Making big marketing investments is a huge deal. But lucky for you, we’re here to help.We’re bringing you five keys to deliver on a big investment.And we’re taking those lessons from the Olympics with the help of our special guest, VP of Marketing at AppsFlyer, Carolyn Bao.Together, we’re talking about capitalizing on a cultural moment, committing to the long haul, ensuring activation is fully prepared, and so much more.About our guest, Carolyn BaoCarolyn Bao serves as the Vice President of Marketing for AppsFlyer, for the North America region, driving multi-channel efforts for the AppsFlyer mobile attribution and marketing analytics platform. She is an accomplished marketing executive with over 20 years of leadership experience at technology companies, specializing in software and SaaS marketing go-to-market strategy, data-driven business innovation and building high-performing marketing teams. She has deep domain knowledge of marketing tech stack and advertising technologies. Beyond her commercial role, she nurtures the entrepreneurial spirit as an MBA@Rice faculty member and a founding board member of Silicon Valley Leadership Community.Recognized with accolades such as LinkedIn’s “Top Voices” and Product Marketing Alliance’s “Top 100 PMMs,” Carolyn is celebrated for bringing products like Facebook Attribution to global markets, building high-performing marketing teams, and thought leadership in ‘women in leadership,’ ‘marketing management’ and ‘mobile growth strategies’ through key speaking engagements for educational and professional events. Carolyn built her career portfolio through leadership roles at technology powerhouses including Moomoo, Facebook, Visa, and Yahoo.What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Olympics:Capitalize on a cultural moment. Pick something in the cultural zeitgeist to inspire your content. If it’s already resonating and getting talked about, your content will too. Carolyn says, “I think leveraging critical cultural moments is one of the key growth drivers for any marketing department.” And she adds, “Really think through for your category, what is that cultural moment that we really want to capitalize on? In B2B marketing, not everybody competes in the Olympics. But we do compete in terms of how many in-person interactions we have with other practitioners. And that's where these in-person conferences immediately became popular again after we came out of COVID. So I think that's maybe something to really think about, is what is your Olympics equivalent.”Commit to the long haul. Big investments in content mean lots of planning for the pre-, during and post periods. How can you maximize the campaign and make the most of the big investment? Carolyn says, “Not a lot of companies have the ability to plan in massive time horizons, like every four years. A lot of marketing teams are probably working one to three quarters out for most of it. But I do think it's interesting to think of like, what are the big, massive bets that you can make that you might not be able to make every year that can show who you are as a brand.”Ensure activation is fully prepared. Don’t sell yourself short by creating content without planning through distribution and activation. Make sure it’s fully considered and you’re making the most of that investment. Carolyn says, “To activate marketing around the Olympics at this scale is massive. This is sort of our Coachella for marketers, because we don't get to have this many dollars to spend for the majority of us. And meanwhile, even if we are with a huge brand, it is not often that we have this kind of massive celebration. So the scale is super important. The second piece that's very interesting is in terms of how to ensure marketing is done right. There is a great deal of discipline in running a smooth marketing operation, which I think everyone can still also relate to because no matter big or small, for our marketing campaigns to be successful, we have to also wear that operational hat. And I think there's a lot to be unpacked from studying how the Olympics have been done.”Commit to the production cost. Big ideas come with a cost. Follow through with the full potential of the project, including the price of it. But the good news is that marketers have become a lot more efficient. Carolyn says, “Savvy marketers are not doing marketing content production the same way as old time marketers. Because they create these stories, they run it on mobile marketing channels, they run with a very small dollar amount, and they already got data to tell them what stories resonate with who. It pulls their feedback loop a lot shorter.”Know your ICP. Ensure your content will land with its intended audience by truly knowing your ICP. This means understanding their values, what motivates them, and the value you can offer them. Carolyn says, “Deeply understand whom it is you're really trying to influence. Knowing your ICP and knowing what you want your ICP to think or do differently from your storytelling is critical.”Quotes*”With constraints, creativity really differentiates a good storyteller from a mid storyteller, leveraging the Gen Alpha language. The more you understand the limitations, the better it is you stay focused and think about within all of these constraints, what else could we do?”*“If you are building a B2B brand, really make sure that there is a founder side of the humanized story. So that it's not just this brand, but it's actually the why the company was founded and how the founders have built the company.”*” Let's ground our work back to marketing fundamentals. Our marketing fundamentals is storytelling and we really need to understand whom we're talking the story to, what we want them to think or do differently. This is the first. The second piece is, please do not be afraid of developing that left brain as a marketer because the tools to help us measure our work and tell us the feedback of how well our storytelling did are becoming a lot more available. If you don't know, search it up, use chat GPT, but really, really deeply understand marketing measurement and the data that is at your disposal to make you a better marketer. The third piece that's super critical is do not forget stakeholder management because with the village that supports us is what we can work on our day to day, the blocking and tackling, but also when the time is right, advocate for big activation like the Olympics and really make history. Have fun with it.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Carolyn Bao, VP of Marketing at AppsFlyer[2:54] B2B Marketing Lessons from the Olympics and AppsFlyer[4:14] Olympic Marketing Campaigns and Sponsorships[36:09] Human-Centric Storytelling in Marketing[42:28] Key TakeawaysLinksConnect with Carolyn on LinkedInLearn more about AppsFlyerAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

“A rare thing.” That’s what co-creator Steve Levitan called “the incredible alchemy of elements coming together” that was Modern Family.He and Christopher Lloyd, who he’d worked with on Frasier, wanted to create a show that felt real. A show with heart. And it took the right writers, characters, and actors to play them to make it happen. And it happened for 11 years, winning 22 Emmys.And in this episode, we’re taking B2B marketing lessons from it with the help of our special guest, CMO at Altimetrik, Jeff Fleischman.Together, we talk about being passionate about your brand, showing persistence and grit, and the art of making “a rare thing.” About our guest, Jeff FleischmanJeffrey Fleischman is a seasoned senior executive with over 35 years of experience spanning the financial services, banking, insurance, and technology. As CMO of Altimetrik he manages the company’s brand, marketing, lead generation, public relations, and communications functions. Jeff brings a wealth of expertise to the role. Previously, he served as Chief Marketing & Digital Officer at Penn Mutual, driving omni-channel campaigns and advancing digital initiatives. His leadership journey includes key roles at renowned companies such as Citi, American Express, TIAA-CREF, and Chase.Jeff’s passion lies in creating innovative, customer-focused strategies and experiences that integrate data, technology, and design. His extensive expertise covers areas like omni-channel marketing, data analytics, product management, and business transformation. He holds a B.S. in finance from Syracuse University and an MBA in finance, investments, and banking from Hofstra University. He has or held board positions with Artemis, Zenmonics Inc., Hornor, Townsend & Kent, Telera, and IEP Youth Services.Jeff is an author, advisor, investor, and speaker. His book, "Advice To My Younger Self," reflects his commitment to empowering others to achieve their aspirations.Beyond his professional achievements, he expresses creativity through painting and crafting unique art pieces, breathing new life into old furniture, and has a passion for music.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Modern Family:Be passionate about your brand. Jeff says, “On the passionate and competitive side, Jay Pritchett’s archenemy was Earl, his former partner of Closets, Closet, Closets. And they were at odds with each other, trying to outdo each other, trying to out-innovate each other. It’s that competitiveness and that passion that you need as a marketer. That passion really does have to come through.”Show persistence and grit. A lot of marketing is about trial and error. You find out what works with your audience by keeping things fresh and building your momentum. So don’t let the things that don’t work slow you down; just keep going. Jeff says, “Both Jay and Phil shared that kind of grit to be the best of what they can be, to beat everyone else out, whether it be another realtor, whether it be Earl from Closets, Closets, Closets. And as marketers, it's a very noisy world out there. Everyone's pushing content out. Everyone's trying to be everything to all customers. So how do you stand out? Not everything's going to be a home run. Not every piece of content, every blog, every white paper is going to resonate. But you need to just stick to your focus on how you take your brand and elevate it. And you don't stop trying. And if it works, great. If not, move on to the next one.”Focus on the heart of your content. Work on the emotion you want your audience to feel when they experience your content. That’s how you know your message will hit home and stick. And then you can start to chop it up for use across channels. Ian says, “So often in B2B marketing, we get so caught up in trying to create the asset and then chop it up and do all these things that you’re trying to do all the motions of the thing rather than the actual sentiment that is in the clip.”Quotes*”You need to create opportunities for your community and your audience to talk about you to other people. They're not just sitting around all day thinking of your software. The number of people who are just thrilled with [your product] are not just going to sing it from the rooftops every second of every day. You need to cultivate those things and allow them to share it as much as you can.”*”For marketers, tie what you're doing back to the company strategy. And if you do that, you don't have to push people. They're going to be pushing you to do more, and want more from you. If you don't know numbers, you don't know how to measure, you don't know ROI, it's a serious blind spot. Bring back what you're doing to numbers, bring back to ROI, talk like a CFO.”*”Take a bite-sized approach. We never start off with a big bang. Our approach is tiny. Let's do a proof of concept. Let's get a quick win. We won't disrupt your customers. We won't disrupt your business. It's within your environment. And I can tell you, 99 percent of everything we started out with was a small project. And now we have extremely large engagements. They trust us, they know us, and those relationships grew over time.”*”You're basically in a newspaper business. You have to invest in content, it's 24/7, it never ends. If you think putting a PDF up on a website or, you know, putting new colors onto your website is the idea of content, you know, it's a big miss. So, content is an investment, it's an asset, and it's very dynamic. You have to put the right content at the right place at the right time on the right, you know, device or environment. And it just never stops. Technology's gotten better, data's gotten better, AI is now in the mix. So as you think about B2B marketing and where you really can make a difference, it's taking content that gets noticed. And, you know, the more you do that, the more you'll get noticed.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Jeff Fleischman, CMO of Altimetrik[5:41] Learn about Jeff's Role at Altimetrik[7:43] About the Creation and Success of Modern Family[10:59] Casting Challenges and Character Development[15:17] Marketing Takeaways from Modern Family[27:48] What Marketers Can Learn from Jay Pritchett's Competitive Spirit[29:12] Grit and Persistence in Marketing[33:48] How to Build a Strong Social Media Presence[34:49] The Role of Earned Media[46:14] AI in Marketing: A Game Changer[52:02] Jeff’s Advice for First-Time CMOsLinksConnect with Jeff on LinkedInLearn more about AltimetrikAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

What do a marketer and a racecar driver have in common? You’re about to find out. One thing we can say is that going as fast as you can leads to burnout. That’s one of the things we’re talking about in this episode.We’re taking marketing lessons from the 1990 Tom Cruise flick Days of Thunder with the help of our special guest, Director of Content Marketing at Fictiv, Ricky Frohnerath.Together, we talk about being strategic instead of fast, speaking the same language as your team, and building contingency plans in case your campaigns don’t go as expected.About our guest, Ricky FrohnerathRicky Frohnerath is Director of Content Marketing for San Francisco-based Fictiv, leading comprehensive content strategy and execution for all marketing campaigns, across all funnel stages and audiences. He specializes in building and managing cross-functional marketing teams for manufacturing and technology organizations. He's the A proponent of agile marketing methodology, servant leadership, self-management principles, and empowerment, his focus is on people first, then process, and then technology. A longtime resident of the Tampa Bay area, his education includes the Pinellas County Center for the Arts, St. Petersburg College, and the University of South Florida. Ricky is an amateur racing driver and avid enthusiast of electric vehicles, who believes in the power of uniting personal and professional values to drive positive change. Thus, he's passionate about accelerating sustainability by sparking and sharing conversations with leaders in electrification, motorsport, and industry.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Days of Thunder:Be strategic, not fast. If you try to go as fast as you can, you burn out or make mistakes. Slowing down just a bit to make sure your work is high quality and highly effective actually means you’ll work faster in the end. In Days of Thunder, Ricky says that Cole Trickle’s “quest is to find ultimate speed. He's actually over driving the tires and he's driving faster than [his competitors] can. And what happens when you're over driving the tires is that they get greasy and they start to degrade faster. So this is a problem because if you destroy your tires, then you have to come into the pits and that takes time.” So instead Cole learns to drive more efficiently by speeding up or slowing down strategically based on his coach’s advice. So slow down to work more efficiently and effectively.Speak the same language as your team. Communication becomes so much more efficient and effective when you share shorthand and jargon. Ricky says, “When you're on a team, you need to be speaking the same language. You need to have a shared lexicon so that there is this transmission of understanding. You need to know what's working, you need to know what's not working, and you need to know what you're talking about.”Build in wiggle room in case things don’t go right. If you hit a bump in the road, giving yourself a little extra time in the planning process for your campaign takes the pressure off. Ricky says, “Things are not going to go according to plan. You need to build in some agility and the ability to kind of compensate when it comes time to actually execute.” So give yourself room to breathe with your next campaign timeline. That way, you can correct any issues without stressing over deadlines. In Days of Thunder, it’s like when they plan, design and build Cole Trickle’s car and then it gets destroyed in an early race and they have to figure out how to pivot.Quotes*”I think it's fairly common for there to be conflict, especially between marketing and sales. One of the ways that you can overcome this is by having a shared language. Understand and adopt the KPIs that the sales team are going after. So, for example, one area where marketing and sales become misaligned is marketing likes to talk about big metrics, like impressions, eyeballs, even things like conversions. But these are KPIs that really don't translate well into the sales world. Like they are interested in leads and they're keeping an eye on sales and revenue and things like that. So make those metrics, your metrics and understand how the marketing activities roll into those KPIs. It's not to say that you don't keep track of impressions and a lot of other things that kind of get labeled as vanity metrics, but understand how you go from an impression down into revenue.”*”If you're overdriving the tires, you're effectively leading to burnout. I think the same is true when we think about high performance teams. The best that somebody can perform is at the limit of their abilities. There is no 110%. You can only do the best that you can at the peak of your ability. You can't give that extra 10%. So forcing you to do that is actually going to have a detrimental effect. So I think that's super important to keep in mind for marketing teams.”*”Marketers in general just need to have a very good understanding of who you're connecting with, who you're marketing to.  And I think in general we do a pretty good job of that. I think that authenticity is so important for a very targeted audience and especially one that is  extremely cognizant of inauthenticity.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Ricky Frohnerath, Director of Content Marketing at Fictiv[7:05] Behind the Scenes of Days of Thunder[12:32] Passion Projects and Marketing Lessons[21:35] The Story of Days of Thunder[23:44] Marketing Lessons from Days of Thunder[25:33] Planning and Agility in Marketing[28:40] Communication and Trust in Teams[32:54] Burnout and High PerformanceLinksConnect with Ricky on LinkedInLearn more about FictivAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

There’s an athlete right now that uses, knows and loves your product. So why aren’t you partnering with them to promote your brand? The global sports sponsorship market is expected to grow to almost $108 billion by 2030.And there’s around $1.3B in projected revenue this year from pro women athlete sponsorships. Feel like you’re missing out yet? The message is clear: sponsor a pro woman athlete (or two). In this episode, we’re talking about B2B marketing lessons from professional women athlete sponsorships with the help of our special guest, PARITY CEO Leela Srinivasan.Together, we talk about experimenting with new channels, finding your match, and much more.About our guest, Leela SrinivasanLeela Srinivasan took the reins as CEO in May 2023, when Parity had amassed a network of over 800 women athletes and paid out over $2 million in sponsorships. Under her leadership, the company is poised to increase both numbers exponentially – and become a household name – as it enters its next phase in the fight against gender pay disparity in sports.Prior to joining Parity, Leela served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for three-high-growth companies: digital payments provider Checkout.com; Momentive, the maker of SurveyMonkey; and recruiting software company Lever. She developed her initial passion for community, customer centricity and data-driven marketing earlier in her marketing career at LinkedIn and OpenTable. She serves on the board of Upwork and on the board of advisors for the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where she earned her MBA.Leela lives in North Carolina with her husband Joel and three middle-school girls. There are no dull moments.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Pro Women Athlete Sponsorships:Experiment with new channels. Keep a budget to try new things. Whether it’s simply posting to a different social channel or sponsoring a pro athlete, the Leela says, ”As a marketer, your livelihood depends on being able to find new channels to replace channels that were once working really well that suddenly stopped working, to find ways to stand out from your competitors. Because what happens is if you're doing one thing, then six months later, everyone else is probably trying to do it too. So you have to keep things fresh. It doesn't mean you have to devote your entire budget to experimentation, of course. You need to certainly put money where you know things are working, but over time that mix is going to change as a marketer. And so I think it's smart. It's actually self preservation in some ways, to keep trying to just find ways to experiment on the edges and tap into something that can really give you a fresh perspective in the market.”Find your match. There’s an athlete out there right now who would align strongly with your brand values. Use them as the face of your brand to humanize the name. Leela says, “Find something that really feels right for the brand and allows them to kind of carve out their own space. There are so many directions that you can now run in; New leagues springing up, new sports coming to the fore, new athletes with incredibly interesting stories.Quotes*”When you get those people, those athletes, those influencers talking very naturally about something that they find joy in or that they believe in, it's just another level of awesomeness when it comes to ambassadorship or testimonial.”*”There are so many stories waiting to be told. If you're willing to be creative about the types of athlete that you work with, there are always athletes that can be within budget that can do some incredible storytelling for you.”*”I always had some money in what I called my rainy day fund or my slush fund. That budget was mine to make discretionary investments where I wanted to try things, where maybe the ROI was less proven or the path was a little less trodden but it was worth the opportunity, worth that risk to try something different because, God forbid you just become this terrible vanilla marketer that is doing the same as everybody else. You have to find ways to break through. I mean, that's the fun part of marketing. Why wouldn't you? So I always had some experimentation budget just tucked away for when these types of opportunities came up.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Leela Srinivasan, CEO at PARITY[2:03] Leela's Journey to PARITY[5:17] Understanding Pro Women Athlete Sponsorships[9:55] History of Pro Women Athlete Sponsorships[14:27] Current Landscape and Opportunities[24:07] The Gender Disparity in Sports[24:51] The Influence of Women Athletes on Marketing[27:00] Creative Campaigns and Athlete Partnerships[28:16] The Importance of Originality in Marketing[29:56] Investing in Women's Sports[32:38] Engaging with Brands and Athletes[35:37] The Power of Authentic Athlete EndorsementsLinksConnect with Leela on LinkedInLearn more about PARITYAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Morrissey, Taking Back Sunday, Alkaline Trio, Streetlight Manifesto…For dedicated fans, these are bands that bring back memories of checkered Vans shoes, studded belts, and paper wrist bands from each show.But some of them haven’t toured in years.So to see them all on one festival poster 20 years after their heyday made fans think it was too good to be true. It wasn’t, and it lived up to the hype.So in this episode, we’re talking about all the good - and questionable - marketing that went into the When We Were Young Festival.With the help of our special guest, Head of Content Marketing at CoreWeave, Brooke Gocklin, we’re talking about painting the picture, building a community of advocates, and delivering on the hype.About our guest, Brooke GocklinBrooke Gocklin is the Head of Content Marketing at CoreWeave. Prior to joining the company in July 2024, she was the Editor-in-Chief at Contently, where she led content strategy and editorial direction for The Content Strategist and The Freelance Creative. Brooke is a recognized expert in content marketing, with a particular focus on the evolving role of AI in business. At Persado, an AI-language generation company, Brooke honed her skills in content creation for AI-driven solutions. Her deep understanding of technical products positioned her as a subject matter expert in the evolving AI space. Her work, featured in Adweek and Content Marketing Institute, reflects her deep understanding of how to craft impactful content strategies and engaging narratives that resonate with target audiences.What B2B Companies Can Learn From the When We Were Young Festival:Paint the picture. Show your audience what doing business with you would look like. When they’re able to visualize the tangible benefits of becoming a customer, it makes it that much easier for them to sign on the dotted line. For the When We Were Young Festival, the organizers made a poster with album covers of all of the bands who would be performing. Ian says, “[It’s] brilliant, right? You have to show people what it would look like. I have found over the years that if you can mock something up, it’s so much easier, right? It's much harder to get an idea of something in a Google doc.” So paint the picture. Mock up an idea of what your product looks like for your audience.Build a community of advocates. Bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday have created communities of fiercely loyal fans. Brooke says, “And so that means that when you see all of these bands coming together, the reaction is, is this even real? But two, it gives you a sense of like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to be there. And I have to tell my friends about this.’ And so I think that for B2B marketers, you know, really leveraging customer advocates or people who are just really excited about your product or service to amplify your message builds trust in a wider audience. So choose customers who love you, who love your product, who love your service and leverage them to tell others about you.”Deliver on the hype. You can tease about a product or service as much as you want, as long as it delivers what it promises. Brooke says, “When We Were Young created a massive buzz with a huge lineup. They also did a lot of teasers, but most importantly, they really backed it up with a well organized incredible event. Credibility is so important. So you can't just hype something up whether that's your product or service. And not have it live up to expectations. So as marketers, I think it's really crucial when you're thinking about B2B, to build trust and credibility from the get go. So whether that means that you're creating content that is factually accurate and all of the products and features, functionalities live up to what you're selling them as. That is important, right? So you need to establish your brand as a go-to resource, but you do that by being credible.”Quotes*”As far as how I think about content, it's really like connective tissue. I think it's at the core and at the center of a brand story. So, you need content to be able to bring people into the funnel. You need content as they're exploring, getting to know you. You need content when they're at that purchasing stage, or even after they become a customer, you still need them to engage with you. And you need to be putting out ideas that provoke some sort of thought and that's valuable to them.”*”Really good content marketing is about creating value for your audience and really helping them solve their problems. So my approach has always been: start with the audience. What do they care about? What are their challenges? And then craft content that speaks directly to those needs. I think that that is a key differentiator when it comes to content strategy.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Brooke Gocklin, Head of Content Marketing at CoreWeave[3:10] When We Were Young Festival's Unique Marketing Tactics[8:11] Nostalgia and Community Building[19:39] Marketing Lessons for B2B[22:31] The Power of Loyal Fan Bases[23:14] Leveraging Customer Advocates in B2B Marketing[24:09] Building Online Communities[26:54] Activating a Community[29:43] Delivering on the Hype[31:40] Content Strategy and Its Importance[34:11] Successful Content Campaigns[37:16] Measuring Content ROI[39:38] Exciting New Projects at CoreWeave[41:06] Advice for New Heads of ContentLinksConnect with Brooke on LinkedInLearn more about CoreWeaveAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hooking your audience is one thing, but keeping them emotionally invested in your content is another. So for this episode of Remarkable, we’re taking marketing lessons on doing just that from the Irish dark comedy, Bad Sisters.It’s a show about four sisters who plot to kill their diabolical brother-in-law, and the season starts with his funeral.Series creator, Sharon Horgan, says, “We had to keep an audience with us for 10 episodes and keep them wanting the same outcome." That is, the death of their brother-in-law, John Paul. So with the help of our special guest, D2L CMO Brian Finnerty, we’re talking about hooking your audience, knowing your target, and doing trial and error. About our guest, Brian FinnertyBrian Finnerty is a B2B marketing specialist with over 25 years experience leading enterprise marketing teams. He currently serves as CMO at D2L. His expertise includes brand strategy, B2B demand generation, and global customer acquisition from mid-market to Fortune 500. He previously served as VP of Revenue Marketing for Udacity. Prior to joining Udacity, Brian served as VP of Growth Marketing at Demandbase, where he was responsible for demand generation, field marketing, and customer marketing at Demandbase. Brian has also been a marketing leader at two ad tech companies, Marin Software and Smaato. He co-founded an e-learning startup that specialized in software developer training, with a rules-based code judging engine. He is an active Customer Advisory Board member for both 6sense and Sendoso.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Bad Sisters:Start with a hook. Bad Sisters grabs viewers’ attention because it’s about four sisters plotting to kill their brother-in-law, and it starts with his funeral. So the question is: “How did he die?” This is what drives viewers to keep watching. So how can you get your audience invested in your content? What question do you want to inspire them to ask?Know your target. This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but just like the sisters truly knew their brother-in-law and all the ways they could potentially do him in, so should marketers get to know their audience so they can appeal to them. Brian says, “The sisters do a lot of research and they really know their target audience. Like, what does JP like to eat? What does he like to drink? If you were to poison him, how would you do that? So they really do research, like, ‘What are the ways that we can do this and get away with it, and free our sister from the prison of her marriage?’ So they really do their kind of their targeting and their research, which I think any good marketer does.”Do trial and error. Try different marketing strategies and keep dialing it in based on data you get from the tests. Brian says, “[The sisters] do that right throughout the show. Like, they're testing ways to bump this guy off. Some of them end in sort of miserable failure and some of them have some potential of succeeding and you're never quite sure. Not unlike a lot of digital campaigns, where you're trying to find that perfect balance and the right approach.”Quotes*”I think for marketers, if you're not pushing the envelope, testing new messaging and testing new approaches to your website, conversion, optimization, your customer journey, your buyer's journey, then you're not trying hard enough. You're not getting enough data from the market to optimize and improve.”*”In a B2B context, it is tough to really identify a villain. And that kind of marketing turns me off. Some companies will identify their competitors as villains and really go after them. As a marketer, I would say instead of identifying your competitors as a villain, which I think is a mistake, you look at either the cost of doing nothing, or like, ‘What is the counterpoint to your mission?’”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Brian Finnerty, CMO at D2L[3:02] D2L and Brian's Role as CMO[4:04] How Bad Sisters was created[9:30] Authenticity and Cultural Representation[22:18] B2B Marketing Takeaways from Bad Sisters[22:21] The Importance of a Good Hook[23:00] Research and Targeting in Marketing[24:08] Trial and Error in Marketing[28:30] Creating a Great Villain[33:48] Brand and Content Strategy[36:10] Effective Content Marketing[38:34] Leveraging Content Across Teams[42:58] Favorite Campaigns and Final AdviceLinksConnect with Brian on LinkedInLearn more about D2LAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

“Each man carried, along with a sea chest, his own burdensome story.” - Excerpt from The Wager, by David GrannThis is true not only for the men that sailed on the HMS Wager, but your audience and customers (minus the sea chests). Just as David Grann took those burdensome stories from journal entries to write The Wager, so too can you use the burdensome stories of your customers in your marketing.This is one of the things we’re talking about in this episode of Remarkable with the help of our special guest, former Director of Content Marketing at Authentic8, Shannon Ragan.Together, we draw marketing lessons from David Grann’s book, The Wager, including going to the source, shaping your stories as stranger than fiction, and sourcing those stories from the smallest footnote.About our guest, Shannon RaganShannon Ragan is the former Director of Content Marketing at Authentic8. She joined the company in September 2020 as Content Marketing Senior Manager. She is also a producer and co-host of NeedleStack: the OSINT podcast. She previously served as Senior Marketing Communications Manager at Skybox Security. She has been blogging in the cybersecurity industry for ten years and vows to never write another Patch Tuesday update again.What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Wager:Go to the source. Talk to your customers to understand what matters most to them. And use that in your messaging. Shannon says, “Experience it yourself, as authentically as you can. I think that is a huge thing in content marketing. I feel like there is often a lot of gatekeeping between sales and marketing to customers that it's like, ‘No, I don't want the marketing team to talk to my customers.’ It's the practitioners, the people using your tool, your product, that you need to talk to the most. And so any amount of time that you can get with them [is valuable].” In The Wager, David Grann actually sailed the same route that the crew of the HMS Wager did to see what it was really like. That was the only way he could write authentically about the experience.Shape your stories as stranger than fiction. When you do talk to your audience or your customers, get their war stories about the struggles they’ve had that your product will solve. Shannon says that having a podcast has been a great platform for sharing those stories. She says, “I think the true stories are the most interesting. And so getting  people that live it, walk the walk, do it every day to kind of tell their war stories and their learnings along the way, and be able to share those with our audience under our brand without really having to talk too much about ourselves has just been a great brand builder and gotten people into our orbit. And then once they know us and like us and love us, then it's really easy to be like, ‘By the way, we have this great product I think you'll like.’” It’s like how The Wager is a true story that, in David Grann’s telling, feels closer to fiction because of the detail and expressive voices he includes. And he was able to do that through the use of primary sources. So use your primary sources - your audience and customers - to write your marketing messages. Stories can start with the smallest footnote. When David Grann was doing research for The Wager, he was looking through lists of people who boarded the ship. And next to many names, he saw “DD,” which he discovered meant “Dispatched Dead.” It was through researching the deeper story behind this two-letter abbreviation that he uncovered stories of scurvy and the overall human toll of the voyage. Look for the small footnotes that could tell you a much deeper story for use in your marketing.Quotes*”Kill your darlings. It is the thing that is most difficult to do to your own work, because it's the thing that you're like, ‘But I grew this babe in my womb. I can't get rid of it.’ And it's like, you do it in service of the rest of the thing that you have tended and grown. And it's such a hard lesson to learn and you have to teach it to yourself over and over again. Like David Grann had to teach it to himself again. But it makes a good writer.” - Shannon Ragan*”One of my biggest pieces of advice is that part of your strategy should be co-creating content with your prospects and customers. Like, that should be a pillar of your strategy. And all of the people who can't give you testimonials, who aren't legal approved to give you a quote, who can't do all that stuff, can come on your podcast and talk about everything but the thing.” - Ian Faison*”Think about where you want to end up. Like, do you want people to thank you for your content marketing? And if so, how do you build the path to get there? So yeah, think about where you want to end up, and then build your strategy and your editorial path to get there.” - Shannon RaganTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Shannon Ragan, former Director of Content Marketing at Authentic8[3:50] Content Marketing Insights from The Wager[5:33] David Grann's Research Journey[14:33] Crafting Authentic Content[15:21] Engaging with Customers through Content[16:11] The Power of Co-Creating Content[25:30] Marketing Strategy Overhaul[38:05] Character Development in Writing[42:06] Final Thoughts on Content StrategyLinksConnect with Shannon on LinkedInLearn more about Authentic8About Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Doctor Who has been around for over 60 years and attracted over 12 million viewers.In our book, that makes it ripe with marketing lessons. Because wouldn’t you also want your brand to be around for over 60 years, and to have that many eyes on your content at once?So in this episode, we’re talking about the long-running show with a cult following, Doctor Who.Together with the help of our special guest, CEO of WorkProud & Online Rewards, Michael John Levy, we’re talking about keeping the essence of your branding through the years, using jingles, and using time travel in your storytelling.About our guest, Michael John LevyCEO Michael Levy leads both Online Rewards and WorkProud and has achieved 13 consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies list. His company is a leading provider of workplace culture and people success solutions who believe employees are a company’s greatest asset.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Doctor Who:Keep the essence of your branding through the years. As your company ages, refine and modernize your content. But keep the essence of what makes your brand or company unique. Ian says, “There's an importance of continuity that is a great lesson for Doctor Who, which is like, there's certain things that can change, and there's certain things that don't. And once you establish it, then that needs to be the way it is.” It’s like how the evil robotic beings, the Daleks, first appeared on Doctor Who in the 1960s. But then Michael says, “they then continued to exist like a multiverse, and they kept appearing over time. And as modern production techniques continued to improve and various doctors would appear, they would still, however, be stuck with the original form of the Dalek suit from the 1960s.” But they became iconic as part of the Doctor Who brand. So decide what is unchangeable, and what you can continue to dial in, refine and improve.Use jingles. Jingles aren’t used that much in B2B marketing, but in Doctor Who, music is an important part of the show. Michael says, “A small melody snippet as part of the intro and closure was a key anchor component.” And Ian adds, “Jingles are like one of the most underused marketing devices of our modern era. Back in the day, everything had a jingle.” The more senses you appeal to, the deeper, more multifaceted your brand identity becomes, and the more easily your audience will recall your company when making a purchasing decision.Elicit nostalgia through time travel. Send the characters of your marketing back in time and invite your audience to relive the good old days. Ian says, “We always talk about wanting to elicit nostalgia. Why not make a character, make your key persona, you know, CHRO, and send them back in time. Send them back five years ago. Send them back 10 years. You need someone who is doing the traveling to these other places so that they can experience it. It's ripe for discussion and you don't need to land the plane like you do like Marvel had to land the plane when they did the Multiverse and went back in time. As a marketer, you don't need to finish the story. You just need to start the conversation.”Quotes*”WorkProud is a 22-year-plus company of which this concept of recognition and appreciation and the corresponding tools that we've built have been a backbone of the culture of the organization. It's so foundational  that there are eyes on that stream and that feed on a daily basis with an expectation that you will read some positive things about somebody's joined the company, somebody's had an accomplishment, somebody completed training, somebody's celebrating some birthdays. We have a positive place inside the business and that is part of the culture.” - Michael John Levy*”Once you've built that positive place where people can go, it's about capturing and accelerating the telling of those stories by helping them get crafted, and then sharing them. And ideally, those people want to share those things on third party sites or to their friends, in private group chats, or whatever it is. But as a marketing team, if you can help as the crafter of stories, it can help with retention. It can help with recruiting.” - Ian FaisonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Michael John Levy, CEO of WorkProud and Online Rewards[2:32] Michael Levy's Journey with Online Rewards and WorkProud[4:02] The Power of Storytelling in Business[8:42] The Origins of Doctor Who[15:06] The Evolution of Doctor Who's Characters and Branding[19:47] Comparing Doctor Who to Modern Brands[27:31] Exploring Doctor Who's Production[29:24] The Power of Soundtracks in Marketing[30:39] The Impact of Jingles in Advertising[33:12] Time Travel in Marketing[51:48] The Role of Storytelling in MarketingLinksConnect with Michael John LevyLearn more about Online Rewards and WorkProudAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

What if you created a campaign so good, so coveted, that users looked forward to it every year? And what’s more, non-users convert just to be a part of it.We’re referring to the viral marketing campaign, Spotify Wrapped, and how they made their marketing masterpiece.We’re doing it all with the help of our special guest, Head of Marketing at Postman, Justine Davis.Together, we talk about making or buying exclusive content, sharing insights about your customers, and much more.About our guest, Justine DavisJustine Davis is Head of Marketing at API platform Postman. She previously served as  Head of Marketing for Atlassian’s Agile and DevOps suite of products. With over 9 years experience working with DevOps teams and tools, Justine is passionate about solving needs for customers. Outside of work Justine is a mom, avid reader, and loves to close the move goal rings in sunny Scottsdale, AZ on her Apple Watch.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Spotify Wrapped:Make or buy exclusive content. It’s like how you can only get your own Spotify Wrapped if you subscribe to Spotify. The campaign got people to convert from Apple Music and other streaming services just because they wanted to get their own Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year. Having exclusive content will get people to convert to your platform. Justine says, “Their strategy was: ‘Build for audio and not music.’ This was the HBO model a little bit, which is they acquired podcasts that were with them exclusively. So like, if you wanted to listen to them - and love them or hate them, Joe Rogan is one of the biggest in the game and it was exclusive on Spotify for a long time - you had to go sign up for Spotify. So it worked very well for them.”Share interesting insights about your customers. You’re gathering tons of data about your customers. Feed it back to them as interesting and informative insights. It can be useful or even entertaining for them. It’s like how Spotify made billboards highlighting unusual playlist names, and even how often someone listened to a particular song. Ian says, “You're finding data about your customers that is really funny and weird and interesting and unique. You're sharing that with other people. You're putting it on a billboard or somewhere, and then you're taking photos of it and then sharing the photos of the billboards all over.” Just those few data points make for a myriad of opportunities to share with customers who then will want to share with the world.Quotes*”Spotify Wrapped is the perfect piece of serialized content. You get to come out with it every year. People know what's coming. They know what to expect and they're looking to you, not only to tell them what their Spotify Wrapped is, but also to make funny jokes about all the other people who made ridiculous stuff.” - Ian Faison*”You have to place your bets in a lot of different areas to grab attention. And understand that the user may hear it on repeat. So have that message be consistent across channels and in different formats.” - Justine Davis*”We've invested very heavily in community as well as a big piece of brand marketing, because there's no better advocate than your customers.” - Justine Davis*“The nirvana for someone doing content marketing is to create a little mini franchise, little mini brand of their marketing that people look forward to. I don't care at all about any other content that Spotify makes, but I care about Spotify Wrapped. It’s a perfect encapsulation of how your brand can be, where it's like people can care just about one thing that you make and not anything else. But the fact that you make that one thing is super valuable to them.” - Ian FaisonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Justine Davis, Head of Marketing at Postman[12:16] Postman and API Marketing[14:23] The Origin and Evolution of Spotify Wrapped[22:29] The Power of Billboard Campaigns[27:04] Spotify Wrapped: A Marketing Masterpiece[27:53] Using Spotify Wrapped for Team Building[29:21] Integrated Marketing Campaigns[34:41] Investing in Podcasts[38:58] Postman: Content and Brand Strategy[47:14] Upcoming Postman FeaturesLinksConnect with Justine on LinkedInLearn more about PostmanAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

John Cena says that in the early days of his career, he struggled to break through as a WWE superstar.Cena says that’s because “people didn’t know who I was. They couldn’t connect to John Cena coming out in different tights and boots every time. No one could attach to who I was.”He says, “As entertainers, we kinda want to attach. You try to work on your character so people will relate to them and want to attach to them.”And when we talk about edu-taining, entertainment is half of that. Getting your consumer to attach to you is what we’re all about on Remarkable. So in this episode, we’re helping you become marketing superstars and drive that brand attachment with your consumers.To do that, we’re looking at parallels between the WWE and marketing. With the help of our special guest, US Market Brand Evangelist, Carlos Gil, we’ll talk about evolving with your consumer, giving your content personality, and much more.About our guest, Carlos GilCarlos Gil is a marketing expert with over 15 years of corporate digital and social media experience, and the bestselling author of ‘The End of Marketing’. Specializing in driving ROI through cost-effective, organic growth marketing strategies aimed at fostering customer loyalty and leading digital innovation for organizations. As a trusted subject matter expert, Carlos provides impactful marketing strategies for C-suite executives and corporate brands seeking provocative approaches to stand out in today’s crowded digital ecosystem.As the Brand Evangelist at GetResponse, Carlos leads strategic initiatives to boost the brand's visibility and foster partnerships in the U.S. Leveraging his expertise in brand building, digital marketing, and growth strategies.What B2B Companies Can Learn From WWE:Evolve with your consumer. Adjust your brand messaging and content to fit your target consumer. Aim to resonate not just with them, but with the cultural zeitgeist of the time and place. Carlos says, “You've got to evolve in business or your brand is going to cease to exist long term. And the reason for that is because your consumer is not going to be around forever. I love how WWE has this magical appeal to bring back like the vets, right? Like The Rock, John Cena, Undertaker. Like every time they bring these guys back, they're bringing them back strategically to appeal to an older consumer. Same thing happens in the world of brand marketing, you know, brands find ways to connect with older audiences or audiences that maybe have left them. They do remarketing campaigns or retargeting campaigns.”Give your content personality. If your brand was a wrestler, what would they be like? What would their signature moves be? Don’t be afraid to be different, loud, and have catch phrases. Carlos says, “Randy Savage was one of my favorite wrestlers because he was out there. He was loud. He was larger than life and he had a very distinctive voice. He had the catchphrase, ‘Oh yeah!’ He was just different as a wrestler. And to stand out in today's noisy digital ecosystem, you have to be loud. You have to find ways to be different. You can't say the same thing that everyone's saying. Your content can't look like every other brand.”  Quotes*”I'm not a proponent of, ‘You have to go to my Twitter account to see a tease of a piece of content to then click outside of Twitter to then go to a website to give me your information to then get an email with a downloadable PDF that you really can't do anything with.’ It's too many steps. Remove the friction. Make content easily accessible to your audience.”*”If your content looks like every other brand out there that you're competing with, you're going to just get lost. You're going to get lost in the noise.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Carlos Gil, US Market Brand Evangelist at GetResponse[3:01] Wrestling's Storytelling and Marketing Parallels[6:55] Evolution of WWE and Business Lessons[8:48] Carlos’ Role at GetResponse[10:53] Understanding WWE and Its History[14:49] WWE's Business Model and Media Strategy[19:26] Content Marketing Lessons from WWE[26:52] The Art of Storytelling in Wrestling[31:49] Marketing Lessons from Wrestling[33:38] The Power of Storytelling in Business[43:40] Be Different: Marketing Like a Pro WrestlerLinksConnect with Carlos on LinkedInLearn more about GetResponseAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Ask yourself: “What is the magic of my brand?” Every brand has it. It’s the special offering your company has that no other one does.That’s where you focus the message of your content. And it’s one of the things we’re talking about today.In this episode, we’re learning from the magic of the world of Disney. With the help of our special guest, Domo CMO Mark Boothe, we’ll talk about working your magic, focusing on feeling, and the power of distribution.About our guest, Mark BootheMark Boothe is Chief Marketing Officer at Domo. Mark brings over 15 years of diverse marketing experience and is passionate about driving Domo’s business growth through marketing initiatives. His mission is to empower all Domo customers and prospects with the insights and tools they need to make better business decisions and achieve their goals. In his previous role as VP of Community, Partner, and Field Marketing, Mark and his teams established new and strengthened existing programs to address customer pain points and create a greater sense of community. They also executed campaigns, programs and events that showcase the value of the Domo platform.Before joining Domo, Mark spent more than 10 years working in customer relations and marketing at Adobe and worked at Instructure as its senior director of customer marketing. He received his MBA from Utah State University and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. Outside of work, Mark enjoys spending time with his family and traveling.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Disney:Work your magic. Whatever the magic is that your brand has, that magic that sets you apart from competitors - make that the focus of your content. Mark says, “For Domo specifically, what's our magic? We're really, really good at helping people to use data effectively. We can help them make accessible interactions and interactive automations and simple integrations. We help people get value out of their data. And so for us, that's what the magic is. So we have to make that simple. We have to make it easy. We may have to make it understandable and the product has to work. That's what remembering the magic looks like for a software company that's selling visualization and BI and automation software.”Focus on feeling. Does your content feel like it’s part of the brand? Does it all evoke the same feeling? Ian says, “One of the things that Disney understands so well is the importance of the property fitting into their overall brand, but that the properties all are standalones. And I think that this is not something that we really understand in marketing. Like, we get obsessed with the colors or the style. We obsess over making it look right instead of feel right. But Disney, the brand is all about the way it makes you feel.”Have a distribution plan for your content. Before you make any content, make sure you have a plan to get it out in the world, and in front of the right people. Mark says, “For so long the phrase has been content is king. But my fight would be that distribution is emperor. Yes, content is really, really important. And it's amazing what you can do with really good content, but you can do a heck of a lot more with really good content that has exceptional distribution behind it. I can do really good things with really bad content that has exceptional distribution strategies and tactics put behind it. The key is, how do you make sure that you're developing and creating and synthesizing really good content that you can then put the right kind of resources behind so that you get it in front of the people that you really care about?”Quotes*”For so long the phrase has been content is king. But my fight would be that distribution is emperor.”*”I'm a big fan of test, test, test, test, test, test, and learn. But you live in a world today where you can make micro optimizations to pieces of content and things. So use the technology and the things that are in place to be able to make the micro changes you need to make content work.”*”Content is everyone's responsibility at this point. No matter what discipline you are in within marketing, you are a content marketer. We get so caught up sometimes then, ‘Hey, this quarter we're going to do X number of blog posts.’ Why? To what end? ‘We're going to create this many YouTube videos.’ Okay, ‘we're going to create a whole bunch of stuff on TikTok.’ Great! Like, what's the purpose? And backing up enough to say, Who's the audience? If your ICP is for a certain amount of these accounts that look like this, and these people who buy like this and need these things, and yet you're talking to all of them in the same way, you're going to fail.”*”Take the time to create really, really good content. We're not in the days anymore of ‘If you build it, they will come.’ There is more content generated right now than in any other time. So just to build good content doesn't get the job done. Building good content and then having that distribution strategy and then being willing to make the micro changes you need to, you'll give it a good shot.”*”Don't be afraid to fail sometimes. If failure is, ‘We learned a whole lot of stuff and we won't make that same mistake again,’ then it wasn't really failure.”*”Make sure as a marketer, you're staying true to the creative piece of your job, but that you're using data to make sure that it's all a strong reality. Cause I think too often, we can fall to either side, whether it's we're falling too hard on the creative side or we're falling too hard on the data side. And it is, it's an art and a science. So nail both the art and science.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Mark Boothe, CMO of Domo[2:33] The Launch of Disney Plus[4:25] Disney Plus Marketing Strategies[7:36] The Impact of Disney Plus on Consumers[18:13] Content and Distribution in B2B Marketing[22:05] Creating Quality Content in Business[22:20] The Importance of Distribution Strategy[22:43] Learning from Failures[22:58] Challenges in Content Creation[25:21] Investing in Brand and Community[27:14] The Role of Community in Customer Retention[28:25] Evaluating Content ROI[29:32] Building a Customer-Centric Community[32:00] The Impact of Community Initiatives[35:50] Balancing Creativity and Data in Marketing[37:57] Advice for other CMOsLinksConnect with Mark on LinkedInLearn more about DomoAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Before comedians ever get a Netflix special, they have to run the gauntlet. Night after night, they’re putting themselves out there in front of judgmental crowds and trying to win them over.Sometimes they bomb, sometimes they face hecklers, and what may be even worse: silence. Kathy Griffin once bombed so badly at a show in Montreal she said, “The audience was talking so much that they didn’t know my set ended.” Ouch.But even after bombing the worst, comedians 👏 keep 👏 practicing 👏. And all the while they’re gathering data. What works? What doesn’t work? Because that data helps them get better and better. And that grit and resilience is one of the things we as marketers need to have too. So in this episode, we’re taking marketing lessons from comedian Mike Bigbiglia.With the help of our special guest, Host of How Stories Happen, Jay Acunzo, we’re talking about developing your premise, aiming for resonance over reach, and practicing your material in front of your audience.About our guest, Jay AcunzoJay Acunzo is consultant, author and speaker at Unthinkable Media. He helps his clients learn to differentiate easier and resonate deeper on the impact of their ideas, not the volume of their content. He helps them develop their premise, their storytelling, and their pillar projects in order to own an idea in their minds and influence the market.After starting his career in media and marketing roles at Google and HubSpot, a tiny startup and a VC firm, he authored the book about questioning best practices, Break the Wheel, toured as a professional speaker (giving keynotes in 25 states and 3 countries), launched two celebrated business shows (the podcast Unthinkable and the docuseries Against the Grain), and co-founded the mastermind for business storytellers, the Creator Kitchen.As an advisor, he has worked with more than 200 individuals and teams to help them differentiate through substance and stories, not stunts. Past brand clients include Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Drift, Podia, InVision, Zillow, Blackbaud, Dometic, James Hardie, and Help Scout, as well as hundreds of individual thought leaders and experts, including the author behind Google’s employee training program and the performance coach who helped develop Kobe Bryant’s Black Mamba persona.He is a New England resident, a Knicks fan, and an obsessive grilled pizza chef. His grandest aspiration (though genuinely, it’s my biggest delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Mike Birbiglia:Develop your premise. Define your overarching theme or premise. If you were to give your campaign a title, what would it be? What message do you want your audience to get? Jay says, “The premise is an assertion you're making from which everything else follows. And that's true in comedy. It's also true in how you position a brand and every project that you or your brand might create. You know, a podcast has a premise, a video series, a book, a speech. We all need to better develop our premises the way a comedian does.” Mike Birbiglia has a premise to each show and a story arc. Like how The Old Man & The Pool is about getting older and swimming as a means of getting healthier. It gives the show shape and it also gives his audience an idea of what his show will be about. Resonance>reach. Aim to make content that resonates with your target persona instead of aiming to reach a lot of people. This sometimes means decreasing your reach to be true to your brand values. But hitting home with your niche is better than falling flat with a bunch of people. Jay says, “You should care more about resonance than reach to grow your business. It's because from resonance comes action. It's better for business because that's why we start to care. If it doesn't resonate, we don't care. If we don't care, we don't act. Like Birbiglia is so good at making you care, not just about him, not just about the joke, but about whatever premise he’s there to explore through the arc of the show.”Practice your material in front of your audience. Keep dialing it in by seeing what works with your audience - and what doesn’t. Jay says, “This is what a pro does in Mike Birgiglia’s world. Being a professional, viable comedian [means] you are constantly working on material in front of the audience. Like, it is democratized to the degree that the audience decides. You're trying to put things in front of them. You're like, ‘I am convinced this idea or story matters,’ then you're trying to articulate the right way into that or the right construction and flow of the setup and the punchline and the tags, or how you explain things or the timing of it all, or your callbacks. All these hidden elements that go into, yes, a comedy special, but really standing up in front of anybody to speak to them. And the goal is to put enough reps in that you work the material out.”Quotes*”We need to reclaim creativity from what we have lost it to in the business world, which is the sum total of lots of hidden choices and lots of aerating and iterating and working on the material. Like, you might have conviction around your ideas. You're not going to drop that conviction and go, ‘I'll say anything that'll work on a social network,’ which is what people in business are too prone to do. You have an internal conviction about how the world should be, how you see something, your perspective, even one specific idea for a project. And the hard work now is, ‘I have to figure out the language and the storytelling and the frameworks and the construction of my words to get people to see what I already see and go with me on the journey.’”*”We are trying to grab attention all the time as marketers. That's not what good marketing is. Good marketing is not about who arrives. It's about who stays. So get them to the end. That's your golden rule all the time. They hit play. Be paranoid now they're going to hit stop.”*”Athletes watch the film of the game to get better. Marketers need to consume their own content to get better. Go for a walk, open it up in the morning, do what you have to do to consume your own work. You will notice very quickly what went wrong and what went well. It's like reading your writing out loud is the best, most foolproof way to improve your writing. You need to consume your work like the recipient.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Jay Acunzo, Host of How Stories Happen[2:07] Mike Birbiglia's Creative Process[6:35] Lessons from Mike Birbiglia for Marketers[10:03] The Art of Storytelling in Comedy and Marketing[18:03] The Importance of Iteration and Audience Feedback[24:16] Nailing the Post-Story Moment[25:30] The Golden Rule of Storytelling[27:15] The Importance of Consuming Your Own Content[28:04] Going the Extra Mile in Content Creation[29:06] How to Create Engaging and Original Content[36:12] The Messy Process of Creation[39:15] Introducing Creator KitchenLinksConnect with Jay on LinkedInLearn more about How Stories HappenAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Marketing is like comedy. It has to be bold, memorable and perfectly timed to hit home. Great marketing knows how to turn heads, make an impression, and leave the audience wanting more, just like Midge Maisel.In this episode, we’re taking marketing lessons from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.Together, with the help of our special guest, Head of Content & Brand at Close, Chelsea Castle, we’re talking about using niche references, making your audience laugh, and making every word count.About our guest, Chelsea CastleChelsea Castle is Head of Content and Brand at sales productivity platform Close. She joined the company in April 2024 and formerly served as a content leader at Lavender.ai. She is a former journalist who became a content strategist and marketer, and brings with her more than 12 years of experience. She also formerly served as Director of Content Marketing at Chili Piper.  What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:Use niche references. Don’t be afraid to use obscure or niche references that target your ideal customer. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is so detail-oriented that a general audience will see and hear content that’s true to the era, but people who know the period well will find meaning and humor in the minutest of details. Ian says, “I would rather hit one person in the heartstrings with the arrow and miss a hundred than sort of just hit a lot of people in the shoulder and have them be like, ‘Yeah, you know that I felt it, but, you know, I didn't feel it in my soul.’ And you can do that with every post. If you're going to post, you know, 10 times in a week, then throw some obscure [references] out there, right? 80/20 rule. Have 80 percent of your posts be stuff that is mainstream and 20 percent of your posts be super obscure. And probably the ones that would go viral are the ones that are more obscure anyway.”Make ‘em laugh.  Humor is not just about getting giggles. Chelsea says, “Humor fast tracks trust, but it also helps [content] stick more.” You’re building a connection with your audience, earning credibility and humanizing your brand by showing that you have a sense of humor - and understand theirs as well. Make every word count. Quippy, smart dialogue is a hallmark of Amy Sherman-Palladino who created both The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Gilmore Girls. To the point where there are no throwaway lines - each word is meant to be there, every line counts. Chelsea says, “I think that is probably one of the most valuable marketing lessons I think that could be helpful in this industry right now, where, especially with writing, I teach my team [that] every single word needs to earn its spot on the page. We don't really think a lot about where certain things go, or you just usually throw it up on the blog, where it's like, ‘What if we created an interactive page? What if we created a unique landing page for this one type of content?’ Or thinking too about magazines where you have restricted word count, where every single word needs to be valuable and really earn its spot. And I think we should think about that with everything.”Quotes*”You can't do anything cool without taking some risks along the way. So you kind of just weigh that balance. As marketers, we're so driven to just drive action, to drive a conversion that we kind of miss the opportunity to build some sort of connection with our audience. And that's harder. It takes more time, more thought, more intentionality.  But that's how you get longer-term dividends and payoffs, is building more connection through what you create.”*”​​I worked in a branding agency, so I cut my teeth there where I was also essentially the content producer and executive producer of websites that I would create. So I feel like I've always had a lot of that in my career in terms of thinking through the whole experience of something with the magazines, I would think about the magazine having a heartbeat. And I apply that to my content now where you kind of want it to like ebb and flow, go up and down. You don't want it flat lined and you don't want it to be like peak the whole time. So I still apply that sort of thinking to how I think about content now, whether it's a virtual event, an in person event, a blog, of thinking about everything as [having] a heartbeat in a way that it's a full experience.”*”I think curiosity and gut are two of the biggest things to think about as a content leader. You've got to be tenaciously curious, ask all of the questions, dig as deep as you can. It's really hard. But it's also really fun work and you have to really lean into your curiosity and also your gut. Trust your gut. I think we don't talk enough about vibes or instinct in marketing. Like at Chili Piper and Lavender, for example, we had an idea of our brand, but a lot of the success came from just trusting our gut and experimenting and kind of just feeling what felt right. And you can't really put that in like a nice strategy doc, right? Like you kind of just have to go with your gut and your instinct and what feels right.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Chelsea Castle, Head of Content & Brand at Close[2:26] About Chelsea's Role at Close[3:38] The Making of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel[7:31] Marketing Lessons from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel[13:50] The Importance of Detail in Storytelling[23:03] The Power of a Strong Pilot Episode[27:45] Confrontation and Conflict[27:50] Character Development and Story Arcs[28:31] Minor Characters and Their Impact[30:27] Marketing Takeaways from Mrs. Maisel[32:59] The Power of Dialogue[42:21] Humor in Marketing[44:34] Humanizing Marketing[47:56] Building a Brand at Close[55:19] Final Thoughts and AdviceLinksConnect with Chelsea on LinkedInLearn more about CloseAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

What do marketers and competitive bakers have in common? Quite a lot, actually.Both work amid time constraints, follow recipes for success, and have to express creativity under pressure.  And there’s a lot marketers can learn from these competitive bakers, so that’s what we’re talking about this week.In this episode, we’re taking B2B marketing lessons from Food Network’s seasonal baking series, Summer Baking Championship.Together with the help of our special guest, the Director of Content Marketing at Splunk, Ann Smith, we talk about putting your own spin on a recipe, tasting what you bake, and not trying to do too much at once. About our guest, Ann SmithAnn Smith joined Splunk a year ago as the Director of Content Marketing, leading a team of content strategists and writers to produce award-winning, pipeline-generating, headline-grabbing content. Prior to Splunk, she led content marketing for Oracle and held senior marketing roles at technology start-ups and small companies. She has a master of arts degree in Speech Communication from San Jose State University.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Summer Baking Championship:Put your own spin on a recipe. In other words, it’s okay to use a recipe you know works, but don’t just check the box with your content. Strive to also make an emotional connection with your audience. Ann says, “People that buy software are people too. And it's the storytelling and the ability to connect emotionally with readers that really makes it. Storytelling is that extra layer of icing on the cake.” Taste what you baked. Review your content to gauge its effectiveness. Looking back on past work is a great way to not only see your growth, but to take a candid look at what worked and what didn’t. Ian says, “How many times have you made a meal and you didn't even taste it? My food is always criminally under-salted when I take it out because I just didn't taste it. So much marketing is like that. Go back and read that thing a year from now. Was that a good post? It's like, ‘No, it was not good.’ Did you read it and like it? Did someone else on your team read it and like it?”Don’t try to do too much. That’s when you lose clarity on your message. It becomes instantly forgettable by your audience. Ian says, “The biggest thing is just writing way shorter and just telling one story at a time that has a single message that you're trying to leave people with. So many times we write an article and we want to pack 15 things into it. Dont. Just tell them one thing. I just want them to leave reading this thing with one singular lesson. And that's the thing that's going to stick.”Quotes *”People that buy software are people. Chief technology officers are people too. And it's the storytelling and the ability to connect emotionally with readers that really makes it. More than just, ‘I'm just following a recipe,’ right? I'm just checking the box. Storytelling is that extra layer of icing on the cake.”*”Just be helpful, help educate [your audience] without expecting anything in return. If you can help your customer do something better, learn something new, without expecting anything back from them,  really genuinely wanting to help them succeed, you'll have customers for life.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Ann Smith, Director of Content Marketing at Splunk[1:36] Exploring Summer Baking Championship[2:39] Content Marketing at Splunk[5:13] The Success of Summer Baking Championship[9:17] Parallels Between Baking and Content Marketing[15:18] The Art of Storytelling in Marketing[19:29] The Art of Concise Writing[20:26] The Challenge of Simplifying Complex Messages[21:47] Avoiding Over-Salted Content[22:53] Relating to Your Audience[25:44] Embracing Authenticity in Writing[31:51] Effective Content Strategies[37:39] Final Thoughts and Best Advice for Marketing ProfessionalsLinksConnect with Ann on LinkedInLearn more about SplunkAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

What do you need to do to make your brand famous? You know how you could say “Seth Rogen” and people could easily recall that he’s an actor, they know he’s funny and associate him with Freaks and Geeks or Pineapple Express, for example?Well, with that same amount of ease, you want people to know who you are, what you do and to make positive associations with your brand name. How do you do it? That’s one of the things we’re talking about today.In this episode, we’re learning about aiming for brand fame by looking at Seth Rogen’s brand, Houseplant. With the help of our special guest, Director of Brand Marketing at Mailchimp, Greg Shumchenia, we talk about aiming for fame, using feeling, and practicing fluency. About our guest, Greg ShumcheniaGreg Shumchenia is Director of Brand Marketing at Mailchimp. He has over 16 years of experience as a brand marketer, strategist, and category planner. He joined Mailchimp in 2021 after a distinguished career at ad agencies like Fitzco and Dentsu Creative, where he helped shape brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, New Balance, Hidden Valley Ranch, and Harry’s. He writes professionally about brand strategy, specifically around the idea of using brands as a point of difference by making them unforgettable, and he cares a lot about a well-crafted brief. He’s been named to the AdAge A-List twice, once at Mailchimp as their in-house agency of the year and once at NAIL Communications as their small agency of the year. He has won awards for marketing effectiveness and for advertising creativity. He has B2C, B2B, and DTC experience. He has also worked across a lot of categories including CPG, SaaS, tech, retail, QSR, healthcare, finance, and nonprofit. Greg is based in San Francisco, so when he’s not thinking and writing about brands, he’s usually hiking, surfing, or exploring the inside of a good winery.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Houseplant:Chase fame. Aim to be a brand that comes to mind easily and is brought up in conversation. Greg says, “I think fame is one of those words that's kind of synonymous with awareness, but it's more than that. Like, I know Taylor Swift is famous because I know I can bring her up on this call and you know who she is. Fame is trying to achieve that level of talk value, shareability, just call it cultural relevance if you want.” He says, “[Houseplant doesn’t] just speak to the small audience of marijuana smokers. They talk to a wider audience of people who appreciate beautiful design and objects. They're speaking to an entire category, and they do it with really bold and beautiful, distinct marketing. That's one of the best ways to build mental availability. You do it with a big group, and all of that drives growth.”Use feeling. Be expressive and get your audience to feel something through your content and branding. Greg says, “You can think of that one as emotion too. Houseplant uses emotion in a lot of different places, from the design of their products, you know Seth is pouring his own self into them. So you can kind of feel that emotion in the products and the design themselves. But also in the stories they tell. People remember feelings more than facts and figures. So if you're trying to build an unforgettable brand, feelings are one of the best ways to do it. You attach a feeling to a memory and people are going to recall that better than a functional message.”Practice fluency. Know your brand so well that the words to express what you do and what you stand for come easily. Then communicate that to your audience. Greg says, “[Houseplant] certainly practices fluency in every sense of the word. A distinct yet simple brand, it's easy to understand. It makes them easy to identify and to find. The two biggest things a brand needs to do is be remembered and be easy to buy. And fluency helps you be easy to buy. Fluency in your distinct brand assets and your look and feel is something Houseplant does super tight.” Quotes*”From a purely functional perspective, [Seth Rogen is] trying to make the whole smoking experience a Houseplant experience. You can buy the actual flower, you can buy the rolling papers or the pipe or the device that you smoke out of, the ashtray, the matches, the record that you put on that you listen to while you smoke. I think he even sells a chair you can sit in while you smoke. That’s vertical integration. That’s what Seth is doing with Houseplant. He's like, ‘We are going to sell you everything in the smoking vertical. Absolutely everything from the chair to the flower, like just everything.’ It's kind of cool from a business perspective.”*”95 percent of buyers in a category are out of market at any given time, meaning you're not ready to buy. And 90 percent of B2B buyers are buying off their day-one shortlist. So when they do go into market, that's that 5 percent of the category. 90 percent already have a list in mind. Like you do that [math,] 10 percent of 5%, you're talking to half a percent of the category. You're competing for half a percent of the category if you're not on that day-one short list. So yeah, that's our content strategy to get on that day-one short list when buyers enter the market. So it's too late when they've been triggered and they start shopping. So we are talking to them beforehand.”*”It's scary to say, ‘We're going to talk to people who aren't interested in buying our product.’  It's scary to say, ‘We're okay with this taking a long time.’ It's scary to say, like, ‘We're going to talk to people who aren't going to be in the market for the next three to five years, and when they are, it might take them six to nine months for that buying process to work out.’”*”Reframing a challenge for people gives them a real sense that you can help.”*”If I had three tennis balls and I threw them to you one at a time, you're very likely to catch every one of them. If I throw all three of them at you at once, you probably won't catch any of them. So just one at a time, one message at a time in one spot, in one ad, whatever you're creating. The more you say, the less people remember. So keep it simple.”*”When we talk about, ‘People not ready to buy,’ how do you reach those people? This is one of the ways: you entertain them, but also sneak in a little bit of a lesson here or there.”*”It's a tough battle sometimes, but I think, you know, we also have a great collection because we've been doing it for a while. We've been persevering and like, you know, you're not going to strike gold or the magic's not going to happen after one podcast. It's going to take a while.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Greg Shumchenia, Director of Brand Marketing at Mailchimp[1:29] The Story Behind Houseplant[3:25] Houseplant's Unique Products and Philosophy[5:40] Houseplant's Social Impact and Seth Rogen's Involvement[10:09] Marketing Takeaways from Houseplant[22:31] Transition to MailChimp Discussion[26:16] Marketing Before the Sale: The Challenge[27:03] The Importance of Building Marketing Channels[29:09] Understanding Your Audience[30:17] Reframing Marketing Challenges[33:09] The Value of Singular Messaging[34:56] Highlighting Successful Content: The Science of Loyalty[37:02] Leveraging Intuit's Customer Base[38:52] Measuring ROI in Marketing[39:51] Upcoming MailChimp Podcasts[43:58] The Power of Original Content[50:47] Final Thoughts on Simplification in MarketingLinksConnect with Greg on LinkedInLearn more about MailchimpAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

How much of the realities of your business do you want your audience to see? The truth is, there are benefits to baring it all.Especially when you’re a startup, showing your trials and tribulations endears your brand to viewers. It feels raw and real and trusting. It’s a way to build an audience of dedicated fans. And in this episode, we’re learning about this kind of radical transparency from Jeremy Clarkson.Known in the car world for his shenanigans and quick wit on the show The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson is now learning how to farm on his new show, Clarkson’s Farm. He’s doing what we call “building in public,” and showing viewers what it’s really like to grow a farm from the ground up. That’s one of the things we’re talking about this week on Remarkable with the help of our special guest, Co-Founder & SVP of GTM Strategy at Passetto, Sidney Waterfall.Together, we talk about the benefits of building in public, using comedic tropes to add humor to your marketing, and transitioning your audience to a new POV. About our guest, Sidney WaterfallSidney Waterfall is the Co-Founder and SVP of GTM Strategy at Passetto. She’s a sales and product-led B2B SaaS Marketer that transitions marketing teams from MQL’s to revenue. Prior to her current role, Sidney served as SVP of Growth at Refine Labs. She has also previously held marketing roles at Ally.io, Trupanion, Simply Measured, Microsoft and Verizon.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Clarkson’s Farm:Build in public. Show the real, raw moments with your audience as a way to be transparent and build trust. Sidney says, “Share your experience to connect with your audience and become relatable. [Jeremy Clarkson] was known in the car world. He has a huge audience. He's trying something else. So he's like, ‘I'm just going to show the real raw moments.’ And they do on the show. They show exciting moments, they show frustrating moments. I think that is becoming more popular in the B2B space. People are sharing their journey of building a company or building a product or using a product, and they're being a little bit more transparent with the ups and downs of that, even when they're marketing to a certain ICP.” She adds, “I think that helps content really resonate with people and that helps people build audiences and brands build audiences through that type of strategy.”Add humor by using comedic tropes. Sidney says, “Good writing or copy stands out with a bit of humor. And wit is very effective.” Ian adds, “There's a comedic lesson there any time you have a fish out of water. You take someone who knows nothing and put them with a bunch of people who know lots of stuff.” It’s like how Jeremy Clarkson doesn’t know anything about farming and he’s surrounded by farmers trying to help him work his land. Viewers are also learning while watching the show, so it’s a great way to edutain as well.You can transition your current audience and acquire new audience members from a new POV or a new niche. Jeremy Clarkson will draw viewers from his previous show, The Grand Tour, to his new one, Clarkson’s Farm, because he’s built a name for himself. And he’ll also gain new viewers who are interested in the concept of his new show. So some will have been interested in cars, some in farming or homesteading, others in Jeremy Clarkson as a personality. Sidney says, “This is applicable to my current situation of going from one brand that was very well known with a huge founder brand, and now standing up another company underneath that same founder.” She says, “We have an incredible audience to use and leverage. So really positioning our founder's brand as multiple businesses. And he’s talking to a different level of audience than he previously was. So from his content strategy, we're changing up who the content is targeted for. And then on the side of that, it's like, ‘Okay, how do we build the brand of Passetto outside of the founder at the same time as we start to scale so that people in the market know the difference between Refine Labs and Passetto?'”Quotes *”One of the things that I thought you did so well at Refine Labs was naming the problem with something specific. To say, ‘Dark social is the thing that is happening. And here is how you go attack it.’That is the part of thought leadership that just frames the audience so quickly into solve and learn mode, and is super important. You have to find the thing that's going to resonate, and be easy to say and easy to understand.” - Ian Faison*”[Jeremy Clarkson] is definitely the main character, what kind of makes the show. And I relate that to marketing as, like, that's the founder brand, or like, that's like the face of the company or the spokesperson. And he's been able to take his massive audience and transition some of that over, but also acquire a new audience into his brand. But he's still being very true to himself, his personality and his character. It's like rinse and repeat what he was doing over in the automotive space in this new space.” - Sidney WaterfallTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Sidney Waterfall, Co-Founder & SVP of GTM Strategy at Passetto[2:28] About the Creation of Clarkson's Farm[4:01] Jeremy Clarkson's Farming Journey[7:50] Showing the Realities of Farming[20:39] Marketing Lessons from Clarkson's Farm[24:12] Using Comedic Tension in B2B Marketing[25:46 How to Transition Audiences with a New POV[27:50] Building a Brand Outside the Founder[28:47] Sidney’s Content Strategy and Execution[36:00] The Importance of Thought Leadership[40:40] Sidney’s Favorite Content Projects and How She Proves ROI[46:51] Sidney’s Advice for Other Marketing ProfessionalsLinksConnect with Sidney on LinkedInLearn more about PassettoAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

We content marketers all want to put out high quality content all the time. But you might get writer’s block or just feel stuck sometimes. And one of the best ways to get unstuck, to feel inspired and motivated to get better and better is to look to content creators who do their job really, really well. So in this episode, we encourage you to be influenced by some of the top thought leaders in business, including Gary Vaynerchuck, April Dunford, Chris Walker and Jason Lemkin. Together with the help of our special guest, Co-Founder & CMO of Dreamdata, Steffen Hedebrandt, we talk about writing a book, running experiments, keeping your content snowball rolling, sourcing content ideas from your sales team, and much more.About our guest, Steffen HedebrandtSteffen Hedebrandt is CMO and Co-Founder of Dreamdata, a pioneer in the realm of growth engines and marketing optimization. Steffen is a subject matter expert in connecting marketing activities with revenue. He has an exceptional growth mindset, is data-driven by heart and loves all parts of scaling the commercial side of a business. A notorious growth hacker with a successful track record of scaling businesses and building teams at Upwork and Airtame, Steffen knows the pain points of rapidly scaling marketing and growth firsthand.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Business Influencers:Write a book. Ian says, “if you can write a book and you have a good idea for it, it does give you credibility. It is a lot of work, but if it succeeds, then you can do really well.” Gary Vee has Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. April Dunford has Obviously Awesome. And the books opened the door for them as thought leaders. Spending the time and thought on writing a book positions you as an expert in your field and validates your thought leadership in your industry. Run experiments. Steffen says, “[Gary Vaynerchuk is] constantly experimenting. Him and his teammates are extremely good at running constant experiments and yeah, sometimes it fails. But if we don't continue the experimentation culture, then we will not find the next big thing that's going to be driving the conversation with the audience.” So keep trying new and different things, see what works, and use it in your marketing.Keep rolling the snowball of content. Steffen says, “You need to do work and then you need to tell the world about it. And then in this constant cycle of documenting, “This is what we've done today. Here's an example.’ Move on to the next thing. And little by little, the snowball starts rolling and you grow your audience little by little by continuously putting out stuff.” Try to put out content continuously, even if you only have one point to make. And little by little you’ll grow your audience.Define your audience. Ian says, “Who exactly do you want to talk to? And obviously niche down as much as you possibly can to try to figure out who you really feel like you can serve the best and then figure out, ‘Okay, if I want to talk to these people for the next five years, what is the type of stuff that I want to talk about?  You should probably go talk to those people. Hopefully you have a background in that. If you want to go with the very super authentic route, if you don't have a background, then you need to find a way into being authentic, which means you need to talk to people who are having those problems and pull them into your content.” So do your research. Get to know your audience as well as possible so you can speak their language, create messages that resonate with them, and build your community. Source content ideas from your sales team. Steffen says, “When you listen to what the customers are telling your sales team, exhaust those questions through well-written content, and then produce a lot of high quality content that can ensure that you can always stay top of mind with the customers that you're trying to target.” Tune into what your sales team is hearing from customers about questions they have, concerns, and more, and channel that into your content.Quotes*”It's about authenticity. You can hear that these are real experiences. It's things that they've tried. Jason [Lemkin] can say these things because he's been in the trenches. That to me is the people I want to listen to. It's people who have done things themselves that you can trust that  it might not be a universal truth, but it's at least something that they've tried themselves and experienced. And now they're sharing this story with you. “That's what really makes it convincing to me.”*”If you're sitting out there just wanting to get started, just find peace in doing one of those disciplines where you are a good writer or you're good at communicating verbally, or you do well on video. And just dip your toes in whatever of those that you feel that you're strongest in. And if you want to get started, you don't have to do all of those disciplines at once. If you like writing, just start by writing and see where that takes you.”*”The one thing we can control in marketing is that we can ensure that we have a high output of content and we can ensure that that content is of the highest quality all the time. So whether it's somebody who's making a decision whether to buy or not, whenever they're being exposed by a podcast that we've been part of, we know it's high quality. And that's probably what could be convincing that customer to move on with deciding whether they should be going with us or not. So high quality, high frequency output is something that we as marketers can always control.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Steffen Hedebrandt, Co-Founder & CMO of Dreamdata[2:18] The Power of Consistent Content Creation[4:18] Understanding Business Influencers[9:17] Building Personal Brands and Marketing Strategies[11:40] The Importance of Authenticity and POV[20:15] Experimentation and Content Strategy[24:32] Packaging Ideas for Easy Understanding[25:33] Getting Started with Content Creation[26:23] Identifying and Engaging Your Audience[27:36] Creating a Unique Point of View[30:00] Content Strategy at DreamData[31:53] High-Quality Content and Distribution[37:25] Measuring Marketing Success[41:36] Innovative Content Approaches[44:50] Introducing DreamData's Audience Hub[48:24] Final Advice for MarketersLinksConnect with Steffen on LinkedInLearn more about DreamdataAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

The Kardashians are masters of marketing. It’s the way they live. From their TV show to their individual brands like 818 Tequila, Good American and Skims, the Kardashians and Jenners are marketing themselves. So with the help of our special guest, Head of Marketing & Communications at Foursquare, Michele Morelli, we are taking marketing lessons from The Kardashians.We’ll talk about using the power of proximity, controlling your own narrative, and much more.About our guest, Michele MorelliMichele Morelli is Head of Marketing & Communications at Foursquare, where she oversees Foursquare’s efforts and strategy across product marketing, corporate communications, public relations, partner marketing, and design. Michele brings with her over 20 years of experience across numerous industries – including technology, finance, and media, at companies like Gartner, Yahoo and AOL. Prior to joining the company in 2021, Michele served as EVP of Marketing at Toluna Corporate.  What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Kardashians:Use the power of proximity. Reference and connect cultural touchpoints to your brand. It’s like how the Kardashians are close to the OJ Simpson trial, Paris Hilton, the Olympics, Kanye West…all cultural touchpoints that increase their awareness and brand recall in the public’s mind. Ian says, “It matters to be close to Hilton because everybody knows what a Hilton is. It matters to be close to the OJ Simpson case because everybody knew what that was. It matters to be close to the Olympics because everybody knew what that was. A lot of times in marketing, you're trying to figure out how you can leverage the power and the story of other things to do that sort of jiu jitsu, to take that energy and put that wind in your sail too and propel you forward.” Similarly, you can align your brand with other like-minded brands and cross-promote content. Michele says that “There's this cross-promotional audience blending that has happened simply because of who [the Kardashians] have aligned themselves with.”Control your own narrative. The Kardashians were able to control their story by creating their own reality show. Michele says, “Controlling the narrative is always incredibly important, but two, the consistency from which they hit the narrative is so important. Like, they know what they stand for, they know what the business is they want to promote, they know how to weave a narrative around it. In marketing where you want to control the message that goes out, if there's going to be a story that's written, how do you make sure that it's framed in the best possible light for your brand?” Quotes*”John Wanamaker was famous for the quote, ‘Half of my advertising spend is wasted, the only problem is I don't know which half.’ It is no longer true. I think we have a much better direction of how we are spending our money and where we're actually seeing movement. The question is what aperture you look at it with. Is it a week? Is it six weeks? Is it six months? So really making sure you have that right window to measure your media I think is also going to be very important.” - Michele Morelli*”What's really important from a brand perspective that I think Kim embodies is that if you are a legacy brand or a heritage brand, it is very difficult to move away from how people perceive you and what the core is. There's always a, ‘Yeah, but…’ when we talk about Kim. And I think for marketers, we see that if once you are thought of in one way, getting people to come along for the journey, that you're something different, especially if you're still doing that same thing is very, very difficult.” - Michele MorelliTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Michele Morelli, Head of Marketing & Communications at Foursquare[1:55] The Kardashians' Marketing Powerhouse[3:20] Foursquare's Marketing Strategy[5:2 The Origin of The Kardashians Show[8:13] The Evolution and Impact of The Kardashians[15:32] Marketing Takeaways from The Kardashians[18:38] The Power of Proximity in Marketing[36:10] The Kardashian Flywheel Effect[36:21] Kris Jenner: The Mastermind[37:56] The Ubiquity of the Kardashian Brand[45:54] The Evolution of Foursquare[51:18] Content Strategy and ROI[1:00:01] Embracing Technology in MarketingLinksWatch The KardashiansConnect with Michele on LinkedInLearn more about FoursquareAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

You may not think of people at work as your community, but they are. And when you build strong relationships with your community, you get more done. It’s more creative. It’s more resourceful. The results are just better.That’s one of the things we’re talking about today with the help of our special guest, Senior Director of Brand & Digital Marketing at Collibra, Victoria Bowman.Together, we take marketing lessons from Abbott Elementary, including partnering up with your coworkers, showing that you understand your audience, and testing your ideas before investing in them.About our guest, Victoria BowmanVictoria Bowman is an accomplished marketing leader with extensive experience building brands and accelerating growth in fast-paced award-winning companies, including Collibra, MITRE and Dell Technologies.She is Senior Director of Brand and Digital Marketing at Collibra, the leading data intelligence platform. Her team includes Brand and Creative, Digital & Websites, Social Media, Community and Marketing Operations. Victoria fosters a strong culture of trust and collaboration on her team, empowering impactful cross-functional work on campaigns, events, website optimization, thought leadership programs and evolution of the brand. Collibra was recently recognized with wins in multiple categories from both the MarCom Awards and Communicator Awards.At MITRE, a nonprofit which performs R&D on behalf of the federal government as well as industry partners, Victoria helped Strategic Communications navigate proper brand marketing in an organization dating back to 1958. Her primary focus was on relaunching mitre.org with a design system refresh and 90 net-new pages of concise content, as well as developing the employer brand and deploying high-impact campaigns to talent acquisition targets.As Director of Brand Marketing at Dell Boomi, a SaaS company within Dell Technologies, Victoria built and led large cross-functional teams of creatives and developers, relaunched the corporate website twice during her tenure, rebranded the company, and created infrastructure and improved processes that helped Dell Boomi to scale. These strategies enabled growth initiatives and lead-generating campaigns that resulted in direct, measurable business impact.Prior to working in tech / SaaS, Victoria held leadership roles in consumer packaged goods and online retail organizations. In those positions, she created innovative visual communications and marketing campaign strategies that effectively engaged B2B/B2C channels, planned and executed large events, expanded omnichannel brand awareness, and directly increased sales and customer retention.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Abbott Elementary:Partner up. Don’t feel like you have to operate alone. Working collaboratively with others results in a more thoughtful, creative, and unique outcome. Victoria says, “Relationships are crucial to your success. All of the characters on Abbott Elementary really rely on each other. And they've built trust by learning across generations and different backgrounds. And I think that culture of trust really is what fosters great partnership and creativity and innovation. Fostering connections and gaining that shared understanding and having mutual support is important, and the element of discovery that comes from all of those shared experiences.”Show that you understand your audience. Appeal to their values, concerns, frustrations and priorities. That’s when content “clicks” for them and you create an emotional bond. Victoria says, “Show that you understand and speak to and meet the needs of your audience. Exemplify that in your marketing, that you understand their problems, you understand their needs, that you are listening, that you're accessible.”Test. Try out new marketing strategies before really investing in them. Victoria says, “Be entrepreneurial. Try out new things. Experiment and test and improve the benefit before you sink budget and resources into something. That’s how new activities can turn into successful programs. Never lose that sense of curiosity and that entrepreneurial approach.”Quotes*”To be successful at content marketing, you cannot work in silos. It takes a village to do B2B marketing well, and that means keeping the communication flowing and building trust and having that open collaboration.”*”Bring your whole self to work; your creativity, your resilience and humor. You really, as a leader, should set an example of how to be open and curious and flexible and authentic because it is contagious and it will help you to build an amazing culture on your team.”*”Experiment often. Learn from what works and what doesn't work and keep iterating. Model for people what it looks like to learn from failures and keep moving forward with optimism and lessons learned. So make sure you celebrate the wins that you recognize the great work and you build on it.  Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Victoria Bowman, Senior Director of Brand & Digital Marketing at Collibra[5:49] About the creation of Abbott Elementary[9:49] Marketing Lessons from Abbott Elementary[23:34] The Power of Different Perspectives[24:20] Importance of Setting in Storytelling[24:43] Building Community and Brand Consistency[25:29] Content Strategy and Customer Engagement[28:45] Collaborative Marketing Efforts[35:51] Measuring Content ROI[42:12] Careers in Data Series[43:44] Victoria’s Upcoming ProjectsLinksConnect with Victoria on LinkedInLearn more about CollibraAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

If you know Quentin Tarantino’s movies, it’s probably not a huge surprise that he’s a fan of Spaghetti Westerns. Tarantino’s 2012 movie, Django Unchained, references Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 Spaghetti Western Django. But the tribute doesn’t stop there.There’s a scene in Django Unchained where a man asks Django how he spells his name. Django says, “The D is silent.” The man responds, “I know.” That man is Franco Nero, the actor who plays Django in the original 1966 movie. The two Djangos, 46 years apart, sitting side by side. This is what’s called intertextuality.It’s referencing, quoting or alluding to other content. And it helps increase views and engagement with your content.That’s one of the things we’re talking about today with Max Bard, VP of Content at Pray.com. Together, we’re taking lessons from Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino, like exploring outside of what is considered “brand safe,” incorporating intertextuality and getting nostalgic in your content.About our guest, Max BardMax Bard is an Executive Producer and the head of PRAY Studios, PRAY.COM’s content production arm. As the head of PRAY Studios, Max has produced over 5,500 original podcast episodes, audio books, and daily devotionals. Max has worked with Superbowl Champions like Drew Brees, Emmy Award winners like Dr Phil, and Grammy Award winners like Lecrae to create world-class content for the Christian audience.Prior to PRAY.COM, Max was the President of VideoFort, Hollywood’s largest supplier of aerial and nature stock footage to companies like Getty Images, Adobe, and Shutterstock. VideoFort content has been used in Academy Award winning films, Cannes Lion award winning commercials, and Emmy award winning TV shows.Max is from Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Southern California in 2014. After graduation Max pursued his dream of writing, directing, and editing film & video content in genres ranging from Drama to Advertising to Music Videos.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Quentin Tarantino:Explore outside of what is “brand safe”. Sure, you can play it safe and continue to make slow but steady growth. But the big growth happens when you take risks. Max says, “If you want to hit the home runs, you have to take the big risks. And if you don't, then you can take the easy route and you'll probably keep that steady baseline. But if you want to get that massive spike, I think you got to try something every once in a while. Take that big risk.”Incorporate intertextuality. That is, use references to other popular content. You’ll get more eyes on your content because you’re piggybacking on what is already in the public consciousness. Max says, “Some people say that Quentin Tarantino copies other films.. But he is inspired by films of the past and TV shows and music and culture. Brands could do that too, and it's like an Easter egg. It's really cool if you can incorporate that into your campaigns. It could be massive, especially when it comes to memorability.”Get nostalgic. Pull from fondly remembered content. Tugging on those heartstrings, or the content people see with rose-colored glasses, creates that positive association with your brand. Max says, “You can see this a lot in Tarantino's films.  I think a prime example is in Pulp Fiction when they enter Jack Rabbit Slims and they're walking around the restaurant and you see Marilyn Monroe in there and you see James Dean. The waitresses and the waiters are all people from the fifties.”Quotes*”He has this distinctive style that stands out. If you're going to a [Quentin] Tarantino film, you don't have to go in saying, ‘Hey, we're going to watch this Quentin Tarantino film.’ The moment that it starts, you're going to tell just from the visuals, from the cuts, from the camera work, that it is his. He has that immediate brand identity. That's a big part of your marketing, is having that memorable piece within your brand. This highlights the importance of developing a unique brand voice that can really help you stick out amongst this crowd of hundreds of other brands,”*”When you see these things that bring back positive memories, I think if you can do that with your branding, then whatever it is you're doing, whether it be a campaign or or a commercial spot, a Facebook ad, people will remember it better. And if they remember it better, ideally they'll purchase your product or want to work with you, or they'll have that positive brand association with you.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Max Bard, VP of Content at Pray.com[1:56] Discussing Quentin Tarantino's Films and Influence[6:21] Max's Role at Pray.com[16:30] About Quentin Tarantino's Unique Film Style[23:24] Marketing Takeaways from Tarantino[28:54] The Power of Over-the-Top Branding[30:27] Intertextuality: Borrowing from the Best[38:31] Nostalgia: Emotional Connection in Marketing[45:19] Familiar Voices: Leveraging Celebrity Power[50:34] Max’s Advice for other Marketing ProfessionalsLinksConnect with Max on LinkedInLearn more about Pray.comAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

What is the one thing that only your brand can bring to the table? Tapping into that thing is key to better messaging, better positioning, and better engagement.And here to help us sift out that marketing gold is our special guest, Content Marketing Manager at Varonis, Lexi Croisdale. Together we’re talking about the podcast New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce. Together, we’re pulling marketing lessons from it, like fighting where you can win, making your teammate the face of your content, and prioritizing social content.About our guest, Lexi CroisdaleLexi Croisdale is the Content Marketing Manager at Varonis. Prior to joining Varonis in May 2023, Lexi served as Senior Content Marketing Manager at higher education engagement platform Mongoose, where she developed and executed the company’s content and social media marketing strategies. She brings with her over 7 years of experience helping marketing teams across various industries make creative content.What B2B Companies Can Learn From New Heights:Make your teammate the face of your content. Who you choose depends on a handful of factors. Lexi says, “A lot of times, especially in content where you're like, ‘I have this video I want to create, but I need someone to be on camera.’ Like you always think of your CEO, or someone like that. But maybe the subject matter expert or like the specialist on your team is really good at public speaking and actually has the time and the bandwidth to also be that person. And then you kind of can create that personality internally.”Fight where you can win. What can you do that no one else can? For the Kelce brothers, they’re both elite NFL players, Superbowl winners and (obviously) brothers. That’s what makes the podcast special, and stand out among other football podcasts. Ian says, “As a lesson for marketers, they're doing something that only they can do. And it's like, when they talk about stuff, that's familial, it's only something that only they can talk about. Nobody else can have that sort of talk track.”Put social first. New Heights focuses strongly on social promotion. They cut the episode into clips that are distributed across social media channels which increases engagement, listenership and awareness of the podcast. Lexi says, “The editing style and the way that they go about it evolves with each episode, even though the template might be the same. They find a way to repurpose it and keep going without it just needing to tie to like, ‘Here's two brothers talking about football.” It’s a way that non-listeners find out about the show, and are drawn to their banter instead of just football content.Quotes*”Not every piece of content has to fit into a box or be the way that you thought it would be to build an audience. Like you just need to focus on delivering the content in the right way, and being relatable and having that niche outlook.”*”Just because you start [your content] some way doesn't mean it always has to be that exact thing. It can evolve as long as you keep the core tenets of it.”*”A lot of times, you put a lot of work into content or a campaign and it doesn't work. Like, it doesn't give you the ROI or the kind of results that you were hoping for. But if you sit back and you take that as a lesson and you just see it more as a learning experiment, something that you did and test it out and learned from instead of a failure, you're going to see a lot of growth in your creative strategy and how you're executing and adapting your content to fit your channels that you're posting it on.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Lexi Croisdale, Content Marketing Manager at Varonis[3:12] Varonis and Content Marketing Strategies[7:22] The Making of New Heights Podcast[14:32] Marketing Lessons from New Heights[26:41] The Power of Social-First Content[27:09] Engaging Guests and Evolving Content[29:01] The Importance of Social Clipping[30:58] Building an Audience Through Relatable Content[36:43] Content Strategy at Varonis[38:50] The Impact of Video Content[48:53] Advice for Content MarketersLinksConnect with Lexi on LinkedInLearn more about VaronisAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

You may know Sex and the City as a massive hit and content machine - and the reason everyone was drinking cosmopolitans. But you may not know that it started as an actual newspaper column.So let’s talk about how and why that one piece of content made a lasting mark on the cultural zeitgeist. And what we can take from the show and apply to our own marketing.In this episode, we’re talking about the Emmy Award-winning show with the Head of Content at Dandy, Rocky Rakovic. Together, we talk about how content marketing is like dating your audience, why style and design are important, and why it’s crucial to report back to the group.About our guest, Rocky RakovicRocky Rakovic is Head of Content at Dandy. He has been with the company since September 2022. Prior to Dandy, Rocky served as Director of Content & Community at Ro. He has also led content and brand activation for Time Out Group, and worked as Editor in Chief at Inked, and Editor at Playboy.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Sex and the City:Content marketing is like dating your audience. Rocky says, “You're courting the customer. You want to make sure that you find the right person. Ultimately what a marketer does is they play matchmaker between company and customer. And your ultimate goal is to look for a mutually beneficial relationship between the two.”Style and design are important. Once your messaging is tucked away, dial in the visual details. Rocky says, “If Carrie wore Crocs, I wonder if she would have had the same draw, if the show would have done that well. Fashion was such the fifth character - and maybe the city was the fifth and fashion was the sixth character in that show. And I've been in conversations like, ‘Let's just do the scrappy, quick and dirty video.’ And it's like, ‘Or we could take our time and do it right and have the design look [good].  And I just think good design, good look and feel really enhance whatever message you're giving.” He adds, “The quality of content speaks to the care that the company has in everything they deliver.”Report back to the group. Bring your content ideas back to your team for feedback. Rocky says, “In content creation, you gotta go off and do parts of it on your own. That's not gonna happen in a room or a Zoom, the really great stuff. But I think that you can come back to your team and say, ‘What do you think of this thing that I came up with?’ And if you've got a good team that you can trust, they'll be a great barometer.” It’s like how Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte all get together and talk about the guys they’re dating. It’s how they connect and process their romantic lives.Quotes*”You got to be a champion of your audience over everything else. Like as a marketer, you are translating the brand mission into pain points that you can tell your audience about that will help them. And you've got to feed back what you're hearing from that audience to the higher ups to explain like, ‘No, no, no, here's where we should be spending our time. Cause here's what potential customers and current customers are looking for.’” - Rocky Rakovic*”What we seek to create in content is not something great. It is something different. You need to create the thing that makes you unique at the party.” - Ian FaisonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Rocky Rakovic, Head of Content at Dandy[3:01] Dandy's Innovative Approach to Dentistry[6:54] Rocky's Career Journey[12:21] Sex and the City: Origins and Impact[30:12] Real Talk in 'Sex and the City'[32:32] Impact of HBO Shows[35:27] Design and Marketing Insights[40:34] Content Strategy and Audience Engagement[41:58] Creative Campaigns[47:58] Journalism in B2B MarketingLinksConnect with Rocky on LinkedInLearn more about DandyAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

It’s tempting to add some sauce to your content to give it flavor. But if the meat isn’t there, what’s the point? You have to make sure there’s substance to your work before adding style. That’s one of the things we talk about with Caroline Van Dyke.In this episode, we’re taking marketing lessons from Hot Ones with Caroline’s help. She’s the Head of Content at Skilljar. And together, we talk about making customers the star, focusing on the meat of the content, and much more.About our guest, Caroline Van DykeCaroline Van Dyke is Head of Content at customer education software company Skilljar. She is a content and creative strategist with more than 10 years experience leading B2B start-up content strategies. Her panache? Puns & a little personality can take brands up a notch. She joined Skilljar in October 2023, and previously worked in various leadership roles at RollWorks and Zugata (acquired by Culture Amp).What B2B Companies Can Learn From Hot Ones:Make customers the star. Highlight how your product is helping them. Use their voice in your content. Caroline says, “As a content creator in B2B spaces, when's the right time to make it like, ‘Hey, look at us and some personality on our team or thought leader.’ Is it actually helpful to other people in the audience? Or do you help them make their customers the stars and help give them that material?” It’s like how Sean Evans rarely talks about himself, because his focus is on elevating the guest and highlighting their work. Focus on the actual meat of the content. Educate, entertain, and drive value through the content first. Then you can think about making things visually appealing. But when you put style over substance, your content suffers. Caroline says, “Put that effort into what the actual meat of the content is. That's research, getting to know people, and then we're a little bit more forgiving of how things look. Yes, we want them to still be visually appealing and do your best, but gone are the days of pretending that spending all that money or time just on a facade of something is going to also equal great outcomes.” In Hot Ones, this means that the value is on the quality of the questions and research behind them, versus focusing on having a shiny, sparkly set. Quotes*”We're all just kind of raising this bar together of sameness. And so where can you go to get something a little bit different? And that's not to say that you don't also need that sea of sameness and stability and  important stuff. But what on top of it can you add?”*”You can't rip and replace a lot of this conversation around taking B2C and making it B2B. It's not one for one. And you'll see people do it poorly, unfortunately, of thinking, ‘Hey, a consumer likes this. So I'm just going to copy it exactly and somehow make the pun relate to my industry.’ If it doesn't land for your audience, respect that other program and don't duplicate it.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Caroline Van Dyke, Head of Content at Skilljar[2:44] Caroline Van Dyke's Role at SkillJar[3:41] The Origin Story of Hot Ones[5:41] The Unique Format and Success of Hot Ones[14:16] Analyzing the Interview Style of Hot Ones[23:38] The Trust Factor in Interviews[24:35] The Simplicity and Success of Hot Ones[26:17] Marketing Insights and Trends[27:11] Imitation and Innovation in Content[28:04] The Importance of Authenticity[32:03] Balancing Creativity and Strategy[35:18] Content Strategy at SkillJar[41:18] The Future of B2B ContentLinksWatch Hot OnesConnect with Caroline on LinkedInLearn more about SkilljarAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

B2B content is often impersonal. It may be clean and polished and dialed in, much like an F1 race car. But as pretty as it is, it may blend into all the rest. But if you let your audience under the hood, that’s how you win them over. You show them your personality, that there are real people behind the brand.That’s one of the things we’re talking about today as we take marketing lessons from Drive to Survive. All with the help of the VP of Global Executive Marketing at Salesforce, Kexin Chen. Together, we talk about letting people under the hood, how confusion equals no sale, and tapping into new channels to open to the door to new audiences.About our guest, Kexin ChenKexin Chen is VP of Global Executive Marketing. In her role, she leverages the latest advancements in media, customer advocacy, and storytelling to spark engagement with CEOs and their leadership team. She’s run high profile programs like the Olympics, F1, and Cannes for C-Suite leaders to collaborate and share their authentic stories of driving change in business, industry, and society.Prior to Salesforce, Kexin was the second marketing hire at NextRoll where she built and scaled the marketing functions from the ground up.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Drive to Survive:Tap into new channels, open the door to new audiences. Go where your target audience is. If it’s social media, release content on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, etc. That’s often where you’ll find your younger audience members. Kexin says, “[Liberty Media has] done a really good job with focusing on digital engagement and stepping out of how do we actually not just think about the TV broadcast, but also think about all the social channels we have and get these drivers out on TikTok, on Snap, to reach that younger audience?”Confusion = no sale. It’s simple: your audience won’t buy what they don’t understand. So make it as easily understood as possible. Use their language. And if there’s jargon, explain it. Ian says, “You have to simplify  Everything to its most elemental sort of level. They had to demystify what Formula 1 was to explain like what this whole thing is.” And demystifying Formula 1 has transformed their audience. A 2021 Nielsen study says, “The fanbase has almost doubled since 2017. During that period, the average age of Formula 1 viewers dropped by four years, to 32, and female participation has doubled.”Let people under the hood. The success of Drive to Survive relies on the film crew’s ability to get up close and personal with the Formula 1 drivers. To be so ever-present that the teams forget the film crew is there, and be their most authentic selves. This gives viewers a real look at what it means to be an F1 driver. Ian says, “The mentality for this sort of stuff is like, ‘Well, if we let them under the hood, what if they see something bad?’ And it's like, ‘What if we don't let them under the hood and then they never come back?’” The idea is that by letting people under the hood, you attract the right audience and make that product-market fit that lasts. So show people an authentic view of your company and product, and gain your audience’s trust through transparency.Quotes*”If we are just trying to sell to [our audience], it's not going to work. And so we have to ensure that we're balancing educating them on the value of our platform and why it's going to completely change their organization. But also we want to build a really trusted relationship and figure out how to arm them with what it's going to take for them to actually be the champion and the star at their organization for bringing Salesforce.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet VP of Global Executive Marketing at Salesforce, Kexin Chen[1:44] Impact of Drive to Survive on Formula 1[2:48] Kexin Chen's Role at Salesforce[4:40] The Marketing Miracle of Drive to Survive[7:40] The Human Element in Sports Marketing[14:15] Global Expansion and Strategy of Formula 1[24:49] Engaging Executives and Building Communities[33:20] Final ThoughtsLinksWatch Drive to SurviveConnect with Kexin on LinkedInLearn more about SalesforceAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Have you ever predicted your next campaign’s success with uncanny accuracy? You will. That’s because we’re bringing you marketing lessons this week from AT&T’s “You Will” campaign with the help of our special guest, Rokt CMO Doug Rozen.Together, we talk about demonstrating the future, using intrigue as a marketing tool, closing your copy strong, and increasing the frequency of your ads.About our guest, Doug RozenAs Chief Marketing Officer at Rokt, Doug Rozen leads strategy & execution for all Rokt’s global go to market efforts. Known for seamlessly exploiting the intersection of creativity, technology and data, Doug has been recognized globally for transforming companies through change & removing barriers in the business world. He’s been fortunate to be part of many major industry firsts and has become a trusted, go-to adviser in delivering modern marketing for some of the world’s greatest brands. Prior to joining Rokt, Doug served as CEO of dentsu Media, where he was responsible for 4,350+ media experts and $20+ billion in media at Carat, iProspect, dentsu X, 360i & beyond. Before dentsu Media, Doug was the first Chief Media Officer at 360i, where he helped them become a Forrester leader, MediaPost Agency of the Year, & AdAge A-list agency. He joined 360i from OMD, where he led digital & innovation activities globally at a critical period in our industry. Before Omnicom, Doug served as Chief Innovation Officer & General Manager at Meredith & created Carlson Marketing’s global agency unit including creative, media, mobile & social offerings. He also helped guide its acquisition by Aimia. Earlier, Doug served as Senior Partner & Managing Director at WPP's JWT, where as one of the first digital leaders he established digital@jwt and combined it with other direct and data offerings. Doug is a vocal cancer survivor and proud advocate for Stand Up to Cancer. He holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has studied ecommerce at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and artificial intelligence at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Doug is an avid cyclist and skier, living in Connecticut with his wife, daughter and son.What B2B Companies Can Learn From AT&T’s “You Will” Campaign:Demonstrate the future. Show your audience the benefit of doing business with you. Give them a visual of the time saved or frustrations avoided by using your product. Ian says, “It speaks to the simplicity of consumer experience and product experience. [Identifying] pain points of, ‘Hey, this thing is annoying. I bet you something will fix that.’” And Doug adds, “I think as a marketer, part of my job is to help, both internally and externally, audiences understand the future and be ready for it. And so I think a key component of this campaign is that ability to predict the future. And have a point of view.”Intrigue is a powerful tool. Make your audience question and think about the possibilities if they were to buy your product. Start with a question. In the AT&T “You Think” campaign, they started each ad with something like: “Have you ever kept an eye on your home when you’re not at home?” Asking a question gets your audience engaged immediately by thinking of their answer. Have a strong close. This campaign is called the “You Will” campaign for a reason. Because each ad spot ended with the phrase, “You Will. And the company that will bring it to you: AT&T.” This campaign became iconic not just for its futuristic predictions, but for its strong copy. Doug says, “These commercials and these messages closed an ad as good as any I've ever seen. To me, this felt less like ads and more like little pieces of content.” Increase the frequency of your ads. Include two or three examples of the benefits of your product. It’s essentially fitting multiple ads in one, and uses the power of repetition. In each ad from the AT&T “You Will” campaign, they asked three questions. For example, “Have you ever opened doors with the sound of your voice, carried your medical history in your wallet, or attended a meeting in your bare feet?” And each question suggested a new technology AT&T was working on. Doug says, “A 30-second commercial would have three of them in a row. And so they get two or three of these in what was a standard spot length. And so you got frequency as part of that as well, which is just brilliant.”Quotes*”I don't care if it's 1 second, 5 seconds, 20 seconds or 20 minutes. Good pieces of content, branded content, need a beginning, middle, and end. And I think that's what [the AT&T “You Will”] campaign has. And I'd say 90 percent of campaigns don't have that. ”*”A key component of story building is data. The fact that research was the foundation to which then the stories came to life. I think a lot of times, building a story is about having that data and doing something with it in a really interesting way. And being okay that we don't know how to solve it, but we're going to craft a story about our role, even though we're in the process of solving it. That's bold.”*”I think it's important for all marketers to believe in your product. If you don't, then I think you're going to be missing the passion and zest that is necessary to be a good marketer. If you don't, how do you find the magic? To me, the magic is what makes marketing great.”*”That's such an important factor in today's marketing landscape, is just to know who you are, and more importantly, know who you're not. And if you're going to make a moment, really make it stand out and, and really trust yourself.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Rokt CMO Doug Rozen[1:51] The Impact of Storytelling vs. Story Building in Marketing[3:43] The Genius Behind Predicting the Future: AT&T's Marketing Mastery[15:35 Exploring the Role of Data in Product Success[22:04] Unveiling Brand Identity and the Power of Category Creation[23:16] The Art of Timeless Campaigns and Content Marketing Mastery[23:41] Reviving Classic Campaigns: A Nostalgic Marketing Strategy[24:27] The Evolution of AT&T's Marketing Strategy: A Case Study[25:22] The Impact of Leadership Changes on Marketing Campaigns[25:41] Sustaining Iconic Ad Campaigns and Brand Identity[30:40] The Strategic Shift in Marketing Approach at Rokt[33:03] Leveraging Employee Influence in Content Strategy[35:00] The Future of E-commerce and Content Marketing[41:37] Content Strategy Insights for CMOsLinksConnect with Doug on LinkedInLearn more about RoktAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

B2B marketers take themselves so seriously. A little self-deprecating humor wouldn’t go amiss. It makes your brand more relatable, your content more shareable, and builds trust by acknowledging your brand’s imperfections.  That’s one of the things we’re talking about today with Reveal CMO Isaac Morehouse. Together, we’re taking marketing lessons from the Emmy-nominated show, Silicon Valley, including using self-deprecating humor, showing the hero’s journey, and trusting your audience’s intelligence.About our guest, Isaac MorehouseIsaac Morehouse is the CMO of Reveal and nearbound.com, working to bring the era of Nearbound to B2B Go-To-Market. He believes that trust is the new data and the future of business isn’t about more crappy sales calls, ads, and spammy SEO-optimized content, but genuine connection to those buyers have faith in.He founded and now serves as an advisor to Praxis, and Career Hackers, and opting out of the education and career status quo to be your own credential remains near and dear to his heart.Isaac is dedicated to the relentless pursuit of freedom. He loves writing, building companies, his wife and four kids, a good cigar, and getting angry about sports.He’s given hundreds of talks and interviews, written over 2,500 articles, authored or edited eleven books, and helped thousands of people launch their careers and dozens of businesses tell their stories. He is a firm believer in learning out loud and daily commitment to creation.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Silicon Valley:Make fun of yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously - create self-deprecating content to make your audience laugh. Isaac says, “Content marketers, this is such a missed opportunity if you're not doing this. Make fun of yourself, make fun of your market, make fun of your marketing. Don't be precious. Accept and amplify the criticisms. The inevitable objections, if you can surface those ahead of time, get those up front in marketing. Poke fun at the things that you know people are going to poke fun at behind your back anyway.”Show the hero’s journey. Don’t just try to sell your product. Instead tell a story your product plays a part in, and include a beginning, middle and end. Isaac says, “It's so easy as content marketers to forget that very basic thing. Like, every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Every story should have a protagonist and should follow the journey. Make sure you're not losing that and just doing like, ‘Here's our product,’ right? Tell the story. That's what people can relate to. That's where they feel seen. If you're telling a story of a person facing adversity and achieving an outcome, I think [Silicon Valley] does that really well.”Don’t underestimate your audience’s intelligence. Don’t shy away from discussing technical or complicated topics, but do it in a way that’s understandable for anyone. Isaac says, “[Silicon Valley] does a phenomenal job of not running away from some of the complicated, complex concepts or insider jargon. I mean, they have discussions about, you know, letters of intent and legal contracts and stock preference stacks and waterfalls with exits. That's very insider lingo. They don't shy away from it. Because that's what makes it real and believable. But they do it in such a way that makes it understandable. Like if it's confusing, it's your fault as the content creator. You have to find a way. And this show does such a brilliant job of explaining these concepts in such a way that even outsiders can get the gist of it.”Quotes*”I think it all starts with the core of knowing your market, living in market. [Mike Judge] nails the little slice of the world that he’s trying to satirize so, so well. And I think with satire especially, you can only do it well when you are the subject you're satirizing. Like, someone from the outside trying to make fun of a group that they're not part of, it's going to come off as offensive. They're going to get some things wrong. But when you're able to make fun of the little cluster of the world that you live in yourself, you're going to get it so much more right. And it's going to be so much funnier. And at the same time, the redeeming qualities are captured.”*”For me, living in market is so crucial and the best way to live in market Is with a forcing function of daily creation. Because I know that's the only way I'm going to be close enough to the market and what's happening. If I have to come up with content every single day to put in this newsletter, I've got to figure out, ‘Where are the watering holes. What are people talking about? What are the conversations?’ And then I'm going to have to do near bound marketing, which means bringing other voices in, reaching the market through the voices they already trust.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Reveal CMO Isaac Morehouse[4:54] Behind the Scenes of Silicon Valley: Creation and Comedy[20:58] Content Marketing Insights: Humor, Realness, and the Hero's Journey[31:05] The Power of Storytelling in Marketing[32:14] Embracing the Hero's Journey in Business[32:54] Lessons from Silicon Valley: Making Complex Concepts Accessible[37:33] The Importance of Trust and Expertise in Content Creation[48:21] Building Nearbound: A New Approach to Partnerships[51:56] Executing a Community and Content Vision[56:21] Final Thoughts on Trust and Influence in MarketingLinksConnect with Isaac on LinkedInLearn more about RevealAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

There’s no shame in taking one good idea and reusing it. In continuing to improve and tweak it to get more juice for the squeeze. Especially when you’re struggling to come up with something new.That’s what J.R.R. Tolkien did in The Lord of the Rings. When asked for “more hobbits” by his publishers, Tolkien had to get crafty. Because he never meant for The Hobbit to have a sequel. That’s one of the things we’re talking about today with the Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, Ryan Law. With Ryan’s help, we’re chatting about the power of iteration, world-building around your product, and much more.About our guest, Ryan LawRyan Law is Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs. He is a content marketer that’s worked with both startups and enterprise companies, including Google, GoDaddy, Clearbit, ProfitWell and Hotjar.Before Ahrefs, Ryan was CMO at the remote content marketing agency Animalz where he generated over 2 million pageviews for the Animalz blog, and ran workshops with companies like Andreessen Horowitz, Writer, Drift, Clearscope, Wynter, and BrightonSEO. He has co-founded a marketing agency, freelanced as a marketing consultant and copywriter, reviewed beers, designed t-shirts and tended bar. He is also the author of two novels, the host of the Ash Tales podcast, an amateur landscape photographer, and the guitarist for The Schrödinger Effect.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Lord of the Rings:Iterate, iterate, iterate. When you have one good idea, continue to work on it, improve it and iterate on it. Ryan says, “Much like Tolkien, all the best ideas are kind of iterative evolutions of previous and frankly worse ideas as well. And you see that in Lord of the Rings, I think. I love The Hobbit to bits, but in some ways it does feel like the MVP of The Lord of the Rings. You know, there are decisions that he made in that narrative that weren't quite fleshed out and didn't quite make sense that he then changed a little bit in the full series of books.”Build a world bigger than your product. You’re not just trying to make a sale. You’re trying to immerse your audience in your brand and culture. Ryan says, “Some portion of every company's marketing effort should go into the world building that surrounds their brand. You know, creating things that further their beliefs and their ethos and creating opinions and ideas that are not sales assets, but are just plain interesting and share how they think about the world as well.”Quotes*“Tolkien does it without being really ham fisted with exposition. He doesn't laboriously explain the history of everything and how it all interacts. He teases at it and he hints at it and he reveals it through the dialogue of characters. I think that's deeply rewarding for the reader. You're not spoon fed this stuff, you make the connections yourself, you're brought along the journey and he gives you credit for discovering this huge mythos and history beneath it. And that's a wonderful thing to do, not assume the reader is an idiot, but just write the things you find interesting, let them find the secrets that they're going to find for themselves. It's so deeply rewarding.”*“Search demands that you basically write to the consensus. Like there is a set body of information it expects you to share, and it rewards companies that show consensus with other articles. And I think good thought leadership is in some ways the opposite of that. You are challenging truisms, you're talking about the things that no one else is talking about. So the thing I'm trying to do at the moment is, I think a more fruitful framework for thinking about that is talking about information gain. So if you're writing SEO content, you still have to cover the core topic, but you can think, ‘What new stuff can I add to that?’ It's like an additive process. What new subject matter quotes or what new subtopics can we cover? What new research can we do? Cause it's very hard to reconcile those two from my experience.”*”Opinions are one of the most important things we're finding in content at the moment. A lot of people are very used to content marketing basically hedging bets. Nobody wants to say something very definitive. Mainly because content marketers, myself included, we're not experts in the things we're writing about. And we are, I think, wary of saying something that's wrong. And that generally leads to not saying anything at all. Being brave and willing to share a defensible opinion, that's something we're trying to do in all of our content, because it's a real differentiator and it's a good way of standing out when every other company is letting people make their own decision. Never make people think. Tell them what you're thinking yourself. ”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs[4:34] Exploring Tolkien's Creative Process and Challenges[9:39] Content Creation Insights and B2B Marketing Takeaways[17:10] The Power of Storytelling and Building a Rich World[23:11] Human Connections and Their Impact on B2B Marketing[27:29] Exploring Book Titles and Author Insights[28:16] B2B Marketing Insights from Fantasy Literature[28:49] Long-Term Content Strategy and Its Impact[31:54] The Evolution of Content Marketing in Large Companies[33:42] The Importance of Serialized Content in B2B[44:12] Exploring the ROI of Creative Content Marketing[50:04] Final Thoughts on Marketing and CreativityLinksConnect with Ryan on LinkedInLearn more about AhrefsAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

The fastest growing entertainment industry is not music and it’s not film. It’s video games. And they’re doing a lot of things right when it comes to marketing.Ever since arcades opened in the 1970s and Pong became popular, video games drew in a massive audience. So let’s talk about how the industry draws in all the eyes, ears, and thumbs.  In this episode, we’re chatting with the VP of Marketing at Hackuity, Skyler Schmanski. Together, we talk about how spending money doesn’t equal making money, and making money doesn’t equal business efficiency, and much more.About our guest, Skyler SchmanskiSkyler Schmanski is the VP of Marketing at Hackuity, formerly Head of the Marketing Innovation Lab at Tenable, and – prior to acquisition – Deputy Chief Marketing Officer at Alsid. He is also the Executive Producer of the award-winning, #1 tech podcast, The Hacker Chronicles, and a LinkedIn Top Cybersecurity Voice with extensive experience in demand gen and growth hacking across hypergrowth tech startups, scaleups, and multinationals. After calling France home for more than eight years, Skyler is now growing EU businesses from Madrid. What B2B Companies Can Learn From the Video Game Industry:Spending more doesn’t equal making more money. Making money depends on the efficacy of your campaigns; grabbing your audience's attention, speaking directly to them, and engaging them. And you can do that on a lean budget. Skyler says, ”When you drop 10 years and $500 million on a project, that doesn't always translate to a better project. Sometimes you see these lean teams of 10 to 20 people on $10 million producing something higher quality. And so I think there's that balance to strike there that yes, that unprecedented level of investment is a good thing, but it's not enough to simply grow your teams and grow your budgets in 2024. You need to be doing it smartly. Efficiency is the name of the game, pun absolutely intended, in 2024.”Making more money doesn’t equal business efficiency. Focus first on operating efficiently before investing in a larger team. Skyler says, “Maybe if you are hitting 50% of the same revenue that you'd be hitting with 50 people at five people, well, that’s remarkably more efficient. And in that case, you definitely want the more agile team and direct link to the studio culture we were talking about, where you just see this constant inflow of contractors. When you come back to that minimum viable product from a team structure standpoint, you start to think, ‘Okay, how do we operate as efficiently as possible?’ And then you build from that.”Quotes*”People would say, ‘Under promise, over deliver.’ I don't wade into that. I would say, ‘Promise and then deliver.’ It's as simple as that. You cut the BS, you cut the fluff. And if what you say works, works, you're going to have a pretty happy client base.”*”It's not ‘Do more with less.’ It’s ‘Do less things better.’”*”I'm a big proponent of ‘Done is better than perfect.’ So I'm not saying that you need that 4k texture pack and everything is flawless. Especially when you're a startup or a scale up, you're working toward a grander vision. And I think people are very willing to forgive some of the glitchiness if the underlying product is working, if it's delivering results.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Skyler Schmanski, VP of Marketing at Hackuity[3:21] The Evolution and Impact of the Video Game Industry[8:24] The Shift in Game Development: From Perfection to Patching[21:00] Marketing Insights from the Gaming World[22:14] Evolving Budgets in Cybersecurity and Gaming[22:50] Marketing Agility and Team Efficiency[24:06] The Essential: Making Games That Work[24:22] Marketing Strategies: From Email to Engagement[25:52] Under Promise, Over Deliver: A Marketing Mantra[29:00] The Power of Authenticity in Product Development[30:13] Innovative Content Strategies in Cybersecurity[32:07] Leveraging Thought Leadership for Brand Growth[34:42] Future Marketing Strategies and Cross-Media Impact[36:40] Closing Thoughts on Creativity and StorytellingLinksConnect with Skyler on LinkedInLearn more about HackuityAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

In the early 2000s, showrunners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were pitching ideas for sitcoms to CBS. And on only their second pitch, they struck gold. Why?Bays said, “It’s like the whole idea of ‘Write what you know.’ If you’re going to pitch someone and say, ‘Give me millions of dollars to write 100 or 200 episodes, you better have material. … Mine your life.”In this episode, we’re taking a look at the result: their Emmy nominated show, How I Met Your Mother. And with the help of our guest, Director of Content Marketing at AssemblyAI, Kelly Moon, we’re talking about marketing lessons from the show, including standing out, knowing your end goal, showing social proof that others trust you, and being the thing people want to come back to.About our guest, Kelly MoonKelly Moon is Director of Content Marketing at AssemblyAI. There, she builds and leads a team of content marketers who are focused primarily on increasing web traffic, and boosting signups and talk-to-sales hand-raisers. She serves as a key member of AssemblyAI's senior leadership team, driving the organization's content marketing strategy, and rolling up her sleeves to write copy and direct content across AssemblyAI’s website, social, email, customer stories/videos, and more. She also analyzes and monitors content effectiveness and holds each piece to the highest standard, and builds an internal and external content production team and develops a comprehensive content calendar designed to boost awareness, traffic, engagement, and conversions. Prior to joining Assembly AI in August 2023, Kelly served as Head of Content at in-app communications API platform, SendBird. She has also worked at Twilio as Director of Content Marketing & Organic Growth. What B2B Companies Can Learn From How I Met Your Mother:Stand out. Be refreshingly unique for your audience. Kelly says, “So many B2B companies struggle with standing out. In order to be memorable, we have to be different. Be different in our voice, tone and in our philosophy. Don't regurgitate what similar businesses are doing. But I think a lot of businesses struggle with actually executing on this. And they can do that by taking a stance on an issue, voicing their perspective on a hot topic, highlighting their in-house experts, and doing it with a sense of humor and lightness. And I think that's where How I Met Your Mother really nailed it. Because they would cover complex or emotional topics, but then there was always some levity toward the end to really balance things out.”Know your end goal. And work tirelessly to make that vision come to life. Kelly says, “When I think about content, I think about not creating siloed content and knocking one tactic out at a time, which is a problem I've seen in a lot of organizations. Instead, look at the entire journey and the story end to end in the same way that How I Met Your Mother producers knew what the end was going to be and all the episodes led up to that. So when it comes to content and just marketing in general, look at the entire journey end to end from a user's perspective and then figure out how each touchpoint connects to deliver an amazing experience.”Show social proof that others trust you. It helps build people’s confidence in your brand. Kelly says, “Show the world that others have decided that you're worth their time. And then after they've converted and decided to invest in you, how are you supporting them? And how are you giving them opportunities to provide feedback and respond to how things can be better?”Be the thing people always want to come back to. Prove your value beyond your product. Kelly says, “In the world of content marketing, it's not enough to just be about one topic. Go deeper and look at the related topics that people are interested in learning more about. As an example, say somebody wants to become a baker. They have ingredients at home to bake cupcakes, so they do some research on how to bake a cupcake, right? But it's not enough to just produce content or assets that just talk about how to bake a cupcake. You have to also talk about what types of cupcakes you can bake, what tools you should consider investing in versus not investing in, tips on keeping the cupcakes fresh… There are multiple pieces of content you can create to offer this complete package and resource of information for somebody.”Quotes*”I always challenge writers to think about what their angle is. I'll use an Assembly AI example. It's not enough to just be like, ‘What is a good speech to text model?’ You have to make sure that the piece of content is really layered and it's comprehensive. How can we make a piece of content really comprehensive? Because somebody that's thinking about a speech-to-text model is likely thinking about a bunch of other questions after that. And you have to make sure that you're not only considering all of those things, but that you then cover it in a way that's unique and there's some kind of a hook. And it has to have takeaways. What can they learn from it? What can they take with them?” - Kelly Moon*”My content strategy is showing up where people are and having a vested interest in what matters to them. And then delivering really useful information that people are actively looking for from the start of their journey until the end. We're building a foundation of trust with people. They’re going to remember us as a no-nonsense helper and hopefully leader. And then when they are ready to build with us, they're going to remember us because we were the ones who were there for them while other people were giving them a sales pitch.” - Kelly MoonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Kelly Moon, Director of Content Marketing at AssemblyAI[2:02] Exploring Assembly AI with Kelly Moon: The Power of Speech AI Models[4:12] The Genesis of How I Met Your Mother: From Concept to Cult Classic[14:56] Marketing Lessons from How I Met Your Mother: Standing Out and Storytelling[26:26] Diving Deep into Character Auditions and Acting Choices[27:59] Celebrating Iconic Actors and Memorable Performances[29:51] Navigating Complex Relationships and Character Arcs[34:15] The Art of Crafting Catchphrases and Memorable Moments[38:19] Exploring Content Strategy with Assembly AI[45:30] Harnessing the Power of Speech AI for Business Innovation[48:15] Parting Wisdom for Content Creators and MarketersLinksWatch How I Met Your MotherConnect with Kelly on LinkedInLearn more about AssemblyAIAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Vanderpump Rules is proof that a spinoff can not only be hugely successful, but be its own Sexy Unique Content. Not only did the show capitalize on the success of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but on the star power of Lisa Vanderpump.Those are a few of the things we’re talking about today with the Senior Content & Communications Manager at UserGems, Amber Rhodes. Together, we explore the marketing lessons of Vanderpump Rules, including capitalizing on the moment, using character-driven storytelling, and much more. About our guest, Amber RhodesAmber Rhodes is Senior Content & Communications Manager at UserGems. She joined the company in December 2021 as a Content Marketing Specialist. She is also the host of the podcast Everything’s Coming Up Marketing. Amber previously served as a Content Strategist at EmberTribe and a Communications Specialist at Galactic Fed. Outside of work, she likes to watch reality TV, read and hang out with her beagle.  What B2B Companies Can Learn From Vanderpump Rules:Capitalize on the moment. Take advantage of what’s working or effective and make the most of it. Lean into that strategy or tactic and see where it takes you. Ian says, “A lot of marketers try to capitalize on the moment, when they're trend-jacking or doing things like that. And you see a lot of great marketers creating moments, too.” Vanderpump Rules is a great example of capitalizing on the moment, because Bravo was seeing the success of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and combined that with the screen time and star power of Lisa Vanderpump to create a massive hit they knew would work, because it had already been proven popular on Real Housewives.If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you are already seeing results with your marketing, keep it going. Amber says that for your audience, “Sometimes people just like what's comfortable. They like the consistency, the repetition, the comfort. They like coming back to the same things. You don't need to always push it.” This applies to Vanderpump Rules too. Amber says, “The original cast is pretty much what stuck around. There was a time where they tried to add in new people and the audience was not having it. There was something about the lightning in the bottle of the original cast, and when they tried to add in other people and manufacture drama in that way, it just didn’t work.”Use character-driven storytelling. Focus on the people, their personal stories, their drama. Ian says, “The character is the key thing here. And in the B2B world, we are trying to create characters out of real people, out of the CIO or the VP of data. And we do an absolute crap job of creating the character a lot of times. They’re not quirky, they’re not weird. They aren’t mean or spiteful. They don't do all the things that make people human. And I think if we stop telling stories with rose-colored glasses, then perhaps we would find more authentic storytelling and more believable storytelling. Tell stories that have thorns, not just roses.” Vanderpump Rules is compelling because it explores a range of human emotion, not just the positive. Quotes*”I'm trying to find the feedback loop between social and content. How do we use content to distribute on social? How do we use social to listen to conversations that should then be content that we are creating? And create that wheel so that we're always having fresh conversations about the topics that we need to educate our audience on.”*”Original research is going to be a big differentiator for content teams. We'll ask the questions the same way that you do. No one else will be able to put your own spin on that data like you do.”*”I think that probably the best thing that you could do is ask for help early and often. You'll want to prove yourself [as a new content marketer], but there's only so much that you can actually know. So I think asking a lot of questions early and often, and getting used to setting expectations only helps everyone.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Amber Rhodes, Director of Content & Communications at UserGems[2:37] Exploring UserGems: Innovations in B2B Marketing[4:11] The Vanderpump Phenomenon: Lessons for Marketers[10:46] Marketing Mastery: Capitalizing on Moments and Character-Driven Storytelling[19:50] Behind the Scenes at UserGems: Content Strategy and Impact[31:11] Advice for B2B MarketersLinksWatch Vanderpump RulesConnect with Amber on LinkedInLearn more about UserGemsAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

In a world with lots of content noise, play to the silences. Let your messaging be simple and clear, and even short. In this episode, we’re learning from the musician who let there be simplicity and space. Who played his trumpet in a sparse style so that each note was beautiful and carefully chosen. That’s Miles Davis.And with our special guest, Ben Lempert, Director of Content & Web at Heap, we’re talking about creating simple messaging, capturing different voices, leaving room for spontaneity, and the importance of feeling in your marketing.About our guest, Ben LempertBen Lempert is Director of Content & Web at Heap. He has been there for over 4 years, having joined in August 2019 as Head of Corporate Marketing. During his time in his current role, Ben has built a Thought Leadership Content Hub to curate all of Heap’s content and facilitate the stages of the buyer's journey, created the Heap Digital Insights Report, which generated thousands of leads and a 50% increase in content downloads, created the Digital Experience Insights Report series, which generated 6000+ downloads and bylines in Forbes and VentureBeat, developed creative initiatives including the Heap Comic Book and the Heap Explainer video series,  grew SEO traffic from 0 to 29,000+ visitors/month, increased social media followers by 100% over three successive years, and grew PR SOV 25% QoQ for nine successive quarters. He has over 10 years of experience in content strategy, brand, comms, creative, editing, and leadership.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Kind of Blue:Create simple messaging. Distill your message into plain but pointed language directed at your particular audience. Ben says, “What people respond to in Kind of Blue, and I think what people often respond to best in good content, is a simple, clear, open, direct message. I think a lot of companies get very complex in talking about the nuances of their solution and the technical advantages their product offers. I think it's worth it in the content world for most companies to think about what your fundamental message is, whether that's one sentence or one paragraph or four words. What's the thing that people will respond to that explains what you do and why it matters in a unique way? It's very hard to get to. I don't think many companies do it well. It's very easy to come up with something that's too abstract to be meaningful.”Capture different voices. Feature quotes from both your customers and colleagues in your content. Gather info and input from all of them and work it into your content. You don’t have to operate all alone on a marketing island. Ben says, “Jazz, like content, is a team activity. I think one of the great things about Kind of Blue is that there's room for lots of individual voices. When we think about representing our company through our content, it's worth recognizing that there are plenty of voices across the company. And they all have different ways of expressing what's important. So it's okay to vary the voice and story you're telling, as long as you have a fundamental story that is simple and clear. What's on top of it involves orchestrating these different voices in a way that hits people in different ways and allows for nuance and complexity to be added to your story.”Leave room for spontaneity. Yes, get your work done. But then leave a little time to experiment and play. Ben says, “We are all extraordinarily busy. But sometimes the best marketing comes from carving out time for free form group thinking. Brainstorming, coming up with ideas that are new and off the wall, having that be a prompt.”Mood and feeling matter. Instead of getting into the nitty gritty technical details, focus on how you make the customer feel. Ben says, “Kind of Blue has that impact on you because of the way it sounds. You're not listening to every single note and you're not listening to Coltrane saying, ‘Oh, he played a flat 13 there. Whoa, that's wild!’ It impacted you on a deeper, more emotional level. And we often forget that as content writers, that our audience are not robotic automatons. They're people. And we want to hit their emotions. That's where you reach people.” So ask yourself, “How do I want to make my audience feel?”Quotes*”[Kind of Blue] is one of the very few jazz records that most people who are not jazz fans own and listen to actively. And I think there are lots of reasons for that. And I think that gives us a pretty interesting lens for thinking about how content works, given that lots of content is directed towards people who may not be aware of the intricacies of your technical solutions, but still want to be compelled by what you have to say and want to be interested in it.” - Ben Lempert*”Miles was famous for having a very sparse style, very much interested in playing space. And for him, he was very actively thinking about how to play the silence and the space between notes as much as he was playing the actual notes. So he was super minimalist, would play one or two notes, but they would be absolutely beautiful and absolutely brilliant and took a sort of courage to play those one or two notes that very few musicians have. It's much easier to play a lot of notes and hope you get something right. It's much harder to have that one pithy statement and let it hang there.” - Ben Lempert*”Always strive to create a simple, communicable foundation that ideally everyone in the company can embody. And when the audience receives it, they understand right away. And then you build complexity on top of that.” - Ben LempertTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Ben Lempert, Director of Content & Web at Heap[4:37] Ben Lempert's Journey from Jazz Musician to Director of Content[8:47] The Making of Kind of Blue: A Revolutionary Jazz Album[10:20] Miles Davis' Vision and the Birth of Modal Jazz[23:59] Kind of Blue's Legacy and Impact on Jazz and Beyond[28:24] Exploring the Creative Process and Expectations[29:51] The Power of Minimalism in Music and Marketing[33:44] Improvisation: Jazz Lessons for Conversational and Creative Skills[36:12] Marketing Wisdom from Jazz: Simplicity, Emotion, and Spontaneity[48:38] Heap's Content Strategy: Blending Business Goals with Creative Storytelling[55:12] Embracing Experimentation and Spontaneity in Content CreationLinksListen to Kind of BlueConnect with Ben on LinkedInLearn more about HeapAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

There’s a lot of great content out there. So why not find inspiration there? Sample it, remix it and make it your own.In this episode, we’re turning to one of the greats when it comes to sampling: the late rapper and producer J Dilla. Together with the help of our guest, Head of Marketing at Crowdcube, John Hills, we’re talking about borrowing from content that’s already out there, building your content IP, and never losing your human touch.About our guest, John HillsJohn Hills is Head of Marketing at Crowdcube, Europe’s leading equity crowdfunding platform. To date, they've helped raise over £1.4 billion for over 1,300 businesses and built up a community of over 1.7 million members. He joined Crowdcube in April of 2022. Prior to his current role, John led the marketing team at FrontFundr, Canada's leading equity crowdfunding platform. There, his team helped 70+ companies raise more than $90M and built up an investor community of over 32,000 people. He has also previously held marketing roles at Duuers and Founder Institute. Outside of work, he is a bass player, marathon runner and a record collector.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Donuts:Sample, sample, sample. Just like J Dilla samples from Dionne Warwick, The Temptations, Run-DMC and more on Donuts, you can borrow ideas from content that’s already out there too. You don’t have to come up with something totally original every time. John says, “When you're doing content marketing, the bar is incredibly high. You can feel quite overwhelmed. Like, I don't have the budget that Apple has, neither do I have the brand expertise or the people to do it. That doesn't mean that I can't have an impact. I can still be scrappy. I can still look at what's working and create things that are memorable and valuable for people. And so I think that you can just look at what's already out there and how you fit into that rather than feeling you have to create something new. You can take what's there, see what appeals to people and see how you can make that memorable and impactful as well.”Build your content IP. John says, “You could create a load of content and just farm it out. [But instead] why don't you find a problem that your customer really cares about, name it so you're acknowledging it, you're identifying it, and then exist only to solve that problem. You become known - you become synonymous - with that content IP.” For J Dilla, his calling card - what he was known for - was a horn sampled from Isaac Hayes. And John says, “​​I kind of think of that as his content IP. You know it's him. It's giving you what you want, which is a dopamine hit of great music. He's being there for you. And I think that's what we have to do as marketers too, right? Like basically find your Isaac Hayes horn and blast it where appropriate.”AI’s a useful tool, but never lose your human touch. John says “that's really what's going to land with people and what's going to resonate.” It’s like how J Dilla sampled from live recordings, which John points out have slight imperfections and variations from a studio recording. He says live recordings catch your ear, engage you more and are more memorable.Quotes*”Sampling is interesting because you're channeling your interests. You're like part curator, part creator. And like that is truly what a marketer is. It's just a perfect metaphor for modern marketing.” - Ian Faison*”If you want to engage and build an audience, you want to be known as someone that's bringing them the good stuff. You filter through. You know which places to look, which is what [J Dilla's] doing on the album. Like, ‘I know this really particular little piece of a song which I dug out from a record shop and turned into something that sounds really cool for you.’ In the same way we, as marketers, have an attention economy, right? So it's kind of ‘Why should you have to pay attention to me rather than someone else?’ I've done the hard yards and I'm bringing you the good stuff, packaged neatly in a newsletter or a podcast or on a social feed.” - John HillsTime Stamps[0:55] Meet John Hills, Head of Marketing at Crowdcube[2:44] Exploring the Genius of J Dilla and Donuts[10:39] Sampling in Music and Marketing: Creativity Unleashed[22:13] AI in Marketing: Keeping the Human Touch Alive[26:30] Crafting a Content Strategy at Crowdcube[27:42] Content Strategy: Educating Companies on Equity Crowdfunding[28:19] The Art of Content Distribution and Engagement[29:04] Crafting High-Quality, Educational Content[31:18] Innovative Campaigns: From Invoicing Templates to Cricket Burgers[40:25] Leveraging LinkedIn for Demand Generation[44:26] Broadening Horizons: Beyond Marketing Books[46:53] RecommendationsLinksWatch Parks and RecreationConnect with Jen on LinkedInLearn more about IntellimizeAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

We knew this day would come. The day where we finally talk about the one tech company all others look up to: Apple. The truth is that the behemoth has endured ups and downs to become one of the greatest brands of all time, and all under the leadership of Steve Jobs. So in this episode, we’re taking marketing lessons from Steve Jobs based on his biography by Walter Isaacson with the help of our guest, Jotform CMO Steve Hartert. Together, we talk about being insatiably curious about your customers, daring to fail, and exercising your creativity. About our guest, Steve HartertSteve Hartert is the chief marketing officer at Jotform. He’s had more than 30 years of B2B and B2C marketing management experience. Prior to Jotform, he was the president of Hartert & Associates, a marketing consultancy that worked with B2B and B2C companies. Steve has been actively involved in marketing internet companies since 1995. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona and an MBA from Cal State San Bernardino.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Steve Jobs:Be insatiably curious about your customers. Use their actions and feedback to inform your marketing. Appeal to what drives them and hook them emotionally. Steve says, “Look at how people use your products, your services… look how people use them. Really have a good, solid understanding of that customer's wants and needs. And sometimes they don't know what they want or need until you show them. Dare to fail. Experiment and strive for greatness despite the possibility of missing the mark. Steve says, “Business people and businesses in general pull back the reins because they're afraid of failure for some reason. But failure teaches you how to succeed.”Exercise your creativity. It takes practice stepping outside the bounds of traditional B2B marketing. But creative content makes you stand out from your competitors. Steve says, “How do you get the message out to people to want to now partake in your product or service? You have to be creative to get their attention and keep that attention and then make that product sell and continue to grow.”Quotes*”He just did what he thought needed to be done to create the right. work. And like that message to me is something that we so rarely do in marketing. Which is like, ‘What is the amount of work that needs to happen to create something great?’ And so often we say, ‘What is good enough?’ And you have to do that, right? You have to do things that are good enough sometimes. But if you want to make something great, you have to do a great amount of work.” - Ian Faison*”You need to sit there and look at the problem you're trying to solve from multiple angles. A lot of times what I have seen in marketing and in other disciplines of business is people sometimes get surrounded by ‘yes’ people. They don't want to hear a bad thing. ‘Oh, we're weak in this area,’ or ‘We're not good at that.’ You need to hear it. Because if you don't address the full 360 around your product or service, to be able to defend it when something goes wrong, you're just walking yourself into a trap. And that's just a big blind spot that a lot of people have.” - Steve Hartert*”[Apple] had about a hundred ideas on this whiteboard. ‘These are great.’ And then [Steve Jobs] said, ‘Okay, pick four of them because that's all we can do.’ So they ended up having to focus on what products they were going to be working on for the next two or three years. And now you've got such clarity in the focus that you can't make a mistake on what you're trying to do. And that's very important. When companies lose that [focus], they get distracted by shiny things, by the latest trend or something that they could pop out there so they can get the stock price up for the next quarter. And so they just kind of bob and weave rather than pushing through on a forward path and saying, ‘We're going to do this and it's going to be tough to get there, but we need to do it.’” - Steve HartertTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Steve Harter, CMO at Jotform[3:14] Exploring the Genius of Steve Jobs Through Isaacson's Biography[5:36] The Art of Perfection: Lessons from Steve Jobs[9:45] Marketing Insights and the Pursuit of Excellence[15:07] Crafting Content with Precision: A Marketing Deep Dive[23:07] Strategic Focus and Innovation: The Apple Way[26:22] Unlocking Marketing Success: The Power of Focus[28:43] Steve Jobs' Legacy: A Lesson in Creativity and Control[31:07] Marketing and Creativity: Connecting the Dots[36:18] Jotform’s Marketing Strategy[39:57] Content Creation: Telling Stories That Resonate[46:34] Advice for Crafting a Winning Content StrategyLinksRead Steve Jobs by Walter IsaacsonConnect with Steve on LinkedInLearn more about JotformAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Every B2B brand voice sounds the same. Let’s mix in some drama, a bit of comedy, maybe even suspense. We’re here to convince you to blend genres and create something new, unique and attention grabbing.We’re taking notes from author Dan Simmons and his book The Terror with the help of our guest, JumpCloud CMO Micha Hershman.Together, we talk about mixing genres, using persuasion, and basing your narrative on a true story.About our guest, Micha HershmanMicha Hershman is CMO at JumpCloud, where he scales JumpCloud’s go to market (GTM) strategy and creates programs to deeply engage JumpCloud prospects, partners, and customers. He is a marketing leader with over 20 years of experience in steering marketing initiatives for category leaders such as Eventbrite, Envoy, and Heap Analytics. He has played a pivotal role in scaling organizations, notably contributing to the global demand engine that facilitated Eventbrite’s successful IPO in 2018. His strategic prowess extends to category creation efforts, resulting in Envoy’s unicorn valuation, and platform positioning strategies that culminated in Heap’s acquisition by Contentsquare. What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Terror:Mix genres. Borrow from action and sci fi and fantasy and romance and bring it all together to create unique content. Don’t feel like your content has to fit into a box or a category. And your content doesn’t have to be fact-based (as long as you tell your audience it’s fiction.) Give yourself room to play. Micha says, “[Dan Simmons has] a reputation of writing on the margins in general. Like, yes, he's written science fiction and horror books, but they all bleed into each other. This book, Ilium and the Companion, Olympus, is Greek mythology and Shakespeare and Star Trek all smashed up together into this bizarre duology.  And I really love the way that he writes on the fringes and smashes all the stuff up together that he's interested in.”Persuasion is key. It’s a top must-have skill for any marketer. Otherwise no one is gonna click on your content, read your blog, or subscribe to your newsletter. Micha says it best: “You can have great ideas, you can make big pitches, but if you're terrible at presenting it, your great idea for how you're going to save 126 people and get your ship out of the ice and get back to civilization is going to get washed away by some loudmouth who's a really brilliant orator.” Practice writing authoritatively, quote clients, speak to your audience’s deepest cares, concerns and values. And get them hooked.“Based on a true story.” These are magic words that give you a foundation to build a Remarkable story from. Meredith says, “It gives you the bones of the story, but then it gives you freedom to imagine the rest and make it what you want.”Quotes*”You can have great ideas, you can make big pitches, but if you're terrible at presenting it, your great idea for how you're going to save 126 people and get your ship out of the ice and get back to civilization is going to get washed away by some loudmouth who's a really  brilliant orator.” - Micha Hershman*”I can't tell you how much effort I spend trying to talk my team down from doing more work. Like we don't have to go this big. We don't have to spend this much time, money, effort… It's not going to require it. And actually like, well, how little do we have to invest in this feature launch or this acquisition or whatever? Because marketers will add 10 billion bells and whistles. Nobody cares. Nobody wants them. My aim would be to work 35 hours a week because we're so good at the 80 20 rule. We know what 20 percent drives the business.” - Micha Hershman*I think on the procurement technology side, buying is relatively straightforward. You've got a couple suppliers, you've got cash in your hand, they've got a cost, you're negotiating. It's a pretty straightforward process that it comes down to math in many cases. On the creative side, a totally different animal. There's no procurement team in the world that can help you. Your CFO is going to shrug their shoulder and say, ‘I don't know, you're the marketer.’ So much like Dan Simmons, you're going to have to have some kind of vision. You have to trust your gut. You're going to have to get bold and go places that maybe other people aren't really ready for you to try.” - Micha Hershman*”On the classic B2B SaaS side, the parallel I often draw is about the vision. The founder has this idea for what [the product] can be and how it will disrupt and change the world, even though there's no appetite for it at all. There's no comparable products out there. And then there's the super prosaic, ‘Our customers ask for this feature. We have to build this feature,’ right? Which is a hundred percent data driven and to find that right balance between like vision and satisfying your customer data driven needs is that pressure that’s always on. Finding that right balance, there's some kind of art in it.” - Micha Hershman*”As B2B marketers, we're dry, just so dry. It's just like, ‘This is the facts, and this is the information. And there's not a lot of packaging or storytelling or creativity or visual design. But we're not companies who buy, we're people who buy. And so, you know, storytelling is intrinsic to our nature. We all like beautiful things and we're all interested in creative expressions. So I do think that there is more room to explore there.” - Micha HershmanTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Micha Hershman, CMO at JumpCloud[12:10] Exploring JumpCloud: A Glimpse into the CMO's Role and Company Vision[13:54] The Creative Journey of The Terror: From Rejection to Success[25:41] Breaking Down the Story of The Terror: A Blend of History and Fiction[28:27] Exploring Dan Simmons' Unique Literary Style[29:38] Leadership and Creative Problem Solving Insights[31:28] Balancing Fiction with Reality: A Deep Dive[36:03] The Power of Storytelling in B2B Marketing[49:58] Leadership, Hubris, and Survival: Key Themes Explored[53:08] Advice for CMOsLinksRead The TerrorConnect with Micha on LinkedInLearn more about JumpCloudAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

If you don’t have a map, you’re lost. How do you know where you’re going or even what the next step is? This is true whether you’re navigating Middle Earth or content creation. We’re here to help you get oriented.In this episode, we’re taking marketing lessons from The Hobbit with the help of our special guest, CMO at ChurnZero, Hunter Montgomery.Together, we talk about drawing a map, finding a mentor who will push you out of your comfort zone, blocking and tackling, and getting your partners to tell your story.About our guest, Hunter MontgomeryHunter Montgomery is Chief Marketing Officer at ChurnZero, customer success platform providers. Hunter is a results-driven marketing professional with more than 25 years experience developing, executing and measuring global sales and marketing strategies and campaigns. He has held executive and upper management roles at Higher Logic, Vocus (now Cision), and Verizon. What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Hobbit:Draw a map. Have a plan for your content from creation to promotion, reuse, repurposing and beyond. Hunter says, “You can't just start out thinking, ‘Well, I'm here and I want to get there. I'll figure it out along the way.’ You gotta have a plan. You have a map. You will get things thrown at you and so know it's going to change a little bit along the way. But you just can't say, ‘Well, I'll know when I get there.’ That doesn't really work.” The Hobbit starts with a map. And just like how the reader can find their bearings throughout the story by revisiting the map, a content map or plan is useful for marketers too. The map gives you your foundation to be prepared and guide you along the way. And it’s also super satisfying to look back at your map and see how far you’ve come.Find a mentor who will push you out of your comfort zone. This is undoubtedly Gandalf. Because hobbits are creatures of comfort, it’s Gandalf who gives Bilbo the push to go on an adventure. So find your Gandalf. Ian says, “It doesn't actually have to be someone you know. It could be someone you listen to on a podcast. It could be someone who is out in the culture, who you follow on Twitter, or it could be someone that you know personally.” He says, “Gandalf is the one who recognizes with Bilbo, ‘I think there's something unique about you, and I think that you need this push.’ And it's just special. It's one of the great things about this story, is that Gandalf believes that Bilbo can do it.”Block and tackle. Hunter says, “Sometimes you just got to get the basic stuff done every day, little by little. Two months, three months, six months, a year later, you're where you needed to be. And I think people sometimes just track it out. They want the big and the brash. You gotta go big sometimes. You gotta take big risks and be creative. And I totally believe you have to do that. And when people zig, you gotta zag.  But a lot of other times, you just gotta get it done. And so I think Bilbo was the one who did that.”Partner up. Don’t be the one telling your audience how great you are. Find partners who will do that for you. It builds credibility and trust. Hunter says, “It could be vendors, could be thought leaders, bringing them in. Have them talk, have them validate customers. Customers are great for content. We have a community, so you hear from them on that, but don't be the source. Just try to find other places, other people to tell your story, because they can do it better. And they’re more legitimate in the eyes of the buyer in many ways.”Quotes*”Finding people to collaborate, there's co-marketing, there's co-creating. Co-creating content with your ideal customers or prospects is so important. Cause we always try to figure out like, ‘What do they want to hear? Why don't we just go make it with them?’” - Ian Faison*”The content needs to match the journey. Customer journey mapping is one way of doing it. But I think that that can be too specific to your actual exact journey of your customers. And I think you need to sometimes pull back from that and have a bigger picture. Have a map, but don't let it restrict what you do.” - Hunter Montgomery*”People are pretty poor at telling their own stories. But if you ask enough questions to get the right answers and dig in there, then you can really find those pearls of wisdom and put that stuff together in a really meaningful, digestible format.” - Ian Faison*”Just go after something. Take a leap of faith in something that you feel strongly is going to work. - Hunter MontgomeryTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Hunter Montgomery, CMO at ChurnZero[1:32] Hunter Montgomery's Hobbit-Inspired Marketing Insights[3:33] The Hobbit's Origin Story: From Bedtime Tales to Global Phenomenon[8:50] Marketing Lessons from Middle Earth[15:57] The Power of Maps in Storytelling and Marketing[21:49] Exploring Bilbo's Unassuming Heroism[22:48] Marketing Lessons from Gandalf's Mentorship[24:18] B2B Marketing Insights and Strategies[27:00] Leveraging Content and Partnerships in Marketing[31:47] Evolving Event Strategies and Content Creation[35:20] Navigating the Tech Stack and Data Integration[38:52] Strategic Content Planning and ExecutionLinksRead The HobbitConnect with Hunter on LinkedInLearn more about ChurnZeroAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Leslie Knope once said, “We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn’t matter, but work is third.”And we agree, waffles are important. But we’re here today to talk about friends. Because making marketing friends is key to supporting your growth and content production.That’s one of the lessons we’re taking away from Parks and Recreation with the help of our guest, Director of Content Marketing at Intellimize, Jen Lacey. Together, we talk about building relationships, collaborating for creative problem solving, and embracing your weirdness.About our guest, Jen LaceyJen Lacey is Director of Content Marketing at Intellimize, where she’s responsible for web strategy, brand and maintenance including a complete corporate rebrand. She oversees content strategy, production and promotion to align with sales and revenue goals, which has resulted in a 32% increase in pipeline. She  shapes the brand’s footprint through multiple content channels including PR, web and partner channels among other responsibilities. Prior to joining Intellimize in July 2022, Jen served as Marketing Director at Fountain. She also spent nearly 9 years in marketing at SparkPost (acquired by Message Bird). What B2B Companies Can Learn From Parks and Recreation:Build relationships. Create sources of mutual support and collaboration. It’s a symbiotic relationship that strengthens your content and marketing. Jen says, “Leslie is all about building relationships, which I feel is the foundational thing that has helped me excel and thrive in my roles, being able to work cross-functionally with different stakeholders, getting feedback from people, my CS team internally, working with customers, doing outreach to talk to customers about how they're using our product…being that kind of conduit and building those relationships is so critical to success anywhere, and especially in the B2B world.”Collaborate for creative problem solving. If you’re working on a tight budget - and let’s be real, most of us are - you gotta put your heads together with your team and brainstorm innovative solutions. This is when a lot of great ideas come up that could be your next big success. Jen says, “In the show, Leslie does this constantly. Every episode, there's some new problem or something that they've got to solve. And she's always thinking outside the box of how to motivate her maybe not-so-motivated team to do things. Or how to get creative in approaching different challenges. And I think that leaning into that creativity and collaborating with people, and using your team, your different individual team members to their strengths is how you circumvent a lot of those challenges.”Embrace your weirdness. Your weirdness is a strength that you can use to be relatable and connect with your audience. It’s what lets your audience know that there’s a human behind the content. Jen says, “Don't try to be anyone else. Think of where you stand out and where you can contribute, and embrace that. Embrace what makes you unique and weave it into your marketing tactics and strategy. I think everyone associates B2B with straight-laced, very serious LinkedIn ad campaigns and email nurtures that are dry and boring. But at the end of the day, I'm marketing to other marketers. They’re still people. And that human element is what makes us relatable. And so coming up with weird, unique, wacky ways to connect with them and get their attention and then pitch them on whatever it is you're trying to sell them on or get them to do, is key. That’s how Leslie anything done in her office, catering to people's unique personalities and being weird and being herself. And her team loves her for it at the end of the day.” Quotes*”In B2B, there's only so many ways you can say the same thing. And we're all kind of saying the same flavor of something. Like we're all selling to other businesses, whether you're selling to tech people or you're selling to other marketers. It's the way that you can get yourself to stand out and lean on that creativity, especially if you don't have a giant budget to work with or a big team or a ton of bandwidth. How can you embrace your creativity and think outside the box, even if you're saying basically the same thing? Like how do you stand out, how do you set yourself apart?” - Jen Lacey*”There are so many ridiculously great characters in the [Parks and Recreation]. Putting two people that are opposites together is a great B2B marketing takeaway because we have so many opposites in the business world. Whether it's your CIO and your CMO, or your CFO and the salesperson. There's these huge differences between people just based off of like personalities. And you can play with that stuff so much and turn it up to an 11. And I think the big lesson there is turning up those things to 11, which makes it so funny because you see parts of the Ron Swansons or the Aprils in people you work with. And that's why these shows are so funny.” - Ian FaisonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Jen Lacey, Director of Content Marketing at Intellimize[1:38] Jen Lacey's Unique Marketing Approach Inspired by Parks and Rec[3:51] Exploring the Creative Process Behind Parks and Rec[7:57] The Art of Character Development in Parks and Rec[13:58] Leveraging Opposites and Relationship Building in B2B Marketing[19:45] The Mockumentary Style of Parks and Rec[28:11] Adapting Marketing Strategies to Resources and Situations[28:32] Innovation vs. Imitation in Creative Marketing[29:42] Embracing Creativity and Uniqueness in B2B Marketing[33:26] Leveraging Personal Experiences and Humor in Campaigns[40:03] Maximizing Content Impact with Strategic Planning[41:57] Showcasing Successful Campaigns and Their Outcomes[50:40] Future Projects and Final Advice for MarketersLinksWatch Parks and RecreationConnect with Jen on LinkedInLearn more about IntellimizeAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

There’s a very real shift in mindset between making a single piece of content and making a long-standing series. But that shift in mindset launches a content machine that can fill your calendar, grow a dedicated audience, and build a name for your brand.And in this episode, we’re learning from one of the biggest content machines in reality TV: Survivor. We’re looking at the show that’s been running for 46 seasons to date with the help of our guest, Founder of Distribution First, Justin Simon. Together, we talk about repeating your winning formula, creating a distribution plan, and staying true to who you are.About our guest, Justin SimonJustin Simon is founder of Distribution First, a membership community where smart marketers create less, distribute more, and grow together. He is also a consultant and the host of the Distribution First podcast. Prior to starting his consulting firm, Justin served as Senior Content Marketing Manager at metadata.io. He also previously served as Global Content Strategy Manager at TechSmith Corporation, a global provider of screen capture and screen recording software. He worked for TechSmith for over 10 years, having started as a Sales Intern in February 2011.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Survivor:Repeat your winning formula. Be consistent over time with the things that have proven successful. With some tweaks here and there, Survivor has followed essentially the same formula for 46 seasons, making it one of the longest lasting reality TV shows of all time. Justin says, “I think that that's like the magic of what has made it last, amongst many other things, for so long. It's consistent, it's repeatable, and you always know what you're getting.”Have a plan for distribution of your content before creating the content itself. Justin says, “Know what distribution channels you have available to you. Pick one or two that you're really going to hammer in on and get really good at those. Make sure your audience is aware that you exist on those channels. It goes back to consistency. Be able to consistently deliver value to the audience on those channels.” And then understand “How much content do you actually need? And then reverse engineering back to that. Because I think a lot of people get themselves stuck on a hamster wheel of creating content because they don't actually know how much content they need.”Stay true to who you are. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Keep your core values at the center of your content. From the first season, first episode, Survivor has used the tagline “Outwit, outplay, outlast.” And it's become an iconic slogan for the show. Justin says, “My biggest lesson from Survivor is just staying true to who you are and being able to create something that is really long lasting and not a flash in the pan. There's lots of flash in the pan marketing. And so how do we build up plans? How do we keep saying the same things over and over and talking about those things in a way that resonates, adjusting angles, and switching things?”Quotes*”Creating content for the sake of creating content is not good enough anymore. And I think a lot of teams still feel the need to hit a drumbeat of production without a ‘why’ behind that, or how the audience is going to engage with that, or a reason that it fits in with the larger marketing strategy, business strategy, all that type of stuff. But hey, we're creating content, so we're ahead of the game here. And so I think for me what that caused is a lot of stress, a lot of burnout, a lot of just trying to keep that ball rolling up the hill and then no time or energy or effort to be able to actually step back and be more strategic or be creative or experiment or any of these things that we wanted to do when we started to be marketers, do the fun stuff, try new things, try new formats, because we've got to still pump out all this content.” -Justin Simon*”Most people have no clue what's happening with the content they create. The irony of it all is very, very thick that we're spending so much time and so much effort to create all of these things and we have no way of knowing how that's getting in front of anybody, if people care, in what ways they’re going to use it. How are we going to maybe reintroduce that same concept in different formats and in different ways? I think especially for folks who are creating evergreen content, it's a huge miss to not be repurposing and distributing that content.” - Justin Simon*”In a typical marketing content landscape, distribution gets tacked on at the end. Like, ‘All right, we've got the thing. Now, what do we do?’ Versus throwing it at the beginning, distribution first, and thinking through, ‘All right, as we're creating this podcast, as we're creating this monthly event series, what's going to happen once the show goes live? So now they're creating a real engine that they can just kind of repeat and reuse and then adjust as necessary.” - Justin SimonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Justin Simon, Founder of Distribution First[1:49] Survivor's Enduring Appeal: A Deep Dive with Justin Simon[7:16] The Evolution of Survivor: From Concept to Cultural Phenomenon[10:28] Survivor's Winning Formula: Strategy, Diversity, and Adaptation[19:16] Survivor vs. Alone: Analyzing Reality TV's Survival Shows[22:48] Marketing Insights from Survivor's Success Story[24:15] Unlocking the Secrets of Content Longevity and Consistency[25:50] The Aspirational Power of Location in Storytelling[27:25] The Role of the Evangelist in Content Creation[28:50] Redefining Leadership and Charisma in Content Series[33:01] Survivor's Lessons for B2B Marketing and Content Strategy[40:34] The Art of Repurposing and the Power of Distribution[47:08] Final Thoughts on Content Marketing and Distribution StrategiesLinksWatch SurvivorConnect with Justin on LinkedInLearn more about Distribution FirstAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Making content that’s truly original is something all content marketers want to do.But then why does so much B2B content look and feel the same? Today, we’re giving you permission to express yourself in content like you might express yourself in art. In this episode, we’re taking lessons from the Japanese collective of ultra-technologists known as teamLab. Together, with the help of our guest, SVP of Marketing at Sigma Computing Erik Bower, we’re talking about defying convention, starting with the last mile, and more.About our guest, Erik BowerErik Bower is SVP of Marketing at Sigma. Prior to joining the company in November of 2023, Erik ran marketing at startups like Daily and Amplitude. He owned growth and digital demand at Palo Alto Networks from $125M to $2.9 billion in 8 years. He is an AI patent holder and has been building ML based machine marketing engines since before 2015.What B2B Companies Can Learn From teamLab:Question convention and then defy it. Don’t just fall back on the way things are usually done. Think critically about your content and make something truly original. Erik says, “Think differently about things that are sitting right in front of you, and ask questions like, ‘Why is the convention to do things this way in our industry? It doesn't make any sense.’ You always have to take things with that lens of questioning what actually works, and not work from some kind of template that you see other people do.” It’s like how TeamLab operates outside of convention. They create immersive experiences that are truly original.Start with the last mile. Plan how you’re going to promote your content before you make the content itself. Erik says, “Why wouldn't you start with the last mile? Like you're going to put all of this energy into creating this super expensive event or packaging up this asset,  and then the actual promotion of it is kind of like an afterthought that no one really pays attention to. Start with the last mile and work your way back. If you can't generate interest for this thing, then why are you producing it?”Quotes*”Especially as it pertains to B2B marketing and tech marketing,  I think a lot of what you see is very rote. It's checkbox marketing. But I think that teamLab shows you that original ideas are still possible. I think you have to strive for what a boss of mine called the thumb test, where you put your thumb over the logo. Can you still tell that it's your brand? But go beyond that. Where every experience is innovative, engaging, and not rote. It's a challenge to stay fresh like that, but you can definitely achieve it.”*”It takes that wild hair to just say, ‘I want to use this technology in a new way.’ So I think if anything, I have a reputation for having a wild hair. Think differently about things that are sitting right in front of you, and ask questions like, ‘Why is the convention to do things this way in our industry? It doesn't make any sense.’”*”You always have to take things with that lens of questioning what actually works, and not work from some kind of template that you see other people do. Original ideas are still possible and important that you have them. You have to have a point of view.”*”In order to make email marketing and these other things perform well, they have to be more and more micro-targeted to the persona,  the vertical, the use case for line of business. And then it also has to take into account the things that they've already engaged with, where they are in the funnel. And so it becomes this big matrix that's sometimes referred to it as ‘Battleship.’ And if you start to do that, you realize that you have a pretty insurmountable amount of content you have to generate. So you have to start to pick your battles and learn which ones are the highest value segments to focus your energy on content generation.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Erik Bower, SVP of Marketing at Sigma Computing[4:13] The Magic of teamLab: Blending Art, Technology, and Experience[7:08] Sigma Computing: Revolutionizing Business Intelligence in the Cloud[10:21] The Art of Experience: How teamLab Transforms Perception[12:07] The Philosophy Behind teamLab: Art, Technology, and Interaction[15:54] Revisiting teamLab: The Ever-Changing World of Interactive Art[20:56] Marketing Inspiration from teamLab: Pushing the Boundaries of B2B[27:09] The Challenge of B2B Website Design[28:14] Innovative Storytelling in Web Design[29:19] The Fast Fashion of B2B Websites: Embracing Simplicity[30:08] Decoding Sigma Computing's Marketing Strategy[30:30] Micro-Segmentation: The Future of Targeted Marketing[32:09] The Potential and Pitfalls of AI in Marketing[34:15] Winning the Last Mile: The Importance of Clear Messaging[42:17] Predictive Marketing and the Future of CRM[51:25] Sigma Computing's Upcoming InitiativesLinksCheck out teamLabConnect with Erik on LinkedInLearn more about Sigma ComputingAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

It’s every marketer’s dream to inspire a cult-like following, but that term is usually used for B2C brands. Until you use the tips from this episode in your marketing.We’re pulling inspiration from the leather bag brand that brought in $128M in sales last year, Portland Leather Goods. With the help of our guest, Head of Marketing Production at Boomi, Danalynne Menegus, we’re talking about building a community, creating a sense of exclusivity, and personalizing your marketing.About our guest, Danalynne MenegusDanalynne Menegus is Head of Marketing Content Production at Boomi. She joined the company in 2018 as Senior Consultant, Marketing Communications. In her current role, she is the editorial lead and manager of Boomi's content production process for external-facing marketing assets, from concept through publication, and manager of the Boomi Blog. She is also the steward of the Boomi brand language and style guide, responsible for sharing standards and reviewing everything from press releases to event signage to ensure consistency in messaging. Her role combines strategy, process management, writing, editing, idea sourcing, resource management and assignment (for a team of internal and freelance/contract writers), editorial calendar management, research, and extensive collaboration with colleagues and stakeholders.Danalynne brings with her more than 25 years of B2B experience and expertise in editorial processes, copy editing, messaging, positioning, content strategy, creation and marketing, sales enablement, and much more. She has previously served as Global Product Marketing Lead of Cloud & Virtualization Software Platforms at Dell; Managing Editor of Corporate Event News, an online publication for event professionals; and Director of Marketing at Sybase/SAP.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Portland Leather Goods:Build a community. Create a space for customers to come together and spread the word about your brand. Word of mouth is an incredibly effective way to drive sales. Danalynne says, “digital marketing is something that's gotten more and more sophisticated, but if you are going to do it, be smart about it and draw upon a community. Try and build a community because if you can get other people to really love your product and talk about it, evangelize it, then you are going to get many more customers or even just potential interest.”Create a sense of exclusivity. Invite top users to a special community with exclusive benefits and incentives. Danalynne says, “Fear of missing out can go a long way if people feel like they're only going to have a deal for a limited time, or even that you're doing something specially for them, and hopefully you really are, but to me that translates into programs like loyalty programs, or or Customers where, you know, you're a loyal customer. So we're going to give you a discount, or we're going to give you maybe a free pass for an event.”Personalize your marketing. Write to your viewer as if you were talking to them in person, and put your personality in it! Danalynne says, ”Behind every brand, there are people. So even in a B2B marketing outreach or B2B sell, you're still selling to a person. And you want to build those relationships. That's what any good salesperson does, or any community manager or customer advocacy manager, or anybody who has those relationships as part of their job does, because people want to buy from people. So if you personalize [your marketing], that's the best way to market.”Quotes*”If you're trying to draw people in who know nothing about what you do or your industry or your product, or more importantly, The problems that you can help them solve, you need to lay that out in language that they're going to understand, in the format that they want to consume it in, and on the channel that they want to receive it in.” - Danalynne MenegusTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Danalynne Menegus, Head of Marketing Content Production at Boomi[6:09] The Birth and Rise of Portland Leather Goods[13:36] Unboxing the Mystery: A Personal Experience with Portland Leather Goods[17:26] Marketing Insights: Building a Brand and Community[27:31] From Bags to B2B: Marketing Lessons from Portland Leather Goods[31:47] Behind the Scenes: Crafting Content at Boomi[39:56] Final Thoughts: Humanizing Your Marketing StrategyLinksCheck out Portland Leather GoodsConnect with Danalynne on LinkedInLearn more about BoomiAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Director Christopher Nolan once said:“You have to do something that really excites you. It’s the things that you can bring to what you’re doing that maybe not everyone else is doing. That’s what’s going to distinguish the thing.”That's the energy we’re taking into this episode of Remarkable. Guided by our guest this week, Jellyfish CMO Kyle Lacy, we’re taking marketing lessons from the Oscar-winning director, Christopher Nolan. Together, we talk about mastering each channel, building the day-to-day life of your buyer into your content, and much more.About our guest, Kyle LacyKyle Lacy is CMO at engineering management platform Jellyfish, the pioneer Engineering Management Platform that enables engineering leaders to align engineering work with strategic business objectives. There, he helps engineering leaders translate and maximize the business impact of their teams. Kyle has 17 years of experience in high-growth software. Prior to joining Jellyfish in November 2022, Kyle served as CMO of Lessonly. He has also led marketing at Seismic, OpenView, Salesforce and ExactTarget. He is a published author of three books: Twitter Marketing for Dummies, Branding Yourself, and Social CRM for Dummies. He is a marketing and digital trends speaker, having spoken at marketing and technology industry events around the world on content marketing, collaborative consumption, email marketing, technology trends, and more. He has been recognized as one of Indiana’s Forty-under-40 by the Indianapolis Business Journal, Anderson University’s Young Alumni of the Year and TechPoint’s Young Professional of the Year. But most importantly, he says, he’s the father of two boys, an energetic dog, and one too many books on World War II.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Christopher Nolan:Master each channel. Reach a deep understanding of what your audience wants and needs from each channel and create content for it. Kyle says once you've mastered the channels, “you can start creating brand content that is more creative and entertainment oriented and more about the human that's buying the product, not necessarily the product itself.” It’s like how Christopher Nolan has mastered fiction with Memento and Inception and non-fiction with Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. He understands what viewers of each genre are looking for and creates content specifically for them.Build the day-to-day life of the buyer into your marketing. Include different storylines and details in your content so that it shows an understanding of your audience and their lived experience. The more your content clicks with them, the more they’ll remember your brand when they’re ready to buy. Kyle says, “We sell to an engineering leader. There are 500 other things that that engineering leader is dealing with on a day to day basis that might not necessarily pertain to our product, but does lead to exuberance, stress, productivity…the Amazon package being late for his daughter's birthday present. So how do we build more of the day in the life of the buyer into our content? It's the human element that's the most interesting part of marketing.”Quotes*”When you've mastered your craft and you understand the minute technical details that make it enjoyable, whether that's marketing or producing a movie, you can make decisions and take risks because you understand what the impact will be because you've spent so much time obsessing over it. ” - Kyle Lacy*”Christopher Nolan got very lucky that he has a brother that's a very good screenwriter. But he also understands how to surround himself with people that are very good at what they do. And I think part of being a manager - and it doesn't even have to be marketing - is that you have to find the people that truly love their craft and are good at what they do so that the end product, no matter what it is, is the best that you could possibly do.” - Kyle Lacy*”Anybody can tune into a podcast about leadership values. And what does it take to be a great manager? Like there's 500 of them because it's easier to do. It's harder to do what we're doing right now. Y'all prepped for a Christopher Nolan-slash-CMO interview. But it's interesting, right? And that's why people like to be on it. That's why people listen to it. And that's, I think, this idea of illogical marketing, right? Like the more illogical you can be, the more creative it is and the more people enjoy it. It's just hard to grasp for a lot of marketers.” - Kyle Lacy*”I think the nuance Is how you balance the extremely illogical podcast, weird direct mails, lego building sets, all the stuff that I think surprises and delights people with the other things that might not be as fun and creative but drive business value. And that's where I would love to tell you that there's a framework you should follow. But it's, what is enjoyable to the customer? How do you understand that they like it, whether that's an increase in listeners or shares, or you got more people wanting to be interviewed? And then it's that you're hitting the numbers that you put in front of the board, and that's ultimately the value.” - Kyle Lacy*”You kill creativity when you try to apply too much ROI to a project. Doesn't mean you shouldn't track it, doesn't mean there shouldn't be ROI. But you sit down with a creative team and say, ‘Hey, let's think about how many downloads we can get or how much pipeline this thing is going to drive. And they just glaze over. Good creatives glaze over because you're not starting with the most important thing, which is the experience that thing is driving. You can work back, you can figure out the business impact of the thing. And it really depends on the piece of content, right? Like a playbook is going to be different than a podcast.  But I'd like to start with the experience and then back into the business impact because I think it just has more value and people are more creative when you start with the experience.” - Kyle LacyTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Kyle Lacy, CMO at Jellyfish[2:51] Exploring Christopher Nolan's Storytelling Techniques[4:45] The Art of Making Complex Narratives Work[7:31] Christopher Nolan's Unique Approach to Filmmaking[10:14] Applying Nolan's Strategies to B2B Marketing[17:47] Drawing Parallels Between Nolan's Work and Marketing[18:52] Mastering Different Storytelling Formats[21:32] The Human Element in Marketing and Filmmaking[23:51] Exploring the Camera as a Character in Marketing[24:59] The Human Element: The Core of Marketing and Storytelling[26:26] Christopher Nolan's Mastery of Objects in Storytelling[28:04] Marketing Lessons from Nolan's Use of Totems[29:32] The Power of Mascots and Brand Identity[31:33] Creative Choices in Filmmaking: The Case of Bane's Voice[39:17] The Challenge of Balancing Creativity and Business Goals[43:58] Advice for other CMOsLinksConnect with Kyle on LinkedInLearn more about JellyfishAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Marketing is really lovely underneath it all. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration.And this week, we’re bringing you marketing lessons from the Grammy-winning and diamond-certified album holders, No Doubt. Together, with the help of the Director of Product Marketing at GetResponse, we’re talking about going pop with your content, sharing the good with the bad, and so much more.About our guest, Abby HehemannAbby Hehemann is Director of Product Marketing at GetResponse, a comprehensive email marketing platform that provides small businesses, solopreneurs, coaches, and marketers with powerful and affordable tools to grow their audience, engage with their subscribers, and turn subscribers into paying customers. Prior to joining GetResponse in January of 2023, Abby served as Director of Product Marketing at Coursedog. She also spent nearly 9 years in marketing at GetResponse previously. She specializes in strategic product positioning and value-driven messaging. She has a demonstrated history of high impact GTM, lead gen, activation, and retention campaigns. She’s skilled in Digital Marketing, Customer Education, Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, and Content Marketing. She is a customer-first and product-obsessed – with an MBA from the University of Central Arkansas.What B2B Companies Can Learn From No Doubt:Go pop with your content (Hint: Use AI). No Doubt expanded their audience by transitioning from niche ska music to pop. And they did it without losing what made them unique - namely Gwen as an iconic frontwoman and lyrics based on her lived experience. You can expand your audience too by putting out content on new and unique channels you haven’t accessed before and the trick is using AI. Abby says, “Using an AI tool, we could still use our own content, what we wanted to communicate with our unique voice, but experiment with a new format, like a comic book. This is a way we're trying to figure out how to adapt and evolve with new technologies and be more efficient, but in a way that's still foundational to what we care about and the content is still in our voice and our perspective.”Share the good with the bad. Talk about your mistakes and shortcomings as well as your strengths and successes. It builds trust, relatability and likeability. It’s like how No Doubt’s album, Tragic Kingdom, was about Gwen’s breakup with her bassist, Tony. It’s not a positive experience, but it became their diamond-certified album because it spoke to listeners. Abby says, “Not that you need to air all of your mistakes, but the idea of like, that is what authenticity is, right? You share the good with the bad. You share the parts of your life where you're vulnerable. And that's like what artists are doing. It's just something that we don't do in B2B marketing.”Quotes*”Most new startups and SaaS orgs emerge solving a very specific problem for a very specific audience, which is excellent. And that makes you special and unique and have a really strong selling point. But then the next thing is on scaling. How do we do this for more people? And then you have such a risk of diluting what makes you special. If you try to expand, it's super risky. It's risky for you to try to do more often with less and still make a big impact.” - Abby Hehemann*”The one with the most customer insights - the one who knows what customers are feeling, what they're saying, what words they're using - you win. You have clout in a meeting. You have the most legitimacy. You should be driving conversations and doing whatever it takes on your team to figure out how to have access to your customers.” - Abby Hehemann*”B2B content marketing gets such a bad rap for being a sea of sameness, super boring, not distinctive. Everybody’s talking about driving revenue and getting more leads. And you don't know who's saying it. It doesn't even matter. There's no distinctive tone of voice, point of view, who's talking about what. And I think that definitely points to the need for authenticity. That's what we're craving as humans, even though we're representing companies purchasing software. We're still wanting to make those connections and actually have some element in our brain that recognizes, ‘Oh, this is an actual human being I'm trying to do business with.” - Abby HehemannTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Abby Hehemann, Director of Product Marketing at GetResponse[4:25] The Remarkable Journey of No Doubt: From Ska Band to Pop Icons[8:02] Gwen Stefani's Evolution: A Deep Dive into Her Creative Process[13:54] No Doubt's Transition to Pop: A Lesson in Authenticity and Branding[19:47] B2B Marketing Insights: Drawing Lessons from No Doubt's Success[27:03] Decoding the Iconic 'No Doubt' Album Cover[28:11] Evolving from Ska to Pop: No Doubt's Musical Journey[29:10] Adapting to Market Changes: Lessons from No Doubt[29:37] Embracing AI and Generative Content in Marketing[30:36] The Power of Email Marketing and User-Generated Content[32:25] Innovative Marketing: The Comic Book Experiment[34:24] Employer Branding and Gender Representation[37:56] Content Strategy Insights from GetResponse[47:03] The Future of Content Creation and Marketing[51:57] The Essential Role of Customer Insights in MarketingLinksListen to No DoubtConnect with Abby on LinkedInLearn more about GetResponseAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

When do you put together a campaign and think, “This is my masterpiece”? You probably just need some inspiration. And today, that inspiration is coming from Francis Ford Coppola who created his masterpiece in 1972. So in this episode, we’re gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.We’re bringing you marketing lessons from The Godfather with the help of our guest, Director of Content, Digital Marketing & PR at Nexthink, Thomas McGrath. Together, we talk about appealing to your internal audience first, nailing the ending, and much more.About our guest, Thomas McGrathThomas McGrath is Director of Content, Digital Marketing & PR at Nexthink, the leader in digital employee experience management software, and co-host of their DEX Show podcast, where he discusses the latest advancements in digital workplace experience with leading industry experts and his colleague Tim Flower. Thomas has been with Nexthink for over 4 years, having started in August 2019 as a Content Strategist. Previously, he served as Head of Content & PR at 1E. He has also led Content at Informa.What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Godfather:Appeal to your internal audience first. Run your content by your colleagues before posting or publishing it. They’re like your “family”. Their reaction is a good indicator of how your content will perform out in the wild. Tom says, “If you're not creating enthusiasm and interest internally, with people who are going to be most naturally curious about what you're talking about and most invested in its success, how can you hope to begin to appeal to an external audience?” Nail the ending. No spoilers here, but it’s important to wrap up your content and satisfy the need for a resolution. Ian says, “The ending of The Godfather is one of the most satisfying. The idea to have this massive, big,  satisfying ending I think is something that marketers can really think about with their campaigns, events or content. To be able to finish something with a lot of wrapping paper and having some big pizazz or big show. They landed the plane. And if they didn't land the plane, nobody would ever have remembered The Godfather as the best movie of all time.”Quotes*”You shouldn't have to point to your own success and explain it or justify it. It should be self-evident internally that it's been successful.” - Tom McGrath*”Humanize your material. It's an absolutely vital part of marketing and I think that's where content marketers can come into their own. It's the difference between vehicles that are there to convey information, which absolutely have their place. The importance of web pages, explanatory videos, and assets such as podcasting, surveys, social media. Where you're trying to create interest and engagement or put a literal human face or voice on a story or a message is incredibly powerful.” - Tom McGrath*”Sometimes marketers can be too nervous about upsetting people, which sounds like a paradox, right? When I say the most important people to impress are your colleagues and most important people to engage and involve in what you're doing are your colleagues. That doesn't necessarily mean they dictate the way you tell their story.” - Tom McGrathTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Thomas McGrath, Director of Content, Digital Marketing & PR at Nexthink[3:04] The Godfather: A Cinematic Masterpiece Explored[9:30] Behind the Scenes: The Making of The Godfather[15:11] The Godfather and Marketing: Drawing Parallels[19:06] Marketing Insights from The Godfather: Internal vs. External Focus[24:50] The Vulnerability and Importance of Marketing Within Organizations[27:38] Drawing Parallels: Marketing Dynamics and The Godfather's Succession Plan[34:06] Marketing Insights from The Godfather: Nailing the Ending and Humanizing Content[45:03] Content Marketing Strategies and Success StoriesLinksWatch The GodfatherConnect with Thomas on LinkedInLearn more about NexthinkAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

You can control your content. But you can’t control who sees it.That’s why you need to write both for your niche audience and the general public.Though writing for both is tricky, in this episode, we’re learning from the masters.We’re talking about Monty Python and the Holy Grail with the help of our guest, Emmanuel “Manu” Cohen, VP of Marketing at Walnut.io.Together, we talk about making your weakness the cornerstone of your content, being down-to-earth and using self-deprecating humor, and writing for both your niche audience as well as the general public.About our guest, Emmanuel CohenManu leads marketing at Walnut.io. He worked for 7 years at Wix, where he managed the social presence and blogs - and took part in 5 Super Bowl campaigns. He has also spoken about social media content at many marketing events, including Social Media Week. Most recently, Manu created an employer branding video for Walnut that went viral in Israel (and did it in less than a week).What B2B Companies Can Learn From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:Make your weakness the cornerstone of your content. Ian says, “What [Monty Python] did was they took their biggest weakness, which is ‘We don't have a lot of money.’ How do you tell a medieval story without horses? That’s when they had this crazy idea for the coconuts. So instead of coming up with this crazy idea and making it a gag once and that's it, they built it as a cornerstone of the story.” And Manu points out that the coconuts became a running gag, which is a tactic marketers can use, too. He says, “I think people enjoy the wink, you know? ‘Oh, I know what they are referencing.’ It creates an emotional connection.” When you not only acknowledge your shortcomings but commit to highlighting them, they become a point of definition and differentiation. Iconic, even. So stand out from the other B2B content by making your weaknesses your strengths.Be down-to-earth (and maybe even a little self-deprecating.) Manu says, “I can't hear someone telling me another time that there is cutting-edge technology that's going to revolutionize an industry. I read this sentence so many times that it's like, ‘Come on,’ you know? Show some self-derision and take yourself a nudge down. Be honest about what you are trying to do instead of being pompous, trying to oversell and to show your muscles. I think it worked 20 years ago. Today, it doesn't work. Today, you need to talk to your audience honestly.” It’s like how though the members of Monty Python were well-educated, having gone to Oxford and Cambridge, they used plenty of low-brow and self-deprecating humor. So when you’re writing content, keep in mind that people easily sniff out hyperbole. So be real in your content, especially about what your product does - or doesn’t - do. Write for both your niche audience and the general public. In other words, appeal to both the human and the industry specialist. Manu says, “[Monty Python] knows their topic. And this is the very basis of their success. They know the story [of King Arthur] very well. They know the time very well. They know the history very well. And then they can make jokes that are on one side that address people who understand what they are talking about. And on the other hand, they need to make jokes that are large enough to address a wide audience.”Quotes*”When you think about all the creative work that everyone is doing, they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on each video so it looks good. But you don't care if it looks good if the story is right. The creativity needs to be there, but you don't need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make good creative work.” - Manu Cohen*”The absolute genius is that instead of taking the lack of budget as a problem, they turn it to their advantage, right? Por them, it's an opportunity to be more creative.” - Manu Cohen*”Creativity has outsized results. Boring stuff does not have outsized results. Boring things don't go viral.” - Ian Faison*”Find the crazy thing and pull the thread. Find your version of the coconut. Continue going with that as far as you can go.” - Ian Faison*”People are trying too hard to sell the benefits, when in fact benefits are not really important. What people try to solve are pains. So solve a pain with a good story.” - Manu Cohen*”Owning the story is much more powerful than selling a feature or even selling a product. The story is your ‘why.’ Why you do stuff. And people connect with that.” - Manu Cohen*”What we're trying to do is always do more. And always trying to create a motion that moves toward more creativity, even if it means a huge failure, right? Because first of all, failure is learning. And second, because you have more of a chance of getting better by trying and failing than by not trying at all. Or by trying what everyone else is doing, which is boring because everyone else is playing it safe. But it's boring. You need to try stuff, to take risks.” - Manu CohenTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Emmanuel “Manu” Cohen, VP of Marketing at Walnut.io[2:59] Exploring the Genius of Monty Python and the Holy Grail[6:48] Manu's Marketing Insights Inspired by Monty Python[15:01] Breaking the Mold: Creative Marketing on a Budget[16:57] The Power of Creativity Over Budget in Marketing[24:38] Embracing Humor in Marketing[27:11] The Power of Storytelling and Creativity[28:37] Leveraging Absurdity and Running Gags[31:41] Building Emotional Connections Through Stories[34:12] The Importance of Taking Risks in Marketing[41:18] Content Strategy and the ROI of CreativityLinksWatch Monty Python and the Holy GrailConnect with Manu on LinkedInLearn more about Walnut.ioAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

What do you want your audience to understand about your brand? Ask this question with every piece of content you create. Because you want to drive home a specific message. If it’s not doing the job, you need to synthesize the information for your audience. Distill your message to show the value and benefits of your product. It’s how you cut through the noise and capture the attention of your audience. That’s what we’re talking about today with the help of Sproutloud’s Director of Demand Generation, Aaron Morrissey. Together, we watch Parts Unknown and chat about lessons we can take from Anthony Bourdain, including being yourself in your content and synthesizing your message. About our guest, Aaron MorrisseyAaron Morrissey is the Director of Demand Generation at Sproutloud Media Networks, where he works with enterprise clients to help them launch, manage, and optimize digital campaigns across their distributed network. He joined the company in November of 2022. Prior to his current role, he served as Director of Demand Gen at Topia. He is also a content creator for HockeyStack and other B2B SaaS brands.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Parts Unknown:Be the same person in your content as you are in real life. Show that there’s a real person behind the content you’re creating, not some corporate bot. So breathe personality and soul into your content. Aaron says, “When the cameras turned on from when the cameras turned off, [Anthony Bourdain] was the same person. If I'm the same person all around, people will start to either  gravitate toward that or realize that I'm not their cup of tea. People talk so much about authenticity. The real authenticity is truly not being afraid of the consequences of being yourself.” Synthesize your message to drive home the point you’re making. Supplement the visuals with a carefully crafted narrative in your voice that explains what you want your audience to understand. Ian says, “[Anthony Bourdain] brings you into a world that you don't know anything about. And he's giving you these visuals and these conversations. But then he's also synthesizing the information for you in an extremely tight narrative so that he's hammering home the point of what you're seeing with a very clear lesson in every episode. It’s what makes it so brilliant.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Aaron Morrissey, Director of Demand Generation at Sproutloud[1:47] Exploring the Uncompromising Creativity of Parts Unknown[5:36] Aaron Morrissey's Journey: From Content Creation to Demand Generation[7:47] The Essence and Impact of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown[15:22] Crafting a Personal Brand: Insights from Anthony Bourdain's Legacy[19:24] The Art of Content Creation: Learning from Bourdain's Approach[21:09] Synthesizing Information: The Key to Engaging Content[24:45] Exploring Culinary Delights and Conversational Skills[25:35] The Art of Storytelling in Parts Unknown[27:12] Anthony Bourdain's Legacy and the Power of Serialized Content[28:18] The Impact of Following Bourdain's Footsteps[30:35] Creative Evolution and the Importance of Authenticity[36:49] Marketing Strategies and the Future of Content Creation[47:06] Predictions on the Future of the Creator World and B2B ContentLinksWatch Parts UnknownConnect with Aaron on LinkedInLearn more about SproutloudAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Your content should haunt your audience.Not in a spooky kind of way. But in a way where it sticks with them and they think about it later. So in this episode, we’re helping you revive your content strategy.We’re talking about Ghosts, the U.K. TV series, with the help of special guest, Director of Content Strategy at Acquia, Courtney Roe. Together, we talk about infusing your core values in your content, adapting to appeal to new audiences, and multiplying your content-creating power.About our guest, Courtney RoeCourtney Roe is Director of Content Strategy at Acquia, a cloud platform for building, delivering and optimizing websites. She joined the company in January of 2023. Prior to her current role, she served as Director of Content Strategy for Widen, an Acquia company, where she spent over six years in different roles. She also has experience in merchandising, having worked at L.L. Bean and Kohl’s. What B2B Companies Can Learn From Ghosts:Infuse your core values in your content. Use them as a foundation that brands your content as uniquely your own. Courtney says this is important especially if you’re migrating content after an acquisition. She says, “For any product or company that has been acquired, you're going to have to ultimately give a little bit in order to fit into the new world that they're creating. But if you have a strong foundation and really know who you are at your core, you're not going to lose that foundation, even if your name and your branding need to change along the way.” It’s like how Ghosts U.K. was also adapted for a U.S. audience but is still built on the same foundation.Adapt to appeal to new audiences. As your brand grows, research your new target audiences and run tests to see what content resonates with them. Courtney says, “You need to find that right mix of what worked for your initial audience and then how it might need to shift to appeal to a new one. And then also just like learning from others that came before you.” There are undoubtedly differences between the U.K. and U.S. versions of Ghosts based on the style of TV series already popular in each market.Multiply your content-creating power by splitting up your marketing team and brainstorming new content ideas individually. Then regroup and share. This way you get an exponential increase in ideas compared to brainstorming as a group. Ian says, “I’ve found after doing hundreds of brainstorms with B2B marketing teams specifically that It's really important to do. But it also can be challenging, especially remotely, and that usually you're fitting in between meetings or whatever. But I think it is really important to let people go build something themselves and then bring it up to the larger team.” This is how the six writers behind Ghosts came up with ideas for each episode. Co-creator Mathew Baynton said, “It’s productive and fast – you get six first drafts in about the same time as you’d normally get one.” Divide and conquer!Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Courtney Roe, Director of Content Strategy Acquia[4:14] What is Ghosts about?[7:58] Behind the Scenes: Creating Ghosts[13:44] Applying Ghosts' Lessons to B2B Marketing[15:41] The Collaborative Writing Process of Ghosts[17:41] Building Trust and Cohesion in B2B Marketing[20:19] Exploring Character Influence in Creative Writing[20:50] The Role of UX and Audience Understanding in Product Marketing[21:33] B2B Marketing Insights from the Show 'Ghosts'[22:13] Adapting and Knowing Your Audience in Business[22:58] Learning from Adaptation: TV Shows and Business Strategies[23:50] Merging Marketing Visions in Business Acquisitions[26:01] Content Strategy and Creativity in B2B Marketing[34:00] Content Strategy at AcquiaLinksWatch Ghosts U.K.Connect with Courtney on LinkedInLearn more about AcquiaAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Marketing is like magic.It takes the right words in the right tone to cast a spell on your audience. That’s what we’re talking about today with the help of our special guest, Kendra Walters, Director of Content Strategy at SAP Concur. Together, we’re chatting about marketing lessons from Harry Potter, including having a ‘red thread’ tying your content to your storyline, creating a repeatable structure for your content, and creating a mystery worth solving.About our guest, Kendra WaltersKendra Walters is Director of Content Strategy at SAP Concur. Here, she leads the content strategy for Enterprise Americas developing compelling, unique, and engaging content that drives awareness for the company’s world-leading travel and expense solutions. She has been with the company over 11 years and built the center of excellence for content strategy in 2015 where she has developed and grown a team of talented marketers who have brought home several awards including two Killer Content Awards. Kendra’s multi-faceted marketing background spanning over 15 years in tech, medical, and financial services allows her to relate to a multitude of audiences and put the customer at the center. She has a breadth of knowledge in B2B content strategy, development, lifecycle, and optimization as well as demand generation, GTM strategy, and field marketing. Also a trained graphic designer and writer with a passion for storytelling, she strives to bring a unique voice to each piece of content and campaign put into market.About SAP ConcurSAP Concur is the world’s leading brand for integrated travel, expense, and invoice management solutions, driven by a relentless pursuit to simplify and automate these everyday processes. The highly-rated SAP Concur mobile app guides employees through business trips, charges are directly populated into expense reports, and invoice approvals are automated. By integrating near real-time data and using AI to analyze transactions, businesses can see what they’re spending, improve compliance, and avoid possible blind spots in the budget. SAP Concur solutions help eliminate yesterday’s tedious tasks, make today’s work easier, and support businesses to run at their best.About Harry PotterHarry Potter is a story about an orphan boy named Harry Potter who finds out he’s a wizard. The story follows Harry and his closest friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, through each school year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry. It started as a series of 7 books by author J.K. Rowling, the first being Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was released in 1997.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Harry Potter:Have a ‘red thread’ that connects your content to your storyline. Tell your audience a continuous story. Make connections between pieces of content for a sense of cohesiveness. Kendra says, “Don’t just do ‘random acts of marketing.’ Use that red thread to carry through, from the top of the funnel when someone is seeking you out in SEO, all the way to the bottom when you close, and even through renewals.” She adds, “Look at your storytelling like a seven chapter or a seven part book with multiple subplots.”Create a repeatable structure for your content. It makes your job easier, and creates a familiar blueprint your audience will recognize. Ian says that with each Harry Potter book, “There’s that structure. You know each book is a school year.” And we can apply that to marketing, he says, in that “You need to have sign posts for your audience so that they know exactly what they're getting into.” Kendra adds, “There's a formulaic structure to the books. Layered on top of all of these subplots and plots and characters. And so, I think having that formula to your campaigns or your content is a great way to think about it.”Create a mystery worth solving. B2B marketing doesn’t make you think analytically or engage your problem solving skills. But it should. Make your audience think, analyze, question the ideas in your content to engage them more deeply in your brand. Ian says, “Most B2B marketing or content is literally just telling you what the thing is, right? It's not creating any controversy. It's not creating multiple points of view. It's not debating things that could happen. In B2B marketing, you need to create stuff that people can disagree about.”Quotes*”We talk about this idea of human to human marketing, B2B people are still people and you're still buying from a human but we have the least human marketing possible. We have the least human content possible.” - Ian Faison*”A lot of time we write content that's for us and not for our customers or our audience. And so use words that mean something to them, not just mean something to you. What questions are they actually asking when they're searching for something in SEO? And is the content answering those questions?” - Kendra Walters*”Building that context to know when to use what type of content at what point in the funnel is something that can give you a lot more information than just like, ‘Oh, how many people looked at my webpage?’” - Kendra WaltersTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Kendra Walters, Director of Content Strategy at SAP Concur[4:02] The Enchantment of Storytelling: Harry Potter's Impact and Creation[11:51] Masterful Storytelling: Plotting, Pacing, and Character Development in Harry Potter[20:18] Translating Magic into Marketing: Key Takeaways from Harry Potter for B2B Marketers[26:17] Diving Deep into Harry Potter Fandom[27:40] Creating Raving Fans: The Harry Potter Effect[28:05] The Mystery and Engagement in Storytelling[29:04] B2B Marketing Insights from Harry Potter[30:21] Emotional Takeaways and the Power of Choices[31:44] Relatability and Human Elements in B2B Marketing[36:31] Content Strategy and Audience Engagement[38:33] The Impact of Content Marketing and Measuring ROI[41:58] Campaign Success Stories and Advice for Content Strategists[46:57] Concluding Thoughts on Harry Potter and Content MarketingLinksWatch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneRead Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneListen to SAP Concur ConversationsConnect with Kendra on LinkedInLearn more about SAP ConcurAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

It's easy to get technical when you're writing copy about a highly technical subject. But that's when you lose your audience.Instead ask, "What problem is this solving for my customer?" And explain it in their language.That's one strategy inspired by Michael Crichton that we're ​​​​exploring today with the CMO of Promo.com, Joel Horwitz. Together, we talk about writing in layman's terms, thoroughly researching the problem you're trying to solve, and learning something new about marketing every day.​​About our guest, Joel HorwitzJoel is an experienced High-Tech Marketing professional with a diverse background in data science & engineering, product strategy and digital marketing. Prior to Promo.com, he was the Chief Marketing Officer of AudioEye where he led the Go-To-Market team with a Product-Led Growth Strategy that helped grow the company from less than 300 customers to over 30,000 in a year. Prior to that, at IBM, he championed the value of a Digital Go-To-Market as the Global Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Digital Offerings for IBM’s Digital Business Group. In addition, his extensive background in Data + AI has helped him lead breakthrough customer experiences including the AudioEye Accessibility Solution, IBM Data Science Experience, Alpine Data Labs Modeler, Datameer Sheets for Hadoop, H2O.ai Sparkling Water, and more; through the introduction of platform partnerships, self-service offerings, and digital go-to-market.Joel holds an MBA in International Business from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS and BS in Nanotechnology from the College of Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. He is a board member of NUMFocus, an advisor to a number of startups, and a volunteer in his local community. About Promo.comOriginally launched in 2016 as a B2B video creation and distribution platform, Promo.com has since won numerous awards, scored top customer reviews and has been deployed by Fortune 500 companies for social media marketing purposes for 10,000+ Brands. Promo.com’s latest product, PromoAI Copilot, soft-launched in October 2023, gaining over 1,000 customers who are now using the Promo.com Platform. Its latest product, PromoAI Copilot is now available at Promo.com or on the OpenAI GPT Store.About Michael CrichtonMichael Crichton is the late award-winning author, screenwriter and filmmaker, having passed away in 2008. He’s most known for having written Jurassic Park and having created ER. He was incredibly prolific. So he’s also known for books, movies and TV shows like The Andromeda Strain, The Lost World, Westworld, and all the other Jurassic movies (Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World, etc.) He also wrote frequently under the pseudonym John Lange of Jeffery Hudson. He has sold 200 million books, and his books have been translated into 38 languages, and 13 of them have been made into movies. He has an Emmy and a Peabody among other awards.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Michael Crichton:Write in layman’s terms. Even when it’s a highly technical product or concept, write so the general reader can understand your topic. Joel says, “What makes Michael Crichton remarkable is his ability to explain highly complex and difficult ideas in a way that a nine year old can understand them. If you're in the high tech industry, you're working with cryptocurrencies, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or large language models. All this stuff is very difficult to understand if you're a novice. So if you can communicate these ideas and not just explain them for what they are, but then to try to compel somebody to be interested in these ideas and then extrapolate a whole story and a whole vision of where this could take us, that to me is Remarkable.”Thoroughly research the problem you’re trying to solve. Become an expert on the topic and then teach your audience about it. Explaining how your product solves the problem in detail and backing it up with research builds credibility as well as drives engagement and conversion. Joel says, “Ultimately, marketers are teachers. What are we really doing with content marketing? We're teaching people about how to think about a particular product area. A lot of the work goes into really making sure you’ve got the problem right that you need to solve. Not as much on the solutioning side. Usually it's like, ‘What is the problem that we're trying to actually solve here?’ And researching that.” And he adds, “Not just reading, but actually, for example, going to the location or going out and actually talking to customers.”Learn something new about marketing every day. Ask questions and be intensely curious. Learn from your peers, from Google searches, or subscribe to a newsletter like Harry Dry’s, Devin Reed’s or Emily Kramer’s. Joel says, “Constantly be learning, coming into things with a beginner's mindset. I think that's another big thing Michael Crichton does well. He asks a lot of good questions. My grandfather told me the smartest men and women ask the best questions. They act as if you don't know something because that's how you learn.”Quotes*”I was never one for the big unveil. I've always been like, ‘All right, what are the things that we can incrementally change and test to see if we're moving things in the right direction?’” - Joel Horwitz*”I think we often think of, ‘Who's that one ideal customer profile or who's that one champion that we need to target?’ But these decisions, especially B2B, they're never made by a single person. It's almost always a team. And so it's really helpful for me to think about, ‘Who are the different personalities in the room that I'm speaking to?’ Because I think if you can convince them or they can all see kind of their own story, their own journey, and how this product or how the solution is going to help them, I think you have a much better chance of getting their attention.” - Joel HorwitzTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Joel Horwitz, CMO of Promo.com[1:35] Why are we talking about Michael Crichton?[5:41] What does Joel’s work at Promo.com entail?[8:27] Who is Michael Crichton?[13:22] What was Michael Crichton’s creative process?[17:35] What makes Michael Crichton remarkable?[32:56] What B2B marketing lessons can we take from Michael Crichton?[50:13] What have Joel’s favorite campaigns been over the years?[53:10] What’s next for Promo.com?LinksLearn more about Michael CrichtonConnect with Joel on LinkedInLearn more about Promo.comAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

There’s one marketing tactic that can make people laugh, it can make people gasp. But either way it’ll make them remember your content for years. It’s shock factor. And people aren’t using it enough in B2B marketing. It’s eliciting this strong emotional response that grabs your audience’s attention, gets them talking about your brand, and makes your content rise above the noise. What’s not to love? So in this episode of Remarkable, we’re talking about a group of filmmakers who know about shock factor: Traktor. And with the help of our special guest, Senior Director, Head of Content at Domino Data Lab, Yuval Zukerman, we chat about going for the shock factor, creating a series of ads for a single campaign, and using your constraints to your advantage.About our guest, Yuval ZukermanYuval Zukerman is Senior Director, Head of Content at Domino Data Lab. He joined the company in July 2022 as Director of Technical Alliances. Prior to Domino Data Lab, Yuval served as Manager of Partner Marketing at VMWare. He has also founded his own company, Enavigo, LLC, focusing on technology leadership for results-oriented marketers, mobile development, developer relations, translation and localization project management.Over his career, he has served in a variety of roles across the technology lifecycle. From developer and engineer to project manager, technology consultant to technical creative and sales. He has worked with non-profits, medium-sized clients and global Fortune 500 companies in verticals that included CPG, B2C and B2B services, hospitality and financial. Past clients include Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Wells Fargo, Verizon Wireless, The Coca-Cola Company, Philips, and The Greater Boston Food Bank. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from UCLA and an M.A. in Information Technology and Software Engineering from Harvard.About Domino Data Lab​​Domino Data Lab powers model-driven business for the world’s most advanced enterprises, including over 20% of the Fortune 100. Their Enterprise MLOps platform speeds up the development and deployment of data science work while increasing collaboration and governance, to scale data science into a competitive advantage. Their platform enables thousands of data scientists to develop better medicines, grow more productive crops, adapt risk models to major economic shifts, build better cars, improve customer support, or simply recommend the best purchase to make at the right time. Domino is backed by leading venture capital firms: Sequoia Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Coatue Management, Dell Technologies Capital, Highland Capital Partners, In-Q-Tel, and Zetta Venture Partners.About TraktorTraktor is a group of filmmakers based in Venice, California. Though they’re based in California, they’re originally from Sweden and met in film school: Directors Sam Larsson, Pontus Löwenhielm, Patrik von Krusenstjerna, Ole Sanders, Mats Lindberg and producer Richard Ulfvengren. They’re globally renowned for their work serving brands like Lego, Nike, PepsiCo, Levi’s, Fox Sports, MTV, Virgin Atlantic, and more. They’ve done music videos for Fatboy Slim, the Flaming Lips and Madonna. At least twice they’ve been recognized as the most award-winning directors in the world. They’ve won three Grand Prix at Cannes, a handful of Clios, an Emmy, and been nominated for a Grammy.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Traktor:Go for the shock factor. Knock your audience off-balance with unexpected content. It’s inexpensive, it’s attention-grabbing, it’s memorable. Traktor made ads for Fox Sports that showed a man high diving straight into the ground, and another of two blindfolded men swinging oversized bats at each other. They were shockingly off-kilter for sports ads at the time. Over 20 years later, Yuval still remembers them vividly. Ian says, ”I wouldn't say Traktor’s first ads are cheaply done, but comparatively. Like, there's no celebrities. They’re just jarring. It's just taking the one salient point that you want the person to know and finding some sort of crazy connection out there in the ether to drive that home and then make the audience think, make them laugh.”Create a series within your campaign. It gives you a format while allowing you freedom to play on your theme. So you can create a variety of ads that appeal to different audience preferences, increase brand awareness and recall, and even run A/B testing with them. It’s like how Traktor made a series of ads for Fox Sports. Ian says, ”They have one ad on an Indian sport and one on a Chinese sport. As the viewer, you realize it’s a series. It becomes something that’s beyond just a one-off thing. And now people think they’re so funny. That’s where ads are at their best, when it’s less of a one-off and more of something that’s ongoing.”Use your constraints to your advantage. Traktor leaned into their tight budget, and in doing so created stylized videos that were visually unique and captivating. Ian says, “If you don't have the budget, how can you steer into doing things grainier or less quality or unintentionally done in that way?”Quotes*”You're taking time from your audience. Traktor is giving them an exchange: Humor. They're giving you a giggle and a laugh. And that is something that is very important for us, to provide people value for their time. Time is the most valuable thing we have. So you better not waste it.” - Yuval Zukerman*”No matter what your goal is in the content, stand up to your core set of values. Live up to those standards. I always tell my kids, ‘Are you proud of what you just did?’ Because there's something you can feel good that you delivered or created.” - Yuval ZukermanTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Yuval Zukerman, Senior Director, Head of Content at Domino Data Lab[2:08] Why are we talking about ads by Traktor?[3:01] What does Yuval’s work at Domino Data Lab entail?[5:35] Learn more about Traktor[12:07] What makes ads by Traktor remarkable?[20:35] What are marketing lessons we can take from Traktor?[27:58] What’s Yuval’s content strategy?[33:02] How does Yuval get leadership buy-in on new content?[41:40] How does Yuval prove the ROI of content?LinksCheck out films by TraktorConnect with Yuval on LinkedInLearn more about Domino Data LabAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.