Actionable Marketing Podcast

Old school press releases never get much hype. Usually, they are not interesting to write or read. Smart marketers and PR professionals know that well-written press releases are crucial to land press coverage and influencer relationships that build brand awareness and establish companies as the authority in their niche. Today’s guest is Mickie Kennedy from eReleases, a press release distribution company. Mickie discusses how to get press releases right to get coverage from even the biggest media outlets.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Why have press releases as part of a successful marketing strategy? Leverage Strategic/Smart: Craft your news/announcements to do well with press releases Same Message: Safe press releases or contrarian quotes are reasons for failure Justify Expense: Press releases take time and money to reach their full potential People respond to surveys/polls; include odd questions to be picked up by press Newsworthy Criteria: When’s the right time to write and send a press re

Brands are churning out more content now than ever before. Even though companies are paying more money to create more content to compete in a more crowded space, sometimes content falls flat and does not perform. The content doesn’t build business or drive results, rankings, or traffic. Is it time to prioritize quality over quantity? Today’s guest is Gaetano DiNardi from Nextiva, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software company. Gaetano talks about what can go wrong from publishing too much content without a strategy. He discusses how to balance content quality with content quantity based on personal and professional experience.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Marketing Mistakes: Brands can’t buy ads to become a famous brand Common Content Problems: Companies don’t think about distribution Lacks subject matter expertise and authoritativeness Compounding Effects: Time, money, and effort spent on quantity over quality Content Cleanup: Audit current content to create new optimized, qualit

The marketing industry is full of talented people who come from all kinds of educational and professional backgrounds. If you want to get into the industry, but you don’t have a directly relevant college degree or previous work experience, how do you break into marketing to succeed? Today’s guest is Melissa Berrios from Melissa Berrios Consulting and Virtualmente Libre, where she helps consult six- and seven-figure entrepreneurs on how to grow their brands and audiences. Before being a marketing consultant, Melissa spent 13 years as a project engineer.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Unplanned Accident: How Melissa pivoted from engineering to marketing Corporate Roles: Engineers who climb the corporate ladder lose creativity Creative Outlets: Melissa got bit by the online world bug and started blogging Content Creation: How to run, manage, market, and promote blogs Decision Time: Severe depression forced Melissa to take time off and not return What can I do? Continue to blog and help clients gr

Traditional public relations (PR) is still one of the most powerful and cost-effective tactics that brands use to get attention and build a business. It may not be the latest and greatest shiny object to chase after, but it is a proven and time-tested option. Today’s guest is Megan Bennett, CEO of Light Years Ahead. She focuses on managing clients and exceeding their expectations. Megan has helped all kinds of clients get press coverage and measure effectiveness connected to sales and revenue.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Why do PR and media relations still matter? Best bang for marketing buck Why should you invest in such tactics? Puts product, brand, message into media Challenges: Self-promoting companies and cutting through competition clutter Affiliate Program: Incentivize the media to cover your brand, make a commission How do you find writers/editors who care? Stay in touch and stay current PR Promise: Megan can't guarantee ROI, but can guarantee brand awareness Case Study: How KC Catt

How can marketers leverage social media to influence search engine optimization (SEO) and boost their content? Social media does and does not influence organic search performance for content. Today’s guest is Dmitry Dragilev is a public relations (PR) and SEO expert from Criminally Prolific. Dmitry talks about what he knows based on what Google does, what works in the industry, and what works for himself and his clients. He describes how to leverage social media to drive short- and long-term SEO gains and amplify your content through channels.    Some of the highlights of the show include: Remember: Social signals are not used by Google for ranking purposes Why? Too much volume/information to go through; Google can’t index everything What ranks? Getting your brand reputation and recognition on social media Google indexes social media content when assets are used to share information Simple Idea: Get people to share content w/ other people to find and link to it No Shortcuts: Google always keeps quality conte

Are you frustrated being on an in-house marketing team working with external agencies? And vice versa? Client and agency relationships can turn sour for several different reasons, such as unreasonable expectations, misaligned objectives, overselling capabilities, or poor communication of needs. Today’s guest is Tyler Elliston, founder of Right Side Up. Tyler talks about how his company is structured to set up client relationships for mutual success using basic philosophical and strategic approaches. Actual measures and practical guidance can prevent and avoid problems from starting in the first place.    Some of the highlights of the show include: Right Side Up: What goes wrong and what should be done Both Sides: Tyler was a marketer and one of those difficult clients to work with Differentiators: Pricing, in-house staffing support, and indexing individual talent Wrong Workarounds: Use agencies as transactional vendors, hire/fire managers Control and Commitment: Lack of ownership mentality and product/market

Diversity, equity, and inclusion, or the ‘DEI’ initiatives, have received increased attention for a wide variety of reasons. How and why should marketing leaders and teams implement effective DEI programs and strategies? The consequences for not understanding what DEI means does matter. Today’s guest is Jimi Vaughn, a DEI consultant and expert. He talks about making a case for DEI by aiming for both the head and the heart of organizations’ decision makers and internal stakeholders.   Some of the highlights of the show include: DEI: Diversity is state of things; Equity is fair treatment; Inclusion is belonging DEI Strategy: Communication and connecting with audience about business Bottom Line: Understand the $3.9-trillion buying power of minority groups Dismissing DEI: Incorrect belief of discrimination, exclusion is hatred, intention Default Assumption: Everyone’s norm is the same or close enough to yours Reality: We’re more alike than different, but we still have significant differences Decisions: Embrace,

How can smaller companies compete against bigger businesses? Agile marketing is a methodology that helps companies work more efficiently and effectively to produce better outcomes. Today’s guest is Andrea Fryrear from AgileSherpas, an agile marketing consultancy. Andrea talks about how companies can leverage limited resources the right way by having a plan and path to follow and drive outsized outcomes.   Some of the highlights of the show include: What is agile marketing? Focus on ideal customers to get value to them faster Key Benefits: Customer centricity and niche down for market share Starting Point: Get back to basics to identify and prioritize high-value work Dynamic Visibility: Take time to figure out and manage what’s important or not Disciplined Process: Set work-in-progress limits to avoid shiny object syndrome Generate Results: Get more done by doing less to accomplish goals Baseline: Implement agile to measure process improvements, marketing metrics Potential Problems: Lack of understanding, mis

Are you a hiring manager responsible for building a marketing team? An internship program should not be an afterthought. Take the time to select candidates and support interns effectively to be productive team members and get a good start on their career. Today’s guest is Owen Piehl, CoSchedule intern, who shares insights about how to get an internship for a specific role with limited experience. Owen talks about what college students and hiring managers need to know to make marketing internships successful.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Why CoSchedule? Company’s marketing mission, culture, values, and content Company Research: Is it what you want to do? Submit application, interview prep Skills: Highlight strengths, not weaknesses to workaround lack of experience Other Opportunities: Networking led to Congress and newspaper connections High Standards: Learn to accept edits and feedback; don’t take it personally Fear of Failure: Believe in abilities/skills and go for things to make them happe

Data and thought leadership are two things that work better together, especially in public relations and content marketing. Today’s guest is Amy Littleton, Executive Vice President of Public Relations and Content at KemperLesnik. Amy talks about how to make thought leadership more accurate and authoritative to land massive PR wins. She knows what it takes to use data-backed insights to tell stories that earn media attention.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Thought Leadership: Common reasons it fails and doesn’t produce results Good and Bad News: Search for and find information that is right, not wrong Authenticity and Credibility: Marketing agenda vs. thoughtful data-driven advisory Proof Points: Always better to have examples and information you need to know Research Resources: Surveys are simple to complex and everything in between Content Length: Consumed on multiple channels, equipment, and platforms Curiosity: Gives info to get customers to care, explore new things, drive results Inputs In

How ethical is your marketing practice? Imagine describing your job to your best non-marketing friend. What’s your response if they think your work is ethically gray or morally suspect? Today’s guest is Robin Cangie from The Empowered Freelancer. Robin talks about how to do work that’s radically effective and ethical, where marketers avoid ethical shortcuts by focusing on work that is genuinely helpful for leads, prospects, and customers.    Some of the highlights of the show include: The Empowered Freelancer: Real, raw talk about being self-employed Radically Ethical Marketing: Honesty, transparency, and genuine helpfulness What isn’t radically ethical? Retargeting ads without permission from customers Copy designed to deceive rather than inform Goal is to get users to convert rather than help them see product value Why should marketers choose tactics or structure strategy? Right thing to do Quit or speak up? Figure out your threshold, values, and what you can do What is a smart way to do good and better

As a marketer, do you need to create content that applies insights derived from data and research? If so, pay attention to the right data and apply it the right way to produce the most effective work possible. Today’s guest is Anastasia Leng from CreativeX. She talks about where marketers get misled with data and how to merge data and creativity to create content that connects with customers.    Some of the highlights of the show include: Data-backed Content: Objective way to understand what’s in each content piece Performance: After putting piece of content out, what has happened as a result? Views/Variables: Marketers should move away from biases and assumptions Trust gut or data? Marketers want to be right; get comfortable with being wrong CreativeX’s Mission: Enhance and elevate creativity expression through data Consistent Content: Number of clicks vs. what reflects brand and audience Best Practices: Creative quality and distinctive brand assets to increase sales Cheat Sheet for Content: What should yo

Too often, content marketing strategies follow one of two paths: Keyword driven or driven based on what the writer thinks makes an interesting topic. The path to success is somewhere in between those two strategies. Today’s guest is Brad Smith from Wordable, Codeless, and uSERP. He talks about how to create data-backed and ROI-driven content strategies that blend both approaches for maximum results.    Some of the highlights of the show include: Problems: Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are incredibly competitive Affiliate Space: 70% of revenue comes from two or three keywords Temporary Approach: Create great content to find an audience Referral Traffic: Completely relying on what other people find interesting Ads: Companies turn to other channels that are less profitable, more competitive Game Plan: What components/expectations will move content and keywords? Marketers don’t need more or better ideas—but test and execute them better Decision-Making Process: Do it or be grounded in reality to produce bes

CoSchedule started as an editorial calendar WordPress plugin created by an agency that co-founders, Garrett Moon and Justin Walsh, ran called Todaymade. Since then, CoSchedule has grown. Not only has the core content calendar gone through a lot of changes, but so has the company. Today’s guest is Nathan Ellering, Head of Marketing at CoSchedule, which now offers multiple different product lines under one brand name. Nathan explains how CoSchedule made pivots and tackled some risks and challenges. His advice will help you navigate from being one company that makes one product and expand to one company that makes four products.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Product Positioning: How to funnel people in and say the right things Marketing Automation: Where to build out those funnels and nurture people Marketing Design: Make sure everything published is visually built and modern Customer Service: Incorporate customer service much more with marketing History of CoSchedule: How core marketing calenda

Why are marketers good at content production, but not so great at content distribution? They are judged based on how much work they get done, rather than the actual results that they produce. Also, content promotion with traditional channels is harder to do. Today’s guest is Jonathan Gandolf from The Juice. He talks about a better way for content marketers to produce and distribute value. Curation is actually more powerful than creation.   Some of the highlights of the show include: The Juice: A startup that aspires to be the Spotify of B2B content Beta Program: Marketers distribute curated content and consumers discover it Content Distribution: Same channels, same audience equals diminishing returns Keyword Salad: Who are we creating content for? Algorithms or humans? Talk to Consumers: Understand why quality content is not producing returns The Right Content: Prospects want solutions to problems, not more content B2B Buyer’s Journey: Map out funnel and map content to it Down the Drain: 59% content isn’t re

Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT-3) and artificial intelligence (AI) first made their way into the marketing industry last year. There's been a lot of talk about whether or not robots will take over content marketers’ jobs. Probably not, as long as they’re doing quality work. Machines like a degree of certainty. Today’s guest is Jeff Coyle, co-founder and chief strategy officer at MarketMuse, an AI-driven content planning and strategy platform. He knows how AI is and will affect content marketing by making our jobs easier and our work better. What do content marketers need to know to prepare for the inevitable future?   Some of the highlights of the show include: Horizon Scanning: What are we going to be doing a year from now? MarketMuse: Sets the standards for content quality by investing in clients Hype Cycle: AI’s influence on writers’ jobs isn’t going away, but ramping up MarketMuse’s Mission: Improve content quality on the Internet Content: AI is making writers more efficient and giving more time

Some marketers have side hustles to learn new skills, explore their passion projects, and make a little extra cash. Are you a marketer struggling to overcome challenges to be successful outside of your day job? Today’s guest is John Bonini of Databox, a business analytics platform, and his side hustle, Some Good Content, a subscription-based marketing education product. John offers advice on how to find balance and avoid burnout with content marketing.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Why start a side hustle? Two reasons: Passionate about a specific subject and can’t not talk about it Accelerates learning by creating content and building a community Why you shouldn’t start a side hustle: Motivated to get rich quick, make money Some Good Content: Advice, education, training should be helpful, not general Content Marketers: Expectations over their heads to drive traffic, generate leads Launch to Learn: Do something to get started, solicit feedback, feel productive Emotional Experience: Short-te

When you’re in a leadership position, sometimes it’s hard to know who to ask or where to look when you need answers to questions and solutions to problems—especially because others expect you to have all the answers and solutions. Today’s guest is Simon Berg, CEO at Ceros, an experiential content creation platform that empowers marketers and designers to create engaging, interactive, and immersive content experiences. Simon talks about what to do when forced to use your own critical-thinking and problem-solving skills instead of a paint-by-numbers playbook. Creativity matters!   Some of the highlights of the show include: COVID vs. Conventional Wisdom: Layoff people during global catastrophe? 2020: Incredibly difficult year of suffering, fear, desperation, anxiety, uncertainty Real Life: Other feelings of presence, pause, introspection, reflection, unity Adversity and Constraint: Ceros chooses opportunity for growth and creativity Big Deal: Happy Birthday, Mr. Berg; time to get drunk because the deal is dead

Data problems are probably lurking somewhere inside of your marketing stack. Don’t freak out, just yet. Most analytics packages and marketing software services that deal with data have some gaps or inaccuracies. Today’s guest is Dan McGaw, CEO and founder of McGaw.io, a marketing technology and marketing analytics consulting company. Dan talks about how to make better marketing decisions—identify and fix deeper issues to avoid data disasters. He explains everything you need to know to keep your data clean and metrics moving.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Why is data cleanliness important? Analytics + Bad Data = Bad Decisions Directional: Data is not meant to be perfect, the goal is to grow and take action Data Spectrums: Everybody has unreliable data—how bad is it? Marketing Stacks: Different problems stem from data issues Taxonomy: Common problem is not having consistent or connecting names Be Intentional: Set up and configure marketing tech, or set yourself up for failure Audit: You know th

How does design happen, and how do designers and marketers collaborate? As a common courtesy, provide details to get more work done better and faster. CoSchedule is consistently committed to quality design and creative output. Today’s guest is Tim Walker, visual designer at CoSchedule. Tim talks about how he infuses brand with individual style that is distinctly CoSchedule. Discover how to replicate CoSchedule’s processes and philosophies.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Onboarding: Intimidating, exciting, and challenging to integrate individual style Standards and Guidelines: Set and define them to have fun within them Design Playground: Time and place to test new ideas, styles, and color palettes Collaboration Challenge: Communicate clearly about team/department needs What Works, What Doesn’t: Specificity, purpose vs. vagueness, no direction Intent: Good design doesn’t happen by accident, it takes thoughtful planning Investment: Don’t cut corners—good aesthetics authenticate your brand Inspir