Ponderings From The Perch

EMAIL - an open line of communication between brand and buyer. With this kind of direct contact, it makes sense that emails have remained a fundamental part of our marketing strategies for years. In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, Priscilla hands the mic to Colton Harrington of Little Bird Marketing and he takes to the streets to interview everyday people about their email behaviors in a new segment we’re calling THE BIRD ON THE STREET. Over the years, as people continued to receive more and more marketing emails, their behavior has shifted. As marketers, we keep adjusting our strategies to try and reflect these behaviors. But what are they? Colton asks questions to uncover just that:- “Is there a particular time of day you check you email most?”- ”If an email uses your name in the subject line, is it creepy or more likely to make you open it?”- “What’s the main reason you unsubscribe from emails?” Learn more about how you can take your email strategy to the next level with our free resource, "9 Re

Pretty much every business owner - either brick and mortar or online - understands that increased traffic doesn’t always equate to increased sales. In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, Priscilla talks with Chris Dayley, a neuromarketer and A/B testing wizard with Disruptive Advertising, about the differences between search engine optimization and conversion rate optimization. Dayley’s small testing and optimization startup, Dayley Conversion merged with Disruptive Advertising in 2016. He and Priscilla dive deep into the importance of asking the right questions, the differences between small and large business, and approaching potential clients with a mentality of abundance. Bonus! Chris has put together a free A/B testing starter guide featuring recommended tools, first tests to try, and case studies that is available here!Connect with Chris on Twitter, LinkedIn or Disruptive Advertising.Like what you hear? Let us know! Subscribe, rate and review Ponderings from the Perch on iTunes.About our sponsor:

Just like our old pal T.S. Eliot said, "last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice."  In this episode, Momma Bird - Priscilla McKinney and Little Bird Content Marketing Specialist - Ashley Le Blanc talk about greeting the new year with a swift karate chop, and ditching all those bad marketing habits you might have picked up through the years. Want a sneak peek? Here's the overview of the tips!1. Stop selling so hard. Learn about Priscilla's Rule of 15, which lays out a balanced framework for social posting that integrates sales without being annoying.2. Stop treating social media like an afterthought. Short form content is an art form unto itself, and shouldn't be approached haphazardly, or shoved off on the nearest administrative assistant. 3. Stop pretending that "content" equals "blogging." Google looks at more than just the blog to determine your site's authority - think video and audio - and expand your content landscape. [ 3a. If it's not an importan

The WIRe miniseries has been nothing short of inspiring. In the final episode of this series, Priscilla interviews Brin Moore. In addition to being a partner at Trusted Talent, where she helps market research firms find the right talent for the right jobs, Brin has been an integral part of WIRe in San Francisco, heading up the biannual events in the Golden City. In this episode, the two talk about the best parts of WIRe, the importance of local networking and the changing landscape of executive recruiting in conjunction with the market research and consumer insights industry:“There’s a tremendous amount of talent out there. And there are amazing opportunities out there. The marketplace is just teeming with opportunities. And people are being very, very picky about what they want - they’re looking for the right fit. Both on the client side and the researcher. They’re looking for the right culture fit, lifestyle fit, and expertise fit. They’re being very diligent about, ‘What is the position, what is it that yo

“Reality may not be the best of all possible worlds, but it’s still the only place where you can get a decent steak.” - Woody AllenIn this episode, Priscilla McKinney talks with Charlie Rosenbury, founder and president of Self Interactive, a Springfield, MO based software development company specializing in virtual (V) and augmented (A) reality experiences. In addition to discussing the differences between VR and MR, Priscilla and Charlie talk about the future and present of this technology and how it can, when properly utilized, present a truly creative solution to a wide variety of problems. Learn about the difference between three and six degrees of freedom, the possible applications of Snapchat filters, meatball machines, and that time Priscilla’s brain went swimming with whales. In addition to being the president of Self Interactive, Rosenbury is also a co-founder of Springfield Creatives. After checking out this episode, Perch fans might be interested in revisiting Priscilla’s interview with Kyle Drenon

In this episode of the Flock Stars WIRe Miniseries, Priscilla interviews Lilah Koski - a 25-year veteran of the insights industry, motivated to understand human decision making. As founder and CEO of Logica Research (formerly Koski Research), she's driven to help organizations use research to better engage with customers and improve people's financial lives. Logica Research excels in creating customized research solutions that answer our clients’ most complex business questions. “Our focus is providing insights to financial service organizations to help them develop products and services that will improve people’s financial lives.”Lilah also shares her personal experience with WIRe and describes the organization as a "tremendously supportive community." Want to know more about WIRe? Click here for information about becoming a member for free!Don’t miss an episode of this special miniseries. Subscribe to Ponderings from the Perch on iTunes!P.S. What are you doing February 18th and 19th? If your answer wasn't I

Do you need a little Christmas? Right this very minute? Perhaps you have the candles in the window and are only lacking the carols at the spinet? Well, you’re in for a treat, because it’s time for the 3rd annual Little Bird Holiday Spectacular Spectacular!Join in the fun as the Little Bird gang talks fave and least fave holiday movies (spoiler: there are a lot of conflicting opinions). Listen to Priscilla and Ashley discuss the Little Bird holiday-themed blog, "If Marketing was a Christmas Movie," and hear your favorite carols performed by the Little Bird band, including Priscilla’s autoharp and melodica, the ukulele quartet, and some switched-on holiday classics! Finally, don’t forget to place your bets on who will win the Hallmark Christmas movie themed quiz show: Plot or Not? (We’ve got 100 bucks on Emma to take the whole thing!)What’s our holiday wish? That’s sweet of you to ask! Well, it’d be great if you left us a glowing 5-star review on iTunes! Imagine us waking up in the morning, running down the sta

Fully recovered from jet lag, but still fresh off a trip to Bangkok, Priscilla took a few minutes in the podcast booth with Little Bird Content Marketing Specialist, Colton Harrington, to discuss her experiences as Co-Chair and Presenter during IIeX Asia Pacific. In addition to discussing some of her favorite presentations, she shares a few market research stories, and tells Colton all about the amazing fruit and candy selections that Thailand has to offer. In addition to amazing insights, fellow presenters and IIeX Asia Pacific attendees Ray Poytner or NewMR, Aung Thura of Catalyst Human Insights, and Andrew Kuiler of Silk Initiative call in to share their favorite parts from the event - all the cutting edge AI, Ikigai in market research, mobile/app emphasis, and predictive modeling. Check out the whole show for more information!There's still time to make it to an IIeX event. Next up, IIeX Europe on  February 18th and 19th. Then, IIeX is is headed to the US. Don't miss IIeX North America from April 23rd

Owning a business is hard work, but learning when it’s time to let it go can be even harder. For Dianne, choosing to sell 80% of her business was a difficult, but necessary to propel her and her company forward. In this episode of the Flock Stars WIRe Miniseries, Priscilla is joined by Dianne Gardiner – CEO of Bastion Latitude. “My journey started over 10 years ago when I took the leap of faith and actually started my own research business called Latitude Insights.” Widely credited as being a leader in online community research in Australia, Dianne's passion for pragmatic insight runs deep. She established Latitude Insights over 10 years ago, joining the Bastion Collective in 2016, and today she heads up an international team of research experts. “Change is hard for anyone, but unless we lean into it, we aren’t going to become better people.” Dianne and Priscilla’s conversation is packed full of insights on owning your own business, mentorship and learning when its time to let go. Traveling the furthest, Dian

Perceptions of the past and future, in relation to marketing, are often conflicting. Some people dread the future and its inevitable robo-takeover, while clinging to oft-antiquated traditions. Others are gung-ho over the latest bells and whistles, trend-hopping from new thing to new thing. In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, Priscilla talks with Ray Poynter about how we fit in the still-developing timeline of market research. As Ray says, there's room for both enthusiasm for the future and a retention of traditional values:"Probably my niche in the market is that I’m a very cynical lover of the new. So, yes, I do like new things, but I’m not easily swayed.  I’ve got a very good grounding in the traditional aspects of applying the science; applying methodology and seeing where things fit. I’m much more interested in how they work than how shiny they are." Ray is the founder of NewMR, author of "The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research," and "The Handbook of Mobile Market Research," and t

Nancy Hernon has been with WIRe since the beginning, thanks to her friend and colleague Kristin Luck. “We never had a forum to come together in one place and she gave us that platform.” In this episode of the Flock Stars WIRe Miniseries, Priscilla interviews Nancy Hernon, Chief Executive Officer of G3 Translate. With over two decades of experience in the field, Nancy provides a global voice to clients across several industries. Working with major corporations, Nancy has launched new projects and websites and overseen translations for qualitative and quantitative marketing research, technical copy, advertising and legal content.For her, WIRe is a place to connect with like-minded, business-driven women. Starting as a member of WIRe, Nancy has now attended the WIRexec Leadership Summit multiple times. “I just love the way that Kristin has structured it– to make it about the head and the heart, the business and the personal. It’s so different from any industry event I’ve ever been to.”This episode is sponsored b

Join Priscilla and workplace futurist Marti Konstant as they delve into the vibrant world of Agile! Though traditionally thought of as a methodology for software development, Marti first worked on applying the methods to the marketing process, and eventually to individual career management. The result was her book, Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding to Change Will Inspire Your Life’s Work. It also led to the foundation of the Agile Careerist Project. In this episode, Priscilla and Marti tackle tricky topics like:• How to maintain team buy-in• Individual career growth• How to move away from siloing and hierarchical job structures• The importance of ongoing learning• And more!Put simply, “If you’ve got more skills and knowledge in part of what is the future of marketing, you’re going to be more in demand and more needed in the future.” This is the “Duty Now for the Future” that Devo told us about. Check the episode out for more details!Like what you hear? Let us know! Subscribe, rate and review Ponderin

“Watch out- it’s addictive.” – being an entrepreneur, that is. After 15 years of experience, Dyna Boen would know. In this episode of the Flock Stars WIRe Miniseries, Priscilla interviews Dyna Boen, President of Market Research at Survata. “Once I have a vision for something, I can just clearly go after it. People say that I like to jump into the deep end with both feet.” This interview is packed with noteworthy insights fueled by Dyna’s experience. She was the co-founder of UBMobile, which sold to Critical Mix in 2018, an early member at MarketTools-Zoomerang, which sold to Survey Monkey in 2012, co-founder of the data quality company TrueSample, which merged with Imperium in 2017, and co-founded the WIRexec Leadership Summit which started in 2016.Listen-in for a behind the scenes look at the WIRexec Leadership Summit and to find out what new MR tech excites Dyna. Want to know more about WIRe? Click here for information about becoming a member for free.Brought to you by GreenBook, the IIeX conference season

Regular or decaf coffee? Aisle or window seat? Fries or tots…or curly fries? For most of us, these are just a few of the hundreds of decisions we make every day without conducting a cost-benefit analysis. We make these choices intuitively, using some magical portion of our brain/consciousness that’s able to just *snap* make decisions immediately. In this episode, Priscilla talks with Will Leach, founder of Trigger Point Design, a leading behavioral research and design consultancy. Trigger Point helps brands understand how to align their designs with the reality of how people actually make decisions - or, “match marketing toward behavior.” Will is also the author of “Marketing to Mindstates,” a brilliant guide that demystifies these non-conscious filters and illustrates ways to create messages that activate emotional engagement. He and Priscilla discuss the highlights and challenges of authorship, and how the information in the book can be applied to a whole variety of situations. Brought to you by GreenBook,

"We're in a place of data-explosion. People know that they have access to so much data now and they're embracing that change."Serial entrepreneur, Sima Vasa, is not an exemption. She's making waves in the market research industry by embracing new technology and encouraging MR execs to be more than just experts in data. In this episode of the Flock Stars WIRe Miniseries, Priscilla interviews Sima Vasa of Infinity Squared Ventures and host of the Data Gurus podcast."I've had a pretty varied experience in the market research industry. I was on the client side at IBM and now I'm an entrepreneur."Sima's specialty is her deep and longstanding experience in building and growing businesses. As CEO and Founder of Infinity Squared Ventures, she focuses on accelerating new and emerging businesses in the market research space.Keeping up with the market research industry can be exhausting, but Sima explains that WIRe has helped her recharge, refocus and tackle big goals. "I'm always delighted when I leave the WIRexec Retr

Grappling hooks? Check. Ski masks? Affirmative. Lookout van in the parking lot? Yep! Get ready, because in this episode, Priscilla and Matt Koenig, Owner and Chief Developer at MK Web Development, are hacking into the mainframe of web development knowledge. In this heretofore uncompromised maximum security vault of information, questions are everywhere, and answers are like unto shadows. Priscilla and Matt get straight to the heart of things, answering tough questions like:Why the heck is my site so slow?What questions should I ask of a hosting service?What plugins should I be running on my Wordpress site?And more!Matt offers practical and helpful advice on database optimization, firewalls, backups, and image size, and Priscilla recounts the tale of the mysteriously windy website. Resource links:PingdomGoogle page insightsGT MetricsSmush, Imagefy, Shortpixel - are WP plugins that downsize too big photos Like it? Love it? Want some more of it? Let us know by leaving a review on iTunes!Learn more

What does it mean to be in the front seat of a female-driven market research company? In this episode of the Flock Stars WIRe Miniseries, Priscilla interviews Katrina Noelle of KNow Research and Scoot Insights.“We landed on ‘female-driven’ because that is who is behind the wheel of our team. It’s come out of a personal history, for me, of endorsing and supporting women in the research industry because that’s how I’ve ended up where I am.”Katrina Noelle is a self-proclaimed “time-zone agnostic” and president of KNow Research. For over 15 years, KNow Research has been designing custom qualitative research design for clients by combining methodologies from traditional in-person research with online and mobile approaches. To serve even more qualitative research needs, Katrina co-founded Scoot Insights, an agile qualitative methodology provider.To describe her companies, Katrina regularly uses the terms “boots on the ground” and “front lines.” Why? Because her team does it all. From meeting with clients to collect

“To blog or not to blog?” A question you’ve probably asked yourself a time or two as a business owner. So what’s the answer? In this episode of the Little Bird Marketing company podcast, Momma Bird - Priscilla McKinney and Content Marketing Specialist - Ashley Le Blanc explore the benefits and complexity of blogging.“Blogging - it's been around for a while now and seems like it might just be something that anyone can do, but we're here to say, maybe not everyone should be doing it, and if you are doing it, maybe you should have a strategy.”Here’s the reality - the internet is exploding with content. There are millions of articles posted daily and you can't beat it by posting more. That's right— there's no point in adding clutter. To see ROI on your blogs, you need to focus on the quality of your content and how well you’re answering the questions of your ideal customer.“This is a bigger question than just writing words that go on your website. It's about reaching your ideal client. Not just any client, not ju

Welcome to Flock Stars! These bite-size episodes feature the movers and shakers in marketing, advertising and surrounding industries. Our first season is all about Women In Research and each minisode will feature an inspiring woman who attended the 2018 WIRexec Leadership Summit. In this first episode, Priscilla McKinney interviews Kristin Luck– Ponderings from the Perch vet, supporter of women and Founder of WIRe.“There’s so much direction in what we need to change to be successful, versus really stepping into understanding what our strengths are as women and as business leaders.”Kristin is a serial entrepreneur and a globetrotting, internationally recognized keynote speaker on marketing measurement. She’s a futurist and growth hacking expert, specializing in nontraditional marketing and branding strategies. In 2007, Kristin was inspired to start WIRe after connecting with 50 women in the market research industry over drinks. Since that first cocktail mixer, WIRe has grown to become a global not-for-profit o

When’s the last time you practiced the art of being selfish? Before you tell on us for using the “s-word,” let us explain. We’re talking about carving out time for self-exploration and inquiry. This week on the Little Bird Marketing company podcast, we brought in an expert on the journey to finding your authentic self.In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, Priscilla McKinney is joined by Sarah Marshank - entrepreneur and author. Sarah started Selfistry, a comprehensive integrative educational system for mastering the art of being human. She’s also the author of the “Being Selfish: My Journey for Escort to Monk to Grandmother.” Based in the SF Bay Area, Sarah teaches and speaks internationally, offers online courses, consults with corporate clients and works one-on-one with individuals.Sarah’s inspiring conversation with Priscilla is filled with questions like, “How do we become the author of our own life?” and important insights like, “There is nothing wrong with continuing to grow ourselves.”If you’re