He Said, She Said: Razor Branding™ Podcast

Relationships Over Rates – Community Banking Done Right W/ Bryce McCuin

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE HE SAID, SHE SAID: RAZOR BRANDING™ PODCAST, JACI AND MICHAEL SIT DOWN WITH BRYCE MCCUIN [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycemccuin/], DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AT BANKSOUTH [https://banksouth.com/], TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IT REALLY TAKES TO BUILD AN AUTHENTIC BRAND INSIDE A COMMUNITY BANK COMPETING AGAINST INSTITUTIONS WITH FAR BIGGER BUDGETS. Bryce brings a rare perspective shaped by nearly two decades across luxury real estate, fulfillment logistics, and nearly 12 years running his own creative agency before moving in-house at BankSouth. He shares how leaning into real relationships and real customer stories – rather than stock images and rate promotions – is what separates a community bank from the noise. From managing scope creep with agency partners to knowing when to trust their expertise and when to push back, Bryce brings hard-won wisdom from both sides of the client-agency relationship. He also talks about the imposter syndrome marketers are feeling in the age of AI, why discipline and intentionality matter more than speed, and how the slow is fast mindset applies directly to the way modern marketers need to approach the tools at their disposal. KEY TAKEAWAYS * Community banks cannot out-spend the big institutions, but they can out-relate them by showing up as real people in real communities * Letting customers tell their own stories on camera – without memorized lines or staged setups – produces more authentic and compelling content * Having agency experience makes you a better client because you understand scope, boundaries, and what clear direction actually looks like * Marketers should lead with curiosity and questions, not with a list of everything a client is doing wrong * AI creates real efficiencies, but only when you feed it the right source of truth – skipping that step means spending more time fixing than producing * Staying the course on a campaign long enough to see results is one of the hardest and most important decisions a marketer can make Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at razorbranding.org [https://razorbranding.org/]

From Agency Life to In-House Strategy W/ Heather Johnson

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE HE SAID, SHE SAID: RAZOR BRANDING™ PODCAST, JACI AND MICHAEL SIT DOWN WITH HEATHER JOHNSON [https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermjohnson86/], MARKETING LEADER AT TIE INDUSTRIAL, [https://www.linkedin.com/company/tie-industrial/] TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IT REALLY TAKES TO BUILD A PERFORMANCE-DRIVEN MARKETING FUNCTION INSIDE A MULTI-BRAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY WITH A SMALL TEAM AND LONG SALES CYCLES. Heather shares how her background spanning agency life and in-house roles shaped the way she approaches strategy, prioritization, and vendor relationships today. She also breaks down how a website redesign delivered a 454% return on investment in just six months, why bringing every vendor into the same room for an annual audit changes everything, and how shifting customer stories away from individual transactions and toward long-term relationships unlocked a more compelling and authentic way to market. From managing six distinct buyer personas across three brands to educating internal teams on the why behind every marketing decision, this is a practical and grounded conversation about how to do more with less while still moving the needle. KEY TAKEAWAYS * A tactical background makes you a stronger strategic marketer because you know where the high effort and high impact opportunities actually live * Tracking website ROI requires simplicity – unique phone lines, consistent attribution methods, and a team that knows exactly how to input the data * Bringing all vendors into the annual audit and strategy session ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction from day one * Shifting customer stories from transactional wins to long-term relationship narratives creates far more compelling and memorable content * An outside perspective is essential because you cannot see what you look like to someone who does not already know you * Optimizing for the right search terms matters more than optimizing for high-volume ones that attract the wrong audience entirely Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at razorbranding.org [https://razorbranding.org/]

Frameworks Over Playbooks W/ Andy Weiss

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE HE SAID, SHE SAID: RAZOR BRANDING™ PODCAST, JACI AND MICHAEL SIT DOWN WITH ANDY WEISS [https://www.linkedin.com/in/weissandy/], CMO [https://www.ceipal.com/] AND MARKETING STRATEGIST, TO TALK ABOUT WHY THE PLAYBOOKS THAT GOT US HERE WILL NOT GET US WHERE WE NEED TO GO – AND WHAT TO DO INSTEAD. Andy brings a perspective shaped by decades of experience scaling B2B companies and working with brands like Sprint, Comcast, and Oscar Mayer, and a conviction that mental models and frameworks outlast any tactical script. He opens up about flaming out in his first in-house marketing role and how that failure led him to Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and a completely different way of thinking about marketing strategy. From the danger of operating like a day trader to the flattening effect of AI giving everyone the same tools and playbooks, Andy makes a compelling case for why the marketers who stop and think before they execute are the ones who will stand out. He also breaks down why B2B brands hide behind rationality when buyers are still making emotional decisions first and justifying them second. KEY TAKEAWAYS * Playbooks work when conditions are ideal, but frameworks and mental models give you a way to think when conditions are not * Operating like a day trader in marketing – chasing quick wins without fundamentals – is not sustainable over the long haul * AI has flattened execution, which means brands that cannot create a real point of difference are more vulnerable than ever * If you do not know your customers well enough to describe them, your marketing will be generic by default * B2B buyers make emotional decisions first and rational justifications second – the best marketers meet them on a human level * The goal is not to avoid playbooks entirely, but to know when to use them and when to think beyond them Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at razorbranding.org [http://razorbranding.org]

B2C Thinking in a B2B World W/ Juliana Pereira

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE HE SAID, SHE SAID: RAZOR BRANDING PODCAST, JACI AND MICHAEL SIT DOWN WITH JULIANA PEREIRA [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjdpereira/], MARKETING CONSULTANT [https://www.jpereiraconsulting.com/] AND FRACTIONAL CMO, TO TALK ABOUT WHAT B2B BRANDS ARE GETTING WRONG AND WHAT THEY COULD LEARN FROM THE CONSUMER WORLD. Juliana brings a rare perspective, having worked across both sides of the marketing divide at companies including Ralph Lauren, The Met Store at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smartling, and Ziff Davis before joining Flow Commerce post-Series A and helping drive its $500M acquisition in just three and a half years. She now works as a consultant and fractional CMO for startups and established businesses across the U.S. and Europe. She shares why B2B brands cling too tightly to features and descriptions while missing the emotional connection that actually drives decisions, and how removing friction from the buying process can be a game-changer for complex sales cycles. From her parallel-path approach to walking into a new client engagement, to her dream of spending her first months at a company actually selling the product, this is a practical and refreshingly jargon-free conversation about what it really takes to build a brand that connects. KEY TAKEAWAYS * B2B brands can learn a great deal from B2C by focusing on the individual buyer rather than treating companies as faceless decision-making entities * Emotional connection does not mean sentimental – it means making your audience feel something, whether that is confidence, ease, or trust * Removing friction from the B2B buying process, through pilots, guarantees, or try-before-you-buy models, is an underutilized competitive advantage * Walking into a new engagement with deep preparation allows you to start solving problems on day one rather than spending weeks just assessing * Authenticity has to run through every touchpoint – if your campaign promises warmth and humor but your sales team is stiff and technical, the disconnect will cost you * The best marketing is clear, simple, and direct – buzzwords and industry jargon get in the way of connection every time Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at razorbranding.org [http://razorbranding.org]

Building a Brand from the Inside Out w/ Michelle Herl

In this episode of the He Said, She Said: Razor Branding™ Podcast [https://razorbranding.org/], Jaci and Michael sit down with Michelle Herl [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellebunte/], Vice President of Marketing at SOR Controls Group [https://www.sorinc.com/], to talk about what it really takes to build a marketing function from the ground up inside a mid-size industrial manufacturer – and keep it growing for more than 25 years. Michelle shares how she started with no office, no budget, and catalogs hanging from wires, and turned it into a seat at the leadership table. She also breaks down how SOR manages a house of brands across three distinct product lines – SOR, SSi, and SENSOR – and why educating your internal team on brand structure matters just as much as reaching customers. From building a strategic planning system that keeps the one pager club at bay, to winning over the CFO by watching the bottom line like a marketer who actually cares about money, this conversation is full of real-world lessons for anyone trying to make marketing matter in a complex B2B environment. KEY TAKEAWAYS * Getting the house in order before going to market is essential, especially in manufacturing and industrial B2B * Earning a seat at the leadership table takes time, but it starts with proving that marketing drives strategy, not just tactics * Managing a house of brands requires consistent internal education across sales teams, partners, and leadership * A structured planning system with clear priorities keeps marketing focused and protects the team from reactive one-off requests * Building trust with finance means watching expenses, questioning invoices, and showing that marketing is accountable to the bottom line * Differentiating through people, not just products, creates authentic brand moments that competitors cannot replicate Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at razorbranding.org [https://razorbranding.org]