
Ahead of the Game
Want a taste of the real-life digital marketing game? Supercharge your marketing skills and sharpen your mindset with incisive insights from industry experts. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by The Digital Marketing Institute, hosted by Will Francis.
Subscribe to all DMI Ahead of the Game podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or watch on video at YouTube. And check out the DMI's extensive knowledge library and join up for free. https://my.digitalmarketinginstitute.com/auth/register?podcast
Latest episodes

Sep 2, 2022 • 46min
Data Insights in Digital Marketing
Chris Penn, co-founder and chief data scientist, discusses data insights in digital marketing with Will Francis. They cover regression analysis, using R and Python, GA4, GDPR, and real-world metaphors. Mention Bob Stone's direct marketing principles. Chris offers 5 key takeaways for marketers. The discussion emphasizes the importance of data quality, data science in marketing strategies, Google Analytics 4, creating effective dashboards, and becoming a data-led marketer.

Aug 19, 2022 • 45min
Creating Content for TikTok
Are you making the shift to using videos on your social platforms? Have you started thinking about using TikTok but don't know where or how to start? In this week's episode, podcast host Will Francis meets social agency Simply Social who work around the clock to stay on top of trends for their clients. General manager Peter Shannon and Olive Maher offer advice on marketers looking to set started with TikTok, and keep going with it. Indeed if you're a brand starting on social media for the first time, TikTok is the way to go.
A full transcript of this episode is available on our website, where you'll also find all our other episodes on our extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Aug 5, 2022 • 44min
Data Protection 101
Many marketers are still confused when it comes to regulations around data privacy. While GDPR is the best known data regulation, it has been a catalyst for other data privacy developments around the world, from California to Singapore and Brazil. Your business is only as compliant as the least trained person on your team, so ongoing training of existing staff is essential.
In this episode podcast host Will Francis chats with Steven Roberts, a veteran of marketing who has made the shift into data protection - he's so good at demystifying the whole issue, he's even written the book of Data Protection for Marketers.
A full transcript of this episode is available on our website, where you'll also find all our other episodes on our extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Jul 22, 2022 • 1h 8min
2022 Trends in Digital Marketing - Refocus
Earlier this year, we looked ahead at some of the emerging trends and changes to monitor in 2022. It is now time to revisit and reflect on these insights as they have proven to be still topical and pressing as ever. So, join host Will Francis and 8 experts and practitioners across the industry to look at where digital marketing is at in 2022 and how it is responding to societal changes post-COVID. Will and the guests looked at issues around recruitment and upskilling and key factors regarding the customer experience. We also touched on the Metaverse, NFTs, AI, Google's ever-evolving cleverness, and how brands can plan strategically. In an ever-immersive world, we looked at how video is becoming so much more accessible, the importance of TikTok and YouTube, and learning to live with automation. And that's just some of what we covered!
You can view the full transcript on our website. While you're there, check out the DMI's extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Jul 6, 2022 • 43min
Digital Marketing Career Kickstart - Re Air
With a war raging and an impending recession, many of us are reconsidering our career paths and/or development. So in this re-aired episode, you will get brilliant tips, key insights, and guidance on how to reflect on your career to make sure your career goals stay on track.
Focussing on how to improve your personal or “soft” skills, host Will Francis and guests Morgan Cummins (director of TalentHub) and Paul Farrer (founder of Aspire) discuss the importance (or not) of values, getting support from within your current job, inclusion issues, and the dreaded “imposter syndrome”.
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!

Jun 24, 2022 • 40min
A Chat About Chatbots
Ever considered how your business might benefit from using chat marketing? In this episode, host Will Francis meets Anna Tutckaia, head of marketing at ManyChat, to learn about where this fast-developing form of marketing is helping brands and customers. By building a chat platform on Facebook, Messenger or Instagram, you are essentially meeting your customers where they already are.
A full transcript of this episode is available on our website, where you'll also find all our other episodes on our extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Jun 10, 2022 • 43min
Marketing for Tourism
Pack your suitcase out and get ready to explore a historic corner of eastern Canada! In this episode, host Will Francis chats with tourism marketer Neil McKenzie all about how he operates the Yarmouth & Acadian Shores site in beautiful southwestern Nova Scotia. Using CrowdRiff as a UGC aggregator they continue to explore an omnichannel approach to content as the tourism sector starts to open up fully in 2022. Neil is also a graduate of the DMI and explains how he benefitted from the full spectrum of learning in the program.
A full transcript of this episode is available on our website, where you'll also find all our other episodes on our extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

May 27, 2022 • 56min
SEO & Omnichannel Marketing
This week's episode is an especially exciting one for us - it's the first to mark the June launch of our new Search Marketing course created in collaboration with Neil Patel. We're joined today by one of his expert team, Matt Santos, who is VP of Products & Strategy at Neil Patel Accel. He has a breadth of experience across organic and paid search and in this episode he brings his expertise to a clear explanation of SEO strategy and techniques, and how an omnichannel approach to SEO can only be a win-win for your digital marketing.
A full transcript of this episode is available on our website, where you'll also find all our other episodes on our extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

May 13, 2022 • 50min
The Importance of Digital Accessibility
Digital accessibility is more than a catchphrase, or a legal requirement – it’s a mindset that brands and marketers need to be much more aware of and consider building into their strategy. In this week’s episode, host Will Francis meets with Mark Miller and Cori Perlander of leading US-based accessibility consultancy TGPi. Cori shares her experience of seeing and hearing the internet on a daily basis, and Mark – also the host of the TPGI podcast – explains the ideas behind WCAG, VPATs, and the importance of screen readers like JAWS to open up opportunities to a greater audience. In Cori’s words: “as a person with a disability, I'm not looking for a handout, I just want to be able to use my technology to complete actions and to maintain independence.”
A full transcript of this episode is available on our website, where you'll also find all our other episodes on our extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
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.e!
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!

Apr 29, 2022 • 47min
Power up your Social Commerce
Host Will Francis is joined by Avocado Social founder Alison Battisby to discuss how marketers can take full advantage of the rise of shopping within social media platforms. From Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to TikTok, consumers are becoming ever more used to shopping in these environments and they look at brands that are doing it well, how to use videos and influencers, how to work with platform guidelines, and where it's all heading.
To see some of these examples in action, you can watch Alison's webinar on Social Commerce on the DMI website.
View the episode transcript on the DMI website.
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, blogs, and more! Join for free today.
And if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review so others can find us!