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Focus Is Your Friend: How to double down on marketing that matters

Marketing matters, but some marketing efforts matter a lot more for your business than other efforts. If you want to learn the secrets of doubling down on what matters for your business, this is the podcast for you. Get advice from experts on how to focus on the marketing, events, PR, social media and email marketing that will move the needle for your business and brand. Stop trying to hope your resources are going to the right places and decide to focus on what matters, with Focus Is Your Friend.
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Focus Is Your Friend: How to double down on marketing that matters
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Now displaying: January, 2017
Jan 31, 2017

In our final episode of January, we look back at some of the best lessons we learned this month from Ian Garlic, Sarah Anderson, and Dave Karraker.  

“When is the last time you went on Twitter and just listened to what your customers are saying about your brand?” - Lee Caraher

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why listening is the biggest skill that you can teach your team
  • The campaign Lee created just by listening to her customers at SEGA that had more traction than SEGA’s competitors without creating a new product
  • Why you need to tell the right story at the right time (Ian Garlic)
  • Collecting your customers’ stories (Ian Garlic)
  • Why you can’t assume your audience is who they’ve been in the past (Sarah Anderson)
  • Using your intuition when working with data (Sarah Anderson)
  • Why you shouldn’t take no for an answer and should just negotiate until you get what you want (Sarah Anderson)
  • Listening with your eyes and paying attention to how people are interacting with your product (Dave Karraker)

Full interviews:

Ways to contact Ian Garlic:

Ways to contact Sarah Anderson:

Ways to contact Dave Karraker:

Jan 26, 2017

Lizz approaches life as she approaches every challenge, as an opportunity to be awesome and she delivers on this Sequence core value every time.

As Chief Creative Officer and founder, Lizz brings her deep passion for creativity and hospitality to Team SEQ. Multi-talented with an aesthetic eye, you’ll find Lizz ensuring flawless execution, beauty and unparalleled customer service at every turn. Whether gracing the cover of Meetings & Conventions Magazine or speaking on the finer points of Creating a Run of Show for the Event Leadership Institute, Lizz is often called on to share her perspective and wisdom delivered directly with a dose of fierce wit and signature sarcasm. As a young leader in the industry, Lizz rapidly rose through the ranks at international events agency Global Events before moving on to develop her own brand of big-meets-boutique agency by founding Sequence.

Lizz has dazzled clients at USA TODAY Sports, Moët Hennesy, StarKist, The Travel Channel, Toy Industry Association, Women’s Bond Club, Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International, and The Wharton School.

Lizz resides in Sunnyside with her sweet baby Rosemary (aka Rosie J. Boo Bear), awesome husband (Pat, aka John), and turtle (Igor, Queen of the Red Eared Sliders).

“If it was all about data, then IBM’s Watson would be running all of our marketing. It’s not, and it requires judgment.” - Linda Popky

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Social media and live events: how the two are different yet work well together
  • Keeping people engaged during live events
  • The biggest mistake people make with live events
  • Why you must give people something unique
  • What makes an event a success
  • Why you must always do dry runs
  • How Lizz would take limited resources to make more happen

Ways to contact Lizz:

Jan 24, 2017

Buckley Barlow works with forward-thinking organizations, teams, executives, and investors to meet growth goals: increasing sales and revenues, improving customer retention and repeat visit rates, reducing shopping cart abandonment, streamlining sales processes, and other strategic and tactical initiatives across the digital growth marketing spectrum.

His growth models syncs product, engineering, data, growth, marketing, and sales divisions to drive sustainable growth.

He owned (and later sold) two full-stack marketing agencies which handled startups and Fortune 500 companies, with customized solutions for every client. In addition, he has built and sold ventures in the medical, SaaS, software, technology, marketing, web, media, and consumer product industries.

Buckley was an early growth team member of an Inc. 500 company, which he helped grow over 100,000% (from $51k in revenues to over $60mm) in a few short years before being recruited as COO of a publicly traded sports management company.

For the last decade, he has consulted with various Private Equity Groups (PEGs) and emerging growth companies. He handles sensitive and confidential information on a daily basis, and is well-versed in the communication protocols and compliance issues relevant to publicly-traded companies.

In addition, Buckley blogs at In The Know, a learning path hub for forward-thinking organizations and teams, and my content often ranks #1 on Google.

He is the author of “The Growth Code: The Key to Unlocking Growth in any Modern Business.”  

“Omnichannel is where everything is blended. It’s this amazing experience.” - Buckley Barlow

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • What growth really means
  • How to do the press release so it works today
  • Why you need to niche and segment your marketing
  • Blending outbound and inbound marketing
  • Why entrepreneurs have a leg up on brands when it comes to jumping onto new platforms
  • Using customer-centric data and why you need to use psychographic data if you want to understand the full story
  • How mobile devices blend online and offline activity
  • Omnichannel marketing: why every part of a brand must come together to form a cohesive whole
  • Why processes need to change for Omnichannel to work
  • Why you can’t teach strategy

Ways to contact Buckley:

Jan 19, 2017

Linda is the founder and president of Leverage2Market® Associates, Inc., a strategic marketing company that helps organizations transform their business through marketing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters (Bibliomotion, March 2015).

If it relates to marketing, Linda has done it. Her expertise includes corporate marketing, communications and messaging, marketing team development, facilitation, sales training and support, partner and channel programs, market sizing and intelligence, field marketing, marketing operations, industry/market development, and product marketing.

She has architected leading edge customer loyalty and retention programs with a focus on improved business efficiency, customer advocacy, and quality and has a reputation for strong leadership and team management, as well as strategic program development and delivery skills.

Linda has an MBA and a BS in Communications from Boston University. Her work with business process improvement includes a study mission to Japan on Employee/Customer Loyalty. She served as a charter member of the Conference Board Council on Customer Strategy, and was a member of the Council on E-Business Strategy.  

“If it was all about data, then IBM’s Watson would be running all of our marketing. It’s not, and it requires judgment.” - Linda Popky

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why you shouldn’t try to target everyone
  • How to find your market by narrowing by behavior rather than demographics
  • Why it doesn’t need to be perfect
  • Learning what makes marketing different in different countries
  • Focusing on the thing that will move your business forward a mile instead of the five things that will move it forward an inch each
  • Why marketing isn’t all about the data
  • Why the hard work comes after the launch, not before
  • Books that Linda recommends
  • How to stay on top of the innovations that you need to pay attention to and how to know what to ignore

Ways to contact Linda:

Resources:

Jan 17, 2017

A 25-year-veteran of the interactive entertainment industry, Sarah Anderson joined 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive, in May 2005. As the Senior Vice President of Marketing she leads global Marketing and Communications efforts for 2K. Under her leadership, the 2K team has published some of today's biggest games and established franchises, including critically acclaimed titles from the Battleborn, BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization, Evolve, Mafia, NBA 2K, WWE 2K and XCOM series. Sarah has applied her understanding of the audience and quest for innovative marketing techniques that deliver results, to the marketing and communications of hundreds of games.

Sarah has a BFA in graphic design from Paier College of Art and an MBA in marketing from the Graduate School of Management at the University of San Francisco. In her spare time, she might be found enjoying the Bay Area's live music scene, taking a bootcamp class or being a lacrosse mom.  

“We don’t take no for an answer. If we want to do something, we figure it out.” - Sarah Anderson

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • What 2K does and what Sarah does at 2K
  • What 2K’s audience looks like
  • The rise of the female gaming audience
  • Figuring out the flows of different audiences
  • Looking at behavior vs. demographics
  • Finding influencers to grow your brand
  • How 2K’s “scrappy lean team” utilizes the different channels available to them
  • Balancing data and gut instinct
  • Why you shouldn’t take no for an answer

Ways to contact Sarah:

Jan 12, 2017

Ian Garlic brings over 15 years of inbound marketing experience, deep knowledge of commerce and understanding of current market trends. With the ability to capitalize all of your current assets and come up with countless quality ideas for your online marketing, Ian is a prime mentor for upcoming marketing gurus.

Currently, Ian is the CEO of authenticWEB, a multi-talented online agency based Orlando, FL. His team works daily on exquisite website designs, innovative marketing strategies, outstanding video production and top rated search engine optimization.

“If people only marketed with their customers’ stories, they would have brilliant businesses that no one could take away.” – Ian Garlic

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Identifying your ideal customer
  • Key performance indicators: how to use KPI to keep yourself on track
  • What good SEO looks like
  • How to use limited resources to their full potential
  • Why you need to be ready to pivot
  • Ian’s must read books for business and marketing
  • Why you need to start collecting your customers’ stories

Ways to contact Ian:

Jan 10, 2017

In his role at the US division of Gruppo Campari, the world’s sixth-largest premium wine and spirits company, Dave’s days are focused on creating consumer relationships through engagement, sharing, conversation, and education all of which leads to advocacy. His duties cover influencer relations, public relations, social media, events, licensing, philanthropy, partnerships, and celebrity marketing. Campari America’s 30+ brand portfolio features SKYY Vodka, Wild Turkey, Grand Marnier, Cinzano, Aperol, and, of course, Campari. Dave has more than two decades of marketing and communications experience working on some of the world’s most engaging brands, including Sony, Virgin, Martha Stewart, Stoli, Makers Mark, Microsoft, Kmart, and Sega. A former television reporter for NBC and CBS, his most humiliating moment came from his appearance on Wheel of Fortune (he didn’t win).

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Dave’s career story
  • Why Dave and Campari America threw out their standard marketing and started embracing their bitter drinks
  • Amplify and Reward: Dave’s strategy for promoting people that promote Campari America
  • Negroni Week: Campari America’s week-long national charity event
  • Making sure your advocates are really advocates and not just fans
  • How to turn fans into advocates
  • Why price doesn’t build equity
  • Why you need to spend time on your social channels every morning
  • Listening to what your audience wants from you
  • Why you should put your resources into the best thing

Ways to contact Dave:

Jan 5, 2017

Jason Swenk is a sought-after advisor who guides marketing agencies through a proven framework for increasing their business.

Fresh out of college Jason was off to work for Arthur Anderson. He quickly realized that it was not a good fit. Although it was not part of the plan, he decided to change direction, quit his day job and launch a digital agency that quickly grew to a multi-million dollar operation working with brands such as AT&T, Hitachi and Lotus Cars. After 12 years of steady growth, they caught the attention of bigger agencies and sold the agency in 2012.

Now, Jason leads JasonSwenk.com, a unique consultancy helping marketing agencies start, scale, enjoy, and sell their digital agencies by applying the exact proven formula he used.

Jason generously shares it all as a frequent guest on popular radio and podcast shows. He has been featured as an expert in top media publications such as Entrepreneur and Inc. Magazine. Plus, he currently hosts two podcasts that are available for download and subscription on iTunes:

  • The Smart Agency Master Class Podcast, dedicated to providing tactics and strategies to agency owners and decision makers that cut through the BS, focus on exactly what works and what doesn’t.
  • The #AskSwenk Show, a live broadcast with questions and rapid-fire answers about agencies, marketing, entrepreneurship and business based on a lifetime of building successful, multi-million dollar companies.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why — if you’re positioning your agency as the superstar — you are doing it wrong
  • Why — if you don’t have enough time — you’re not charging enough
  • Why you shouldn’t do an RFP unless you write it
  • Knowing where you’re going (and why it’s so important that your employees do as well)
  • Positioning your agency with the right story
  • Learning to offer your product or services in the right order
  • Prospecting strategies (inbound, outbound, and strategic partnerships)
  • Sales systems
  • Systemizing the delivery of your products and services
  • Systems for operating your business
  • Strategies for being an effective leader
  • The big difference the very successful agencies and the rest of them
  • Why you need to give things away for free
  • Why you can’t ever believe you’ve figured it out
  • Why you don’t have to be first
  • Why Facebook is the most powerful networking tool out there

Ways to contact Jason:

Jan 3, 2017

Recently named Master of Innovation by Chase Bank and Fortune magazine, bestselling leadership and innovation speaker Scott Steinberg is one of the world’s most celebrated business speakers, futurists, and strategic innovation consultants, as seen in 600+ outlets from CNN to TIME and The Wall St. Journal. The author of Millennial Marketing: Bridging the Generation Gap and Make Change Work for You: 10 Ways to Future-Proof Yourself, Fearlessly Innovate and Succeed Despite Uncertainty, the Fortune 500 calls him a “defining figure in business and technology” and “top trendsetter to follow.” As the CEO of management consulting and market research firm FutureProof Strategies, he helps clients of all sizes better understand emerging innovations and trends, and cultivate competitive advantage on the back of them. An award-winning provider of keynote speeches, workshops and seminars for Fortune 500 businesses, non-profits, associations and educational institutes, he’s partnered with many leading organizations to deliver game-changing leadership, education, and change management programs.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Mistakes people make working with and marketing to Millennials
  • How to hone in the Millennial tribe that you want to target
  • How to conduct A/B testing with targeting batches of Millennials
  • Why you need to have alternate ideas ready for when messages don’t resonate
  • Why your message needs to work across devices – and be tailored for different platforms
  • How Gen Z is different from Millennials and what that means for the future
  • Why you need “experts” (these aren’t usually the people who have been in marketing the longest)
  • How to stay on top of every place your audience lives
  • Using your brain to cleverly spread your resources to the max
  • Why Millennials connect with stories
  • Why to connect with Millennials, you have to actually talk to Millennials (yes, this actually happens)

Ways to contact Scott:

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