A Brave New Podcast: Recent Episodes
Josh Dougherty
Great marketing is all about making smart decisions, developing your discipline, understanding and meeting the needs of your prospective customers, and putting in place the right systems to make the whole process easier. A Brave New Podcast, with brand and marketing strategist Josh Dougherty, is here to teach you how to truly unlock your business potential through the power of marketing! Each episode will bring you insights, best practices, and top strategies from a variety of business leaders and marketing & sales experts. Tune in to A Brave New Podcast to learn how to build a more memorable brand and accelerate your growth with bold marketing.
Hillery Smith Shay, MBA is chief marketing and experience officer, senior vice president of communications at Children's Minnesota. Hillery Shay joined Children's Minnesota in 2021, as VP of marketing and communications and is now chief marketing and experience officer, senior vice president of communications. She provides strategic direction for organizational marketing and communications. She is also responsible for defining and building an organization-wide experience strategy. Ms. Shay brings nearly 25 years of leadership experience in health care and mass communication, with a proven track record of success leading national and global public health campaigns and marketing initiatives. Prior to her role at Children's Minnesota, Shay served in leadership roles at Abbott Labs leading professional education, marketing, communications and scientific congress strategy. She also served as a journalist and team leader for more than 10 years at the Associated Press and the Baltimore Sun, including as a photojournalist covering two sitting U.S. presidents as well as the Pentagon on 9/11. Ms. Shay earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and a master's degree in business administration from Bethel University in Minnesota. She is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, inc.
What you'll learn about in this episode: * How Children's Minnesota faced and overcame a significant branding challenge after shortening their name, leading to market confusion with other similarly named experts in their market. * How adding "The Kid Experts" to the Children's Minnesota brand was implemented to create clear differentiation and clarify their identity in the market. * The steps that Children's Minnesota took to safeguard their brand identity. * How the repositioning strategy resulted in measurable improvements in brand perception, evidenced by a significant increase in their NRC Health image and reputation score over a three-year period. * The crucial role of consistent implementation of the "The Kid Experts" branding across all touchpoints, including physical hospital and clinic spaces, for reinforcing the new brand identity. * How the "Raise Them Up" campaign emerged from community trauma and served as a powerful example of a brand connecting with its audience through hope and advocacy for children. * How Children's Minnesota demonstrated a commitment to inclusive branding by intentionally reaching diverse communities in their service area through translated materials and tailored outreach efforts. * About the tangible results of the "Raise Them Up" campaign in engaging diverse communities, including increased clinic visits requiring translation and higher conversion rates for targeted advertising. * About the importance of a long-term perspective in brand building, showcasing the multi-year effort to reposition and strengthen the Children's Minnesota brand.
Additional resources: * Hillery Smith Shay on LinkedIn * Children's Minnesota's Website * Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn * Josh Dougherty's speaking site * A Brave New's Website
Jennifer Lazarz is Director of Marketing at Medical Informatics Corp. (MIC), where she now runs the company's entire marketing function as a sole practitioner. Her work spans brand strategy, demand generation, content, and go-to-market execution for the Sickbay Clinical Platform, an FDA-cleared patient monitoring solution used by health systems nationwide.
Since joining MIC in 2022, Jennifer has grown the company's digital footprint from a minimal presence into a full content and demand engine, driving a 6x increase in website traffic and a 400% increase in content output through an integrated strategy spanning thought leadership, video, and social media. She works closely with sales leadership on pipeline strategy and is currently building new structures for marketing-attributed opportunity tracking. She also led the branding and positioning work behind MIC's shift toward the Sickbay name, along with the company's 2024 website relaunch and a full rebuild of its marketing technology stack.
Jennifer's path into healthcare marketing is anything but linear. She spent years as a professional opera singer before building a destination marketing organization from the ground up as Tourism & Marketing Manager for the City of Gallup, NM, managing a $1.8 million budget and serving as the city's Public Information Officer during COVID-19. That background in building brand and audience trust from scratch now shapes how she approaches marketing in a highly regulated, relationship-driven industry like healthcare technology.
She holds a Master of Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts from Augustana College. Jennifer serves as Treasurer of the American Marketing Association's Colorado chapter, she enjoys needle felting (or as she calls it "Stabby craft") and spending time with her two mischievous miniature schnauzers.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How Sickbay transitioned from Medical Informatics Crop to a customer recognized brand while maintaining trust and market credibility.
- Why connecting with people, not just the products, is the foundation of effective B2B healthcare marketing.
- How Sickbay tailors its messaging across clinical teams, healthcare executives, researchers, and channel partners.
- Why treating brand, product, and performance as interconnected rather than separate entities creates a stronger marketing strategy.
- Practical approaches to proving marketing ROI, including ways to understand AI search visibility and content performance.
- How AI is accelerating content creation, research, and analysis while reinforcing the importance of human expertise and authentic storytelling.
- Why Sickbay's long term vision is to be recognized as a trusted partner that helps healthcare organizations improve virtual care, telemetry, and data driven decision making.
Additional resources:
- Jennifer Lazarz's LinkedIn
- Sickbay's website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Geoffrey Schiavon is a marketing leader with more than 15 years of international experience driving growth through B2B2C business models across ecommerce and health tech. His expertise spans performance marketing, customer engagement, strategic partnerships, and go-to-market strategy, helping businesses build lasting relationships and drive sustainable revenue growth.
Before joining dacadoo as Head of Marketing & Client Success, Geoffrey spent nine years at Webloyalty, where he held a variety of marketing leadership roles, partnering with leading retailers and ecommerce businesses across Europe to deliver scalable customer acquisition and retention programs.
Today, Geoffrey helps insurers, banks, and retailers leverage AI, behavioral science, and gamification to create engaging digital health experiences that improve customer wellbeing and business outcomes.
Outside of work, Geoffrey is a licensed private pilot and enjoys exploring the intersection of technology, precision, and lifelong learning.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Why trust is the foundation of healthcare branding and how it shapes customer interactions.
- How dacadoo differentiates itself through personalization, engagement, and a holistic approach to health.
- How messaging evolves to address the unique needs of insurers, employers, retailers, and healthcare organizations.
- Balancing brand, product, and performance marketing, including how these functions work together to drive growth and measure success.
- Why retailers are an important growth opportunity and how wellness is creating a new customer engagement.
- How AI is improving efficiency and influencing the future of marketing.
Additional resources:
- Geoffrey Schiavon on LinkedIn
- dacadoo newsletter on LinkedIn
- dacadoo's website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's website
Ashley Buehnerkemper is Director of Marketing at VitalSkin Dermatology, where she has led marketing and brand strategy since the company's inception in 2019, growing the platform from its earliest locations to more than 40 today. Her role spans far beyond traditional marketing: as a member of VitalSkin's executive leadership team, she owns the martech stack, performance reporting, and brand governance across a fast-growing, multi-brand dermatology group, with a particular focus on driving tight alignment between marketing and operations.
Before joining VitalSkin, Ashley spent 11 years at Heartland Dental, the largest dental support organization in the country, where she rose from managing marketing for a handful of offices to leading corporate communications and brand management across a network of 800+ locations and $1B+ in annual revenue. There she led a multi-million-dollar corporate rebranding initiative and built the systems that fueled acquisition growth, learning firsthand that marketing only works when it's built in true partnership with operations.
At VitalSkin, that philosophy has shaped her approach to scaling a company built through partnership with strong regional dermatology practices, each with its own identity and community roots. Ashley is known for pairing data-driven rigor with an insistence on keeping the patient experience personal, never letting scale come at the cost of the local relationships that make each practice trusted in its market.
She lives in Effingham, Illinois, with her husband Jay and their two daughters.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How VitalSkin manages multiple local and regional brands while maintaining consistency and a local presence.
- VitalSkin's strategy for supporting numerous clinics effectively, including the use of standardized MarTech stacks and templated resources.
- Why collaboration across teams like marketing and operations is essential to delivering a seamless patient experience.
- Best practices for selecting agencies and vendors that can support long term growth.
- How AI is streamlining operations while leaving creativity and storytelling to people.
- How patient feedback, online reviews, and local search strengthen both reputation and brand, including strategies for gathering and maintaining them.
- How playbooks, templates, and local ownership create consistency across a growing network of practices.
Additional resources:
- Ashley Buehnerkemper on LinkedIn
- VitalSkin's website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's website
Kristi Annes is a healthcare marketing executive with more than 15 years of experience building brands and driving growth at some of the most influential companies in health IT.
Kristi currently serves as VP of Marketing Strategy at IMO Health, a private equity-backed leader in clinical intelligence and data solutions, where she has spent nearly a decade defining how the company shows up in the market. When IMO Health acquired Melax Tech, she led the marketing integration — unifying teams, technology, and execution to deliver impact from day one.
Her path to that role ran through one of health IT's most notable transactions: the IBM acquisition of Merge Healthcare. As Director of Performance Marketing at Merge, Kristi was retained post-acquisition to lead segment marketing inside IBM Watson Health, guiding a specialized healthcare brand through the demands of integrating into one of the world's largest technology organizations.
Earlier in her career, Kristi held marketing leadership roles at the American Hospital Association, where she helped launch AHA SmartMarket, and began her career in brand and creative strategy at Shaker Recruitment Advertising. Kristi holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Illinois State University.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How IMO Health keeps its mission focused on improving patient and clinician experiences while developing AI-ready solutions.
- How Kristi defines branding beyond logos and visuals, and why emotional connection and trust are essential in B2B healthcare.
- Why enterprise healthcare buyers make decisions emotionally, and how brands that deliver clarity, reliability, and human centered messaging stand out in complex markets.
- How collaboration between brand, content, product, and performance marketing teams create cohesive campaigns, leading to stronger business impact.
- How Kristi's team approaches attribution, pipeline generation, and ROI during the complexities of long healthcare buying cycles.
- How interactive virtual experiences, research-driven surveys, and creative engagement are outperforming webinars and generating meaningful conversations with prospective customers.
- Practical ways AI is helping marketing teams automate reporting, content creation, and operational tasks.
- Why future marketing leaders will oversee both people and AI agents, balancing automation with strategy, ethics, and relationship-building.
Additional resources:
- Kristi Annes on LinkedIn
- IMO Health's website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's website
Product Management and innovation enthusiast, Hank Lander, currently serves as a Group Product Manager at HubSpot, focusing on Customer Data Protections. Hank's expertise lies in launching new products and building product pipelines. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Product at ZoomInfo and worked at multiple early-stage startups. Hank holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How AI is reshaping sensitive data governance inside HubSpot.
- Which portions of HubSpot support HIPAA compliance via sensitive data
- Why AI features that touch sensitive data must be opt-in, scoped, and auditable
- How HubSpot is embracing the concept of "toggle off" data access so that customers can decide if they want AI to not touch specific data.
- How HubSpot is building in 'undo' capabilities with AI integrations like Claude, to provide more control to users.
- How AI can improve quality and streamline workflows before the work reaches your team.
- Why AI-powered audit logs will become a proactive tool for security and governance.
- What the future of CRM looks like as humans and AI agents work together.
Additional resources:
- Hank Lander on LinkedIn
- HubSpot's Website
- HubSpot Sensitive Data
- Understand how Sensitive Data is used in HubSpot tools
- Store Sensitive Data in HubSpot
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold and memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, hospitals and specialty care providers, and healthcare nonprofits. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How your brand can serve as a multiplier of your marketing efforts if you've take the time to craft a bold and differentiated brand memory.
- How your brand can limit marketing performance if it's not fully thought through or expressed.
- The difference between brand and marketing, also why treating them as the same thing can create growth challenges.
- Why you can't optimize your way out of a brand problem when the brand foundation isn't strong.
- How brand acts as a multiplier on marketing efforts, increasing or limiting the impact of every dollar spent.
- Three signs you're facing a brand problem rather than a marketing problem.
- How to strengthen your brand by aligning what you're offering with existing memory, building consistent presence, and defining what makes you unique.
- Practical ways healthcare orgs can strengthen their brand without slowing growth initiatives.
- Three diagnostic questions leaders can use to evaluate whether their brand is helping or hindering growth.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Jennifer is a seasoned healthcare leader with expertise in leading start-up and high growth organizations, with a proven track record of executing on go-to-market and growth strategies in the employer, payor and provider channels.
Jennifer currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Pacify Health, a leader in tech-enabled Maternity Management Solutions. Previously, Jennifer served as General Manager and Chief Commercial Officer for Vera Whole Health, an advanced primary care organization and at Optum as Senior Vice President, Commercial Growth. Jennifer serves as a board member for Zero Health, a leader in employer direct contracting and as the Board Chair for the Minnesota Milk Bank for Babies.
Jennifer holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management and an MS in Kinesiology from the University of North Dakota.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How Jennifer and the Pacify team made the strategic decision to expand from on-demand lactation into a doula-led maternity management model
- What the research actually shows about doulas' impact on clinical outcomes and birth experience
- How to apply "calculated bravery" when making a fundamental shift to your business model
- Why Pacify chose to evolve its brand positioning rather than rename the company
- How to balance brand messaging across complex audiences, including members, providers, paying customers, and internal teams
- Why education and human outbound calls are essential to driving engagement, even for free services
- How Jennifer thinks about the role of AI and technology in a deeply human care experience
Additional resources:
- Jennifer Sargent on LinkedIn
- Pacify Health's Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold and memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, hospitals and specialty care providers, and healthcare nonprofits. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Why branding decisions during mergers and acquisitions shouldn't be treated as an afterthought.
- The hidden cost of delaying brand strategy until after a deal closes.
- The three main brand architecture approaches: monolithic brands, endorsed brands, and house of brands.
- How to determine which brand architecture approach is right for your organization.
- Why understanding buyer behavior is critical when evaluating brand consolidation.
- How brand architecture and on the ground teams can serve as a driving force in aligning leadership around how to communicate about the future of the combined organizations
- Why tactical branding changes made under pressure often create long-term challenges.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Bridget Locke is Vice President of Strategic Marketing at VitalPath, a leading contract design and manufacturing partner focused on complex catheter solutions for the medical device industry. She specializes in helping highly technical B2B organizations translate complex capabilities into clear market positioning, scalable growth strategies, and high-impact customer engagement.
With experience spanning strategic marketing, sales alignment, brand development, M&A integration, and commercial strategy, Bridget has built and led growth initiatives across the medtech manufacturing ecosystem. Her career has included leadership roles at Vantedge Medical, ATL Technology, Heraeus Medevio, and Northwire, where she partnered closely with executive teams to align marketing, sales, and business strategy in complex and regulated industries.
At VitalPath, Bridget focuses on building a brand centered around collaboration, technical partnership, responsiveness, and innovation, helping OEMs accelerate the development and commercialization of next-generation catheter technologies. She is particularly passionate about aligning strategy with execution, creating strong sales and marketing integration, and leveraging emerging technologies like AI to enhance both customer experience and operational effectiveness.
Based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul medtech hub, Bridget brings a practical, growth-oriented perspective on branding, leadership, and the evolving future of medical device innovation.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How VitalPath differentiates in a competitive market by being the responsive, collaborative specialist rather than the large generalist.
- Why the strongest MedTech brands are built on focus and people, not capabilities lists.
- The importance of understanding your customer journey and what it looks like to map that out in a B2B contract manufacturing context.
- How Bridget approaches sales and marketing alignment, including her perspective on having sales operations aligned within the marketing organization.
- What marketing in a PE-backed company looks like, and how to think about your four distinct audience profiles.
- Where AI is adding value today in MedTech marketing, and where the human touch can't be replaced.
Additional resources:
- Bridget Locke on LinkedIn
- VitalPath's Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Sharon Dayan is an accomplished, strategic marketing executive with over 15 years of experience driving growth for B2B, early-stage, and global technology and healthcare companies. Dedicated to working towards a "Healthier Tomorrow," Sharon has built a career around using cutting-edge technology to improve patient outcomes and solve complex market needs.
Currently serving as the VP of Marketing at Biobeat, Sharon leads the marketing strategy for the company's ground-breaking, FDA-cleared, cuffless 24-hour blood pressure monitoring platform. By replacing uncomfortable, legacy cuff-based measurements with, a wireless patch that provides day and night data, the platform empowers clinicians to detect hypertension early and manage this condition, transition care to reactive precise management. Prior to this, she was the VP of Marketing at BRIA AI, responsible, Visual Generative AI platform for enterprises, and the Head of Global Marketing at Medix Global, where she managed multi-lingual teams across 12 global offices to advance health equity. Her diverse background also includes pivotal early leadership roles.
A proactive, fast-learning leader, Sharon blends a strong academic foundation-including an MBA in Marketing & Entrepreneurship and a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) with a proven track record of building brand stories, fostering strategic partnerships, and scaling businesses.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Why branding in medical devices isn't just about visibility, and why it's about building clinical credibility including giving physicians the confidence to rethink long-standing approaches.
- How Biobeat is redefining hypertension management with the first FDA-cleared cuffless 24-hour blood pressure monitoring patch, and why nighttime blood pressure data matters more than people realize.
- Why brand voice and creative strategy are still deeply human strengths, and why the soul of a brand can't be automated, even as AI continues to evolve.
- Why product-market fit is a powerful marketing tool, and how solving a clear, meaningful problem makes storytelling more impactful.
- Why nearly half of Americans are living with hypertension, and how earlier, more accurate diagnosis could prevent serious downstream health issues and costs.
- How to identify and empower early adopters in a highly regulated industry where change moves slowly, and why those champions are essential for building momentum.
- Sharon's perspective on using AI in regulated marketing: where it's valuable, where it falls short, and why human oversight remains critical.
Additional resources:
- Sharon Dayan on LinkedIn
- Biobeat's Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold and memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, hospitals and specialty care providers, and healthcare nonprofits. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Josh's key takeaways from the 2026 NACCDO-CMCA Annual Conference in Toronto, Canada.
- Why cancer centers need to champion the value of cancer research, and what's at stake as federal research funding faces pressure.
- Why NCI designated cancer centers have a unique opportunity to become trusted information hubs in an era of AI search, misinformation, and fragmented media.
- How to think about differentiation for cancer centers in contrast to smaller facilities that can't match the level of care.
- How AI is accelerating cancer care through lung cancer screening, clinical trial matching, and AI-assisted radiation treatment plans.
- The challenges matrix cancer centers face when it comes to developing a differentiated brand and aligning all parties around a single communication strategy; and how enterprise content strategy and brand architecture can improve coordination, alignment, and consistency across complex health systems.
- Why findability is getting harder, and why the shift from informational keywords to mid-funnel, decision-stage content is critical for cancer center websites.
- How to show up in AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity using structured data, schema, and answer engine optimization (AEO).
Additional resources:
- National Association of Cancer Center Development Offices Website
- Cancer Marketing and Communications Association Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Jacqueline Parisi is the Head of Marketing at Elektra Health and brings over a decade of experience in brand strategy and growth marketing. She kicked off her career as the first U.S. copywriter at HelloFresh before transitioning into the digital health space. She has consulted for Seed to Series C digital health startups like Ophelia, Tend, Local Infusion, and Proper (incubated by Redesign Health). Jacqueline is an alumna of Boston College and NYU. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How Elektra Health is redefining women's healthcare through a virtual, evidence-based model that combines clinical care, coaching, and community support.
- Jacqueline's definition of branding and why it's not just what you say, but what customers experience and believe after interacting with your brand.
- Jacqueline's three pillars of a great brand including, consistency across every touchpoint, distinctiveness you can recognize without a logo, and the ability to deliver on your promise every time.
- Why a bold, positive brand is essential in breaking stigmas, especially in a space like menopause that has been historically overlooked or misrepresented.
- Why growth and brand-building should never be treated as separate efforts, and how strong branding improves performance marketing efficiency.
- How to think about measuring brand impact, from cost of acquisition (CAC and branded search to qualitative signals like perception in AI tools and customer feedback.
- Real-world ways AI is being used today to gain deeper research, social listening, and uncovering customer insights.
- The emerging trends shaping the future of marketing beyond AI, and why staying close to your customer will always be your biggest advantage.
- How to balance being critically rigorous and evidence-based while still sounding human, conversational, and actionable in your messaging.
- What Elektra Health wants to be known for in the next year, including approachability, unbiased care, and a commitment to science-backed outcomes.
Additional resources:
- Jacqueline Parisi on LinkedIn
- Elektra Health's Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Chad Kearns is a Senior Vice President at Fired Up! Culture, bringing nearly 15 years of experience in building teams and leading organizations to his work in helping leaders build culture and engagement in the organizations they lead.
Before joining Fired Up! Culture in 2022, Chad headed a 50+ person marketing agency, guiding the organization through multiple growth periods and acquisitions. During that time, he built seven-figure service lines from the ground up, developed leaders and executives who elevated their teams, and drove the kind of employee engagement that produces remarkable business results.
Today, as Senior Vice President at Fired Up! Culture, Chad partners with executive leadership teams of all sizes to navigate meaningful change management processes, cultivating healthy, high-performing cultures and business outcomes.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- The similarities and differences between building a great brand and a great culture
- The specific areas of overlap between brand and culture in an organization
- The markers of a healthy culture
- How to tell if you have a culture issue that needs to be addressed
- The level of influence and control that leaders have over their organizational culture
- The importance of alignment in building a great culture
- Why building a great culture almost always comes down to having the right people on the team
- Chad's hot take that middle managers are more important than people think and flat organizations may not be as effective as people assume
Additional resources:
- Chad Kearns on LinkedIn
- Fired Up! Culture's Website
- Fired Up! Culture's Newsletter
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Lon Hecht is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 25 years of experience leading transformative growth. He joined Care2U as Chief Growth Officer in 2023 and became CEO in 2024, reflecting his strategic vision and results-driven leadership. Previously, Lon was SVP of Growth at Optum Home and Community Care, where he helped integrate and scale innovative healthcare models, including naviHealth, Landmark, Prospero, and Optum at Home.
His leadership portfolio includes roles as Chief Commercial Officer at Utilize Health, VP of Payor and Provider Markets at Teladoc, Founder and CEO of QuickSeeMD, and VP of Sales at eviCore. Known for delivering exponential growth and building high-performing teams, Lon is a recognized leader in value-based care. He combines entrepreneurial drive with operational expertise and a strong network across payor and provider markets.
Lon holds a B.S. in Marketing from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and resides with his family on the Jersey Shore.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How Care2U has positioned its brand around a disruptive care model, delivering high acuity care at home, and how that promise is translated into messaging that makes a complex healthcare service understandable to different audiences.
- How Care2U differentiates its brand by owning a distinct positioning around acuity, access, and cost in a way that resonates with both payers and patients.
- The real-world patient impact of receiving hospital-level care at home, combined with a rapid-response model that deploys clinicians within 2-4 hours to deliver high-acuity treatment at home.
- How payer alignment shapes credibility, and why the ability to speak directly to the insurance economics is important when scaling a healthcare brand.
- How Care2U aligns with insurers and differentiates from both hospital at home programs and urgent care providers.
- Why spending more time with patients and less time spent in waiting rooms leads to better outcomes and smarter care decisions.
- The measurable clinical outcomes behind the NPS (Net Promoter Score) model including hospital escalation rates, strong patient experiences, and effective and safe recovery at home.
- Where this care model is headed next and the broader vision for transforming the future of healthcare delivery, following its success in the New York market.
Additional resources:
- Lon Hecht on LinkedIn
- Care2U Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Danielle Ruckert has built RH Strategic's healthcare practice into a hub for some of the industry's most urgent conversations.
She consistently and deftly guides clients through thorny issues—from Medicaid cuts for rural providers to new technologies reshaping organ transplantation—shaping messages that resonate with policymakers, patients and investors alike.
Her leadership has expanded the firm's portfolio into women's health, hospital systems and reputation management, adding to longstanding strengths in health IT and medical devices. She is especially passionate about bringing visibility to underrepresented areas of healthcare, from women's health innovations to reform in the transplant system.
Danielle's strategic eye is matched by her curiosity: She's constantly scanning the policy environment, exploring new tools and mentoring colleagues who share her passion for communications and healthcare. That mix of industry fluency and forward vision has made her a trusted partner to companies navigating one of the most complicated and consequential sectors of the economy.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How PR (public relations) validates your brand in the "court of public opinion" ensuring your positioning, messaging, and values actually resonate in the real world.
- How consistency across channels builds (or breaks) trust by maintaining the same brand story across social, website, and executive voices to maintain credibility.
- Why PR is a powerful brand signal, not just a comms function, and how earned media shapes perception at scale and reinforces your entire brand ecosystem.
- Why your executive team are essential ambassadors for your brand, and how to activate them via thought leadership on platforms like LinkedIn.
- Why patient storytelling is the anchor for all healthcare brands, and how leading organizations align messaging back to patient impact to create relevance and trust.
- What you need to build a high-performing PR program from an audience and objective setting to executive visibility, media, and thought leadership.
- How to uncover white space and stay ahead of risk using social listening and intelligence to identify emerging narratives before your competitors do.
- The difference between healthcare and health tech PR strategies like how traditional healthcare relies on data and outcomes, while health tech leans into innovation.
- How to align innovation storytelling with buyer-readiness in a way that meets more conservative buyers, like health systems, where they are.
- Why AI search is becoming your most important audience and how to think about AEO (AI Engine Optimization) to stay discoverable.
Additional resources:
- Danielle Ruckert on LinkedIn
- Raffetto Herman Strategic Communications Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Gail is passionate about fostering awareness and helping Canadians feel educated and empowered to take control of their health. She is driven to connect more people with high-quality healthcare because she wholeheartedly believes that proactive and preventive actions lead to better health outcomes. To this end, she is always seeking new opportunities and innovative methods to share Harrison's clinical knowledge and expertise, ensuring as many people as possible feel informed and supported.
Her professional background is enriched by a variety of experiences, including roles in marketing agencies, consulting, and in-house positions with several notable brands. Over her career, she has contributed to projects for the Province of British Columbia, Vancity Credit Union, Hootsuite, Haribo, and Best Buy, among others. Her portfolio also includes managing the Robson Square Celebration Site during the 2010 Olympics, along with extensive expertise in experiential marketing and brand management. This diverse experience enables Gail to excel at creating polished, memorable experiences throughout the client journey.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Why brand is more about the experience and what you feel rather than visuals or what you say—and how to stay consistent across locations.
- How Harrison healthcare is redefining primary care with longer appointments and full care teams with its team-based, preventative care designed to remove the mental load for patients.
- What makes Harrison Healthcare's model stand out in Canada's healthcare landscape.
- The challenge of marketing something people don't think they need–until they do.
- Why selling private healthcare in Canada requires education, trust, and a clear value proposition.
- What client feedback reveals about the gaps in perceived proactivity, and how marketing is addressing it.
- The driver behind high retention: outcomes, relationships, and consistent experience.
- Where AI is improving speed in healthcare marketing, and why human oversight is essential to maintain brand voice and trust.
- How Harrison translates "peace of mind" into a tangible, proactive care experience through ongoing communication.
Additional resources:
- Gail Findlay-Shirras on LinkedIn
- Harrison Healthcare Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he's worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, and account-based marketing strategies.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- The importance of team-wide brand ownership, and why brand only becomes real when it's embraced across the entire organization, not just marketing, to drive authenticity, credibility, and emotional connection.
- How simple and easy-to-use tools empower your entire team to live out the brand.
- How to use a brand filter to create and apply 5-7 open ended questions that guide everyday decisions and help shape ideas to stay signed with your brand.
- How to implement branded behaviors to translate your brand into simple, actionable, behaviors that employees can consistently practice in their daily work.
- Why quarterly brand training matters: including ongoing, interactive training to keep the brand on top of mind and turn it into action through repetition, team discussion, and real commitments.
- How to develop messaging themes by defining 3-5 brand-aligned themes that guide all communications over time, creating consistency and improving brand recall.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Annie Furlong is VP of Consumer and Growth (B2C) Marketing at Carrum Health. Annie brings 15+ years of experience as a B2C, B2B2C, and B2B marketer and people manager to healthtech and employer benefits markets. She has worked at and consulted for startups, associations, and large publicly traded organizations. As a strategic, creative, & energetic marketer, Annie's professional passions include business and account strategy, process creation & improvement, shaping customer experiences, professional development and women's leadership, driving adoption and engagement of products, and leading teams.
She is the proud parent of two little girls, an avid downhill and cross-country skier, and a lover of all things that living in Colorado has to offer. Annie received her bachelor's degree from Colby College, where she studied neurobiology and business, and has a master's in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Strategic Innovation and Change from the University of Denver.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How branding works in B2B2C healthcare marketing, including Annie's framework for building brand trust through consistency, reputation, and real customer experiences.
- How to market to employees inside a B2B company, and why understanding both the employer buyer and the employee end-user is critical to driving adoption.
- How to maintain brand consistency across multiple channels, and why B2B2C brands should adapt their messaging for different employee populations, including strategies for reaching office workers, frontline teams, and distributed workforces.
- How Annie approaches consumer and growth marketing within a healthcare benefits platform, and the shifts that Carrum Health is making in specialty care access.
- What it takes to stand out in the crowded B2B2C healthcare marketing landscape, and why empathy and meeting people where they are in their healthy journey matters.
- How unconventional channels like direct mail, QR codes, billboards, and benefits fairs can cut through the noise when marketing healthcare solutions to employees.
- How to balance performance marketing with long-term brand building when your goal is both immediate action and lasting trust.
- Why rebuilding trust in healthcare marketing is essential today, and how brands can acknowledge the broken system while positioning a better path forward.
Additional resources:
- Annie Furlong on LinkedIn
- B2B2C Marketing Collective on Slack
- Carrum Health Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Adam Taylor is a multidisciplinary designer, illustrator, and educator with more than 15 years of professional experience in Utah, Michigan, and Seattle. Throughout his career, he has worn many hats within the ever-evolving world of design, but his strongest affinities lie in strategic brand development, UI/UX, and illustration.
Adam also serves as a remote Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Michigan State University, where he teaches courses on design tools, theory, and brand identity development. Outside of work, he's an occasional exhibiting fine artist, a novice dungeon master for a very patient group of friends, and a small-time local musician.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- When to pursue a brand refresh or rebrand including outdated visual identities, poor digital performance, or falling behind competitors.
- The classical branding process: research, strategy, brand identity, touchpoints, and asset management.
- How organizations can approach rebrands incrementally by tackling different phases of the branding process over time instead of everything at once.
- Why research is the foundation of successful branding, guiding strategy, messaging, and design decisions.
- How to refresh brand positioning when messaging lacks clarity, value propositions are weak, or target audience shifts.
- Why new company or product launches require a strong brand story, clear positioning, and a distinctive visual identity.
- How mergers and acquisitions create opportunities to unify cultures, align offerings, and establish a shared brand DNA.
- Less common triggers for rebranding, including name changes, leadership transitions, and major market shifts.
- How brand strategy helps organizations win in the market by building authentic connections and creating long-term value.
Additional resources:
- Adam Taylor on LinkedIn
- Brand Naming by Robert Meyerson
- Josh's Podcast with Rob Myerson
- Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Jen Bruursema is Senior Director of Marketing and PR at DELFI Diagnostics, where she leads marketing strategy for FirstLook Lung, a blood-based test for early lung cancer detection.
With more than 20 years in healthcare diagnostics, Jen has built her career at the intersection of complex science and human behavior. She got her start at Digene, where she commercialized the first FDA-approved HPV DNA test for cervical cancer screening, and has since held marketing leadership roles at QIAGEN, Ariosa Diagnostics (acquired by Roche), Karius, IDbyDNA (acquired by Illumina), Metabiota (acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks), and Clear Labs. Across genomics, infectious disease, prenatal screening, and oncology, her focus has remained consistent: translating breakthrough diagnostics into tools that actually reach the patients and providers who need them.
Jen is certified in AI and data-driven marketing and actively applies generative AI to scale marketing operations. She's based in San Francisco.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Why branding in diagnostics is about keeping a promise and earning trust with every interaction.
- The importance of meeting people where they are in their journey with their health.
- How to differentiate in a regulated healthcare industry and why education, transparency, and medical-legal alignment are your strongest marketing assets.
- How to position innovation without triggering resistance and why DELFI frames its AI-powered First Look Lung test as an on-ramp to CT screening, not a disruption to existing standards of care.
- What it takes to stand out in a crowded diagnostic space by diving into focus, clinical evidence, and meaningful differentiation.
- The delicate balance between clinical credibility and the deeply emotional reality of cancer detection where fear and stigma are real.
- Why partnerships with health systems shapes everything from messaging hierarchy to channel strategy.
- How AI will transform marketing workflows by enabling smaller teams to scale content while protecting brand voice and regulatory guardrails.
Additional resources:
- Jen Bruursema on LinkedIn
- DELFI Diagnostics' Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Erica Klinger is the VP of Marketing at AMCP, the professional association for managed care pharmacy professionals, where she works to optimize medicine and improve lives with a diverse group of stakeholders from health plans, PBMs, policymakers, biopharma, students and educational institutions. Under her leadership, AMCP was recognized by ASAE in 2025 for a Gold Circle Award for best website and a Power of Associations Award for addressing health disparities in medication through an awareness campaign.
Erica is active on brand and marketing advisory groups such as the National Health Council Brand Value Task Force, National Digital Roundtable and Global Biosimilars Week on the board of the DC Tech & Venture Coalition. Her experience as a digital pioneer has earned her speaking appearances and podcasts including Voices of Advocacy podcast, Advocacy Desk podcast, ASAE conferences, AMPLIFY 2023 and the first-ever Google Nonprofit Summit in DC.
What you'll learn about in this episode: * Erica's definition of branding and why your brand is the sum of experiences, perceptions, and trust. * Practical trends for brand and marketing experts including how AI will shape brand and product innovation, and why social media and search results are becoming the new face of your brand. * How the future of healthcare membership marketing lies in agile, AI-powered personalization that meets members in real time, removes friction, and builds lasting trust and loyalty through meaningful, surprise and delight engagement. * How to build and protect trust in a healthcare environment by positioning your organization as an unbiased, evidence-based perspective. * Why marketing leaders in membership organizations need to act as organizational orchestrators aligning education, policy, membership, and corporate partners around one unified mission. * Why trust is the core product in membership based organizations, and how retention becomes the growth strategy. * How community building differs from selling a static product, and why brand work is a living, breathing tool that happens every day.
Additional resources: * Erica Klinger on LinkedIn * AMCP's Website * Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn * Josh Dougherty's speaking site * A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he's worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, and account-based marketing strategies.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Key findings from the 2025-2026 Edelman Trust Barometer and what they reveal about global mistrust trends.
- How declining public trust and societal insularity are reshaping marketing strategy.
- Why businesses are now viewed as the most trusted and competent institutions.
- What it means for brands to act as "trust brokers" in a polarized environment.
- How healthcare and health tech companies can build trust in the age of AI.
- Strategies to reduce skepticism through transparency, outcomes, and social proof.
- Why patients trust local healthcare providers and community-centered establishments.
- How to earn trust through authentic storytelling, earned media, and value-driven positioning.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Kevin is a fourth generation Seattle entrepreneur and small business owner who founded Dynamic Computing in the year 2000 while attending the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.
Over the past 20+ years, Kevin has built Dynamic Computing from the ground up into the thriving small business it is today. Kevin holds degrees in both Business Administration and Political Science from the University of Washington in Seattle. He was recognized as Washington State's Mr. Future Business Leader in 1998 and as a Puget Sound Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree in 2018.
Outside of work, Kevin is an avid golfer, perennial Little League coach, budding education and policy advocate, husband to a wonderful wife, and father of two twice-exceptional boys.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- How IT directly impacts your brand and reputation
- How Kevin defines branding: Branding isn't a logo or tagline, it's what people think and feel about your business when they're not actively interacting with you. It's the impressions that stick, the emotions they remember, and the moments that shape how your company is perceived long after the interaction ends.
- How healthcare organizations can protect PHI and stay HIPAA compliant: Kevin explains how managed IT providers support healthcare teams by starting with a comprehensive IT and compliance audit, identifying HIPAA HITECH, and other regulatory gaps, and building a roadmap that aligns security tools, employee training, budgeting, and long-term IT planning.
- The connection between technology, people strategy, and productivity: Discover how the right tech stack enables happier employees, lower labor costs, and stronger company culture.
- How to build an entrepreneurial business without outside capital: Kevin shares his journey of founding Dynamic Computing, reinvesting profits, prioritizing cash flow disciplines, and maintaining sustainable growth by focusing on quality over rapid scale.
- Why quality-driven growth matters: Learn how focusing on strong client relationships, recurring revenue, and employee retention creates a healthy, self-reinforcing business cycle.
- The real risks of underinvesting in IT security: Hear a firsthand example of how a security breach led to financial loss and legal consequences, and why proactive security is essential for trust and risk mitigation.
- How to plan IT budgets, capital expenses, and tech refresh cycles: Get practical advice on separating operating expenses from capital investments, avoiding surprise costs, and proactively managing tech debt.
Additional resources:
- Kevin Gemeroy on LinkedIn
- Dynamic Computing Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Saige Carpenter is the Director of Brand Marketing at PointClickCare, where she leads brand strategy, enterprise positioning, and integrated marketing programs designed to build and protect brand equity, establish trust, and fuel buying consideration. She spearheaded the company's enterprise-wide brand refresh and ensures the brand shows up clearly and credibly at every stage of the buyer journey.
With a background in sales across long-term post-acute care, Saige brings a future-focused, commercially grounded approach to brand—rooted in real buyer insight, market understanding, and purpose-led storytelling.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Why PointClickCare embarked on a corporate rebrand after rapid growth, and why clarity mattered more than reinvention.
- How to define branding in healthcare as a consistent, authentic experience and not just a visual identity.
- What it takes to execute a large scale rebrand across products, teams, and customer touchpoints.
- How PointClickCare aligned its brand to a clear mission: helping providers deliver exceptional care.
- Ways a strong brand enables teams to better serve diverse healthcare audiences.
- How to simplify complex healthcare offerings through focused brand storytelling.
- Strategies for gaining executive buy-in during a high-stakes rebranding effort.
- Common barriers to successful rebrands and how to overcome them with data and customer insight.
- How to measure brand success and maintain momentum and consistency after a brand launch.
Additional resources:
- Saige Carpenter on LinkedIn
- PointClickCare Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Meredith Rae Vehar, MPA, is Director of Communications at Huntsman Cancer Institute. Since joining the cancer center more than 20 years ago, Meredith strives to be an agent of progress and enable others to recognize their potential. She leads a team of creative communication professionals who represent the cancer center through brand management, social media, web content and design, publications, multimedia, and internal communications. This meaningful work is very personal to her, and she sees camaraderie, sincerity, and laughter as key.
Meredith earned her Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Utah in 2018, along with a master's certificate in health communication. Since 2021, she has served on the steering committee of the Cancer Marketing and Communications Association (CMCA). In 2024, she and her team were honored to host the annual conference in Salt Lake City. She currently serves as Vice Chair of CMCA and will lead the organization as Chair in Spring 2026.
Outside of work, Meredith loves running, hiking mountain trails, and traveling with her two teenagers.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- Branding as a "meaning-system", not a logo: Gain insights into Meredith's definition of brand as a promise and value system where every employee from valet to clinician embodies the mission, reinforcing consistency and trust across touchpoints.
- Why access to care is a core brand promise in modern healthcare: Understand how programs like Huntsman at Home and affiliate hospital networks expand access across rural and underserved communities, and why access is increasingly central to healthcare brand trust and loyalty.
- How Huntsman Cancer Institute positions itself as the only NCI-designated cancer center in the Mountain West region, while building a national brand through brand, innovation, and patient experience.
- How personal storytelling drives trust in cancer marketing: Learn why Huntsman prioritizes patient stories, caregiver voices, and community narratives to humanize complex science and build emotional connection, especially in high-stakes healthcare decisions.
- The strategy behind Huntsman's "Speak Up for Cancer Research" campaign, which activates patient and influencers to advocate for cancer research funding – blending advocacy, brand, and impact.
- The role of innovation (AI, robotic surgery, proton therapy) in cancer brand strategy: Discover how Huntsman integrates AI-powered imaging, robotic surgery, and proton therapy into both clinical care and communications to reinforce credibility, innovation, and national standards of excellence.
- How Huntsman manages 320+ active clinical trials, collaborates nationally for rare diseases, and navigates the communications complexity of educating patients while maintaining credibility and clarity.
Additional resources:
- Meredith Rae Vehar on LinkedIn
- Huntsman Cancer Institute Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Brianna Miller is a digital marketing leader with over 15 years of experience building data-informed strategies that connect marketing efforts to real business growth. She currently serves as the Director of Demand Generation at Cohere Health where she develops multi-channel demand generation campaigns and account-based marketing strategies.
Beyond her professional roles, Brianna is dedicated to advancing the industry and mentoring its next generation of leaders. She serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, teaching Marketing Strategy and inspiring future marketers. Her commitment to innovation extends to advisory and editorial contributions; she is a 3Sixty Insights Global Executive Advisory Council member, a regular contributor to Martech.org, and an active participant on several boards, including the UMSL College of Business Marketing Advisory Board and the MarTech Conference programming committee.
Brianna has had the privilege of sharing actionable insights at 20 industry events and has been featured on numerous popular marketing podcasts, where she connects with audiences on topics ranging from ABM trends to practical AI applications. As a speaker, she is known for making complex concepts approachable and providing audiences with strategies they can put into practice immediately.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
-
Balancing technology with a human touch: How healthcare brands maintain empathy, educate audiences, and create meaningful customer experiences while leveraging AI.
-
Storytelling as a differentiator in healthtech: Why compelling narratives and creative thought processes help AI-focused brands stand out in a crowded healthcare technology market.
- How the importance of building trust and transparency with customers is essential in the age of AI.
- How to build an effective brand and ensure marketing and sales consistently reflect it.
- The importance of seamless collaboration between marketing and sales teams, emphasizing shared goals, open communication, and consistent meetings to align on campaigns.
- Account-based marketing (ABM) strategies for healthcare technology: How to engage accounts effectively throughout complex buying cycles.
- Personalization in ABM campaigns: When to use one-to-one, one-to-some, or one-to-many approaches to maximize engagement.
- Key considerations for tools that support targeting, personalization, and long term cycle measurement.
Additional resources:
- Brianna Miller on LinkedIn
- Brianna Miller's branding site
- Cohere Health Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Adam Taylor is a multidisciplinary designer, illustrator, and educator with more than 15 years of professional experience in Utah, Michigan, and Seattle. Throughout his career, he has worn many hats within the ever-evolving world of design, but his strongest affinities lie in strategic brand development, UI/UX, and illustration.
Adam also serves as a remote Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Michigan State University, where he teaches courses on design tools, theory, and brand identity development. Outside of work, he's an occasional exhibiting fine artist, a novice dungeon master for a very patient group of friends, and a small-time local musician.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
· How early-stage health tech startups can effectively build and leverage their brand to support fundraising, selling, and scaling efforts.
· The importance of branding for early-stage health tech startups, emphasizing that a strong brand can empower founders to tell a differentiated story about their product.
· How branding can help founders build trust and credibility with investors, particularly in the context of fundraising.
· How strong positioning is crucial for building a memorable brand and creating a cohesive visual identity that communicates competence and direction to potential investors.
· How a defined brand platform, visual identity, and messaging platform can better equip your team to follow up with leads and close deals.
· How a well-defined brand will make scaling easier, more efficient, and less expensive.
Additional resources:
· Adam Taylor on LinkedIn
· Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
· Josh Dougherty's speaking site
· A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold and memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, hospitals and specialty care providers, and healthcare nonprofits. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
- What's ahead in 2026 including healthcare branding trends, emerging challenges, and a glimpse into the podcast topics we'll dive into throughout the year.
- A preview of the guests that will be joining the podcast on a weekly basis.
- How healthcare branding and marketing intersect to create memorable, impactful organizations.
- Strategies for building and maintaining trust with patients in a complex healthcare landscape.
- Ways scrappy brands succeed with limited budgets while delivering exceptional brand experiences.
- How to move beyond descriptive branding to inspirational storytelling that highlights what makes a brand unique.
- The power of focused, engaged brand experiences that inspire audiences and create loyal brand advocates.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty's speaking site
- A Brave New's Website
Hillery Smith Shay, MBA is chief marketing and experience officer, senior vice president of communications at Children’s Minnesota.
Hillery Shay joined Children’s Minnesota in 2021, as VP of marketing and communications and is now chief marketing and experience officer, senior vice president of communications. She provides strategic direction for organizational marketing and communications. She is also responsible for defining and building an organization-wide experience strategy.
Ms. Shay brings nearly 25 years of leadership experience in health care and mass communication, with a proven track record of success leading national and global public health campaigns and marketing initiatives. Prior to her role at Children’s Minnesota, Shay served in leadership roles at Abbott Labs leading professional education, marketing, communications and scientific congress strategy. She also served as a journalist and team leader for more than 10 years at the Associated Press and the Baltimore Sun, including as a photojournalist covering two sitting U.S. presidents as well as the Pentagon on 9/11.
Ms. Shay earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in business administration from Bethel University in Minnesota. She is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, inc.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Children's Minnesota faced and overcame a significant branding challenge after shortening their name, leading to market confusion with other similarly named experts in their market.
- How adding "The Kid Experts" to the Children's Minnesota brand was implemented to create clear differentiation and clarify their identity in the market.
- The step’s that Children’s Minnesota took to safeguard their brand identity.
- How the repositioning strategy resulted in measurable improvements in brand perception, evidenced by a significant increase in their NRC Health image and reputation score over a three-year period.
- The crucial role of consistent implementation of the "The Kid Experts" branding across all touchpoints, including physical hospital and clinic spaces, for reinforcing the new brand identity.
- How the "Raise Them Up" campaign emerged from community trauma and served as a powerful example of a brand connecting with its audience through hope and advocacy for children.
- How Children's Minnesota demonstrated a commitment to inclusive branding by intentionally reaching diverse communities in their service area through translated materials and tailored outreach efforts.
- About the tangible results of the "Raise Them Up" campaign in engaging diverse communities, including increased clinic visits requiring translation and higher conversion rates for targeted advertising.
- About the importance of a long-term perspective in brand building, showcasing the multi-year effort to reposition and strengthen the Children's Minnesota brand.
Additional resources:
- Hillery Smith Shay on LinkedIn
- Children’s Minnesota’s Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold and memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health and wellness programs, and hospitals and providers. Josh has 15 years of experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands, and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.
In this episode, Josh is joined by A Brave New’s content director, Brad Steinbacher, to discuss how health tech brands can develop distinctive and memorable brand positioning. Brad has more than 15 years of experience creating content for brands across industries with a special focus on healthcare and technology.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The opportunity brand positioning offers for health tech companies, especially startups
- Why brand positioning isn’t always prioritized as it should be
- Why moving beyond just speaking clearly about your product and features is essential
- Real-life examples of brand positioning
- Specific ways to build differentiation with your positioning and visual identity
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Brad Steinbacher on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- A Brave New’s Website
Tamar Rudnick is a healthcare executive who has spent 10+ years in leadership roles across early-stage, public company, and PE-backed businesses. She is currently an Operating Partner at Define Ventures, one of the largest early-stage digital health VCs with ~$800M under management and $22B in exited value.
At Define Ventures, Tamar leads strategic growth initiatives. Based in Silicon Valley, Define invests in early-stage companies from Seed stage to Series B, and has backed and built some of the category-leading companies such as Livongo, HIMS, and Evolent. Define differentiates itself by providing unparalleled expertise in go-to-market and commercialization. Tamar leads this work—developing relationships with a coalition of industry-leading Payers, Health Systems, and Life Sciences companies. To date, Define has delivered customer contracts for over 50% of their portfolio companies.
Prior to Define Ventures, Tamar was the SVP of Growth at apree health, where she was responsible for leading Sales, Enablement, Marketing, and Customer teams across Employer and Health Plan segments. apree health is a leader in tech-enabled primary care delivery for commercial organizations, including Fortune 500 Employers and National Health Plans with Elevance as a key strategic partner. apree health was formed as a combination of Castlight Health and Vera Whole Health. At apree, Tamar led the commercial team, delivering 30% revenue growth for the combined business while integrating two commercial organizations and developing the combined go-to- market strategy.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The current state of the health tech venture capital space
- Trends within the health tech space, including
- Regulatory trends and shifts that are both positively and negatively impacting the startup space
- Generative AI’s ability and potential to drive efficiency and reduce operational costs
- GLP-1s and how they are driving the consumerization of healthcare
- Where AI is having an impact in the healthcare space and how to discern the signal from the noise
- The key findings from Define Ventures' recent study of the health tech space, including a deep dive into funding trends and exits
- The importance of go-to-market and brand strategies in the startup environment
Additional resources:
- Tamar Rudnick on LinkedIn
- Define Ventures website
- Define Ventures Health Tech Report
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- A Brave New’s website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold & memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health & wellness programs, and hospitals & providers. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market. What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What brand architecture is and is not
- Why brand architecture is an essential part of your brand strategy
- The four most common brand architecture frameworks
- Branded house
- Sub-brands
- Endorsed brand
- House of brands
- For each framework Josh dives into
- Real world examples from the healthcare space
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- When you should take time to evaluate your brand architecture
- Why it's essential to keep a constant eye on the interrelation and interactions between your brands and/or products
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Information about Josh's keynote, The Memory Curators
- Branding Fundamentals eBook
- Brand Portfolio Strategy by David Aaker
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold & memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health & wellness programs, and hospitals & providers. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market. What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The basics about brand drivers
- We’ll do a deep dive into three specific brand drivers
- Personality
- Benefit ladder
- Brand filter
- For each of these brand drivers Josh explores
- What the brand driver is
- Why the brand driver is important
- How it looks in a real-world example
- How to get started creating the brand drivers for your organization
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- Branding Fundamentals Part I (podcast episode)
- Branding Fundamentals: Personality (blog post)
- Branding Fundamentals: Benefit Ladder (blog post)
- Branding Fundamentals: Brand Filter (blog post)
- Branding Fundamentals eBook
- A Brave New’s Website
Product Management and innovation enthusiast, Hank Lander, currently serves as a Group Product Manager at HubSpot, focusing on Customer Data Protections. Hank's expertise lies in launching new products and building product pipelines. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Product at ZoomInfo and worked at multiple early-stage startups. Hank holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
In this episode Josh and Hank have a conversation about HubSpot’s Sensitive Data Management functionality and how it enables healthcare organizations to store and leverage protected health information (PHI) in marketing while staying compliant with HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). You’ll want to listen whether you want to understand the functionality from a high level or if you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of how it works. Josh and Hank cover both.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How HubSpot’s Sensitive Data Functionality works
- How it enables healthcare companies to leverage new marketing functionality while protecting PHI
- How it enables healthcare organizations to securely store and handle PHI
- How this data can then be leveraged to personalize marketing to whole new levels
- How sensitive data like PHI is segregated from the rest of the database
- How access control is managed
- What audit trail capabilities exist within the functionality
- What encryption methods are leveraged
- What resources HubSpot and its partners offer to help healthcare companies implement the functionality
- What new product rollouts are upcoming for the Sensitive Data Management product
Legal Disclaimer: None of the information shared in this episode should be construed as legal advice or counsel. Josh and Hank are not legal experts and any claims made regarding PHI or HIPAA are purely opinion and should be verified by legal counsel.
Additional resources:
- HubSpot’s Sensitive Data Management product page
- Hubspot's Knowledge Center page on how to Store Sensitive Data in HubSpot
- HubSpot Trust Center
- Hank Lander on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold & memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health & wellness programs, and hospitals & providers. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
In this episode we take a deep dive into the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer. Specifically, Josh spends time:
- Highlighting some of the most salient insights from the Trust Barometer, so that you’re equipped with a solid understanding of what’s happening in the market (I’ll argue even in the B2B market) including:
- Trust is a minority position
- Lies are the assumed default for ⅔ of the population
- Hostile activism is more and more acceptable
- Optimism deficit & zero sum games are the norm
- Suspicions of AI are on the rise
- Businesses remain most trusted entities, except among respondents with high grievance
- Identifying some of the unique challenges that flow out of the crisis of grievance for healthcare companies (especially in the areas of healthcare tech, employee health & wellness, and hospitals and healthcare providers where we primarily work), including:
- Trust can no longer be assumed
- Healthcare providers have significant work to do to build trust with patients
- We must do work to ensure that healthtech driven by AI clearly articulates its values and the guardrails that exist
- An authentic brand is a must, not just a flashy marketing game
- If they can show up with authenticity, healthcare brands have an opportunity to build trust
- Discussing actions healthcare brands can take to build trust with customers, buyers, and patients in the midst of this environment, including:
- Showcase and champion shared values with your customers and with patients
- Create opportunities for optimism backed by real data
- Act boldly on behalf of patients…and show your work
- Look for opportunities to work together with others
- Focus on authenticity in your brand above all else
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer
- You Have A Trust Problem - Blog Post
- A Brave New’s Website
Intelerad recently completed a rebrand in May 2024. In this episode Josh and Jordan spend time unpacking the reasons Intelerad decided to pursue a rebrand, the process they followed to get there, as well as the outcomes in terms of brand essence and strategy, visual identity, and market impact.
Here’s a little more about Jordan.
As CEO of Intelerad, Jordan Bazinsky is committed to improving global human health through advanced imaging technologies. He is entrusted with ensuring that Intelerad’s vision aligns with their clients, and ultimately patients, in supporting their unique healthcare journeys.
Jordan has spent over two decades applying technology and design thinking to drive positive change in healthcare– expanding access, improving outcomes, and lowering costs. He most recently served as Executive Vice President at Cotiviti, delivering billions of dollars in measurable value for some of the largest stakeholders in the healthcare community. He has proven leadership experience in understanding the market, developing growth strategies, and scaling transformational healthcare companies, including: Cotiviti, Verscend, Verisk Health, and The Advisory Board.
Jordan earned an MBA from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, where he previously served on the Board of Trustees.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Who Intelerad is and what they are trying to accomplish in the advanced imaging technology space
- Why Intelerad decided to pursue a rebrand
- The reasons why Jordan believes branding should be viewed as a ROI generating activity by companies
- The concepts and ideas that inform Intelerad’s new brand essence
- The impact that the brand has had with customers and patients so far
- The ways that that essence informed the new visual identity of the brand Jordan and Intelerad’s vision for the next five years
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Jordan Bazinsky on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- Intelerad’s Website
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based agency that builds bold & memorable healthcare brands. Over the last 15 years, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using human-centered strategies and smart execution.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The basics about brand drivers
-
We’ll do a deep dive into four specific brand drivers
- Essence
- Promise
- Core attributes
- Brand positioning statement
-
For each of these brand drivers Josh explores:
-
What the brand driver is
- Why the brand driver is important
- How it looks in a real-world example
- How to get started creating the brand driver for your organization
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- A Brave New Blog:
- Branding Fundamentals: essence and promise
- Branding Fundamentals: core attributes
-
Branding Fundamentals: positioning statement
-
A Brave New’s Website
Rachael Radford has supported organizations in software strategy, selection and implementation across North America. Rachael and her team sit alongside their clients as they evaluate software needs and options to ensure they make the best choice for their business. Rachael is passionate about knowledge transfer and ensures that clients walk away not only with a successful project, but with the tools and methodologies they need to make informed strategic decisions.
Her organization, Meira Consulting, is an independent software advisory firm. Clients work with Meira to evaluate systems and processes, build requirements, choose the right software, and manage the project to ensure technology goes live and meets the business need.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why companies struggle to choose the right software
- The downstream consequences of choosing the wrong software
- The intimate relationship between smart software selection, process design, and change management
- The fundamentals of a good software selection process
- How Meira Consulting helps companies large and small manage the software selection and implementation process
- Real life examples of the impact of a strategic software selection process
- The first thing that someone should do when they start the software evaluation process
Additional resources:
- Rachael Radford on LinkedIn
- Meira Consulting’s Website
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
- Book Josh to Speak At Your Next Event
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B branding, content strategy, and design agency specializing in helping tech and healthcare brave, bold, and memorable brands. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
In this episode Josh discusses the importance of a well-managed brand rollout and eight mistakes to avoid during that rollout. The mistakes he discusses include:
- Rolling out your brand with legal issues unresolved
- Rolling out with key parts of your brand in wet cement
- Moving forward without having your messaging fully defined and dialed in
- Losing interest in the brand rollout before 18 months to 3 years has passed
- Allowing short-term pressures, like quarterly sales goals, dictate strategic direction
- Letting ease dictate decisions
- Forgetting the customer in your brand rollout decisions
- Committing less than 100% to the brand direction
As Josh discusses each of the mistakes, he shares stories about past branding projects and explains how to avoid each mistake.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- A Brave New’s website
Creative Strategist & Growth Accelerator Karley Cunningham develops brand leaders by taking businesses from overcrowded, competitive spaces into blue ocean territory, where they can confidently stand out and thrive.
Her international client base benefits from accelerated growth, profit and stability as her innovative Surefire Method™ provides them with an infallible business strategy and brand toolkit to stand out in the sea of sameness, attract the people their business needs to thrive, and become a brand leader in their industry. Karley’s entrepreneurial success story is featured in the awarded book The Widest Net by Pam Slim. Believing deeply in the practice of ‘givers gain,’ she’s developed a global network and rarely goes a day without making a referral or connection. When not focusing on the business or expanding her network, she can be found somewhere in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest with her wife and dog in their 4x4. What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Trends in the branding space, what business owners, marketers, and others should be thinking about
- Why branding is not marketing, and the implications this has for how you build your brand
- Karley’s Surefire Strategy that she uses to help companies refine their strategic direction and craft winning brands
- How to evaluate a branding firm if you’re about to start a branding effort
- Why it’s essential to have the C-Suite involved in any branding process
- How to use your values to create a truly differentiated organization
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Karley Cunningham on LinkedIn
- Big Bold Brand Website
- Cary Weston’s ChatGPT Experiment Podcast
- A Brave New’s Website
- Book Josh Dougherty To Speak At Your Next Event
Matt is President and Founder of Heinz Marketing with more than 25 years of marketing, business development and sales experience from a variety of organizations and industries. He is a dynamic speaker, memorable not only for his keen insight and humor, but his actionable and motivating takeaways.
Matt’s career focuses on consistently delivering measurable results with greater sales, revenue growth, product success and customer loyalty. He has helped organizations such as Amazon, Seagate, Morgan Stanley, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and many others create predictable, repeatable sales & marketing engines to fuel growth.
Matt is a repeat winner of Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management, Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers and Top 50 Keynote Speakers. Matt and his wife Beth live in a 105-year-old historic farmhouse they renovated in Kirkland, Washington and share with their three children, two dogs, two cats, and several chickens.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Matt and his team at Heinz Marketing help B2b companies with long and complex sales cycles drive revenue through pipeline marketing.
- Why Matt believes it’s important to teach internal teams rather than take on the work as an outside partner.
- About the intersection between pipeline marketing and your brand. We also discuss how brands should influence and impact pipeline marketing.
- About the importance of focusing on both short term results and long-term brand equity.
- The value of relationships and human to human selling in all B2B marketing and sales.
- Why go-to-market motions are getting more lengthy and complex every day.
- How a go-to-market playbook can help you stay organized AND pivot when agility is needed.
- The relationship between corporate strategy and effective pipeline marketing. How to evaluate and integrate artificial intelligence into your strategy.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- Matt Heinz on LinkedIn
- Heinz Marketing’s Website
- A Brave New’s Website
With more than 20 years of experience in marketing, Kirsten Cutshall is the CEO of Austin-based Steel Advertising - a full-service ad agency specializing in marketing to the family. As a purpose-driven agency with a mission of "doing magic for the good guys" Steel' is a strategic partner, driven to produce obvious results and brands people love for who do good in our community - primarily health, education, and government programs. As a researcher and strategist, Kirsten frequently digs into the dynamics of making a decision within the family unit. Her background in Anthropology gives her specific insight into the cultural and generational shifts and how they affect the market.
Kirsten's recent clients include Texas A&M University System, Texas Health and Human Services, Kaiser Permanente and more. Kirsten’s past experience includes work for a broad base of Fortune 500 clients as Principal at Tocquigny Advertising, and prior to that at DDB Worldwide. She has a degree from Southern Methodist University and is a member of the American Anthropological Association. She is a frequent speaker on consumer trends, shifting media habits and brand experience creation.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The importance of making technology a core part of your brand experience
- Why building your brand and generating demand at the same time are essential
- The biggest anxieties that marketers are feeling right now
- The trends in media planning and how AI is influencing the space
- How smaller healthcare brands can leverage directories as a long-tail organic traffic plan
- How businesses are leveraging video, and how to produce video more affordably
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- Kirsten Cutshall on LinkedIn
- Steel Advertising’s Website
- A Brave New’s Website
Rob works with business leaders to build identities for their organizations, products, and services. More than a name or logo, Rob believes an identity is defined by clear, focused beliefs, expressed through compelling words, and substantiated by consistent actions. His specialties include strategic positioning, naming and messaging, brand architecture, qualitative research, and organizational change. Prior to launching Heirloom, he was global head of brand architecture and naming at HP, and previously held strategy director roles at several leading, international brand consulting firms.
Rob is the author of Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for your Company, Product, or Service, the most complete and detailed book about brand naming. He has also written about brand strategy and naming for leading publications such as Harvard Business Review, AMA.org, Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The Guardian, and VentureBeat. Rob also hosts How Brands Are Built, a popular branding podcast and blog.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What it was like for Rob to work alongside the legendary Alina Wheeler co-authoring the 6th edition of Designing Brand Identity.
- Both Josh and Rob’s reflections on the impact that Alina Wheeler had on the brand and design communities in her lifetime
- What you can expect from the latest edition - what content has been updated and what content is new
- A few of the new case studies that Rob is excited to feature in the new edition (all 50 case studies are brand new)
- An inside look at the all the work that went into producing the latest edition
- The pros and cons of generative AI in the branding discipline
- Rob’s advice for anyone diving into the branding process for their company in 2024 When you’ll be able to pick up your copy of the 6th Edition of Designing Brand Identity
Additional resources:
- Designing Brand Identity Site
- Rob Meyerson’s Site
- Heirloom Agency Site
- Rob Meyerson on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s Site
- A Brave New’s Website
Jon is the President/CEO of Phoji Inc, the creator, inventor and patent holder of the custom emoji. Jon also serves as fractional Advisor, Business Development for CTO Teammate and fractional Advisor, Business Development for Bright Bucks Inc.
CTO Teammate is focused on maximizing the ROI on technology by providing fractional resources expert in their discipline.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The importance of alignment between branding, marketing, and technology
- Why slowing down and developing a plan for digital transformation is the best thing you can do before going through a substantial technology change
- How Jon’s company Phoji managed their transition from being an app to a Saas company
- Some of the factors private equity and VCs look for when evaluating the tech of a company in the pre-investment phase
- The key trends all companies need to consider in 2024 as the evaluate their technology approach
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- CTO Teammate’s website
- Jon Christensen on Linkedin
- Jon Christensen’s Email
- A Brave New’s Website
Elizabeth Sutherland, APR, is the Sutherland of Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications. Growing up in Northern Maine, after college Elizabeth worked for the United States Senate, the American Red Cross, and Northern Light Health in increasingly complex public relations and marketing roles before launching out on her own. She is a graduate of the Bangor Region Leadership Institute and winner of the 2016 Eames Leadership Award, the Girl Scouts of Maine 2017 Juliette Award for Leadership, and a 2022 laureate of the Maine Business Hall of Fame. She serves on several non-profit boards and in leadership roles for a variety of local and state-wide organizations.
Elizabeth is an experienced public relations professional with expertise in campaign strategy development, brand development, budgeting, research, and measurement. She is also an avid reader, writer, runner, mother of two boys, and wife to a radio-talk-show host.
As an entrepreneur, Elizabeth directly understands the challenges many small businesses face and has made it her mission to help grow small business dreams whenever she can.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- An overview of the fundamentals of public relations
- Why public relations is one of the essential components to a business growth strategy
- The ways that public relations can (and should) expand because what we oftent think of crisis communications into a long-term brand building venture
- Specific ways that PR can help you drive growth for your organization as you are seeking to scale
- The importance of authenticity in a PR strategy
- Why public relations requires long-term commitment to see sustained success
- How to get quick wins while you’re building towards that long-term success
- Things to look for when selecting a public relations partner for your business
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Learn About Josh Dougherty’s Keynote Speaking
- A Brave New’s Website
- Elizbeth Sutherland on LinkedIn
- Sutherland Weston’s Website
With 18 years of industry expertise in DTC and Marketing, Rabah is a force to be reckoned with in the world of advertising. Spending millions on captivating ad campaigns and having the honor to work alongside the inspiring Oprah, Rabah has crafted a career forged in the School of Hard Knocks of Advertising.
As the former CMO at Triple Whale, a cutting-edge attribution solution, innovative strategies brought unprecedented growth during a whirlwind 18-month tenure. Now, as the Chief Evangelist at the TW, Rabah continues to lead, inspire, and push the boundaries of creativity.
Rabah's unparalleled experience also includes directing the paid media for the recruitment vertical at Whole Foods, where a blend of intuition and analytical prowess made a significant impact. This eclectic background, coupled with a relentless pursuit of excellence, makes Rabah a fun and fascinating guest to chat all things marketing.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Triple Whale’s growth story - how they grew to be the most installed Shopify App ever
- Rabah’s 4 pillars of building a B2B SaaS brand
- Why Rabah believes that high-value B2B SaaS marketing is so different than DTC or Direct Response
- How to leverage big events and other moonshot marketing ideas to build brand affinity…and how to tie results to those ideas
- The perils of spending significant dollars on paid media when you have a high value product
- How to find the right people to work for you as you build out your marketing team
- How to keep people engaged in a high-growth, high-demand environment
- Josh and Rabah’s takes on AI, Twitter (X), and more
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Rabah Rahil on Twitter
- Rabah Rahil on LinkedIn
- Triple Whale’s Website
- A Brave New’s Website
Kris Kelso is a Keynote Speaker, a two-time entrepreneur, a Professional Certified Coach, and is the author of “Overcoming The Impostor: Silence Your Inner Critic and Lead with Confidence”. Kris has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, business owners, and their leadership teams as a coach, facilitator, and mentor. He is the Dean of Entrepreneurship at the Professional Christian Coaching Institute, an advisor and instructor at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, and is a contributing writer for Fast Company Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and The Nashville Business Journal.
Kris has founded multiple companies and has served on the boards of directors of several non- profit organizations. He lives with his wife and three teenaged sons in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What is imposter syndrome?
- Why it typically presents itself in high performers
- How imposter syndrome can weaponize our unique gifts as people against us
- How to recognize the difference between imposter syndrome and a lack of capabilities
- Three specific shifts in thinking that can help marketers combat imposter syndrome so they can be bold, decisive, and creative in their work.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Kris Kelso on LinkedIn
- Kris Kelso’s Website
- OvercomingTheImposter.com (book and online course)
- A Brave New’s Website
In this episode host Josh Dougherty is joined by the A Brave New team. Art director Phil Padilla, content director Brad Steinbacher, and project manager Mel Johnson share their thoughts about which brands they would draft for their fantasy brand football team starting with quarterback and running down the other key positions on the offensive side of the ball.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The difference between a slot receiver brand and a big play receiver brand
- Which position best fits brands like Hersheys, Adobe, and Black & Decker, and Magic Spoon
- The powerful ways that perceptions and emotions shape our perspective about brands
- Why Phil believes that root beer is an underrated drink that deserves a lot more credit than it gets
- How brand positioning is not so much about being positive or negative, but more about highlighting different strengths and attributes.
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Phil Padilla on LinkedIn
- Brad Steinbacher on Linkedin
- Mel Johnson on Linkedin
- A Brave New’s Website
A Brave New’s Art Director Phil Padilla brings with him over 15 years of experience, including 12 years of freelancing for some of the top Seattle creative agencies including Touch Worldwide and Hey, Advertising. Through this he has partnered with brands like Starbucks, Microsoft, and Philips to build expert branding and product development. His work has been recognized twice by the M Award for custom product packaging. Phil is a content creator consistently recognized by partners as being a story-builder, embracing change with enthusiasm, owning major project deliverables from beginning to end, and achieving positive business results.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How to approach building a comprehensive visual system for your brand
- Techniques for expanding the boundaries of an established brand while honoring the existing brand
- How to works with stakeholders through the change management process
- Which parts of your visual system you should be more careful about changing
- Ways to incorporate your overall brand strategy into your visuals
- How to build your brand visuals in a modular way that will make building out brand assets easier and more efficient
- How to evolve your brand after launch without losing the cohesiveness of the visual system
- What Phil and Josh are most excited about the new visual brand displayed launched on the A Brave New website
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Phil Padilla on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, and account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why trusting your gut is essential as you build your brand
- How to balance a commitment to data and other inputs with creativity and instincts
- That trusting your gut doesn’t mean:
- Ignoring data
- Manipulating data to prove your point
-
Moving forward without the necessary inputs
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About three stories from Josh’s career that share why choosing to go with your gut and take a risk vs. taking the path of least resistance will drive the best results
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
- Heroic Public Speaking’s website
- A Brave New’s Website
Steve Brock leads a studio of talented and experienced researchers, strategists, designers, writers, programmers, project managers, an odd chef or two, photographers, videographers, organizational development specialists and assorted other creatives. As a studio, his team pulls together the most appropriate team for clients’ specific needs. And somehow, it all works. Brilliantly. With a wallop even.
For more than twenty-years (that’s like over a century in internet years), Steve’s team have helped some of the nation’s top corporations and not-for-profit organizations discover who they are, determine optimal ways to convey their story and then create experiences and artifacts that bring that story to life. You can call this the branding process, brand building or a host of other jargon-filled terms. Steve and his team call the end result delight.
Steve is very hands-on with all Brand:Wallop clients. He believes that every project matters and every client is a potential long-term friend. He not only gets involved in all the strategy work but even helps out on copy and photography when needed . At Brand:Wallop, they believe you and your staff will achieve greater delight with your brand (as will you audiences) if you experience it in the process of building your brand.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Key trends in the branding space in 2023
- How brand is evolving in the world of ChatGPT and generative AI
- Why brand is still the best strategy to pursue for the health of your business even in the face of economic uncertainty
- How to differentiate in an industry when there seems to be an expectation that everyone shows up in the same way
- The power of moments in branding (see the Chip and Dan Heath book below)
- Steve’s latest branding success stories and nightmares
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Steve Brock on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
- Brand: Wallop
- The Power of Moments by Chip & Dan Heath
Before he entered the world of marketing, A Brave New’s Content Director Brad Steinbacher spent 14 years as a journalist and editor at Seattle’s leading alternative newspaper The Stranger. His marketing work has included creating content for Fortune 500 companies, political campaigns, and penning opinion pieces for former members of Congress and professional sports stars. At A Brave New, Brad guides and oversees all content for clients, ensuring brand guidelines and voices are followed, and generating new ideas for content delivery. In his free time, Brad enjoys sports, playing video games, and pretending that he’s not actually middle-aged.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Josh & Brad’s thoughts about F1 preseason testing
- Which brands Josh & Brad think each Formula 1 team most resembles
- Various free-form thoughts about Netflix’s Drive To Survive
- Which F1 team most resembles Texas Instruments as a brand
Additional resources:
- Drive To Survive
- Current F1 Driver Standings
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Brad Steinbacher on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, and account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- About the current macro trends around trust and uncertainty uncovered by Edelman’s annual online survey of over 32,000 people in 28 countries
- The opportunities that B2B healthcare and technology brands have to stand out in the midst of an environment of distrust, uncertainty, and polarization
- Why now is the time for businesses to take a position of leadership in society and in the way they engage with their prospects (in a way that matches their brand, of course)
-
Specific strategies to build your brand in this environment including
- Giving voice to the scientists if you work in the healthcare and technology spaces
- Investing in making a societal impact and speaking up for values
- Exploring government collaboration where appropriate to make the world a better place
- Speaking up and taking concrete action about issues people care about (especially CEOs)
- Investing in the platforms that people trust most
- Being someone who provides trustworthy and accurate information
Additional resources:
- 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s Public Speaking Site
- A Brave New’s Website
Nora Marsh, Director of Marketing at CareMessage, leads strategy development for communicating product value as well as efforts to generate demand among new customers and support customer retention. Nora's background in healthcare marketing is broad and deep. She spent 15 years in advertising and communications for pharmaceutical products, medical devices, and over-the-counter health products before pivoting to product marketing for healthcare technology tools. Currently, Nora is focused on bringing her expertise and knowledge to help improve access to healthcare and equitable health outcomes.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How CareMessage is using technology to help safety-net organizations meet the needs of underserved populations
- The challenges we face as a society as we strive to reach all patients with the information they need
- The importance of providing healthcare navigation and guidance to people who do not necessarily know how to get the care they need
- Nora’s experience shifting from agency to in-house roles and how it’s impacted her approach to marketing
- Tips for successfully partnering with an agency
- How to stay on track and focused as a small marketing team
- The importance of market research and competitor research in marketing
- Nora’s principles for content strategy
- Powerful- Don’t waste anyone’s time- everything should be worth reading
- Affinity-Building- Our content moves us from being a service to being a strategic partner, as I mentioned before, and consistency builds trust, and
- Efficient -“Create once, repurpose forever”
Additional resources:
- Nora Marsh’s Linkedin
- CareMessage Website
- A Brave New’s Website
Successful marketing and enterprise demand generation starts with community building. This is the foundation Jack Foster stands firm on. It’s been reinforced by 16 years of marketing experience, the majority of which has been spent spearheading marketing and demand gen efforts for some of the most innovative players in tech like Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey) and Lever. Now as the Vice President of Marketing at WorkRamp, Jack is putting her focus on community building into action — and helping disrupt the established corporate learning and development industry in the process.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How to use corporate learning as a competitive advantage in your marketing
- What it takes to create a leading brand in a fast-growing space…starting with redefining the learning management system category
- The benefit of community-building as a key pillar in your marketing strategy
- How to leverage customer communities to drive increased adoption and loyalty to your brand
- How Jack’s team drove 1000% year-over-year growth in blog traffic guided by a documented content strategy
- Jack’s thoughts about how marketers can succeed in an uncertain economic climate
Additional resources:
- Jack Foster on LinkedIn
- WorkRamp
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Strategies to consider for your marketing program in the face of economic uncertainty
- Imperative 1: Protecting your marketing spend
- How to protect your marketing spend in the face of economic uncertainty
- Why companies who continue to invest in marketing experience less revenue loss (research!)
- Imperative 2: Navigating AI content creation
- The impact that Chat GPT will have on content creation, and whether or not we should be afraid of it as marketers
- Things to watch out for as you begin to leverage AI for your content creation efforts
- Imperative 3: Focusing on your unique value from your customer’s perspective
- How great brands align their content to what their customers need
Additional resources:
- Blog Post: 3 Imperatives For B2B Marketing Leaders As We Kick Off 2023
- Marketing Profs Article: Customer-Centric Companies Win in Recessions: How Customer Insight Cushions Downturns and Speeds Recovery
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- Josh Dougherty’s Public Speaking Site
- A Brave New’s Website
Michelle Burk-Gomez is the Account Director at A Brave New, and she is passionate about building brands and crafting compelling digital experiences for organizations. Her ideas are informed by creative and quantitative perspectives. Michelle has over 15+ years of experience in the Marketing, Brand Strategy, Technology, Finance and Nonprofit industries.
Adept at knowing market trends and how to relate that to an organization’s targeted goals, Michelle is out to discover how best to use marketing campaigns and technology to impact market position and brand perception. She is excited about how to use the power of technology to make organizations more competitive.
She is experienced in concept development and strategy through execution; that is grounded in knowledge of brand, competitive landscape, and market trends. Storytelling, brand strategies and innovation with top ranking companies all play a part.
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Before he entered the world of marketing, A Brave New’s Content Director Brad Steinbacher spent 14 years as a journalist and editor at Seattle’s leading alternative newspaper The Stranger. His marketing work has included creating content for Fortune 500 companies, political campaigns, and penning opinion pieces for former members of Congress and professional sports stars. At A Brave New, Brad guides and oversees all content for clients, ensuring brand guidelines and voices are followed, and generating new ideas for content delivery. In his free time, Brad enjoys sports, playing video games, and pretending that he’s not actually middle-aged.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What it was like for our agency over the past year
- Marketing trends we see on the horizon for 2023
- Why our Content Director only just recently learned he could turn off notifications in the Slack app
Additional resources:
- apree Case Study
- 4 Ways To Break Through The B2B Blahs Blog Post
- Michelle Burk-Gomez LinkedIn
- Brad Steinbacher on Twitter
- A Brave New’s Website
Grant Johnson is a 4x CMO with a proven track record of more than doubling revenues and scaling businesses, building high-performance teams, and transforming global companies, from early stage to multi-billion-dollar enterprises, including: Emburse, Cylance, Kofax, Pegasystems and Symantec. Grant has been a key member of executive teams, driving growth, helping integrate more than 20 acquisitions, and fostering liquidity events valued at more than $10 billion. Grant’s a full stack marketer with expertise in all key functions, including brand, channel, customer, demand, operations, product, and Web marketing. His passion is for developing talent and he’s gratified that more than a dozen of his former staff have progressed their careers to become heads of marketing and CMO’s.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How to balance building strong brand loyalty and driving the demand that you need for growth
- Best tactics to build your brand in the B2B space
- How to bridge the gap between sales and marketing in B2B and ensure a smooth handoff
- Marketing differently based on a company’s stage, whether it’s orgs in growth, acquisition, or integration
- Common pitfalls CMOs face
- Why the relationship with your CEO is so important and how can someone build it
Additional resources:
- Avoiding CMO Pitfalls Blog Post: Part 1
- Avoiding CMO Pitfalls Blog Post: Part 2
- Blog Site: CMO Mentor
- Grant Johnson LinkedIn
- Grant Johnson Twitter
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How to market a complex product in four steps
- Clarifying what you're really selling
- Building trust with humans
- Importance of being data driven
- Keeping the balance between not getting lost in features and functionality, and not oversimplifying
Additional resources:
- How to Market A Complex Tech Product Blog Post
- Erich Ziegler Podcast
- Fabian Geyrhalter Podcast
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Heidi Lorenzen is a global go-to-market executive with 35 years’ experience driving outsized impact through inspired and profitable business strategies. She empowers companies and teams to adapt to change and leverage it for better outcomes – providing fresh insights for success amid the dramatic shifts, unprecedented demands, and exponential opportunities made possible through technology. She is a sought-after thought leader on topics including socially conscious leadership, global marketing strategy, gender equity, and business expansion and has written on these subjects for CMO Council, Forbes, Salesforce.com, World of Business Ideas (WOBI.com), and Marketo. Heidi was named one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by National Diversity Council in 2021.
In her current role as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Accela, an industry-leading cloud platform for governments, Heidi has helped the business achieve market leadership by guiding go-to-market strategies that deliver 50% of pipeline, 20% YoY increase in share of voice, and significant improvement in NPS.
Prior to Accela, Heidi was Vice President of Marketing at Singularity University where led a team responsible for educating and inspiring leaders to apply exponentially-growing technologies (like biotech, AI, and neuroscience) to create a more abundant future and help address humanity’s biggest challenges.
Prior to Singularity University, Heidi served as Chief Marketing Officer at Mark Benioff-backed CloudWords. She also has previously held senior marketing executive roles at enterprise software and technology leaders including Autonomy, Interwoven and Polycom. She began her career in media Taipei, Taiwan, followed by 8 years at Business Week magazine in New York City. Heidi spent a combined 10 years working overseas in Singapore, Germany, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Heidi dedicates her non-day-job time to mentoring, advising, and creating the leaders the world needs today.. Heidi is President of the Women Executives Channel Advisory Board, a member of the Board of Directors for the global non-profit Rising Worldwide, executive sponsor of Accela's Diversity Equity & Inclusion Employee Resource Group, and a member of Chief and the Athena Alliance. Heidi is a past Co-Chair of National League of City’s Corporate Partners Leadership Council, is a Business Mentor at Bishop Ranch Intelligence Innovation Accelerator and CITRIS Accelerator at UC Berkeley, and was an Adjunct Professor of Business Strategy at San Francisco State University, College of Business.
Heidi earned her M.B.A. in International Strategy from New York University’s Stern School of Business and her B.A. in East Asian Studies from Middlebury College, where she learned to speak Mandarin Chinese.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How important it is to balance being human in marketing and not solely focused on data (although still important)
- Keys to success in building a high-performing marketing team
- How to balance the quest to drive results with building a magnetic brand
- The value of being focused on purpose in addition to profit and how that can inspire and uplift teams
Additional resources:
- Heidi Lorenzen LinkedIn
- Women's Executive Channel Advisory Network (WECAN) Blog Page
- Accela Blog Page
- A Brave New’s Website
Erich Ziegler is the Interim GM, EMEA at CircleCI. He is incredibly calculated in his decision-making and is laser-focused on prioritizing the most important business drivers to achieve impactful results.
Since joining CircleCI six years ago, Erich has risen to the challenge of building a team that successfully markets to developers. In that time he’s delivered >100% year-over-year growth, which is largely due to his data-driven marketing approach.
Prior to CircleCI, Erich led marketing teams at RingCentral, Intuit, PayCycle, and Netflix and was featured in the 2020 documentary, “Netflix vs the World” for his role in their hypergrowth.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The system Erich created while at Netflix to manage and maximize demand gen efforts and why it worked so well
- How the model Erich created at Netflix for a direct to consumer brand transitions into the B2B space
- How to cultivated the relationship between marketing and sales successfully
- Thoughts on what marketing trends that might stick and which ones might fade over time
- Advice for new marketers about how to increase their expertise in marketing and to win others within their organization, especially in leadership
Additional resources:
- Erich Ziegler LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Michael joined Skilljar with 20+ years of marketing, strategy, and operations experience across a broad set of industries, from startups to the Fortune 100. Most recently, Michael was the CMO at Certent (acquired by Insightsoftware), a SaaS provider for equity management and financial reporting software. Prior to that, he held a number of roles of increasing responsibility and leadership at companies such as Adaptive Insights (acquired by Workday), Highfive, ShoreTel, Mecalux, Teleflora, The Walt Disney Company, and Maersk. Michael has a BA in Communications Studies from University of California, Los Angeles and an MBA, also from UCLA – The Anderson School of Management.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How layering a customer education strategy in with the rest of your marketing efforts can be a great customer attraction and retention strategy
- Some of the ways that measure the success of a customer acquisition strategy
- The difference between reporting and analysis and insights
- What the keys were to great inbound marketing in 2022, and now heading into 2023
- How platforms have evolved and changed to help us do better inbound marketing
Additional resources:
- Skilljar Website
- Michael Freeman LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Michael Port is the author of nine books, which have been translated into twenty-nine languages. A few of them have become perennial bestsellers and made it onto such lists as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Some have won awards from 800-ceo-read and Amazon. After delivering thousands of paid speeches on the world’s biggest stages, Michael and his wife, Amy, built Heroic Public Speaking HQ , a performance training center, to develop and nurture the next generation of professional speakers along with CEOs and founders, bestselling authors, business owners, and people leading movements and advancing important causes. More at www.HeroicPublicSpeaking.com.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Tips for staying focused and energized while working at a high level across many things at a time
- The difference between a thought leader and and influencer
- The formula for creating a sustainable speaking career
- The importance of intentionality behind the speaking process
- The two things that reduce nerves when you're going to give a speech
- How you develop fractals for speaking so you can effectively spread your ideas and help your overall efforts at building influence as a leader
Additional resources:
- Heroic Public Speaking
- The Referable Speaker
- Steal The Show
- Michael Port LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Ben Slager is a seasoned account manager currently working as Principal Customer Success Manager at HubSpot. He resides in Seattle with his wife and Siberian cat, Ladyhawke.
Ben has extensive experience managing customers and helping them solve complex challenges. He’s worked in a broad spectrum of industries from non-profit fundraising to healthcare to tech. Ben holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration: Marketing from Dordt College.
Away from work, you can find Ben supporting all the Seattle sports teams, playing indoor soccer, campaigning with his friends in D&D, or relaxing with his family on the couch.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The important role listening and asking good questions play in solving problems
- What HubSpot product releases/enhancements announced at Inbound 2022 Ben is most excited to share with his clients
- How HubSpot has evolved it’s platform to better serve large enterprise clients
- Operations Hub, it’s capabilities and how it helps HubSpot fulfill on the promise of being an all-in-one CRM
- Ways you can utilize Service Hub even if your business doesn’t need a customer help desk or ticketing system
- Simple hacks Ben has learned to keep your HubSpot portal running efficiently and smoothly
Additional resources:
- Ben Slager on LinkedIn
- HubSpot
- HubSpot Product Announcements
- A Brave New HubSpot’s Website
Ben Slager is a seasoned account manager currently working as Principal Customer Success Manager at HubSpot. He resides in Seattle with his wife and Siberian cat, Ladyhawke.
Ben has extensive experience managing customers and helping them solve complex challenges. He’s worked in a broad spectrum of industries from non-profit fundraising to healthcare to tech. Ben holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration: Marketing from Dordt College.
Away from work, you can find Ben supporting all the Seattle sports teams, playing indoor soccer, campaigning with his friends in D&D, or relaxing with his family on the couch.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The important role listening and asking good questions play in solving problems
- What HubSpot product releases/enhancements announced at Inbound 2022 Ben is most excited to share with his clients
- How HubSpot has evolved it’s platform to better serve large enterprise clients
- Operations Hub, it’s capabilities and how it helps HubSpot fulfill on the promise of being an all-in-one CRM
- Ways you can utilize Service Hub even if your business doesn’t need a customer help desk or ticketing system
- Simple hacks Ben has learned to keep your HubSpot portal running efficiently and smoothly
Additional resources:
- Ben Slager on LinkedIn
- HubSpot
- HubSpot Product Announcements
- A Brave New HubSpot’s Website
Before he entered the world of marketing, A Brave New’s Content Director Brad Steinbacher spent 14 years as a journalist and editor at Seattle’s leading alternative newspaper The Stranger. His marketing work has included creating content for Fortune 500 companies, political campaigns, and penning opinion pieces for former members of Congress and professional sports stars. At A Brave New, Brad guides and oversees all content for clients, ensuring brand guidelines and voices are followed, and generating new ideas for content delivery. In his free time, Brad enjoys sports, playing video games, and pretending that he’s not actually middle-aged.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Brad’s journey from journalist to seasoned content professional
- The lessons that Brad learned in the newsroom that have helped he and his team create better content for clients
- Ways to keep your content fresh when it feels like you’ve exhausted every single approach to your content
- How to find inspiration (especially by reading nonfiction and unplugging from technology)
- How brands can level up their content game
- The important things companies need to think about as they use content to build brand differentiation
Additional resources:
- Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
- Brad Steinbacher on Twitter
- A Brave New’s Website
Before he entered the world of marketing, A Brave New’s Content Director Brad Steinbacher spent 14 years as a journalist and editor at Seattle’s leading alternative newspaper The Stranger. His marketing work has included creating content for Fortune 500 companies, political campaigns, and penning opinion pieces for former members of Congress and professional sports stars. At A Brave New, Brad guides and oversees all content for clients, ensuring brand guidelines and voices are followed, and generating new ideas for content delivery. In his free time, Brad enjoys sports, playing video games, and pretending that he’s not actually middle-aged.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Brad’s journey from journalist to seasoned content professional
- The lessons that Brad learned in the newsroom that have helped he and his team create better content for clients
- Ways to keep your content fresh when it feels like you’ve exhausted every single approach to your content
- How to find inspiration (especially by reading nonfiction and unplugging from technology)
- How brands can level up their content game
- The important things companies need to think about as they use content to build brand differentiation
Additional resources:
- Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
- Brad Steinbacher on Twitter
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why a disciplined band rollout process is necessary
- The length of time it will take to for people to start internalizing the brand and repeating it back to you
- The difference between brand and marketing
- Why a brand rollout must be treated as more than ust a marketing campaign
- How to effectively roll out your brand to the two most important groups of people: your team and your customers
- The key elements of a brand implementation plan
- What to think about when planning and executing your internal and external launches
- How to leverage a content strategy and ongoing brand training to maintain momentum over the course of the first year after launch and into the future
- What do do if you realize that you’ve gone off course 3-5 years after your brand launch and once again sound like everyone else
Additional resources:
- How to effectively roll out your brand (blog post)
- The secret to an accelerated branding process (guide)
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Fabian Geyrhalter is a brand strategist and creative director who was born in Vienna, Austria and has been living in Los Angeles for well over half his life. He understands that any venture can turn into an admired brand if developed in an intrinsic, holistic, and methodological manner.
Fabian has deep expertise in guiding companies through their brand transformations and has been sought out by companies such as Marriott International, Warner Brothers, Match Group, Honeywell, Kaplan, and Randstad. His thoughts on branding have appeared in publications like Inc., Forbes, Entrepreneur, and The Washington Post.
All three of his books became international Amazon best-sellers and turned into go-to resources for entrepreneurs and marketers alike. From his Resonaid brand strategy workshops to the Hitting the Mark podcast, Fabian is in a constant stimulation cycle, which is clearly visible when he advises clients or shares his insights with his followers.
In 2022 Fabian launched a product startup, Toneoptic, which brings innovation, coupled with his brand-thinking, to the vinyl record storage system space.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Fabian’s fascination in logos as a child grew into a passion for building brands that build authentic emotional connections with
- Why every company must invest in brand if they want to succeed
- How brands like Liquid Death succeed by being bold and focusing on a narrow niche
- How early stage startups can leverage great branding to ensure their product gets noticed
- Why B2B brands should loosen up and realize they are building connections with people, just like everyone else
- Why emotions lie at the core of any great brand
- How to break through any mental blocks as you’re trying to uncover the emotions behind your brand
- How to go about naming creating a great name for your company
Additional resources:
- Fabian Geyrhalter on LinkedIn
- Finien - Fabian’s Brand Consultancy
- Hitting The Mark Podcast
- Liquid Death
- Ironclad
- Toneoptic
- A Brave New’s Website
Hunter Gatewood teaches individuals and teams how to build their dream team through tactical moves and healthy work relationships. His course “The Six Culture Builders for Team Leaders” is the shortest and most encouraging leadership program out there for people who lead from the middle of their organization. His experience includes work as a social worker and coaching change management and process improvement for 200+ work teams.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Hunter’s unique approach to coaching mid-level leaders in organizations to build strong and resilient teams
- Why trust is a vital component of any high functioning team
- The freedom that comes within a team to constructively disagree and push for better results when the team is operating in a high-trust environment
- What to look for to determine if your team lacks trust & how that relates to crabs in a bucket
- Specific how-tos that you can put in place with your team to start building trust now
Additional resources:
- Hunter Gatewood on LinkedIn
- Signal Key
- A Brave New’s Website
Deepika is a marketing leader with over 20 years of experience in building global brands, driving revenue growth, and achieving business impact for technology companies. As the Chief Marketing Officer at CareJourney, she is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s marketing strategy, positioning, brand management, and demand generation programs.
Prior to CareJourney, Deepika served in leadership positions at several well-known B2B companies, including Bloomberg Law (a Bloomberg, LP company), CEB (now Gartner), and Claraview (a division of Teradata) where she executed large-scale, global marketing programs for multiple SaaS products across the NA, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM markets.
Deepika holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Hindu College, Delhi University as well as Marketing certifications from the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a founding member of Chief D.C., the only private membership network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The ways that marketing can serve as a catalyst to drive your organization forward
- How to evaluate the current state of your marketing efforts and determine the immediate next steps to take
- How to build trust and engagement with sales teams using data, results and conversations in order to ensure that you can drive results together
- Methods for developing a clear value proposition and communicating effectively with multiple complex audiences
- How Deepika’s approach changed during the pandemic, and what learning she’ll continue to utilize going forward
- What data Deepika leverages to determine the effectiveness of marketing efforts
- How to evaluate when to look for outsourced help for marketing efforts
Additional resources:
- Deepika Kumar on LinkedIn
- CareJourney Website
- Chief on LinkedIn
- Chief Website
- A Brave New’s Website
Alison Tyrrell is the Head of Marketing at SilverCloud Health. She is a multi-award-winning marketer, with over 17 years of global marketing & communications experience. She has worked in multiple countries, with some of the world's largest brands. Alison has a keen interest in psychology, behavioral economics and anthropology and brings these learnings and insights to her work where possible. She is motivated and passionate about using marketing for positive impact and has spent the last 7 years within ESG and Healthtech.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How marketing in healthtech differs from other industries
- Methods for controlling complexity when marketing to numerous complex audiences
- Alison’s passion for understanding people and how they make decisions, and how that influences her decisions in marketing
- How Alison has harnessed an incredible curiosity and drive to ask questions to continuously learn new things and grow her expertise over the course of her career
- The importance of never giving up in marketing, but rather embracing pivots so that you can move in a different direction
- Why you should hire a goat to join your next Zoom meeting using Goat-2-Meeting
- The influence neuroscience, behavioral science, and anthropology can have on marketing
- How to ensure innovation is possible even if failing fast isn’t an option for your organization
Additional resources:
- Alison Tyrrell on LinkedIn
- Alison Tyrrell on Twitter
- Goat-2-Meeting from Sweet Farm
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The benefits of building a developing a marketing strategy
- How strategy differs from tactics
- How to build a marketing strategy that thrives in disruption
- The importance of data and research
- How to structure your marketing strategy
- How to identify the right tech stack to deliver on your strategy
Additional resources:
- A Complete Guide To Developing A Marketing Strategy
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies. What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What specific dinosaur fossils you can see at Bozeman’s Museum of the Rockies
- Why marketers are typically more at risk of a slow extinction vs. a sudden one (aka the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs)
- How this slow extinction can be be avoided by embracing continuous learning
- Why books, blogs & podcasts, a community of learning should all play a part in your learning mix
- How to turn your learning into action by implementing just 1 think for each resource you consume
Additional resources:
- 5 Suggested Books To Read Right Now
- No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
- ABM is B2B.: Why B2B Marketing and Sales is Broken and How to Fix it
- The Disruption Mindset
- This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See
-
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
-
5 Blogs To Start Reading If You Don’t Already (not exclusively marketing, also general business to get you to think broadly)
- Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute Blog
- Neil Patel’s Blog
- McKinsey Blog
- MIT Sloan Management Review
-
Content Marketing Institute
-
Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
A Brave New’s Art Director Phil Padilla brings with him over 15 years of experience, including 12 years of freelancing for some of the top Seattle creative agencies including Touch Worldwide and Hey, Advertising. Through this he has partnered with brands like Starbucks, Microsoft, and Philips to build expert branding and product development. His work has been recognized twice by the M Award for custom product packaging. Phil is a content creator consistently recognized by partners as being a story-builder, embracing change with enthusiasm, owning major project deliverables from beginning to end, and achieving positive business results.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What makes our Art Director Phil Padilla tick and how he thinks about brand
- The key things Phil keeps in mind each and every time he embarks on a branding project
- Why McDonald’s and Nike have more in common than you think
- The importance of maintaining brand consistency across channels as you work on building your brand
- Why a little bit of fun is important and valuable for even the most serious brands
Additional resources:
- Phil Padilla LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why multiple viewpoints are essential in branding and strategy projects
- Why we fear giving (too many) stakeholders a voice
- How projects can be transformed by embracing stakeholder involvement
- Tools for:
- Building trust and engagement with stakeholders
- Facilitating health disagreement to create a better end product
- Incorporating stakeholder input without watering down the end product
- Working with other core team members to manage stakeholder involvement
- Maintaining momentum in your project
Additional resources:
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Content trends - what everyone should be considering/thinking deeply about
- The ways we excite and energize people about our products and our services aren't going to change - even if the way we communicate does.
- Focusing on your audience is one of the most important principles or trends that we need to think about now more than ever.
- The quality of lead is more important than the quantity.
- Content variety is very important - it allows you to catch people at various points in their current mind state.
Additional resources:
- The Direct Marketers Guide to Inbound Marketing
- ABN Persona Worksheet
- Blog Post: 10 Content Trends To Set You Up For Success In 2022
- Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
- A Brave New’s Website
Paul Daniels is a keynote speaker and Founder & CEO of Peripheral Thinkers™ - a collaborative think-tank – where entrepreneurs, business owners, and corporate leaders learn, share, and apply lessons that propel their companies beyond obstacles and change the trajectory of industries worldwide. He is also the Chief Revenue Officer for Intelligent Contacts (a communications and payments SaaS company), Board Advisor for two start-ups, and author (book release May 2022).
Paul was labeled stupid, slow, lazy, and a daydreamer as a child. Undeterred, Paul has successfully applied lessons from one experience to the next. From personal to professional. Industry to society. Battlefield to cornfield. His unique perspectives on challenging conventions and creating unlimited paths to success, regardless of market conditions, have influenced companies of all sizes, including GE, UnitedHealthcare, Atos, WebMD, and AT&T.
Five decades removed from his childhood labels, Paul's achievements as an executive, entrepreneur, advisor, inventor, and speaker span two dozen industries, 27 countries, and more than $2.3 billion in new annual revenue.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Gain a basic understanding of peripheral thinking.
- Learn how peripheral thinking can drive innovation.
- Learn how removing your focus from the challenge you face to focus and learn about things on the periphery of that challenge can lead to breakthroughs.
- Discover what a baker in Bulgaria and JFK have to do with innovation.
- Uncover practical steps to take to start building an idea repository that you can leverage to solve difficult problems in unique ways.
- Learn how peripheral thinking can help you pivot quickly to react to an ever-changing business environment.
- Take away actionable steps to start exercising your peripheral thinking muscles.
Additional Resources:
- Paul Daniels On LinkedIn
- A Brave New's Website
Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B digital marketing agency specializing in tech and healthcare. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using web design, inbound marketing, account-based marketing strategies.
A company is only as important as the memory it leaves in its customer’s minds. In this episode Josh will explore:
- Why branding is important
- Why entrepreneurs and founders should focus on branding
- The connection between branding and memory
- 3 Questions to ask as start working on your brand
- How great brands align teams to work more effectively, redefines how people think about a category or product, and free companies from price competition
Additional Resources:
- Free Guide: The secret to an accelerated branding process
- An Introduction To Integrated Branding
- A Brave New’s Website
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and CMO at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Josh and Polly built A Brave New and their lessons learned in that process
- Key challenges businesses face as they start out and begin to grow
- How to build a working relationship that can thrive under stress
- Why now is the time for Polly to leave A Brave New and what she’s doing next
- Josh’s vision for A Brave New going forward
Additional Resources:
- Polly LinkedIn
- Beast and Cleaver
- A Brave New’s Website
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and CMO at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why ABM is becoming synonymous with B2B Marketing - the only method that is successful
- How ABM can bring you business transformation with an account-centric approach
- Why only 1% of leads generally become clients, a 99% fail rate
- Why you need to destroy the silos between marketing and sales and become one singularly focused organization
- How an account-centric approach changes acquisition, upsells, and client retention
Additional Resources:
- ABM Is B2B: Why B2B Marketing and Sales Is Broken and How to Fix It
- ABN Podcast: ABM: Account-Based Marketing, with Josh Dougherty
- Account-Based Marketing is B2B Marketing
- Terminus ABM Platform
- A Brave New’s website
Hannah is the founder and CEO of SALT Collaboratory, a consulting company that helps clients acquire Design Thinking skills to amplify focus, collaboration and creativity in their work.
Prior to SALT Collaboratory, Hannah was a Principal at leading consulting firms including Point B in Seattle and Cap Gemini Ernst and Young (CGEY) in London.
Hannah uses Design Thinking to help clients develop deeper insights into problem spaces and create more innovative solutions to their prioritized challenges. Her work helps teams become more engaged, aligned, productive, diverse and optimistic in their work.
Hannah has a CFA, an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a LUMA Certified Instructor in Design Thinking.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How a career in management consulting led Hannah to a new way of problem solving through design thinking
- Why the innovation challenge for most organizations is bigger than any one person can solve
- Why most organizations need a more collaborative and innovative approach to developing and implementing solutions
- How design thinking is uniquely suited for organizations with complex challenges, but who can come up with the answers internally with the right help
- How open and curious teams can solve problems that seem unsolvable
- How teams that embrace design thinking can grow in their skills while they participate
- How a flexible design thinking approach can be applied to broad issues from strategy and planning, to building a smart rollout plan
Additional resources:
- SALT Collaboratory
- Hannah Berson on LinkedIn
- LUMA Institute
- MURAL Tool - Online Whiteboard
- Design Thinking and Consulting: A Match Made In Heaven
- Using MURAL to facilitate virtual workshops
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and CMO at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why talented marketing agencies (and marketers) are easy to find, but amazing working relationships can be elusive, or break down over time
- How to choose the right partners: agencies, freelancers, and more
- Why honesty is always the best policy, even when that means getting honest with yourself
- How to give and receive feedback
- How to maintain the relationship and grow together
Additional Resources:
- White Paper: How we work with clients (and why it works)
- A Brave New’s website
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has more than a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Get to know Josh and Polly a little better as they answer questions about their year in review - the good, the bad, and the delicious
- Why 2021 was overwhelming in both good and bad ways - personally and professionally
- Why identifying your limits and when you need a break is necessary
- Why it’s still important to focus on the fundamentals
- How to show more empathy to clients
- The importance of clear communication
Resources:
- Website: https://abravenew.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-brave-new/
- Books:
-
- Essentialism
- Think Again
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- Restaurant: St. John
- Wine:
-
- David Bruce Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains 2009
- Hall Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
- Swanson Angelica
Kim “KC” Campbell is a retired Air Force Colonel who served in the Air Force for 24 years as a fighter pilot and senior military leader. She has flown 1,800 hours in the A-10 Warthog, including more than 100 combat missions protecting troops on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003, Kim was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism after successfully recovering her battle-damaged airplane after an intense close air support mission in Baghdad.
Kim is a distinguished graduate from the United States Air Force Academy. As a Marshall Scholar, she earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of London and a Master of Arts in International Security Studies from the University of Reading in England. Kim’s Air Force assignments include leadership roles as a Group Commander, responsible for over 1,000 Air Force personnel in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Kim also served as the Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, advising the number three civilian official in the Department of Defense on national security and defense policy issues. She also served as the Air Force Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a pre-eminent think tank promoting international leadership and engagement. During her time as a fellow, Kim participated in strategy sessions with ministers of defense, military leaders, and CEOs. Most recently, Kim served as the Director, Center for Character and Leadership Development at the Air Force Academy, responsible for the professional development of faculty and staff and reinforcing character and leadership programs within the 4,000-member Cadet Wing. Connect and learn more at www.kim-kc-campbell.com.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How having a fighter pilot mindset can help you succeed and improve when things are going wrong
- What strategies you can use to normalize and deal with your fears
- How to stop putting pressure on yourself as a woman in leadership
- Why a 50/50 balance between work and life doesn’t work
- How your anxiety and stress can help you make brave decisions and lead with courage
- How Kim’s airplane being hit in Baghdad prepared her to make difficult decisions in life
- Why being the only woman in the workplace helps you build credibility
- How to generate ideas with a culture of trust and connection with your colleagues
Resources:
- Website: https://kim-kc-campbell.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-kc-campbell/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kchawg987
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has more than a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How to achieve your goals in the final weeks of the year
- What action items will bring you the closest to meeting end of year goals
- Should you focus on more direct or indirect marketing and messaging during Q4
- What ways can you increase the urgency on your website or user journey
- How to spend the remaining money in your budget before you lose it
- What can you do to better understand your customers next year
- How many KPIs should you have each year to get the most reward
Resources:
- A Brave New's website: www.abravenew.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/a-brave-new/
- Free Download: SMART Goals Template
- Launch Your Next Marketing Effort With A One-Day Intensive Workshop
- Q4 Is Upon Us, It’s Time To Optimize
- Start Improving Your Marketing Results In 5 Simple Steps
A seasoned digital marketing strategist with expertise in brand content development, digital advertising, and advocacy campaigns. Erica Klinger is responsible for helping some of the most consequential and impactful brands and non-profits tell their stories to audiences that matter. Erica’s strategic vision and data-driven approach have helped Fortune 500 companies and major non-profits generate unprecedented audience growth and bottom-line impact.
Currently, Erica is the Senior Director of Marketing at the Association for Accessible Medicines, the advocacy arm of the generics and biosimilars industry, where she works to ensure greater patient access to generic and biosimilar medicines. At AAM, Erica uses emerging digital and social media marketing techniques to convene and educate a diverse group of stakeholders to achieve priority goals.
Before joining AAM, Erica was the Director of Interactive Promotion and Strategy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Director of Marketing at Seattle Foundation. Erica has held VP channel strategy, creative director, senior digital strategist, and web developer roles at digital agencies and directed the digital creative, applications, and ad campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including Hilton Worldwide and FedEx.
Erica’s unique experience as a digital pioneer and strategic marketer has created unprecedented campaign results and earned her speaking appearances and podcasts including Voices of Advocacy podcast, Advocacy Desk podcast, Public Affairs Council Advocacy Conference 2020, National Press Club's PR Summit DC 2019, ASAE 2019 Annual Conference, CommA Conference for Foundations and the first-ever Google Nonprofit Summit in DC.
Erica enjoys using sophisticated digital strategies to digitally transform organizations and crafting high-value, educational consumer content. A mother of three with a passion for the outdoors, Erica enjoys spending time with her family and hiking in her free time.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why generic pharmaceutical companies have a unique marketing challenge and need more education and advocacy support than traditional pharmaceutical brands
- How grassroots advocacy can be more impactful than standard marketing practices for the right products
- How do you start a grassroots effort from scratch without a list
- Why Erica has found greater success with infographics, videos, and quizzes than less visual forms of content like emails
- How the pandemic has allowed older generations to conquer the hurdle of technology, first out of necessity and now preference
- How Erica learns new MarTech tactics and strategies from others in her industry and decides which to test
Resources:
- Website: https://accessiblemeds.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaklinger/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessiblemeds/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accessiblemeds
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericaklinger
- https://twitter.com/accessiblemeds
Additional resources:
A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Hannah Thomas is a dynamic and impactful executive advisor and health science consultant who expertly guides C-suite executives in goal attainment, including developing strategies to successfully drive organic growth, M&As, talent and workforce optimization, technology improvements, product launches, partnership building, and cultural transformations.
As Founder/Principal at New Canvas Advising, Hannah collaborates with business leaders to holistically assess their existing systems, processes, technologies, and policies and determine a strategic plan to achieve both their short- and long-term goals. While offering value to all industries, Hannah leverages her background in clinical research to specialize in meeting the complex and unique needs of clients in the life sciences, biotech, and healthcare sectors.
Having worked with/in large corporations, small businesses, non-profits, start-ups, clinical research centers, hospitals, and more, Hannah understands how to communicate with, influence, and lead technical, scientific, and operations personnel of all levels. She has earned the respect of physicians, PhDs, researchers, and laboratory personnel while also being able to advise decision-makers focused on financial management, regulatory compliance, and business strategy.
Hannah is active in her community, currently holding an appointment to the Council Salary Review Commission for the City of Puyallup. She is also a professional mentor through the Blue Scarf Society with the Puyallup and Sumner Chamber of Commerce. Previously, Hannah co-founded and directed Scent of Water Foundation to provide relief to individuals with financial challenges while suffering from all types of cancer. She has also served as a mentor for students and young female professionals through the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research and Young Women in BIO.
Hannah earned her Master’s in Health Science, focused on Clinical Research Administration at George Washington University as well as a Bachelor’s in Biology from Pacific Lutheran University. Additionally, she completed a comprehensive program at Sandford University for an Advanced Project Management Certificate.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Hannah’s career path evolved and led to the founding of her business, New Canvas Advertising
- Why Hannah feels passionately about the work she does, and what kinds of advertising projects she organizes on behalf of clients
- How the outbreak of the global pandemic has impacted the overall healthcare sector and how health systems are adapting to these new challenges and opportunities
- What innovations and developing trends and technologies are emerging within the healthcare industry
- How the global pandemic is forcing the healthcare industry to grapple with difficult new challenges and shifting patient expectations
- Why access to robust data is crucial, and how patient surveys and other data collection strategies will be key going forward
- What challenges and opportunities Hannah sees in healthcare marketing, and why internal marketing will be vital as we begin to emerge from the pandemic
Resources:
- Website: https://newcanvasadvising.com/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/newcanvasadvising
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hannahthomas/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/newcanvasadvising/
- Twitter: @NewCanvasAdv
Additional resources:
A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Garrett Harding (he/him) is the Associate Director of Community Outreach at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). In this role he plans, implements, evaluates, and leads HCI’s community outreach and engagement activities, working in collaboration with the community to build capacity for projects that reduce and address the burden of cancer in Utah and the Mountain West.
Additionally, he coordinates HCI’s 36-member Community Advisory Board and manages the Community Outreach and Prevention Education program – which is composed of Community Health Educators who provide outreach, screening, education, and connection to research, to diverse and underrepresented communities. Mr. Harding received a degree in public health from Brigham Young University. He is a trained patient navigator, certified tobacco cessation facilitator, and is fluent in Spanish.
Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, playing golf and tennis, spending time in the Utah mountains, advocating for social justice and equality, and spoiling his 7 nephews and 1 niece.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How community outreach contributes to a broader public health program and what’s required to demonstrate success
- The most effective approaches to capture an audience’s attention around scary healthcare topics like cancer and cancer prevention
- How Huntsman Cancer Institute’s marketing messaging found success with emphasizing small steps and without utilizing fear tactics
- Why it’s important to consider your audience needs, and how to make messaging more inclusive
- What mistakes Garrett made with negative messaging and how he was able to adapt his approach to be better received
- How to prioritize community outreach and education within a healthcare organization’s broader marketing and PR efforts
- How to effectively prioritize and communicate the organization’s brand in partnership with community outreach, marketing, and PR
Resources:
- Website: https://healthcare.utah.edu/huntsmancancerinstitute/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettleeharding/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/huntsman-cancer-institute/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntsmanCancerInstitute
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/huntsmancancer
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has more than a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What Salesforce's 2021 report revealed about how marketers feel about today's marketing environment
- How the unusual challenges of 2021 have impacted (and accelerated) marketing trends, including bringing the marketing and sales teams closer
- Why the chaos of the last few years has created both challenges and new opportunities for marketing to prove its value
- Why growth in every industry has been accelerated by the outbreak of the global pandemic, and how privacy law changes have created even greater complexity
- Why lots of high-quality data is crucial for navigating today's challenges, and why clearly defining your organization's long-term goals and strategy matters
- Why video as a content vehicle is also an accelerating trend that takes advantage of being "less polished, more human" to connect with viewers
- Why consumers are increasingly trusting and relying on artificial intelligence throughout their daily lives, and how marketers can leverage AI
Additional resources:
- Salesforce's State of Marketing in 2021: www.salesforce.com/news/stories/state-of-marketing-in-2021/
- Takeaways from the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Convention 2021 by Josh Dougherty: https://www.abravenew.com/blog/takeaways-from-maicon-2021
- Website: www.abravenew.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/a-brave-new/
- Why ABM Is Your Small Team's Secret Weapon: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/kickstart-abm-small-teams
- Get started with account-based marketing in HubSpot: https://academy.hubspot.com/lessons/get-started-with-abm
- 5 most common problems with B2B account-based marketing: https://www.impactplus.com/blog/most-common-problems-with-b2b-account-based-marketing
Scott Brown is the Co-founder, President, and CEO of ADVault. He is also the co-editor of the HL7 CDA® R2 Implementation Guide: Personal Advance Care Plan Document, Release 1 Standard for Trial Use and a reviewer of the HL7 CDA® R2 Implementation Guide: C-CDA R2.1 Revised Templates for Advance Directives, Release 1 Standard for Trial Use. Prior to co-founding ADVault, Scott was an international corporate and securities attorney practicing in Paris, France and Dallas, Texas. He earned his undergraduate degree with distinction, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oklahoma, and he earned his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Scott and his team navigate the complexities of the healthcare industry, and how they identified a need within healthcare that wasn't being served
- Why healthcare providers haven't been talking about advance care planning, and why Scott is motivated to improve systems and connect people with advance care services
- What intense marketing challenges Scott and ADVault have faced, and the steps they have taken to overcome these unique obstacles
- Why one of the major challenges has been getting the attention of the people at the top of large medical provider companies who have the power to affect change
- How the global pandemic has accelerated progress in informing healthcare providers and consumers of the importance of advance care planning
- What advice Scott has for organizations new to the healthcare technology space
- Why the outbreak of the pandemic has highlighted the many ways in which our healthcare systems are struggling and were unprepared for crisis
Resources:
- Enterprise Website: https://advaultinc.com/
- Consumer-facing Website: https://mydirectives.com/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scott-brown-4653432/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/advault-inc./
- Twitter: @ADVault_Inc
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
As a 25-year talent and leadership development expert, CEO Tara Powers is an international best-selling author, award-winning leadership and Wiley DISC expert, sought-after keynote speaker, and crusader for virtual teams and virtual leadership, including her newly launched Virtual Team School. Tara’s company, Powers Resource Center, is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise with WBENC.
She’s worked with over 300 companies and more than 30,000 leaders building programs and launching initiatives that deliver high-touch and high-impact results for her clients.
For four years, PRC’s Leadership Programs have earned the prestigious Top 10 Leadership 500 award by HR.com, alongside prominent brands such as Korn Ferry, Level (3), Hilton, Honda, MIT and DDI. Tara is also a judge for the coveted Brandon Hall Excellence Awards which recognizes the best organizations globally that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, and tools that have achieved measurable outcomes. In 2020, PRC received an award from Brandon Hall for Best Results from a Leadership Program for their Leadership Boot Camp program. In 2020 and 2021, OnCon awarded PRC with a Top 25 Human Resources Vendor Award and an HR Contributor Icon Award in 2019.
Recently, Tara published Virtual Team for Dummies and Working from Home for Dummies with Wiley and was recognized in Colorado Business Magazine as a Women to Watch.
Tara speaks nationally on vital topics such as the importance of human connection and emotional intelligence in leadership, simple secrets for creating healthy organizations, and how to build cohesive and committed teams.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why Tara began specializing in virtual and hybrid teams, and how the outbreak of the global pandemic accelerated the need for organizations to do this work the right way
- Why learning to navigate a hybrid work environment is crucial for leaders today, and why creating a successful hybrid or virtual work environment takes intentionality
- How to set clear expectations, have a plan, and put the right tools in place before moving your team into a virtual environment
- Why it's important for leaders to avoid setting unspoken virtual workplace expectations that can become a drain on their employees
- What factors are driving the "Great Resignation," and why it is important to create psychological safety in your organization
- Why taking the time to celebrate wins is important for your team's happiness, and what virtual workplace trends are emerging today
Resources:
- YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCx_t0yICGxMdo2KaRKPjrQw
- Website: www.powersresourcecenter.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tarapowers
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/powers-resource-center-llc/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/PowersResourceCenter/
- Twitter: @taralpowers
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Jenn brings 20+ years experience in health management and consulting to Hello Heart including roles at AJG and Mercer consulting firms. A former professor of Health at her alma mater the University of Houston and exercise physiologist by training, Jenn began her career in clinical research on multiple NIH and biopharma studies focused on cardiovascular health generating multiple publications highlighting successful interventions. She then moved into the employer space designing award winning wellness programs delivering clinical outcomes and ROI.
Jenn leads consultant relations for Hello Heart and serves as a clinical subject matter expert. She is married with 3 children, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 bunnies, and a gaggle of chickens on her small, sustainable farm "Robertshire," just outside of Houston.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Hello Heart is innovating within the intersection of technology and healthcare by designing app-connected, customized health monitoring solutions
- How the outbreak of the global pandemic has highlighted the access challenges that exist within our healthcare system, and how marketing is helping bridge these gaps
- How the "hook model" Hello Heart, Facebook and Tiktok employ works, including a trigger, an action, and a reward
- How Hello Heart targets potential clients and uses data to highlight the return on investment they can offer to potential customers
- How consolidations within Hello Heart's niche present marketing challenges, and how Jenn and her team are working to overcome these competitive challenges
- How Hello Heart has designed their app to reduce healthcare inequities and provide access to vital healthcare tools
- How exciting modern technological innovations like VR are improving many aspects of our healthcare industry, and why the future looks bright for innovation, and for patients!
Resources:
- Website: www.helloheart.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenn-roberts-0b6189b7/
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Steve Brock leads a studio of talented and experienced researchers, strategists, designers, writers, programmers, project managers, an odd chef or two, photographers, videographers, organizational development specialists and assorted other creatives. As a studio, his team pulls together the most appropriate team for clients’ specific needs. And somehow, it all works. Brilliantly. With a wallop even.
For more than twenty-years (that’s like over a century in internet years), Steve’s team have helped some of the nation’s top corporations and not-for-profit organizations discover who they are, determine optimal ways to convey their story and then create experiences and artifacts that bring that story to life. You can call this the branding process, brand building or a host of other jargon-filled terms. Steve and his team call the end result delight.
Steve is very hands-on with all Brand:Wallop clients. He believes that every project matters and every client is a potential long-term friend. He not only gets involved in all the strategy work but even helps out on copy and photography when needed . At Brand:Wallop, they believe you and your staff will achieve greater delight with your brand (as will you audiences) if you experience it in the process of building your brand.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Steve initially discovered his passion for branding, and how his company Brand:Wallop delivers on their promise for clients
- Why Steve believes "your mission is what you do, but your brand is the distinctive way you carry out your mission"
- What four key qualities a great brand should hold, and how you can use those four qualities to inform the content you produce
- What to look for to identify and address problems with your branding, and why listening to your customers is the key to getting your branding right
- Why the biggest trend in branding is creating an experience and long-term relationship with customers, and why it's better to "build peaks" rather than "fill potholes"
- Why collecting data from your clients and responding to feedback is the key to being "audience-centric"
- Why momentum is crucial for building or refreshing your brand, and why consistency is vital
- How to structure your "brand team" to make the most impact, and what roles your brand team needs to thrive
Resources:
- Website: https://brandwallop.com/
- Website: www.exploreyourworlds.com
- Website: www.exploreyourworlds.com/hiddentravel/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwbrock/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/brand-wallop/
Nicole M. Bianchi is a founding partner at Bravium HD, where she is an accomplished speaker, author, and coach. She designs and facilitates transformational workshops in leadership, team alignment, and culture-building. Before Bravium, she was human resources and organizational development executive, leading transformation within Conagra Brands and Markel Insurance.
Her passion? Inspiring Bravery. Her focus? Enabling leaders to stretch into their bravest selves.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What key lessons and magic moments Nicole experienced over her career, and why creating transformation has been a key part of her journey
- Why Nicole attributes her success to surrounding herself with people who believed in her, and why mentorship is vital in dealing with Imposter Syndrome
- How mentors and sponsors differ, and why mentors and sponsors are crucial for helping empower women in business leadership positions
- Why the global pandemic was the right time for Nicole to write "Small Brave Moves", and why the book's message is especially applicable through the challenges we're facing
- Why bravery isn't just about big, dramatic moments but also about the "small brave moves" we make every day, and what benefits being brave offers to business leaders
- Nicole shares a story of having a piece of lettuce stuck in her braces through an important lunch meeting and how it led to a powerful conversation and a strong leadership relationship
- What steps you can take to build a habit for making small brave moves and creating a personal mindset that allows you to meet each moment as it comes
Resources:
- "Small Brave Moves: Learn Why Little Acts of Bravery Are the Key to Life-Changing Leadership" by Nicole Bianchi: https://bookshop.org/books/small-brave-moves-learn-why-little-acts-of-bravery-are-the-key-to-life-changing-leadership/9781636768403
- Website: www.nicolembianchi.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolembianchi/
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has more than a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What the typical website process looks like and why it often results in an outdated website that needs to be revamped every few years
- What kinds of problems and challenges the traditional website design process creates for organizations
- What "growth-driven design" is and what advantages it offers over the traditional thinking around website design
- Why the first step is to develop a clear, empathetic understanding of your target audience and your KPIs
- How to create a wishlist for your site that can help inform the direction of your incremental site improvements
- What mitigating steps you can take to begin refreshing your site even before you implement a growth-driven design plan
- How six-week design sprints can help you determine your key priorities and fit them within your budget, and how to deal with hesitation and pushback
Additional resources:
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/a-brave-new/
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and CMO at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why the process of collecting and creating great content needs to be done with intentionality and should focus on content with the right attributes
- How the unique challenges of the global pandemic have changed the way we collect content
- Why batching your work can be a powerful way to ensure that you're able to meet with people and collect the resources you need, and other best practices to follow
- Tips and strategies for conducting a great, effective interview, and why planning is the key to a rich, detailed interview
- Why interviewing a Subject Matter Expert (SME) requires a different level of research and preparation, and how to create great interview questions
- Why sending your interviewee a pre-interview email with the questions you'll be asking is important for helping them give you the golden nuggets you're looking for
- What tips and tricks you can utilize during the actual interview process to ensure a successful and worthwhile interview with the right follow-up questions
Resources:
Blog posts from A Brave New to help you create great content and conduct awesome interviews:
- https://www.abravenew.com/blog/how-to-conduct-a-great-interview-1
- https://www.abravenew.com/blog/how-to-become-a-content-resource-ninja
- https://www.abravenew.com/blog/4-tips-for-more-professional-looking-phone-videos
- https://www.abravenew.com/blog/how-much-does-video-equipment-cost
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Michelle Burk-Gomez is the Account Director at A Brave New, and she is passionate about building brands and crafting compelling digital experiences for organizations. Her ideas are informed by creative and quantitative perspectives. Michelle has over 15+ years of experience in the Marketing, Brand Strategy, Technology, Finance, and Nonprofit industries.
Adept at knowing market trends and how to relate that to an organization’s targeted goals, Michelle is out to discover how best to use marketing campaigns and technology to impact market position and brand perception. She is excited about how to use the power of technology to make organizations more competitive.
She is experienced in concept development and strategy through execution; that is grounded in knowledge of brand, competitive landscape, and market trends. Storytelling, brand strategies and innovation with top ranking companies all play a part.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Michelle's career path led to her role as Account Director at A Brave New, and how she discovered her love of marketing through her varied career experiences
- What challenges Michelle has faced as an African American woman in marketing, and why it is crucial to amplify women's voices and give them opportunities to grow their careers
- Why women are often balancing their careers with family responsibilities, and how the global pandemic has disproportionately amplified this added burden
- What has changed for women in the workplace over the last 20 years, and why not enough progress has been made to help women succeed
- How establishing quantified and measurable diversity goals has helped A Brave New establish a more diverse team
- Why truly valuing diversity means making it an ongoing priority, and why business leaders have a responsibility to educate themselves and take action
- Why it is critically important to call out injustices when you see them, and why the work of increasing team diversity and workplace equity never stops
Resources:
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/burk-micheller/
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Carter Wade is an enthusiastic senior leader and client advocate at Veritus Group, with over 30 years of experience serving non-profit organizations in strategic planning, direct response marketing, and fundraising. He has developed and managed highly successful campaigns for a wide range of national and regional clients throughout the United States and clearly understands the importance of caring for and nurturing relationships with mid and major donors.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why Carter uses the "DIP" (drive, initiative, and push) philosophy to drive his success
- The important lessons Carter learned over his 30+ year career, how he developed his leadership style, and how to trust employees to rise to their roles
- How believing in and empowering the people around you is a crucial key to instilling a sense of ownership
- What tips Carter has to offer for delighting and surprising clients, and why robust client service requires intentionally focusing on being remarkable
- Why our "personal preferences" often cause us to be blind to the facts, and why we must learn to set those personal preferences aside
- What strategies Carter recommends for anyone struggling to better manage their time, and why owning and blocking your calendar is crucial
- Why "meeting creep" is a real danger that can unnecessarily eat into your time and your productivity
Additional resources:
- Website: https://veritusgroup.com/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carter-wade-12973421/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/veritus-group/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/VeritusGroup
- Twitter: @VeritusGroup
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and Chief Strategist at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How work-from-home has permanently changed how we see the workplace, and how the pandemic has dramatically impacted our collective mental health over the last year
- How author Adam Grant wrote a New York Times article about why "languishing", a sense of stagnation and emptiness, may be the dominant emotion of 2021
- How a number of intersecting factors have created a perfect storm in our present mental health crisis, and what important lessons we can learn from pandemic life
- How "flow" is the antidote to the feeling of languishing, and why focusing on the moment and achieving and recognizing small wins is crucial
- How the A Brave New team starts their meetings with an "emotions wheel" that allows team members to vocalize what they're feeling in the moment
- How the pandemic has created a universal experience, teaching many of us that talking about mental health and expressing vulnerability is okay
- Why leaders need to express support and ensure that their team members are taking advantage of PTO and of the mental health resources available to them
- How the concept of "positive regard" works, and how this key value empowers the A Brave New team to support each other through the challenges we all face
- How the meditative practice of mindfulness can help us avoid burnout and help us be more present in the moment
Resources:
- Think Again by Adam Grant: https://bookshop.org/books/think-again-the-power-of-knowing-what-you-don-t-know-9781984878106/9781984878106
- Adam Grant’s New York Times article on languishing: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has more than a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why an evolving expectation of trust in marketing has been a major force in 2021, and how the annual Edelman Trust Barometer can offer invaluable insights
- Why an erosion of trust in core institutions such as government and the economy has been accelerated by the global pandemic and other recent major challenges
- How people across the industrialized world have a high level of trust in their individual employers but low trust in wider institutions
- Why transparency and impartiality are crucial, and why academic and technical experts within a company are its most trusted spokespeople even though even that trust is tenuous
- Why people often have good intentions to improve our information literacy but often don't do the work necessary to avoid echo chambers
- Why being trustworthy, living up to your promises, leading with facts, acting with empathy and being authentic is crucial for effective, impactful marketing
- How Wunderman Thompson's Future 100 report offers powerful insights into what the future will look like and how we can begin adapting today
- How augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality will bring a sea change to conferences and other events
- How the Johnson & Johnson/Merck vaccine development partnership offers an example of how partnering with other companies in branding collaborations can be powerful
- Why TikTok ads are creating new exciting opportunities for marketing that can't be overlooked, and how people are showing a desire for clarity on an organization's ethics
- Why today's audience wants to learn from trusted brands and companies, and how teaching them for free can help you build trust
Additional resources:
- The Edelman Trust Barometer 2021: www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer
- The 2021 Wunderman Thompson Future 100 Report: https://intelligence.wundermanthompson.com/trend-reports/the-future-100-2021/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/a-brave-new/
Stacey Singer loves agencies. She believes that when they are at their best, agencies are unmatched in the value they can bring clients. Stacey's 25+ year career has given her a unique perspective on what drives client retention and growth.
She has successfully led and grown multiple agencies specializing in different marketing disciplines from advertising to market research—and in varied business situations from a 3-person start-up to a 1,000 person turn-around.
Before starting her consultancy, Stacey developed and led an industry-first global, client satisfaction program for the world’s largest marketing communications company. This work gave her great insight into what clients value most and how agencies can differentiate themselves.
Stacey now helps agencies keep and grow business. Her work includes consulting and training on an account, office, network, or holding company level.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What key trends Stacey has identified within the agency/client relationship that have been accelerated by the impact of the global pandemic
- Why it's crucial to do the work needed to truly understand your clients' needs and pain points, and what important role client services and account managers can play in this
- Why there is a trend toward clients working with more and a broader variety of agencies, and why culture can be an important competitive advantage
- Stacey shares a favorite, easy exercise to help you better see from someone else's perspective and develop greater empathy
- Why your incentives, rewards and systems should be tailored to and reflect the values your company believes in
- What steps clients can take to maximize the productivity and collaboration of their relationships with the agencies they work with
- What key turning points and moments Stacey has experienced over the arc of her career, and what lessons she has learned as a woman in business leadership
- What skills marketers should develop to be successful today, and why soft skills can help you adapt to the necessarily nimbleness in today’s market
Additional resources:
- Website: www.staceysinger.com
- Stacey’s Blog: https://www.staceysinger.com/thinking
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/singerstacey/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/stacey-singer-consulting/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/staceysinger_nj @staceysinger_nj
Polly Yakovich’s Bio:
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and Chief Strategist at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
Stephen Woessner’s Bio:
Stephen Woessner is the Founder and CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast, a top-rated podcast for learning how business owners think, act, and achieve success. Onward Nation is listened to in more than 120 countries around the world. He is the author of three bestselling books including the Amazon #1 Bestseller Profitable Podcasting. He is also a speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why Polly has always been fascinated by learning how things work and asking questions, and how vulnerability is the foundation of inspiring trust from others
- What the psychological principle of Positive Regard is, and why it serves as one of the core tenets at A Brave New
- Why Polly gets fulfillment from helping clients recognize, identify and adapt to barriers to their growth
- Why getting past the "forbidden thing", the barrier to growth, is the key to creating new possibilities in your business
- Why inbound marketing is trendy thanks to Hubspot's reputation despite the story being more nuanced than that, and why outbound marketing's role is often underappreciated and still necessary
- How the team at A Brave New specializes in blending both inbound and outbound marketing to get maximum impact
- What account-based marketing is and how it offers unique and specific benefits to help you tailor your marketing efforts for better results
- Why account-based marketing needs great alignment and collaboration between your marketing and sales teams, and why the key is to offer authenticity and value
- Why it is more important to do account-based marketing well than to go big, and why delighting someone is easier than it might seem
- How Polly approaches the complicated task of tracking marketing success and ROI, and which KPIs she focuses on to get a sense of the bigger picture
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
Chis Ihrig is founder and CEO of Fired-Up! Culture, a leadership development and consulting firm with offices in Puyallup, Seattle and Southern California. Chris' passion: igniting the best in people to build our future together!
With over twenty-five years of corporate executive leadership experience, Chris has a proven success philosophy that advances people and establishes corporate vision around the creation of dynamic and Fired-Up! organizational cultures. Chris provides visionary leadership with action principles to ignite the best in leadership, build amazing teams and unleash organizational cultures that engage and delight both internal and external stakeholders.
As a gifted team facilitator who brings energy, fun, focus and strategy to team development events for groups over 2500. Chris has successfully led thousands of team building sessions across North America and Globally.
Chris has been married to his wife Kris for 28-years, raising 4 kids who have just about all left the house. Finally! He holds an MBA in Organizational Change and a BA in Social Service Administration. He has been a member of the Puyallup School Board of Directors for 6-years.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why culture matters, and why leaders should begin intentionally working on the organization's culture regardless of the size of the business
- How Chris and the team at Fired-Up! Culture have defined culture and how they help clients identify where their culture is today and how to get where they want to go in the future
- Why an organization's leadership is responsible for creating a space where every team member feels empowered to affect the company's culture
- What key "aha!" moments Chris's clients experience when reviewing their company culture, and what painful truths leaders sometimes experience
- How business leaders can help navigate their teams through change, and how a strong culture can empower employees and put the chaos of change into perspective
- Why many people struggle with being a leader instead of a practitioner, and how this sometimes leads to surprising realizations for Chris's clients
- What advice Chris has to share around self care and dealing with the unprecedented challenges in the world today, and why creating "margin" in life is crucial
Additional resources:
- Website: www.firedupculture.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisihrig/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fired-up-culture/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/firedupculture
- Twitter: @FiredUpCulture
Rhiannon Andersen has served as the CMO and Co-Owner at Steelhead Productions, her company specializes helping some of the most exciting brands in the country produce face to face events. Steelhead has been awarded ‘The Best Places’ to Work in Nevada and appointed Exhibitor Magazine’s Top 40 Providers in the event industry. Rhiannon has guided the company through the greatest recession of our time and gone on to help grow the business by over 630%, while becoming one of Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing Companies in America.
In addition to her duties at Steelhead, she has served as the President of the Las Vegas chapter of the Exhibit Designer Producers Association and is the current president of EO Las Vegas, a global organization for entrepreneurs and Co-Chair of the non-profit, Make A Wish Southern Nevada. Rhiannon believes that marketing, done well, has the power to transform any business.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How the outbreak of the global pandemic had an outsized impact on the event planning industry and on companies like Steelhead, who had already weathered the 2008 financial crash
- How Rhiannon’s leadership team dealt with the juxtaposition of winning Nevada’s Top Workplace while having to lay off workers who were like family due to the catastrophic effects of the pandemic
- How Rhiannon and her partner were incredibly intentional in creating the organization's values to ensure that those values become a foundational part of their culture
- Why culture is a crucial part of Steelhead's environment, and how developing a strong company culture was an intentional process that started with Rhiannon and her partner
- Why Rhiannon believes strongly in approaching everything in life with humility and a desire to continue learning "about the best from the best"
- What important lessons Rhiannon has learned over the course of her business leadership journey, and why she appreciates every step of the process she has gone through
- Why Rhiannon learned to stop doing the things a business leader "should" be doing and instead prioritize what really matters
- What "non-negotiables" Rhiannon has carved out in her life every day, and why she refuses to compromise on those things
- Why Rhiannon believes that the key to good marketing, whether B2C or B2B, is found in understanding that we're all human regardless if we are interfacing digitally or in person
Additional resources:
- Website: www.steelheadproductions.com
- Blog: https://www.steelheadproductions.com/blog/steelhead-productions-wins-no.-1-spot-in-nevadas-top-workplaces
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/exhibithappy/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rhiannonandersen/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/steelhead-productions/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Steelhead.Productions
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExhibitHappy
Polly Yakovich is Co-founder and Chief Strategist at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why the key to effective direct response marketing lies in being tactical, ruthlessly disciplined, and laser-focused on results
- Why direct response marketing should be based on knowing your audience through data only, and why real action today matters more than future aspirations
- Why you should measure only what matters, and how to identify the right metrics that matter to your business
- How to continue building off what your metrics tell you is already working, and why it is important to stick to a single CTA (call to action) in your marketing
- Why asking again and again with the same CTA is more impactful than changing your messaging, and why direct response is very honest about human behavior and accepts humans as they are
- Why direct response works well in tandem with inbound marketing, and how to use the SMART approach to begin incorporating direct response marketing
Additional resources:
- A Brave New’s website: www.abravenew.com
For over a decade, Jennifer Pascoe has been carving a way for marketing leaders to make a
positive impact while driving a successful bottom line. Having worked with beginning startups to big-name brands, Jennifer focuses on strategic direction and overall brand experience first and foremost. She’s known for her creative collaboration and resourcefulness that allows no vision to be too big or too small. This approach has led Jennifer to many successes, such as managing and developing a promotional and events department, expanding market share for a new financial product nationally, co-owning an agency, and creating sales programs.
Jennifer loves the ability to flex practical wisdom with creative thinking. She also appreciates that the best ideas come from collaboration and loves working with talented teammates to learn something new every day.
When not tracking budget spend and crafting campaigns, you can find Jennifer hiking the beautiful PNW trails and volunteering with local entrepreneur organizations.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Jennifer defines "humane marketing", and how she uses this principle to inform her overall marketing efforts
- Why collaboration has been crucial for understanding customers' needs and pain points, and how Jennifer fosters a culture of teamwork and communication in her organization
- What "regenerative business thinking" is and how it provides a positive and self-sustaining feedback loop within the business
- What differences Jennifer recognizes between her male and female mentors, and how she works to make a difference and be a supportive presence for her own mentees
- How Jennifer and her team have adapted to the global pandemic, and what future changes she anticipates within marketing because of the pandemic
- How Jennifer and her team have used the global pandemic as an opportunity to refresh their digital marketing presence, listen to customers, and meet their needs in other ways
- How Jennifer's team is working to support each other through the emotional weight of the realities of the pandemic
- Why "the power of people" can be an invaluable tool to promote and exponentially expand your personal brand, and how Jennifer is working to define and clarify her brand
Additional resources:
- Website: https://oacsvcs.com/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpascoe/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/oac-services-inc/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/oacservicesinc
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OACservicesinc @OACservicesinc
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How account-based marketing (ABM) can help B2B reach high-value, long sales cycle targets in a smarter, more focused way and integrate with your overall marketing efforts
- Why you don’t need a big team or budget to start ABM, and how your existing content can be a powerful way to start testing an ABM approach
- How ABM helps you more precisely target prospects
- Why strong, well-researched data and clear insights are a vital background for an effective and productive ABM program
- How to use both qualitative and quantitative data to inform your process, and why creating your ideal customer profile (ICP) is the necessary first step
- Where to focus your efforts during the initial research phase, and what key considerations to keep in mind
- How to build a program for each of your ABM targets, and how the global pandemic has impacted outreach methods and cadences
- How to find the right balance between sales-oriented messaging and personal interactions through social media to create a 360 approach for prospects
- Why approaching people with the intent to be helpful is always the best way to generate goodwill and make yourself memorable - whether it’s through an account-based or an inbound marketing approach
Resources:
- Why ABM Is Your Small Team's Secret Weapon
- Get started with account-based marketing in HubSpot
- 5 most common problems with B2B account-based marketing
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/a-brave-new/
Additional Resources:
- Website: www.abravenew.com
Jordon Meyer is the founder and CEO of Granular, a digital marketing agency and a Google Premier Partner. He’s been an expert PPC practitioner for over 15 years and has run digital marketing at multiple agencies, managed over $1M in PPC spend per week at a Fortune 100 company, and built some amazing SEM teams over the years. Today, he’s in the business of growing other businesses through expert PPC management at Granular.
From working with and getting pitched by dozens of agencies around the US while Jordon was in-house, he found that PPC services are no good if the people behind it aren’t passionate experts in the field. He founded Granular in 2014 to bring a laser-focused expert PPC solution to the market.
Jordon is in the business of growing businesses. He and his team at Granular have clients coast-to-coast that find their value too good to pass up. But they planted their flag in Milwaukee, and their Midwest work ethic shows in everything they do.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Jordon started in digital marketing and search engine optimization early in the life of the field, 15+ years ago. And how his career led to founding his agency, Granular
- What impact the outbreak of the global pandemic has had on the world of digital marketing, and why companies are shifting budgets toward digital media
- How the Granular team approaches high-value and B2B marketing, and why Jordon believes there are more similarities between B2B and B2C prospects and customers than there are differences
- Why Jordon feels many businesses fall short by not spending enough time developing their paid media strategy and as a result, fail to accurately measure and decide what's working
- Why being ready and willing to adapt to the ever-shifting digital landscape, algorithm updates and other changes is crucial
- Some new advertising platforms worth trialing, and what programmatic advertising is best used for (and when not to use it)
- Why advertising on Bing shouldn't be overlooked for B2B marketing, and why Google is the right starting point for advertising but shouldn't be the end of the road
- How Jordon leans into his introverted personality as a leader, and how he uses “radical prioritization” to get things done
Additional resources:
- Website: https://granularmarketing.com/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jordonm/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/granular-marketing-/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/granularmarketing
- Twitter: @jordonmeyer
- Twitter: @GranularPPC
Cary Weston is the person that will cut through the trendy business speak and help define what the real goal is. A fan of function over form, his charge is to ensure that creative doesn’t mask the need and that the work is focused on results. Too honest at times, he believes the world could benefit from some more ‘old-fashioned’ and less ‘bright and shiny.’
Cary is active on a number of community boards and causes, has served as a multi-term city councilor and is a former Mayor of his home town of Bangor. He can juggle, make wine, can say the alphabet backwards, thinks A1 is a national treasure, and once took home a trophy in a stand-up comedy competition.
But the role he loves best is being blessed to serve as a proud husband and dad to a happy and healthy family. He lives in Bangor with his wife Tori and three children.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Sutherland Weston was founded fifteen years ago when Cary recognized the need to make some life adjustments, and how the firm has continued to grow since
- What important lessons and defining moments pushed Cary out of his comfort zone and proved integral to the company's growth
- Why Cary believes you should find your passion in life and strip away everything else by delegating, asking for help, and learning to say no
- Why Cary believes that it isn't the products or services you provide that differentiates you but rather the relationships and trust you build that set your company apart
- Why Cary recommends you ask yourself "why?", and how doing so can help you go another level deeper in your marketing efforts
- How Cary has built a highly collaborative team and learned to trust their skills, experience and perspectives
- What differences Cary sees between marketing for B2B and B2C organizations, and why it is important to remember that there is always a human behind the buying decision in both
- Why sticking to daily routines and developing positive habits has been a cornerstone of Cary's success
- Why books by author Marcus Sheridan have had a major impact on Cary and how he views his role as a marketer
Additional resources:
- Website: www.sutherlandweston.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/caryweston/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/sutherland-weston/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/SutherlandWestonInc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/swmc_inc @SWMC_Inc
Polly Yakovich is co-founder and Chief Strategist at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why the book "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown has made a major impact on Polly and her team at A Brave New
- Why clarifying your priorities and what activities are truly essential can help you find better balance in all aspects of your life and allocate your limited time
- Why we often forget that we can choose to say no, and why it is important to remember that we don't "have to" but instead "choose to"
- Why most of the choices we make require a tradeoff or a sacrifice, and why understanding your big priority and the things you value requires experimentation and testing
- Why it is important to protect your assets (like choosing not to sacrifice sleep), and why eliminating the unnecessary can free you to focus on the necessary
- Why sometimes it becomes necessary to cut your losses and gracefully walk away from some opportunities and commitments
- Why everyone on your team can benefit from essentialism, and how these benefits can be a powerful business tool
- Why being "ridiculously selective" in hiring new team members can help your entire team better execute on their goals
Additional resources:
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown: https://amzn.to/33QIOUM
- A Brave New Podcast episode 13 featuring Melanie Falick: https://www.abravenew.com/podcast/melanie-falick
- Website: www.abravenew.com
For 30+ years, Drew McLellan has been in the advertising industry. He started his career at Y&R, worked in boutique-sized agencies and then started his own agency (which he still owns and runs) in 1995. Additionally, Drew owns and leads the Agency Management Institute, which advises hundreds of small to mid-sized agencies on how to grow their agency and its profitability through agency owner peer groups, consulting, coaching, workshops, and more.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What trends Drew has identified in the agency world, and how small agencies have shown to be particularly nimble and able to adapt to today's unique challenges
- What qualities clients are looking for in agencies, and what key questions Drew recommends prospective clients ask in the vetting process
- Why it’s important for agencies to ask about their clients' concerns and be prepared to address them as the relationship develops
- Why good agencies are also evaluating prospective clients for fit, and why great agencies should be ready to turn away prospects if necessary
- Why businesses often take their work in-house during strong economies, and why the pendulum swings toward outside marketing partnerships when the economy struggles
- How to build a trusting agency/client relationship
- What key mistakes agencies and clients often make, and why having ongoing, meaningful conversations is crucial to resolving differences
- Drew shares examples of truly collaborative relationships between agencies and clients, and why being well-aligned and communicative is the key to collaboration
- What changes have happened in the business landscape since the start of the global pandemic, and what lasting changes Drew expects to remain after things go back to normal
Additional resources:
- Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drewmclellan
- Website: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/
- Twitter: @DrewMcLellan
Amy Balliett is the CEO and founder of the creative content agency, Killer Visual Strategies (formerly Killer Infographics). She owned her first company, a candy store and ice cream parlor, at the age of 17 before heading off for college. She subsequently built a successful career in SEO and marketing, and headed up SEO at several companies before launching Killer in 2010. In the years since, she has grown Killer Visual Strategies to become the industry leader in visual communication, driving visual strategy and creative content campaigns for global brands including Microsoft, Boeing, Adobe, Nikon, Starbucks, the National Endowment for the Arts, the United Nations, and more.
Considered an expert in her field, Balliett speaks at dozens of conferences each year including SXSW, Adobe MAX, SMX, and more. She is also a regular teacher at The School of Visual Concepts, a guest lecturer at several colleges and universities, a LinkedIn Learning instructor, and the author of the newly released book Killer Visual Strategies: Engage Any Audience, Improve Comprehension, and Get Amazing Results Using Visual Communication.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Amy's career began in film school, and how she discovered her love of SEO and marketing and created Killer Visual Strategies by accident
- How Killer's business model changed over time as Amy developed an expertise in quality visual marketing content
- How Amy shifted into thought leadership and public speaking, and why a regular cadence is critical for developing your own thought leadership
- Why Amy and her team are careful to work only with brands whose values align to their own, and why focusing on and mastering a specific niche is vital
- Who Amy wrote her book Killer Visual Strategies for and what she hopes readers will be able to take from it
- How Amy defines a "visual strategist", and why the role is becoming increasingly important as print content becomes less important
- What specific tactics for visual content are changing over time and howneeds to be customized to the target audience and the channel it is being deployed on, and why stock imagery isn't effective
Additional resources:
- Killer Visual Strategies by Amy Balliet: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9781119680222
- Website: https://killervisualstrategies.com/meet-the-team/meet-amy-balliett
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amyballiett/
- Twitter: @AmyBalliett
Melanie Falick is an independent writer, editor, and creative director--and a lifelong maker. She is the author, most recently, of Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live, named one of the best books of 2019 by Publishers Weekly. She is also the host of Making a Life: The Conversation, a new online series designed to generate lively and inspiring discourse about making by hand—and creative expression more generally—and their vital impact on our well-being in the 21st century. She is the former publishing director of STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books, an imprint of Abrams, where she published works by many of the DIY world’s most esteemed authors. She lives with her family in New York's Hudson River Valley.
A Message From Melanie:
“If we write down the whispers in our head about the different things (big and small) we really want to do, then we can refer back to that to remind ourselves what we really want. But what if we went further? What if we marketed and advertised those ideas to ourselves? We can make signs and post them around the house or on a sticky note adhered to our phone. What else?
Right now we are so responsive to the marketing of others telling us what we want/need (from coffee to cars to Netflix series to watch). We can counter that by marketing to ourselves. This idea fits into a new book idea I’m working on but I figured I’d share it with you because it seems like something that might resonate with you personally as you try to slow down and take a break.”
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Melanie outlines how early lessons from her family impacted her views on marketing, handmade items and crafts, and creativity
- How Melanie made the important realization that the need to feel connected to her own survival by doing things for herself and making things by hand was key
- How Melanie researched and wrote her book Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live
- Why our modern expectation that we work at the pace of machines has had a major impact on our lifestyles and wellbeing
- Melanie highlights the sense of community the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland has developed between its member makers
- Why expressing your creativity by creating something is a crucial way to feel connected and give yourself a creative outlet
- Why we too often internalize stories about our lack of skill and talent when the enjoyment of our own creativity is the important thing
- What advice Melanie has for marketers and business professionals about reclaiming their creativity and rebalancing themselves
Additional resources:
- Making a Life by Melanie Falick: https://amzn.to/3fUzkMX
- Website: https://melaniefalick.com/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-falick-7011a36/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/melaniefalick/
- Mailing List: https://bit.ly/3hmHWwa
Susan is a Connector...of business goals with strategies, and of people and ideas that strengthen business and personal performance. Her insights about marketing get at the heart of why and how smart marketers are valued drivers of business results. She’s led marketing, communications, product innovation, sales, and digital strategy in both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. Before business school, she studied Pharmacy and is convinced her marketing career came from a stroke of luck that involves tennis and the U.S. Olympic team. She’s a proud science nerd, has a strategic framework at the ready for any situation, believes your resume needs work and is certain almost all communication would be better in table format.
Also, Susan believes bad creative is (mostly) the fault of poorly-trained marketers, not poorly-performing agencies. Want to know why? Follow this podcast, it will be discussed in a future episode.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Susan developed a love of science and then decided to attend Pharmacy school on a whim before moving into pharmaceutical marketing
- Why it is important to develop the broadest range of skills possible, and why Susan recommends you take on new projects and roles throughout your company
- Why truly knowing what a strategy is, and how to build one, is a vital skill you need to cultivate, and why your efforts should be grounded in the needs of the business
- Why you should focus on understanding your end-user/buyer, understanding your company's and products' capabilities and how to apply them, and how to stand out
- Why it is important to work at a company that values your contributions, especially if you are a woman in marketing
- Why project planning should include at a minimum a discovery phase, a planning phase, a design & implementation phase, and a measure phase
- How high-value B2B sales differ from other sales and marketing efforts, and why working with a varied team requires you to meet people where they are
- Why demonstrating marketing's return on investment is challenging, and why providing the sales team with tools to assist the sales pipeline is the best way to show value
- How Susan is tracking her team's use of time on projects and on "sustaining ops", and how the information has become invaluable
- What tools Susan finds invaluable in her work and to help streamline her workday, and what key daily habits she practices
Additional resources:
- Susan's blog posts on getting the best from your creative agency: www.abravenew.com/blog/author/susan-curhan
- Website: www.verawholehealth.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susancurhan/
In this unique episode of A Brave New Podcast, show host Polly Yakovich is interviewed by Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. They take a behind-the-scenes look at the founding of A Brave New and the work the team does to help B2B business owners more effectively market their companies and extend their reach.
Polly Yakovich’s Bio:
Polly Yakovich is co-founder and Chief Strategist at A Brave New, a Seattle digital marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. She specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming them with strategic content and marketing tactics. She has more than fifteen years of experience in digital marketing and branding.
Stephen Woessner’s Bio:
Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today’s top business owners think, act, and achieve. Onward Nation is listened to in 120 countries around the world with over 28,000+ email subscribers.
Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner’s Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.”
His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why Polly and her business partner Josh decided to start A Brave New, and what areas of marketing they specialize in for their clients
- Why Polly and Josh decided to move away from nonprofit marketing and specialize in the B2B space when they founded A Brave New
- What early challenges the A Brave New team faced when making the jump to B2B, and how Polly and Josh learned to believe in the value they were offering
- How trial and error and experimentation helped Polly and Josh fine-tune their area of focus and helped them develop and grow the firm
- How mentorship and good advice became the foundation of A Brave New's direction, and why having mentors believe in them was a strong motivator
- Why Polly believes it is important to be intentional and focused on your strengths and on a clear plan for the future, even if you are busy with the day-to-day grind
- Why you shouldn't try to start from scratch but should learn from established business leaders who have already made the mistakes and learned the lessons
- How Polly and the team at A Brave New used their own company as an experimentation sandbox to develop new offerings for clients
- Why focusing on helping and adding value can help new clients discover your company, and why the A Brave New team developed a new level of discipline in decision-making
Resources:
- Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13
- Website: https://predictiveroi.com/
- Onward Nation Podcast: https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/
- LinkedIn:
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- www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
- www.linkedin.com/company/predictive-roi/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/
- Twitter: @stephenwoessner
Additional Resources:
- Website: www.abravenew.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/polly-yakovich-5a5151b/
As a co-founder of Redapt, David Cantu has been instrumental in the company’s 20+ years of growth at every step. Being entirely self-funded didn't make the journey comfortable. However, Redapt’s interest in identifying promising enterprise technologies early and developing expertise ahead of the market has helped their success. David is proud of Redapt’s history of innovation and contribution to solving difficult technology challenges with their customers.
Redapt is the company behind many technology industry unicorns’ global data center infrastructure deployments. Redapt works with hundreds of SaaS, Public Cloud Providers, and Web Scale companies to solve their technology deployment challenges.
Redapt also provides cloud adoption services to those who want to accelerate the use of cloud services and the development of modern applications. Their cloud team has performed hundreds of complex application migrations, DevOps engineering engagements, and app development projects.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How David first got into technology during a gap year in college, and why he, his brother and another family member decided to become entrepreneurs
- Why David believes that co-founding a business with someone else requires not always agreeing with each other and bringing unique perspectives
- Why a strong company culture has been the key to retaining employees in an industry with notoriously rapid turnover
- How Redapt's culture has evolved over time as the business has grown, and why David has become more intentional in developing the culture
- What key struggles and roadblocks Redapt has had to overcome over its growth, and why nimbleness and a willingness to pivot have been key
- How Redapt has developed strong partnerships that have generated new opportunities for the organization
- How David addresses difficult-to-discuss situations like Black Lives Matter, and why authenticity and vulnerability have never been more important
- How cloud computing has become a core component of Redapt's business model, and what lessons the team learned by acquiring another company specializing in the space
- What key lesson David wishes he had learned earlier in his career about leadership, control, and a growth mindset
Additional resources:
- Website: www.redapt.com
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/Davecantu/
- Email: Davec@redapt.com
Ian Lurie is a digital marketer with a twenty-five-year intolerance of trendy concepts and nonsense. Someone told him not to say bull3h!t, so he’s trying really hard not to.
Ian uses both sides of his brain as a content creator, search engine optimization nerd, and data addict. He speaks at conferences worldwide, including MozCon, SearchLove, Retail Global, and Learn Inbound. He writes everywhere. Seriously, do a search.
Ian founded Portent, a digital marketing agency, in 1995, and sold it to Clearlink in 2017. He’s now on his own, consulting for brands he loves and speaking at conferences that provide Diet Coke. He’s also trying to become a professional Dungeons & Dragons player, but it hasn’t panned out.
You can find him pedaling his bike up Seattle's ridiculous hills, or send him a note on Twitter (@ianlurie) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianlurie/).
He has a TikTok profile, but his kids are embarrassed by it, so we’ll leave that out.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Ian started working in SEO in the 90s, and how he’s continuously adapted his skills and approach to its ever-changing nature
- Why great, high-quality content trumps quantity every time, and how that content needs to deliver unique value to ensure that you don't lose your place in SEO rankings as algorithms change
- What key tips and methods Ian recommends for getting external links, the north star of SEO efforts
- How and why he developed his "world-building" framework, which provides multiple paths for prospective buyers to follow and multiple options for interaction with your brand as they make buying decisions
- How Ian's hobby and interest in Dungeons & Dragons mirrors his feelings toward creating open choices that lead to the same destination
- Why identifying emerging marketing trends is especially challenging during the ongoing global pandemic, and how we should adjust how we talk about present issues
- Why the biggest adjustment marketers need to make is to clarify and strengthen their communication through every available channel
Additional resources:
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ianlurie/
- Twitter: @ianlurie
Felicity Moore is a global consumer/customer/user insights and brand strategy specialist, with more than ten years of experience in the industry. She has been working for Microsoft for three years in product development for Mixed Reality and AI and, and she is currently on the strategic storytelling team for Dynamics 365.
Felicity has also worked extensively across fast-moving consumer goods, alcohol/beverage, and athletics industries, among others. Felicity believes in getting out of the bubble and pushing herself to see all sides of the story. There is no distance too far or methodology too challenging for her. She has worked with brands all over North America, Europe, Asia, and globally. She is obsessed with different cultures and generations and has lived and worked in five different countries.
Felicity loves speaking engagements to take an audience on a journey and get them excited about cutting edge methodologies and thinking about the world differently. She has spoken at Cannes Lions, Esomar Berlin and various conferences across North America.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Felicity's inherited her curiosity and love of research from her father, who literally “wrote the book” on modern qualitative research
- What key marketing insights Felicity has gained over the course of her diverse career, and why research is a powerful and valuable business tool that is worth the cost
- Why finding and working with the right partner agencies can help you refine your scope and maximize your return on investment from research
- Why clear, open communication is critical for working with your research partner, and why research should be "built into" the life cycle of your development process
- Felicity shares specific examples of how research can provide new insights that can result in key product pivots
- Why research provides important insights and additional context that can help you better understand consumers and meet their specific needs
- What tips Felicity has to help you identify and prepare for new trends and new advancements in marketing
Additional resources:
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/felicityjmoore/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/felicitylondon/
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How to pivot online if your business development efforts have historically been in-person and have been disrupted by current events (and your company is behind with digital marketing for any reason)
- Why inbound marketing is the perfect digital marketing model for you right now (because meeting prospects where they’re at and really helping them works at any time)
- Why these unprecedented challenges are creating confusion, and what resources are available to gather B2B marketing and benchmarking data
- Why inbound marketing works to build trust and relationships now
- Why Fast Company considers Airbnb's decision to suspend all of their marketing to be a major blunder, and why now is is an important time to continue marketing efforts
- How an inbound marketing model works tactically - from the start of the process to the close of the deal, and what steps you can take at each phase to maximize success
- Why you need to be consistent with content and develop a regular cadence of posting new content
- What steps Josh recommends you start with during the pandemic, and how to take action at minimal cost at each phase
- Why it is important to develop a two-way relationship with prospects when you reach the convert phase, and how to nurture your relationships and close your prospects
Resources:
- Ebook: Generate The Right Leads. Build Trust. Achieve Breakthrough Growth. https://inbound.abravenew.com/lead-generation-ebook
- Hubspot’s Weekly Benchmark Data blog post: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/covid-19-benchmark-data
- Fast Company’s Airbnb article: https://www.fastcompany.com/90489914/why-airbnb-made-a-big-mistake-by-ditching-its-marketing
- Stick With Your Inbound Investment For At Least 6 Months blog post by Josh Dougherty: https://www.abravenew.com/blog/stick-with-your-inbound-investment-for-at-least-6-months
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
Additional Resources:
- Website: www.abravenew.com
George is a UX designer by trade and an entrepreneur by accident. He’s spent the past 10 years growing and evolving Crema, which started as an operation in the second bedroom of his home and has now grown to a 40+ person, multi-location company in the KC crossroads. His background is in digital design and all things UX, although, more recently, his focus has shifted to 1) new product experimentation through Venture Lab and 2) methods and ideologies for building successful product teams.
Over the years, George has helped craft health system websites, social networks for auto-parts, small business lending platforms, construction resource allocation software, and cybersecurity evaluation and automation tools. He’s also helped launch startups at SXSW and has overseen innovation projects as they took hold inside their corporate teams. This wide variety of work has shaped the way Crema thinks about product teams. It’s allowed their products and clients to grow into multi-million and even billion-dollar businesses.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How George's career path led to focusing on UX and the founding of Crema, and how they have grown to over 40 full-time employees with a focus on enterprise-level work
- How George and his team learned to focus their content on the needs of their clients rather than on themselves, and how they work to create free resources that deliver value
- Why content creation has helped the team at Crema build trust and strengthen relationships, and how the sales process has changed in response to content creation
- Why growth is inherently uncomfortable, and why embracing many different perspectives and avoiding department silos is critical for not only growth but a strong culture
- How Crema is structured to maximize collaboration, creativity, and efficiency, and how they teach their clients to use similar methods despite the initial discomfort
- How "structures", "disciplines" and "postures" are three unique frames for various aspects of your business, with different challenges when attempting to change them
- What steps you can begin to take now to change your way of thinking and adopt Crema's philosophies and strategies
Additional resources:
- Website: https://www.crema.us/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/georgebrooks/
- Option Five podcast: www.crema.us/option-five
- Crema YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC1T23xzbsuKiU2s8aado4Vg
- How to Create Video Content Within Your Company with a SMALL Team
- Twitter: @cremalab
In Jill Jago’s own words: “I don’t believe in perfection. The most exciting and world-changing ideas have been born from a chaotic soup of clashing opinions, crazy notions, and stubborn dreams. This is where I thrive. Throw me into a messy situation and I’m looking for patterns, making connections and eventually tugging on the end of the thread that will weave all the best bits together into one glorious opportunity.”
Jill believes that as humans we have the power to create the future we want and doesn’t want to wake up one morning and wonder, “what happened?”
With over 25 years of strategic communications experience, Jill has worked with clients around the world ranging from a water treatment utility to a bijou bakery in Brooklyn. She calls herself a Futurist and a liberator of big ideas.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why Jill describes herself as a Futurist, and why she is particularly focused on "liberating big ideas"
- How Jill helps her consulting clients by coming in with a fresh, outside perspective to identify unexpected patterns that create new opportunities
- Why Jill believes the Covid pandemic is creating an eye-opening global sense of human interconnectivity for the first time
- Why the key to Futurism is understanding the current environment and then extrapolating possible futures from present data
- Why this unique situation is an opportunity to reflect on our values, and why Jill hopes marketers will think about how they can be a positive force for change
- Why businesses who are willing to pivot and think outside the box are creating new opportunities for themselves, even during these difficult times
- Why the marketing and messaging trend toward "authenticity" is often inauthentic and manufactured, and why true authenticity is a powerful force
Additional Resources:
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jill-jago-2454316/
An experienced leader and creator with a broad digital media background, Devin Moore is a Global Marketing Manager for Xbox, and specializes in channel strategy, creative ideation, technical problem solving and tactical implementation. Devin is skilled in content creation, campaign, and asset deployment, measurement, and management with a strong focus on measurable, results-driven execution of business objectives across all communications channels.
Devin prides himself on ensuring businesses achieve their goals through hard work, thought leadership and creative solutions to business challenges.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How engaging, authentic marketing content helps differentiate Xbox from its market competitors like Sony and Nintendo
- How Devin works to keep his team aligned to the branding goals of Xbox, and why branding through social media is more challenging to control and keep consistent
- How Xbox plans out its content creation and marketing strategy, and why detailed, shared tracking of content is critical to the brand's success
- How Xbox Game Pass uses both organic, social marketing as well as paid media, and paid media is vital for a large brand like Xbox
- Why social media algorithm changes are inevitable, and how Xbox adapts to these major changes
- Why relevant social media channels change constantly, and why adapting the strategies big brands are using to work for your own brand is a viable option
- What changes Devin expects for the marketing landscape in the future that brands will need to learn to adapt to, such as consumer privacy concerns
Additional Resources:
- Website: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dtmdevmo
- Twitter: @DtmDevmo
- Instagram: @dtmdevmo
Stephen Woessner is the Founder and CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast, a top-rated podcast for learning how business owners think, act, and achieve success. Onward Nation is listened to in more than 120 countries around the world. He is the author of three bestselling books including the Amazon #1 Bestseller Profitable Podcasting. He is also a speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Stephen came from a highly entrepreneurial family, and how he and his team at Predictive ROI help their clients with thought leadership and content monetization
- What costly mistakes Stephen faced early in the life and growth of his company regarding establishing a vision and values, and how he overcame them
- How a major cash flow crunch prompted Stephen to launch his Onward Nation podcast, and how that helped the company niche down and specialize in thought leadership
- Why obstacles and challenges are inevitable in business ownership, and what steps Stephen feels organizations can take to minimize the pain of scaling
- Why it takes courage and a dedication to bringing value to others to step into the role of a thought leader, and why value matters more than audience size
- How Stephen's own thought leadership through hosting the Onward Nation podcast has become a cornerstone of Predictive ROI's marketing strategy
- Why Stephen feels that thought leadership is going to be increasingly important for future-proofing, marketing and scaling businesses in the future
- Why repurposing, slicing and repackaging thought leadership content is one of the primary trends Stephen sees growing in 2020
- Stephen shares details about the new book he wrote with co-author Drew McLellan called Sell With Authority
Resources:
- Website: www.PredictiveROI.com
- Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13
- Beyond Entrepreneurship by James Collins and William Lazier: https://amzn.to/2uOJ3ls
- Edison Research Infinite Dial 2019 report: www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2019/
Additional Resources:
- Website: www.abravenew.com
Josh Dougherty is the CEO and a co-founder of A Brave New, a Seattle marketing agency focused on helping businesses accelerate their growth through inbound marketing, branding, and web design. He specializes in working with clients to identify barriers to their growth and overcoming those barriers with strategic content and marketing tactics. He has a decade of experience in digital marketing and branding.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why there is often confusion surrounding what is and isn't branding, and why branding goes far beyond just a logo
- What a brand is, how it gets to the heart of what differentiates your company from others, and why strong branding can be a powerful thing
- Why great branding conjures specific feelings, concepts and memories in audiences, and why branding helps you break out from your competitors
- Why timing is an important factor in establishing your brand, and why A Brave New has developed an accelerated branding process
- Why your branding should be designed to last you years or even decades, and why accelerated branding can help you adapt and tweak your branding while developing it
- Why branding is about more than just marketing but should reflect the essence of your business vision and values
- How "brand filters" can help you ensure that your branding is being utilized and applied correctly and consistently throughout your messaging
- Why there is a common perception that branding can be too restrictive, and why the branding process can inspire creativity
- Why it is important to be intentional in developing your branding, and what questions to ask your leadership team to ensure that your branding is clear and effective
Resources:
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jdough/
Additional Resources:
- Website: www.abravenew.com
Great marketing is all about making smart decisions, developing your discipline, understanding and meeting the needs of your prospective customers, and putting in place the right systems to make the whole process easier. A Brave New Podcast, with digital marketing expert Polly Yakovich, is here to teach you how to truly unlock your business potential through the power of marketing! Each episode will bring you insights, best practices, and top strategies from a variety of marketing experts to help you convert more website visitors into customers! Did you know that more than half of a buyer’s experience is completed through your website, before you even know they’re looking? Tune in to A Brave New Podcast and learn how to realize the explosive sales potential of your digital and direct-response marketing.