Remarkable Marketing

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.