Conquer Local Podcast

By creating a culture of always serving the customers, hiring around customer-centric is an easy way to tell if the candidate is the right fit.Wayne Bischoff, CEO of Mediamark, joins us on the Conquer Local Podcast all the way from South Africa. Wayne's sales career started at the age of 7 when he began selling pencils on the playground. He shares how his background in sales prepared him as the CEO to create a customer-centric organization. Hiring amid pandemic has been a significant theme on the podcast. Wayne explains when he is looking to hire new reps, and he focuses on how they are motivated. If a potential employee says they are motivated by money, he doesn't want them to be a part of his organization.Keep the conversation going in the Conquer Local Community, and expand your knowledge in the Conquer Local Academy.Wayne is a dynamic natural leader with nearly three decades of extensive experience in the sales, marketing, and advertising industry, both in South Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, and Europe. This experience covers the full media landscape from Print, TV, Radio, OOH to Digital and gives me a strategic birds-eye view of the fast-evolving disruptive media and advertising space. His senior leadership roles cover MD, Executive, and Directorships, including a board member of the Advertising Media Association of Southern Africa. Wayne's strengths involve creating high-performance sales cultures with a sharp focus on customer-centricity. He is exceptionally well equipped to drive digital transformation within legacy organizations.Mediamark is a leading multimedia sales house that ensures brands derive maximum value from their advertising spend through tailored multichannel solutions. Mediamark is a specialist media solutions company comprising Mediamark Radio, Mediamark Digital, Mediamark Events, and Mediamark TV.

Did you know that Conquer Local has its very own Digital Marketing Academy? It's a game-changer because the SaaS industry changes under our feet.We have Jacqueline Cook (Jackie), Chief Strategy Officer at Vendasta, on the podcast to discuss the strategy behind the Conquer Local Academy. After some research and listening to digital marketing agencies and entrepreneurs from different areas of the world, there was a realization that there was a need in the space for a digital marketing academy. It needed to be all-encompassing of various digital solutions that intertwine frequently. The Academy is built into a culture that embraces a community that agencies and entrepreneurs can grow and learn in. People learn differently; some learn by reading about it, and some want to watch videos at 2 am. The Academy was created to accommodate different learners in the way they want to learn, and on their time.She works with the CEO to shape Vendasta's long term strategy and to align both the culture, organizational design, and company metrics toward those long-term objectives. Jacqueline works across a number of diverse teams to execute cross-functional initiatives, collect and share key customer insights, and test new initiatives to drive Vendasta's growth levers. She is also the General Manager of the of Vendasta's high-growth mid-market customer segment, which currently contributes over half of the company's revenue and includes marketing, sales, success, support, and four product teams. Most recently, Jacqueline played a major role in Vendasta's $40M growth funding round, which marks the single largest technology investment in the prairies since the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association (CVCA) started collecting data in 2013. Jacqueline is an alumnus of The Next 36 Entrepreneurial Institute, Canada's premier entrepreneurial leadership initiative. During the program, she co-founded and was CEO of Triumf Mobile Rewards: a tablet and Smartphone-based platform for small and medium-sized businesses to customize their own loyalty rewards programs. She has been a speaker at events such as Tejo Talks, sponsored by Canada's Embassy to Portugal as part of Web Summit, TEDx UofS and WE DAY, and has represented Canada at the 2010 G8 and G20 Summits, the 2010 APEC Summit in Japan, and at the 2011 G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in France.Jacqueline has been a recipient of CBC Saskatchewan's Future 40 under 40 and a YWCA Women of Distinction Award and serves on the board of Co.Labs, Saskatchewan's first technology incubator. She was recently named as one of Betakit's Canadian women in tech worth watching.Keep the conversations going in the Conquer Local Community.

For marketing agencies and salespeople alike, we must put the local business first. We have to be able to present a buyers journey to a client because whether we try to empower them or not, they are always in charge.We have Jeff Koser, the spirited founder and CEO of Zebrafi, who is at the helm of the podcast this week. Jeff and George dig deep and analyze how the customer journey is shifting into a buyers journey. Jeff is the award-winning co-author of Selling to Zebras - How to Close 90% of the Business You Pursue Faster, More Easily, and More Profitably. Jeff has more than 25 years’ experience in leadership roles in operations, sales, and marketing. In 2010, he was recognized as one of the best sales authors of all time in the book, The Sales Gurus. Zebrafi is the Guided Selling Cloud for the Enterprise, where sellers are guided to great fit prospects, armed with presentations that are automated and collaborative on a live platform that guides both the buyer and the seller, leading to value-based and business-issue focused discussions.Keep the conversation going in the Conquer Local Community, and expand your knowledge and learn for industry experts in the Conquer Local Academy.

If you are ready or not, the pandemic is a Forcing Function for Digital Transformation that local businesses need to adopt.Marty Fisher, President of Sherpa Marketing, is our guest this week; Marty started Sherpa Marketing in 1996. Since the global pandemic hit local businesses hard he started an initiative called Adopt a Business. He has a passion for local businesses, and when he saw the effects the pandemic would on the economy he knew Sherpa Marketing needed to step in. George and Marty discuss how the pandemic has been a forcing function for a digital transformation, they explain that now more than ever the importance of e-commerce on a website and being able to update their online listings in an instant.Owning and managing Sherpa Marketing since 1996, Marty brings “Big Idea” thinking, marketing intelligence, and business acumen to every customer interaction. Providing solutions that deliver value is not an objective that can be met without a strong commitment from the leadership of a company. By encouraging the team to embrace this philosophy he ensures that all customers receive the full benefit of Sherpa’s capabilities. He tries to prove repeatedly that his breadth of knowledge and expertise affect positive outcomes for his clients. His experience with all types of technology allows him to offer the most current solutions to his client’s challenges. His belief in technology “as the great equalizer” means he is hard-wired to always think of ways to integrate marketing tactics. A commitment to uncovering the most effective and measurable communication strategies is one of Marty’s passions. He is not content to “phone it in”, He challenges himself and the Sherpa team to do more and find incremental value. Clients receive the benefit of this drive - successful projects with tangible and measurable results.Keep the conversation going in the Conquer Local Community, and to learn more take a course in the Conquer Local Academy.

What if organizations can emulate intrapreneurship within their walls? What would that mean in terms of growth for the employee and the organization itself?We welcome Dr. Chitra Anand, an advisor to high growth companies, she has recently received her doctorate of business in intrapreneurship. No, that isn't a typo—What is an intrapreneur? An intrapreneur is an entrepreneur within a large, complex organization: a startup within a company. Dr. Anand explains how organizations need to embrace intrapreneurship in employees to stay agile and to promote drive within. This includes risk-taking, running experiments and micro experiments, looking for constant opportunities, and allowing the ability to have the time to try and fail. Dr. Anand is also an author and published her book in 2019, the Green House Approach, which is now a required read for the Forbes School of Business MBA program.Chitra Anand is an award-winning communications & marketing executive. With over 20 years in the technology industry, she has spent time as the head of Communications for Microsoft Canada, Director of Marketing at TELUS Corporation, and Director of Operations at Open Text. Projects she guided at Microsoft and TELUS have been awarded IABC Gold Quill Awards, Canadian Public Relations Society Awards of Excellence, the Corporate IT Hero award by the Information Technology Association of Canada, and the Business for the Arts Awards. Anand is at the forefront of an important new movement in the workplace: intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurs are the people within your organization who possess an entrepreneurial spirit, driving innovation, creative thinking, and new ideas. She is a doctoral researcher, innovation & culture change keynote speaker, professor, author, and advisor to high growth companies.Join the conversation in the Conquer Local Community and keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy. 

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between branded content and native content. Wundervue defines branded content as any sales or marketing initiative that uses content to engage a user, and that is paid for by a client.Jared Merves, Founder of Wundervue, explains how to succeed through storytelling. He believes that branded content is the silver bullet that provides publisher partners a path to revenue and profit growth and the sustainment of quality local journalism. Jared explains how branded content is a full customer journey program that lives in the top-to-middle of the marketing funnel to measure awareness and engagement. A successful branded content initiative is connecting the client to their target audience to demonstrate the value of what they have to offer. Jared Merves is a digital marketer, local advertising expert, and entrepreneur. Jared has more than 13 years of experience driving digital innovation for many of the nation’s largest local media companies. At Wundervue, Jared and his team develop turnkey branded content solutions designed to connect local brands and local audiences. Prior to founding Wundervue, Jared was Chief Digital Officer at Belo+Company, an 80-person digital agency in Dallas, TX. Jared has also held digital leadership roles at The Dallas Morning News, TEGNA and Cars.com. Jared is a featured speaker and panelist on local advertising topics and has served on the Local Media Consortium’s steering committee and Cars.com’s Affiliate Board. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Lisa, and their children, Jack and Birdie - and Crosby, their 135lb Great Pyrenees.Join the Conquer Local Community to take part in the conversation and ask your questions directly to Jared Merves.

Information shared by an expert at Google provides some SMB Best Practices can use when going back to business.Todd Rowe, Global Marketing Director at Google, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast. He uses the information collected from SMBs across the globe to understand the best practices they can take when re-opening after the wave of closures from the COVID-19 pandemic. With his knowledge, organizations will be able to help local businesses get back to business with ease. Todd Rowe has extensive experience in High Tech, in Sales, Marketing, and General Management with full P&L responsibility. Currently lead one of Google's fastest-growing business units. Extensive international experience building businesses in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Board of Director experience at privately held companies and Board of Advisors at Venture Capital firm. Todd specializes in building and running high-growth businesses. Background in Sales, Marketing, Product Management in Cloud, SAAS, and Search Engine Marketing Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.Keep the conversations going in the Conquer Local Community and expand your knowledge in the Conquer Local Academy.

To build a cooperative in retail, it started with only 12 retailers, which quickly grew to 300 in one short year."Ten thousand mistakes can lead to the ten right decisions." Lindsay Gaskins, President, CAA Member and The Bike Cooperative, at CCA Global Members, is our guest this week. Lindsay started a brick-and-mortar business in 2008 during the financial crisis in the United States; in turn, she sold nothing in the first three months. Lindsay explains how she refined her business to have 45 stores open coast to coast. After her refined approach and did market research, they sold more in one day than in her first three months in business. These struggles and success brought Lindsay to help found cooperative in retail, she shares her dos and don'ts, and the advice to retail storefronts to stay healthy.Lindsay is a Senior Executive with deep retail industry expertise stemming from her experiences as a management consultant to top global retailers, as a head buyer for a large national retailer, as Co-Founder and CEO of a multi-channel retailer with 40+ stores nationally, and now as a top leader responsible for driving innovation and growth for one of the largest retail cooperatives in the world. Lindsay is currently leading the development of innovative technology solutions, services, and tools designed to empower and fuel the future success of small businesses. She is a charismatic, purpose-driven leader who possesses an innate curiosity for consumers, passion for team-building, and an unwavering entrepreneurial spirit.Join the conversation in the Conquer Local Community, and take a course in the Conquer Local Academy to keep the learning going.

How to help the SMBs get back to business by being the Trusted Local Expert. What does it look like to reopen and how to communicate it to the SMBs customer base? George Leith is back to bring you another edition of the Master Sales Training Series. We discuss two things, first, being the trusted local expert; that's you. Reviewing how you operate as an organization, is it making your appointments remotely? Is it reallocating your budget? How are you delivering value to your client? George explores what you should be talking to your customer base about, what really matters to them, and how can we - the trusted local experts - be there to help them succeed.The second, are you open? Ensuring that once the SMB is open for business, they are able to communicate it to their clientele. The flip side to that, how are they communicating what they needed to scale back and possibly close their doors once again. How can we, as the trusted local expert's aid in the communicate it in these unprecedented times?Join the conversation in the Conquer Local Community, as well as keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy. 

Consumers want to support their favorite local businesses. For this to happen, local businesses need to embrace e-commerce and go online.Greg Sterling, VP of Market Insights at Uberall, joins the conversation to give us the data on local business pivoting to e-commerce. Many local businesses have been able to embrace the digital shift, most fall into three groups: Successful in shifting to online, meeting expectations to stay open, and those who are struggling and may disappear. The successful cohort are businesses who have diversification online, a robust online component, and tighter integration between online and offline. To all the agencies and salespeople, now more than ever need to be the trusted local expert, and help the local business go through a digital transformation. There is an importance of communicating with customers, and strengthen relationships. Steers away from the sales pitch, and focus on doing right by them.Greg Sterling is a recognized expert on a range of digital marketing topics and a contributing editor for Search Engine Land. Previously, Sterling was VP of Strategy for LSA (now Localogy). Before that, he had various analyst and executive positions at Opus Research, The Kelsey Group, Allbusiness.com, and TechTV. Sterling is also a former attorney.Join the conversation335: E-commerce, Now or Never, with Greg Sterling in the Conquer Local Community.