On Brand with Nick Westergaard

“The art of the question has fundamentally been lost.” As a global speaker and consultant in digital marketing and sales, Marcus Sheridan has made name for himself and his business by answering all of the questions. I couldn’t wait to talk to the content marketing legend and author about all of this, on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Marcus SheridanCalled a “web marketing guru” by The New York Times, the story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer.”Today, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today.Episode HighlightsThe 20-second version of Marcus’ story. “In 2008, I was going to lose my business. I had two consultants tell me to file for bankruptcy. I started reading about inbound marketing and content marketing and created a four-word philosophy.”They Ask, You Answer. This philosophy applied to content marketing helped Marcus save River Pools. It’s also helped countless marketers who have read his story and heard him speak. “If you can’t explain it — if you can’t answer the questions — it’s no good.” These four words are also the title of his new book. They Ask You Answer, which is full of case studies of “digital Davids” like River Pools. “It’s 50% marketing, 25% sales, and 25% implementation.”The most important social media question. “It’s not ‘how can I be great on Facebook today?’ It’s ‘how can I be great on Facebook forever?’ You do that by solving customers’ problems.”How can you cultivate a culture of questions? “Businesses need to think more like buyers and less like businesses. Marketers aren’t subject matter experts.” You have to get out of your bubble and seek the expertise of leadership, engineering, and sales to effectively answer your buyer’s questions.What question is Marcus asked most often? “It’s not, ‘I’m a leader/business owner — how do turn my business around?’ It’s ‘I’m in sales and I need leadership’s buy-in.'” Marcus recommends getting leadership re-acclimated with customers’ needs for a better connection between the business and the buyer in your sales and marketing execution.What brand has made Marcus smile recently? “I’m gonna use this example because it would be easy for them to say, ‘but we’re too big’ — Home Depot.” Citing their “exceptional blog where they teach, teach, teach,” he noted that it features products without being too sales-y.To learn more, go to The Sales Lion website, check out his book They Ask You Answer, and follow him on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed some new stats on Instagram Story use vs. Snapchat Story use. While everyone loves talking about Snapchat, it looks like Instagram is currently winning the story wars. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week’s show. Beyond the Sound Bite Here’s the full story at TechCrunch – Instagram Stories is stealing Snapchat’s users. Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we’ll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The only way to stand out is to build a brand." B2B marketers often focus most of their energy on sales funnels, lead generation, and analytics. But how do you stand out in the noisy marketplace? A few weeks ago, Jay Acunzo told a story on the podcast about how Drift made the bold move of un-gating all of their content. I couldn't wait to hear this story first hand from Drift's Director of Marketing Dave Gerhart on this week's episode of the On Brand podcast. About Dave GerhardtDave Gerhardt is the director of marketing at Drift, a Boston-based startup that helps sales and customer success teams connect with their customers. Dave has spent the first seven years of his career working at SaaS marketing companies, including HubSpot and Constant Contact, and he was recently named one of Boston's 50 on Fire for 2017. He's also the co-host of Seeking Wisdom, a podcast about health, wealth, life, and learning.Episode HighlightsWhy would a brand un-gate all of their content?? Content marketing is powerful — especially in the B2B space — because you can drive leads and measure everything. Dave Gerhardt was initially taken aback when his boss, Drift CEO David Cancel, suggested they un-gate everything.Standing out. "So many products today are free. They want customers to dive in, try things out, and ultimately use it (and pay for it) more." Drift embraced this approach and extended it to their content, making it accessible and, in the end, more helpful as well. "The only way to stand out is to build a brand."How do you create stand out content? "My approach is simple. I create content that I would like. There's no sexy playbook."How do you establish a strong, consistent brand voice? Every brand wants a voice but it seems like we only have two gears — bland or irreverent. Dave sat down with CEO David Cancel and developed thirteen core values that guide all of their efforts. "Internally, we call this being 'Drifty.' We know we're about being authentic and human. When we come out with something new we make sure there's real people on it. Real people are Drifty."What brand has made Dave smile recently? “I'm gonna go with two — Slack and Mailchimp." Both excel at creating little moments of delight throughout their online brand experience.To learn more, go to the Drift blog and follow Dave on Twitter.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Drew McLellan gave us several shouts on Twitter for the episode of the podcast he recorded with us last year. Drew also has a great podcast called Build a Better Agency. Thanks for being a guest and listening!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed recent "rogue tweets" from Badlands National Park, in response to an alleged media blackout for federal agencies from the Trump White House. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Badlands National Park Twitter account goes rogue, starts tweeting scientific facts (CBS News). After the "rogue tweets" were deleted, some employees created an Alternate National Park Service Twitter account (on their own time and without public resources). Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You are the steward of the cluster that’s drawn to your brand.” Today, we’re simultaneously in control of our brands and not in control, as we build an increasingly diverse audience across diffused media platforms and touch points. It’s this dynamic that Gabriella Mirabelli spends most of her time helping big media and tech brands navigate. We talked about millennials, media brands, and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Gabriella MirabelliGabriella Mirabelli is the foremost authority on translating millennial behavioral trends for executives at major media enterprises. She was listed on Inc. as one of the "5 Unsung Heroes of New Media" and is the CEO and co-founder of ANATOMY, a New York based, Emmy Award winning creative agency and branding consultancy. As the host of The Up Next Podcast, she talks with the brightest innovators, risk takers, and disrupters on the front lines of change from Hollywood, Wall St., Silicon Valley, and beyond.Over the last half decade, Gabriella has studied how the practices of media brands intersect with the media consumption habits of millennials. Her most recent in-depth report “Millennials At the Gate” is an examination of streaming, ad blocking, and piracy habits of young millennials. It has been cited by major publications such as Forbes, The Wrap, MediaPost, and Yahoo Finance.Episode HighlightsWhat are the top millennial behavioral trends that brand builders need to be aware of? First, Gabriella focuses on what she calls "young millennials — ages 18–24. Two-thirds of millennials are ad blocking. Sixty-nine percent are pirating and, of those, 67% think there’s nothing wrong with that."How can we translate these trends into brand initiatives? “It’s all about the touch points, the overall experience. Social platforms are giving that emotional payoff.” As brand builders, we have to make sure that we’re creating a brand that means something to our audience.Surrendering control of our brands. “We’re both in control and not in control of our brands today. You are the steward of the cluster that’s drawn to your brand. Apple is a great example of this."When it comes to media, are we marketing the show — content brands — or the larger network brand? As Gabriella noted, “I have a strong opinion about this. It’s the show brand. You go to see the show. You don’t go to the AMC theater. You go to see the movie playing there. Unless you’re an art house theater that curates and adds meaning. They’re about creating a better experience with real butter on the popcorn, where the ushers care about film.”What brand has made Gabriella smile recently? “Netflix. And what I love is that they don’t market to me obnoxiously but they still have meaning to me. They care about audience and experience."To learn more, go to Gabriella’s podcast website (UpNextPodcast.com) and check out the ANATOMY website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Brands that we look to, that are charismatic, know their audience. They know who they are.” Stories, personality, and experiences are the building blocks of modern brands of all shapes and sizes. This week, Carla Johnson of Type A Communications and co-author of Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing stopped by the On Brand podcast to discuss all of this. About Carla JohnsonCarla Johnson helps marketers unlock, nurture and strengthen their storytelling muscle so they can create delightful experiences for audiences. She works as a trusted advisor at the highest level of blue-chip brands to establish open conversations, instill creative confidence and inspire an environment of receptivity that develops highly prized teams and stellar business results. Carla has worked with companies that include American Express, Dell, Emerson, Motorola Solutions, VMware, Western Union and Smurfit Kappa on how to tap into a wellspring of ideas and unveil new ways to bring their brand stories alive in fun and captivating ways.Named one of the top 20 most influential content marketers, one of top 25 business-to-business marketers, and one of the top 50 women in marketing, Carla is the co-author of Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing, which teaches marketers how to develop, manage and lead the creation of valuable experiences for their organizations. She serves on the Executive Committee and as the Vice Chair on the Board of Directors for the Association for National Advertisers Business Marketing Association, an instructor for the Content Marketing Institute and the Digital Analytics Association, is a frequent speaker and writes about creativity and innovation, the power of brand storytelling, and customer experience for numerous media outlets. Dig deeper at Type A Communications and follow her on Twitter.Episode Highlights"When you tell a story driven by empathy, you’ll always see results.” Understanding your customers is a cornerstone of effective brand building. Yet with our focus on quantitative analysis and data, we often know too little about our customers and what they want. How can we fix this? Carla reminds us to “Just talk with them.” Conversations can yield powerful results.After talking with your customers, don’t forget your employees. Internal brand communication is key. Carla cited a study from Gallup noting that less than 40% of employees understand what their company stands for. If properly educated, your employees can be a powerful marketing engine. “If you get the internal right, you can reallocate your external resources."“Experience and story are tied together. Hand in hand.” As Carla notes, you have to ask yourself, “What are we going to be known for.” She then shared a great example from Big Ass Fans on how a simple brand touch point can inform an entire brand experience.As we head into the new year, what’s one thing brand builders and marketers should do more of? Look for ways to be “more creative, interesting, and different. Look at brands from outside your bubble.” What are they doing? How can you do more of that?What brand has made Carla smile recently? Carla pointed us to HP and their recent rebranding. “They spent us much time (communicating that) internally as they did externally."To learn more, go to the Type A Communications website and check out the site for her book with past On Brand guest Robert Rose, Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“All advice is bad advice unless it’s contextualized to you.” As marketers and brand builders, we get advice left and right. Do this, not that. Send this many emails. Write this many blog posts. This week, Jay Acunzo of the Unthinkable podcast reminded us that we need to always ask ourselves why we’re doing this and who we’re doing it for if we want to close the chasm between average and exceptional. About Jay AcunzoJay Acunzo jokes that he’s the world’s most passionate “craft-driven” marketer. He is a highly sought after keynote speaker, writer, and host of the atypical-sounding podcast Unthinkable. Jay launched his career at Google as a digital media strategist, led content marketing for multiple startups, followed by the VC firm NextView, and today, he hosts his weekly show and travels the world exploring how people can trust their intuition to do more exceptional work.Episode HighlightsJay calls himself a “craft-driven marketer.” “Anything that’s craft driven is where the process is the point.” While your overall volume of work is important, ultimately you need focus.The chasm. As Jay defined his work on the Unthinkable podcast, he framed it as answering one question: “How to be exceptional? There’s a chasm today between average and exceptional.”How do you bridge the chasm? “You need an aspirational anchor. Something that you’re striving toward. If you ‘why’ something to death, you’ll find clarity.” Jay told us of Drift in Boston who ungated all of their content and ultimately grew their subscriber list.How can you get started today? As it’s the new year, I asked Jay if there was an easy exercise to move your brand toward the exceptional end of the chasm. “There’s a real simple exercise. I call it an extraction.” Simply put, you find something from outside of your echo chamber or industry that you admire and you extract the aspects of their brand that make them exceptional. For example, you may want to be the Anthony Bourdain of business. How would you go about doing this?What brand has made Jay smile recently? He pointed us toward Bill Simmons and the project he has going at TheRinger.com.To learn more, go to unthinkable.fm and follow Jay on Twitter.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Dylan Diewold gave us a shout for our 100th episode featuring Seth Godin. Thanks for listening!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed a recent Twitter exchange between fast food giant Wendy's and a social media troll. Instead of following conventional wisdom and ignoring the troll, Wendy's engaged. The results will surprise you. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Wendy's Put a Troll on Ice With 2017's Best Tweet So Far (Adweek). Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 100 episodes we’ve had a lot of our expert guests define what branding is. Today we add a new definition to that list. Seth Godin joined me to celebrate, as he said, “showing up 100 times.” I’m happy to do it and happy to bring you more great guests like Seth in the future. Enjoy this week’s 100th episode of the On Brand podcast featuring the one, the only Seth Godin! About Seth GodinSeth Godin is the author of 18 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. You might be familiar with his books Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip, and Purple Cow.In addition to his writing and speaking, Seth founded both Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog (which you can find by typing "seth" into Google) is one of the most popular in the world. He was recently inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, one of three chosen for this honor in 2013.Godin once again set the book publishing industry on its ear by launching a series of four books via Kickstarter. The campaign reached its goal after three hours and ended up becoming the most successful book project ever done this way. His book, What To Do When It's Your Turn, is already a bestseller. His new book is pretty big too.Episode HighlightsSeth’s new book, What Does It Sound Like to Change Your Mind, is literally BIG. “It could kill a small mammal. It’s 17 pounds and over 800 pages long.” No kidding! Learn more at MoreSeth.com. Seth has continued to reinvent the publishing world as he did with What to Do When It’s Your Turn (fun fact: Seth designed the book’s innovative layout himself).So, what’s this big new book all about? “It’s about what it sounds like when you change your mind. That’s what we do in marketing — we change minds.” The new book follows the arc of his work, building on the foundation he first sketched out in Permission Marketing. “If everything is marketing — how you answer the phone, etc. — then I get to write about everything.” Everything is marketing. Classic Godin. “In Purple Cow I asked if you can’t buy attention what do you do instead?” You have to create remarkable experiences.So, what is the Seth Godin definition of branding? “First let’s all agree that a brand isn’t a logo. A brand is a shortcut — a promise about what to expect if you engage. If you are known, you have a brand."Another industry Seth is turning on its head is higher ed with his altMBA program. As both a marketer and a university instructor, I’m fascinated by this. “I help people level up. It’s a 30-day workshop. In most online programs there’s a 96% drop out rate. Ours has a 98% completion rate. It’s experiential and project based. There are 13 assignments and no grades. Just feedback.”Our education system is "training people to work in 1937." As Seth notes, we need to do more than teach memorization and obedience. "We test people and hold them back if they’re a ‘bad batch’ because it’s based on industrialization. We need a different operator’s manual."What brand has made Seth smile recently? "They are un-extraordinary. In fact, they are extraordinary in how un-extraordinary they are. I buy all of my domains from Hover.com. When I call them, they answer the phone on the first ring. When a domain is about to expire they email me five days before they charge me money.” It’s the little things. Remember, everything is marketing.To learn more, go to sethgodin.com or just type “Seth” into Google. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we have a very special episode of the On Brand podcast! Actually, it’s Part 1 of a two-episode special commemorating 100 interviews with industry-leading brand builders. To kick off Part 1, we go back to the beginning. Our first guest ever on January 1, 2015, was Patrick Hanlon, author of Primal Branding and The Social Code. A lot has changed since then and I couldn’t wait to catch up with On Brand guest #1.About Patrick HanlonPatrick Hanlon is one of the leading brand practitioners in the world. He is CEO and founder of Thinktopia, a global strategic and brand transformation practice for Fortune 100 companies including American Express, Levis, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Yum! Foods, Wrigley, PayPal, Gap, the United Nations and others. His book Primal Branding, is the seminal work that looks at brands as belief systems that people opt-in to. Hanlon’s Primal Branding construct is now recognized by YouTube, as their recommended method for designing and attracting social communities. Hanlon’s latest book The Social Code: Designing Community In The Digital Age defines how to create communities via social media: and how to attract advocates who become so passionate about your success, they are willing to create it themselves.He has been quoted in Fast Company, Business Week Online, Advertising Age, ADWEEK, Entrepreneur, CNBC, and NPR, as well as media around the world. Hanlon is an online contributor to Forbes, Advertising Age, and others. He was also featured as a subject matter expert in the 10- episode TV documentary series “The Kennedy Files” from Aspyr Media. Episode HighlightsWhat’s changed since Patrick was last here on the show? “A lot!” Hanlon noted, talking about the results of the 2016 presidential election. “Many are wondering — is this the end of authenticity? It may be the end of the (buzz)word ‘authenticity but trust is still important. Your brand is community — what others say about you.” Trust is important if you’re building a community.Politicians and presidents are absolutely brands. Since his first visit, Hanlon was also a part of the TV documentary on the Kennedys where he was asked if they are a brand? “Yes — brands are belief systems made up of primal code.” Hanlon then took us through all of the pieces of the Kennedy’s code from their creed (“Ask not what your country can do for you …”) and numerous icons (fashion, sunglasses).But what about Trump? "The biggest lesson for American business in all of this is that now politics has been as disrupted as other industries have been. More than the end of authenticity, this is the end of political laundering.” Unfiltered messages (good or bad) are what resonated with the electorate and propelled both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders to unexpected heights.What remains to be seen is how the Trump brand squares with the brand of the United States. Hanlon’s primal branding system is so effective it can even be applied to our country with our creed (“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), icons (flag, liberty bell, etc), and rituals (voting, the fourth of July).What brand has made Patrick smile recently? “I know there are brands that make me smile less today — like Apple and Starbucks. The concept that really makes me smile is virtual reality — what can be done with the technology."To learn more, go thinktopia.com and the Primal Branding page on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices