Ahead of the Game

Want to know what really makes an influencer tick? It's not necessarily the money, but actually the recognition for what they represent. Will Francis chats with digital marketing expert and trainer Andrew Davis about this evolving form of marketing. They look at the different types of influencers - from accidental to big brand - how to measure your ROI, and how a company of any size can utilize it, when it's done the right way. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

You've created a fabulous social media strategy for your business or client - how do you get buy-in for your ideas and business processes to make them actually happen and get social media success?  Host Will Francis chats with Social Media expert Julie Atherton on how collaborating with others is the key to social strategy implementation. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Will chats with training consultant and career coach Kevin Reid about his fascinating job. To be a good coach, you have to be able to really listen to people. And Kevin shares some of the great lives and situations he's listened to and helped over the years: from students and millennials to a 94-year-old nun. Our favorite of his many nuggets of wisdom is: you can divide your ability into three things - what you should do, what you should not do, and what you should delegate to someone else. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

In this episode, Will gets the full low-down on practical ways to approach your social media strategy. He talks to Julie Atherton, founder and managing director of the UK marketing consultancy Small Wonder. With 30 years of experience, she has seen firsthand the transition from traditional to digital marketing, and explored every channel out there. Her book - Social Media Strategy: A Practical Guide to Social Media Marketing & Engagement - is already a classic guide. And our podcast listeners can get a 20% discount on on the cover price! The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

In this bonus episode we bring you a recent conversation that the DMI CEO, Ken Fitzpatrick, had with renowned digital marketing expert (and DMI advisory champion) Neal Schaffer, on Neal's own podcast, Maximimize your Social Influence. Ken shares insights from DMI's member survey on how the Coronavirus crisis has affected the work and careers of professionals around the world. They cover the current appetite to upskill and reskill, as well as how marketers can deal with FOBI (the fear of becoming irrelevant) and keep up with the latest must-haves, like TikTok. You can learn more about Neal at his website and his podcast. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

There is just so much data out there,  how do you use it to its maximum potential to target your customers and prospects? In this episode, host Will Francis chats with email marketing expert Karen Talavera about how to get a handle on all this data to flesh out your personas, and essentially understand the people behind the numbers. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Digital transformation is really about transformation of people, not just your business. In this episode with host Will, digital marketing and branding specialist Clark Boyd breaks down the five myths of digital transformation and looks at how changing your digital mindset and culture are more important than just buying the latest tech solution. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Working as a social media consultant can mean spontaneous changes to your to-do list. In this episode on Productivity, Alison Battisby of Avocado Social shares thoughts with Will on running a small business with your spouse, dealing with distractions when they're part of the job, the blur between clients and personal on WhatsApp, the benefits of booking yourself a facial, and why she has notifications turned off on her phone. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Expert analyst Cathal Melinn talks with host Will Francis about what data analysis is really all about. In short his message is: "sessions don't buy, people do". They cover educated guesses, soft metrics, assumptions about human motivations, the creative joys of Excel, site optimization and A/B Testing, different social platforms' definition of a click or a conversion, the messiness of the attribution model, and even a bit of Aristotle. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Experienced email marketing consultant Karen Talavera covers all the bases of this tried-and-tested technique which is going through a resurgence in 2020. In chatting with Will Francis, she explains how to evaluate email ROI, the best programs to help you, how to make a plan, common mistakes and her predictions for how email will evolve. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, guides, templates, advice, and more! Join for free today. And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!