Funnel Reboot

Up to the end of the twentieth century, the only ads that appeared on a screen were the ones arranged by a handful of TV networks. They were the only ones who could sell commercials, and only the biggest companies could afford what they charged for 30 seconds of airtime. Then, about 25 years ago, some digital marketing innovations started to make a new ad model possible. In 2000, Google launched a self-serve ad platform, and it was later joined by display ad exchanges like Right Media and DoubleClick. For a while, they displayed image ads, but faster broadband internet eventually meant they could serve video, and by the end of the decade an ad-serving standard was set. Thanks to internet protocol, new screens provided information back to bidders. Now, instead of buying by the time slot, advertisers pre-set what they'd bid to show an ad to viewers, based on what is being watched and possibly the viewer's demographics. The marriage of all these has enabled ads to be shown to consumers streaming on their smart TV, Apple TV, Roku or Fire Stick at home. It also opened up a whole new inventory — almost anywhere there's a screen: at the grocery store, in the elevator at the office, at the gas pump. Maybe you don't buy these ads. But it's almost certain that your customers face these screens daily. The question is whether you should put your ads on them. My guest is a graduate of Bishop's University who has spent twenty years inside that marketplace, including time at Samsung. He runs the consultancy Marcus & Muse and founded the Ottawa Ad Club. Let's bring in Aaron Foley. Links to everything mentioned in the show are on the Funnel Reboot site's page for this episode.  

Some of us are lucky enough to work in a place with analysts who can help us make sense of our data. But there are added challenges in making this  collaboration work.  Analysts may struggle with the questions marketers ask, finding them too vague for analyzing.  Marketers may get data back that they find irrrelevant; they may assume the analyst misunderstood their request. I'll grant that we can speak the same language, but that isn't enough. An Analyst cannot look at all the data, they cannot do analysis that will answer all your questions. The outcome you get will match the old movie Cool Hand Luke, which put it this way, WHAT WE'VE GOT HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE. The solution is for both sides to learn just enough of how the other's world to have meaningful dialogues all the way from problem scoping to decision-making. My guest today has been on the analyst's side of that table. He knows what practices determine whether this partnership works or fails. Graduating with a B.Sc. in Statistics, he has served as a Business Intelligence (BI) professional at various Government agencies and school boards. He is at home using tools like GA4,  IBM Cognos to Microsoft PowerBI and writing in languages like SQL, DAX and Python. He's also previously been a professional jazz musician, which led 17 years ago to him founding JazzGuitarLessons.net, a site selling online guitar courses to budding musicians.  running the ecommerce and email aspects of that site using his knowledge of analytics  proves how well he knows what information we need on the marketing side of the business.   Let's go to Gatineau Quebec to learn what analysts need from marketers to do their best work, with Marc-Andre Seguin. Chapter Timestamps   00:00 Intro 03:07 Meet Marc-Andre 05:58 Bias And Ground Rules 07:10 Data Quality And Signal 08:51 Cost Of Analytics Stack 11:35 What Makes Analysts Great 13:35 SME Habits That Help 17:29 Communication And Personalities 19:32 Chatbot Announcement 19:59 Stats And Tools For Marketers 23:53 Using LLMs With Guardrails 26:20 Wrap Up And Where To Find    Links to everything mentioned in the show are on the Funnel Reboot site's page for this episode.  

When I ask how someone forms their perception of a brand, what comes to mind? It might be they hear about it by word of mouth, or on an email thread or private message. In a nutshell, what's said about our company when we're not in the room, when we're not in control of the message.  Now try the same experiment with our personal brand. Is our immediate thought how to look as good as possible? Is it how to curate the results that pop up when they search our name? Truth is, our personal brand has already been formed, we just weren't in on those conversations.  Being active on our social media accounts can help, but we can also send the wrong brand message, shooting ourselves in the foot. When I first got onto Facebook and X, I feared that posting too much content would make me look distracted. When I did post, I felt a certain portion of them should be about my company or at least something generic. If I did have an opinion, it had to be watered down.My thinking was I should talk how my employer wanted me to talk. Turns out that is the complete opposite of how I should have been branding myself. It wasn't until I hung out my own shingle, that I realized being a generic-sounding consultant made me a commodity. That meant my rates were set by the market - I had to be a price-taker. But employees who act generically are also treated as commodities who must take whatever salary is offered. So regardless of where you sit, you're better off with a good personal brand.  Am I saying employees should kiss ass on social, posting about how much they love their work?  No. They can post thoughtful criticisms about the industry, they can post solutions to problems they and their peers face. Content like this boosts a person's brand without offending employers. They  know you won't always be working for them; they'll bask in your halo while they can get it.  But before you put out content you have to get introspective on what your brand stands for.  It's hard for us to stare at a sheet of paper and figure this out, we get better results using a framework. And this is where our guest can help. Since getting her MBA from Moscow International Higher Business School, she has managed some of Europe's largest brands, from Stollwerck, to Nestlé and Shell. She is also a visual artist, marketing consultant and coach. Her 2026 book deals with this very issue.  Let's go now to the French seaside resort town of Cannes to speak with the author of "The Personal Branding Book", Daria Dmitrieva.  Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 02:27 Meet Daria Dmitrieva 03:12 Brand As A Compass 05:55 Premium Brand Parallels 08:56 Authenticity Over Packaging 13:33 Fear And The Shadow Gift 19:04 Become A Magnet 22:26 CEO Dreamer Critic Roles 26:33 Body Cues And Intuition 28:39 Celebrate Progress 32:02 Daria Origin Story 35:35 Where To Find The Book Links to everything mentioned in the show are on the Funnel Reboot site's page for this episode.

"Black Swan" author Nassim Nicholas Taleb says "understanding how to act under conditions of incomplete information is the highest and most urgent human pursuit"    He might have been referring to B2B marketing. Think of it. Internal teams have internal data that give insight into customer accounts and lifetime value. Their agencies are close to different data: media auction signals, campaign trends. But both of them are data-poor, disadvantaged by limited access to each others' systems.  As long as we tolerate the status quo, both sides will keep making false assumptions and poor decisions that harm their relationship.  The same problem's existed in occupations and athletic pursuits, where having one person do it all brings the risk of making a wrong move. The solution is a two-person-team, where each compensates for the others' blindspot. One of the earliest examples comes from a young French acrobat in the mid 1800s who experimented with an aerial act he and a teammate performed over a pool. He was Jules Leotard, and yes, his name's become synonymous with the gymnast outfit he wore.  His most dangerous maneuver started up high on his trapeze, with a teammate who'd dangle by their legs as they swung from their trapeze. When they were at the apex of their swings, he'd vault off into the air, to be grabbed by his teammates' arms. Talk about trust!    There are many modern equivalents where people work in pairs: we have baseball pitchers and catchers exchange signals, synchronized swimming pairs vault each other out of the water. Airplanes are flown by captains and co-pilots, police and military cover for each other in tactical operations, or train Locomotives which are jointly operated by an Engineer and a Conductor.   Our guest strives for 360 degree views of data shared between his agency and clients. He has done B2B marketing  for startups and brands like Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent. In 2023 he founded Zinc Marketing, working for B2B technology companies.  Beyond this, he has been featured in ABC, BusinessWeek, as well as tech and healthcare publications. He is also co-host of the B2B Marketing Pint podcast, and his love of camera gear helped us still record when some of my equipment broke.  Head with me to a local pub to hear about trapeze performances done by agencies and clients, from Brendan Ziolo   Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 02:08 Meet Brendan Ziolo 03:22 Agency vs In House Data 06:00 Beyond MQLs to Revenue 11:25 Funnel Alignment Fixes 12:42 Radical Transparency 16:48 Qualifying Clients Fast 19:22 Directional Targets and Scaling 24:30 AI Needs Humans 29:56 Quality Over Quantity 30:52 Email Autopsy and Wrap   Links to everything mentioned in the show are on the Funnel Reboot site's page for this episode.