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 As individuals, we often devalue the thought of simple solutions and unknowingly look for more complex ideas as we believe the ones with more details get more appreciated than others. It's a common problem, but we often forget less is more, simple is better. In this episode, Dave discusses using Occam's razor to become more efficient with your storytelling, leadership, and problem-solving.   

In this episode, Dave discusses how building and improving the customer experience generates a lower cost of selling.About MASSolutions For No Bullshit marketing solutions, including B2E marketing, public relations, and storytelling, contact Pittsburgh Marketing Agency MASSolutions here.

Dave gives you big-time value in only 5 minutes by showing you how you can better understand your customer and your marketing opportunity by doing more with your data collection and analysis.

Are You Treating Your Employees Like Customers?You Should Be. It’s called Business to Employee (B2E) Marketing and it was a “must do” for peak performing leaders before the pandemic but now falls under the Essential Leadership Activities category.In this episode, Dave breaks down how you can improve The 3R’s of B2E Marketing: Recruitment, Retention, and Results (productivity!).He also admits where he wants and needs to do better and takes the time to thank the MASSolutions team for all they’ve done to help our clients and each other during these challenging times.

As an avid reader of the Harvard Business Review, Dave came across an article that influences what he has been explaining his entire career through speaking and writing: Storytelling can make or break your leadership.That is the title of Jeff Gothelf's article in which he shares five characteristics he found most effective stories to possess.In this episode, Dave shares his insight on Jeff Gothelf's article from his perspective as a leader and storytelling expert.Jeff Gothelf works as a coach and keynote speaker to help organizations build better products and executives build better cultures. You can begin to learn more by reading his award-winning book, Lean UX.

Personas were a good concept to help explain and leverage segmentation until creating personas became more about making up names and images for each group (think Hostile Hank, Worried Wanda!). That's when it morphed into BULL$H!# Marketing instead of focusing on how real segmentation can help businesses grow.In this episode, Dave tells you why that happened and how you can avoid the BS and better leverage segmentation.

Dave's from Pittsburgh and loves the Steelers but he takes the time to show you how Jeff Benedict's book, The Dynasty, about the New England Patriots' success of the last 20 years can help you succeed in business, sports, and life.Dave outlines how the book shows the unique leadership and communication abilities of the three main characters in the Patriots story: Owner Bob Kraft, Coach Bill Belichick, and Quarterback Tom Brady.Give it a listen and check out the book here.

Working with your outside vendors or strategic partners can get frustrating. Dave shares five questions you should ask during the discovery phase to develop clarity about which direction you want to go in.1. How do you build your project plan?2. Who is going to be team leader?3. how will time be managed?4. What is the prefer way to communicate?5. Ask for examples of when things got off tracked and how they handled communication with the client. 

The premiere of the 18th season of the Ellen DeGeneres Show opened with an apology from the host. How did Ellen do? In this episode, Dave critiques Ellen's apology using references from Aaron Lazare's book called On Apology.

You know Dave is a big basketball guy. In this episode, he explains why Lebron’s continuing, evolving story is an example for all of us with our personal and company brands.

In this episode, Dave pays tribute to Captain Obvious by discussing two target markets that should be obvious yet are often neglected.

In this episode, Dave pays tribute to Captain Obvious by discussing two target markets that should be obvious yet are often neglected.

CUT THE BS RANT:The phrase “Content is King” has been around for a while. When Bill Gates made his Content is King speech in 1996, he was referring to how the speed of the internet allows us to find and consume content quickly, increasing the importance of Digital Marketing. The traditional way of distributing information through limited sources controlled by a few organizations was dead. We as consumers of content had the ability to choose our content. . Unfortunately, BS Marketers misunderstood it to mean that they should produce more and more content which leads to a bunch of garbage ignored by the masses. For Content to be king, it has to be about THEM—your key target audiences. Drill down those target markets into manageable segments so you can figure out what type of content each segment wants. Create the content for THEM, about THEM, heck even by THEM.  That way, your content can be consumed, quoted, forwarded, retweeted, liked, insert action of your favorite social media outlet.GUEST BACKGROUND: Meghan Speer is Director of Digital Marketing Services at Marketing Support Network. She is a Social Media Strategist who helps organizations build relationships with customers through engaging social media content. CAREER JOURNEY:A graduate of Thiel College, she is a self-described “entrepreneur who has never started her own business.”  Meghan has provided marketing and social media strategies for Eden Christian Academy, Salem Communications, and now Marketing Support Network.  She was the first person to "do" marketing at a systematic level for each organization and was created her own job description each time.MENTORS:Mentors are important, and most successful mentor-mentee relationships happen organically.  Meghan mentioned her first mentor, Sam Siple and how he taught her so much in her first job. They’ve stayed in touch with their career paths crossing multiple times since.BIGGEST LEARNING EXPERIENCE:An experience that stemmed from an April Fool’s Day prank and the lack of communication over multiple cultures, Meghan describes a joke-gone-wrong as one of her biggest learning experiences of her career. The lesson: Communication is key. As you become more confident, don't forget that you still have to make sure people understand the rationale for your ideas.The No BS Show is brought to you by audible.com. Get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/NoBS.

Do you market to generations? Do leaders at your company preach about reaching Millennials or Baby Boomers, Generation X, or Z?In this episode, Dave walks you through the fallacies of generational marketing and how you can avoid falling prey to the Generation Trap of Marketing.Connect with Dave: LinkedIn

Should marketing have a seat at the leadership table?That’s the question Dave addresses in this week’s episode of the No BS Marketing Show.This topic ties directly to the senior leadership team at any company no matter the industry or size.So, if it’s a marketer who’s listening,  the information Dave shares will help you when it comes time to talk to your CEO.And, if it’s a CEO, president, or any c-suite executive listening, Dave’s advice will help you with your strategic team and leadership team and explain how it all ties back to marketing.Connect with Dave: LinkedIn

This special 5th-anniversary episode features Dave’s son and this Summer’s MASSolutions intern, Brevin, interviewing Dave’s Mom and Dad.Plus, Alec and Carter give their perspectives on the No BS Marketing platform, MASSolutions AAU, and much more.

Welcome to our client episode celebrating our 5 years of the No Bullshit Marketing platform.We’ll be using the month of August to celebrate our anniversary as we invited clients, friends, family, and team members to share their insight into the platform.Here is a list of the guests interviewed for this episode:Loriann Putzier, President and Co-Founder of IntegraCare CorporationRhonda Bolding, Marketing Manager of StradaDr. Rhami Mowjood, CEO of Cucamonga Valley Medical GroupChris Brodman, Chairman of Metz Lewis BrodmanDave Sweet, President of MECCO Marking and TraceabilityJustin Skerbetz, Chief Marketing Officer of Parkland Community Health PlanMike Duckworth, CEO of Duckworth HaggertyDr. Kyle Smart, Chief Medical Officer of Cucamonga Valley Medical GroupCharles Gounaris, Master Chair of Vintage InternationalDan Weaver, Vice President of Medicare and Medicaid Quality Programs at Gateway Health

Dave reflects on five years of The No BS Marketing Show and how producing an episode every single week for the past 5 years changed him and MASSolutions.He outlines why he started the podcast and why he still does it.Dave breaks down what he's learned from the podcast, specifically focusing on the most common traits of successful leaders that he’s interviewed on the show.  He closes this episode by talking about the future of the show for the next five years and beyond.

Carlton Haselrig passed away on July 22, 2020.Dave pays tribute to the amazing story of the Johnstown native, National Champion Wrestler, NFL Pro Bowler, and MMA wrestler.Carlton achieved so much, including one that will never be matched, winning 6 NCAA wrestling national championships which led to the creation of The Carlton Haselrig Rule by the NCAA.ESPN asked to do a 30 for 30 on Carlton but he declined, befitting his humble nature.Listen as Dave talks about how we all have a story, maybe not as compelling as Carlton's, that we have to tell to reach, influence, engage and connect with others.

We are all at a different stage with respect to our Business Storytelling.Some aren't quite sure what it even is or why they need to do it more.Others acknowledge the need but delegate it to others.Some do a little bit of business storytelling on their own but delegate the rest.Then there are peak performers who are passionate about leveraging the power of business storytelling.Listen as Dave provides insights, ideas, and actionable takeaways to help you regardless of where you are on your journey.