“Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, for they can become your blessings.”   Listen & Learn: Be grateful, even for life’s hard lessons. Take a moment to be grateful. Find joy in the opportunities you have been presented. Reflecting on gratitude and thankfulness   Find out more about Avocet Communications’ […]

    “We need to start thinking about content as information, not the final product.”   Listen & Learn: The most important content trends impacting marketers in 2023. How marketers need to rethink content and how they approach content strategies. Rethinking how we deliver dynamic content. Are you measuring success by numbers or by whether […]

  “The job now is for marketers to identify the ideal prospects, to align around them with the sales team, to find them, to engage with them, to learn from them.”   Listen & Learn: The new world of sales marketing rewards authenticity and honesty over “blindly spouting your positives.” Why Account Based Marketing is […]

    “To succeed and ultimately lead in your industry, it’s not about your product or service being better, it’s about being different.”   Listen & Learn: Why the goal of every brand positioning and messaging should be to emotionally connect with the customers. Defining magnetic messaging. Developing magnetic messaging that creates faster growth and […]

  “To succeed and ultimately lead in your industry, it’s not about your product or service being better, it’s about being different.”   Listen & Learn: Why most positioning fails. The goal of every brand should be to create an emotional connection with the customer. Combining category creation with a strong point of view with […]

  “Our vision as an organization is collective.”   Listen & Learn: Why the customer experience begins not at the check-out but with internal communications. Why your most unhappy employee is the one that could define your brand. Onboarding, expectations, and accountability are the three most important parts of internal communications. Translating “WOW!” moments with […]

“Our vision as an organization is collective.”   Listen & Learn: Challenging the status quo. Redefining economic development. How she worked with local decision-makers as she ushered in a new approach to marketing economic development. Creating an environment that inspires a higher level of collaboration. Creating a collective vision and an economy that works for […]

  “Technology has become an expectation with in-person events.”   Listen & Learn: Why events need to be more than just a “point-in-time experience.” How technology enhances in-person events. How lead capture technology is advancing. Why events need to be a fully integrated component of all marketing strategies. Where do most brands fail in their […]

“What are you doing that is making your audience the hero of your solution?”   Listen & Learn: Does your brand’s voice have longevity? The qualities that make a good podcast host. Insights into incorporating podcasting as part of your ABM strategy. Tapping into an already existing network of followers as a potential audience and […]

  “The biggest wins happen just by making your business repeatable and repeating what’s already working.”   Listen & Learn: How different generations approach and adapt to systems in an agency environment. Treating your systems as a teaching tool for new employees. Defining what a system is. Outlines his seven-step approach to systemizing your agency. […]

  “It’s all about providing an experience for not only your customers, but your teammates as well. It’s about keeping open lines of communication, telling a story, and allowing everyone to be a part of the story.”   Listen & Learn: The importance of aligning the product, sales, and marketing teams to ensure a success […]

“None of it matters unless somebody reads it, enjoys it, and understands the value of what you were saying, and also understands how your business is connected to what you’re talking about.”   Listen & Learn: The why and the how to approach content strategies for your brand. What makes a good content strategy. Creating […]

  “Sometimes daydreaming, looking off into the distance, is the best thing you can do.” Listen & Learn: Her five-step framework from her book Re:Think Innovation. The inspiration behind creativity. Creative brainstorming. The value of bringing in different perspectives to creative sessions. Freeing up your sense of observation. The difference between convergent and divergent thinking […]

“We need more channels, outside of Facebook and Google.” Listen & Learn: How direct mail has changed over the years. How marketers can update their direct mail strategies. Exploring other channels, beyond Facebook and Google. How the direct mail channel is growing. You can download his eBook, 7 Direct Mail Campaigns Every Digital Marketer Must […]

    “The change to Google Analytics 4 is not an optional upgrade.” Listen & Learn: The deprecation of cookies. The impact of Google Universal becoming Google Analytics 4. The changes marketers can expect to see due to the introduction of Google Analytics 4 and the impact of iOS. Capturing and reviewing first-party data. Why […]

  “Do what you want to be great at.” Listen & Learn: Value-based marketing strategies. The importance of transparency to inspire innovation and growth. The danger of “putting too little jam on too much bread” when it comes to marketing strategies. It’s all about customer satisfaction. Inspiring and empowering your customers. Why education is the […]

“How do we become creative geniuses and stand out from our competition with sheer wit and humor?” Listen & Learn: Embracing a mindset that welcomes taking “baby steps.” Creating new relationships with campaigns. His process for deploying high-conversion marketing campaigns. Creating personas. The language building blocks to create audience segmentation. Tips for connecting the sales-driven […]

  “Leadership is not a linear journey.” Listen & Learn: Elements of empowered and effective leadership. Creating cohesion and a unified culture with remove and virtual teams. Defining “cultural attunement.” Tools to foster impactful leadership. Having hard conversations about what’s working and what’s not. Determining the best startup environment and culture that’s best for you […]

  “People build trust, technology does not.” Listen & Learn: Defining the status quo. Building trust is about people, not technology. How to build trust. The importance of being brave so that you can stand out in the sea of sameness. Getting to the core of what makes your brand unique so you can tell […]

  “There’s always a risk in marketing; that’s why you need to know your customer.” Listen & Learn: The company’s North Star is to create meaningful impact and to make work matter. Why it’s so important to know your audience in order to create relevancy. Creating synergy between your brand and your customer. The company’s […]

  “For our positioning, I love the word ‘rooted’ because it’s literally where we grow out of and what holds us together.” Listen & Learn: The difference between a House of Brands vs. a Branded House strategy. Why Yoder ultimately choose to take a House of Brands approach. Taking an integrated branding approach. The importance […]

“You are exactly the person I thought you would be. That’s the magic.” Listen & Learn: The three essentials to building brand authority. Why it’s so important to find your niche. The importance of creating cornerstone content that can be sliced and diced to amplify your authority. The methodology to segment and move people through […]

  “The more that you can surround and reach (your targets) through omnichannel marketing, the more successful you are going to be in converting them.” Listen & Learn: Defining an ABM-centric approach vs. a more traditional strategy. Getting teams to embrace an ABM-centric demand generation model. Getting started with an ABM-centric model. Defining your Target […]

  Listen & Learn: Understanding your customer better. Defining the needs states of your audience. Taking an outside-in perspective on your product. Why some marketing strategies don’t work. Spreading the word through marketing vs the quality of product you are selling     Ian Truscott brings a broad perspective from a diverse career that has […]

Listen & Learn: How to define brand. What does brand mean in 2022? Why it’s important to do a brand audit. Taking a brand beyond a logo. Find out if your brand has a gap. Finding your brand’s relevance as it evolves     For over 20 years, Karley Cunningham, creative strategist and growth accelerator […]

  “Trying to come up with a single channel to communicate with everyone simply doesn’t work.”   Listen & Learn: Why it’s important to acknowledge different generations’ points of view. Understanding your audiences’ needs states. How our environment and how we grow up impact us through our entire lives…and our buying behaviors. Defining the difference […]

 “Don’t get stuck in operations and out of the C-suite.”   Listen & Learn: Developing a curious and learning-focused mindset. Are you marketing your own marketing? Focusing on external and internal audiences. How to get your internal audiences to say, “Wow! I didn’t know marketing could do that!” Fighting the perception that marketing is […]

    “You have to hang your messages from a common framework.”   Listen & Learn: The Great Resignation. How to equip leaders with what they need to lead. The responsibilities of an internal communicator. Why leaders need to take “warehouse walks” to create alliances and alignment. Creating messaging around a common framework. Creating Vivid […]

    “When it comes to marketing to people and helping educate them, it’s (about communicating) what can this (technology) do that we can’t do now, what is this going to enable us to do, how is it going to make a consumer’s life better.”   Listen & Learn: Defining newsworthiness. Getting to the why […]

  “Walk alongside (your team) and build (the vision) together until they can see themselves in the vision”   Listen & Learn: The three core tenets to creating a powerful brand strategy. The difference between a house of brand vs. a branded house. Recommendations for getting everyone across an organization on the same page. Building […]

“Not everything warrants an article in the Wall Street Journal.”   Listen & Learn: The declining trust in the media and its impact on PR. The power of earned media. Integrating your earned media strategies with owned, shared, and paid. Why storytelling still matters. Why a news release is simply a statement of record. Why […]

    “There are no inadequate budgets, there are just mismatches between resources and expectations.” Listen & Learn: The most important question marketing leaders need to ask. Setting budgetary expectations. The value of research and data. Listening to internal stakeholders. Helping your organization carry your message forward. Don’t be afraid to be aspirational   Rachel […]

“There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars being wasted every day by marketing organizations because they aren’t able to effectively think about what they’re doing, capture those insights, and apply it to next time.” Listen & Learn: The two biggest challenges marketers face. How to build your own Book of Knowledge. The […]

“Marketing is all about people.” Listen & Learn: Experimentation, best practices, and how we need to rethink how we approach marketing. Using the “swap test” to illustrate a buyer’s affinity for a brand. The lack of best practices in marketing. ABE’s Law: Always Be Experimenting. Why it’s important to push customers a bit to see […]

    “Every company is going to get breached. Cyber security is a must.” Listen & Learn: Why cyber security protections are a must. Why storytelling from the customer’s perspective is so important. How to successfully partner with a celebrity spokesperson. Customer-first PR. How PR impacts acquisition and full-funnel marketing strategies. Measuring quality and quantity […]

  “As much as we talk about communication, so many companies across the globe continue to struggle with it.” Listen & Learn: Establishing marketing budgets that address both short- and long-term goals. Defining hyper-growth. Avoiding data paralysis. Breaking down barriers between executive leadership and the marketing team. Why vulnerability is such an important quality of […]

“People need to understand in three seconds what you are talking about and why they should care.” Listen & Learn: How integrating earned, owned, paid, and shared marketing strategies set brands up for success. Quantifying and measuring experiential marketing. The importance of focusing on the WHY. The difference between truly getting to know a prospect […]

“Stop blaming the leads.” Listen & Learn: If you think you are solving a problem for your customers, why aren’t they buying from you? The questions to ask that help customers understand the issues they are facing. The importance of practicing “skilled empathy.” When customers emotionally shut down. Why sales shouldn’t be about pushing products. […]

“Research eliminates rot and puts you on a firmer foundation.” Listen & Learn: The perils of institutional drift. How research can eliminate rot. The dangers of research paralysis. The importance of acting on your research findings instead of going out and doing more research. How marketers can position research as a valuable commodity. The best […]

“We forget that what made an ad great was not that it was cheap, it was that it was interactive.” Listen & Learn: Why interactive content is more important than ever. How interactive content helps brands cut through the overwhelming amount of information available in the marketplace. How just about anything on your website can […]

“TikTok is making marketers into performing artists.” Listen & Learn: How TikTok changed — and gained popularity — during the pandemic. Why TikTok is an entertainment platform rather than a social platform. The platform’s product roadmap aimed at highly creative and engaged creators. How brands can find their authentic voice. How TikTok is a multi-sensory […]