The People of Digital Marketing

Alex is a former professional soccer player turned growth marketer and now works as a community growth manager at Funnel, a marketing data platform with over 1500 customers including Adidas, Samsung, and Havas. Prior to Funnel, Alex worked agency-side at Brainlabs building cross-channel digital growth strategies for brands such as Digicel & MARS. Questions and topics covered: The story on how he became a Growth Marketer. Why did he join Funnel.io? What are some of the weekly and monthly challenges Funnel’s marketing team faces? What is his approach for testing several different marketing channels? What are some go-to mental frameworks that he uses to help him develop and refine his marketing strategies? What are some of Alexander’s marketing resources that he can’t live without? Alexander’s list of favorite MarTech tools. Characteristics he likes to see in job candidates. You can connect with Alexander on: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-ross-billington-0a2a1090/ Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVuHcUzOvfuIelublasK1Hw Resources mentioned: “How to Build an A/B testing Framework – Our VICE Framework Revealed” - https://mcgaw.io/blog/how-to-build-an-a-b-testing-framework-our-vice-framework-revealed/ The Knowledge Project hosted by Shane Parrish - https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/ The Digital Marketing Podcast by Target Internet - https://www.targetinternet.com/digital-marketing-podcasts/

Aazar Ali Shad is a Growth Marketing Lead at Synthesis.is, an online games-based academy started by Elon Musk and Chrisman Frank. He has a podcast called Growth Marketing Stories where he tells unconventional growth stories. He also has more than 10 years of marketing and sales experience. Questions we covered: Why did he make the transition from sales to marketing? What’s been the hardest challenge in regards to growing his personal brand on Twitter? For someone who is interested in starting a podcast but, they need help—what’s the best way to start? What are some things they can do early on to help them succeed? What worries him and excites him about growth marketing in 2022? And more! Here are some amazing Twitter threads that Aazar has written: Aazar’s list of favorite marketing podcasts - https://twitter.com/Aazarshad/status/1476579470404247556 Aazar’s list of favorite marketing professors - https://twitter.com/Aazarshad/status/1483122979496071171

Foti graduated with a degree in finance in 2007 but, quickly pivoted into digital marketing a year later as the first non-engineer hire at the managed hosting provider, EuroVPS. Fast forward a decade and in 2018 he launched his startup called GrowthMentor which helps founders and marketers connect with vetted mentors. Questions we covered include: Why did he create GrowthMentor? How would he describe his job as a founder? What are some of his weekly and monthly challenges? What resources would he recommend to someone who’s new to growth marketing? What new marketing skill is Foti learning right now (PREVIEW: it’s a skill with three letters)? When is the right time for a business to hire a growth marketer and do they need to be a full-time employee? What interview questions should entry-level growth marketers know how to answer? What are his favorite MarTech tools? Why does he think people are too obsessed with personal branding? You can connect with Foti via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fotis-panagio Demand Curve’s slack channel (I’m in here too by the way) - https://www.demandcurve.com/slack Neil Patel’s advice on why you need to STOP studying digital marketing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2BIMXX7lbQ And here’s another great episode about growth marketing that you can check out, the guest is Agata Krzysztofik who recommended me to Foti - https://anchor.fm/kennysoto/episodes/Interview-with-Agata-Krzysztofik---Want-to-Win-as-a-Growth-Marketer--Have-a-Growth-Mindset---Episode-60-e18lvt4

“You want to make sure your survey questions result in stories.” Michele Linn is the founder of Mantis Research where she helps content and community managers conduct surveys so they can learn about their audience and publish compelling, original research findings. Prior to Mantis, Michele was head of editorial at Content Marketing Institute, where she led the company's editorial strategy and helped grow its audience to more than 200,000 subscribers. Questions: What are some of the benefits marketers can get from doing original research? When is the best time to do original research? What’s a simple step-by-step process marketers can use to conduct original research? What are some suggestions for marketers who want to conduct original research projects, but who don’t know how to propose these projects to their managers and business leadership? What are some common misconceptions about original research that annoy her? What are some incentives a marketer can use to get people to respond to surveys? What it is like working for Joe Pulizzi? What skills did she learn from working at the Content Marketing Institute? And more! You can connect with Michele via: Her LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelelinn Her website - https://mantisresearch.com And here’s the article I mentioned regarding community-building as a marketing strategy (definitely something worth reading more than once) - https://review.firstround.com/a-founders-step-by-step-guide-to-getting-your-first-1000-community-members If you’re looking for another wonderful interview with an expert content marketer who also talks about original research, check out the episode I did with Andy Crestodina here (it’s episode #43) - https://anchor.fm/kennysoto/episodes/Interview-with-Andy-Crestodina---Understanding-Digital-Empathy-with-The-MASTER-of-Content-Marketing---Episode-43-e145vsu

“[E-commerce marketing] is so difficult now because anyone can open up a Shopify store, you collaborate with other brands and sell [their products], you can drop-ship, there are just so many stores and everybody is just trying to make it…” Jimmy Zona is the Director of E-Commerce & Digital Marketing for Turbie Twist. At Turbie Twist, he created and scaled the company's digital presence in order to become the market leader in its category. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about all things e-commerce: ads, SEO, cross-channel marketing, email marketing strategies, and more! Questions and topics we covered include: How did Jimmy get into the hair care industry? What lessons did he take from his tv producing experience while transitioning to a full-time marketer? Why is scaling an e-commerce business difficult? Is it difficult? What's the single best way to re-engage users who abandon an app/website? How is Jimmy handling email updates with iOS 15 rolling out? (Hint: he’s focusing on SMS marketing) When is it the right time for an e-commerce business to run ads? What are the best examples of cross-channel marketing? What are the similarities between building an affiliate marketing network and scaling PR hits? How does e-commerce and SEO come together? Do e-commerce businesses need an SEO strategy? What are the main reasons why he doesn’t use influencer marketing? What’s the hardest part about marketing products on Amazon? Should e-commerce marketers focus on DTC-only, Amazon as the main focus, or a mix? You can connect with Jimmy via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zonajimmy/ And for anyone interested in a deep-dive on Amazon PPC tactics and strategies, check out this episode I did with Dr. Travis Zigler - https://anchor.fm/kennysoto/episodes/Interview-with-Dr--Travis-Zigler---The-Basics-of-Amazon-PPC---Episode-25-emd36f

“You should be speaking truth and focusing on honesty in marketing…” Maddy Martin is the VP of Marketing for Smith.ai, which provides 24/7 communication & intake services for businesses, by phone, website chat, text, and Facebook Messenger. She has spent the last decade growing tech startups from New York to California, and has expertise in digital marketing, small business communications, lead conversion, email marketing, SEO & content marketing, social media, co-marketing, and event marketing. Questions I asked her included: Why do email open rates no longer matter (Hint: iOS 15)? What’s the best way to use branding guidelines? Do leads/prospective customers really read e-books? What is the ultimate goal for any B2B company? What is a “leaky” lead funnel? How do you “plug it”? What role do chatbots play in a business’s SEO strategy? Connect with Maddy via: Email - maddy@smith.ai LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/madelainemartin/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/madelainemartin/  And here's a FREE and wonderful eBook from the Smith.ai team, How to Use Virtual Receptionists for Small Business Growth - https://assets-global.website-files.com/5b15d605b7c459fc409872b5/6189368976b9b9c71fb04012_Smith-SMB-white-paper-11052021.pdf

“When you are a business owner—you’re a digital marketer. That’s the bottom-line.” Deirdre is the creator of The Viralocity Formula, author of The Traffic Formula and founder of Growth Boss, a leading mentorship and Virtual CMO program for e-commerce business owners wanting to scale to multiple- 6 and 7 figures using the power of tribe-building, virality and human connection. Questions I asked her included: What is a virtual CMO? What do they do? Why shouldn’t you discount Instagram as an acquisition channel in 2022? What is your definition of a tribe? Why are Facebook Groups still the best option for building a tribe? How should marketers go about lowering Cost of Acquisition? What tips can you provide? What are some proxy metrics that can help improve CAC over time? (She discusses reach/impressions as the key to measuring creative assets and CTR for measuring copy👀) When is it the right time to tap into influencer marketing? When is a business ready for this? How can a business evaluate influencers? You can connect with Deirdre here: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/deirdretshien/ The Remarkable Entrepreneur Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/theremarkableentrepreneur

Kathleen Booth is the VP of Marketing at Clean.io, the market leader in digital engagement security solutions used by businesses looking to optimize their revenue and buyer experience by taking back control over third-party code on their websites. Prior to joining clean.io, she spent 13 years in the digital marketing agency world, first as Owner and CEO of Quintain Marketing and then as VP of Marketing at IMPACT. Kathleen is the host of the long-running Inbound Success Podcast and was named by TopRank as one of the 50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers of 2019. Questions I asked her: Does a marketer need an MBA to succeed? What are the benefits of joining an advisory board? Why is 1st party data important for marketers? What are the differences between 1st-party, 2nd-party, and 3rd-party data? Why is cyber security important to marketers? What are the 3 categories of cyber security vulnerabilities? Your tech stack, your website, and your team… How does cyber security play a role in the world of e-commerce? What are client-side injections and how do they affect consumers and marketers? How do browser extensions (like Honey and Capital One Shopping) interfere with revenue attribution reports for online retailers? Do e-commerce businesses actually benefit from using coupon codes? How do they affect conversion rates? You can say hello to Kathleen via: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleenslatterybooth Twitter - https://twitter.com/workmommywork Resources mentioned: CISA Homeland Security (cyber security education) - https://www.cisa.gov On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King - https://amzn.to/3aHxKgc Check out episode #62 if you want another related episode about MarTech with expert Dan McGaw: https://anchor.fm/kennysoto/episodes/Interview-with-Dan-McGaw---You-Can-Build-The-Ideal-MarTech-Stack----Episode-62-e19n54k/a-a68tnmh

“The adventure starts when things go wrong.” Mary is a designer, brand strategist, and founder of Vitality Creative Studio. She believes in the triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit) and that creativity can be the catalyst for change. From her mobile studio, she collaborates with social and environmental change-makers on projects from sustainable design to digital media and everything in between. Questions we covered: What are the challenges that come from being a digital nomad? What tools are essential to her daily work? How does social impact play a role in her career? What does it mean to have an ethical brand? Why is this important for a Gen Z consumer audience? Why is graphic design “easy”? Why is this an under-appreciated skill? What is one challenge when it comes to owning her own business that she wishes people knew about before starting? Is her career path something that anyone can get into? You can say hi to Mary via: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vitalitycreativestudio LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/margraceand/ And her website - vitalitycreativestudio.com If you enjoyed this episode, check out episode #54 with Maria Bryan (who recommended me to reach out to Mary). We talk about non-profit marketing in that episode and it ties really well with this one! You can find that episode here: https://anchor.fm/kennysoto/episodes/Interview-with-Maria-Bryan---Enter-the-World-of-Nonprofit-Marketing---Episode-54-e16qbvm

“The average company spends 25% of their operating budget on technology, they spend 24% of their budget on advertising.” Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, and the CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy and SaaS platform, UTM.io. In addition, Dan also finds time to be a 500 Startups Mentor, and has previously started the first business accelerator in Orlando, FL. He’s also a thought leader in the MarTech world and a CXL instructor on the topic. Having spoken at leading marketing conferences and online events, his expertise lies in helping businesses extract and interpret the right data to grow their revenue exponentially. Questions and topics we covered: Dan’s story about his first marketing job promoting a band! How does Dan qualify leads for both of his businesses? How does Dan leverage automation to scale his service-based business? Why is building a MarTech stack so difficult? What are some ways that marketers can cut costs when building a MarTech stack? (Hint: don’t use HubSpot) How can a business get a full inventory of the tools in their stack? What are the categories of MarTech tools? What are UTMs and why are they vital to a marketer’s success? Is Google Data Studio a tool that all businesses should add to their stack? If Dan could mold the ideal marketer, what skills would he want them to have? You can say hello to Dan via: Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcgaw/ Resources mentioned Text “Martech” to 415-915-9011 for a free copy of Dan’s book “Build Cool Shit” (this is to help business owners build a great tech stack) “Ego is The Enemy” by Ryan Holiday - https://amzn.to/3nSsvRg “Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Marketers” by Al Ramadan, Christopher Lochhead, Dave Peterson, and Kevin Maney - https://amzn.to/3waVfZb Effin A/B Test Calculator (Chrome Extension) - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/effin-ab-test-calculator/ijndnpondlemhcgdmbdljpgohnlpejhp