Radically Transparent

David Kung, VP of Marketing at Bluescape Software, exposes some of the biggest marketing challenges he’s facing as he comes up against limited resources in today’s economy. “One step forward and two steps back is a great strategy when you’re walking the plank”, says David as he explains some of the slogans he uses to motivate his team and keep the needle moving forward.  He also dives into how he is balancing the minimum effective dose to find the things that require the least amount of effort, with the greatest impact. David also reveals why focus is key when prioritizing projects, and tactics and how it helps his team stay mindful of what is working. He talks about the importance of measuring initiatives and gaining insights in order to craft the next creative endeavor. With a unique background in technology and storytelling, David even discloses what he has learned from past experiences working at Disney, what he has learned about how people process vision, and how the power of visual content can help take your content strategy to new heights.  Hot topics of this episode include: - Using visuals to maximize inspiration, collaboration, and insights - Finding the minimum effective dose to define the initiatives that require the least amount of effort but will drive the maximum impact  - A marketing leader’s best-kept secrets on motivating a team when resources are limited 

CEO of Elemmir, Forbes 30-under-30,  and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and poet David Delaney Mayer unravels the radically transparent truths behind modern-day B2B video marketing. He calls out why in a world where Chat GPT and AI are taking over messaging, it is more important than ever to show a human face to the brand. Throughout this episode, David reveals how to find the big opportunities to tell specific pieces of your brand story, your customer story, and your employee story using video– fit for any budget and any medium. He dives into how video marketing is becoming increasingly personalized, why short-form video works best for quick and engaging content across social and how B2B video marketing has evolved to focus more on storytelling, with companies using video to tell compelling stories that resonate with their audience and build brand loyalty. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: What it takes to tell a compelling story that resonates with your target audience Top tips for brands filming videos with limited resources How a brand can frame a narrative when they are no longer in control

Lauren Gumport, Vice President of Communications and Brand at Faye reveals some of her top secrets for getting top-tier media coverage.  She calls out how media professionals are busy people and why it’s up to marketers to make their job easier. One of the ways Lauren suggests marketers can build an outstanding relationship is by creating custom pitches for each journalist. Taking pitching to the next level requires you to connect with the person, not just a stranger who happens to be a journalist. Remember, you're pitching to a person, not a publication. Throughout the episode, Lauren confirms that if you want top-tier coverage, you have to ditch the “spray and pray” method when connecting with journalists. Instead, define fifty to one-hundred reporters who matter to your space and build these relationships over time. In addition, Lauren even dives into the type of content that matters, why social media managers should live in-house, and how she is measuring media relations' impact on the brand. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - Why social media should live in-house - How to get top-tier coverage for a brand nobody has heard of - Building measurement plans to measure public relations effectively

Joe Morris is the Head of Social Media and Employee Advocacy at Capgemini,  a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. Throughout the episode, Joe dives into how he has rolled out a successful employee advocacy program at Capgemini. He confesses that maintaining an advocacy program isn’t always smooth sailing, how to keep engagement up, and even reveals a few of the ongoing challenges he’s facing getting his colleagues to want to be part of such an initiative. Joe also explains why it’s important to get the business to support, understand and prioritize the program from a top-down approach.  Hot Topics of this Episode Include: The biggest challenge when leading an advocacy program and how to overcome it How to measure the success and impact of an advocacy program on the business Powerful reporting methods to share with employee advocates to keep them engaged quarter over quarter

Meet Dani Peterman, Brand Marketing Lead at Coho AI and a rising LinkedIn influencer with 7K followers. He joins the Radically Transparent podcast to talk about the evolution of organic social media and why social media marketing is so much more than content creation. He reveals the modern day career path of a B2B social media manager and what it will take for them to become the next generation of CMOs. He even lists some of the top skills social media managers currently have that make them an ideal candidate for becoming a marketing leader. Dani doesn’t miss a beat as he even dives into some of the latest trends, like Chat GPT, and how social media managers must be dynamic to avoid becoming obsolete. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - How not to pigeon-hole your career as a social media manager - The evolution of organic social media and the future of B2B social media management - Why social media managers are the next generation of CMOs

Introducing Talia Schmidt, Country Marketing Lead at Cisco, an expert in brand building and a featured guest on the Radically Transparent podcast. In this episode, Talia unravels why at the very core of understanding the effectiveness of brand trust is data. She battles with why it’s often easier to measure lead generation campaigns than branding and reveals where organizations can focus when it comes to figuring out a good way to measure effectiveness of brand campaigns over a period of time. Throughout the episode, Talia reminds marketers that brand marketing is a long play. She's also transparent about why regardless of company size brand marketing is an essential and important part of any marketing function. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - How to build brand trust that ignites meaningful relationships - Understanding if what you’re doing for the brand is actually effective - How marketers can prove the value of brand marketing through data

Cidney Falk, a leader in LinkedIn's Channel Partnerships team within the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions business stops by to share how she is flipping the script on what it means to show up to work and accomplish more with less - while staying sane in the process.  In this episode, Cidney talks about the creation of “Strength WithIn,” a program she implemented across LinkedIn. "Strength WithIn" aims to create space for LinkedIn employees who are interested in strength sports to connect, both in-person and virtually, to build meaningful relationships, work better, and become more resilient. Cidney’s innovative employee-led program creates a virtuous cycle within LinkedIn’s core value of #OneLinkedIn: the idea that across every business line, there are always ways that peers can be collaborating together to bring the best outcomes to LinkedIn clients. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - How a startup mindset can benefit any organization in times of uncertainty - LinkedIn’s core values, and why encouraging employee-led programs to succeed is the key to collaboration - The secret to creating space for your employees to connect both in person and virtually to build meaningful relationships, work better, and become more resilient

Swastik Das, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, and Shanie Zimerman, Strategic Partnerships at Oktopost, stop by to talk through some of the best-kept secrets of Microsoft Teams and Oktopost integration. Tune in to learn how marketing and sales teams are benefiting from it, and what we can expect between Microsoft Teams and Oktopost in 2023. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - What you need to know to bring advocacy content to where your team members are - The best-kept secrets of the Microsoft Teams and Oktopost integration - How marketing and sales teams are benefiting from the integration, specifically when it comes to social selling

Nish Veer, Director of Growth at MediaMonks reflects on companies like Pizza Hut UK, RyanAir, and others who have changed their strategy to become professional trolls in order to gain momentum and an audience. He dives into what B2B organizations can learn from a corporate troll strategy and how to examine your own social channels against competitors to tastefully do social media better. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - Why businesses are turning to corporate troll marketing - How to effectively use troll marketing to improve your brand - The fine line between funny and offensive social posts and the key to trolling right

Kelly Pronek, VP of Marketing at PriceFX, and Daniel Kushner, CEO of Oktopost, examine how to best retain top talent at a time when there is more demand than supply. Together, they tackle how leaders can quell quiet quitting and what to do if you suspect you have a few quiet quitters on your team. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - How marketing leaders can inspire, motivate, and retain top talent - Why putting your people first is the secret to nipping quiet quitting in the bud - How to balance the massive demand for marketing functions with a scarce pool of talent

Jamie Shanks, CEO of Pipeline Signals and the renowned author of two books: Social Selling Mastery, an essential resource for sales and marketing professionals looking for a better way to connect with today's customers; and SPEAR Selling, the ultimate account-based sales guide for the modern digital seller joins host Jennifer Gutman to debate what sets social selling apart from social media marketing. In this episode, Jamie reveals that the key to creating the perfect social selling storm happens when a balance is struck between decision makers conducting due diligence online and the sales professional being seen as a helpful resource that can guide the buyer towards their ideal solution. He also dives into how easy it is for sales professionals to get trapped in “random acts of social” instead of using social as a means of engagement to drive revenue-- and how to overcome it. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - The key differences between social selling and social media marketing - Selling as a means of engagement and how not to get stuck in “random acts of social” - Bridging the gap between sales and marketing with essential guidance on selling to the modern-day buyer

Meet Andrea Zoellner, VP of Marketing at Kinsta, and this week's Radically Transparent podcast guest. She recently led her entire organization to successfully reach a new customer demographic. (Which as many of us know -- is never easy!) Andrea exposes the radically transparent truths behind marketing to a new demographic without changing what current customers already love about the brand. She opens up about the concerns they had, how they positioned themselves, as well as how they addressed future feature development for both new and existing demographics. Andrea even opens up about the “discovery” phase of the new personas– the self-assessment and the moment the brand realized they needed to expand their audience to go behind creators and include developers and CTOs. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - Reaching new customer demographics without abandoning your current one - Insight into the fractured world of website development and a fascinating discussion on why marketers today need to be an expert on the products they write about - The “ah-ha” moment when it’s time to expand your customer audience

VP Marketing, Melinda Cormier of LumApps uncovers what and how she is keeping her pipeline filled with quality leads and maintaining a healthy pipeline-to-spend ratio. However, she takes the conversation for a unique twist as she discloses how she is diversifying her B2B social media strategy to successfully include Facebook-- a social network that has usually become 3rd in the strategic line-up behind LinkedIn and Twitter for B2B marketers. Good marketing requires a diversified model to succeed, and for many, when it comes to social media, marketers are simply not “diversifying enough.” This episode will change the way you think about filling your pipeline, and how to flawlessly handle the ever-changing demands of B2B marketing. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: - Pipeline-to-spend ratio and how to rely on data to meet the ever-changing demands of demand generation - The power of understanding your ICP’s career plan and how to use it to bolster your pipeline - Why B2B marketers shouldn’t forget Facebook despite LinkedIn being the holy grail for all things B2B

There is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ approach to customer segmentation. In this episode of Radically Transparent, host Jennifer Gutman of Oktopost examines what data the modern-day digital marketer is missing to be able to effectively deliver a customized experience to every single individual customer. Hot Topics of this episode include: Why the more data from social media you have, the more effective you can be at segmenting your database and delivering engaging content How to build sophisticated segments based on what your audience clicks on social media, and customize content accordingly Instead of sending the same generic email to all contacts, how you can deliver highly-targeted emails that are aligned with your leads’ interests You can find all resources mentioned throughout the episode here: The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Marketo The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Hubspot The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Eloqua

At its core, lead nurturing is rooted in data. The more data you have on leads, the better you can craft engaging content and messaging. But it’s not enough to base your conversations on your audience’s website and email activity only – what about social media? In this episode, host Jennifer Gutman of Oktopost reveals that buyers are actually spending an average of 116 minutes on social networks each day, making it the ideal channel for marketers to leverage when nurturing leads. In addition, you can find all resources mentioned throughout the episode below: The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Marketo The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Hubspot The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Eloqua

If you don’t have access to a stack of cherry-picked magnificent leads, how do you know which of the leads coming into your business are relevant, and which of those leads are junk? In this episode of Radically Transparent, Jennifer Gutman of Oktopost takes on how marketers can identify which leads should be pushed to sales and which may require further nurturing using social engagement data, and specifically examines lead scoring using social engagement data. You can find all the additional resources mentioned in this episode here: The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Marketo The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Hubspot The Definitive Guide to Social Engagement Data Inside of Eloqua

With less than 25% of leads being sales-ready when they first come in, the question remains how we, as modern-day digital marketers, can actually know at what point a lead is defined as “sales-ready”?  In this episode, Jennifer Gutman, Director of Customer Marketing at Oktopost examines how B2B marketers can: Leverage social engagement data for better engagement Integrate social engagement data into marketing automation and why this simple step will secure your seat at the strategy table and ACHIEVE True attribution– using social engagements to improve lead scoring, nurturing, and overall attribution Get ready to get radically transparent about social engagement data.

Barney O’Kelly, Digital Marketing Director at Alix Partners, a financial advisory and global consulting firm best known for its work in the turnaround space, reveals what Alix Partners did differently when building the framework of their advocacy program, and why he went to great lengths to truly understand the personas that made up the program. According to Barney, marketing is too important to be left only to the marketing department. If you want to tap into creating brand evangelists, you need to understand your employees, the same way you understand your customers. Barney tackles the tremendous level of insight he has gained while leading an advocacy program. He even opens up about some of the psychology he’s learned about the type of people who work at Alix Partners, why not all people want to share content, and how to help his colleagues overcome their fear of thought leadership on LinkedIn. Hot Topics of this Episode Include: The psychology behind why your advocates may not be participating in your advocacy program, and how you can easily overcome it How to mobilize an entire organization to be marketing for your brand Barney’s top tips to ensure the extraordinary work your team is doing every day doesn’t become ordinary

Matt Bailey is known for turning data into action and has been recently named by Oktopost in The Top 10 LinkedIn Influencers (LinkedInFluencers) to Follow. Matt helps complex organizations and teams take the data, find the story, and use communication to write the next chapter. Often consulting for companies like IBM, Google, and Microsoft, Matt works with the best of the best, leading the top thinkers in their industry through exercises to maximize their digital reach. Matt’s humorous edge makes everything he says easier to listen to. He is an expert in deciphering what works and what doesn’t when it comes to digital marketing. His reliance on data ensures that everything he says is backed up by numbers, which is huge when there are so many voices in the space. As Matt puts it, when you have to justify what you are doing, most likely it means you are showing up to meetings with data that isn’t impressive. So what data IS impressive to share if you are reporting on social media? Tune in to find out. Hot Topics of this episode include: Why every marketer needs to be a generalist, stay clear of trends, and practice both digital and media literacy How to define a social media insight and come to meetings with data that matters to the business Why looking at social media engagement rate is actually a disservice to proving your value as a social media manager

Peter Bell, Adobe's Senior Director UKI Enterprise & EMEA Commercial Marketing makes the case that B2B marketers today have lost the ability to tell a great story. For many, it seems the discipline of focusing on their brand's narrative: something that has anchored the brand in people’s hearts and minds and has kept it there, has disappeared. In this episode, Peter and Jen take a look back at some of the greatest marketing stories of all time and talk through what made these specific campaigns stand out. Together, they tackle the thorny issue of why brands today are no longer in control of the stories they tell and how to break through the noise to get the important messages across. Peter also reveals to Jen why it’s imperative for brands today to have a narrative arc to carry their story – regardless of how many channels and platforms marketing is spread across.