Marketing Freaks

Welcome back to the podcast!

In this week's mini bitesized episode, I discuss a few thoughts (from an employers perspective) on how to stand out in an interview and job application process. 

This is direct from my experience of recruiting for a small, specialised performance marketing agency. 

Hope this helps!

Welcome to episode 141 of the Marketing Freaks Podcast. This week, we're joined by Sam Lewis-Williams, Head of Automation at the Financial Times, to explore how both businesses and consumers navigate the abundance of content that we have access to, and how the Financial Times uses automation to deliver the right content to the right audience.

We delve into the different applications of automation at the Financial Times. Sam explains how behavioural data is changing the way that the Financial Times delivers content to their subscribers to create 1:1 experiences. 

Key Takeaways:

• Personalised Content Delivery: Listeners will understand how the Financial Times leverages marketing automation to deliver personalised content experiences to its diverse subscriber base, ensuring that the right content reaches the right subscribers at the right time.
• Content Curation with Automation: Sam will provide insights into the significant volume of content available at the Financial Times and how automation plays a crucial role in the selection and curation of content for individual subscribers, enhancing their overall experience.
• Shift to Customer-Centric 'Orchestration': Listeners will learn about the transition from traditional linear email-based campaigns to a more customer-centric 'Orchestration' approach, and why this shift is essential in the context of marketing automation at the Financial Times.
• Behavioral Data's Impact: Sam will explain how the use of behavioural data is revolutionising content delivery, leading to the creation of 1:1 experiences, making content recommendations more tailored and relevant.

Welcome back to another mini bitesized episode!

This week we're talking about the best ways to learn performance marketing, and how to get started and build your skills with both Meta Ads and Google Ads.

Hopefully this is useful for you if you're new to the field or just looking to build your understanding of how PPC or Paid Social works.

Enjoy!

Welcome back to the Marketing Freaks Podcast. This week, we're joined by none other than the OG of Facebook Ads, Jon Loomer!

In this episode we explore the incredible career of Jon Loomer, self proclaimed Facebook Ads nerd. Jon has built an incredible reputation within the Paid Media industry and founded The Power Hitters Club, an online community for advanced Paid Media practitioners to connect and share knowledge.  

We will delve into the evolution of Jon’s career, from how he went from a baseball loving philosophy major, to one of the key voices in Paid Media. By the end of this discussion, our audience should gain valuable insights on the importance of personal branding, leveraging your community and sharing your voice. As well as tips on content creation, growing a community and becoming one of the most influential “accidental marketers”.

Key Takeaways:

• The Importance of Personal Branding: Gain insights into how Jon built his personal brand and why it's crucial for professionals, especially in the marketing industry.
• Community Building: Learn the story behind the founding of The Power Hitters Club and how fostering a community of like-minded professionals can lead to knowledge sharing and career growth.
• Content Creation Strategies: Find out Jon’s approach to creating regular, impactful content, and how this can support anyone looking to establish authority in Paid Media.
• Overcoming Challenges: Learn about the challenges Jon faced in his career, especially when launching his first product, and how he overcame them to grow his personal brand & business.
• Work-Life Balance: Insights into how Jon maintains a balance between being a prominent industry voice and his family life.
• Future of Meta Ads: Gain insight into Jon’s perspective on where Meta Ads are heading in the current year.

Welcome to this week's bitesized episode!

We're super excited to be heading to Shoptalk in March where we'll be recording a load of interviews with some of the biggest brands in the world. As a bit of a warm up to that, we invited Joe Laszlo (the man behind the show agenda) on for a chat about how he curates the show's programme. 

Enjoy!

Welcome back to the Marketing Freaks Podcast. It’s a double helping of PPC pie as this week, Jon is joined by our Senior PPC Account Manager Vince Norris. Vince is fairly new to the Overdrive team, although he has hit the ground running and is by all intents and purposes, a genius and all things Paid Search.

Jon and Vince are here to discuss their thoughts on the future of PPC, from the shift from granular bidding to more reliance on machine learning, and our predictions and best practices for 2024. So if you’re currently running ads, or if you’re just getting started and want to know what’s going to generate the best results, tune in to episode 137. 

Key Take-aways:

• Humble beginnings: Where it all began and how PPC and Google Ads have changed over the years. 
• Commercial Airline Pilot vs. Fighter Pilot: Understand the different levels of campaign management and some fantastic analogies to describe them. 
• Best Practices for PPC in 2024: What can you be doing to ensure maximum performance and efficiency from your campaigns?
• Continuous Learning & Adaption: It’s no secret that the world of Digital Marketing is constantly moving, but Vince shares tips on how you can remain up to date with relevant information and ahead of the game. 
• The future of PPC: Jon and Vince share their predictions for the future of PPC and how practitioners can adapt. 

Welcome to this week's bitesized episode!

Join us for a conversation around common concerns and worries, and what we think the biggest challenges will be for performance marketing in 2024. We also get feedback from others to find out what other people in similar roles are concerned about. 

Do you agree? Send us your biggest concerns and we'll cover them in a future episode.

As always, thank you so much for listening and please do subscribe on your preferred podcast platform :)

Welcome to episode 135 of the Marketing Freaks Podcast. This week, we're diving into a topic that's both intriguing and a bit frustrating. Jon and Abi are sharing their candid thoughts on the gap we often see between flashy pitches and actual delivery. We're talking about the extreme lengths some agencies will go to just to make things seem better than they are in reality.

We’ve pulled out some of our favourite stories from the pitch vaults. Some from our own experiences and others are tales we've heard from clients. It's all about giving you the insights you need to make smarter choices about the agencies you partner with. Stay tuned, it's going to be a great episode!

Key-takeaways:

• Look past the flashy pitch: Find out how to dig into what's really being offered, not just how good it sounds.
• Who's actually on your team?: How to find out who you'll be working with day-to-day, not just the sales folks.
• Don't shy away from hard questions: Abi and Jon will guide you on what to ask to really understand what's on offer.
• Know your worth to them: Learn how to gauge where your business ranks in terms of importance to them, so you know how much attention you'll get.
• Cut through the jargon: Learn to spot when you're being sold a dream that's no different from what others offer. 

Hello and welcome to the first bitesized episode of the year!

This week we're talking about Google's plan to depreciate third party cookies in Chrome. What is actually happening, how does this impact our world of paid media and digital marketing, and what should you be doing to prepare for the change?

Welcome back to the first episode of 2024! In this episode, we’re diving into the ever-changing world of PPC with Indi Rai, Head of Acquisition at Ufurnish. Indi brings a wealth of experience from both agency and client-side perspectives, offering us a unique insight into the landscape of PPC & Performance marketing.

We're exploring everything from the development of PPC over the years, to the synergy between PPC and SEO. Whether you're from a startup or a big corp, you'll get insider insights on adapting strategies, harnessing automation, and the importance of creativity in digital marketing. Tune in for an episode packed with pro tips and real-world wisdom that'll give you an edge in your marketing game!

Key Take-aways:

• Evolution of PPC and Digital Marketing:  Gain insight into how PPC and digital marketing have evolved over the years, including the transition from granular, device-specific campaigns to more integrated strategies and the shift towards automated bidding.
• Adaptability in Marketing: Understand the importance of adapting to changes in technology and strategies in digital marketing, such as Google's Enhanced Campaigns and the increasing reliance on automation and data-driven decisions.
• Strategic Thinking in Large Corporations vs. Startups: Understand the unique challenges and strategies employed in PPC and digital marketing in large corporations versus startups, with a focus on budget management, resource allocation, and achieving efficiency.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: The shift towards a more data-centric approach in PPC, emphasising the importance of aligning marketing strategies with business growth, profitability, and understanding customer acquisition costs.
• Creative Aspects in Modern PPC: The evolving role of creativity in PPC campaigns in the age of automation, highlighting the importance of crafting effective ad content and strategically feeding data into automated systems.
• The Changing Role of PPC Practitioners: An understanding of how the role of PPC professionals has shifted from manual campaign management to leveraging automated systems and focusing on broader business impacts.
• Professional Development Advice for PPC Practitioners: Practical advice for individuals in PPC roles, especially in startups, on the importance of building industry networks, staying updated with trends, and understanding the broader marketing landscape.

Join us for this mini bitesized episode to chat through Elon Musk's tirade, what this means for us working in the world of paid social and what on earth is going on over at X! 

Have you changed your opinion on advertising on the platform, or if you are still seeing good results should you continue to advertise there? 

Enjoy!

Welcome back to the Marketing Freaks Podcast. In this episode, we’re diving into an often neglected yet crucial topic: What does it take to become a successful Marketing Leader? Jon is joined by Danny Denhard, a distinguished executive coach with plenty of skin in the game. Danny specialises in guiding CMO’s, VP's and Directors to enhance their career trajectory, team dynamics and overall company performance through his unique workshop based coaching. 

Quite often we see a pattern where professionals are taught to become competent managers and team leaders. However, there seems to be a gap when it reaches the upper echelons of leadership, such as CEO’s, CMO’s and CFO’s. It’s rare that these roles are supplemented with the necessary training to master executive leadership skills. 

Key Takeaways:

• Transitioning skills from practitioner to leader: Learn about the challenges markets face as they climb the career ladder, transitioning from practical roles to leadership positions and how this requires a different set of skills that they may not have been trained for. 
• Different types of intelligence required for leadership: Understand the importance of combining and balancing technical knowledge, emotional intelligence, work intelligence and political intelligence. 
• Effective communication & collaboration techniques: Gain insight on the importance of being able to effectively communicate and collaborate with other departments and how to adapt your language and approach to suit different audiences. 
• Continuous personal development: Learn the importance of being self aware, the need to for continuous learning and adaption as a leader, to shape your management style and become an effective leader.

Hello and welcome to the Black Friday / Cyber Monday special!

In this episode we talk about whether or not Black Friday is worth doing as a business, how it's going so far and what the common trends for this Q4 are looking like. 

We also pull out some key news items and take a look at Shopify's real time BFCM stats. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to episode 129 of the Marketing Freaks Podcast. Jon is joined by Ed Bolton, Partner Manager at Trustpilot to explore how businesses can harness the power of social proof, brand reputation, and user-generated content (UGC) to drive sales during peak buying seasons. We delve into the strategies and tactics that can be used, to help businesses thrive during their busiest times of the year. Gain valuable insights and practical tips on how you can leverage customer reviews within your marketing and customer engagement strategies, to boost sales over peak buying seasons.

Key Takeaways:

• The Importance of Social Proof: Understand how leveraging customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials can influence purchase decisions.
• Building a review strategy: How brands can automate the process of collecting reviews, making it easier for customers to leave feedback.
• Engaging with customers: Understand the importance of proactively engaging with customers by responding to reviews, both positive and negative. 
• Authentic Reviews: How to obtain reviews without impacting autenticity
• Leveraging reviews during peak seasons: How brands can prepare for peak seasons like Black Friday by having review processes in place, responding quickly to reviews, and showcasing reviews on their websites to build consumer trust.
• The value of finding impactful reviews: The importance of finding reviews that resonate with your target audience and strategically feature these reviews in marketing campaigns.

Welcome back to another bitesized mini episode! 

This week we're talking about the corporate game, how to win confidence and how to get buy in for future investment in your marketing activity. 

Simply being great at what you do is sadly not often quite enough. You need to be able to communicate clearly and build logical business cases in order to progress and grow your channels. 

Join this episode for some advice on how to go about doing just that. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 127 of the Marketing Freaks Podcast. This week, Jon is joined by Gemma Barter, the Digital Marketing Manager at Honest Burgers, to talk about about the strategic approach and tactics employed by Honest Burgers in leveraging online marketing to boost footfall into their restaurants. We uncover the key ingredients that make their marketing efforts so effective in driving foot traffic, customer engagement, and loyalty to their brick-and-mortar locations. 

Key Takeaways:

• Strategic Approaches: Gemma will share Honest Burgers' strategic approaches to integrating online marketing with offline activities. Gain a deeper understanding of how a well-thought-out strategy can drive customers to physical locations.
• Tactical Tips: Gemma tells us the specific online marketing tactics, tools, and platforms that have proven effective in increasing foot traffic and engagement in their restaurants. These practical tips can serve as actionable takeaways for businesses looking to replicate their success.
• Measuring Success: Gain insights into how Honest Burgers measures the impact of their online marketing efforts on offline activity. 
• Inspiration: Leave the episode inspired and equipped with knowledge and ideas to enhance your own online marketing strategies to drive offline activity for your businesses.

It’s spooky season, so in this bonus Halloween-themed episode we’re bringing you some tales of terror in the form of Paid Media Horror Stories. Jon is joined by Abi Carey, Head of Paid Social to delve into some of the most hair-raising mistakes made in performance marketing. They will not only highlight common blunders but also share a chilling account of their personal career horror stories and the invaluable lessons they've learned. Tune in for a frightfully informative discussion that will help marketers avoid the ghastly ghouls and enhance their performance marketing efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Marketing Nightmares: Discover the common spine-tingling mistakes in performance marketing, and how to exorcise your campaigns of their demons. 
• Personal career haunts: Jon and Abi resurrect the ghost of their marketing past. Hear the terrifying tales of career mistakes and the lessons they’ve learned to avoid the same fate.

Performance Marketing Potions: Jon and Abi brew up potions and solutions strong enough to raise your performance marketing from the dead.

In this week's mini bitesized episode, we talk all things AI and paid media. 

Are the robots coming for our jobs, or is it that our job roles are just going through a major change? How can we use AI to be more efficient, get better results and ultimately earn more revenue for our clients?

We talk through all of the above and also get a new snapshot opinion from Nick Boyce on the matter!

Welcome back to Episode 123 of the Marketing Freaks Podcast. During this episode Jon and Abbey, Associate Director at Builtvisible explore the relationship between digital marketing and user experience (UX) in today's competitive landscape. By delving into the strategies, examples, and insights shared by Abbey, we will gain a deeper understanding of how seamless UX and effective digital marketing converge to create impactful customer journeys.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

• The importance of the customer Journey: Gain a clear comprehension of what the customer journey entails and why it is a pivotal component of successful digital marketing efforts.
• Integration of Digital Marketing SEO and UX: Understand how Digital Marketing, SEO and UX overlap, and how each aspect must intertwine for a successful online presence. The goal is to create content that not only ranks well but also provides a great user experience.
• Measuring Customer Journey Success: Practical methods for effectively measuring and assessing the success of customer journeys.
• Enhancing Conversion Rates: How improved UX directly influences the success of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, showcasing the potential for higher conversion rates through strategic UX enhancements.

Guidance for Businesses: Actionable advice and best practices for businesses seeking to elevate their customer journey and enhance their UX, contributing to improved brand perception and customer satisfaction. 

Join us in this bitesized episode to talk through agency fees, what you SHOULD be getting for your money, and why they are worth paying. 

Clearly every business and situation will be different, but selecting the right agency should provide a vast amount of value for your business, way beyond a simple exchange of cash for resource. 

Nick Boyce dials back in for his opinion on the matter, having worked in multiple client-side and agency roles.

Hope you enjoy!