Vera Shafiq Podcast: Recent Episodes
Vera Shafiq
Real and relevant discussions on business, marketing, technology and digital. Vera Shafiq talks with a diverse community of thinkers and doers including industry thought-leaders and grass roots professionals who are striving for the same thing - doing marketing the RIGHT way and being PROUD of the work they do.
I talk with Max Shafiq (my husband), who is an Enterprise Agile Coach and he explains his role and how Agile brings value to businesses. We also discuss the concept of Agile Marketing and ways in which businesses can start using Agile Marketing to work smarter!
Episode links:
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate Discount Code: SG30
- Agile Sherpas
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
What you need to know about CTV advertising to make an educated decision on whether it's right for your marketing strategy.
Episode links:
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate Discount Code: SG30
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
80% of people who click through to your website are not ready to convert during that visit. But 20% of them are. Why is this not reflected in the average conversion rate of 4%? It's all down to the post-click experience.
Listen to this episode to find out how you can streamline your post-click experiences and the types of tools and automation that will help you to scale the effort.
Episode links:
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate Discount Code: SG30
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
What is marketing attribution and how can we get closer to a true model? What are Unified Marketing Measurement, Marketing Mix Modeling and Multi Touch Attribution? Join me for a discussion on a topic that has kept many a marketer up at night!
Episode links:
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate Discount Code: SG30
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
What are Google's new Core Web Vitals and how do they fit into the Page Experience update launching in mid-2021? How do you test your website and get it ready for optimal performance against these new ranking factors? All the answers are here!
Episode links:
- Google Page Experience Documentation
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate Discount Code: SG30
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
This podcast is for you if you want to find out how to advance your learning of and be more immersed in today’s digital marketing landscape. The USF Digital Marketing Certificate was developed for business professionals and offers a comprehensive course on several key elements of Digital Marketing - Strategy, Social, Search, Automation, Content, Analytics, CX and Digital Transformation.
Whether you’re a Marketing Professional, or in IT, Finance, HR, Sales, Operations or C Suite, this podcast is well worth a listen!
I talk to Sue Grabowski, Faculty Chair of the USF Digital Marketing Certificate. She gives a really thorough rundown of the program, modules and instructors as well as what kinds of individuals are signing up for the course.
Use discount code SG30 for 30% off your admission to the course!
Episode links:
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
- Connect with Sue on LinkedIn
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
What are the differences between Zero, 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data?
How should you structure your marketing strategy to make the best use of each?
In this episode, I explain how to think of each of these types of data as part of a "data funnel", give tips on how to gather each and talk about why shifting the focus from 3rd party to the other types of data is what marketers should be thinking about.
Episode links:
- USF Digital Marketing Certificate
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
In this episode, I talk with Crista Grasso, Founder of the Lean Out Method, which she uses to help entrepreneurs simplify success, get off the hustle hamster wheel, and run lean businesses where they optimize what's working and eliminate anything not adding value to their clients and profit to their business.
We discuss how the Lean Out Method can be applied not only to businesses but also to your everyday workflow to become more efficient, productive and passionate about your work!
Crista talks about some of the the key pillars of the Lean Out Method - Context, Clarity and Focus - and explains how she uses them to get so much work done on a daily basis without burning out. She also shares the importance of having a clear vision and goals and removing the noise and unimportant stuff from your to-do list so you can lean out your schedule and continue to grow without it feeling like work.
Episode links:
- Lean Out Method Website
- Lean Out Your Business Podcast
- Criscara Jewelry
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
An in-depth chat with Brad Moran, Co-Founder and CEO of CitrusAd - a retail media platform. We talk about how the platform was born, how marketers can leverage retail media to drive performance and what the future holds for retail media.
Episode links:
- CitrusAd
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
Let's talk about NFTs, Co-Branding on IGTV and Nostalgic Marketing on TikTok! These are hot topics that featured on MarketingDive.com on March 18 2021.
Episode links:
- Charmin Jumps on NFT Trend
- WholeFoods Pairs with Meditation App Headspace
- How Ocean Spray, NFL Embed Nostalgia in TikToks
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
In this first episode of Season 2, I discuss the Digital Flywheel of Success that includes Technology, Customer Experience and Digital Advertising as momentum-drivers.
Episode links:
- The Digital Flywheel of Success Blog Post
- Martech Landscape 2020
Connect with Vera:
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on Clubhouse
In this episode, I discuss the book Traction by Gino Wickman and the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) that he describes.
It outlines the 6 Key Components of a business:
- Vision
- People
- Data
- Issues
- Process
- Traction
and is a comprehensive methodology on which you can scale and grow a business.
Episode links:
- Traction by Gino Wickman
- What the Heck is EOS? by Gino Wickman and Tom Bouwer
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
In this episode I talk with Rachel Downey who's a marketer at heart and owns and operates a podcast agency called Share Your Genius. She's an expert in podcasting, and knows all about how to start and grow a podcast from branding, storytelling, planning and promoting it and what to keep your eyes on in terms of the ever-evolving podcast ecosystem.
In our conversation we cover:
- What makes podcasting such a unique and appealing channel?
- Things to consider when starting a podcast so that it has the most impact
- Formats, content and length for a podcast
- The importance of measuring attribution and impact of a podcast as a part of the holistic marketing strategy
- Defining what profitability vs. monetization are for a podcast
- Size of listenership doesn't matter - it's how much impact you're having based on your goals
- How much room for growth and opportunity there still is in podcasting
- The future for podcasting and which podcast hosting platforms will likely be the big players in the market.
Although much of what we cover is about podcasting for businesses, the same concepts apply to starting a personal podcast, so if you're looking to do that, you'll still get a ton of value from listening to this.
Episode links:
- Share Your Genius Agency
- Email Rachel
- Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
In this episode, I lay out in 4 steps, how you can get your website ready to rank for voice search. These are actions you can take today that will set you up for success as voice search becomes the accepted and preferred way that people get their information from the World Wide Web.
3:00 - Voice search stats
5:00 - Google's algorithm for Natural language Processing
7:15 - Examples of voice search vs. text search
8:10 - Step One - Featured Snippet
13:55 - Step Two - Longer Form Content
16:35 - Step Three - Optimize for Local Search
22:10 - Step Four - Page Speed and Secure Certificate
24:10 - Summary
Episode links:
- Answer the Public - free visual keyword research & content ideas tool
- Schema.org
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
In this episode I talk to Louis Grenier. Louis is Content Lead at Hotjar, a company that specializes in website analysis and feedback, and he hosts his own podcast called "Everyone Hates Marketers", which I highly recommend for all marketing professionals.
His podcast is strongly focused on conversations with marketing leaders and getting to the bottom of how to do marketing in a transparent, non-shady way - a topic very near and dear to my own heart!
Topics we cover in our conversation:
- Understanding what your customer really wants and how to adapt your website and simplify your message to improve the customer experience and drive better results
- The mission of eliminating fluff from the marketer's narrative and getting past the BS in order to get to the bottom of what's important
- Taking risks and taking a stand with your marketing purpose in order to make an impact
- Listening to your audience and having a feedback loop to be effective
- Focusing on the process and not the outcome to create a flywheel effect for any venture or business
- The reasons why today's marketers are forced to resort to poor tactics and how to overcome the pressures
- The importance of aligning yourself with and talking the same language as the C-Suite in order to align expectations
Episode links:
- Everyone Hates Marketers Podcast
- Hotjar
- Email Louis
- The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader book
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
You've probably seen the Martech 5000 Supergraphic that lays out all the marketing technology solutions available to date in a segmented format. Last year it featured 6,829 marketing technology solutions and this year's updated version comes out soon!
In this podcast, Scott Brinker talks about how to streamline and simplify your marketing technology stack, what the fundamentals of that stack should be, and how best to add new technology. He also gives some good advice on how to strike a balance between technology-based and human marketing.
If you're in marketing or business and would like some insights on the current state of marketing technology and what you need to do to stay on the cutting edge, you've got to listen to this episode because there's no one more well-versed in this topic than Scott Brinker!
Episode links:
- Chiefmartec blog
- Martech Conference
- Hacking Marketing Book
- Twitter: @chiefmartec
- Email Scott
- Agile Sherpas
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
Patty Soltis is Founder and CEO of StylEdge®, an image consultancy, and she knows everything there is to know about dressing the part and making a fantastic first impression! This is personal branding 101. Marketing yourself.
She talks about how you can wake up in the morning and have a perfect outfit, ready-to-wear, that makes you feel great and sets a positive tone for the rest of the day.
Patty also talks about how important it is to find the right look for YOU based on your body type and style and recommends investing in the right pieces of clothing so you can keep your looks timeless and sustainable.
You'll definitely want to listen to this one if you're looking to take your personal branding up a notch!
Guest links:
- StylEdge Consulting
- Patty Soltis on LinkedIn
- Dress for Success
- Helen Gordon Davis Centre for Women
- University of Tampa, Sykes School of Business
- University of South Florida, Women in Leadership and Philanthropy
- Miss Tampa Scholarship Foundation
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
I take a stroll along the path of of data analytics and machine learning with Katie Robbert, CEO and Co-founder of Trust Insights, a data analytics consultancy for marketers. Katie shares how her company uses machine learning and AI to make sense of all the data that we, as marketers have. She explains how to get started with using various forms of analytics (foundational, prescriptive, predictive) to make better marketing decisions, faster. If you want to start leveraging AI to streamline your marketing efforts, then this is the podcast for you!
Guest links:
- Trust Insights
- @trustinsights
- In-ear Insights Podcast
- Marketing Over Coffee Podcast
- @katierobbert
- Slack Group
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
Let's talk sonic branding (or audio branding)! Sound has a deep emotional impact on us and can trigger feelings, memories and associations much more effectively than visuals. I examine this medium in more detail and play some very familiar brand sounds that have been ingrained in our memories. (I don't even want to know how many times I said the word "sound" in this podcast!!!)
References:
- Gary Vaynerchuck post on audio branding
- "The 10 Most Addictive Sounds in the World" - Fast Company
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
A chat with my friend, Veronica Romney - entrepreneur, personal branding expert and speaker. Veronica has some wise words for marketing professionals wanting to advance their careers, provides some tips on how to start your own personal branding presence, and shares her thoughts on the recent controversies around Facebook, balancing work and family life and more!
Guest links:
- Losomo
- My Modern Brand
- Connect with Veronica on Instagram
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
In this episode, I talk about some of the hot topics of the week including the controversial Gillette commercial, some major companies doing overhauls of their logos, TV advertising becoming more popular for DTC brands, an AI-based paid social optimization platform and Quora advertising.
References:
- Gillette Commercial
- My post on the Gillette commercial
- DTC brands are buying more TV ads
- Pattern 89 - Making Paid Social Better through Data Science
- Quora Advertising
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
A discussion on how storytelling has evolved and what marketers need to do for their brand story to be heard.
As more and more content gets published on the web, we need to break through the noise and craft brand stories that strike a chord with our audience.
In this podcast, I discuss how we can achieve this, and cite some iconic examples such as Coca-Cola and Apple who have been successful in creating powerful brand stories.
References and sound-clips:
- The Creative Life Podcast, How To Clarify Your Message So People Will Listen with Donald Miller
- Storybrand website
- The Sweet Pleasures of Coca-Cola's Storytelling with Kate Santore, Sr. Integrated Marketing Content Manager at Coca Cola
Connect with Vera:
- Subscribe to this podcast at iTunes
- Email me at hello@verashafiq.com
- Visit my website at VeraShafiq.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Follow me on Instagram
An interview with my son, Hishaam, to get first-hand insights into Generation Z's media consumption preferences, what issues are important to them and what makes them tick!