The Heart Of Marketing: Recent Episodes
Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson
Despite the latest new digital marketing technology, the fundamentals of good marketing haven’t changed a whole lot. At its core, we still need a solid strategy. And we still need to make human connections.
That is The Heart of Marketing.
Join hosts Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson for an informative and entertaining romp through the digital marketing world today. You get an insider view of a variety of topics to help you win customers and grow sales. Some of the topics we’ll cover include: online publishing, public relations, content marketing, social media, mobile, branding, message mapping, marketing integration, and lots more. All delivered with the wit and wisdom of two accomplished marketing pros.
Meet your hosts …
JAYME SOULATI is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and is a message mapping master. She hails from Chicago's public relations firms and delivers strategically blended marketing based on core PR with content, social and digital. She is an award-winning blogger since 2010 and brings perspective in business since 1984. Jayme is a past president of the Publicity Club of Chicago. Find her at Soulati.com.
JOHN GREGORY OLSON has more than 25 years of B2B marketing experience in both agencies and corporations, spanning the manufacturing, legal publishing, imaging supplies, healthcare, and nonprofit industries. Over the course of his career, John has designed and implemented marketing strategies that have generated in excess of $300 million in revenue for 3M, Thomson Reuters and other global businesses. He is Past President of the Midwest Direct Marketing Association. In 2014, John was ranked #52 on Onalytica’s list of the top 200 content marketing influencers in the world. He is a consultant who specializes in helping midsized business organizations grow customers and sales with integrated marketing strategies. Learn more at his blog: jgodigital.com.
Bernadette Jiwa joins The Heart of Marketing to share ideas from her new book Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights into the Next Big Thing. In it she busts some of the myths we believe about “creative genius” and how innovation really happens.
“We covet groundbreaking ideas and the people who have them,” Jiwa writes in the introduction. “We believe in superstars and visionaries, in the power of Eureka! moments and special circumstances that set great ideas and their creators apart. But when we dig deeper, we find that the secret of these visionaries isn’t necessarily their pioneering nature, but rather that they made connections others overlooked.”
The good news is that YOU can learn how to make those connections and cultivate your intuition to transform your marketing and your business. Listen in to discover how.
What you will learn:
• How ANYBODY can develop the “ordinary genius” that turns everyday insights into the next big thing
• Why hunches are more important than data in coming up with breakthrough ideas
• The reasons why data and technology can actually be the enemy of insight
• Three human characteristics that fuel intuition for birthing new business ideas
• How a brand or an idea becomes meaningful (and why it’s critical to success)
• How to make your brand story much more than just a storytelling message
About Bernadette Jiwa
Bernadette Jiwa is a recognized global authority on the role of story in business, innovation, and marketing. She is the author of five best-selling books on marketing and brand storytelling, including:
• Marketing, a Love Story: How to Matter to Your Customers
• Make Your Idea Matter: Standing Out with a Better Story
• Difference: The One-Page Method for Reimagining Your Business and Reinventing Your Marketing
• The Fortune Cookie Principle
• Meaningful: The Story of Ideas that Fly
Bernadette is based in Melbourne, Australia. She works with global brands like LinkedIn, Zappos, and Adidas to intentionally create products, services, and marketing that help them matter to their customers. She has been named one of the Top 100 Branding Experts to follow on Twitter. She also spoke at TEDx in 2012 about “The Secret to Spreading Ideas.”
Her new book titled Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights into the Next Big Thing releases in the U.S. on June 6, 2017.
Did you hear the news? Coca-Cola has eliminated its chief marketing officer (CMO) and in its place, drum roll, please, John Gregory Olson! (Well, you're going to have to listen to what Coca-Cola is doing in the C-suite.)
When you think about the role of the CMO, anyway, it's taking a beating. The average tenure for every big brand corporate CMO is, oh, about four years. They last less than a CEO these days.
Think, too, about who reports up to the CMO. How about maybe 10 different departments and hundreds of employees in marketing in various roles? Heck, even public relations reports up into the marketing leadership in most organizations.
On The Heart of Marketing, we've talked plainly about roles and responsibilities in the workplace.
You might like:
Episode 21: Specialist vs. Generalist
Episode 102: Hear the CMO Whine?
Episode 121: With Ann Handley on a variety of marketing topics
There are way too many things for a marketer to do. And, ROI is still an issue. Does your organization have a CMO? If not, which title is closest to that role and are they accomplishing what they need to to take your brand to the next level?
And, we have a shout out today to our loyal listener, Shakirah Dawud. She's the most wonderful copywriter who knows how to deliver value. Reach out to her at Deliberate Ink.
Thank you, All loyal listeners! This is The Heart of Marketing, and I'm Jayme Soulati.
Did you recently hear of the trick Suave played on its consumers? Millennial women, actually. Unilever's Suave heard from its base that they wanted a higher end brand at value pricing.
Now, we all know that Suave ain't no top-shelf Tequila. It's often relegated to the drugstore shelf or the supermarket shelves with rows and rows of like products (think Head and Shoulders).
We're not making fun of the brand, just stating the facts, Ma'am.
So, some clever marketer decided to do this (take a listen and find out, K?). And, as a public relations marketer, I have to say I am duly impressed with this campaign.
All brands are interested in earning more customers. And, it's really funny to observe the category leaders try to lure the next generation of consumer to the check-out line. In this case, millennials are that newest generation, but they have no money! Remember? They're broke with college debt, and that's why they're asking for high-quality products at bargain basement pricing. (Say, whatever happened to Filene's Basement?)
We have some fun at the expense of Suave, and we also share a number of other episodes for your listening pleasure. You might like:
More on Influencer Relations Programs: Organic v. Paid, episode 88
Building Influencer Relations Programs, episode 94
If you're merely sharing on social media and not clueing into social listening, then it's likely your brand isn't powered up on social channels. There are way too many users on each social media channel and it's impossible to listen in on all the conversations without some help.
As John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati suggest in this episode of The Heart of Marketing, it's also important to know your objectives when you use social media. It's also important to better understand your customer so you can offer the right goods and services your customer is demanding right there on Twitter.
Every brand is suffering from negative customer sentiment; well, we only hear about the negative stories that impact a brand, right? The airline industry is one such vertical market truly suffering from poor customer service, irate customers and mission statements that fail to reach the frontline.
If you enact social listening with tools, your brand can get ahead of the negativity with some basics.
In this episode, we review a few tools to help you select social listening tools that are right for your objectives and budget.
Take a look at this PC Magazine article with a plethora of options.
Then, look into Sprout Social, one of the paid favorites, followed by Hootsuite, Clicky and Buffer.
The tools available are numerous, too numerous to count. Ultimately, it's going to depend on the size of your brand or agency, the number of clients/companies you're listening for, the budget you have to spend on these expenses, and the demands by the client in a reporting mechanism.
Veggie balls at IKEA are a hot topic, so much so that the global retailer is putting more attention on its food menus to attract a growing market of folks who just come to IKEA to dine.
Have you ever been to an IKEA, smack in the middle of nowhere to accommodate the massive warehouse and shopping experience people love to see and visit? Truly, it's not easy getting there, nor is it easy getting to the front doors depending on where you have to park.
Imagine traipsing to IKEA just for dinner?!
Well, that's what IKEA leadership began to see in the numbers of dinners served -- 650 million in one year, which caused the light bulb to turn on brightly.
IKEA has been revamping the dining experience for customers to capitalize on people who enjoy the food, like the modular dining, and want to dink around in the retail side of things and then feed the kids.
How is this a marketing story? You'll need to listen in to The Heart of Marketing and find out! And, while you're at it, you might tune in to episode 30-someting when we covered IKEA when it launched its brand new veggie ball story!
We are John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati, co-hosts of The Heart of Marketing.
There's an art and science to email marketing, and today on The Heart of Marketing your #RockHot co-hosts Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson share a few back and forths about an email that did and an email that didn't.
What does it take for you to open an email and read it until the end? Have you ever said, yes, I need to speak with this guy? Or, maybe mostly, it's delete, delete.
John and Jayme have a few stories to tell as to why one of their experiences worked while the other not so much.
And, along the way we recognize one of our buds -- Jason Falls for his enthusiasm about an email that didn't! (Remember, Jason was our guest on a recent podcast episode, and we always love speaking with him 'cuz he knows his stuff.)
Listen in today for a brief conversation about the elements that work and don't in an email you've received or sent recently.
Today on The Heart of Marketing, we have a shortie/mini conversation about a recent Wall Street Journal article relating to smart refrigerators.
These new formerly called ice boxes, can now dual as a television, screen for viewing what's inside and when it spoils, a note-taking panel with calendar, and way too much more.
The smart refrigerators are leading the way with the trend toward Internet of Things (or IoT, as it's known). Do you have designs on adopting a smart device to wire the inside of your home to the Internet?
Bet you don't even know that your thermostat operates on WiFi and your 'ring video doorbell' is easily hacked. How about those cameras you have hooked up with audio in your kitchen to see what Kitty is getting into every day?
Is IoT a marketer's dream or just another trend waiting to attract the masses? Take a listen and then tell us your opinion; we'd love to hear!
We are delighted to welcome Ann Handley to The Heart of Marketing today. She's interviewed by our also delightful co-host John Gregory Olson who is a self-professed "fan boy" of Ann and her work.
Taken directly from her website:
Ann Handley is a veteran of creating and managing digital content to build relationships for organizations and individuals. Ann is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content (September 2014, Wiley) and co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (2011, Wiley). She is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs; a LinkedIn Influencer; a keynote speaker, mom, and writer.
Today's Episode
Ann and John share solid insight into the customer and the importance of creating value, always. When marketers put the customer first and the needs of the customer first that's when empathy occurs.
Ann suggests that marketers need to slow down -- slow marketing. Slow marketing is where customer empathy, humanity and value are uncovered. It's when stories are created with the customer always first.
Through a lot of buzzwords, John and Ann identify a few that bother. Omnichannel is one, but it's also spot on as there are way too many channels where customers are communicating with one another and brands. That's why stories are so important; take an opportunity to tell a story even with a simple caption on Instagram, Ann's favorite channel.
Ann and John dive in to so much more; don't miss this really important conversation!
Ann, we thank you for joining us on The Heart of Marketing.
Now, everyone go buy Ann Handley's books, subscribe to Marketing Profs and attend the B2B Marketing show in Boston every year.
Jay Baer, no he's not our guest today and we're working on that, has been writing about the popularity of video in content marketing. He shares a really nice piece right here you need to read or view on the topic.
Today, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati take a stab at exploring the new onset of 'vlogs' or video blogs versus blogs or web logs.
There is more video streaming happening on practically every platform, and there are more folks taking a spin in front of the camera to push content. Did you know you can also do video with visuals, graphics and copy? You don't even need to be in front of the camera, right, John Gregory Olson?
The growing trend toward the visualization of blogging and content marketing is providing more and more and more people with just what they want -- 'snackable' content in yummy, bite-sized chunks. Shall we say good bye to the 1,000 word long-tail blog post?
What happens to SEO then? Well, that's a conundrum, isn't it? Google still wants to crawl your site and that means video isn't part of the SEO juice unless you put in a transcript.
Video marketing is one of the hottest sills marketers need right now. If you are a video marketer, this is your standing invitation to come on our show. The Heart of Marketing needs you!
Take a listen today and get your vlogger hat going. Think of all the ways you can deliver more entertainment, or shall we say infotainment to your audience?
Is video for you? Well, it has to be and you'll get there kicking and screaming!
This is The Heart of Marketing.
Heading to a social media conference this year? How about a conference in marketing, public relations, SEO, content, email, or whatever your vertical is?
Conferences are indeed best practice for in-real-life branding. You show up and immediately someone recognizes your face because of your avatar on Twitter or a Facebook post. (It's the coolest thing.)
So, you show up, you network, you make a connection and you hit the social media sphere and share what you're learning.
We got the idea for this episode from a reporter in the Wall Street Journal who wrote a jazzy piece about her attendance at social media conferences and how she used the experience to share business cards, network, grab some free books, and also be a presenter and thought leader.
There are so many reasons why you need to attend a conference, and I don't want to give it all away in writing. It's a quick episode and full of energy! Take a listen!
Shout Outs to:
Rosemary O'Neill
Mark Schaefer
Adam Toporek
John Gregory Olson (always gets a shout out)
This is The Heart of Marketing.
She's the official Ambassador of Happiness with a Circle R after that, and we're so delighted to have Maura Sweeney on the show today. She rounds out the third episode in The Happiness Series on The Heart of Marketing, and what a way to finish...or start your happiness journey.
Maura shares way too much sensory overload, so trust me when I tell you (this is Jayme Soulati with John Gregory Olson) that you're highly likely to listen to this episode twice. I've now listened to it four times, and I'm hearing things for the first time from expert-on-happiness-as-a-core-lifestyle Maura Sweeney.
So many people experience life with a negative vibe. Is that a choice? Maura says it is. We all have the opportunity to live positive and with mindfulness about being happier. It is a practice that when exercised provides a balance of spirit, heart core, and positivity that leads us and others around us to feel light and free.
Maura Sweeney has a variety of resources she shares on her website that you can tap into. We'd like to plug you into the Ambassador or Happiness today and every day:
Maura4U.com
Tweet with Maura here
Listen to Maura Sweeney's podcast here
Read and purchase her books
Hire Maura for a keynote presentation
Thank you, Maura for being our guest today! We heart you!
And, You Might Like our Happiness Series:
Are You Happy?
Dean of Happiness at the Wharton School
We're in the second episode of The Happiness Series, and today John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati are discussing the definition of happiness.
When you experience life at home, in the workplace or buzzing around the world, how do you comport your emotions? Laughter, mindfulness and happiness do contribute to a more healthful life.
The Harvard Business Review did a cover story on 'The Value of Happiness, How Employee Well-Being Drives Profits," in January-February 2012. It also commissioned a happiness study, and we reference many of the findings in the study within this episode.
So, as you experience life, some of what we mention today may help you take an inward look at your happiness quotient. And, if you're a leader in business, are you giving your star achievers a goal to accomplish?
The values happiness bring are powerful especially in the workplace. There are wonderful tips today that may make you regard people's emotions differently.
This is The Heart of Marketing.
When Kembrel Jones joined the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 2008 as the new dean of students, he was charged with "lightening things up" at the stodgy elite business school.
Essentially, the campus was a dull and boring place. The students weren't showing enough school pride, and there weren't enough programs to keep them happy.
Administrators were actually peering down the road into the future knowing that alumni giving looked pretty bleak. Without happiness on campus, wallets would stay closed after graduation.
Then along cam Kembrel Jones to bring in the champagne, open his heart and cell phone to 1,700 MBA students and to create a big, happy family.
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati launch the happiness series with this short piece on what Mr. Jones saw and did to change up the attitude on the Wharton School campus.
Listen in and then take an introspective look at your own business and see if your team is happy. If not, then you're going to take away some solid tips on how to create an atmosphere built on smiles.
You Might Like
Bloomberg Businessweek "Dean of Happiness"
Ever wonder whether you should write a book and if that's a good idea?
In this mini (we try to make it a shortie), John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati share some solid reasons why you ought to write a book for instant cred, the experience, and the knowledge that it could lead to, well, leads.
Because Amazon Createspace has made it easier to self-publish a book, many are doing just that, but the work isn't done when that book is hot off the press.
Book marketing is the most important aspect of your book and the most challenging. Because there are so many titles nowadays, you need to ensure your book resonates with someone about something.
Once the book comes off the printer, perhaps you want to use Braughler Books (Jayme Soulati used David Braughler twice already), then what are you going to do?
We have one idea! Run and get your copy of Mark W. Schaefer's book, "Known."
The craziest thing about that book? We probably mention it about 10 times on this show because Mark took the best word ever for the title of his new book (which he hinted about in episode 100 on The Heart of Marketing).
Mostly, we laugh and banter A LOT in this episode, but, promise, you will learn several tips about to book or not to book!
We've been doing a lot of talking about customer experience and often the stories we share are the ones we read. Today is no different as we grabbed a story from Fast Company to share with you the customer experience philosophies of Warby Parker and Union Square Hospitality Group (which owns Shake Shack, btw).
Fast forward....
Jayme Soulati ponders during this episode while John Gregory Olson waxes and wanes about Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker and Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality.
Putting Customer Experience To Work
Jayme is pondering because she believes the really solid philosophies about customer experience shard today by the two executives are basic. Why wouldn't you know to teach servers to look patrons in the eye when taking an order? How come having a greater degree of hospitality is anything new or finding people who are proactive, curious and passionate about Warby Parker is something difficult?
In your business, do you have the people it takes to bring your own philosophy about customer experience to the forefront?
We'd like to hear about it, even if it's just a short story. As you can see, John and Jayme can build an episode out of just powder!
You Might Like
How Vitamin Water Caters to Hustlers
Cultivating Love is What Brands Should Do
Putting an Emphasis on Small Businesses with @JasonFalls
Cultivate love? It's not an esoteric thing, and we can honestly say so because we swiped that phrase directly from Fast Company. We owe this podder to our favorite business publication for giving us this idea for an episode.
How Brands Cultivate Love
In the Fast Company story, three brands were interviewed. On today's show, we talk about two of them -- Casper and Soul Cycle. And, John Gregory Olson, co-host, shares his favorite story about Dutch Bros. cultivating love for its brand, too.
When you listen, and it doesn't matter how large your brand truly is, you can get basic heart core ideas for how your brand can cultivate love every day with all of your audiences.
Maybe you've heard of Casper? The mattress company you buy online from? Its website is extraordinary with such transparency and reviews flowing in by the day. It has a majority of 5-star reviews and tons of YouTube videos documenting the unpacking procedure. How does Casper cultivate love for its disruptive brand? You gotta take a listen to find out!
On the other side of sleep is exercise. Soul Cycle is all about the customer engagement and giving fitness instructors freedom within framework. We love that. The entrepreneurial spirit squared; each experience on the spinning cycle is different, up to the fitness instructor yet still conforming to company values.
There's a ton of discussion, too, about company values, so when you listen do recall the values you put on your employees and the heart core of your company, too.
This is The Heart of Marketing with Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson.
Today's episode is all about how you ensure your online reputation stays positive. Jayme Soulati, our illustrious co-host tells all about how you can begin to DIY your page one Google presence with a bunch of tips.
Here's the secret she uses -- Brand Yourself. You can enjoy a free or premium level services from this online reputation management platform, but Jayme recommends premium if you have a lot to solve.
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, Jayme shares a DIY case study for which she created a variety of assets, content, backlinks, site maps, and all for the purpose of moving a negative ranking down to the bottom of the first page.
Did it work? You'll have to listen.
Don't understand a thing written here? Listen in, and you will!
John Gregory Olson attempts to chime in with some poignant questions, but Jayme insists on carrying the show; because it's her birthday month, after all!
Here are some resources you can use in your own quest to have a sparkling online reputation:
Moz
Search Engine Land
Search Engine Journal
Yoast plug in for WordPress
Enjoy, and go be #RockHot!
There’s something about Pinterest …
It is different from other social media platforms out there on ‘The Webz’.
If you are thinking about marketing your business, your brand or your service on Pinterest, good for you! A unique marketing opportunity awaits.
But to succeed, you need to understand the different mindset of Pinterest users. And you need to understand the different kind of culture and interaction out there.
Don’t let that intimidate you, though.
Because in this episode, we’ve brought in a Pinterest marketing expert to point you in the right direction.
Get the inside scoop from our guest Alisa Meredith. She shares tips, strategies and examples for how companies are driving amazing amounts of traffic to their websites from Pinterest.
Episode highlights:
- How Pinterest users use Pinterest and interact on the network
- The ‘long game’ benefits of Pinterest marketing
- Which businesses are best suited to generate leads from Pinterest
- Real world examples of Pinterest marketing success stories
- The anatomy of creating highly ‘pinnable’ images for Pinterest
More on Alisa Meredith
Got a question for Alisa Meredith about Pinterest?
You can find her in many places IRL and on the Interwebz, too:
She has recently written a book on Pinterest Promoted Pins, which has established her as a Pinterest marketing authority.
She has been a featured blogger for HubSpot, Tailwind, Social Media Examiner, and of course her own blog at alisameredith.com.
She is also an in-demand speaker. She has presented at the Agents of Change Conference, Social Media Examiner’s Success Summit, and will appear at the upcoming Social Media Marketing World conference in San Diego this year.
In case you missed it, there is a mini renaissance happening.
In our world ruled by emails, social media posts, text messages and emoji we are seeing a return of the handwritten note.
Call it a mini-renaissance of analog communications to distinguish your brand in the digital world.
In this episode we take a look at the resurgence of the simple handwritten note and how to use it to stand apart from your competition. Join us for a look at how going ‘old school’ gets you to the head of the marketing class.
Episode highlights:
- The trend towards more handwritten communications
- Why a handwritten note is remarkable today
- Four ways a handwritten note makes a powerful statement about your brand
- Three tips for writing a note that resonates with your audience
When was the last time you received a handwritten note? As a marketer, receiving a handwritten note makes a great impact; as a professional, sending a handwritten note is the best way to make an impact.
The art of communication does, in fact, include letters, although the cost of a stamp is nearly an obstacle. And, speaking of stamps, make the extra effort to choose stamps that say something. You can always buy the flag roll, but isn't it more fun to send a stamp with something special on it because having the circus, an artist, Elvis, flowers, and sports always speaks greater on an envelope than merely Old Glory.
In this episode we have a few shout outs, too:
Adam Toporek is CEO of CTS Solutions, and he has been on this show in the past speaking about customer service. Adam recently shared a story of his own on the art of the handwritten note. You can access that right here. And you can find our episode with Adam about customer service right here, too.
John Gregory Olson, our cohost, mentions Paperless Post. Jayme Soulati, our cohost, loves Levenger, a gorgeous writing utensil and office accessories for the professional company, as well as Cardthartic. a lovely card company with the most unique and special messages you can find to send.
Mark Schaefer is always our inspiration, too. With his Content Shock approach and his tips for realtors on taking better Instagram pictures, Mark provides some fodder for today's episode.
And...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE HEART OF MARKETING! WE ARE TWO!
Thanks for listening! Now, go write a handwritten note!
This episode has a ton of casual banter that truly gets relevant to the topic today. John Gregory Olson is an incredible writer with a style and tone that is unique, special and engaging.
Co-host Jayme Soulati has always known this about John, and she's consistently nudged him to consider becoming an author.
After two full years of The Heart of Marketing, publishing weekly without skipping a beat, John Gregory Olson has finally agreed that becoming an author is where he wants to be and go.
We talk about that decision, the podcasting journey, and Jayme asks the questions that provoke John into sharing why this podcast has made him a better writer. In addition, John shares insight into why he will be that author although marketing books are a dime a dozen these days.
This is more an escape from our usual fare, but it brings more inside perspective of your co-hosts on The Heart of Marketing.
You may have already been introduced to none other than Mr. Jason Falls, the Louisville-based guru of anything and everything digital marketing; however, in today's episode of The Heart of Marketing, we snare Jason unplugged.
He's with Jayme Soulati (and John Gregory Olson), who leads Jason through a litany of topics on:
- The future of social media
- Can small companies compete with big brands on social
- The top 5 things you need to be present
- What is conversation research
- AND...what the heck is Holy Smokes Marketing?!
Jason is an international speaker, influencer, and A-lister (because that's what everyone in the lead is called, apparently) who is an authority for you to know and hear.
He has recommitted to small businesses to educate them about everything they're missing and everything they need to know to continue immersion in learning.
Don't miss this episode as it is certain to be informative and current.
Meet Jason Falls
His blog is full of teaching tips.
Book him to speak at your next gig.
Get small business insight on lead nurturing.
Mini-episode alert! This is probably the shortest episode on The Heart of Marketing; yet, it's chock full of solid ideas for all sizes of company on how to spend $10,000.
From Inc. magazine, we got this idea and decided to do our own brainstorm on how to spend $10K across the organization or just in our own marketing department.
John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati proffer some ideas, and they may be ones you would consider or not. Do listen in because every business often puts its own doorstep last on the list of cash infusion or business strategy.
While $10,000 is not a ton of money in business, it will ensure:
-
Consultant time with a possible gap analysis
-
Planning
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Tradeshow participation
-
Or...just ask the team!
Thanks for listening!
Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. P.T. Barnum. The Greatest Show on Earth. Disney on Ice. Monster Truck.
Do you know these brands and film? Indeed. Iconic they are and if there's one family on Earth that has endured decades of entertainment success and crisis it's the Feld Family -- owners of Ringling Bros.
In the late 19th century, P.T. Barnum defied odds as the greatest circus master of all time. As technology advanced, so too did the circus. Today, the Feld family has overcome a variety of crises -- most notably whether or not to keep the elephants in its circus -- and the need to acquire a diversity of products and shows to keep people coming to the big top.
Is your brand a juggling act?
Listen in to The Heart of Marketing today and get some thoughts going around your big top to ensure that you're continually reinventing to be absolutely creative to keep the customers rolling in.
Disruption is not going away...how you manage to handle it is up to you.
You know that company Snap Inc., formerly known as Snapchat? Well its campaign to launch Snap Spectacles is pure PR genius, and the textbooks will tell the tale time and time again.
The beauty of scarcity and gamification is what made the launch of Snap Spectacles so sweet. With Snap Bots popping up with 24-hour notice in innocuous places, peeps were clamoring and racing and competing to sweep up multiples to keep, sell and laud over others unable to get in on the fun.
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati weave the stories as told in the Wall Street Journal and also showcase the campaign elements that make this strategy such a success.
There is so much fun in this strategy, and the timing couldn't be better as Snap Inc. readies for IPO. Take a listen and get in on some of the cleverness that should have the marketing team sweeping the PR Anvil Awards.
Oh, and if you grab a pair of the specs and have a story to share, please be sure you fill us in on your experience; we'd love to know!
The 2016 POTUS election created a firestorm among advertisers; so much so that the new whisper on the street is that advertisers are missing the mark.
What's the mark, you might ask?
Why, it's Middle America -- that mark! Advertisers have always targeted coastal elite as their consumer of choice. Those folks who walk Michigan Avenue, Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue with disposable income for luxurious products, you know, all the gorgeous people who inhabit the nation's largest metropolises.
Today? After the election that brought the U.S. Donald Trump? NOT SO MUCH.
Advertisers are definitely in a hot spot spiral without a connection to the new mainstream -- those consumers who live and breathe the fresh air of small-town and rural America. That's the new consumer, and advertisers haven't a clue how to relate with them.
While Jayme Soulati heads down about three rabbit holes this episode, John Gregory Olson shares his professorial approach to what's happening and why voice of customer is so important with which to align.
For sure the main point emanating from this episode is 'Get Local.' Advertiser? You're gonna have to do just that and that goes for brands, companies, businesses and the like that want to better understand the new mainstream.
Collect your data. Plot some inference. Draw conclusions. And revamp the strategy. It's the only way to get in touch with the new normal.
Today's very special guest is ringleader Ms. Lorraine Ball, an 'old-school marketer' with Round Peg in Indianapolis.
To get the very most from Lorraine's expertise, Jayme Soulati segmented the interview into three distinct sections:
1) What is consumer-driven content?
2) Website design and some tips for businesses
3) Future of social media -- any ideas?
Lorraine has lots to say on each, and she provides excellent tips on ensuring the customer, web visitor and peruser of the Interwebz have a lot of content with which to interact, share, like, and basically help nudge to the top of the news feed.
She gives perspective and concepts about specialty campaigns and how to think differently about each -- you know there's always a contest, submit your photo, or other way to interact to promote consumer-driving content, right?
You'll get some good insight here, and we do encourage you to take a look at Lorraine's website because it's extremely well done.
http://roundpeg.biz
You're listening to The Heart of Marketing.
CMOs are whining, and how do we know that?
Just read any industry publication, like this editorial from Rance Crain in Advertising Age about CMOs missing the mark with advertising, how to reach consumers, programmatic advertising, and more advertising disrupting consumers on every platform and channel. Here, Mr. Crain shares the latest conundrum in the marketing sector by the president of the Association of National Advertisers who 'unfolded a barrage of litanies on the failings of marketing.' Woah!
Is your CMO the best human capital you can get for your business? If you look around, you'll see a ton of infighting in the C-suite where CEOs are losing trust in their CMOs ability to unite the disparate factions in the marketing realm.
There are so many specialty disciplines and a 'chaotic supply chain' that CMOs and their teams are being too tactical and less visionary and strategic.
How do marketers reach we consumers with the ad messages and storytelling they think we want to hear?
In this episode, we address the great, big whine and then look at some suggestions in the Heart of the Matter for how your organization can insulate from the negative vibe and get beyond the budget wars in programmatic, social, direct, inbound, advertising, social marketing, PR, and more!
You may like:
Specialists vs. Generalists -- Episode 21 is our most popular download to date!
The Almighty Consumer Hates You Advertiser is also popular and looks at the disruption by advertising across the social divide.
Marketing is enduring a highly disrupted phase, and the confidence in its abilities is waning in the C-suite.
This episode of The Heart of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati is a conversation about the current state of marketing oriented to the confusion of people-based marketing.
It's not what you think! People are not the priority of people-based marketing; advertising dollars are. Advertising is struggling to keep its foothold of power, and many larger corporations are whining about the ad blockers and lack of attention by consumers.
What does this mean for smaller businesses?
John and Jayme provide some encouragement about doing traditional marketing well. Get messaging in order; develop the standard marketing and public relations programs that communicate and touch people directly. Ensure brochures are thoughtful and targeted with a call to action.
Make your marketing effort sustainable by getting back to the heart core of your business with values-based marketing that delivers a solid customer experience.
- Getting to 100 anything, years, days, podcasts, pennies, and blog posts is a celebratory milestone we all have to commemorate.
On The Heart of Marketing podcast, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati are doing just that with a special, special guest Mark W. Schaefer, the international influencer, thought leader and digital marketing guru and author we so love.
Mark shares his visionary thoughts about a variety of topics including:
- His new book coming in 2017 about 'being known,' a project he announced right here (!) and whether anyone can become known
- Discussion about what it means to be a heroic brand and being human with servant leadership graciousness.
- How finding a sustainable interest keeps passion and voice alive
- Why he elected not to update his website for three years
- And, so much more
Mark Schaefer owns one of the most influential brands in marketing today, and you can follow him everywhere on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for sure. He shares his stories about teaching at Rutgers and elsewhere; he shares news of his global speaking engagements; he writes a ton; he shares observations from the front; and he also shares guffaws with Tom Webster on his podcast The Marketing Companion.
We're so thankful to be celebrating our 100th with Mark Schaefer and YOU! Tune in; this is a can't miss episode!
Podcasting tips come pretty easy to The Heart of Marketing co-hosts John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati. In this episode, we take a look over our shoulders and remember our faves and how we got to this mile marker on our journey to 100.
We've never skipped a beat; publishing weekly since Feb. 2015, and we're still going strong because we love what we do.
Our bootstrap operation is still that. We don't have the funding to do a mass market appeal, so we rely on word-of-mouth marketing to take our show to wider audiences. We so thank you for supporting our weekly podcast! Please share it with friends, sign up for our weekly episodes (via http://getheartmarketing.com), and send us a suggestion for a show topic, too.
Today, you'll hear our 10, or so, suggestions on why our podcast is a success. What did we do to make it, bring it live, keep it fresh?
I, Jayme Soulati, have my cohost to thank profusely for his work as the Chief Technical Officer who has mastered all the behind-the-scenes tech stuff. If I hadn't found John Gregory Olson via serendipity, this show could not have been possible.
There's a lot to running a podcast, and there's a lot more to keeping it alive. Take a listen today; we do our customary banter and show our love for one another and YOU. Thanks for listening; now go be #RockHot!
This is probably the shortest headline we've ever written for a Heart of Marketing episode, and rightly so, we're talking about making the pitch, the ask, the sell, the cold call, and whatever else you'd like to say about some kind of sales.
Everyone sells every day; from the elementary school kid selling magazines and sorority fundraising for a cause-related campaign to the employee wannabe trying to get a foot in the door.
Is your pitch perfect?
Probably not, and that's why this episode should give you some tips on:
- Personalization
- Research beforehand
- How to write the pitch
- Whether a deck is in order
- Using email -- how about the subject line?
- Cold calling -- what do you say first?
Well, you get the drift, and we often forget that being short, concise, simple, and appreciative are some of the ways to make the best pitch perfect.
At the end, there's a final thing you have to do and that's to 'say thanks.'
In business today, gratitude is something oft forgotten and quite necessary. There are cultures very oriented to gift-giving as gratitude. We recognize the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans for example, and in this episode we share a story about professional tennis players who receive generous gifts from Asian fans.
We also talk about the Twitter thank you, why gratitude is part of value and our 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing, and also about customer delight.
In this (time stamp) month of giving thanks, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati want to express sincerely how much we appreciate YOU, our own fans and listeners for your time to hear us wax and guffaw about the very disrupted space of marketing. We HEART YOU!
The Heart of Marketing, the world's very best podcast for small to medium businesses.
Don’t get caught up in the opening today when Jayme Soulati goes squarely down the rabbit hole to the delight of John Gregory Olson who has to show his technical expertise by playing audio emojis every two minutes. Heh.
Today is a volley where we lob a thought back and forth about traits of a marketing leader.
John starts with Jayme’s favorite – strategy, planning, data, and analytics. Frankly, Jayme thinks he’s wrapping four traits into one.
Each cohosts on The Heart of Marketing raise solid leadership qualities you need in your organization from the marketing department. John is a goal-setting guy, so that’s an obvious quality. But, turning data into insights to make customers lives better is also critical.
Flexibility and focus come to mind and a disciplined mind is helpful in ignoring day-to-day minutiae.
The two discuss a variety of traits across leadership, team building and creativity of a marketing leader.
Be sure and listen to the ‘Heart of the Matter’ at the end where John and Jayme provide a wrap-up viewpoint with a twist in perspective.
That title is not really link bait because in this episode of The Heart of Marketing Jayme Soulati does speak about developing and writing a 10-minute presentation for an actual panel at SMI-Dayton, a new social media conference held in October 2016.
When creating engaging and inspired content, it's important to remember the following tips:
- Listen to the podcast (because it's a shortie as begets the length of the presentation Jayme developed).
- Create a story, and that's what John Gregory Olson liked about what Jayme did for her presentation titled, "First Comes Love."
- Write in your head because most really good writers are always multi-tasking in their heads while in the shower, on a hike, working out, driving, etc.
- Find your heart core from which your story and creativity emanate
- Listen to the podcast (LOL)
Jayme gives more tips in this episode, and if you'd like to see a copy of her presentation deck, you can do so on LinkedIn, SlideShare and The Heart of Marketing website, too.
We also want to shout out to Michelle Mazur who was interviewed by Jayme in a previous episode. Michelle is a professional speaking coach, and she's got a few books and courses to help you become a better speaker.
In the past, we did do a very popular episode on SlideShare, and we invite you to take a listen to it; it's evergreen.
Thanks for listening!
We've been talking influencers for many episodes now, and this conversation is about how you build an influencer relations program. We kinda wend our way there with solid tips in the Heart of the Matter, so listen to the end!
John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati are co-hosts of The Heart of Marketing. With Jayme's perspective and orientation to public relations, and John's orientation to marketing, each brings thoughts on defining influencers and who they are.
Both agree, influencers are NOT free!
To build a program:
- Define your goals and set strategy
- Determine outcome and ability to measure
- Find the influencer with the right chemistry for your program
- Execute some test tactics to see if the fit is right
- Launch wider and see how it goes
You'll get more out of this episode because we cover a lot of ground. Take a listen and let us know how you like it!
When you think about how you interact with your customers, what value do you offer to them? We think customers are pretty much spoiled and expect to receive intense value in business offerings.
Since the great '08 recession, businesses had to re-jigger the value proposition and lure customers in with coupons, discounts, BOGO offers, charitable contributions, sales and giveaways (TOMS, Warby Parker), and so much more.
Before you can become a values-based business, you need to understand what value means to you in business. We're talking about the emotional intangibles here, so please take a listen and get thinking about your own value proposition.
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, we look deeply into the Harvard Business Review about an article on value. When you visit http://getheartmarketing.com you will find an image of the pyramid featured in this article we reference. Perhaps you can find the value in your business and offer that up to your customers and audience.
Authenticity means trust and having integrity, and that applies in your workplace culture and even in your own life.
John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati tackle this esoteric topic and try to put some arms around its definition with examples of those brands that have lead us all astray with lack of authenticity.
The co-hosts spend some time dissecting the Wells Fargo debacle and discuss other brands that have recently had run ins with lack of authenticity, too.
When you think of authenticity, it begins with self. Once your authentic self is established, then you need to present that in various settings that may require a blending of core values with workplace culture.
There are so many angles to this topic, and the most important one is to understand the definition of authenticity as it relates to you -- where you live, where you work, and where you're going.
Tiny Abayomi-Paul has cancer, and she's not afraid to say so. She's also one of the most intelligent entrepreneur marketers in the Heart Marketing Community and beyond.
This episode is her story and our gift to her to more widely share that story and help make the ask for Tinu to fund her cancer treatment. This is a cancer fundraising story with a marketing twist because our friend, a marketer, needs your help, please.
Tinu has a page at Give Forward that her friends set up. She shares images of chemo and rest days, and she shares updates of her progress. Regardless, her journey ahead is a rough one with uncertainty over how much energy it will take to heal while attempting to find the funds to pay for the treatment and without ability to service clients in her business.
Tiny has given John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati the opportunity to share her story, raise the awareness about the cancer conversation, and to invite our peers to help a marketer in need.
We, John and Jayme ask politely if you'll do that? Will you please Give Forward to help Tinu Abayomi-Paul meet her fundraising goals for medical necessity?
Any of us who go it alone as the sole or primary breadwinner in a family are fearful of the what-if situation. That's why, when Jayme heard Tinu was ill and in need, she immediately invited Tinu to the show.
What is the name of our show? The HEART of MARKETING. We could not say no to this heartful story of a marketer who is fighting cancer.
Give Forward
Here's Tinu's Fuuuuudge Cancer Campaign page
Tweet with Tinu
Here's Tinu's Blog with stuff from her journey.
Hang on to your seat, #RockHot listeners! This episode of the Heart of Marketing, our 90th, please note, is chock full of rabbit holes, a sound bite from a thought leader you may recognize from the marketing realm, discussion about what's behind the PPC click, how customer shopping is driving marketers crazy...AND...what do we mean by higher purpose in business?
Whew. Seriously.
Jayme Soulati, cohost, raises points about small businesses that decide to launch PPC campaigns without purpose. The problem becomes that lack of substance behind the click due to the lack of strategic purpose in developing the campaign to begin with.
John Gregory Olson, cohost, raises a Millward Brown study of the top 50 fastest growing brands and shares how many bring value and purpose to customers.
At the very end of the day, we ask 'why.' Why is your business a business? Why do you do what you do for customers? And, why are customers delighted about your product and service?
Purpose-driven business is not just purpose-driven marketing. It goes deeper, and that's why John raises the 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing in this episode.
If you take anything away from this episode besides John razzing Jayme into fits and giggles, you'll ponder whether your business is managing to a higher purpose.
(Do take a look at John's link about higher-purpose customer service; the link is accessible via his name above.)
One of our synergistic items is the fact that Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson have both worked directly in legal marketing. Jayme was a consultant with LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters for 12 years total, and John worked directly at Thomson.
Each stint was oriented to software marketing and working with influencers to promote the brand without promoting the name of the brand!
The opportunities for legal software marketing are endless, and in this episode with a B-to-B bent, we explore many:
Case studies
White papers
Blogs and tips series
Annual meetings and tradeshows
Association thought leadership
Speaking engagements and presentations
See? Each of these tactics on their own can be inserted into your own marketing strategy with ease.
B-to-B marketers still regard their challenge as different from B-to-C marketing. It very well may be; however, we're hopeful you'll find these suggestions helpful in boosting your own strategy to get in front of customers. If not, give us a shout!
You can find us right here!
Organic influence is rarely addressed on this whole influencer relations spectrum. Most of the relationships brands have with influencers is all about the paid opportunity.
You know, when a fairly large brand hires influencers to stump for that brand and the influencer gets paid to do so? There has to be a disclaimer for that or else the FTC will breathe down the necks of brands and influencers, too.
That said, P&G launched a huge influencer campaign with mommy bloggers. The brand was touting its new diaper and moms were all over it. Turns out the diaper wasn't working and babies behinds were getting painful rashes. Ouch. P&G turned it up a notch and enlisted support from an entire cadre of mommy bloggers to listen and turn it all around.
That's a good paid influencer story.
What's a good organic influencer story? In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, Jayme Soulati shares her story about becoming an influencer in public relations via development of her personal brand as a blogger. You'll hear about how that happened and the result.
This influencer thing? It's all the rage right now, and in Episode 86, we share some good thoughts about the topic, too. In this episode, we give a shout out to Mark W. Schaefer and his cohost Tom Webster on The Marketing Companion podcast who just realized the fun of audio emojis. John Gregory Olson is the KING of audio emojis and has been doing them for exactly 87 episodes!
When you listen, think of what we say as this:
- Does my business need a boost with an outside influencer to help share stories about my brand to their customers who may become mine?
- Do I have a budget to spend on a paid influencer campaign?
- Can I do organic influence based on my ability to parlay my personal brand throughout a wider net?
If you're stuck with this whole influencer thing, give us a shout. We can help you on the show with some thoughts because 3 heads are better than 1!
Mega churches are little cities. In fact, they are large corporations with tens of thousands customers, two-to-three hundred staff and internal marketing teams that function like an agency.
Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota is no different. Our illustrious co-host on the Heart of Marketing John Gregory Olson is a congregant there and, moreso, he's a videographer operating cams and production for the weekly services.
Our guest today is Kevin Weiers, a visual brand marketing professional for Living Word. What Kevin says is cookie cutter. You can pick it up and transfer it seamlessly to your own branding and visual marketing to rock the customer engagement.
Here is only a smidge of what you will glean today from Kevin:
- Get a response. Marketing is all about earning a response and rebranding is not always the answer.
- Brand consistency is important across all the channels.
- Empower the client and customer to evoke emotion.
- Ask for feedback! Before a rebranding, which can easily fail, do the research.
- Make a connection to the vision.
We're so thankful of Kevin's time to be with us today. He shares some #RockHot insights that teach, and you can be his student. Take a listen!
You can connect with Living Word Christian Center, Minnesota this way:
Facebook -- https://facebook.com/livingwordmn
Instagram -- @livingwordMN
Twitter (in the title)
This episode of The Heart of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati explores the circle of influence, that old-new buzzword coming back and remaining in vogue.
Back in the day, when social media was nascent, Klout took control of influence. Then folks began to dissect this gamification as foul. Triberr roared with bloggers and an influence program that paid bloggers to write for startups and brands wanting more clout. Kred was born to compete with Klout, and ohmygoodness, each of these three still exist but are mere shadows.
Then Facebook reared its _____ head (you fill in the blanks), to adjust its algorithm (surprise!) again by putting friends and family first at the chagrin of publishers.
What that means is the need to develop an influencer campaign.
If you'd like to learn more about what that looks like or even means for your business, listen in.
We'll take a look at:
-
Vetting an influencer
-
Disclaimers for influencers you hire
-
What does influencer mean, really
-
Some tips on launching such a campaign
-
Why you may consider it
IDG is the world's largest tech and data company, or some such big descriptor, and is a large global Fortune company.
Like other companies, it has a culture and it has a brand; yet, the two were misaligned. Sound familiar? We've done a Culture Series on The Heart of Marketing where we explore how culture aligns with brand and mission, vision, values.
IDG looked across its corporation and realized how siloed it had become. Customers knew one specific product solution, but had no idea about others the company offered. That's a branding fail! No cross selling could occur well.
There was splintered messaging, employees were uninformed, there was no chief marketing officer at the helm, and a series of other 'nots.'
It was time to take action, and how did IDG do so on a global platform?
EMPLOYEES.
A very grassroots approach using employees was how IDG launched a brand culture revamp. Brand Ambassadors were its secret sauce, and these people were not from the marketing department! The brand ambassadors were authentic, and became authentic influencers, too.
This episode is a must-listen because it's a perfect example that you can't be too large and still need to align brand culture with mission, people, vision, customer, and values. Right?
You Might Like
Brand Amplification with @danielghebert of Post Beyond
Our co-host @digitaljgo shares his rebrand story
The pros and cons of patriotic branding
Think about your colon health. This episode is about that. If you're 50, you know you're supposed to have a baseline colonoscopy about that time, right?
Well, hats off to the makers of Nolan The Colon, a 20 ft. inflatable colon wending its way to a venue near you.
Traditional public relations (PR) has always worked, but it got put aside during the onset of digital marketing. Now that we're in the post-social media era (where social media is no longer new and it's become integrated into the rest of the marketing world), marketers and public relations professionals need to be creative again and use the media tour, the event strategies, and the unique to entice consumers to pay attention.
It's all about clutter right now, and when an event strategist uses good old public relations, hat's off!
Jayme Soulati is a veteran PR professional and John Gregory Olson is a digital marketer who integrates all the blended marketing into his campaigns. Together they are The Heart of Marketing, and this podcast would not be alive and well without you.
Listen in for ideas you may want to consider for your business, whether or not it's health oriented or not. Because, consumers like a walk through a polyp-littered colon, right?
It is our great pleasure to welcome Director of Marketing Daniel Hebert of Post Beyond to the show today on The Heart of Marketing. Jayme Soulati and Daniel cover an amazing length of ground today, and you will not be disappointed with many of the following:
- How Post Beyond helps clients target employees to spread the brand beyond the confines of the company
- Whether it's a good thing to worry about the competition over customers
- If disruption is creating a forward-thinking clarity or confusion?
- Breaking silos to effectualize better sales enablement
- My favorite question, "Is blogging dead?"
This and more are what Daniel and I wax about while John Gregory Olson jumps in with his attempted funnies.
There are a ton of tips here, too, and my favorite part of the interview is the very end!
Thank you, Daniel Hebert of Post Beyond!
Yoga classes at the grocery store?
It sounds like a weird idea.
But some supermarkets are making a play to transform themselves into a place where customers will want to hang out rather than just pick up groceries and go straight home.
And they’re getting creative with the idea.
Some of them are offering fitness classes, wine bars, facials, child care, and even putting greens, to lure customers away from online stores.
It’s all part of a strategy to make the grocery store a social destination by creating experiences that can’t be had online.
It makes you wonder …
Is this a smart idea? Or is it taking experiential marketing to the point of the absurd?
That’s what we seek to answer in this episode. Join us for the conversation (and quite a few laughs).
Episode highlights:
- Rethinking your business model
- Adapting to customer mindsets
- Consistency and brand experiences
- Building a destination community
- Why yoga pants stink
We all know John Gregory Olson as the #RockHot co-host of The Heart of Marketing with moi, Jayme Soulati, the ORIGINAL #RockHot whatever. Today is a special episode because I get to put John in the hot seat to pull his personal branding story from the trenches.
Small Business Re-brand
Every small business, and heck, even larger ones, has to endure a re-brand every now and again. John has done it now twice with an initial website migration and now with a domain change that required more content migration and starting from essentially scratch.
Why Re-Brand?
When you listen, you'll hear tips from a pro on the following:
Whether a site migration is a negative for domain authority
What is the why about whether a re-brand is necessary
How podcasting has helped with writing power to revise a dead blog
Naming the new entity and how message mapping is helpful
Listen in today as Jayme takes the reins from John (who really doesn't like it too much), and John becomes a masterful storyteller (while still poking fun at me, heh) about rebranding his website and blog.
Thanks for listening, heart marketers!
Bet you didn't know that gems in this case means the real deal -- baubles, jewels, and even more to the point -- engagement rings!
There's a young man disrupting the traditionally stodgy jewelry industry with his house calls, custom designs based on storytelling the romance, intricate one-of-a-kind wedding sets for the bride and groom, and an infusion into the family jewelry business (we hasten a guess).
Zameer Kassam is a millennial with a Harvard Business School education. Slated to jump into his family jewelry business, he decided to sow his oats elsewhere. But, his designer mentality beckoned, and he began designing custom engagement rings for friends who took his nuptual business viral. You know how word of mouth works, right?
Assam is bucking all the traditional roadblocks and taking the customer experience to the comforts of home. Using imagery, stories, interviews, and video all in the name of love, Kassam is developing a customer experience for life. He'll not only get the wedding ring to design, but what happens when it's the 10-year-anniversary, when the babies are born and when it's Mother's Day?
Probably the most uncomfortable customer experience for a man is having to open that door into a jeweler for the first time to find the engagement ring. POUNCE! The poor guy is assaulted by lurking sales professionals wanting to lure him into an expensive bauble with no prior knowledge.
Enter Kassam. He's taken the jewelry-buying experience to new and comfy heights. The professionals writing about him suggest it's a new way to do PR.
I disagree, but not so much in this episode. We in PR have been telling stories for years; it's just the packaging of the storytelling that makes people think it's new.
Thumbs up for Kassam, for sure. He's finally disrupting an industry so staid and old guard that hopefully those guys will sit up and take note. It's about time.
How can your business disrupt the tried, true and tired? Think on it as you listen to this week's episode of The Heart of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati.
Thanks for listening!
Resources
Read the Forbes post on Kassam's story.
A Word of Mouth episode to learn more about viral marketing.
On Digital Heart: Meaningful Experiences
Helpfulness and Branding on Soulati.com
Marketing funnels are not dead, contrary to what many think. Our guest today, Jeremy Reeves, is a direct-response copywriter who writes for the sales funnel. He has been so successful that in his career he has generated some $50 million for his clients...wowza. He is a podcaster, guest blogger, social media pro, and as stated an expert in funnels. How can you not listen?
John Gregory Olson tries really hard to get Jeremy's secret so The Heart of Marketing can be as successful, or perhaps just a smidgeon of that success, and he does succeed in getting Jeremy to spill:
Jeremy knows something about building trust to get the customer to tap into the funnel and the product at the narrow bottom.
Jeremy says that funnels need to be transparent or the intention needs to be such.
Funnels should add value, and customers should trust you and want to click deeper because everything you present and position needs to work hand-in-hand with the pillars of heart marketing (OK, maybe that's what Jayme Soulati said).
There is so much more Jeremy covers in today's episode on The Heart of Marketing podcast. If you have a question about funnels and whether you have to do one for your business, then this episode is for you.
And, as you listen, please don't miss The Wizard of Oz connection, courtesy of John Gregory Olson! It's his fault this episode is chock full of laughs (but only in the middle and end, heh).
There's no question Harley Davidson is an iconic brand with immense Boomer loyalty, but can it earn that loyalty among the newest generation of consumer that lacks extra income for luxury purchases the likes of Harley Davidson?
Harley is asking the same thing and expanding its reach abroad to other countries in the hopes of getting consumers to pay the sticker price for a brand new Harley Davidson prestige motorcycle. The company does not want to discount its merchandise at this point; yet, it continues to conduct giveaways of Hogs on its social media sites.
Enter RevZilla
As a relative newcomer to the motorcycle category (nine years), RevZilla out of Philadelphia is banging up the accessories market and earning intense customer loyalty among consumers of gear.
Born of three passionate millennials, RevZilla was recently featured in Bloomberg Businessweek in a story that showcases its amazing connection to consumers via culture, education, and commitment to customer experience.
Gear Geeks attend Rev U, an intense educational/university-type course to educate front-line associates in all things culture, product and the customer experience with satisfaction being numero uno.
John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati (moi) are non-motorcycle savvy, but that doesn't mean that we can't recognize a good marketing story when we see one.
The Heart of Marketing heart pillars of trust, relationship and helpfulness are indicative of RevZilla, and we're so jazzed to have you listen to what makes this company a success.
We are always seeking neat stories for our Go for Heart program, and we did invite Anthony of RevZilla to join us on the show; however, he must be on extended vacation as he never answered (lol).
Listen in if you love the motorcycle experience and see if you agree that RevZilla is banging up the category with the customer and safe gear in mind.
How many times weekly are you asked to take a survey, just a little one, to rank, rate and score someone's performance? Uh-huh, we too. On this episode of The Heart of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati explore the weariness of customer surveys and the ask for that '10' score...or else!
What is the true motive for all of these surveys, anyway? And, let's be clear, there's a difference between:
Surveys
Ratings
Reviews
We do dance around each one as they are all disruptions the customer is feeling about a product or service. Most of us can't get away from them, however, because there are robo-calls that never quit until you comply. There are surveys that pop up in seconds after concluding an online help chat; there are third-party companies assigned to make the phone calls for the auto body repair or the vehicle purchase.
At the end of the day, does all of this data help you better understand your customer? Are you truly using this information to create better widgets and put better customer service reps in the call center?
We may skirt this issue very well, but at the end of the day, the best way to get to know your customers' opinions is to do this very simple thing...take a listen to find out what!
In time for the Fourth of July, the Olympics and the critical U.S. Presidential election, Anheuser-Busch has changed Budweiser to 'America' through November 2016.
Budweiser ads have run the gamut from the Clydesdales to puppies to Millennials, and even a sexist ad that required an apology. The King of Beers is attempting to be all things to all people, but one thing is for sure, it's rebrand to America is all about waving the flag.
(And, a shout out to Mark Schaefer of Businesses Grow blog. Mark summarizes well what John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati frequently talk about on The Heart of Marketing podcast. We're thinking he probably gets a ton of his ideas from us! LOL)
The Trending of Branding
Should all brands wave the pink and the red, white and blue? There are pros and cons. Budweiser and Starbucks, for example, are saturated brands. Consumers are fully aware of these global brands, so what can a brand do in the marketing sense?
Budweiser has been consistently patriotic. It has a history of using the flag and Statue of Liberty on its packaging. When a brand owns packaging real estate, it has opportunity to get creative.
A company needs to understand its mission and also not to forget employee sentiment about events and campaigns. If a company's employees are a melting pot, then extreme branding toward an issue may not work. Getting buy in from all stakeholders is wise when it comes to branding for a cause or national event.
Were there enough hints in the title and sub-title to guess what John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati banter about today? You got it -- The Honest Co. and its trial and tribulations of being, well, honest. This is the Heart of Marketing.
Whomever names a brand Honest is striving for the holy grail, right? Especially in this disrupted age of category change agents, which, ahem, The Honest Co. definitely IS!
We're backing into this episode with cultural values and to say that if you want to be upright and honest with customers, then watch out for the packaging and ingredient vigilantes. They will have you for lunch.
What is a Brand?
Jayme let's John do the talking while she looks up the word 'cache' trying to catch the too-smart John in a mis-pronounciation that fails; alas.
Jessica Alba is a celebrity businesswoman with her own powerful brand, and the company she launched, The Honest Company, is struggling to reach IPO status. Hear what we recommend about branding, legal affairs, and the continuous struggle to keep it above board with all the eyes dotted and major claims that raise the eyebrows.
Today's special edition of The Heart of Marketing Go for Heart program includes Mr. Neal Kielar, owner and creative director at MidModMen+friends, a St. Paul, MN retailer of restored and modern home furnishings.
The award-winning store takes a fresh approach to retailing based on consistent quality of goods, everyday attainability, authentic customer interaction, and social and physical community.
Neal has parlayed his 30 years in brand and content marketing with some of the biggest brands in a variety of industries into his mid-century modern retail operation that puts customer experience and quality first.
Neal shares some of his secrets to keep customers coming back, not to mention is quite modest of the awards his business has won for its value, passion for furniture, approach to creativity in business, and more:
- Instagram has been a favorite channel of MidModMen as Neal's business is visual, of course
- Customer conversation fuels creativity; the more knowledge from the customer, the more ideas for new finds and staging
- Storytelling is just normal, and because of Neal's decades-long career in branding, the stories about piece restoration and the back story on its history are helpful in creating a spark of interest in customers.
Take a listen as John Gregory Olson interviews Neal Kielar of MidModMen+friends. You will learn just how cool furniture can be.
Resources
Website https://midmodmen.com/
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/MidModMen/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/midmodmen/
What does it mean to have a heartful business? Believe me it's not woo woo or Kumbaya, but it is being genuine and outwardly compassionate to customers from the inside-out.
When was the last time you explored your heartfulness inside your culture, eh? I'm betting it's been awhile, and perhaps never.
Today, John Gregory Olson and moi, Jayme Soulati, explore the ins and outs of being heartful in business. We have this discussion surrounding our 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing, and we encourage you to listen and understand the concept of what heartfulness means in today's disrupted, fast-paced world.
But, you know what? You can't fake it. If you don't abide by and embody a core of true customer care and compassion, people see right through it. It's not real; it's fake and phony. When you're labeled fake and phony, it's really hard to battle that.
So, listen in and especially guffaw alongside us both as I poke fun at myself, too, for the wrong word choice at the very top of the hour! (In fact, I laughed out loud at one point as I was listening to this episode before I sat down to write; wonder if you will?)
We cover a wide array of topics today all centralized in the end around the customer experience. It's something we've been consistently addressing on our show, and today you'll find some solid examples for your nimble business.
How do you greet your customer after disruption? Are you building new tech opportunities like 3-D printing or an Espresso Book Machine for those who want to self-publish on demand?
This episodes centers around the cool things independent book retailer, Shakespeare & Co., is doing. John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati jump start the conversation with this neat bookstore story and catapult (see that? jump start and catapult) the conversation into business models, customer experience, creating loyal customers, and understanding what customers need.
You might also like:
Tory Sport Exemplifies the New Customer Experience
Slow Shopping is Experiential Marketing
Trader Joe's is a Hawaiian Experience
We often forget that a website is still the face of our business. Too often, we hit a website that is not mobile responsive, has poor imagery, isn't appealing visually, and has no clear message.
Is that your website?
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati are back with a volley of tips to remind you that your website needs a refresh.
Do check:
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Images
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Message
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Navigation
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Interaction
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What else? Take a listen to find out!
Thanks for tuning in!
It's guest appearance time! Today our very special VIP isMichelle Mazur, PhD who is one of those extraordinary speechconsultants (no, she doesn't help you with diction, although sheprobably could) who helps folks determine how to monetize theirspeeches.
So, is a speech the same as a presentation, and what's the best wayto get one cooking for real time, I asked Michelle in this episode.(I am Jayme Soulati, co-host of The Heart ofMarketing podcast with John Gregory Olson, my arch frenemy --because we always nag one another on the show).
BTW, the answer to those two questions are 'blowing in the wind!'(Remember that song??)
Then, I asked whether it was OK to write my deck in my head andthen hit the PowerPoint and create. I'll answer that one --Michelle said, " not usual, Jayme!" Oh, well, I never did conformto the rules, right John?
Michelle has a great story about helping people make money, or not,on stage as an edutainer. The operative word here is STORY. What'syour story? Is it good enough to hit the speaking circuit? How doyou make that leap from free to paid speaking engagements,anyway?
Honestly, I am stuck in the free. I have been paid to speak, butit's not consistent every time. Michelle shares her tips of thetrade, and her energy is boundless. We love this woman for all herexpertise. She has a book, she has a course, she is brilliant atemail marketing and community nurturing, and if I had designs onspeaking for greenbacks, I'd make her my coach -- in a heartbeat(soundbite, please, John!).
Resources
Learn more aboutMichelle Mazur, PhD here
Get her book,'Speak Up for Your Business' here
Why Try Viral Marketing?
John Gregory Olson is here today to make fun of me, Jayme Soulati, on this podcast episode on The Heart of Marketing. Listen for it; I promise you'll want to hit our website, click on the purple 'send voicemail' button on the right side of the site and tell John to be nice to me!!
Actually, we thank Al Strauss for listening and doing exactly that -- sending a voicemail from our website. Listen for Al's story in this episode!
But, back to my intense plea for help...
Seriously, Listeners. Let's launch a viral campaign to put John back in his place! I don't want him to pick on me any more, but if the shoe fits, right?Segue...
Is Viral Marketing For You?
There's a mosh pit (yeah, apparently that dates me) of marketing mutations in the jargon-filled world in which we work and play. Among them are:
Word of mouth
Influencer
Referral
Viral
Omnichannel
Even if you're not doing any of the above well, or you're trying desperately to capitalize on viral marketing, why try, seriously), it all boils down to one thing...you're gonna have to listen up to learn what that one thing is for your business -- small, mid-sized, large, or larger. There's a common thread, trust me.
And, while you're listening, do not laugh at my ignorance, dang it.
I am a self-professed Twitterholic -- that's someone who is addicted to Twitter. Truth be told, the changes on the channel have me keeping an eye on things from afar; yet, this remains my very favorite social media channel, and it should be yours, too.
For a global event, the Nuclear Industry Summit, ECI Communications was hired to promote the event with a website from scratch, a Twitter stream from scratch, public and media relations, and video production. It was a huge event with three months to pull it off. I was the Twitter peep behind the scenes for the entire event.
Twitter Nuclear Energy Story
This episode of The Heart of Marketing is a story about live tweeting for an event and what happens prior and beyond. It consists of my tips (I am Jayme Soulati, BTW) on how to use Twitter with best practice to realize the goals for the event.
There was strategy, a thoughtful approach to tweets, a very thoughtful approach to engagement, and a need to bone up on the subject matter quickly to be smart when tweeting. I can honestly share that Twitter was responsible for 90% of the traffic to the nascent website prior to the first multi-media news release being published.
Learn from this episode and please do consider Twitter as one of the best media for your event and even daily content marketing.
You Might Like
A Nuclear Energy Case Study
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati share some stories about their own customer experiences that resonate with value, emotion, and making someone feel special.
Jayme was recently a guest at the Grand Hyatt--Washington, DC for a global summit. As she social media-zed her experience in pictures and posted on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Foursquare, the Grand Hyatt was right there saying thanks. Then, a bowl of chips, dip and waters arrived in Jayme's room with a hand-written note of thanks. Can you guess how that made Jayme feel?
Yes, special. And, that's what Tory Burch Sport is doing in NYC -- shaking up the customer experience with a run-way feel in the store and a spa-like relaxed setting for customers to have a seat, speak with designers, have a beverage, and talk style. For its first non-line store experience, Tory Sport is approaching customers drastically different -- on purpose.
How can your business get in this groove? You do know that 'customer experience' is the new marketing buzzword, right? Well, we've talked all about this in Episode 55 on Experiential Marketing, with Trader Joe's and Grocers get local in Dayton, Ohio, too.
The thread that ties it all up in a bow is value, emotion, feeling, and heartfulness. Can you make your customer feel heartful? What do we mean by that, anyway? Listen in, and you'll soon understand what John and I mean. We couldn't resist bringing this story to you because even the Wall Street Journal is getting with the program and featuring Tory Burch Sport and customer experience.
Measuring the success of social media and content marketing is the Holy Grail; make that the illusive Holy Grail. Some do it extremely well, while others suffer attempting to put ROI against a content strategy.
The C-suite seems to ask for ROI against everything done within a company and that often comes without regard for the softer side of marketing (often called public relations).
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, John Gregory Olson, the extraordinary producer of our show, and me (Jayme Soulati) wax and wane about what ROI means to content marketing and overall strategy.
This episode is my new epic favorite. I am so impressed with our topic as we cover:
-
Why ROI is not always the first best practice to put in place for content marketing
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The empowered consumer and her control over the marketing funnel and sales decisions
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Which metrics to put in place all the time that influence ROI
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Why brands are failing in content marketing by attaching ROI to content
You Might Like:
Do take a look at Episode 2 on The Heart of Marketing where we address marketing ROI!
Adrienne Smith was our featured guest on Go for Heart -- 02; she's the consummate community builder and engagement professional.
We never knew how much culture mattered until John Gregory Olson and I began to take a closer look at the goings on at Zenefits (the company with sex in the stairwells and alcohol every day) and Volkswagen.
We've been exploring culture in our Workplace Series because culture IS your heart core. It's the alignment of heartful business practice with values, vision, and mission. When culture heads into a downward spiral, then an entire business suffers.
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, we take a strategic look at why culture matters and its impact on stakeholders from customers on the outside and employees on the inside.
In the examples we showcase, the impact of negative culture is obvious in how the CEOs made change following negative incidents on the companies brands.
When was the last time you took a good look at your company culture? If you're a small or mid-sized company, you have an opportunity to develop the how and why of your company and to also change it up should you need to.
It's the responsibility of a marketer to align with the intended culture leadership seeks to create, grow and maintain. It's also important to put the best foot forward so people on the outside of a brand want to align with that company.
This episode is a double-listen. It is likely going to take you a few times to grasp all that we have to say as you align your thoughts and vision from how your brand is positioned to grow your company.
Culture is a funny thing in the workplace, and John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati take an inside view at how the mission statement shapes culture shapes productivity shapes the bottom line.
Did you know that? John drops a bombshell with this little factoid about happier employees, happier profitability; sad employees, even worse profitability.
In this episode, another in our Workplace Series, we take a look at several examples of companies like VW, Radio Flyer, Starbucks, and Zenefits. (You know the latter, right? Its culture was so disastrous that...you'll have to listen.)
Our discussion is a sister to our most-downloaded episode 'Specialists v. Generalists,' and if you've not listened yet to Episode 21, do take a listen and tell us why you like that one? It's baffling to us!
Which company do you know that has a fitting culture? We believe Trader Joe's fits its culture very well (we did an episode with this #RockHot company, too), and Starbucks, golden child of Wall Street, is a maverick when it comes to culture; and, its culture is aligned to its mission...
Is Yours?
We are The Heart of Marketing!
Our guest today on the The Heart of Marketing 'Go for Heart' special edition is a genuine and natural heart marketer. Ms. Adrienne Smith joins us with her delightful Southern Belle drawl and her blogging intellect that puts community and connections first. Connect with her on Twitter, and her natural gratitude will invite you in.
There is no other blog on the 'sphere with a comment section so alive and well. When you visit AdrienneSmith.net, you'll find the love everywhere and especially in the oodles of comments she gets and answers daily.
Why is that?
Simply put, Adrienne is the consummate relationship builder. She treats everyone with genuine appreciation and gratitude. Even on Twitter when she thanks someone for sharing material, her gratitude shines through, naturally.
We are also grateful that Adrienne joined us to share her heartful story. We invited her here because she embodies the 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing -- helpfulness being one.
When you listen to Adrienne, you will learn from her tips, appreciate her course, get to work building your own blog community and develop a heart core that people automatically gravitate towards. Adrienne isn't stilted; she isn't phony; she's the real deal, and it's our pleasure to introduce Adrienne Smith to you.
This episode of The Heart of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati is a lot like our most-downloaded episode #21, 'Specialists v. Generalists.' And, we can't figure out why that one is so popular. Can you?
Here, we wax and wane on the topic of marketing consultants. Should you hire one? When is the best time? Why would you ever need one? And, most of all what benefit might you derive from investing in a marketing consultant.
Jayme and John paint the case for making the investment in a marketing consultant because they can:
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Enhance an experience gap
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Outfit bandwidth for a specialty project
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Conduct an outsider audit to understand performance deficiency
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Become the insider team
There may be a few more ways that come to light in this episode that you've not thought of in re your own growing business. Take a listen, and grab some thoughtstarters to push your business toward another growth goal.
This is a solid conversation with good perspective from the business and consulting sides.
We're delighted to bring you an Instagram expert in Jenn Herman, one of the top 'dogs' in Instagram marketing for newbies and established businesses. This episode on The Heart of Marketing has us (John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati) so excited.
Jenn Herman shares some basic tips that you can incorporate immediately into your Instagram channel, and here are some to whet your whistle:
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You get 30 hashtags to use in each post; should you use them ALL? Listen to what Jenn has to say!
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There's only one clickable link allowed in an Instagram profile/bio; did you know this? So what should you do if you want to promote a podcast episode or blog post? Jenn knows!
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How frequent should your images be uploaded to Instagram? If you do 65 in one hour watch what happens to your followers! Jenn had that client experience and what does she recommend?
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How much fun can you have with Instagram? Listen to what Jenn has to say about your bio and personality...can you be quirky or stodgy?
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What if you're a service business? Is it possible to be successful with this unique channel?
-
OMgosh...those memes! Ever feel overwhelmed with peoples' quotes and memes? Jenn sets the record straight with the Instagram rules you should follow!
You're going to want to listen to this episode twice, no doubt. Jenn's talks rapidly and everything she says is a pro tip for Instagram power!
Resources
The Heart of Marketing
JennsTrendsBlog.com
Instagram: Jenns_Trends
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jenns_Trends
Jayme Soulati
John Gregory Olson
You've been hacked, now what?
Yes, it's inevitable. Your business will get hacked, whether solo, small, mid-sized, large, or largest. The Wall Street Journal published a story about Microsoft's new gazillion dollar cybersecurity center to fight off the hackers.
How are you going to manage your cybersecurity crisis?
This episode of The Heart of Marketing is really more about crisis communications and the preparation for an event much like a data breach. Jayme Soulati, that's me, is speaking to the Napa Valley Vintners to help wineries prepare for their response in event of a cybersecurity matter.
Regardless of which industry in which you play and work, cybersecurity doesn't care. Hackers will take you down if you lack secure passwords, have not updated your software, don't have firewalls, do not have security plugins, do not encrypt your data, and don't know what your third-party vendors do for security.
Once the crisis hits, and it will, how will you respond? A message map is number one, but there are also other basics like control your message, develop owned media with approved messages, stay calm and be accessible.
Listen to our episode with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati and see if we can teach you a few tips on responding during a crisis. It doesn't matter if it's cybersecurity or not; you can use what you hear for whichever matter you're managing.
We owe Christopher Beam, a journalist with Bloomberg BusinessWeek great applause for his story, Ancient Branding Secrets of The Shaolin Temple, that provides the core of today's episode on The Heart of Marketing.
Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson take a reverse look at media relations from the perspective of the journalist as he shares the story about Shi Yongxin and his escapades to turn a small monastery in China, The Shaolin Temple, into a tourist attraction in Australia.
The commercialization of culture could be the crisis communications story because Yongxin does everything wrong and gets caught in the process (yet his plan continues). The story is so fascinating and Jayme intended to share the elements of national news you need to know before earning a story in BusinessWeek or the Wall Street Journal.
This episode shares more tips for companies and business owners about the pitfalls of being targeted by media to tips for preparation should it happen. Jayme, a former media relations agency pro in Chicago's PR firms, talks about story elements, whether the media can be trusted, how social media is a negative during scandal, and more.
Resources
IKEA and the New Rules of News
Christopher Beam, Businessweek
The Heart of Marketing
Take a seat, because you're in for a fast ride as John Gregory Olson permits Jayme Soulati to cut loose and ponder the brand.
That's a loaded sentence and when you listen, it applies, absolutely. It's a fast-paced episode about who's behind the brand and what is personifying the brand image and whether the call center even plays along.
The impetus for this topic we owe to Adam Toporek of Crack the Customer Code podcast and Customers That Stick. He began a discussion about whether brands can have a relationship with customers and especially millennials.
This led to a lively back and forth about who's behind Twitter. Is it the CEO or just a social media pro keeping the messages alive. If you interact with a brand, do you get to speak with a person? Should you?
In this episode, we talk about Chipotle, VW, Adam Toporek, Saks Fifth Avenue, Babolat, and more.
Today marks the first edition in our new Go for Heart program in which John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati feature heart stories from marketers making connections with customers.
What sets Katie Kiyo of Big Hug, LLC in Detroit apart from peers in her space is her natural desire to build an enduring relationship with her clients. She welcomes any complaint as a gift, and she gets very few, but it's how she handles them that differentiate her.
Big Hug, two powerful words that honor the gift giver and gift recipient, puts special touches on every gift that flows through the company. Katie, a former advertising executive, ensures that she stays fully connected to her clients. She listens to what they want and strives to create more innovative gifts to honor people and pets.
The Go for Heart program seeks heart stories like Katie's. The program launched to commemorate the first anniversary of the Heart of Marketing podcast and to recognize marketers and entrepreneurs in small-to-medium enterprises who deliver heartful marketing every day.
To submit your heart story, please visit http://getheartmarketing.com/go-for-heart-program.
Ahh, that always-headline-bait 'dead' thing everyone likes to toss out works, right? When you listen to The Heart of Marketing with Adam Toporek, author of 'Be Your Customer's Hero,' and podcaster on 'Crack the Customer Code,' he said so, for realz.
And, then he didn't.
Just because a Customer Service Expert says customer service is dead you need to listen twice and read more to ensure that someone isn't joking around, like Adam, the jokester.
Customer service is an investment, and the reason it may seem dead to many is due to the fact that there are bigger monopolies and consolidations in industries (again) and the largest corporations don't have the competition that requires them to invest in customer service and play nice with we who pay their bills.
Adam says that customer service is also a great equalizer. It allows the small-to-medium enterprise to compete for business from the big guns and retailers that command the largest market share.
Adam addresses a magic pill which may be very much like building a bridge to the customer experience.
Think about that.
When was the last time you got great customer service?
For me, it was when the smallest business and solopreneur called me to thank me for joining their digital community.That was Adrienne Smith, the consummate community builder and pro blogger.
Or, when the new email service provider we just got for The Heart of Marketing called to ask if everything was going well and did we need any assistance. That was Get Response, the best provider for customer service.
Adam lives and breathes customer service. He's a franchise owner, and MBA, and a really smart guy. We encourage you to get his book and listen to his podcast, too; after you listen to ours first, ahem.
Thanks, Adam! You're #RockHot!
Resources
http://twitter.com/AdamToporek
'Be Your Customer's Hero' by Adam Toporek
Customers That Stick
Crack the Customer Code on iTunes, Stitcher Radio and elsewhere
Congratulations to The Heart of Marketing with Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson! We are officially one-year-old, and to celebrate our milestone, we're announcing today our brand new...wait for it...Go For Heart Program!
The Go For Heart Program
We realized along the way as we perused 'podder' (that's podcast fodder) to create content for our episodes that rarely do we see the good in marketing. We're aware of the crises, the mishaps, the negatives, and problem solving that goes on in the boardroom with little positive fanfare.
Our Go For Heart program is about those marketers who are delivering value, engaging with customers in a heartful way, and adhering to the 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing that John and Jayme created.
We want to find the daily goodness and really positive heart stories to share with our listeners, and to do so, we need your help. While this program celebrates our anniversary, it also celebrates you, your client, your volunteer organization, your community, your small business, and more.
When you head over to the Go For Heart Program on our website (right here), you'll see more detail about what we'd like from you. Complete the form on the page with your idea and your heart story will be considered.
We want to give back and recognize marketers who attack the day with heart and deliver results with positive flair. Will you help us celebrate our one-year-anniversary and help us grow beyond, too?
You can always send an email to us, as well, because we're never disconnected.
John Gregory Olson -- john@jgodigital.com
Jayme Soulati -- jayme@soulati.com
GO FOR HEART!
Chipotle Crisis Lessons For All Business
Whether or not Chipotle, the fresh fast-food national eatery, can recover from its latest food crisis is not truly the subject for today's podcast on The Heart of Marketing.
While we do make Chipotle the only and biggest example on this show, we (John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati) encourage all sizes of companies to heed the example of Chipotle and prepare for their own crisis...when it comes because it will.
Food marketing has as much to do with getting people to become brand loyal and share their positive experience via word-of-mouth marketing as it does with management of the supply chain.
It's the supply chain that has Chipotle messed up and suffering from bacteria and virus in its 64-'natural' food items. And, it's also trust. Will Chipotle regain the trust of its consuming public and most of all the media?
In this episode, we talk back and forth about how the media has truly challenged Chipotle to earn us back. From the sidelines, get a new perspective by taking an inside look at Chipotle's challenge from a public relations point of view.
More Resources
Head to the Heart of Marketing website to see more episodes oriented to other big brands like Starbucks, Trader Joes, and others.
Reach John Gregory Olson at http://jgodigital.com and you can find Jayme at http://soulati.com.
We've not done a top 10 list in awhile, so we thought we'd toss one you way and detail our top five marketing books by my #RockHot co-host John Gregory Olson coupled with my list of top five marketing podcasts. (I am Jayme Soulati, and thanks for listening!)
Top 5 Marketing Books
Everybody Writes by Ann Handley http://www.annhandley.com/2014/07/29/introducing-everybody-writes/
Youtility by Jay Baer http://www.convinceandconvert.com/digital-marketing/is-youtility-the-future-of-marketing/
Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing by Robert Rose and Carla Johnson http://7theraofmarketing.com/digital-experiences-have-no-easy-button/
The Content Code by Mark Schaefer http://www.businessesgrow.com/social-media-marketing-books/
All Marketers Tell Stories by Seth Godin http://sethgodin.typepad.com/all_marketers_are_liars/2012/10/not-liars-storytellers.html
Top 5 Marketing Podcasts
HBR Ideacast with Harvard Business Review
E (Entrepreneur) on Fire with John Lee Dumas
Social Media Today with Michael Stelzner
Marketing Optimization with Alex Designs
Landing Page Optimization
The Heart of Marketing (natch!)
Do you have any faves you'd like to add?
The Heart of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati today addresses the impact of slow shopping on the customer experience.
Some retailers are developing a “slow shopping” environment to create amazing customer experiences that help them compete with online shopping and grow new sales. We look at how other businesses can design experiences to differentiate their brand and build customer loyalty and word of mouth through experiential marketing.
This episode of The Heart of Marketing shares some brands doing slow shopping very well while others need to develop ways to enhance customer engagement.
In light of recent news that Macy's is laying off thousands, and Kohl's is considering going private after paltry seasonal numbers (in spite of mass couponing), the largest retailers are suffering the most.
Consumers are shopping online, and this will continue to alter the landscape of the retail experience. What should marketers do to keep shoppers coming in the door?
Think about it...if big-box retail shutters, then hourly jobs will, too. The cascade effect of disruption will rear its ugly head.
Resources:
Consumer buying habits still challenge retailers (Soulati.com)
The slower you shop, the more you spend (Wall Street Journal)
Experience as a competitive advantage (Brian Solis)
No one can ignore the global success of Uber, the business model that put personal transportation into a tailspin. From unionized taxi services to governments, Uber put business competition into the hands of customers who had a need which Uber squarely met.
How about your business? Is it time to Uber-ize? If your traditional business model is feeling the pinch of disruption, that means you need to make some changes. Your customer is waiting for you to greet them at home -- make house calls, do something flashy, engage your customer on a different scale. You can do it, because these businesses did:
Glam Squad, Beauty At Your Service
The Real Real, Luxury Consignment Sales
And, these businesses need to:
Avon
Alan's Collision Center
Listen to this strategic episode of The Heart of Marketing where Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson look at marketing and business models and also explore why some work and some are poised to work.
Online community is all the rage, and no one really knows how it’s done unless you’re Rosemary O’Neill, co-founder and president of Social Strata, a company since 1998.
This remarkable executive who is always accessible online, in community, on the Interwebz, directing traffic, and planting seeds like a farmer, is our guest today on The Heart of Marketing. Jayme Soulati interviews with John Gregory Olson running sidebar.
She is the consummate example of how a company president should behave. She gets to do that so well because she is a ‘designated extrovert.’
Rosemary brings so much value to the conversation and your brand, and we invite you to listen in to gain a few tips on:
- Why renting space on LinkedIn or Facebook is not the best decision for your community-building effort
- Why relationship is absolutely critical online, and you can use her actions as your example
- How Hoop.la, the Software as a Service platform built and offered by Social Strata, will help your brand realize its dreams (do brands dream?)
- Why you can get all the data you want and need to support your business objectives and why it is that you’re getting nothing from Facebook
Social Media Poster Girl
Rosemary has been planting seeds, sowing, reaping, and building relationships since we met on Twitter and IRL at Social Slam, the now defunct social media conference that our network’s celebrity Mark W. Schaefer ran a few years running. We had a total blast having an opportunity to bump shoulders with the future big wigs in the space.
I can honestly share that Rosemary O’Neill is one of those very special big wigs who is down-to-earth, does not have a large ego, is thoughtful and caring, and absolutely is accessible to you and your needs.
Follow Rosemary O’Neill at @rhogroupee, friend her on other social channels, and ask her for a demo of Hoop.la to launch your company’s community platform. Now that I’ve planted the seed, please help me make it grow because you cannot go wrong with what Rosemary and her team are offering up in the field of dreams.
Resources
KidsWithFoodAllergies.org -- This is an example of an organization using Hoop.la to build community
Social Strata Blog
About Hoop.la
Culture and fear erode brand loyalty among consumers, and that means businesses need to be more nimble to morph with the changes.
Jayme Soulati believes 2016 to be The Year of Fear, and why do you think that is?
There are too many tumultuous market indicators pointing toward a rocky year.
The world is truly at war, and it causes concern among companies and customers alike.
The sentiment and perspective of consumers and consumer behavior, econometrically speaking (look for that word early on on the show!) are in the dumps.
So, what's a company to do?
In this episode of the Heart of Marketing podcast, John Gregory Olson introduces the 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing. It's the new philosophy to live by, so do take a listen and incorporate a few into your business!
Resources
Billy Delaney's Fresh-Oil podcast with Jayme Soulati
Marketing Predictions In the Year of Fear 2016
Our subject matter expert for today’s show is John Nemo, author of five books and former Associated Press reporter who has written for 150 publications throughout his esteemed career. John is an expert on LinkedIn, and in this show, he acts like he’s at a hootenanny raising the barn and kicking it up. You’ll like what you hear and laugh with John’s sense of humor, too.
John Gregory Olson, co-host of The Heart of Marketing, asks some direct and good questions (according to the other John), and what you hear is John’s (the other John) expertise about using LinkedIn for connections, business development and earning the sale.
We are not going to give away the store here, because you’ll need to listen. What we will tell you is this, though – no one should expect that they have the right to intrude on LinkedIn until they earn it. LinkedIn is similar to any of the social channels – you need to build the relationship and share something of value.
If you want to publish on LinkedIn, you can and should, but ensure it bears weight and isn’t just bragging. LinkedIn is growing daily with 400 million members from nearly every country in the world. With its purchase of Lynda.com, the platform is seeking to be the number-one resource for companies and those seeking to use it for how-to, business development, networking, recruiting, and more.
We love John Nemo, and we appreciate him coming to our show; thanks, John!
We did it! We reached our 50th episode, thanks to all of YOU! For some reason, turning 50 is a really big deal, even in life when you hit that 'halfway mark.'
The Heart of Marketing was launched Feb. 1, 2015, and we have consistently posted an episode once weekly since then. It has been a wonderful experience, and John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati thank you for listening and keeping us going.
A Walk Down Memory Lane
John puts his amazing talents together with sound clips and shares a big surprise with Jayme from Episode 000. Jayme twists it all up and please listen to laugh with us both!!
We wonder why Episode 021 is our most popular about 'Generalists vs. Specialists,' and we continue to ask our listeners to tell us. Maybe our wonderment keeps this episode the highest because we keep wondering!
Jayme really likes the episode with IKEA when she talks about the new rules of media relations oriented to veggie balls!
John loves to share the laughs with the episode on Chinese caskets with another clip.
Please listen as we reminisce and share our fond recollections about how we launched the podcast, what makes us laugh (and bathroom humor is also included)!
How do brands survive today to reach customers and prospects? Think about your own brand and how consistently it engages on social media channels. Are you established in business long enough to remember the days of yore when traditional marketing and media were the recipe for success?
It may very well be that social media is already waning. Look at all the daily changes on YouTube with its new subscriber offering, Facebook (all the time), Twitter trying to be profitable, and G+ (on its way out the door).
When you listen to the classic Ted talk by Simon Sinek in 2009, you are reminded that 'people buy why.' Brands are brands because people are curious, they want to be at the front of the pack, they want a relationship, and they want to be loyal. That's human behavior.
If social media died, well, you're going to need to listen to The Heart Of The Matter at the end of the show to see what you might do when it dies, as we knew it.
And, Jayme summarizes it neatly -- it's not what if, it's when. Join us, John Gregory Olson and Jayme on another episode of The Heart Of Marketing.
Shout Out
Shakirah Dawud, Deliberate Ink
Simon Sinek, Start With Why
No one has ever accused marketers of being liars, until you read the book, ‘Evolve, Marketing (as we know it) is Doomed,’ by Hessie Jones and Daniel Newman.
In this guest appearance by Hessie, CEO of ArCompany in Toronto, Jayme Soulati quizzes Hessie to get to the bottom of whether marketers are liars, or not. It's an intriguing question with an even-more intriguing answer.
Throughout the discussion, Hessie shares her keen insights from her breadth of experience in the corporate world circling around data analytics and marketing. Using the knowledge of those who contributed to her book, Hessie brings a perspective to the show about what's actually happening in marketing today.
Together, Jayme and Hessie share food for thought on the future and evolution of marketing in its current state of disruption. Listen to the end in the Heart of the Matter when John Gregory Olson chimes in to add his thoughts, too.
Buy Hessie Jones's Book, Evolve
Buy Hessie Jones and Daniel J. Newman's Book right here, 'Evolve, Marketing As We Know It Is Doomed'
Episode Highlights
• Why marketers can certainly be considered liars
• Insights into the millennial think tank with several takeaways
• A sense of where we are today; can you say ‘bubble?’
• Two examples of companies doing marketing well
• Essential tips for daily marketing practice
About Hessie Jones
As a seasoned digital strategist, Hessie Jones continues to challenge the notion of complacency. With extensive experience in technology including start-ups, banking, advertising and social media, Hessie has held management positions at Yahoo!, Citi, ONE Advertising and Aegis Media.Hessie is the author of EVOLVE: Marketing (as we know it) is Doomed!
As an active writer for Switch & Shift, SAP, Talent Culture, Huffington Post, and Steamfeed, Hessie is a purveyor for understanding and adapting to change: in marketing practices, in communication, in understanding the evolving consumer mindset and behavior. Currently, Hessie is the Founder of ArCompany, helping companies realize the value of social intelligence and its impact on the inevitable next level of social business. She’s also a cellist, MBA guest lecturer, wife and hockey mom.
In this episode of The Heart Of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati do the volley dance and share tips back and forth about social media marketing. It’s their attempt to rescue marketers’ image from Episode 045 ‘Did Marketers Kill Social Media?’
Hat tip to Jayson deMers who writes on Forbes who is the king of listicles and is crushing it with his content. We were both inspired by a blog post he wrote on 100 Social Media Marketing Tips, although we didn't copy or steal; we just got ideas…OK, Jason?
Here’s a bit about what you will hear in this episode:
- Why social media goals are still important
- Frequency of posts and quality of followers
- How you can influence your brand
- Who are you on social media and how can you improve presentation
- What happens if you burn out?
- More so, what happens if Twitter disappears?
Resources
Mark W. Schaefer’ blog with guest author Kerry Gorgone speaking about legal implications with hashtags
Shonali Burke, who is the consummate PR maven, checking opt-in tools for The Social PR Launchpad
Episode 046 of The Heart of Marketing is a ton of fun at the top, and you'll see how when Jayme Soulati chastises John Gregory Olson for knowing absolutely nothing about The Bachelor series. (Well, why would he when he's a happily married guy?)
That said, The Bachelor is banging it up in social media and leveraging its brand for its 20th season. We take you down the road of reality shows where we (embarrassingly) cannot recall the names of the most popular.
While we kick it up and share how and why the social media experience matters to The Bachelor, we'll take you back to full circle and why this story has implications for your business, too.
This episode may seem frivolous at the onset, but listen to the end, and you'll get some solid tips for your own social media experience with customers.
Takeaways of Episode 046
- How much should your audience help you create future strategy?
- Are reality shows really smarter than they appear?
- Using Twitter to influence marketing
Marketers can't leave well enough alone, can they? We consumers (ahem, disclaimer, John and Jayme are marketers) used to have an uninterrupted experience on Facebook until all those ads and cookies put junk in our stream.
Then Twitter decided to go IPO and attempt to monetize and create an easier user experience with changes to character limits and more. There's a buy button on Pinterest, and Google+ is wondering just how to keep that channel alive and well.
Maybe we should agree it's the social media channels themselves that killed the social media user experience, eh? Maybe not. Marketers at each social media channel are sitting in planning sessions trying to determine how to make a buck.
What does all this have to do with the social media user experience? And, how does that affect the mid-tier company? How about the service business?
Takeaways from Episode 045
- Social media is not a push exercise, Marketer!
- Should your company marketing strategy rely on social media?
- Marketers lost control of the social media experience; what they're doing to regain the upper hand.
P.S. Episode21 is our most popular and we don't know why. Pros and Cons of Specialist v Generalist.
Books We Recommend
'Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World' by Gary Vaynerchuk
Advertising does not build relationships, and it's based on outdated methods, said John Gregory Olson in episode 44 of The Heart of Marketing. And, just to be clear, what that means, advertisers, the almighty consumer hates you.
Just look at how many people have invested in ad-blocking apps and software. Look at the cottage industry that has sprouted as a result of building ad-blocking tech. Just how desperate are people to avoid annoying ads? John shares the data in this episode.
We as a populace are tired of the interruption by pop-up ads and the data shows it. About .06 percent of ads are clicked on and response rates are poor; yet, advertisers continue to push ads to get consumers' attention (and fail).
The interruption marketing model is dead, and the advertising industry has finally realized its model is failing. Publishers are losing ad revenue, and Jayme Soulati predicts the demise of small publishing houses that publish niche publications.
Consumers are weary of getting bombarded with ads on every platform, space, and site; what's a mid-tier company to do?
Listen through to the heart of the matter where Jayme and John look at what it means for companies that rely on advertising. Are there any solutions beyond and besides advertising? Here's one suggestion from Jayme -- public relations works, while John suggests that email marketing is the best less obtrusive option instead of advertising interruption.
When we recorded episode 043 of The Heart Of Marketing podcast, the Volkswagen cheating scandal was just unfolding. John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati, co-hosts, didn't know that the engineers would be implicated for their retooling of software to cheat the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
This episode runs in and out and around the entire issue of the VW crisis and the mystery of how the C-suite was allegedly unaware of the situation. Moreso, we talk frankly about how customer trust is a pillar of heart marketing and that 'Transparency + Authenticity = Trust' was not heeded by VW at all.
What's a mid-sized company to do? We throw out examples of BP and Coca-Cola, and then bring it home to a smaller-tier company. Once customer trust is polluted, literally, the brand has a tough time to regain it.
In this era of the digital age, customer trust is continuously eroding. Brands are struggling not to engage with crisis. Often, how well a brand bounces back has much to do with the after-effect.
What's your view of how well or if VW can recover?
A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed with a pseudo Coca-Cola apology caught our eye and The Heart Of Marketing team dived right in to our first pillar of heart marketing – transparency and authenticity equal trust.
Have Coca-Cola and Pepsi been 100 percent transparent with customers in light of the latest spin control by Coke to apologize for putting 12 teaspoons of sugar in a coke? Recently, there have been a variety of public relations disasters with beverage companies trying to align healthy pop to lifestyle.
As these beverage behemoths grapple with 10-year declining sales and growing consensus that sugary drinks promote disease, the pressure is on to come clean, literally, with customers and ‘do better.’
What are the benefits of transparency in business, anyway? Should your company care about being real and truthful to customers and stakeholders? Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson explore what it means to build customer loyalty with transparency as a pillar of heart marketing.
Resources
Soda Takes Its Fight to the City
How Coke’s Obesity PR Stunt Blew Up In Its Face
Trust in the Age of Transparency
Authenticity is the New Bullshit
This is a fast-paced episode of The Heart Of Marketing where John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati spend more time trying to outdo one another's sound bites along with huge laughter. (You be the judge, did John get the best of Jayme in this one?)
Episode 41 is loaded. There's real value here for anyone interested in learning more about content sharing tools. When you live online as we do, the more you share, the more you're noticed and grow your brand. To share the content you desire most and that fits your specialty, there are a handful of tools you should know about.
In this episode, you'll get the skinny on about 10 social sharing tools that Jayme and John use every day, and there will be many more tossed out for your consideration. We do our periodic volley (with giggles, and Jayme wins out over John, as usual) to share as many tools we recommend as possible in our 30 minute show.
Resources
Be sure to check out John Olson's Digital Marketing Weekly on Scoop.it right here!
PicPresents is a resource providing a list of other content sharing tools.
You'll hear about these and more in this value-add episode:
- Feed.ly
- Hootsuite
- Klout
- Triberr
- Stumble
- Saturn Social
- Shareaholic
He's back! The incredibly talented and smart, Scott Hornstein, of B2P Partners, who shared his expertise in E-029 about the deadness (or not) of direct marketing.
Today, Scott and John Gregory Olson share more about marketing persona based on Scott's in-depth work with voice of customer, a proprietary product and service his agency, B2P Partners delivers.
Whether or not you use persona in your business today is irrelevant. The fact is you need to pinpoint who your customer is and work hard to develop products and services that align with that customer persona.
Scott indicates that the mindshare of marketers today, though, is not on retaining customers (as it should be) but on going after prospects. Marketers need to adjust that focus and redirect to engaging with customers via persona development.
Jayme Soulati offers commentary at the front and back end! Thank you Scott for coming back on the show!
Here's a freebie for our listeners:
The first who leaves a review on iTunes for The Heart Of Marketing and mentions the Scott Hornstein episode in their review will get a hard-cover copy of Scott's book, 'Opt-in Marketing, Increase Sales Exponentially with Consensual Marketing.'
Take a listen! We thank you!
Digital marketing is all the rage, and everyone wants to create leads for sales and services from websites, landing pages, calls to action, auto responders, and more.
That's part of the master plan for The Heart of Marketing brand (and podcast). We're doing our podcast well, and it can be considered a lead magnet to invite people into our funnel. But, our funnel is non-existent; it's a concept. That's why John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati, cohosts, brainstorm in real time on Episode 039 of The Heart Of Marketing on how to create a funnel for one of their offerings (yet to launch live).
We've picked our Blog EMT program. In a message mapping session Jayme did with John, they deduced that John rescues companies from poor marketing--much like an emergency marketing technician. Together the two came up with the blog EMT program and now they want to flesh out concepts for the program and develop a funnel to bring in leads.
This episode is a real-time case study as we look at:
- funnel creation and the steps one needs throughout a funnel path
- lead magnets,
- what could be written to bring people into the funnel, and
- best resources to help people understand more about digital marketing funnels.
Jayme knows most of all about failure with funnels, and she shares. John is all about the strategic planning aspect of nurturing funnel development. Patience and consistency are two tips in learning the best way of developing a funnel to create a successful online brand.
Resources
- Amy Porterfielda successful digital marketer with a robust funnel that works
- Jon Loomer, an advanced Facebook marketing expert with a 72-page e-book as his top-of-the-funnel giveaway
- Gini Dietrich, creator of Spin Sucks Pro, with her own case study of online marketing
- LinkedIn Look Up, a new app that allows people inside companies to look up peers who work at the same company
- LeadPages, the most popular tool to generate landing pages for funnels
- Marketing Profs, SEO School
- Message Mapping ebook, free
In this episode of The Heart Of Marketing, Jayme Soulati provides a roundup of four of the big and branded email marketing providers. She also shares a bit about why it's important to build a list and send regular communication to the folks who've opted in.
Cohosts John Gregory Olson and Jayme have a master plan, and it also involves selecting an email marketing provider.
Learn a bit more about Mail Chimp, AWeber Email Marketing, Constant Contact, and InfusionSoft. Before you make a selection for either of these or another, be sure you have a strategy that fits your master plan to grow your business.
Before Jayme shares her findings, beware of the first 10 minutes of banter. It's a little longer than most, but it segues nicely into the topic du'jour.
News of Facebook’s new patent for using friends' credit ratings and other personal data for scoring your credit opens a discussion of the good and bad about collecting social data.
For this episode on The Heart Of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati, we went back and forth about where to point the fault finger about credit scoring, Facebook, and online data collection.
Facebook is now as formidable as ever with its new patent on social data relationships to credit scoring. Turns out, Facebook isn't even the first mover in this realm. Other companies like Kabbage, Kreditech, and Lenddo are leaps and bounds ahead.
Did you know you may be denied a small business loan if you rub shoulders with friends who have poor credit ratings? The practice is transparent in Europe, but in the U.S. credit scoring as it relates to your friends' circles may be more front and center with Facebook.
We dive in pretty deeply about the pros and cons and how you can use this to your advantage as a Facebook marketer using target audiences for your campaigns.
Resources
Jon Loomer is an advanced Facebook marketer. Take a look at his #RockHot material.
Mark W. Schaefer wrote a blog post about the shifting sands of Facebook marketing.
CNN Money shares a story about Facebook friends and credit scoring with a variety of the players already in the landscape.
The Heart Of Marketing is not only a podcast but a nascent brand. John Gregory Olson and I (Jayme Soulati) have big plans. We want to be a place where marketers can come to find content, tips, products, and services.
To get there from where we launched in February 2015, exactly seven months ago with more than 9,000 downloads of our 35 podcast episodes (milestone!), we knew we needed help.
Our virtual startup needed a summer intern, and in this episode we speak with Claire Freier, a Hillsdale College in Michigan junior. She shares her internship experience with The Heart Of Marketing's John Olson, and I jump in at the back of the interview with my thoughts on the experience, too.
Why Hire An Intern
Having an intern is no piece of cake. In fact, it's more like sauerkraut and cake with some sour and sweet all mixed together. We loved having Claire on board; she made us get organized and communicate better. And, we were a true team with weekly meetings and deadlines. And, when all good things came to an end and we sent Claire back to school, John and I shed crocodile tears at our loss.
We made Claire write things she never knew existed. In fact, she's written a chapter for our upcoming book on internships, very much inspired by her being with The Heart Of Marketing virtual startup brand.
Listen in and hear more from Claire; she's one smart cookie with some lemon mixed in.
Contact Us!
Claire Freier can be reached @clairelynn223
Jayme Soulati can be reached @Soulati
John Gregory Olson can be reached @digitaljgo
Are you a novice or established digital marketer? If either, you’ll be familiar with a marketing funnel as a lead generation tool for your business. There are a variety of tools and techniques to launch a marketing funnel for your digital marketing strategy, and in this episode, John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital explains more about:
• Auto responders
• The 5 stages of the funnel featuring Ryan Deiss’s teachings
• Lead magnets
• Email marketing
Jayme Soulati, president of Soulati Media, Inc., shares her experiences with HubSpot, the leading inbound marketing platform, as well as the importance of choosing the right email-marketing provider to grow with. And, she's not shy to admit her failures along the way!
At each stage of the discussion, the two weave in ideas and concepts for the various stages of the funnel based on The Heart Of Marketing’s Blog EMT service. As emergency marketing technicians, John and Jayme rescue companies from dead-blog syndrome.
What would a funnel look like for such a service? How can you relate these takeaways to your own digital funnel?
Resources
DigitalMarketer teachings by Ryan Deiss
HubSpot inbound marketing software
The Heart Of Marketing is a podcast, and it’s also a brand. Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson are the co-CEOs (because who cares what our title is?), co-hosts and co-creators of everything The Heart Of Marketing.
The first idea came from the desire to podcast, and it’s all flowing from there in turtle fashion with lots of learning and testing and launching to see what’s sticky.
Starting a Digital Business
We have a grand plan. From years of watching the big guns do the very same thing and from years of seeing all their 6-figure incomes roll in and get shared, John and I want to ditto that.
In this episode 34, we share some In Real Life (IRL for you texticon challenged folks) tips about how we are painstakingly marching forth baby step by baby step with the following plan of action:
- Brand the product and create a home for our community
- Ideate and publish hot content that drives traffic and solves a business challenge
- Align with a web host that is trustworthy, knowledgeable about our business, and not too cheap that we get what we pay for
- Develop a robust website with lots of interactive clicks for you
- Build a funnel with even more downloads and content and opportunities to learn as you launch your own online marketing endeavor
This episode has a small-business flair because John and I are very small business ourselves; yet we represent and work with mid-tier business to blue-chip corporations on a regular basis.
Let us know if you have any specific questions about your digital marketing journey as it unfolds. We’re right there with you!
That buzz word. Omni-channel marketing or Multi-channel marketing, whatever your preference. It’s right here in Episode 033 of The Heart Of Marketing podcast with Jayme Soulati (moi) and John Gregory Olson (my illustrious co-host in crime).
Today we explore a treasure bomb by Coca-Cola’s Vitamin Water. Its Project Hustle campaign was brought to light by my kidlet, the ever-curious 13-year-old who is not a target audience of Vitamin Water but who has an i-Phone with data plan. Which means she’s ubiquitous, just like Project Hustle. (The campaign is ended, but you can still get in on the fun.)
Don’t know about it?
You could buy a Vitamin Water bevereage
Read the label complete with deets on Project Hustle
Check the code in the cap
Head to a mobile site and watch videos of your favorite ‘hustler’ aka young entrepreneurs hustling for the big win
Vote for your faves
Help them raise funds ala crowdfunding
Win prizes of your own, and
Repeat
Pretty much everything Coke touches is golden. With its big ideas and equally big budgets, nothing is unattainable. So, how might you create a Coke-esque multi-channel marketing strategy complete with:
Public Relations
Consumer Packaged Goods Labeling
Mobile marketing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdfunding
Cause-related marketing
Videography
America Votes power of engagement and interactivity
Social media marketing
You’d better listen in to find out! And, if you didn’t listen in to Episode 032 on Neuromarketing, during which we also raise the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, please do. It’s one of my favorite episodes and you don’t want to miss it!
Marketers love to disrupt some new thingamajig into the next big thing. So, is neuromarketing the newest trend to make marketers crazy about customers’ cognitive decision making, or is it just a crock of B.S.? In fact, what is it?
In episode 32 of The Heart Of Marketing podcast, John Gregory Olson and I, Jayme Soulati, accomplish more banter and ask more questions about the philosophical nature of neuromarketing. Together we jump in and out of this newest trend to dive deeper into the brain waves of customers to determine how, when and why they buy.
Here’s a little secret…I truly consider neuromarketing as a crock; after all, hasn’t marketing been managing customer behavior for decades already? What do you think?
Throughout this episode, we provide solid examples from The Pepsi Challenge, Chester Cheeto for the Cheeto Eaters (a new fan created by me), Coca Cola’s Share A Coke campaign, and the Zyppah.
I posed to John a question about that bag of chips with new packaging that was too loud. Do you remember? If you recall that brand of chips, drop us a review on iTunes and we’ll send you a book by Scott Hornstein called “Opt-In Marketing, Increase Sales Exponentially with Consensual Marketing.” Here’s a hint, I wrote a blog post about this a few years ago when the topic was #RockHot!
Does your marketing campaign thrive on the neural aspects of thought, emotion and behavior? Should it?
Get more insight on this nascent field of marketing and listen for more episodes on the topic because we’ve only just begun! And, listen for our next episode on Vitamin Water and Coca Cola!
Resources
Neuromarketing: Pseudoscience no more by Roger Dooley via Forbes
Using positive framing to sell, by Roger Dooley
Men who shave and men who don’t, this episode 31 of The Heart Of Marketing podcast is for you, and it’s about the newbie in the men’s personal hygiene category that is knocking out the biggest players.
John Gregory Olson, a man who shaves who is also a digital marketer with JGO Digital and cohost of The Heart Of Marketing, talks all around this issue of razor blades. Mostly, he speaks about this malcontent with Gillette, the category leader.
While Jayme Soulati, the other always laughing jokester and cohost of The Heart Of Marketing podcast who is also president of Soulati Media, Inc., pokes a bit of fun at John for his intense distaste about the whole topic and his need to make a switch of razor brands, John defends his brand shift with the facts.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How a stodgy old brand sitting on its throne without a care for the new online subscription model is in a bit of trouble
- How a category newcomer eroded market share razor by razor for the biggest players
- The public relations opportunities for stories and content marketing around data analytics and customer behavior
- More about the subscription economy and how you might jumpstart your brand in that realm
- Tips on working with a massive subscriber base ala the size of the Dollar Shave Club
Throughout this episode, Jayme and John also reference previous episodes you may wish to listen to:
Episode 1: Taylor Swift
Episode 2: On Disruption
Episode 17: On Starbucks and Cause-Related Marketing
Episode 23: On Pencils of Promise and 800-Flowers
Episode 30: Scott Hornstein on Direct Marketing
The big question of the day is whether to send a postcard to prospects you don't know as a branding opportunity. How many marketers still regard direct marketing as a viable campaign strategy?
Jayme's client, Alan's Collision Center in NE Philadelphia, is a non-DRP auto body repair shop. That means it is not aligned with an insurance network. To continue to keep the doors open requires marketing to people who may not need an auto body repair shop. Should Alan's Collision Center do a postcard marketing campaign to neighbors in the hopes they will recall its brand when and if they need auto body repair?
It's a common question for many businesses, and John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati banter about the pros, cons and details of postcard marketing with reminders to get the minutia correct!
When you consider that direct mail was all the rage back in the day and today, not so much, it's important to take a look at coming full circle and putting a postcard back into the omni-channel marketing mix.
Because baby boomers grew up in the catalog era they still like getting mail. Marketers interested in targeting the boomer generation should consider testing direct mail campaigns.
Direct marketing is a STRATEGY not a TACTIC, says industry veteran and influencer Scott Hornstein, featured today as the very first guest on The Heart Of Marketing podcast.
In this episode, John Gregory Olson interviews Scott Hornstein who is an esteemed international author, speaker and marketing consultant with the Fortune 100 in finance, manufacturing and hospitality.
As a pioneer of integrated marketing, Scott provides all of us with a taste of the B to B marketing world where direct marketing is the root of content marketing, and the journey toward a purchase decision plays out directly in content marketing.
Scott delivers years of intelligence to the Heart Of Marketing audience prompted by John’s pointed questions:
- What role does the CEO play in purchase decisions?
- Are people on board with the new way of thinking in the marketplace to be measurable and accountable?
- Is direct marketing and email for old people and dinosaurs?
- How do people learn today?
- What is the ‘network of me’?
- How do new ideas penetrate?
Listen in to hear tips from Scott Hornstein, author of Opt-in Marketing by McGraw Hill and consultant with B 2 P Partners.
About Our Guest
For over 30 years, Scott Hornstein has worked with clients in all phases of marketing strategy, research and implementation. His customer relationship methodology emphasizes respect and trust in all forms of marketing, and promotes consensual relationships between marketers and their customers to maximize customer satisfaction, retention and lifetime value.
Resources
Hornstein And Associates
The Scott Hornstein Methodology
The Core Reason B2B Prospecting Underperforms
11 Digital Marketing Principles
Win More Customers With Less Digital Content
In Episode 028 of The Heart Of Marketing, Jayme Soulati, president of Soulati Media, Inc., shares the current and actionable state of affairs about copyright infringement for a client website and a South Korea startup.
The company in South Korea blatantly republished some 80 reference points from Jayme's client's niche website in a specialty medical field.
You will learn about
- The Digital Millennial Copyright Act
- Whether to hire a lawyer
- What steps to take when and if contemplating legal action or DIYing the situation
This episode moves quickly and is highly informative.
John Gregory Olson shares information about how to determine if a website has had content stolen. Jayme talks about her course of action to manage this unfolding situation.
Everyone’s a publisher today, but not everyone is an expert at earned media. In my Chicago agency days, I sold news. I was considered a PR flack by the journalists who hated me (yes, they really did). Each of us newbies had to call George Lazarus, may he rest in peace, of the Chicago Tribune advertising column and feel his wrath. After that, we had arrived; but I digress.
IKEA announced it has added veggie balls to its menu, and in the Wall Street Journal a tremendously large photo of the new menu item was featured alongside an equally large story.
Why was IKEA, a privately held Swedish corporation, featured so prominently? Because it has all of the elements required for an international story in tier-one media, including:
- international scale
- Data and research in multiple countries
- Trends (foods going vegan)
- Size of company and revenue
- Futures perspective and roll-out
Other news stories may not have these elements to become hot news; however, when you’re exploring distribution of a news release, many of these factors should come into play.
As my co-host, John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital said so eloquently, “Public relations is no longer about seeing a company’s thought leader on TV, it’s about buyer connectivity.”
That’s the crux of the disruption in public relations that I’ve been living and breathing since 1984. It’s always going to be an exciting time in marketing, so carpe diem and put your best foot forward for yourself and your company.
About the Co-Hosts
I am Jayme Soulati, president of Soulati Media, Inc., a blended public relations marketing firm with national clients. I am a message mapping master, professional blogger, writer and strategist,
John Gregory Olson is my co-host on The Heart of Marketing podcast, and he is the consummate digital marketer and keen strategist and planner. He has corporate and agency experience and now as CEO of JGO Digital, John rescues organizations from poor marketing.
Resources
IKEA Media Relations on a Slow News Day
Once LinkedIn bought SlideShare several years ago, the social sharing channel became a bit forgotten. LinkedIn doesn’t do much with it beyond allowing the embedding of decks into LinkedIn posts; yet, SlideShare offers high-end versatility as one of the most versatile social media sharing platforms around.
In this episode of the Heart Of Marketing podcast, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati share their experience with SlideShare.
Download and listen in for many of the following tips:
- ‘Deck-ize’ anything you want and post it to SlideShare.
- Use a call to action at the back of your deck a a lead generation tool
- Sleuth on the competition and see what’s being shared and what topics are current with companies in your industry and network.
- Hear about where and when to embed decks for larger opportunities with branding and SEO.
- Get energized to expand your social network using SlideShare and become an authority and influencer.
You can follow influencers on SlideShare and learn from what each is delivering, and you can power up the brand and SEO at the same time.
Resources
Jayme Soulati Slideshare example:
Savvier Social Media Across The Marketing Blend
SlideShare: The Quiet Giant, Forbes
About The Hosts
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketer and direct marketing professional who rescues companies from poor marketing. As a professional blogger, he offers counsel to brands as they navigate the disrupted technology space. Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc., a virtual blended PR firm offering strategy and messaging to amplify voice. Each has been in their respective positions for more than 30 years.
Twitter and Google are getting married. Now that there is more integration for your tweets in Google search, it’s time to get serious about Twitter basics as a business and remind your company and corporation that Twitter is more critical as a social channel than ever.
In this episode 025 (we have arrived, thanks for listening), John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital and Jayme Soulati, president of Soulati Media, Inc. address many, many Twitter basics and tips for corporate Twitter accounts.
Jayme and John explore live tweeting via TweetChat.com, and Jayme shares her story about tweeting for a ‘20/20’ broadcast on behalf of clients Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies and ECI Communications. She also references the solid Twitter team of U.S. Pharmacopeia which tweets internationally.
John and Jayme provide about 50 different tips and reminders for teams about Twitter. Some of these are include how to pin tweets, list building, tweet sharing, use of avatars, links in profiles, click to tweet apps, and so many more tips.
Join the two ‘newly established’ co-hosts, now with 25 episodes published and more to come, as they share expertise about Jayme’s favorite social media channel.
And, ask questions over at http://jgodigital.com and use the live audio app for a question on our podcast!
Resources
http://www.safeonlinerx
http://www.uspharmacopeia.com
http://www.ecicommunications.com
http://www.soulati.com
http://www.jgodigital.com
This has to be one of my most favorite episodes.
Here on the Heart Of Marketing podcast, John Gregory Olson and I (Jayme Soulati) laugh our way through tips for your quality content. The impetus for this episode was an interview in the Wall Street Journal with the CEO of Vox Media. Vox is 'redefining the modern media company by empowering the smartest digital voices with the technology to create and distribute premium content.'
In addition to the way Vox is disrupting content with the consumer in mind, John mentioned Jay Bear's latest book, "Youtility."
Still more examples and tips are included from my auto body repair client and the success I had with Google SEO, keywords and content marketing.
Marketing is turned upside down and brands now need to find new ways to entice a customer to stick around and be loyal.
Your quality content has to be more than just words; it needs to be experiential. Please tune in today or save this episode as a reference in the future because the tips we give are evergreen.
Resources
Experiences, The Seventh Era of Marketing, Robert Rose
Youtility, Jay Baer
Message Mapping: Why You Need It and How To Do It, Jayme Soulati
And, by the way? I have to honestly say John gets a huge laugh track in this episode...wait for it! Very cute.
In this mini-cast, John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital and Jayme Soulati of Soulati Media, Inc. discuss the perfect alignment of a large national brand, 1-800-FLOWERS, with a cause oriented to building of schools in under-developed countries.
Pencils of Promise was promoted via a digital marketer, and Jayme donated to its mission. (You can hear more about that in this episode.) Around Mother's Day, because Jayme was on the Pencils of Promise email list, two promotions arrived in her in box.
John and Jayme discuss the mission of each of these organizations, how they're aligned and tied in with a seasonal and popular marketing 'holiday,' and whether your organization should consider cause-related marketing.
Tune in now and get a few tips that may align with the causes you select for your business in the future.
About The Hosts
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketing, professional blogger and owner of JGO Digital. As a strategic planner, John blends direct marketing with content marketing for business-to-business organizations.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and hails from Chicago's PR agencies. She's worked on a variety of blue chip campaigns across industries. She is a message mapping master blending marketing with core public relations. She is a professional blogger and strategist.
Resources
How Social Media Blends With Cause Marketing, Soulati.com
Starbucks and Cause-Related Marketing
Data breaches, cyber security, hacks affect the simplest of email accounts to the most complex national corporations and organizations with thousands affected. What plan do you have in place to manage messaging during a data breach?
My name is Jayme Soulati, and recently I was invited to panel speak at the American Bar Association Business Leaders Section in Chicago. I joined a panel of my peers in cyber forensics, risk insurance, and law to discuss preparations for data breach and security for cyber attack.
In this epiosode of the Heart Of Marketing podcast, John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital and I discuss steps to take in advance of a cyber attack. One message mapping tool I share helps align executives and leadership so messages are cohesive.
You can download that messaging template right here and use it in your preparations to guide you through steps to take when communicating a crisis such as a data breach. In fact, the tool is good for a variety of other crisis communications matters, too; not just a cyber attack.
Learn the steps you must take to prepare for a crisis before it happens. Get an action plan for messaging that will protect your brand reputation and keep the trust of customers.
Resources
Data Breach Messaging Tool
Message Mapping E-Book
I am a generalist from my Chicago PR agency days and that means I tapped a variety of clients across industries rather than specializing in one vertical market. My cohost, John Gregory Olson, is also a generalist.
Together, we are marketing blenders (like that Ninja you own). We add a bunch of disciplines to our core knowledge and mix it all up. But, that's not our fault. It's the fault of marketing disruption! See Episode 2 of the Heart of Marketing (when we were just getting our feet wet).
I am Jayme Soulati, president of Soulati Media, Inc. John, my esteemed colleague, heads up JGO Digital, and in this episode of the Heart Of Marketing podcast, we do the customary banter and chuckle around a topic that is rather serious.
Should you hire a generalist or a specialist in your business? Which one is the best move? Is there a pro and con or in and out of either or both?
I, naturally, have an opinion and it's neither here nor there (LOL). Seriously, these days when you're vetting a candidate and looking at the gaps in your marketing competency, it's critical to know what and whom to hire.
Listen in today and here what John and I have to say about the decision that's best for you.
Resources
Shout out to my pal, Gini Dietrich of Arment-Dietrich and author of Marketing In The Round and Spin Sucks. Her first book is about breaking down the silos, and we reference that aspect of business in this episode.
Episode 2 Technology Disruption; just in case you want to see how the podcast used to be back in the earliest episodes!
What happens when 12+ grocers vie for market share in a 10-mile radius in the affluent Dayton, Ohio suburb of Centerville?
The consumer sits back and watches the deals fly! That's what's happening in my market as each established grocer decides to renovate and entice consumers to remain loyal while the newcomers roll in.
My name is Jayme Soulati, and I cohost the Heart Of Marketing podcast with John Gregory Olson who hails from the cooler clime of Saint Paul, Minn. We find topics that resonate with us for you and weave in a marketing thread to find relevance.
As more specialty grocers arrive the likes of Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme to join the brand new Costco, existing Trader Joes, Meijer and Kroger are trying to enrich the consumer experience. And, we can't forget the Sam's Club now trying to keep its loyal customer base against the almighty Costco.
Listen in as we share thoughts on branding, marketing and local market differentiation for these 18 or so national grocery chains and private, specialty markets in a tiny suburb of about 40,000.
Resources
Episode 14, Heart Of Marketing on Trader Joes
Forbes, The Hottest Supermarket You've Ever Heard Of
John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati have been doing integrated marketing for years -- John in his advertising and direct marketing world, and Jayme in public relations. Back in the '80s when integrated marketing communications was a hot trend, everyone tried and failed to truly integrate.
Your Brand Needs Integrated Marketing
Today, digital marketing is the hottest thing since sliced bread. And, it should be. Digital marketing is where everyone resides -- online. Marketers are playing catch up with the online frenzy to capture leads, engage with consumers, and connect the dots among the disparate marketing segments.
In this episode, Jayme and John speak to their experiencec with silos in companies, the fact that social media is no longer something new, and the need for brands to truly understand that SEO is content marketing, and lead generation requires a decent mobile-responsive website.
About the CoHosts
John Gregory Olson writes at jgodigital.com and he makes marketing awesome. Jayme Soulati is a message mapping master and president of Soulati Media, inc. You can find her at soulati.com.
Recently, a Wall Street Journal story said that Starbuck's 'Race Together' campaign did not affect its bottom line. The company stuck its neck out blatantly to have its barristas engage in topics of race relations. The reaction was swift and heightened in two camps -- should or should not.
The 'burritos,' as my co-host John Gregory Olson called them in a tongue-twister delivery, were asked by CEO Howard Schultz to engage coffee buyers in the topic of race.
Would you want to do that at 7:30 a.m. when all you're thinking about is the day ahead? Should companies explore and advocate sensitive topics like this with customers at the very grassiest roots levels?
Cause-Related Marketing
In this episode, John and Jayme Soulati (that's moi) engage in a 'heart-y' discussion about companies and causes, brands and customers. Starbucks has always been a little extravagant in its aggressive marketing tactics, and it felt that customers were ready to have a 'Race Together' slogan on coffee cups in the morning.
Was this a ploy, Jayme asked? That came to mind, too, as we all know the viral nature of the wannabe story on the Interwebz...what's your view about whether this was a ploy or effective strategy?
John and I go back and forth with some excellent banter followed by tips in the third segment, the 'heart of the matter.' With their expertise in marketing, we two have much to say and share, as per usual!
Pose a Question to The Heart Of Marketing
Please take a listen and don't forget to send us a question via John's' website. He has a cool new app, 'Speak Pipe,' that allows for recorded questions. If you prefer the old-fashioned email way, send me at jayme@soulati.com.
Resources
Starbucks Now Opening In Ferguson (we talk about this in this episode!)
Dumb Starbucks, Guerilla Marketing & Parody Law, by Jayme Soulati
$2.8 Billion, Ponder That, Starbucks, by Jayme Soulati
How This Non-Profit Is Stockpiling Content on a Shoestring, by John G. Olson
In this Episode 18 of the Heart Of Marketing podcast, I wax poetic about being a Twitterholic as my co-host, John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital, gamely assists and tosses me a few questions to further enhance my six-year-old Twitter knowledge.
Seriously though, this episode is a reminder how to work the gears of Twitter to inject a dormant stream with followers, energy, authoritative content, and more.
My name is Jayme Soulati, and as a solopreneur at Soulati Media with a virtual team, Twitter has been my fave social media channel. Yet, much has changed since the days of banter in early 2009 when everyone suffered from the recession.
It’s now a constant effort to get attention from a stream that feels dead. And, without that attention, it is dead.
In this episode, John and I share expertise on how to take an extremely dead Twitter strategy into a robust, results-producing social media channel. It takes a plan with objectives, time to research, engagement, authoritative content, and a drive to the finish. Then you rinse and repeat.
Twitter Basics For An Event Strategy
In this particular episode, what I share are tips to prepare for a Tweet Chat during a national media broadcast. The strategy that unfolds is a phased approach from research to engagement to the invite and the live event.
Be sure to listen and ask questions of John and I. We bring extensive background and experience in Twitter – the organic Twitter, not advertising on Twitter.
Ask The Heart Of Marketing
A new feature you can find right here on John's website at JGO Digital is audio-recorded questions. John installed Speak Pipe, an app that lets listeners record a question for the podcast. We're pretty jazzed about it, so please do head over there and pose a question? We'll cover it in a future episode!
About The CoHosts
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketer extraordinaire. He is a consultant who brings expertise from the corporate and agency worlds. He is also a detailed strategic planner who methodically covers every aspect of campaign creation. John rescues organizations from marketing failure.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. Since 2002, she's been with her own firm (for the third time), and prior she was with Chicago's esteemed PR firms including Ketchum, Corporate Technology Communications, PCI Communications, and Manning, Selvage & Lee.
Want to pose a question right here? Email jayme@soulati.com. Thanks for listening!
This is likely my favorite episode of The Heart Of Marketing podcast. I share the stage with my co-host John Gregory Olson, and together we banter through a lot of ground in episode 16 including:
- Google Mobile Friendly Deadline
- WordPress PlugIns
- Blog EMTs
- Why a blog is the cornerstone of social marketing
- 15 Tips to boost a businsss blog with promotion
My name is Jayme Soulati, and I love our podcast for the ground we cover for mid-tier businesses. John and I gravitate back to blogging because it's our sweet spot. To that end, we are introducing Blog EMTs -- we will rescue your poor-performing business blog with on-page optimization, content that sings, and promotion.
15 Ways to Promote Your Blog
John and I do one of our favorite things -- a volley. Because I'm a tennis player, we volley ideas back and forth to share as many tips as we can for listeners. This time, we share about 15 ways to promote a blog. Hopefully, if you tune in until the end, you'll hear some new ideas!
To learn more about Blog EMTs, getting help with online marketing or to pose a question, please email me jayme@soulati.com.
About the Hosts
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketing professional who rescues organizations from poor or failed marketing. He brings corporate and agency experience to the mix, and he's a detailed strategist and planner.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc., a blended marketing shop offering core public relations, content marketing, social media marketing, and more in the digital space.
Episode 15 of The Heart Of Marketing podcastwith Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson is chock full of current news about Facebook advertising, it's new Topic Data feature as well as YouTube's new content ID and Google's news about responsive websites by April 21, 2015.
Facebook is now a pay-to-play platform. To get more page likes, you need to buy them. To get attention to a post, you need to throw cash and boost it. What is the best option for your company as it tries to grow its Facebook presence?
YouTube has a new Content ID program in beta. Ensure all of your created video is copyrighted with your ownership and there is no stealing of others' works. It's now easier to make a claim against a plagiaristic company.
Google is set to penalize websites April 21, 2015 for not being responsive. Ensure your site is mobile friendly. You can learn more from hands-on experience in this episode.
About The Hosts
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketing professional who rescues organizations from poor or failed marketing. He brings corporate and agency experience to how he engages on The Heart Of Marketing podcast. John is a blogger and available on Twitter at @digitaljgo.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. She blends core public relations with marketing and integrates content, social, and digital into campaign strategy.
In the Heart Of Marketing podcast with Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson, we customarily explore brands with heart. What that means is remarkable and extraordinary brands are where the heart beats.
John and Jayme have featured Taylor Swift in Episode 001 and a future episode about Starbucks is coming up. Today's episode is about Trader Joe's, a specialty grocer that delivers a heart experience to every consumer who shops there.
Branding With Heart
Trader Joe's lures customers to their family-operated stores with a monthly flyer of recipes, shopping lists and product descriptions that appeal. When shoppers enter the retail operation, it's the customer experience Trader Joes seeks to perfect.
Not only are those who work there happy, they engage with shoppers in their Hawaiin-colored shirts, and there is friendliness throughout the team. When shoppers check out, there is genuine engagement in the check-out line, and customers leave with a positive feeling.
About The Cohosts
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketer with expertise in the corporate and agency worlds. He consultants with all sizes of companies to fix others' failed marketing programs. He is an award-winning blogger and expert content marketer.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and brings 30 years in public relations to blended marketing. She is an award-winning blogger and expert in social media marketing with an integrated marketing blend.
The Heart Of Marketing podcast continues with part three of its ‘how to blog’ series with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati sharing years of expertise on headline writing and reader-optimized content.
The two digital marketers have been blogging for about five years each, and during that time they have become experts on establishing a solid business blog with all of the elements required to attract and retain readers.
Listen in today to this timeless episode that will lend you tips from the pros on how to energize your dead blog.
Blog EMTs
Jayme and John are Blog EMTs, emergency marketing technicians, who together can boost a dead blog from dormancy to energy. If you’d like an analysis of your company’s blog, please reach Jayme@Soulati.com
About the Hosts
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. She is a 30-year veteran of public relations with blended marketing added to the mix. She is a past president of the Publicity Club of Chicago.
John Gregory Olson is a digital marketer who rescues organizations from failed marketing. He applies decades of expertise from the corporate and agency worlds to fixing marketing challenges with digital, content, social, and direct engagement.
Resources
Readability rules for blogging like an A-lister on John Olson's blog
106 all-time great advertising headlines you can use to get more readers to your blog:
To get a free copy of her first book, ‘Writing With Verve On The Blogging Journey,’ email Jayme@Soulati.com with your address.
On April 21, 2015, Google is going to focus on websites that are not designed responsively. If you're not familiar whether your website is mobile friendly and responsive, you can check a Google webmaster tool, insert a domain and voila! Google will inform you if the site is responsive.
In this minicast of the Heart Of Marketing, Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson cohost on this current and highly relevant topic.
Responsive design for websites means a website will automagically re-size to the device screen people are using.
In addition to the looming April 21st deadline, Google is making changes on Google+. Its third executive quit the channel, and Google is threatening to hack apart the channel into smaller parts.
Learn more in Episode 013 of The Heart Of Marketing!
About the Co-Hosts
John Olson is a digital marketer who rescues organizations from poor marketing. As an emergency marketing technician, he brings decades of expertise to help deliver measurable campaigns in marketing, planning, strategic writing, and execution.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and a message mapping master. She is a professional blogger who blends core PR with marketing to execute content, social and digital marketing campaigns.
Resources
Read Jayme's latest blog post on Why Responsive Design is Marketing's Greatest Challenge.
Tap Google webmaster tools for mobile friendly websites here.
The Heart of Marketing podcast continues with episode 11, and this episode is the laughingest ever! Jayme Soulati and Authentic Blogging cracks herself up with Chinese casket humor and a story about a Las Vegas businessman trying to crack the funeral industry with imported caskets.
Once John Gregory Olson Content Ideas gets Jayme back on track, this episode actually sings with intense ideas for bloggers.
Jayme and John do a back and forth with tips on content styles, and throughout this episode each offers solid proof about why blogging is the true core of content marketing and social media marketing.
Jayme and John are both bloggers who write on marketing, PR, digital marketing, the Interent, and social media.
Series: 2 of 3 on blogging for your business
John Olson is a digital marketer and consultant for small-to-medium businesses. He has held positions in corporate marketing with Thomson Reuters and a variety of other companies.
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and a message mapping master. She hails from Chicago's PR firms and delivers full-service blended marketing with a PR core.
Contact: Jayme@Soulati.com
Most business blogs die due to lack of time, resources and topic ideas. In this episode you will learn:
- Benefit of developing a plan and writing for an audience
- Steps to take to establish and editorial plan and advisory board
- Best way to re-ignite a dead blog and why that’s important
- Blogging workflow and guidelines to publish fresh content
So many businesses attempt to blog and then lose patience. Even in this era of content marketing clutter, a blog is still one of the most critical aspects of social marketing. It’s owned media, and it requires patience, attention, and consistency. Blogging is a journey and important to everyone’s business. You can build authority long term, and it will be a differentiator between businesses that do blog and those that don’t.
Along the way, a business that blogs consistently will see improvement as a brand, generate more inbound leads, boost engagement, and build community.
Both Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson have deep insight into blogging as they built their own blogs through sweat and tears (at least Jayme did) in 2009 and 2010. Both cohosts write about marketing, public relations, social marketing, and digital marketing. Jayme specializes often in message mapping as a topic.
To energize your blog, listen to Episode 10 of the Heart Of Marketing podcast.
Shout Out
Mark W. Schaefer writes a keen blog, and his piece on Feb. 16 is a must read. It's about 10 soul-grabbing brands doing content marketing without SEO.
About The CoHosts
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and a message mapping master. She is an award-winning blogger since 2010, and she delivers strategically blended marketing programs with core public relations, content, social marketing, and digital marketing. Follow her @Soulati.
John Gregory Olson is a B2B marketer and one of the top 52 content marketing influencers according to Onalytica in 2014. John specializes in a breadth of industries delivering highly strategic digital marketing campaigns that connect with customers to create sales. He is a consultant of more than 25 years and brings expertise from 3M, Thomson Reuters, and others. Find John at JGODigital.com or @DigitalJGO.
Contact
Jayme@Soulati.com
Summary
In this minicast on The Heart of Marketing Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson look at the implications of Facebook legacy contacts and the need for succession planning to manage your business social accounts and digital assets through staff transitions.
About This Minicast
On Feb. 13, 2015, a story appeared in the Wall Street Journal about Facebook allowing appointment of new legacy contact managers. People and businesses concerned about the digital afterlife for their shared social media content can now assign a legacy contact. Google+ has an inactive account manager for such an event.
Choose carefully as Facebook will not allow continuous selection and change of the appointee!
Jayme is convinced this is important news while John suggests that planning is more critical than appointing a legacy contact. See what you think and add comments, too!
About The CoHosts
Jayme Soulati is president of Soulati Media, Inc. and a message mapping master. She is an award-winning blogger since 2010, and she delivers strategically blended marketing programs with core public relations, content, social marketing, and digital marketing.
John Gregory Olson is a B2B marketer and one of the top 52 content marketing influencers according to Onalytica in 2014. John specializes in a breadth of industries delivering highly strategic digital marketing campaigns that connect with customers to create sales. He is a consultant of more than 25 years and brings expertise from 3M, Thomson Reuters, and others. Find John at JGODigital.com.
Resources
10 Tips Why To Appoint A Social Media Executor
Facebook Legacy Contact Lets You Decide
Contact:
Jayme@Soulati.com
John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati have created something new in their podcast publishing debut. It's called a mini-cast, and it's an extremely abbreviated mini podcast to share something new, relevant and short.
Since the air date of Episode 007 on Persona Development With Bathroom Humor (this is one of the funniest episodes the two have done), Jayme learned more about persona in real time and wanted to share.
She set up a campaign in Facebook, and her learning experience from Episode 007 on The Heart of Marketing podcast was perfect fodder for this mini-cast!
Got a story to tell? Anything to add to the conversation? Drop Jayme a note!
References:
- Alan's Collision Center
Contact:
Jayme@Soulati.com
The Heart Of Marketing podcast delivers laughs, marketing tips, more laughs, and mid-tier business content weekly with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati.
In this episode 007, the two explore the benefits of developing a persona for marketing campaigns while Jayme consistently tries to circumnavigate the conversation with tidbits on the demise of Radio Shack, the fabrication escapades and transparency failures of NBC's Brian Williams, and a solid track on bathroom humor.
The latter is totally relevant as Jayme and John look at developing a persona for European toiletmaker Henkels and the companies that develop cleansing products for water closets. Seriously, this episode is kinda not serious when the laughing gets way out of control.
(John and Jayme recommend this episode for on the way to work.)
Meanwhile, throughout the episode, there are references to some honchos who cover personas in their businesses:
- Heidi Cohen, Actionable Marketing, 10 Essential Marketing Persona Attributes
- Vincent Messina, Creating Buyer Persona To Help Grow Your Practice
- Tony Zambito, Why Difference Between Buyer Persona & Buyer Profiling Matters
- Wall Street Journal, Ads For Potty Humor
In Episode 006 of The Heart of Marketing Podcast, John Gregory Olson of JGO Digital shares his expertise from the world of traditional marketing. He addresses how companies should ensure brand message is actually relevant to your target audience. That is one of the big marketing challenges facing mid-tier companies competing in the digital world today.
With his co-host Jayme Soulati, John dives into this topic with advice and tips for developing marketing communications that ring with relevance to customers. In this episode you will learn:
· How to set marketing goals that drive success
· How the “sales funnel” is different today
· How to create the right message at the right time
· Three keys to real-time/right-time marketing
· How to deliver value and win hearts with “self-serve” information
Plus, Jayme reveals her birthday coincides with Valentine’s Day, Heart Month, and the launch of The Heart of Marketing podcast. Want to wish her a happy birthday? Subscribe to our podcast!
You Subscribe, We Give
Did you know February is Heart Month? That’s right, a whole month dedicated to heart health awareness sponsored by The American Heart Association. We invite you to help us support them by simply subscribing to The Heart of Marketing podcast in the month of February. We will give $1 to The American Heart Association for the first 500 subscribers to our podcast. Help us reach the $500 mark! You subscribe. We give. Everybody wins.
Contact: Jayme@Soulati.com
Summary: Jayme Soulati is a Message Mapping Master, and John Gregory Olson interviews her for perspective on why a message map should be the first step a business takes to amplify a crystal-clear message to any audience.
The Heart Of Marketing Podcast
Message mapping is a wonderful tool born in the traditional days of media relations where Jayme Soulati plied her trade in Chicago’s public relations firms. When spokespeople were on the hot seat in front of journalists, their PR professionals developed a message map with clarified messaging about all aspects of a company.
Today, in this disrupted (see Episode 002) marketing arena where technology has businesses playing catch up, a message map is the foundation for communication to external audiences.
Even more, a message map synchronizes all parts of a company as well as the vision of company leadership on one platform. It enables a strengthened voice in social marketing, and it also ensures those in marketing know how to position the facts and the story.
John does a fantastic job keeping Jayme on track with his direct questions, and together the two hosts of the Heart of Marketing podcast keep listeners engaged.
Free e-Book
On Jayme’s website, there’s a free e-book that details the process she uses during message mapping. During the show, she shares some of the steps about the how to, as well.
You Subscribe and We Give
In February, the official launch month of The Heart of Marketing Podcast, your subscription to the show means Jayme and John will donate $1 for each subscriber up to 500 new listeners. That contribution is going directly to The American Heart Association. Together we can make hearts more healthful with your subscription in February!
Contact: Jayme@Soulati.com
Episode 004: Business Blogging: The Heart of Your Content Strategy
Have you heard the rumors that business blogging is dead?
Maybe the disappointing level of engagement on your blog leads you to believe it’s true. In this episode Jayme and John are here to set the record straight.
What IS true is that a blog that lacks personality and original content won’t cut through the noise and clutter. It will lie dormant and undiscovered. But if you give it TLC with passion and heart, visitors and return traffic will come.
What is also true is that your business blog is the cornerstone of your social marketing strategy. It is an asset you own that gives you a platform for differentiating your brand, establishing your credibility, and connecting with customers and prospects.
Listen to the full episode for tips on:
· Starting with clear business objectives
· How to identify your target audience
· Telling a true brand story well
· And a whole lot more
Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson have been blogging since 2010. And they’ve been marketing consultants for much longer than that. They’ve helped companies of all sizes and from many industries develop and implement strategies for business blogs. Need help with yours? They are currently accepting clients. Send a message via email to find out how they can help you make a human connection with blog readers that converts them into loyal customers: jayme@soulati.com.
You Subscribe, We Give
The Heart Of Marketing launches officially in February 2015. When you subscribe in Heart Month, we will donate $1 per subscriber up to $500 to The American Heart Association. It’s our opportunity to say thank you for subscribing while we all give back together. It’s a win for all of us!
Our American Heart Association promo ends at the end of February.
Episode 002: Technology Disruption Is A Win In Heart Marketing
Dealing with a technology disruption in your business is not for the faint of heart. Neither is it cause for panic.
Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson discuss how ‘change comes bearing gifts’ and how you can turn a market disruption into a business opportunity. In this episode of The Heart of Marketing you will learn:
· What a full-scale industry disruption looks like
· How to know if a new technology will actually disrupt your business
· The single-most effective way to “plan” for a disruption to your business
· Three ways your company can respond to technology disruptions in your industry
· How building customer loyalty helps you weather the transition during a market disruption
Jayme shares her experience in dealing with ongoing disruption in her professional world of public relations. And John tells how a disruption in the office equipment industry changed the entire course of his career.
The heart of the matter is this: technology is a great leveler of opportunity in every market and for every company today. Listen to this episode for tips on how you can face change and come out on top.
You Subscribe, We Give
The launch of The Heart of Marketing podcast in February coincides with Heart Month. Help us support heart health awareness by subscribing to the podcast! Here’s how: we will give up to $500 to the American Heart Association – that’s $1 for the first 500 subscribers in February 2015. You subscribe. We give. Everybody wins.
You can always reach us for comments, questions, and topic suggestions for a future show.
Contact: Jayme@Soulati.com
Episode 003: Omnichannel And Multichannel Marketing ROI With Heart
How should mid-tier companies think about marketing ROI in an omnichannel world where the customer journey no longer fits neatly into a traditional sales funnel?
In this episode of The Heart Of Marketing, John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati dive into four statistics from a Chief Marketing Officer survey on 15 mind-blowing insights about marketing ROI including social media, video, blogging, mobile, and more.
John focused on the stat that only 8 percent of marketers can prove social media ROI, according to the CMO study. For as long as social media has been around, marketers still struggle to prove it drives sales revenue.
Jayme liked the stat about blogging, which says blogging is 13 times more likely to help marketers show marketing ROI to company leaders. Both John and Jayme are bloggers, and each has been blogging for about five years. Blogging helps boost your brand awareness, and create authority and influence in your market.
In this episode, the two go back and forth with their views and experiences on measuring social media and digital marketing success. John explains the key difference between multi-channel marketing and omni-channel marketing -- and why the difference is critical to connecting with today’s consumer.
You subscribe, We Give
The launch of The Heart of Marketing podcast in February 2015 coincides with Heart Month. Help us support heart health awareness by subscribing to the podcast! Here’s how: we will give up to $500 to the American Heart Association – that’s $1 for the first 500 subscribers in February 2015. You subscribe. We give. Everybody wins.
You can always reach us for comments, questions, and topic suggestions for a future show.
Contact: jayme@soulati.com
Source:Chief Marketing Officer e-zine
http://www.cmo.com/articles/2015/1/6/15_stats_marketing_ROI.html?cmpid=TT275
The Taylor Swift School of Heart Marketing
Taylor Swift is the talented 25-year-old entertainer and bombshell who continues to be the subject of thousands of stories, blog posts, news reports, videos, social media posts, images, TV specials, and that’s not even counting her music!
Jayme Soulati and John Gregory Olson, hosts of The Heart Of Marketing podcast, selected Taylor Swift as the topic of their debut episode not only because of her performing pizzazz, but also for her heart. She shows her love to concert fans by flashing them the heart sign using two fingers from each hand. And they flash her back!
To summarize: Taylor Swift is a brand influencer, category leader, champion, smart businesswoman and a smarter marketer.
What is Taylor Swift doing that turns actions into revenue?
John and Jayme explore her constant accessibility, her vulnerability, her fans-first mentality, the human touch of her brand persona, and the incredible connectivity she has with her fans on social media and in real life.
As Taylor grows, we watch her share her failures, become the butt of jokes, and still rise above it all to prove her naysayers wrong. This in the midst of switching music genre, uprooting herself to New York City, and becoming a musical force in front of our eyes.
The Heart of The Matter
To wrap up the Taylor Swift brand into a bite-sized portion for mid-tier marketers, Jayme and John explore how companies can Taylorize their marketing.
● Should your CEO be as accessible to customers as Taylor Swift is to her fans?
● Creating a likeable, credible brand by listening and responding to customers
● How transparency wins loyal customers
● Telling a brand story that resonates with your audience
We like our first episode a lot, and we hope you will, too.
You Subscribe, We Give
The launch of The Heart of Marketing podcast in February coincides with Heart Month. Help us support heart health awareness by subscribing to the podcast! Here’s how: we will give up to $500 to the American Heart Association – that’s $1 for the first 500 subscribers in February 2015. You subscribe. We give. Everybody wins.
You can always reach us for comments, questions, and topic suggestions for a future show.
Thanks for listening!