversy, and dive into how Revry is handling these concerns on its network.

They touch upon Revry's marketing strategy, which involves a mix of leveraging relationships with editorial teams in CTV environments such as Samsung and Vizio while incorporating a paid component.

Damian has high hopes for the network, which has doubled its revenue for four consecutive years, and plans are in the works for a major announcement concerning Revry at the CES show which will happen early next year in Las Vegas.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ravi and Kevin explore Quizzly.ai's origin story and he then explains how the company's AI engine creates quizzes on demand by analyzing content and identifying relevant questions and answers. As he notes, the data shows that users love quizzes, which boast high completion and engagement rates. Publishers love them too, given that quizzes can be used to gather user data for targeted content creation and market research. Additionally, advertisers can use quizzes to educate users about a product's features while gleaning valuable insights from prospects and consumers that can flow back into market research and product development.

Ravi has high hopes for the future of his company in 2024 and beyond, especially with respect to market research, a lucrative business that appears to be ripe for disruption. "We are very much focused on getting Brand Lift studies within the quiz widget. As you know, it's an $80 billion industry -- the market research industry -- and most of the budgets are going into these surveys. But nobody knows who does these surveys -- there are panels sitting somewhere in the cloud, probably. We want to bring those budgets those budgets to publishers. We want these surveys to become more quick and meaningful. So I feel that in the next three to six months, you'll see some more disruption in the market research space as people discover our tool."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Atiba share a lengthy background in SEO and Atiba's success in getting favorable organic rankings for clients deeply informs his video marketing strategy today. Key to this approach is creating video content that precisely answers questions posed by the audience that one’s marketing efforts are targeting.

As Atiba notes, "it's not about what you think is cool and what you want to say. It's about what the audience is asking." In other words, one needs to align one's content -- whether it's short form or long form -- with Google's core purpose to favorably rank the best, most consumer-centric content in order to provide the best user experience.

Atiba and Kevin discuss the virtues of creating short-form "snackable" content, which today dominates video-centric platforms such as TikTok and has an increasingly influential presence on YouTube. We address the key role of "the hook" (that all-important introductory segment of any video which sets forth its theme and, therefore, user expectations as to what's ahead) and explore the potential for customer testimonials and partner-created content.

Creating compelling video content for "boring" industries is a constant challenge for B2B marketers, and Atiba provides some great insights and excellent examples as to how this can be achieved.

They discuss the importance of focusing video marketing efforts on building relationships with customers rather than just pursuing it from a brand perspective, chat about best practices for repurposing, or "splintering" long-form content, and brainstorm ideas for future-proofing video marketing strategies against AI (which may profoundly change the way that search results are presented), including the use of digital PR and syndicated content.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike and Kevin discuss the company's origin story, the market needs met by its software, and the challenges of prioritizing features in product development, with Mike emphasizing the importance of listening to clients when contemplating the addition of new features and capabilities. Kevin queries Mike about specific client requests for integrations, and Mike mentions YouTube as an example of an integration that was added based on client demand.

Adlib differentiates itself from other self-serve DSPs by not maintaining its own supply connections and data marketplaces, instead using best-in-class connections through larger DSPs. This allows for head-to-head competition between DSPs to determine the best performer for a campaign. It’s also earned high marks for being easy to use and fast to set up.

Mike highlights the benefits of partnering with vendors for dynamic creative optimization and provides an anecdote about using Magic Ads, an Adlib product, to help a beauty brand create banners in just a few hours and achieve a 3-1 return on ad spend within 2-3 weeks.

Mike has high hopes for Adlib in 2024 and beyond, believing its capabilities and contract-free engagement model qualify it as a credible candidate to serve as the media buying system of record for agencies.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin chats with Ameet about her career journey and they trade notes on a number of issues germane to contemporary PPC advertising, including best practices for using Google’s Performance Max (the topic of Ameet's talk at Brighton), a system which uses machine learning models to optimize bids and placements to drive conversions.

Kevin and Ameet agree that marketers should never regard automated systems such as Performance Max as autonomous “magic boxes.” As Ameet notes, “nothing in digital marketing should ever be “set and forget.” Furthermore, while Performance Max is “smart” in terms of being powered by AI, it must be “spoon fed” the correct kind of data for it to function effectively.

Furthermore, as she observes, getting acceptable results from systems such as Performance Max fully depends on supplying them with adequate information to optimize ad campaigns effectively, including audience signals, customer lists, and data feeds.

Ameet highlights the common mistakes she’s observed when conducting PPC account audits, including inadequate conversion tracking and overreliance on auto recommendations. Kevin and Ameet then discuss the importance of connecting backend CRM data to Google Ads to enable accurate bidding decisions.

Ameet reports on her experience with the GA4 migration from Universal Analytics that happened this year and how she’s handling GA4’s reduced functionality along with its navigational issues.

The conversation then turns to AI’s role in digital marketing, including its current prowess in terms of being able to generate content whose quality exceeds – or is at least on par with – that generated by human beings. Ameet notes that in all the tests she’s run, human-generated content has won every time, but this favorable result is no cause for complacency given the breakneck pace of development in the generative AI space.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will and Kevin discuss the origin story and current elevator pitch for SearchPilot, how the software works, and the value it provides in terms of being able to accurately quantify the ROI of SEO efforts generally. They touch on the role that site traffic volume plays in terms of being a prerequisite for obtaining statistically valid results that can be relied upon for SEO optimization efforts, and chat about how Google has become more real-time in terms of its indexing and ranking, allowing for changes in search results to be noticed more quickly.

Kevin gets Will’s take on the most common SEO issues found on legacy sites, for example, poorly managed 404 errors, multiple 301 redirects, broken structured data, and other issues, and ask him about how his team works collaboratively with internal organizational stakeholders, for example, IT departments, which may formally or informally exert control over the site. As Will notes, “IT folks are often skeptical, so we need to bring them along in conversation and show how our product can help with their technical concerns."

The discussion shifts to the issue of AI’s current and future influence on SEO, the degree to which bad actors will use AI to overwhelm search engines with artificially generated spam, and the likelihood that search engines will ever abandon their traditional, multiple-choice SERPs with a single, AI-generated, hyper-personalized answer (Will is skeptical that this will happen anytime soon given the self-interest of search engines in monetizing as many outbound clicks as possible).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin quizzes Bryan about Sounds Profitable’s origin story and then the conversations plunges into specific issues germane to podcasting planning and production. They discuss best practices with regard to podcast frequency and ad delivery, along with the importance of treating podcasting like a business, investing in it, and building quality content to stand out in the crowded podcast ecosystem.

Bryan highlights the need for podcasters and marketers to define success beyond mere download numbers, and to focus on building relationships and creating value through their podcasts. They delve into the issue of attribution, which can be challenging due to a lack of platform-level data sharing but can be addressed via various available solutions.

They discuss the potential for niche podcasts in both B2B and B2C contexts, with examples such as sports podcasts in the offseason and election-related podcasts during election years, and address the issue of budgeting, with Bryan providing examples of different types of podcast production budgets. They chat about the growing trend of podcasters recording with video, which allows for more visual cues and the ability to create graphical assets for branding and social media deployment.

Finally, they trade notes on the importance of having the right equipment in place to properly execute professional podcasts, and the importance of consulting with a professional to produce a polished podcast.

If you’re a podcaster, or are thinking of becoming one, I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of this interview.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Charlene converse about AI's positive impacts, as well as some of its potential threats, including deep fakes and phishing campaigns, along with the need for organizations to have guidelines in place to stay safe and focus on innovation. They discuss AI's impact on startups and how AI "co-pilots" have measurably improved productivity among coders. Charlene notes that the startup environment is vibrant and well-funded right now but also risky, given the likelihood that large companies such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook will eventually disrupt and/or co-opt AI startups' business models.

The conversation shifts towards the transformative potential of AI in marketing, with Charlene emphasizing the power of generative AI to generate content efficiently. She expresses a mix of optimism and skepticism about the impact of LLMs on the research industry, acknowledging both their potential benefits and the potential for laziness in relying on AI for answers, as well as the potential for generative AI systems to "hallucinate" false and potentially dangerously misleading results. They then chat about AI's role in generating targeted, personalized advertising and in marketing and branding generally.

As Charlene notes, the AI ecosystem is thriving "because we can see how generative AI can be used in almost all aspects, and start transforming the way we do work; the way we live, the way we play. And so marketers, I think... if you're not using it every day, you'd better start using it as much as you can to explore how can we really transform the way we work. And don't use it like a glorified search engine. Really think about the work that would completely change the way you're doing things today if you have this incredible tool at your disposal."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Stephen do a deep dive into Pubwise's Prebid technology, which optimizes ad auctions for better win rates and revenue for both buyers and sellers and then broaden the conversation's scope to discuss the evolution of the ad tech industry, which is currently undergoing a phase that blurs the lines that once separated SSPs, DSPs, and exchanges.

They tackle issues pertaining to ad auctions, latency, and monetization, with Stephen noting that today's environment requires publishers to constantly monitor and remeasure auction metrics to avoid long-term performance issues. Additionally, both publishers and sellers must surface the right data to connect audiences with interest, or risk a period of low fidelity and decreased campaign scale. As Stephen notes, observability is key to optimizing ad performance, as it provides contextual data for both publishers and advertisers to improve their systems.

They chat about the issue of environmental sustainability and how it intersects with the traditional need for programmatic ads to execute multiple, energy-consuming server calls. Stephen expresses optimism about industry progress but raises concerns about efficiency and carbon footprint due to browser changes such as those entailed in Google's post-cookie proposal. He also notes that while there is a lot of focus on reducing requests and carbon impact, the solution is still fragmented, with many companies vying to be the solutions provider.

As Stephen notes, uncertainty in the digital advertising industry will likely prevail for the foreseeable future, providing an opportunity for companies such as his own to show their value.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purna breaks down content marketing strategy into its three core areas: understanding the business, ideal customers, and building a strategy that balances key messages and distribution channels. She also has some great advice for brands whose content marketing efforts may be restrained by the need to metaphorically "herd cats" within the organization. Purna suggests focusing on different stages of audience awareness rather than traditional funnel stages and adapting content accordingly. She recommends repurposing content to reach different audience segments.

Kevin and Purna discuss the role of executives and salespeople in the effort to build organizational thought leadership, suggesting that it's not limited to the C-suite and can include sales representatives. She advises that one best builds thought leadership by starting with a limited number of active and passionate employees and working out from there. She has some excellent advice for anyone seeking to create audience-resonant content from trade shows or other events. She, like myself, agrees that repurposing content for different channels and contexts is a useful tactic that can maximum content impact.

Purna has been following the AI revolution from a content marketing perspective for some time, and she's clearly optimistic about lies ahead, but believes that one should not become overly enamored by the technology itself. She notes that "We've seen the power of what AI can do to empower the human, which is really the key."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Michelle discuss the fact that direct-to-consumer sales of products by influencers, celebrities, and other individuals with their own custom formulas have increased in recent years, creating new opportunities for supply chain optimization and product traceability. As Michelle notes, being able to correctly identify products throughout the supply chain is critical, even if these products don't seem destined for large retail chains.

Michelle outlines the evolution of barcodes, highlighting their potential to carry more information and be scanned by phones, expanding their use beyond checkout lines, and explains the importance of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) in tracking inventory and preventing counterfeiting. She also notes that RFID -- whose first real use case was in the apparel industry, is expanding into other sectors, notably the food service and health care industries.

They address the fact that retail systems will need to be ready to scan 2D barcodes by 2027 by investing in new scanning technology to accommodate 2D barcodes. Here, GS1 US will be of assistance in terms of providing resources for companies to learn about and implement the new standards; resources will include a website, YouTube channel, and a data hub.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big shifts have already happened in design – driven by the pandemic's transformation of the workplace and the arrival of a new generation of design and collaboration tools -- and these shifts are accelerating. As Lee-Sean notes, clients "are being more collaborative with their creative teams, whether it's with agencies or in-house." He also sees increased investment in in-house creative and design teams.

Lee-Sean acknowledges that while in-person dynamics can be beneficial for certain creative and strategic projects, there are trade-offs; including the need to manually memorialize in-person "analog" interactions via notebook or other analog devices and then transmute this material to the digital realm.

Regarding AI-enabled design tools, Lee-Sean mentions that designers, especially content-focused professionals like illustrators and photographers, are surfacing real concerns about AI tools replacing them. Lee-Sean clearly recognizes that AI tools can be beneficial in terms of the ideation and concept development phases of any project, saving time and providing more opportunity to focus on higher-level creative processes.

Kevin and Lee-Sean discuss best practices for creative briefs. As he notes, a brief that is too narrow may limit creativity and innovation, while an excessively open-ended brief may lead to "wheel spinning" and a lack of direction. Finding the right balance between open and closed briefs is essential.

Lee-Sean reflects on some common themes discussed at recent AIGA conferences, including the imperative that designers expand their scope of knowledge beyond traditional parameters of design to include fluency with AI tools, become more business-savvy, and become expert at aligning creative work with strategic business goals.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Ola discuss the challenges of future-proofing SEO, especially in the context of AI-generated responses replacing traditional search engine results. Ola suggests that even though search engines may be moving to "SERP-less" results, they will likely continue to prioritize delivering accurate, fast, and comprehensive information allowing for some measure of user choice. He notes that, at least right now, AI-generated responses provide surface-level information, acting as "knowledgeable friends"" who can direct users to more detailed, more authoritative content residing on websites.

The conversation touches on the importance of user experience (UX) on websites, emphasizing that websites need to deliver on the promises made in search results to provide a positive user experience. Kevin and Ola highlight the significance of branding and how content should align with a brand's promise, ensuring users know what to expect when they encounter a brand's content.

They discuss the challenges of incorporating storytelling into content marketing, particularly for businesses in less exciting industries. Kevin points out the difference between traditional journalistic writing and storytelling, where storytelling tends to have a more flexible narrative structure. Ola suggests that it's essential to redefine what a story is and focus on the narrative aspect. He advises businesses to understand their audience's needs and frame their content as a solution to those needs, noting that every business can find a compelling story within its operations or by addressing the concerns of its target audience.

Ola emphasizes that everything can be turned into an interesting story. Even in less exciting industries, businesses should consider what keeps their customers up at night and use that as the basis for creating engaging content. He suggests that businesses should think about the hero's journey within their industry or customer experiences to make their content more relatable and engaging, and advises marketers to start with the end goal of pleasing their audience and optimizing for the right channels, rather than focusing solely on search engines like Google or social media platforms such as TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Ashley discuss how AI tools like ChatGPT and AHREFS can assist in generating content ideas and how to identify successful topics through content audits. They touch upon the importance of working with internal teams to gather insights and pain points from customer interactions. Additionally, they discuss the idea of brand as a publisher and the value of creating content that appeals to the brand's audience (even if it's not directly related to the product or service).

Ashley emphasizes the need for authenticity in content partnerships and the importance of relevance. The conversation delves into considerations relating to when to create video content and how to decide if it's worth the investment, taking cues from what's currently ranking in search results. Ashley suggests that the presence of video content in top-ranking pages can be an indicator that video should be incorporated into the content strategy. She acknowledges that video production can be time-consuming but stresses the importance of using it when it aligns with user preferences and search trends.

They discuss various content strategies and approaches, including influencer marketing, content summaries, and the repurposing of content. They highlight the importance of creating snackable, summary, and abstract versions of content to cater to different audience preferences and consumption habits. They also explore the use of infographics, which can be time-consuming to create but add value to content.

The discussion continues with the concept of future-proofing SEO against voice search and featured snippets. Ashley advises including summary sections in content to increase the chances of being the source quoted by voice assistants. The conversation concludes with Ashley's excitement about the evolving landscape of content creation and the opportunities AI tools provide for content strategy and optimization in 2024.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They discuss their philosophy on testing in digital marketing and the importance of managing risks. Duane emphasizes that adapting to change is a necessary skill in marketing and that testing should be done without risking a large portion of the budget. He suggests limiting testing budgets to around 10% of the total budget and launching tests towards the end of the month to better assess their impact on monthly performance.

Kevin and Duane discuss common mistakes in paid media audits, particularly in the context of search and other advertising platforms. Some of the key points made include:

Conversion Tracking: One common mistake is the improper setup of conversion tracking, which became more challenging after Google discontinued Universal Analytics. It's crucial to ensure that conversion tracking is functioning correctly and that there are no tracking issues.

Account Maintenance: People sometimes fail to spend enough time on account maintenance. They overlook small changes or shifts in performance, which can later become more significant issues. Duane emphasizes the importance of double-checking work to catch mistakes and maintain account integrity.

Campaign Types: Duane mentions the overreliance on "Performance Max" campaigns in Google and other platforms. He suggests that while Performance Max campaigns are useful, they shouldn't be the sole campaign type, and advertisers should understand how different campaign types work together.

Facebook Advertising: In the context of Facebook ads, a common issue pertains to having too many campaigns and ad sets, which can lead to inefficient budget distribution. Duane recommends that advertisers focus on having fewer campaigns to collect sufficient data for optimization.

Data and Long-Term Strategy: Duane and Kevin stress the importance of collecting and using data effectively for long-term strategy. They talk about understanding post-conversion metrics and using business intelligence data to optimize campaigns for customer lifetime value (LTV).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris highlights the importance of participating in Prime Day to maintain and improve a brand's ranking on Amazon. They also talk about the role of pricing and how it can convey quality on Amazon. Chris explains that while price matters in an efficient marketplace, Amazon's marketplace is not always efficient. Consumers often rely on product content and reviews to determine value, which allows premium-priced products to maintain their pricing.

The interview also touches on promotional strategies, such as discounts and coupons, which can be effective in specific situations. Chris advises against taking a consistently low-price approach, as it can lead to price wars and unsustainable businesses. Instead, they recommend using promotions strategically, like offering deals on Prime Day or bundling related products.

Overall, the interview provides insights into various strategies for success on Amazon, emphasizing the importance of content, pricing, and advertising.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unfortunately, as they discuss, the drawback of using Performance Max is the loss of control over targeting and the blurring of campaign data that might provide valuable insights to the savvy marketer.

Sarah and Kevin explore the challenges associated with understanding customer lifetime value (LTV) and how it impacts marketing campaigns. They trade notes on how paid search data can serve as a barometer measuring the effectiveness of other (non-search) marketing efforts, with Sarah noting that the advent of Performance Max has made it harder to use branded search in this way.

They discuss the GA-4 transition, which has led to considerable frustration among marketers, and speculate on whether non-Google alternatives might be good choices for marketers seeking to restore the robust analytics functionality that was formerly available. Sarah shares her experiences with clients and the need for a conservative approach when implementing changes in ad campaigns, as well as the importance of considering geography and purchasing power when optimizing ad targeting.

The interview concludes with a discussion of what Sarah is excited about for 2024 and beyond in the paid search ecosystem.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They explore the potential future of AI in generating visual, audio, and video content, including the challenges of deep fakes and trust-building with consumers. The interview moves to a discussion of how AI can augment and enhance human work, rather than entirely replacing it, leading to improved productivity, better client relationships, and more time spent on higher-level, creative tasks.

The conversation turns to common SEO mistakes related to AI.

Kevin and Julia touch on potential improvements that could be made to AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard, with ChatGPT being better for ideation and Bard performing better in terms of factual accuracy. Julia shares examples of AI hallucinations, emphasizing the need for human oversight and critical thinking when using AI in SEO and content creation. The interview concludes with a discussion of what Julia is excited about for 2023 and beyond.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew shares insights on the impact of links from digital PR campaigns and the potential they offer for SEO efforts. He mentions that digital PR teams are beginning to experiment with AI, particularly for ideation and overcoming writer's block. While AI is being used in the field, it's a slow process, and it might take some time before AI becomes a standard ideation tool in SEO.

Holland believes that SEO, in particular, is vulnerable to AI's impact, as it could change the industry and make it more efficient while also presenting challenges. He points out that younger SEOs might rely too heavily on AI, potentially undermining the value of experience in the field. Despite these challenges, he ultimately sees AI as a positive development in the industry.

The conversation also touches on the importance of digital PR and how it can help establish a brand's expertise and authority. When brands get mentioned in high-authority publications and are referred to as experts, it can significantly impact their reputation and search engine rankings.

The interview concludes with a discussion about the importance of focusing on profit and the potential for SEO to maximize a business's profits, especially as marketing effectiveness and profit take precedence in the current business landscape. Holland suggests that conversations about profit and long-term growth plans are crucial for SEO's future success.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Lomit discuss the catalyst for children getting into Tynker, which often involves leveraging their love for Minecraft, where they can create modifications requiring coding skills. This serves as a gateway to coding, which is presented as learning a new language. Schools using Tynker's curriculum also expose children to coding.

They chat about Tynker’s collaborative community, where kids help each other, creating a positive peer pressure environment, and touch upon the issue of AI, which is integrated into Tynker to help kids learn to code faster and problem-solve. A new feature, "co-pilot," assists kids in their coding journey, emphasizing AI as a tool for enhancing skills rather than replacing them.

Pivoting to Tynker’s marketing strategy, Lomit explains that Tynker uses both B2B and B2C strategies. In the education sector, word of mouth and teachers' recommendations play a significant role in adoption. On the consumer side, SEO is crucial, targeting keywords related to coding for kids and Minecraft. YouTube and Discord are also used for community engagement and discoverability. Paid marketing efforts focus on Google and Facebook to reach parents.

Another important pillar of Tynker’s marketing involves collaboration with influencers and partners with brands such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claudio discusses the connection to purpose and how it strongly influences a marketer's effectiveness. He emphasizes the significance of finding a story in what a company does, regardless of the industry, and the importance of addressing broader societal problems to engage customers.

Kevin and Claudio delve into his research on fan engagement and the impact of organizational purpose on trust and the willingness of customers to share personal data.

The discussion touches on influencer marketing, where trust and authenticity are crucial, and the need for influencers to align with the brand's purpose. Claudio underlines the significance of maintaining consistency in values and politics to preserve trust with the audience. He also stresses that marketers, whose budgets typically depend on favorable opinions in the C-Suite, must strive to speak the language of highly placed executives and demonstrate – through data-driven storytelling – that the marketer’s budgetary requests are warranted.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Michael discuss how Amazon's unique ecosystem requires an approach that's very different from standard Google PPC in terms of setting advertising goals. Michael emphasizes the value of aggressive advertising strategies on Amazon and mentions that competitive conquest campaigns, which target a competitor's ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), can be effective. These campaigns may be more expensive but can capture potential customers who have already shown interest in similar products. Michael advises tracking these campaigns, setting specific goals, and recognizing the benefits of gaining market share in addition to direct sales.

They touch on topics such as competitive conquest, audience-based targeting, influencer marketing, bid optimization, and the importance of Prime Day promotions. Michael cites the concept of brand-tailored promotions as a new and exciting strategy for customizing marketing on Amazon to different audience segments. These strategies vary from increasing bids and budgets for Prime Day, leveraging brand referral bonuses with influencers, to taking advantage of Amazon's different promotional options.

They cover the importance of price differentiation, the potential pitfalls of overusing promotions, and how being price-sensitive is crucial for Amazon shoppers. The conversation also delves into the significance of campaign structure in optimizing Amazon campaigns, and Michael recommends a community called "Core Community" for discussing and sharing Amazon marketing insights. In terms of upcoming trends, Michael is excited about monitoring the increasing price sensitivity on Amazon and plans to update the bidding algorithm while exploring the relationship between PPC and SEO on the platform.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Zack discuss how SmartScout works, why it's useful for brands selling on Amazon, and then take a deep dive into issues relevant to effective selling on Amazon. As Zack notes, Amazon appears to be shifting its focus away from Vendor Central and towards Seller Central, with brands moving away from Vendor Central.

They discuss how SmartScout can be used for product research, competitive conquest and to better understand consumer behavior. They chat about marketers' love-hate relationship with Amazon and the challenges of managing brand reputation on Amazon, including the impact of unauthorized sellers and the importance of controlling brand image.

The discussion then turns to what Zack is excited about for 2023 and beyond. As he notes, "'it's exciting but also it can be a little scary to see what Amazon decides to do a year from now. They are really starting to put a big emphasis and push on Amazon Freight; Amazon Full Service... they're kind of taking over different different segments that people would have to outsource previously, or at least pushing it a little bit heavier. "

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Destaney discuss her agency's origin story, how Amazon is shifting vendor relationships to FBA, the challenges of working with Amazon, including pricing pressures and the general lack of transparency. Then they take a deep dive into some best practices for advertising on Amazon. They discuss common mistakes made by advertisers when approaching advertising on Amazon, the importance of video advertising, including the potential of well-crafted, well-placed video ads to achieve competitive conquest. They also discuss the potential SEO advantages for DTC brands when they create robust product listings on Amazon.

The discussion then pivots to the topic of Amazon PPC optimization and creative strategies, the emergence of new Amazon advertising tools (which may eventually include geo-targeting capabilities), and the importance of using appropriate software to optimize bids and listings.

If you represent a brand that has or will someday have a presence on Amazon, you'll get a lot out of this informative interview.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Fei discuss GA4 and the difficulties that many marketers have experienced adapting to Google's decision to deprecate Universal Analytics. As Fei observes, "it took years for essentially most of the Internet to adapt to how GA Universal was set up and actually learn how those things work. Right now, very few people feel like they have a good grasp on how (GA4) actually works. So that obviously leads to a lot of misconfiguration, which leads to the data being even more inaccurate than before."

Fei and Kevin discuss GA4's use of sampling, which many ecommerce merchants may not be aware of, the fact that analytics platforms often produce data discrepancies, and the broader attribution issues that can crop up when merchants attempt to reconcile data from multiple sources or are simply overloaded by this data. Then they trade anecdotes about the bad things that can happen when merchants make strategic decisions based on bad data.

Kevin and Fei talk in depth about Amazon -- a marketplace that some DTC merchants have embraced while others continue to fear. As Fei notes, "I think it's important to have a presence on Amazon, because if someone sees you on YouTube or TikTok or even on TV or via streaming, there is a nontrivial chance that they're going to go either directly to the website, but more likely than not, they'll be going to do a Google brand search or Amazon search. Amazon is a starting destination in terms of discovery. So if you're not there, your competitor could be capturing that potential intent." At the same time, merchants may need to employ specific strategies to avoid sales cannibalization. As Fei notes, one technique might be to limit the number of SKUs available on Amazon or make the deal on Amazon slightly less attractive than what's available on one's site.

Fei believes that many brands are overlooking real opportunity by avoiding Amazon. He notes that "Amazon advertising is actually the fastest sort of marketing spend growth among our customer base. And within that, Amazon-branded advertising is the fastest growing sub vertical... people are using Amazon as a brand awareness channel already."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fortunately, there's a lot of advertising innovation going on in CTV that's intended to make better use of CTV's intelligent infrastructure and thereby improve the chances that advertisers have to gain viewers' attention. One of these innovators is Origin, a company whose suite of tools can be used to create customized, optimized ad units that run adjacent to the main ad unit, thus "priming" the viewer for the ad message to come.

Kevin Lee sat down with Fred Godfrey, Origin's Co-Founder and CEO, to chat at length about what how his company came to be, how Origin's technology works to amplify the impact of a brand's ad creative by serving relevant content adjacent to ad breaks, and to and to wax philosophical about the purpose of advertising itself (Fred has a masters degree in Moral Philosophy).

Fred and Kevin discuss CTV's targeting capabilities, the powerful role that context plays in successful CTV advertising, and the importance of emotional storytelling. They then talk about product placements, the use of AI for ad creation and real-time personalization, and address several cases where Origin's technology has been used to boost ad awareness and recall.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They discuss the importance of context when crafting B2B messaging for multiple channels. As Linda observes, it's crucial to "change hats" when crafting creative so that one can put oneself in the intended audience's shoes. They chat about the difficulties that B2B marketing firms face when their prospects grow fearful of a recessionary macroenvironment, and then tackle the issue of why it's important for marketers to continue to devote at least some reasonable percentage of their budgets to experimental R&D projects.

Wearing her agency hat, Linda stresses the importance of maintaining good relationships with clients, even when economic storms are gathering. "If you don't hang on to and solidify those current relationships, it will become even more challenging because, if... the whole sales cycle is getting delayed because of one reason or another, and then the strategies are not quite on par, you have a challenge. And then on top of that, you're looking at potential economic uncertainties. So then you have to realize it's time to really think about who we have for clients. Ho do we keep them happy? And how do we retain them during the ups and downs of the economy?"

The interview closes with a brief discussion of the relevance of AI to marketing in general and B2B marketing in particular.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sheila and Kevin begin their conversation by addressing the concept of “brand purpose” and why it’s important for brands to make sure any events cause marketing events they organize are aligned with the particular promise represented by the brand.

They then move on to the topic of “greenwashing” and why it’s critical for brands engaged in corporate philanthropy to avoid it, and address the fact that when consumers become aware that a brand is engaged in charitable giving, this awareness can function as a “tie-breaker.”

Kevin and Sheila trade notes on mistakes often made when brands engage in these sponsorships. As Sheila notes, one critical mistake that’s often made is under-resourcing the social media teams responsible for conducting the events themselves.

Another mistake is to rely too much on “hybrid” (real + virtual) events. As Sheila observes, “consumers don't want hybrid. If you are there, it waters down the experience when you have to interact with people who are online, and the people online never get the experience that people who were there are getting. So I think there will be more segregation in those types of events where everybody's pushing for hybrid… I think it's okay to do a live event, and then do a virtual event that is similar to it so that you offer it to other people. But it really waters down the virtual event by having people live.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mall IQ currently has many top-tier partners, including Starbucks, Samsung, several notable banks and advertising agency holding companies, and hopes to expand into other sectors.

Batu and Kevin dig into the details of how the Mall IQ technology works and touch on success stories of marketers using location data to increase conversions and engagement. Along the way, they discuss:

- How physical location can function as a purchase intent indication.

- How the Mall IQ app uses tokenization to share data without needing customer consent.

- How the technology can be used to entice new customers with rewards and offers, while also engaging high-value customers through personalized experiences.

- The importance of the concept of “nudgability” (favorably moving customers who might be “on the fence” with respect to choosing a particular product or service).

- Identifying peak moments for push notifications based on user behavior and preferences.

- How FinTech apps can use the Mall IQ technology to delight consumers with special offers, such as coffee or desserts, based on their purchase history and loyalty program status.

- How the anonymized token is used for longitudinal data analysis, providing insights on share of wallet and buying journey.

- The importance of measuring uplift in push notifications, using a control group to isolate the impact of notifications on behavior.

- The expansion of Mall IQ’s ideal customer profiles to include banks, Fintech companies, and retailers, while also receiving inbound inquiries from telcos, food delivery, and airlines.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Dennis discuss Postalytics' origin story and the fact that technology investment in postal mail has lagged over the years, despite the fact that postal mail marketing remains a $40 billion business in the U.S. They dive into how Postalytics' software systematizes direct mail campaign creation and delivery, how it integrates with other platforms, how the pandemic changed consumer behavior with respect to direct mail, and how new technology is improving the channel.

As Dennis notes, "there's better technology that is being used in the printing and mailing process, the data on the back end is more accurate. It is being tied together with your purchase histories and interests that you've indicated across a variety of different spectrums. So you're getting more relevant stuff, you're not getting spray and pray kind of junk mail that you used to get it. So that has caused an increase in response rate. And then finally, very connected to the pandemic, the advent of QR codes, has made the ramp from offline to online so much more easy."

Kevin and Dennis discuss industry categories for which direct mail remains a strong channel, including the non-profit sector, as well as the importance of adapting an "ABT" (Always Be Testing) mindset when conducing postal mail campaigns. They conclude with a brief discussion about how the USPS is deploying advanced technology to remove friction from direct mail campaigns and what Dennis is excited about for 2023 and beyond.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Scott discuss a slew of developments and topics that should matter to anyone doing email marketing today, including:

- The extraordinary potential of email marketing in a post-cookie world, especially given its ability to create one-to-one connections with customers.

- Best practices regarding email list hygiene.

- Surefire warning signs that a marketers' email addresses need to be cleaned.

- The importance of reactivating inactive customers through reengagement campaigns to avoid throwing them away.

- Why marketers need to prepare for stricter email deliverability requirements by authenticating sender domains and monitoring deliverability metrics.

- Why brands must prioritize DMARK (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) policy enforcement to prevent phishing attacks and protect reputation.

- Common deliverability issues in email marketing that need to be overcome.

- How human error is a significant factor in email deliverability problems, often caused by a single individual's mistake.

- Why some marketers struggle to identify and resolve deliverability issues due to lack of visibility and benchmarking.

- How email program complexity and poor data quality can damage reputation and lead to spam complaints.

- Why some marketers have been slow to adopt strategic multi-channel orchestration, instead relying on replicating messages across channels without a clear strategy.

- How Google's algorithms have improved email filtering, allowing for more personalized and targeted campaigns.

- Why smart email marketers often use third-party data append services to create targeted segments for email marketing campaigns.

- Topics of interest at the next Inbox Expo, which will feature a variety of sessions on deliverability, creative strategy, a startup fast pitch competition, and other email-specific topics.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Sally discuss how the news industry has evolved, why trust in the media is at historic lows, and how The Trust Project aims to make things better through various initiatives and partnerships. Topics addressed in this discussion include:

- How Sally was able to secure funding for user-centered design research to understand why people trust or distrust the news, leading to the development of trust indicators.

- The importance of trust in journalism and the need for transparency in the media.

- How too many news outlets have continued to prioritize clickbait headlines and sensational content, which has contributed to the decline of trust in the media.

- The blurring of lines between news and opinion and the importance of distinguishing them through labeling.

- The continuing importance of supporting local news sources, given that they cover important issues relevant to local constituencies.

- How technology platforms, intentionally or not, limit the diversity of news sources visible to users, leading to a narrow understanding of the world.

- The fact that advertisers are often fearful of supporting news content due to brand safety issues, adding an additional headwind to the publishing industry's ability to report on important stories.

- Why it would be more honest to label “sponsored content” as “paid content.”

- The four different types of news consumers (Avid, Engaged, Opportunistic, and Angry Disengaged).

- The importance of transparency in influencer marketing and the need for authenticity in labeling.

- The importance of transparency in sponsored content, urging brands to use accurate language and provide clear attribution.

- The changing dynamics of authorship in journalism, where individual journalists are gaining more power and influence outside of traditional media organizations.

- The critical role played by user education equipping users with tools to evaluate the credibility of online information.

- How brands and advertisers can help by incorporating fact-checking into their advertising and training employees on trust indicators.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Michel discuss issues relevant to multi-channel retailers and companies maintaining multiple physical locations. They cover many topics in their talk, including:

- The importance of sentiment analysis for large organizations, which can reveal potential issues with local management or culture, as well as stocking issues.

- The challenges of managing a retail footprint in a multichannel context, including the need to keep Google My Business listings up-to-date with accurate information.

- The importance of integrating Google Merchant Center with local inventory feeds to improve local discovery and push competitors down in search results.

- Why retail organizations often struggle with ownership and budgeting for local marketing efforts.

- The degree to which digital transformation is progressing evenly among large, medium, and small retailers.

- How marketers might go about prioritizing chatbot visibility in voice-based search, given that it's becoming increasingly important for local search.

- The importance of rich creatives (including high-quality photos), positive reviews, and effective local landing pages for local businesses.

- The potential for syndicated content and digital PR to improve the odds of being chosen by LLMs for inclusion in results.

- The degree to which Google may use translations of reviews in other languages to analyze sentiment about products or services, regardless of the original language.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Will observes, many traditional publishers are now opting to this new affiliate model, which has proven more lucrative than relying on banner ads, and whose revenue can be used to replace traditional revenue sources such as classified ads which formerly funded journalism. Publisher partners now include Time Inc., the AP, NBC News, McClatchy, and many more. Taboola's stated goal is to become the "partner of choice, or rather “Advertising in a box” to many great companies."

Kevin and Will discuss Taboola's turnkey division, how it works, why it's helpful for many traditional publishers, and talk about issues related to content, publishing, and the possible impact of AI now and in the future. Along the way they discuss:

- The impact of AI on content creation.

- The importance of using SEO tools and data to identify niche areas with search volume, such as snow tires or pet insurance, which can be lucrative despite being less competitive.

- The wisdom of pruning and/or revising older content.

- The importance of dating content to increase trust and credibility for consumers and AI algorithms.

- The need for contextual information, such as authoritative sources and date of publication, to improve search engine rankings.

- The serious problem that AI systems encounter when they begin to ingest their own output.

- How authorship and bylining may become much more important as AI-generated content becomes more pervasive.

- The differences between trust and authority in the context of social media platforms.

- The new phenomenon of social media users employing old digital cameras to achieve a "fake historical" aesthetic in social media.

- The evolution of direct mail marketing, including the use of QR codes and variable digital printing.

- The potential for personalized, hyper-localized content in direct mail pieces and magazines (using a tool Kevin invented called Inceptor) making use of personalized QR codes linking readers to deals individually tailored to them.

- The importance of direct relationships between publishers and readers, rather than relying on intermediaries like Facebook or Google.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Irina discuss the particular challenges faced by the restaurant industry and for marketers attempting to modernize this industry. Topics covered in their talk include:

- The unique challenges of modernizing the restaurant industry, where operators are very busy, often lack technical expertise, and need guidance on how to adopt new technologies.

- The importance of understanding the nuances of the restaurant industry and tailoring marketing strategies accordingly.

- The importance of integrating offline and online data for targeted marketing efforts.

- How direct mail has made a comeback during and after the COVID pandemic.

- The value of providing educational content in direct mail campaigns, focusing on keeping the mail piece somewhere the recipient can use it regularly (Chowly provides a useful "checklist" that restaurant operators can place in a visible location).

- Why it's important to be cautious about attending trade shows unless they are definitely worthwhile and can provide ongoing value.

- The importance of partnerships in the restaurant space.

- How generative AI systems (and AI-powered search engines) are validating the past efforts of marketers to optimize their internet presences.

- The value of owning the brand narrative through content and visuals.

- The value of high-quality networking opportunities, such as face-to-face dinners, where attendees can have meaningful interactions with their peers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

- A quick tour of Welltory, an all-in-one wellness app that tracks data from various sources and provides insights without giving users goals or tasks.

- How Welltory prioritizes integrations with devices that have a large user base, such as Apple Watches, and uses Apple Health as a default integration point.

- The degree to which retention and stickiness metrics in the health tech space are important metrics of success.

- Examples of successful apps that use "magic" and personalization to keep users engaged, such as pulling heartbeat data directly from an Apple Watch and interpreting it in a unique and personalized way.

- Internal Welltory research findings on the impact of its app on users' stress levels and physical activity, including a 10% decrease in stress levels and an average increase of 20,000 steps per month.

- The challenge of balancing providing insights without encouraging self-diagnosis or neglecting professional medical consultation.

- The extent to which health apps represent instances of gamification.

- How Welltory uses feedback from the healthcare provider community to improve its apps and algorithms.

- The importance of continuous monitoring and data collection in personalized health and wellness.

- The role of machine learning and AI in generating personalized content and recommendations based on user data.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of water has passed under the bridge in the world of analytics since 2021. 3rd-party tracking cookies are finally sunsetting, the world has lost Universal Analytics but gained generative AI – a technology with great analytics potential. We’ve also seen the resurgence of IRL ("in real life”) events, now that COVID is in the rear-view mirror, and the emergence of digitally-enabled direct mail and QR as vital marketing tools (a trend that Kevin's new venture, https://inceptor.com, hopes to capitalize on).

Kevin and Jim discuss these and other relevant developments, including:

- The potential of AI to analyze data, generate reports, and provide insights, with a focus on creative applications and advisory roles.

- The impact of the pandemic on event planning, including the increased use of QR codes.

- Common mistakes made when creating QR codes, such as encoding a full URL instead of shortening it, and not understanding the mechanics behind them.

- How personalized QR codes can reduce friction in direct mail marketing by pre-filling landing page information.

- Creative use of direct mail, including interactive elements like scratch-offs and pop-up books.

- The importance of personalization in marketing, using the example of a wrapped box with a cellphone inside that rings when opened.

- The potential for hyper-personalization through AI-generated content.

- The importance of data literacy and generative AI literacy in analytics, highlighting the challenges of working with probabilistic data.

- Observations on analysts’ acceptance (and lack thereof) of Google Analytics 4.

- Jim’s hopes and expectations for the upcoming Market Analytics Summit.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Chase cover many topics in their talk, including:

- The importance of creating a sonic identity that resonates with a brand's ethos and can be used across various marketing materials.

- The degree to which game development projects have pre-existing guidance or direction for music composition.

- The importance of evoking emotions in audio composition for commercials and video games.

- The need for composers to be mindful of their emotional state while composing, as it can affect the quality and duration of their creative output.

- How Chase’s approach to writing music for video games uses a "sonic palette" that evokes the specific console systems of the past.

- Examples of effective sonic branding, including Nissan and McDonald's recent branding efforts, using a consistent tone and melody across the brands' marketing campaigns.

- The lingering effects of a video game on the player's subconscious, including residual melodies and textures.

- How AI-enabled music tools are likely to affect the music compositional process now and in the future.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As FreeWater's website states, "We are the opposite of traditional advertising because we are not annoying. Instead of making the audience cringe or run for cover, we put a smile on their face, and from that state of happiness is when they'll be excited to support your brand." Ten cents earned from advertising on each beverage bottle is donated to WellAware, an Austin based non-profit that builds water wells in East Africa.

FreeWater utilizes QR codes on its water bottle packaging to perform much of its magic, and Kevin is not only a big fan of these handy codes -- whose usage soared during the pandemic – but his team has recently created Inceptor, a powerful technology that adds custom QR codes to every piece of mail, reducing friction on landing pages, and integrating with CRM, resulting in a “Glengarry” lead powerhouse.

You can learn more about Inceptor at: https://inceptor.com/

The interview covers topics including the following:

- FreeWater's inspiring origin story.

- The versatility of QR codes, including enabling augmenting reality, allowing brands to create immersive experiences for consumers.

- How the company's platform works, using the example of a bottle of water with a QR code that directs users to the advertiser's website for more information.

- How the FreeWater platform’s functionality will advance in the future, with multiple layers of transactions, including the physical wrap, QR code, and AR, allowing for more bidding and revenue opportunities.

- The degree to which there which may be "low-hanging fruit" opportunities for distribution of FreeWater from a fixed location, such as a stadium or concert venue.

- How relative costs for advertising using FreeWater’s model compared to those seen in traditional direct mail.

- FreeWater's plans for future growth of their company, including reaching critical mass and expanding into new areas, such as groceries.

If you’re at a brand interested in testing FreeWater, the company's website provides a form allowing you to quickly obtain a quote here: freewater.io.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Solomon cover cover a lot of ground in their interview that will be of interest to students, practitioners, and aficionados of Direct Selling and Multi-level Marketing, including:

- The evolution of the MLM industry from door-to-door selling to digital sales, with a focus on social media and incentivized behavior.

- The differences between party planning companies and MLMs.

- How the rise of social media and the recent pandemic caused the industry to change as people became more comfortable with online business and virtual parties.

- The shift from traditional sales pitches to more natural product integrations in influencer marketing, with technology now enabling seamless product ordering directly from video content.

- How Shopify's merchant account program eliminated the need for MLM companies to set up their own merchant providers.

- How MLM companies have leveraged existing technology for virtual parties and meetings, leading to interest in "replicated" websites and API integration.

- How the MLM industry has evolved away from the practice of marking up products 7-10 times to pay commissions, leading to overpriced products and inefficient compensation structures.

- The importance of compliance in MLM and affiliate marketing, especially with regard to transparency and disclosure.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Shel cover a lot of ground in their talk, including:

- The fact that most Fortune 500 companies now have a sustainability coordinator or department, indicating a shift towards being more aware of their potential holistic social impact.

- How to distinguish “Greenwashing” from authentic efforts made by brands to become more sustainable.

- The importance of educating consumers about what Fair Trade certifications mean and why they’re important.

- How big players such as Walmart have outsized power to mandate changes in packaging and supply chain practices that can induce better sustainability.

- How Marcal, a paper products company, went from bankruptcy to success by reinventing itself as a green brand.

- Why the root causes of wars often pertain to conflicts over the control of resources.

- The importance of tailoring marketing messages for green products and services to different demographic groups’ unique concerns and values, such as health issues or environmental impact, to effectively reach and convert them into sustainably-minded consumers.

- Industries ripe for transformation into more sustainable enterprises, including transportation, construction, and food industries.

- Examples of innovative products and services promoting sustainability.

Shel’s website, GoingBeyondSustainability.com, provides valuable resources (and some freebies) for those interested in green/social entrepreneurship, so check it out!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

- Potential regulatory issues for businesses using AI-powered voice calls and text messaging, given that proposed regulatory actions may require opt-in consent for these types of communications.

- The importance of using clear and concise language in voicemails for outbound contact strategies, as these may now be transcribed and read in real-time.

- The need to be thoughtful of how voicemails are left, including the caller ID and the content of the message, to ensure they are easily comprehensible and actionable without picking up the phone.

- How AI is now being used to create personalized voicemails in a way that is potentially undetectable to listeners.

- How the legal definition of a "robo call" may expand to include AI-powered calls and text messaging, which could pose challenges for companies that rely on these methods for business communications.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This interview covers many topics that will be of interest to anyone doing digital marketing today, especially those whose budgets are spent across programmatic advertising channels.

These topics include:

- The challenge of identifying fraudulent impressions in programmatic advertising, given that the sheer magnitude of data makes it difficult to detect invalid clicks.

- How many of today's ad fraud solutions suites are limited in their ability to detect fraud because of the way they use pre-bid scanning to classify traffic in real-time.

- How fraudsters are increasingly using advanced bots, malware, and human fraud farms to bypass detection methods.

- Why some advertisers are willing to accept a certain level of fraud, viewing it as a cost of doing business.

- Why small advertisers have a hard time seeking funds from large tech platforms when incidents of ad fraud are detected.

- The importance of verifying ad fraud detection software's accuracy and not trusting it solely on the basis of claims made by its representatives.

- The challenges faced by ad fraud software vendors in terms of keeping up with new browser versions and their impact on fraud detection.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and James discuss the emergence of retail media as a powerful advertising channel for retailers and chat about how retailers can best take advantage of it. They cover a good number of topics in our talk that will be of interest to retailers, e-tailers, and e-commerce merchants, including:

- Retail media and its use cases in advertising.

- The unique value of retail media, given the rich first-party data retailers possess, including purchase history and information related to customer loyalty.

- Looking at Amazon as an example of a highly optimized retail media network, with over 50% of retail media revenue in the category.

- Why it’s critically important for retailers to link online and offline POS (Point of Sale) data.

- How retailers can use programmatic advertising within retail networks media to delight customers through targeted, relevant ads.

- The potential for retailers to share data with brands, which could be used to create more effective targeted marketing campaigns.

- The potential for upside in retail sectors selling large ticket items, such as Home Depot and Lowe's, and for specialty retailers.

- How the development of an open RTB standard for promoted listings will enable retailers to deliver ads programmatically across multiple platforms and measure performance in a more open and efficient way.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

- The importance of storytelling and social media in SEO.

- The importance of producing trustworthy content in a world where AI-generated content is becoming more prevalent.

- The importance of understanding the different layers of expertise and reputation in SEO, and how Google is now able to recognize and prioritize these factors.

- The crucial role that voice assistants like Google Home will play in the future of search.

- The possibility that the recent Helpful Content update in Google may have been influenced by AI, given that the update prioritizes unique and human-generated content over AI-generated content.

- How to use AI to thwart "Creator's Block" (formerly known as "Writer's Block")

- Potential loopholes in ChatGPT's training data, including the use of human-generated content to train the AI and the potential for abuse.

- The importance of measuring the value of PR and digital content placements beyond media equivalents.

- How brand search volume and direct navigation volume can be used as a leading indicator of paid media success.

- The growing demand for digital PR and SEO services, as indicated by a 10x increase in Google Trends search interest over the past 5 years.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Greg cover a lot of ground in our interview and address many topics of interest to anyone doing local SEO today. These topics include:

- The possible impact that Gemini, a Google-developed AI app intended to replace voice-based search, will have on local SEO.

- The role that Google Home may play in terms of serving as a platform for testing and training AI to answer questions conversationally, potentially changing how people use voice search at home.

- How creating and syndicating high-quality content across various platforms, such as Yelp and LinkedIn, can help improve local SEO and AI visibility.

- The degree to which writing better content for one's website can help improve search engine rankings as AI becomes more integrated in the search experience.

- The importance of optimizing videos for YouTube, as doing this can lead to more visibility and leads in the long run.

- The importance of optimizing Google Business Profiles for local search, particularly in regard to selecting relevant categories for the business.

- Why businesses need to take steps to ask customers for reviews to increase the chances of getting good reviews (even if doing so means getting more bad reviews).

- The fact that that no amount of marketing can overcome a bad user experience.

- Google's recent efforts to improve local search experiences, including new verification processes and reinstatement procedures.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

- Misconceptions regarding gamers and gaming audiences that can prevent brand managers from appreciating their value.

- The role played by platform algorithms and meritocracy in terms of surfacing top creators.

- The shift in power away from traditional Hollywood agencies and studios toward independent internet-based creators and influencers.

- The challenges faced by brand managers when seeking to reach audiences mediated by gaming influencers.

- The importance of considering multiple KPIs when working with creators and influencers, such as website clicks, downloads, and engagement, rather than solely focusing on sales.

- The fact that creators with existing friendships can amplify each other's content and increase virality.

- Instances where brands have successfully worked with a group of creators in a way that resonates with their audiences, thus leading to more organic and authentic content that can often exceed contractually obligated content.

- Why brand managers may struggle with giving influencers and creators sufficient creative freedom to create content that truly resonates with their audiences.

- How influencers are becoming more sophisticated in their approaches to building personal brands, recognizing the importance of having multiple touchpoints with their audiences.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices