Masters in Marketing Agency: Recent Episodes
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Are you running a digital marketing agency but feel like you need some advice? The Masters of Marketing Agency Podcast features veteran marketing agency owners who share their experiences, mistakes, and successes along their journey. Join host Josh Hoffman and make sure you have a notebook as he digs deep so you can learn more about what veteran agency owners know.
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In this episode, Jason Ciment, CEO of Get Visible Digital Marketing Agency, shares his entrepreneurial journey from starting a magazine subscription service to building a successful digital marketing agency. The future of marketing is also explored, focusing on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and potential acquisitions. The importance of building intimate client relationships, creating unique and better content, and defining boundaries in marketing strategies are discussed. Additionally, he delves into hard conversations, Yiddish phrases, job opportunities, AI resources, and valuable recommendations for reaching out.
Jason Ciment is a seasoned digital marketing expert and CEO of Get Visible, a renowned digital marketing agency. With over 20 years of experience, he has helped numerous clients achieve higher search engine rankings, increased online visibility, and improved website performance. His expertise lies in SEO, PPC management, social media marketing, and reputation management, making him a trusted authority in the digital marketing arena. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- He transitioned into the digital marketing industry by offering search engine optimization services and later expanded to provide a full suite of digital marketing services.
- The agency's growth has been largely driven by referrals, and Jason's involvement in networking organizations has been instrumental in acquiring new business.
- AI is a game-changer in marketing, enabling agencies to deliver more and create tailored content. However, the challenge lies in creating better content when other agencies have access to similar tools.
- Acquisitions can be beneficial to increase economies of scale within the same stream of business, rather than diversifying into new areas.
- The host suggests utilizing different AI tools and resources like Google Bard, ChatGPT, and Poe.com to access a broader range of AI models.
- Planning and defining boundaries within marketing processes is crucial before exploring new possibilities and strategies.
- The guest shares an old Yiddish phrase and an old Arab curse, both with amusing and interesting implications.
Resources:
- Get Visible Digital Marketing Agency
- DevNoodle
- The AI Exchange
- ProVisors | The Largest Networking Organization for Trusted Advisors
- Letip | Business Networking Group
- BNI: Business Network International
- Google Bard
- ChatGPT
- Poe
Connect with Jason Ciment:
Connect with our host, Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 06:36 - “And we have a thing we call all hands on deck. Like when you have a meeting, you're dealing with the people doing the work. So you're not dealing with an account rep who says, oh, let me go check with this person or that person. And sometimes clients feel overwhelmed because they're getting too many emails, let's say from different stakeholders. But at the end of the day, they're getting expertise at the root level, at the ground level. And they're not having it filtered through an account rep, who often doesn't really understand what's going on.”
- 09:23 - “So if you were working for me, you're coming to work for me because you have my mindset and my partner's mindset, which is it's not a nine to five job, and we're not clocking people in. It's a passion job. And your reward is not the money. That's just a measure of success. The reward is the satisfaction in accomplishing the outcome that the clients want and that you want. So I think it's like, it's just, when you don't have salespeople and you don't have quotas and you don't have commissions, the mindset's different.”
- 12:48 - Jason: “The best reason to acquire is economies of scale. Because if I have or the team already in place and I could bring somebody in that gives me more of the same type of business, I would rather do that than try to open up a new stream of business. So like I don't want to go into media advertising as an example. So I wouldn't do a parallel, I wouldn't do a related thing to go horizontal. I'd go vertical to stay within the same stream.”
Joshua: “No, I think that that makes sense.” - 08:18 - Joshua: “But is there anything specific that you set up to make it intimate? Or is it really just the people you hire or the right people? Like how, what's the ingredients in there?”
Jason: “Well, it's two things. It's definitely the people that we hire. Like there's an organization I belong to, I'll give them a shout-out. It's called ProVisors. So I get a lot of business from that because it's like a networking organization like Letip or BNI, let's say. But it's high level. So you're dealing with partners of law firms, partners of accounting firms, managers of bank departments. Like, it's not low level, it's very high grade. So you, you don't sell to people in the room that you go to, you sell through them.” - 10:38 - Joshua: “You mentioned either on this call just now or on a previous call, that you made an acquisition and you bought the software company that you had hired previously. Yeah. What was the acquisition process like? Was there any surprises, good and bad? Like what did that look like? Yeah.”
Jason: “So what happened was, I was the biggest client for my magazine business. I bought the software company that had an e-commerce platform from the early to mid-nineties. And so the big surprise was that within a few months, some of the biggest clients quit. So what I thought I was acquiring, I didn't get, that's number one.”
In this episode, Nick Jaworski, CEO of Circle Social Inc, shares how his marketing firm is meeting the needs of healthcare providers and connecting patients to care. He discusses his contrarian approach to mental health advocacy and the unique strategies used by his agency. The importance of his podcast, Recovery Executive, in bridging the gap between business and behavioral health is also highlighted. The episode also delves into the journey of building a successful consulting and marketing firm, the importance of trust in marketing high-cost items like addiction treatment services, and the limitations of AI in marketing.
Nick Jaworski is a seasoned marketing expert and the CEO of Circle Social Inc., a strategic marketing firm specializing in addiction treatment and behavioral health. With a strong passion for helping those in need, Nick's career has been dedicated to building brands, driving results, and enriching communities. From managing centers for Disney English to fostering academic excellence, his leadership and coaching skills have consistently led to exceptional outcomes and customer satisfaction. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- Circle Social is a marketing firm that serves the behavioral health industry and connects patients to care.
- Circle Social provides integrated marketing strategies and works with both nonprofit and for-profit healthcare organizations.
- The podcast has allowed Nick to build relationships and connect with industry leaders, leading to unique opportunities and insights.
- Laser focus and gradual expansion led to success in the healthcare industry.
- One-liners and buzzwords can grab attention, but delivering on promises is essential to maintain trust.
- Having a strategy, not just tactics, is vital to maintaining trust and delivering results.
- Many marketing agencies remain small due to a lack of scalability and comfort with their lifestyle.
Resources:
- Circle Social Inc
- DevNoodle
- The Price of Time (Book)
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Book)
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (Book)
- The Innovator's Dilemma (Book)
- Simone de Beauvoir’s Works (Books)
- Michel Foucault’s Works (Books)
Connect with Nick Jaworski:
Connect with our host, Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 22:24 - “So at the end of the AI is just taking a bunch of stuff from different places and throwing it together. While what I always tell the team is, like I said, the worst thing that I can see is the top three Google search results rehashed as our article. I said, I never want to see that. I don't want to see a Wikipedia article or just a rehash of the top three. I want unique, original content that's actually going to help people.”
- 26:20 - “I'm like, oh, we're data driven, and we're performance based, and so we just got to use the numbers here. But I realized that more and more the creative is king at the end of the day. Really good creative performs anywhere from four to seven times better than bad creative. And so it doesn't matter what the data's telling me, I need good creative at the outset. And so how do we do that? And it's all about the right audience with the right message. So I think that's probably one of the things I would focus on teaching. Because that's what I focus on with our team a lot of the time.”
- 06:08 - “[A podcast] really is a great resource to get connect people, you know, like we can always send cold emails, and we can always do things like that, but this medium is just a great medium. It's not very business focused, right? And a lot of people, they do want to get out kind of the things that they've been working hard on their whole lives. So I think it's just a great kind of, yeah, again, like medium for people to talk.”
- 13:51 - Joshua: “And for someone that might be thinking of taking that route, right, like maybe they are already on the marketing side and the thinking about consulting, are there any signs or is there anything that you kind of said, okay, you know, this is worth the effort or this maybe isn't worth the effort and, and also, you know, like how do you charge? Is it usually project based? Is it retainer? You can take it that in any direction you want. I know I asked two questions.”
Nick: “So everything's value based for us, right? So on the marketing side, we're mainly a retainer, right? Like most agencies, people pay up front. On the consulting side, it's project based.” - 25:41 - Joshua: “If you had to teach something to other marketers, what would it be?”
Nick: “Teach something to other marketers, what would it be? Honestly, what we work on with the team is really understanding the audience. It's probably number one when we look at, you know, how do you run a Facebook campaign? How do you set up a marketing funnel? How do you think about capital allocation on different channels?”
In this episode, Tyler Weese shares his inspiring journey from being a D1 football player to becoming the CEO of Skale Strategy, an e-commerce agency focused on scaling brands on Amazon. He discusses the challenges and importance of embracing imperfections while sharing strategies to help clients succeed on the platform. Tyler also highlights the evolving landscape of Amazon, the significance of authenticity in marketing, and the role of an omnichannel approach in scaling direct-to-consumer brands. He emphasizes the value of staying true to brand values and establishing a strong identity.
Tyler Weese is an experienced e-commerce leader who has founded and grown multiple brands on Amazon. He was the Director of Brand Growth at Skale Strategy, helping scale brands on Amazon. Weese also founded the communication product company Rettel Board, where he served as Director. He played college football as a wide receiver at Utah State University. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters of Marketing Agency:
- He believes that athletes and individuals with a passion for something make great employees and leaders.
- Tyler's previous company, Rettel Board, was founded during his last year of college and was eventually acquired.
- Importing products for Rettel Board taught him valuable lessons about entrepreneurship and the process of sourcing goods.
- Inexperienced with sourcing, language barriers were a major hurdle at the start.
- Being an early adopter in a category provided both challenges and success opportunities.
- Skale is a full-service Amazon agency focused on helping clients navigate compliance and catalog issues.
- Establishing an authentic and passionate brand identity is crucial for effective marketing and establishing credibility.
Resources:
- Skale Strategy
- DevNoodle
- Traction (Book)
- The Founder (podcast)
Connect with Tyler Weese:
Connect with our host, Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 22:56 - “We've long seen Amazon as, you know, the marketplace that is cheap or imported brandless product that is just, you know, serving a need, right? And I think that's definitely repositioning, I think direct to consumer, brands need to pay attention and migrate towards Amazon. And there's ways now that Amazon has made this possible for direct to consumer brands. So I see, you know, Amazon at its core, it's a search engine, right? It's a product search engine.”
- 03:57 - “I just love seeing people that, you know, challenge themself, have passion in life, have something that they wanna accomplish or excel at or do well in. And I think that for sure finding people that have a passion for something and can set goals and, and meet achievements regardless if that's athletics, you know, music, whatever it might be. Yeah, I definitely love finding those people that have proven outside of a work environment that they can be successful and that they can be passionate about something.”
- 27:35 - “I came from the sales space and what I always tell everyone is, you know, I have my ways and, and that's all I can like share with anyone else is how I do it. But I always preface and I always make sure to that they understand like, this is me using my strengths. Like you should obviously understand your strengths and where I, you know, build rapport galore. Maybe that's just not your strength.”
- 25:26 - “I think, you know, obviously having some kind of omni-channel approach and, and getting outta your D2C site, Shopify or whatever it is, or just retail or something like that, I think is, is usually a good growth strategy.”
- 25:37 - Joshua: “If you had to teach something to other marketers, what would it be?”.. Tyler: “Hmm. I think just authenticity, right? Like don't be someone or don't create a brand that you are not, it is just hard to find passion behind what you're doing or, or be compelling when you're trying to be someone that you're not. Right?”
In this episode, Jonah and Jeremiah Wilson join Joshua Hoffman to discuss the future of marketing and the impact of AI and automation. They share insights from their experience in sales, emphasizing the importance of leveraging technology and staying competitive. They delve into the significance of leveraging technology, studying the market, and utilizing the best tools available. Furthermore, they discuss the dynamics of working with family in a business setting. Additionally, the episode emphasizes the need for agencies to utilize data to convince clients of their value, and suggests obtaining granular insights for greater success.
Jeremiah Wilson is an experienced entrepreneur and sales trainer. He founded multiple call tracking and marketing analytics companies over 20 years, including ContactPoint and Convirza. Jeremiah has also worked in logistics, sales training, and as a university professor.
Jonah Wilson is an ambitious up-and-coming marketer who is following in his father Jeremiah's entrepreneurial footsteps. He gained valuable experience interning at Convirza and honed his skills in digital marketing by starting his own agency, Orsett Marketing. Jonah's drive and determination to succeed in business and marketing comes through in his experience in solar sales and various digital marketing roles. He represents the next generation of marketers and entrepreneurs. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters of Marketing Agency:
- Despite the competitive nature of the industry, marketers can stay relevant by adapting to changing technologies and maximizing the tools available.
- To stay relevant, businesses must continuously study the market, be aware of the latest advancements, and utilize the best tools available.
- Building in-house solutions may not be feasible for small businesses, it is more beneficial to partner or use existing tools.
- The hosts highlight the success of their father-son partnership, which works because of shared values and a clear business hierarchy.
- Imposter syndrome is a common experience among entrepreneurs and executives, but it is important to remember that even top CEOs feel uncertain at times.
- People remember how they made you feel, not what you said.
- The book "Originals" by Adam Grant explores similar themes.
Resources:
- Convirza
- DevNoodle
- Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
- Originals by Adam Grant
- 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
- Unapologetically Ambitious by Shellye Archambeau
- Hundred Million Offers by Alex Hormozi
Connect with the guests:
- Jeremiah Wilson - LinkedIn
- Jonah Wilson - LinkedIn
Connect with our host Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 04:41 - Jeremiah: “So why is one able to go do $300,000 in, you know, solar panels sales that year and another does, you know, 15,000, you know, what makes a difference? And there's a lot, there's a lot of magic to that too that still has to come out... Joshua: Well, you can't just mention that comment without me like double-clicking, so I don't you better be ready with an answer.”.. Jeremiah: “I'll tell you at 12 years old, I learned the lesson like I learned from me, and it had to be from me only that I learned that I could look them in the eye. And, and so I'm big on personality profiling, like, like who, what are, what, who are they? What do they need, and what do they need from me? And I have to be that now. And I've got like two seconds for them, even less. They're going to make a split second decision the moment they look at me as to whether they like me or not. And that was it.”
- 21:25 - “Let me back up because I told him at a very young age, my job is for you to be better than me. If I do my job as a father, you're going to be better than me in every possible way. And, and I think that that's a bit stuck with him. I mean, if you really got into his head, and I think I know my son pretty well, he already knows he's better than me.”
- 19:03 - “And they would run into problems of family would work together, and it would cause issues, and they couldn't buy them. Because the uncle wanted to not sell his share, do this and that. And the only time that he said it ever worked is if you worked with a father and a son or that same relationship because I grew up and my whole life Jeremiah is “hey, do this, don't do this”. Being that figure, that example, and it's the same in business where he's the CEO and his assistant. I do all the dirty work and I think because of that, it works quite well and we think alike. And for anybody who wants to father and son, it varies a lot based on what the direction and the values of them are. But in general, I think it's the, just about the only time family and business can work is when that clear dichotomy of or father, son or CEO and employee works.”
- 24:13 - “For me, what I do is if I'm ever doing something that like brings all nerves and I've never done it before, I actually try to appreciate, I say like, this is a position, especially when you're running a company or something like that, and you're in a position that most people your age aren't in, I kinda sit there, and I say like, it's actually an honor to have these nerves, so like, let me appreciate these nerves rather than like push 'em away. That to that eventually turns you into an adrenaline junkie, I think. And now I'm like chasing those nerves and everything.”
- 05:55 - Jonah: “You knock on the door, they look you in the eye, and they make a decision right then, and then you go from there. So when I say magic, I think it really is, can I give them what they need in seconds and then not mess it up for the next five minutes as I close the deal?”.. Joshua: “Yeah. For me, I always went in the mentality that they're going to remember how you made them feel, not what you said.”
Greg Shuey, CEO of Stryde, discussed the company's focus on e-commerce businesses and the benefits of having a women-powered team. He also touched on strategic decisions, the impact of Covid-19 on the e-commerce marketing agency space, AI adoption in marketing agencies, and the importance of understanding the customer journey. Additionally, he highlighted how Stride drives leads through SEO, paid search, and partnerships, as well as his passion for coaching and empowering the younger generation.
Greg Shuey, the CEO of Stryde - Ecommerce Marketing Agency, brings over 10 years of experience in digital marketing and customer acquisition. He specializes in helping 7-figure D2C businesses overcome challenges, scale to 8 figures, and make better decisions in digital marketing. With expertise, time-saving strategies, and an objective perspective, Greg guides businesses to navigate the evolving marketing landscape and identify new opportunities for growth. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters of Marketing Agency:
- The agency focuses on mom-and-baby fashion, women's fashion, home decor, and sporting goods.
- Their team is powered by women who are skilled at marketing products targeted toward women.
- Stryde partners with an Amazon agency to assist clients in expanding into new marketplaces.
- They have been exploring collaborations with agencies like Evolved Commerce and AMZ Advisors.
- Extreme focus in verticals: Narrowing down to specific verticals helps agencies attract better leads, close deals faster, and stand out from the competition.
- SEO is the biggest driver of leads for Stryde, with keywords related to e-commerce and marketing agencies ranking high.
- A request to not make any changes to the conversation before publishing.
Resources:
- Stryde
- DevNoodle
- Who Not How
Connect with Greg Shuey:
Connect with our host Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 9:11 - “The funny thing is two days after lockdown, everyone became an e-commerce marketing agency. So it became very, very saturated, very competitive very quickly for us. But lucky for us, I mean we already had kind of that Stryde as the e-commerce marketing agency for these verticals and we kind of owned it, which was fantastic for us.”
- 14:21 -”And that's also part of the problem is that a lot of agencies, they don't want to do the elbow. They don't want to put in the elbow grease for that, right? Understanding who your customer is and more is more than just saying, oh, we target women between the ages of 35 and 50 who have two kids and an income of a hundred thousand dollars a year, right? It's picking up the phone and calling 50 of their customers and going through like a real conversation of learning.”
- 15:42 - “I tend to say this like really aggressively, but I think people care too much about themselves and what they're trying to pitch. It's kinda like the how and the why or the what conversation where you don't want to be pitching what you want to be pitching the why and all that kind of stuff. And I think when people, they're so proud of their business, and they try to just like share the benefits and features that they want to get out there, but they don't understand. Like you, I always tell people on my team like, you don't matter. Like your opinion doesn't matter.”
- 16:11 - “All about the customer. You need to get in their heads and, and it sounds so silly, but even writing emails like you don't matter. Your opinion doesn't matter. It's how do you want to, how do they read this? How do they want to read this? What should they kind of like, or what do they want to hear?”
- 22:14 - Josh: If you could teach, if you had to teach something to other marketers, what would it be?.. Greg: Figuring out who the customer is. I mean, if you follow me on LinkedIn, that's all I talk about these days. I'll sprinkle in a couple of other things, but I feel like just deep down, it's so important for an agency to be able to know how to do this and to push their clients in the right direction.
In this episode, Brook Shepard, CEO of Mason Interactive, delves into the role of AI in marketing, emphasizing the need for human oversight. She also discusses the importance of creativity, campaign ideas, diversification of advertising spend, and growth metrics. The episode also highlights the significance of ethical client relationships, goal setting, and key event planning. Additionally, Shepard shares insights on Mason Interactive's upcoming rebrand and participation in Grow in New York.
Brook Shepard is the CEO and Managing Partner of Mason Interactive, a leading Performance Marketing agency with offices in New York City and Charlotte. With over 14 years of experience, Brook and his team specialize in media buying strategy, SEO, creative development, and email marketing for clients in the Higher Education and D2C brand sectors. Prior to Mason Interactive, Brook held key roles at Yodle, SendTraffic, and Yankee Rose, demonstrating his expertise in search marketing, client services, and web design. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- In the next two years, companies must use AI, or they risk losing out to competitors who do.
- Advertising spend has changed with the introduction of iOS 14, and companies must diversify their mix to be in front of more people.
- Soft goals can be important to clients, and honesty is crucial in distinguishing them from hard goals.
- Red flags to look for when working with clients include a lack of numerical goals or sales targets, not attending meetings, and an overly strong emphasis on ROI.
- They will be participating in the Grow in New York event on July 11th.
- Brook talks about their marketing strategies and how they work closely with their clients.
Resources:
- Mason Interactive
- The She Speaks Podcast
- DevNoodle
Connect with Brook Shepard:
Connect with the host Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 3:19 - “So I think there'll be more automation in this industry and not less over time. I think that's been a truism for a long time. I think that what that will mean is that if I had to guess in the future of this industry, people will have fewer clients, sorry, more clients paying them a lower rate or maybe the same rate, but lower hours on that work because a lot of the work will happen more quickly. And if the real skill set is not going to be doing the work, real skill set will be explaining why you did the work and, and, and reasons why you made those choices along the way.”
- 6:18 - “I think that the human ability to synthesize data and relate to other people through common experiences will still be valuable. I also think that creative will become more important in this industry right now than it, than it's right now. A lot of clients certainly focus on creative. They're focused on like, what audience did better today? Why haven't you uncovered the right audience? Let's try a new audience that's important and that's not going to stop.”
- 19:08 - “I think the biggest issue that new marketers run into is they think, and, and, and any company, right? I do this when I join a new company in sales, I just want to get everything in the door and I don't really care about quality at this point. So I, I think, you know, it is important that it is okay to turn down a customer even early on based on a lot of signs.”
- 14:27 - Josh: “And I think a lot of people like to pretend that a vanity metric is their key performance indicator, when it not always necessarily is. So I think that was a great point. Take a step back now.” Brook: “But follow up about that. So like, so like the, the, we call those hard goals versus soft goals.”
- 2:32 - Josh: “But you mentioned AI taking jobs, so, you know, what do you see as the future both in the next two years of what that looks like and how AI and chat between all those things take over, and then what do you see it in the next 10 years look like?” Brook: “So for our industry, specifically, clients ask me what I think about it. And my answer is always, you want to use those tools. What do you think about them? I don't really think I get a vote. Zuckerberg isn't asking me a thing, isn't asking me, I don't get a vote. And whether those things are happening, they just are.”
In these three podcast episodes, experts discuss various aspects of marketing in the B2B space. The founders of Blue Seedling share their insights on the impact of AI on marketing, while a guest speaker talks about contrarian B2B marketing myths and the utility of AI as a thought partner. Netta Kivilis, also from Blue Seedling, stresses the importance of developing people skills in marketing and recommends relevant resources. Overall, these episodes provide valuable perspectives on marketing practices for B2B startups.
Netta Kivilis is the Founder and CEO of Blue Seedling, a boutique marketing agency specializing in high-growth enterprise B2B startups and scale-ups. With a background in retail marketing, including roles at Custora and Amazon, Netta has successfully built marketing operations, created industry-standard dashboards, organized events, and coached teams, contributing to impressive revenue growth and employee expansion. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters of Marketing Agency:
- Marketers need to experiment with AI tools and applications to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
- AI tools can help marketers in various applications such as content marketing, outbound email prospecting, and visual generative AI.
- Startups need to package AI tools and applications into marketing and sales-specific tools to make them user-friendly and effective.
- AI tools can make brainstorming and Kickstarter easier and more effective for marketers.
- AI can be used as a “thought partner” in B2B startups
- It's not realistic to expect AI to write an article from start to finish, but it serves as a great tool for brainstorming ideas, titles, and even SEO improvements
- Hiring SDRs for email marketing is a marketing task better handled by B2B marketers
Resources:
- Blue Seedling
- The She Speaks Podcast
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Netta Kivilis:
Connecting with Josh Hoffman:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Quotables:
- 2:25 - “Marketing technology is not going to make or break your marketing success. However, this is the exception. When I saw ChatGPT and understood the consequences, I got super excited. I think right now we are in the waiting fees where we are waiting for all the startups that are coming along to package ChatGPT into marketing and sales-specific applications and tools that will make it more usable, more user-friendly, more bulletproof for us.”
- 8:41 - “And I think it's amazing, especially for folks who are remote, maybe walking on their own as freelancers, you suddenly have like a counterpart walking with you and brainstorming with you and helping you ride. So you are never alone, which is delightful.”
- 7:27 - “We kind of say that it's more of a thought partner, right? Like now, you have a thought partner that is just an expert into whatever you ask it. So it's, you know, it's not necessarily going to be great at, I mean it's great at so many things, but to use it more as if you think of it and brand it as a thought partner, it's a beautiful tool.”
- 15:15 - “I always find it so interesting again because like I think that coding and a few, and I've mentioned this before, but coding and like law is, it's almost a different way of thinking and, and it gives you this kind of benefit of, of thinking a little bit differently because you know, there's, when you're coding obviously you have got to think about things way in the future and how will that will operate or how it'll break it. So I think it's just kind of a, a different way of thinking.”
- 9:28 - Josh: “Do you have any examples of how you guys have either used it like very specifically or even used as a thought partner? Is there anything you can kinda share on that site? Cold emails, whatever it is.”.. Netta: “Yeah, so definitely brainstorming for the writing process. I would say the utopian vision of like, I'm going to give you an idea or brief, and you are going to write the entire thing for me end to end. Not realistic at the moment, but for example, here's a blog post I wrote. Let's create a title together. That's an amazing use case.”
In this episode, Alex Fanshel, the CEO of New Standard Digital, discusses his unexpected career shift from finance to starting a marketing agency. They explore topics such as the future of marketing, the impact of AI, and the services offered by New Standard Digital. The episode also delves into the story behind the agency's growth, the challenges and advantages of digital marketing for big brands and smaller businesses, and the technical challenges faced by big brands utilizing complex tech stacks.
Alex Fanshel is a highly accomplished professional with extensive experience in the digital marketing industry. As the CEO of New Standard Digital, a leading digital marketing agency, Alex helps Fortune 500 brands and startups drive predictable traffic, leads, and revenue through a range of digital specialties. Additionally, as an Enterprise Consultant and Subject-Matter Expert at General Assembly, Alex works with Fortune 500 enterprises to transform their marketing departments, focusing on digital transformation, e-commerce, and various marketing strategies. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- New Standard Digital is a marketing agency that offers services such as content marketing, search engine optimization, Amazon management and marketing, and paid acquisition.
- Offering agency services, New Standard Digital expanded their offerings to include search strategy and organic search strategy for Fortune 500 beauty brands.
- Referrals and word-of-mouth played a significant role in growing their client base, along with upskilling through teaching opportunities.
- Big brands have brand awareness and existing search traffic, making it easier to get results.
- Smaller businesses can execute strategies faster due to fewer restrictions.
- Strategies for content/SEO and Amazon paid acquisition are usually similar for big brands and smaller businesses.
- Dev Noodle helps marketing agencies with developers' “bench time”, providing support when needed.
Resources:
- New Standard Digital
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Alexander Fanshel:
Connecting with Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 30:28 - First thing, if someone were thinking about starting an agency or any business, my answer is always the same. Your only job is to get someone to give you a single dollar. I don't care what it's for, I don't care if you're losing a ton of money, you probably will completely agree. Your only job is to get someone to give you a dollar. If you can do that once, okay, you can probably do it again in the second dollar, in theory will be easier to earn.
- 31:00 - What I always say in terms of marketing, I would say, you know, if someone is interested in marketing or just trying to do marketing better, I would say if something is complex, it probably isn't necessary, and it's probably not the best strategy when it comes to content in SEO, right? What are people searching? What is the intent? Do we have a right to win slash play? Can we create great content? Can we acquire backlinks? The strategy hasn't changed in years. It's very straightforward. It is not fancy. If, again, if it doesn't intuitively make sense, it's probably not a good strategy, frankly.
- 21:49.. Josh: Was there any, you know, like lessons that you learned through that process? Like you wish you brought stuff up earlier or anything like that?.. Alex: Oh, this is, this is a very good question. I think this was unavoidable, but to your point, we didn't discuss what we wanted to do long term until we were well in it. And my business partner at the time was like, I just want to make good money and, and live, you know, live a, a high quality life where I don't work all the time. And I was like, well, I want to build a, a business that grows.
- 27:06 Josh: Is there anything that you tried with like a bigger brand that worked with a smaller brand or vice versa that just fell on space? Take that the other way if you also want to say, oh my God, it worked, and you didn't expect, so I'll, I'll give you the option there... Alex: I'll say it this way, with what I mentioned before, with the bigger brands, right, they have brand awareness. If I have that, if I have existing search traffic, my life is going to be infinitely easier. Usually working with big brands is the dream because all the difficult part, brand awareness, what have you is already there. Now I just need to get my strategy approved and live. Whereas with the startups, the strategy is usually approved immediately, but the strategy going live does not produce results immediately.
- 19:32 Josh: obviously the first customer is really important, and through your story too, I think the second customer is arguably just as important. Because that almost starts the trend, right? Like, that makes it a company. So how did you guys, did you use that to get your second customer? Or how'd you guys get your second customer?.. Alex: I was just talking to a friend, and he is like, oh, what are you up to? And I was like, oh, you know, we started offering SEO services and we're getting really great results. And then they're like, oh, you know, I do consulting for some brands and I know a brand that could use SEO, can you talk to him? And we said, sure.
In this episode, Tommaso Vacarella, the co-founder and general manager of Connected-Stories, talks about his experience in the production company and the challenges of scaling a tech platform. He discusses the innovative product that helps personalize and automate video ads, while also highlighting customer success as the key to growth. Additionally, Vacarella provides insights into finding a platform for entrepreneurship and the challenges of managing people in the advertising technology industry.
Tommaso Vacarella is the GM and Co-Founder of Connected-Stories, the first Creative Management Platform for Advanced Video Formats. With a focus on disruptive innovation in video advertising, Connected-Stories brings together advertisers, creatives, data, and media professionals to develop data-driven strategies for enhanced video asset performance. Prior to that, Tommaso held roles at Frank Inc., Hudson East Capital LLC, and Wrong Way Pictures, showcasing his expertise in growth, finance, and production within the tech and media industries. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- Vacarella moved to New York City after high school to attend Pace University and pursue his dream of living in the city.
- Co-founded a production company with friends during college, which focused on music videos, short films, and commercials.
- The founder was inspired by his father and the idea of being a tech entrepreneur from a young age
- The first customer is the most important and takes a leap of faith
- Connective Stories is hiring a product manager and a business development lead for all things Europe
- Tommaso recommends “Thinking, Fast and Slow” as a book everyone should read
- Connective Stories' objective is to make advertising more enjoyable for consumers
Resources:
- Connected-Stories
- The She Speaks Podcast
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Tommaso Vaccarella:
Connecting with Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 07:42 - “Inspiring people more so than guiding them towards a certain vision is what probably is the most difficult aspect of being an entrepreneur. Although also the most fulfilling one, the most exciting ones. Because when you see people, you know, coming together, creating something exciting and really making friends along the way and becoming successful people together. That's what's most interesting thing to me.”
- 14:53 – “So the first customer is the one that takes the leap of faith, right? There's gotta be the innovators, there gotta be the ones that are essentially trusting you as you know, their partners, right? The second customer, we got it through essentially creating an interesting case study around the first customer showcasing that our platform was successful for, again, this first customer to achieve their objectives, creating ROI for their agencies and the brands we're working with.”
- 04:20 - “I joined a venture capital firm for a real while. And then I joined a tech startup in, in, in FinTech in finance technology focused on borrowing and lending money between friends and family. That was the name of the company was Frank, which really literally stood for Frank, the friends bank, right? So that's so something that inspired me to really dive in more the tech business and essentially find something that was a little bit more scalable than production, right?”
- 07:07 - Josh: “What happened as you were growing the business that you just didn't expect, you know, going in, and I know your dad had like a successful exit, and he's been there and done it, but for you personally, like what ended up happening? Like wow, I didn't think I'd have to focus that much on this or something like that.” Tommaso: “So many things. Yeah, I would say one in particular that I had sort of like found myself in previous experiences is probably managing people. I knew that it was difficult. I didn't know that it would've been sort of like this challenging.”
- 11:22 - Josh: “So can you talk a little bit more about the product?” Tommaso: “Totally, totally. No, that's a good point. So we are a creative management platform with certain people not necessarily familiar with the advertising technology industry. We basically have a platform solution that allows to make video ads more interesting, right? And how you do so is through personalization, ensure activity, but at the same time essentially solving for different challenges, right?”
In this episode, Stacy Cretu, founder and CEO of Uncommon Marketing Works discusses the challenges of marketing in a constantly changing industry, the importance of client relations, hiring the right team, and the impact of failures in the entrepreneurial world. Stacy also shares her insights on the growth of her digital-first marketing operations agency, building a team of women, and the benefits of focusing on having fun while learning in any job, including marketing.
Staci Cretu, the Marketing Maestro, brings two decades of experience in enchanting audiences and transforming brands. With expertise spanning diverse industries, she has orchestrated captivating campaigns that generate results while keeping the world smiling. Staci's leadership and strategic marketing initiatives have driven significant revenue growth, fostered successful partnerships, and empowered businesses to thrive with next gen marketing strategies. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- The agency helps B2B clients navigate the world of marketing and drive growth opportunities
- The marketing industry changes constantly, especially during Covid-19, and creativity is essential to success
- To ensure the right fit for hires, Uncommon Marketing Works asks content writers and paid media specialists to complete writing tasks and analyze client accounts, respectively, before hiring.
- Failure is inevitable in the entrepreneurial world, and it is crucial to embrace and learn from it to succeed.
- Short and engaging training sessions are more effective for retaining information.
- Incorporating humor and fun in marketing campaigns can make them more memorable and effective.
Resources:
- Uncommon Marketing Works
- The She Speaks Podcast
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Stacy Cretu:
Connecting with Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 02:29 - But marketing definitely can change on a dime, and I really equated it to the constant change in the industry, in the practice of marketing and equated it to climbing or scaling a mountain, which I will never do personally, but it's the idea and the premise that scaling a mountain, if you're a, you know, hiker or what have you, you are constantly battling different terrain, different climates and different challenges along the way, and it's how you overcome those challenges in the end.
- 10:35 - And really educate the client on the fact that you don't have to do everything, you know, pick something, be good at it, do that, and then, you know, hopefully generate the KPIs that you need and then move on and add things to it. So it's really from, as far as like out-of-the-box creativity, it's coming up with and coming up with ideas that are, that you're able to execute on within like very, very firm constraints.
- 08:14 - I think like at the end of the day, it needs to have prompts to go in and the higher quality those prompts are going in, the higher quality, the responses will come out. And, and I think it's a very good thought partner, but it's not the decision maker. And I think you still need that human side to clean up the words to further the idea, right?
- 09:24 - I think people are getting into like this mindset that they might be able to use this to replace a marketing firm or something like that. And I just think that's not the case at all because you still need the expertise to go in, you still need to understand any, whether there's personas or like, you need to have a marketing knowledge to get the best out of the tool.
- 23:45
Joshua: If you were to teach something to other marketers, what would it be?
Staci Cretu: You're going to fail, and you're going to fail hard. And it's about how you pick yourself up and how you figure things out and how you reconstruct and learn from those failures and understand failures always something that's going to happen. And again, it's the learning process of where you're at and if you're not willing to fail, you're not willing to succeed.
This episode, SheSpeaks’ Founder and CEO, Aliza Freud, talks about the opportunities for women in marketing, the benefits of being an entrepreneur, and how she’s connecting influencers with brands.
Aliza Freud is the Founder and CEO of SheSpeaks, an award-winning influencer marketing platform, where she connects female influencers & creators with brands and media.
The SheSpeaks platform reaches over 300 million consumers monthly and is powered by a community of hundreds of thousands of influential women.
Aliza is also the host of the SheSpeaks Podcast which features female CEOs, actresses, producers, authors, and athletes who are shaping our world. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
.
- The importance of having a focused message.
- What the paradox of choice means for businesses.
- The implications the Pareto principle has for entrepreneurs.
- The main reasons for becoming an entrepreneur.
- Why marketing should focus on a product's features.
- The importance of highlighting women's voices.
- The opportunities there are for women in marketing.
Resources:
- SheSpeaks Inc.
- The She Speaks Podcast
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Aliza Freud:
Connecting with the Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 18:02 – “One of the learnings as an entrepreneur is that you learn that sometimes that, yes, the world, there are lots of opportunities. That's one of the wonderful things about entrepreneurship. It feels like the world is wide open. But what I think a lot of successful entrepreneurs, what they've learned is to be really focused on what you offer and be very clear on communicating that. Because otherwise it's interesting because as a marketer and I spent the first part of my career working at a very large brand doing marketing. One of the first things I remember learning as a marketer was, when you give people too many choices, they choose nothing.”
- 36:05 – “I've never been somebody who gets dissuaded by failure. I love saying, and I say this to my kids all the time, that failure's not fatal. Like it's going to happen. You have to be able to say, okay, I am going to fail at something. I'm going to fail at multiple things. How do I figure out what I learned from it, that experience is going to give me, and then move forward from there.”
- 42:20 – “For me, and it doesn't mean I don't have a boss as an entrepreneur, but you have a lot of bosses as an entrepreneur too. But you still have more control. And I think for me that was a big part of wanting to be an entrepreneur. You know, just wanting to feel like I put this thing into the world and I make the decision to continue doing it or not.”
- 13:36 – “Now more than ever, we still need what we're trying to do, which is amplify, you know, make sure we understand what's going on with women and then amplify that to brands, to the media, to anybody who will listen.”
- 15:29 – “We were in a position to really give them access to all of these women who were, what, you now call influencers. Back then they were like mommy bloggers, people who were so, were active in social media, you didn't have a name for them. Now there's a name for them. And we have really great relationships with them. We know what is important to them. We know how to take a brand's message and really translate that to creating awesome content with these female creators and influencers.”
- 21:10 – “Another principal that you learned in business school, the Pareto principle, which is that what otherwise known as the 80 20 rule, which is okay, what are, you know, you typically have, you know, 80% of your volume coming from 20% of something, right? So you really have to say, okay, be very ruthless in your decision to what you're going to focus on, especially early in a startup's life. I think the more, the more specific you can be, the more focused you can be, the better off you're going to be in the longer run. And then you can always, as I said, expand after you've, you've mastered one thing.”
This episode, B Squared Media’s Founder and CEO, Brooke Sellas, talks about different scheduling and automation tools, how these can be used to improve productivity, and the different ways you can streamline the hiring and onboarding process.
Brooke Sellas is an entrepreneur, digital customer experience consultant, and CEO and Founder of B Squared Media, where she spends most of her time working on sales and marketing. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
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- Tools that help with scheduling and automation.
- How smart automation tools can save time and increase productivity.
- The danger of scope creeps and how to avoid it.
- Hot to build trust with customers using social media content.
- Why behind-the-scenes content is always the top-performing content, no matter the industry.
- The type of person that makes a good guest.
Resources:
- B Squared Media
- Teenage Wastebrand: How Your Brand Can Stop Struggling and Start Scaling
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Brooke Sellas:
Connecting with the Josh Hoffman:
Quotables:
- 06:34 – “I don't want to do automation to the point where personalization goes away, but I do use a lot of automation to help get my message out as people want to connect with me or want to buy the book or want to download something that we offer or sign up for our newsletter. So I always say in my emails that are automated, Hey, this really is me and I read and respond to every comment. So if you want to reply and ask a question, book a call, whatever it is, I will read it and I will reply. And so I think that kind of helps soften the fact that yes, everybody's getting this automated email, but it truly is me and I truly do respond.”
- 11:18 – “As a business owner, what I've learned, one of the biggest and best pieces of advice I could give is in your agreements, make sure that your scope of work is crystal clear about what you will and what you will not do. And that way if somebody tries to do something that's outside of the scope or presents you with scope creep, you can say, Hey Josh, thank you so much for the opportunity to do this new project with you. It is outside of our scope of work. If you look at the agreement, however, I can put together a proposal for this project or an hourly rate or whatever it is to get this done for you. Like we'd love to do this for you, but it's not in your scope, so you're going to have to pay more”
- 18:52 – “We were the opposite of what the thing says, which is hire slow, fire fast. We were the opposite. We weren't hire slow, no, we would hire fast and fire slow. So we were not the best and we got lucky. We've had some like incredibly amazing people who have worked with us and still work with us, but we've also made some real doozies hiring. And so about two or three years ago we totally revamped our hiring process, and we stuck the job of hiring with a few key people on our team so that that process is followed. It's always the same people, and that has drastically changed the way we hire and onboard new people.”
- 29:57 – “We actually score people with a scorecard on how they answer questions. So if they don't make it to a certain score, we don't hire them. So, some people can have a good interview, but their personality seems amazing, but they don't answer the questions quite the way you'd want them to. Well, they don't get hired. I'm sorry, it's not about how great your personality is, it's how well can you do the job? So we have those and then our onboarding process got totally revamped, and now we make them shadow with people. So for the first 90 days, they're almost in training so that we're not just cutting them loose on doing something before they're ready.”
- 24:41 – “I think the biggest thing that marketers have issues with are putting things in a box, right? So like a lot of times you'll see the social tools post something, the best time to post is Wednesday at 11 or whatever. And then marketers take that blanket statement and apply it to their brand, when really every brand is different. You have to set your own standards for each brand or client that you work with. And I think teaching marketers that critical thinking part of creating what those standards are and then implementing that into some of the, the processes, the standard operating procedures that are specific to that client, right? So we have the SOPs, but then you have the brand SOPs or statements or whatever.”
Scott Ellis has worked in marketing for over 20 years and is now the President of Agency Operations and COO & SVP of Product Delivery at Adworthy.
At Adworthy, Scott is responsible for the successful delivery of their 1st party data products, and agency services.
Utilizing their privacy-compliant targeting platform that mines and optimizes 1st party data for new customer acquisition, Scott works with Brands and Agencies, Technology Partners, and Investors, to deliver optimized first-party data products and best practices that deliver market-leading business results and accelerated speed to value. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- The differences between working at home and working in the office.
- How remote teams can share informal knowledge with each other.
- How to avoid bad clients.
- What it really means to be data-driven.
- When you should go against what the data says.
- The value of using first-party data for new customer targeting and acquisition.
- Different reporting tools that collect data.
Resources:
- Adworthy
- Augmetrics
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Tableau
- NinjaCat
- Ten Percent Happier Podcast
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Scott Ellis:
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Quotables
- 11:54 - “How do we have the biggest impact that we can have over a broader range of customers by servicing the right information, the right data from which actions can be taken because one of the things we see the challenge is you have these almost any organization that you can work with their subject matter experts in that area, their smart people but oftentimes they encumbered by the fact that they can't get the right information at the point at which they need to make decisions.”
- 17:49 - “Rather than throwing a hail mary we go back to the data, did we miss something? Is there something operationally that doesn't line up here that we need to bring into this model and that’s been the way that we’ve always been successful because the data has led us and we haven't gone in there thinking that we know better or with already determining what it is we’re going to do.”
- 24:20 - “It’s listening to what it is that customers want and then making sure in traditional marketing terms that you’re there. The challenge that we see today and a caution is companies that target the whole of the United States and they don’t necessarily look at that and say hold on now let's look at our first-party data or our customer data, how many people have we sold to in a given state or in a given metro area and then how much of our marketing spend is going into those areas.”
- 26:54 - “We focus on very specific data sets relevant to the problem at hand not just trying to say hey let’s look at everything because again you can throw huge computing power at that but it’s inherently fairly inefficient when it comes to solving very specific problems.”
- 27:42 - “Always ask where the data came from. Ok, someone’s given you a report, someone’s given you a recommendation, just because you trust that person and you like that person or it came out of a machine it doesn’t mean it's the right data that you should be judging your decisions on so always ask where that data originated.”
Hamsah Ahmed runs her own marketing agency that hypes brands up with the right content, influencer marketing, digital marketing, and user-generated content.
Hamsah focuses on working with non-profits and small agencies to build their brand into something people desire to associate themselves with. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- The benefits of working with non-profits and small agencies.
- How to measure how well a post is performing.
- How to get customers in different countries.
- The difference between working with small businesses rather than big businesses.
- How the pandemic has changed small business behavior.
- The most effective influencer marketing.
- The future of user-created content.
- How much budget you need to get influencers.
- Why use an influencer instead of a UGC strategy.
Resources:
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Hamsah Ahmed:
- Website
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Rick Campbell is an innovative, results-producing casino marketing executive with a proven track record of success developing and leading comprehensive casino marketing strategies that exceed business goals and objectives for very successful companies.
Rick has expertise in directing the creation of marketing tools and steering the execution of marketing, and he has demonstrated success in driving growth in targeted markets through the implementation of key projects. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- How to get the first customers for your agency.
- The benefits of starting a company with a team.
- The difference between marketing for casinos compared to other industries.
- How brands work together during campaigns.
- Different tools you can use to pull data points.
- The issue with automating casinos.
- How to create a marketing plan.
- How to know when to hire more staff.
- What makes a good casino marketer.
- The benefits of running analysis on your performance.
Resources:
- CMS Group
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Rick Campbell:
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Jason Piasecki is the Partner and CEO of Revel, a marketing agency that has grown hundreds of B2B brands.
Jason focuses his attention on the unique challenges B2B companies have in growing their business and develops individualized strategies and tactics that deliver measurable results that meet unique business goals. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- How baseball relates to business.
- What it’s like starting a marketing agency.
- How Jason got his first customers for his marketing agency.
- The difference between B2B and B2C marketing.
- How call to actions differ between B2B and B2C marketing.
- The services Revel provides to help businesses with their marketing.
- Tools that analyze marketing success.
- How marketing trends have changed since Covid.
- How to know whether it’s the right time to hire or not.
Resources:
- Revel
- Google Analytics
- Mailchimp
- Atomic Habits
- Five Dysfunctions of a Team
- The Baseball 100
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Jason Piasecki:
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Brad Kugler has a passion for leading and growing businesses and has been the CEO at DirectMail 2.0 for over 5 years, where they provide a marketing based solution designed to track clients direct mail campaigns and enhance the overall result through cross-channel marketing. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency:
- What DirectMail 2.0 does and how they help organizations with their marketing efforts.
- The amount of touchpoints it takes to generate a sale.
- The benefits of marketing on multiple different platforms.
- What makes direct mail such an effective marketing technique.
- How to get the location data of your website’s visitors.
- The power of re-target marketing.
- How Brad started his own marketing agency and got his first customers.
- The high failure rate in marketing and the need there is for persistence.
- The benefits and downsides of focusing on a narrow niche.
- Tools you can use to test different marketing channels.
- The future of marketing and targeted advertising.
Resources:
- DirectMail 2.0
- Lifespan
- DevNoodle
Connecting with Brad Kugler:
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Laura Meyer is the Founder & CEO of Envision Horizons and an eCommerce agency specializing in working with Amazon and Walmart. She has also built an Amazon analytics platform. On this episode, we’ll discuss:
- How she applied what she learned in college to her work life and started her agency
- How Laura got into digital marketing and started her agency.
- How she got her first customer.
- Differentiating a good client vs one that isn’t a good fit
- What it’s like to get into Amazon and how it’s different than other e-commerce channels
- The key difference between branding for retail versus e-commerce.
- What Laura thinks people do wrong with data.
- The tools she uses at her agency and how she manages hiring
Resources:
- Books
- Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
- Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
- On the Way to Prosperity by Frances Young Person
- How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes
- The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
- What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence by Stephen Schwarzan
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
- Dev Noodle
Connecting with Laura Meyer:
- Envision Horizons
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
David has been a business owner-operator and investor for more than 20 years and is a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
David spends his time both as the CEO & Founder of Warschawski, the number one rated U.S. marketing communications agency, and is the Managing Director & Founder of W Ventures a one-of-a-kind accelerator. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of The Masters in Marketing Agency:
- How David has changed his teaching strategy as the industry has changed.
- How David got started in digital marketing.
- The importance of understanding how digital marketing works.
- The difference between digital marketing and the rest of the marketing field.
- The benefits of hiring professionals with cross-disciplinary expertise.
- How David got his business started from scratch.
- What marketing firms lack when it comes to focusing on ROI.
- The difference between working with large established brands and smaller growing brands.
Resources:
- Warschawski
- W Ventures
- DevNoodle
Connecting with David Warschawski:
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Janet Driscoll Miller has been the President and CEO of Marketing Mojo for over 15 years and is the author of ‘Data First Marketing’.
She is an expert in search engine optimization, digital advertising management, and data analytics and measurement. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of The Masters in Marketing Agency:
- Why it’s good to ask digital marketing candidates if they are analytical or creative.
- How digital marketers can switch from a tactical focus to a strategic focus.
- Using skillset badges to empower employees professional development.
- How to use data to inform the way your campaigns are run.
- How data is used differently across departments.
- Helpful tools to share and understand data.
- Common mistakes marketers make when looking at data.
- The clients Janet works with and how she got her first client.
- How to start your own agency and the benefits of having your own business.
- What a ‘returnship’ is and how it can help people get back in the workforce.
Resources:
- Marketing Mojo
- Data-First Marketing: How to Compete and Win in the Age of Analytics
- Zapier
- Google Analytics
- Win Data-First Marketing Book for free
Connecting with Janet Driscoll Miller:
Connecting with the host:
- Josh Hoffman on LinkedIn
Are you running a digital marketing agency but feel like you need some advice? The Masters of Marketing Agency Podcast features veteran marketing agency owners who share their experiences, mistakes, and successes along their journey. Join host Josh Hoffman and make sure you have a notebook as he digs deep so you can learn more about what veteran agency owners know.
The Masters of Marketing Agency Podcast is brought to you by DevNoodle.