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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 Cattle Company’s Wigya hot dog broke the Internet Don't have money to hire PR agency? Know your audience, subscribe to service Next Thing To Do: Write a really good email pitch with compelling subject line Maturing Media Relations: Reach Out and don’t take ‘no’ for an answer Scrubbing Lists: Target right reporters/editors by beat, geography - Google them Be persistent, not annoying or repeatedly pester people who aren’t a good target Keep pushing and sending pitches for more coverage from relevant targets How to write a pitch: Identify story and angle, then tailor it to your media contact PR Pressure: If hiring an agency, consider chemistry and feeling comfortable   Links: Megan Bennett on LinkedIn Light Years Ahead KC Cattle Company Wagyu Bacon Cheeseburger Bratwursts Have Arrived, and They're a Revelation Muck Rack Meltwater Cision Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Megan Bennett: “Once you get one good media hit, it helps to build brand awareness, so that consumers know about you.” “You have to find a way to make your brand stand out from the rest when you're telling a story to the media.” “Keep shopping around until you find people that you feel are really going to be passionate about your brand and want to help grow with you, not just take your money.” “Find ways to spread the word because that’s what’s going to give your brand the credibility to move forward is the public relations and the media reviews.”

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 content at the top of search results Relationship Building: Help people bring value to people, then they will help you Two Things: To rank on Google, your need epic content with links and traffic   Links: Dmitry Dragilev on LinkedIn Dmitry Dragilev on Twitter Criminally Prolific PR That Converts Course StoreYa Best Alternative to WordStream Nextiva - Most Reliable VoIP Provider? Matt Cutts Matthew Woodward - Unhealthiest Foods Inspiyr How Many Users Does Clubhouse Have? 40+ Clubhouse Stats HubSpot Andrew Warner Nigel Stevens Google Page Insights Ahrefs How To Drive 10x More Traffic With This SEO Technique From Brian Dean Of Backlinko [AMP082] Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Dmitry Dragilev: “Social signals are not used by Google for ranking purposes. I think that's really important to remember. If you are trying to think about that or trying to rank that Google will not use those social signals to rank you.” “Your brand reputation, your brand recognition, and getting that out there via social media do indirectly impact your rankings.” “Those assets, which are going to be linked to from many different pages, many different sites, and used in all these different posts, that's where I think the gold mine really lies with sharing information on social that people can use in all sorts of different avenues.” “The name of the game should be spending time and money to create quality, engaging content. I think that is worth every penny. Whether it works well on social media or organically, it should probably be both.”

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 fit Radical Transparency: Figuring out frustration and honest about what’s needed Challenges: Starting business and building systems without sacrificing quality Solution: Hire great people to help solve problems and scale business Structure: If not aligned with client’s desires/interests, it’s not the individual’s fault Customer Satisfaction: Apply client mindset and treat business as if it’s your own Difficult to deal with? Apply high standards Set clear expectations Deliver on and strive to exceed them Treat people like people   Links: Tyler Elliston on LinkedIn Right Side Up Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Tyler Elliston: “Ultimately, our goal is to help them build a best-in-class organization that consists of full-time people, agencies (not us - Right Side Up), whatever sort of makes sense for their business. So, we try to take a more kind of holistic approach to their success.” “We really index on individual talent. We really believe that great marketing comes from great marketers.” “I felt like I had relatively little control over the talent I was working with.” “In a lot of cases, the problem is not the person. A lot of times, the problem is the structure that the person is in.”

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, celebrate, recognize, understand, and realize impact Cultural Values: Who and how we value different people in different stages of life Resistant to change? Start the conversation to build a fact-based case Starting Steps for DEI Strategy: Look internally at team to determine if and why perspectives are missing Listen and engage by cultivating collaborative environment to contribute Tie actions back to purpose and know the why to make better choices Establish key performance indicators, benchmarks to measure success Cancel Culture: Hold people accountable Audience demands better Recognize buying power Key analytics tell a story Utilize feedback and evidence   Links: Jimi Vaughn on Instagram Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Jimi Vaughn: “When I talk about diversity, I’m really referencing the traits and characteristics that makes us all unique.” “Equity is really about fair treatment, where equality is about the same treatment. Sometimes, equality isn’t necessarily fair.” “I do believe that there’s an ethical responsibility for organizations and marketers and basically any business to be thinking about these types of things.” “It would be foolish to not understand the buying power of minority groups.”

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, misconceptions of agility + marketing   Links: Andrea Fryrear on LinkedIn AgileSherpas 4th Annual State of Agile Marketing Report Spotify American Psychological Association Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Andrea Fryrear: “If it’s not getting you anywhere, then that speed is just waste. It’s wasted energy.” “Agile does all of its optimization and its speed and its waste reduction to deliver value to a customer faster.” “What do we need in order to effectively identify the high-value work and prioritize the high-value work? We need to know everything that’s out there. Everything we are doing compared with everything we could be doing.” “Agile is meant to apply holistically across all the work that a team does.”

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 happen Right Decision: Do what’s right, build trust, allow room to make mistakes, grow Onboarding: Broad overview to gain understanding of role and responsibilities   Links: Owen Piehl on LinkedIn Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes: “I started out as the social media intern. That’s what I got hired on as with little social media experience, I might add, and then now I’ve made the transfer over to the content editor intern.” Owen Piehl “I was looking for something where I could get into marketing a little bit, learn a little more about just how marketing teams work. As I was researching, I saw a few openings for CoSchedule, and I did some research on the company.” Owen Piehl “(Owen) You chose to focus on how your skills fit the role, rather than how your experience fit the description.” Ben Sailer “Ask yourself what skills you have right now that might transfer. Combine that with a dedication to never stop learning, and you just might surprise yourself with what you can achieve.” Ben Sailer “One thing I really appreciate about CoSchedule is it’s very results oriented.” Owen Piehl

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/Out: Fill your brain to produce better ideas and make better decisions   Links: Amy Littleton on LinkedIn KemperLesnik LinkedIn Polls SurveyMonkey Omnibus Survey The Harris Poll Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Amy Littleton: “Even the way that we search for news and information in our personal lives, in business, you’re looking for news and information, and you can get that from multiple sources.” “The first thing you would do is lose trust with your audience if you put out crappy content. You’re not going to get people to want to come back to you for information if the information you put out is really a marketing piece disguised as thought leadership.” “Data can come from anywhere. I think your own curated data, third-party data, information that you’ve found that is already publicly available, and any combination of that, can help you to inform a thought leadership piece.” “It’s about credibility. You want your piece to have credibility.”

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 without the approach backfiring? Marketers/Leaders: Think about how negative perceptions harm the business Valid but Risky: Raising ethical concerns takes a tremendous amount of courage Beloved Brands: Wonderful products/services and messaging tone aligns values   Links: Robin Cangie on LinkedIn The Empowered Freelancer General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Robin Cangie: “Radically Ethical Marketing is simply marketing that puts honesty, transparency, and genuine helpfulness at its center.” “People are becoming more wise to ways that marketers try to manipulate their perceptions, use their data to get them to buy as much stuff as possible.” “Being radically ethical is a more sustainable long-term choice.” “Truth be told, it was a matter of needing to look in the mirror every morning and feel good about the work that I was doing. That is something that’s very important to me.” “You may have more power than you realize to effect change.”

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 your definition of creative quality incorporate? Brand right away; marketers have 2-3 seconds to make impression Don’t waste money by running same piece of content across channels Get around brevities   Links: Anastasia Leng on LinkedIn CreativeX Think with Google Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Anastasia Leng: “It’s really about having a common language for evaluating every piece of content that we create.” “Understand what is the long-term metric that really matters, and how can you start to get creative and whatever that KPI is closer together so you can understand the relationship and the journey these two things take together.” “Analyze content more objectively so that we’re not letting our own biases drive our understanding of what is working and what is not working in our content strategy.” “If you’re not even aware of these things, how can you truly be a good marketer? How can you truly put out great content if you’re not actually able to really look deeply within it?”

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 best results Wordable: Format, optimize, upload, and publish content in minutes for clients   Links: Brad Smith on LinkedIn Wordable Codeless uSERP Seth Godin HubSpot Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Brad Smith: “If you’re relatively small, relatively new, not well-funded, don’t have a name for yourself or brand yet, that kind of excludes like 70 percent of the good stuff from a keyword perspective that you’d want to write for, ultimately, that’s going to bring in ROI.” “When you’re following this method of let’s just create ‘good’ content, you’re completely 100 percent relying on what other people find interesting.” “Social things are going to be a lot more beneficial shorter term. Over the long term, it’s just about scale.” “The whole ranking thing is like the chicken and the egg. I can’t rank for big keywords until I’m big, but I’m not going to be big until I rank for some keywords.” “Marketers don’t need more ideas. They don’t need better ideas. They just need to execute better, and executing better comes from processes and boring systems and operations.”

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 calendar software evolved Company Philosophy: Start where you're at with a smaller test product Marketing Work Management Software: Organize everything in one place Content Calendars: Meet deadlines and manage work effectively, efficiently Agile Marketing Tools: Hire product to finish work, deliver projects, prove value Current Products: Marketing Calendar/Suite, Headline Analyzer, Headline Studio Academy: Marketing education platform for marketers to understand, build skills Mission Statement: CoSchedule wants to help every marketer do amazing work CoSchedule Experience: Get the right messaging to get them into a product True Tenants of Agile: Where to ship, measure, learn, iterate, and begin Testing Culture: Launch something new with other people’s market research   Links: Headline Analyzer Headline Studio Marketing Calendar Marketing Suite CoSchedule Academy Marketing Strategy Guide Nathan Ellering on LinkedIn Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Nathan Ellering: “We're aiming to create experiences that help out people who really are being marketed to...from a customer service perspective. That's been really fun so far.” ”We were working a lot with bloggers and we discovered many years ago that marketers are starting to turn to blogging as a great way to do content marketing.” “We identified the need that they had to just organize everything in one place. We say those words all the time. They really resonate with people.” “We want every experience at CoSchedule to be a positive one and one that lasts a lifetime of you being a marketer.”

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 read, 23% budget applied to content creation Forms: Don’t expect good things from content consumers with such deliverables Safe Space: Create platform to be anonymous, no contact, or generate leads Marketers: Slow down and curate content for consumers at right time and place   Links: The Juice Jonathan Gandolf on LinkedIn Jonathan Gandolf on Twitter Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Jonathan Gandolf: ”What ends up happening is we create really compelling content, but then we end up going to the same channels and the same audience over and over and over again.” “You hit this law of diminishing returns. You’re getting less returns out of that same audience. The only way to get more returns is to create more content. You end up on this hamster wheel of content creation.” “Nobody, right now, is looking for more content. They’re just looking for the right content.” “Curation is actually more powerful than creation.”

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 to be creative Cost of Content: Two-order disconnect to value and revenue AI: Takes guesswork out of things that drive anxiety, figures out quick wins Stage One: Experts have blind spots and forget stuff Stage Two: Create content briefs Stage Three: Insight is personalized prioritization of content AI Branches: Natural language processing provides insights and editing lens Competitive Analysis: Publish page on concept, don’t copy or make good enough What comprehensiveness means? Creating dice-roll content by copying others Wisdom: Knowing what was regurgitated, commonly used, and SME aspects Correlation Hangover: Susceptible to competitive risk Content Efficiency: Do you know it? Document processes, post-publish tuning   Links: Jeff Coyle on LinkedIn Jeff Coyle on Twitter Jeff Coyle’s Email MarketMuse Grammarly Hemingway Amazon Echo Copyscape Garrett Moon on LinkedIn Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Jeff Coyle: ”Focus on the client and focus on our audience, even if they're not clients. How can they ensure that they're getting the most out of their investments in content?” “The various aspects of artificial intelligence that influence writers’ jobs isn’t going away. It's only going to ramp up. But is it coming for their jobs? Not really.” “Content already in many businesses has a two-order disconnect to value and revenue. Some people don't have the real value of content. They don't understand the true cost of content. They don't understand how it connects directly to revenue.” “That's what AI can do. It can figure out those quick wins versus those infrastructure pieces, versus those risk avoidance pieces. It can actually help to define why you're writing.” “if you go copy those people, you're sorely mistaken. That is one of the biggest pitfalls, and one of the biggest misconceptions of search engine optimization.”

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-term setbacks and long-term mindset for side jobs Busy Work: Start quickly and don’t doubt yourself or get lost in the details Side Hustle Scope: Growth goals vs. supplemental time and money boundaries   Links: John Bonini on LinkedIn Databox Some Good Content The 7 Day Startup: You Don't Learn Until You Launch by Dan Norris HubSpot Drip G2 Help Scout Animalz Gong Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from John Bonini: “You really enjoy and/or are passionate about a specific subject and you can’t not talk about it.” “You get to play founder with none of the risk.” “Most content advice, most content education, most content training is often too general to be helpful.” “I just saw this gap between people wanting to get better at content and the content out there not really existing to help them do that.” “When you start to get lost in those thoughts of, ‘I don’t know if this is viable,’ what you end up doing is, you start defaulting to busy work.”

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 Creativity in Captivity: Takes transparency, compassion, doubt, experiences Survive and Thrive: Commit to not touch salaries/jobs, if you support each other Best Year Ever: Build confidence and grow by believing in yourself and others Advice to Leaders: Stop looking in the book, instead look up and in front of you I can’t…What can you do? Only thing that you can truly control is yourself Reminder: Opportunities and problems are never easy, but hard to do Leadership Playbook Police: Break free from constraints by reframing goals   Links: Simon Berg on LinkedIn Ceros Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Simon Berg: “There’s a lot of feelings involved. Feelings of the people that you lead, and feelings as the leader.” “I attempted to lead through, predominantly authenticity, being authentically myself, and then also, trying very hard to make sure that I was at the right time in the right ways leading through vulnerability.” “Every single person in a position of leadership, or otherwise, is a human being, and human beings are fundamentally flawed.” “Step forward and fight for what I believe made sense and have the courage to do the difficult thing.” “You won’t find a chapter that says, ‘how to run a company in a global pandemic with civil unrest, economic crisis, and an insane president. It’s not in the book.”

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 there’s a problem, but you don’t know what it is, where to begin Solution: Plan and be more proactive by understanding how data flows in Best Practices: Urchin tracking parameters (UTM) are culprits of bad data How to Build Cool Sh*t: Take it slow, take your time, don’t try to rush projects   Links: Dan McGaw on LinkedIn Mcgaw.io McGaw.io Downloads and Resources How to Build Cool Sh*t by Dan McGaw UTM.io KissMetrics Pluralsight - Code School BrowserStack Segment Tag Inspector Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Dan McGaw: “If you have analytics and your analytics have bad data that means your analytics are wrong, which means that you’re naturally going to be making bad decisions.” “Companies that are typically growing the fastest, are the ones who are less focused on definitive and more focused on how do we get directional data that’s going to tell us which way is growth and let’s start moving and let’s make action.” “If you take the quality time to do taxonomy right, you see really, really good outcomes. Trying to make sure that taxonomy works across the stack I think is where you get the best outcomes, as well.” “The best way to audit is really to build good rigor around your analytics, understand how that data flows in, and use the auditing tools to be able to do that.”

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 Inspiration: Collect designs from Pinterest, Dribble, Ehance, and Instagram   Links: Tim Walker on LinkedIn Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Tim Walker: “Every designer has their own style. A lot of designers can do a lot of things, but I think each designer kind of has their own unique kind of signature. Integrating that into the brand, that’s always a fun little challenge.” “It’s really important to kind of have those standards set in place and well-defined, and then you can kind of have some fun within those. It was enjoyable to try to meld my own style with the existing guidelines.” “Everyone’s really great at communicating exactly what they need from design and the purpose of the design, too, and what we’re trying to achieve with it.” “If you have valuable content to share, why not give it some great clothes to wear?” “Humans are visual creatures. When we see images, our brains store the details verbally and visually. If you want people to pay attention to your content, and recognize your brand, or buy your product, share your posts, you need to have strong design or you’ll be forgotten and ignored.”

In a single sentence, describe your ideal customer. Where do they hang out online? What are their biggest problems? How often do you talk to them? Don’t rely on assumptions. Consciously focus on your customers by creating content that serves their needs and beats the competition. Today’s guest is Shondell Varcianna from Varci Media, a content writing company for financial institutions, about how to get to know your audience. She shares effective and easy-to-follow advice to improve audience research without extra time and resources.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Reach Real Customers: You can’t offer something to someone you don’t know Real Problems: Sell your product or service as a solution for your customers Relationships: Are you the right person to serve your audience at highest level? Recommendations: Know who to target, where they are, and what they want Website Content: Match with searched keywords and make it resonate Communities: Wherever your target audience is, is where you want to be Ask Audience for Answers: What do you do for fun? Where do you hang out? Social Media Connections: Meet strangers and don’t take ‘no’ personally Know, Like, and Trust: Offer consistent content that informs, educates, inspires Content Strategy: Videos, podcasts, posts—get creative when creating content Authenticity: Where it all begins to get your audience what they (and you) want   Links: Shondell Varcianna on LinkedIn Varci Media Facebook Groups LinkedIn Sales Navigator Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Shondell Varcianna: “If I know of you, but I don’t know you, how can I offer you anything because I don’t really know what you want.” “Wherever your target audience is, is where you want to be. You’ll have to find out where they are, and then you just need to show up where they are, consistently.” “Everyone is accessible on social media. Everybody. I connect with strangers every single day on social media.” “Content that speaks to everyone is content that speaks to no one.”

High-profile data breaches at big-name companies have become an all-too-common pitfall that creates negative press. Marketers need to protect their company and customers by knowing how to prevent a cybersecurity attack or security lapse. Today’s guest is Gary S. Chan from Alfizo Security Solutions. Gary is a cybersecurity expert and helps organizations make sure software and systems are safe and secure. Avoid being the next victim and consider the cost of inaction.   Some of the highlights of the show include: Why should marketers care about cybersecurity? To stay safe and do a better job Best Practices: Proper messaging, deliverability, and documentation gets clients Settings: Configure SPF and other security options for recipients to receive email Security Defense: Stop bad things from happening to you and your customers Remote Security: Technical services and tools to prevent serious problems Privacy Policies: Read terms and conditions to understand intended use of data Repeatable Software: Always use what others use, not something unfamiliar Security Certifications: ISO/IEC 27001 and Soc 2; clarify certifications Free Software: Money is being made somehow, so make sure it’s secure Collaborative Communication: Increase understanding and measure success Risks and Consequences: Takes only one event to close business, cause chaos Security Benefits: Leverage good security hygiene for peace of mind Google not only ranks content, but offers higher rating for better Website security Advice for Marketers: Follow guidance, use strong passwords, report suspicious activity, and attend security training   Links: Gary S. Chan on LinkedIn Alfizo Security Solutions Security Awareness Training ISO/IEC 27001 Certification Soc 2 Certification CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Gary S. Chan: “I help businesses improve their sales, meet compliance, and stay safe.” “Larger clients tend to care about buying from companies with good security.” “If you don’t configure things properly, a lot of your emails will go to Spam boxes, which means that your recipients don’t read them.” “You’re going to lose customer data, you’re going to lose intellectual property, you’re going to lose time, you’re going to lose money, and you’re going to lose some of your reputation.”

Are you familiar with the dark mode? About 92% of those with smartphones use dark mode on at least one app. The increased use of dark mode with various email services and clients present challenges. How do email marketers make sure that emails are easy to read in dark mode? Today’s guest is Melissa Sargeant, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Litmus, a well-known email marketing software company. She explains exactly why dark mode matters for marketers, and what they can do to make sure their emails look their best. Melissa provides insights into why this is important for marketers to understand, test, and optimize.   Some of the highlights of the show include: App Developers: Dark mode makes type and visuals lighter on dark backgrounds Functional Trend: People use dark mode to read content; easier on their eyes Benefits: Reduce screen brightness to preserve battery; accessibility preference Email Clients: Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo offer dark mode Problems: Prioritize dark mode for subscriber preference, different email clients Cost: Sending email versus potential cost of not optimizing email to be visible Tips and Tricks: Settings, assets, code, examples, and guide to dark mode Do More with Less: Build, test, and analyze emails, then send them for review Email Analytics/Insights: It doesn't end with send; use data to make better email Test every email, every time to deliver an experience that exceeds expectations   Links: Melissa Sargeant on LinkedIn Litmus Litmus Blog The Ultimate Guide to Dark Mode for Email Marketers Ben Sailer on LinkedIn CoSchedule   Quotes from Melissa Sargeant: “The reason why a lot of people are viewing things in dark mode—we talk a lot in email marketing about accessibility to your emails—for some folks, it's just easier on their eyes. It’s an easier way for them to read content.” “We think about email as a channel. It’s truly this one-to-one connection that you have with your subscribers. If they are showing a preference for how they want to view their content, it's a good idea to honor that and respect that and do the best you can to deliver them their content the way they want to read it.” “If you are using an email optimization platform, you can do all this building and testing across all these devices and ensure end clients that when that email goes out the door, you'll know with certainty that people who are viewing in dark mode are able to view it in dark mode.” “Efficiency and the email workflow process is super important.”