Actionable Marketing Podcast

Diversity, equity, and inclusion, or the ‘DEI’ initiatives, have received increased attention for a wide variety of reasons. How and why should marketing leaders and teams implement effective DEI programs and strategies? The consequences for not understanding what DEI means does matter. Today’s guest is Jimi Vaughn, a DEI consultant and expert. He talks about making a case for DEI by aiming for both the head and the heart of organizations’ decision makers and internal stakeholders. Some of the highlights of the show include: * DEI: Diversity is state of things; Equity is fair treatment; Inclusion is belonging * DEI Strategy: Communication and connecting with audience about business * Bottom Line: Understand the $3.9-trillion buying power of minority groups * Dismissing DEI: Incorrect belief of discrimination, exclusion is hatred, intention * Default Assumption: Everyone’s norm is the same or close enough to yours * Reality: We’re more alike than different, but we still have significant differences * Decisions: Embrace, celebrate, recognize, understand, and realize impact * Cultural Values: Who and how we value different people in different stages of life * Resistant to change? Start the conversation to build a fact-based case * Starting Steps for DEI Strategy: * Look internally at team to determine if and why perspectives are missing * Listen and engage by cultivating collaborative environment to contribute * Tie actions back to purpose and know the why to make better choices * Establish key performance indicators, benchmarks to measure success * Cancel Culture: * Hold people accountable * Audience demands better * Recognize buying power * Key analytics tell a story * Utilize feedback and evidence Links: * Jimi Vaughn on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jimi_vaughn/?hl=en] * Ben Sailer on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sailer-b05a9528] * CoSchedule [https://coschedule.com/] Quotes from Jimi Vaughn: “When I talk about diversity, I’m really referencing the traits and characteristics that makes us all unique.” “Equity is really about fair treatment, where equality is about the same treatment. Sometimes, equality isn’t necessarily fair.” “I do believe that there’s an ethical responsibility for organizations and marketers and basically any business to be thinking about these types of things.” “It would be foolish to not understand the buying power of minority groups.”

How can smaller companies compete against bigger businesses? Agile marketing is a methodology that helps companies work more efficiently and effectively to produce better outcomes. Today’s guest is Andrea Fryrear from AgileSherpas, an agile marketing consultancy. Andrea talks about how companies can leverage limited resources the right way by having a plan and path to follow and drive outsized outcomes. Some of the highlights of the show include: * What is agile marketing? Focus on ideal customers to get value to them faster * Key Benefits: Customer centricity and niche down for market share * Starting Point: Get back to basics to identify and prioritize high-value work * Dynamic Visibility: Take time to figure out and manage what’s important or not * Disciplined Process: Set work-in-progress limits to avoid shiny object syndrome * Generate Results: Get more done by doing less to accomplish goals * Baseline: Implement agile to measure process improvements, marketing metrics * Potential Problems: Lack of understanding, misconceptions of agility + marketing Links: * Andrea Fryrear on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/afryrear] * AgileSherpas [https://www.agilesherpas.com/] * 4th Annual State of Agile Marketing Report [https://www.agilesherpas.com/4th-annual-state-of-agile-marketing-webinar?hsCtaTracking=58924e65-a2d1-4660-91e7-91c665993e10%7C6ea908e2-2391-4e92-9921-9fb652d1d1d0] * Spotify [https://www.spotify.com/us/] * American Psychological Association [https://www.apa.org/] * Ben Sailer on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sailer-b05a9528] * CoSchedule [https://coschedule.com/] Quotes from Andrea Fryrear: “If it’s not getting you anywhere, then that speed is just waste. It’s wasted energy.” “Agile does all of its optimization and its speed and its waste reduction to deliver value to a customer faster.” “What do we need in order to effectively identify the high-value work and prioritize the high-value work? We need to know everything that’s out there. Everything we are doing compared with everything we could be doing.” “Agile is meant to apply holistically across all the work that a team does.”

Are you a hiring manager responsible for building a marketing team? An internship program should not be an afterthought. Take the time to select candidates and support interns effectively to be productive team members and get a good start on their career. Today’s guest is Owen Piehl, CoSchedule intern, who shares insights about how to get an internship for a specific role with limited experience. Owen talks about what college students and hiring managers need to know to make marketing internships successful. Some of the highlights of the show include: * Why CoSchedule? Company’s marketing mission, culture, values, and content * Company Research: Is it what you want to do? Submit application, interview prep * Skills: Highlight strengths, not weaknesses to workaround lack of experience * Other Opportunities: Networking led to Congress and newspaper connections * High Standards: Learn to accept edits and feedback; don’t take it personally * Fear of Failure: Believe in abilities/skills and go for things to make them happen * Right Decision: Do what’s right, build trust, allow room to make mistakes, grow * Onboarding: Broad overview to gain understanding of role and responsibilities Links: * Owen Piehl on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-piehl-a25568190] * Ben Sailer on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sailer-b05a9528] * CoSchedule [https://coschedule.com/] Quotes: “I started out as the social media intern. That’s what I got hired on as with little social media experience, I might add, and then now I’ve made the transfer over to the content editor intern.” Owen Piehl “I was looking for something where I could get into marketing a little bit, learn a little more about just how marketing teams work. As I was researching, I saw a few openings for CoSchedule, and I did some research on the company.” Owen Piehl “(Owen) You chose to focus on how your skills fit the role, rather than how your experience fit the description.” Ben Sailer “Ask yourself what skills you have right now that might transfer. Combine that with a dedication to never stop learning, and you just might surprise yourself with what you can achieve.” Ben Sailer “One thing I really appreciate about CoSchedule is it’s very results oriented.” Owen Piehl

Data and thought leadership are two things that work better together, especially in public relations and content marketing. Today’s guest is Amy Littleton, Executive Vice President of Public Relations and Content at KemperLesnik. Amy talks about how to make thought leadership more accurate and authoritative to land massive PR wins. She knows what it takes to use data-backed insights to tell stories that earn media attention. Some of the highlights of the show include: * Thought Leadership: Common reasons it fails and doesn’t produce results * Good and Bad News: Search for and find information that is right, not wrong * Authenticity and Credibility: Marketing agenda vs. thoughtful data-driven advisory * Proof Points: Always better to have examples and information you need to know * Research Resources: Surveys are simple to complex and everything in between * Content Length: Consumed on multiple channels, equipment, and platforms * Curiosity: Gives info to get customers to care, explore new things, drive results * Inputs In/Out: Fill your brain to produce better ideas and make better decisions Links: * Amy Littleton on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylitt/] * KemperLesnik [https://www.kemperlesnik.com/] * LinkedIn Polls [https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/119595/create-linkedin-polls?lang=en] * SurveyMonkey [https://www.surveymonkey.com/] * Omnibus Survey [https://www.surveyanalytics.com/omnibus-survey-definition.html#:~:text=An%20omnibus%20survey%20is%20a,the%20cost%20of%20conducting%20research.] * The Harris Poll [https://theharrispoll.com/on-demand/] * Ben Sailer on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sailer-b05a9528] * CoSchedule [https://coschedule.com/] Quotes from Amy Littleton: “Even the way that we search for news and information in our personal lives, in business, you’re looking for news and information, and you can get that from multiple sources.” “The first thing you would do is lose trust with your audience if you put out crappy content. You’re not going to get people to want to come back to you for information if the information you put out is really a marketing piece disguised as thought leadership.” “Data can come from anywhere. I think your own curated data, third-party data, information that you’ve found that is already publicly available, and any combination of that, can help you to inform a thought leadership piece.” “It’s about credibility. You want your piece to have credibility.”

How ethical is your marketing practice? Imagine describing your job to your best non-marketing friend. What’s your response if they think your work is ethically gray or morally suspect? Today’s guest is Robin Cangie from The Empowered Freelancer. Robin talks about how to do work that’s radically effective and ethical, where marketers avoid ethical shortcuts by focusing on work that is genuinely helpful for leads, prospects, and customers. Some of the highlights of the show include: * The Empowered Freelancer: Real, raw talk about being self-employed * Radically Ethical Marketing: Honesty, transparency, and genuine helpfulness * What isn’t radically ethical? * Retargeting ads without permission from customers * Copy designed to deceive rather than inform * Goal is to get users to convert rather than help them see product value * Why should marketers choose tactics or structure strategy? Right thing to do * Quit or speak up? Figure out your threshold, values, and what you can do * What is a smart way to do good and better without the approach backfiring? * Marketers/Leaders: Think about how negative perceptions harm the business * Valid but Risky: Raising ethical concerns takes a tremendous amount of courage * Beloved Brands: Wonderful products/services and messaging tone aligns values Links: * Robin Cangie on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/robincangie] * The Empowered Freelancer [https://empoweredfreelancer.com/] * General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) [https://gdpr-info.eu/] * California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) [https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa] * Ben Sailer on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sailer-b05a9528] * CoSchedule [https://coschedule.com/] Quotes from Robin Cangie: “Radically Ethical Marketing is simply marketing that puts honesty, transparency, and genuine helpfulness at its center.” “People are becoming more wise to ways that marketers try to manipulate their perceptions, use their data to get them to buy as much stuff as possible.” “Being radically ethical is a more sustainable long-term choice.” “Truth be told, it was a matter of needing to look in the mirror every morning and feel good about the work that I was doing. That is something that’s very important to me.” “You may have more power than you realize to effect change.”