Smarter Marketer

Most marketing briefs never mention behaviour. They mention a product launch, a credit card switch, a new vehicle landing next month. Dan Monheit's argument is that every one of them is the same brief wearing a different outfit: you want someone to do something they're not currently doing.In this episode of the Smarter Marketer Podcast, Host James Lawrence and Dan Monheit, Chief CX Thinker at Thinkerbell, discuss which biases suit which problems, why the best in-house marketers are really pitch people in client roles, what happens to brand building when a third of your audience asks an LLM first and more.Key Takeaways:How Dan ended up in behavioural science by coming at it backwards, from advertising rather than academiaWhy he thinks every brief is a behaviour change briefWhy you should put the customer and the brand on equal footing, rather than the customer firstThe peak-end rule, and why the last experience shapes how people remember everythingEffort bias: why invisible work is worthless workWhy people can't reliably tell you why they buy thingsHow the best in-house marketers build a business case that actually landsWhere AI helps and where it costs you: writing to communicate vs writing to thinkWhat LLMs change for brand building and the consideration setGuest:Dan Monheit is Chief CX Thinker at Thinkerbell and one of Australia's most recognised voices on behavioural science in marketing.He co-founded Hardhat in 2005, straight out of uni, and spent fifteen years reinventing it before landing on the idea that held it all together: every brief is a behaviour change brief. Hardhat was acquired by Thinkerbell in 2024.You can follow Dan on LinkedIn.Find Us Online:James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/ Smarter Marketer Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/smarter-marketer-podcast Rocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/ Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/Buy Smarter Marketer:Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kg Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm About the Podcast:This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author, James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.

AJ Wilcox, founder of a US-based LinkedIn Ads agency, has run five of LinkedIn’s top 10 highest-spending accounts of all time and audited hundreds of accounts. He sees the same five mistakes that are often the difference between accounts that perform and don’t; simple fixes that most advertisers never think to check.In this episode, he joins Rocket Agency’s Co-Founder, James Lawrence, to walk through what's actually moving the needle on LinkedIn in 2026; from the settings worth double-checking, to why "thought leader ads" are outperforming company posts by 5x on engagement, to the connection between a strong LinkedIn presence and visibility in LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude.Key Takeaways:How AJ went from a first-week LinkedIn pilot to running the platform's biggest-ever spending accountFive settings worth reviewing in every LinkedIn ads account: geography, audience expansion, network placements, bidding method, and suggested bid rangesWhy a post from a person consistently outperforms a post from a brand, and a simple way to get executives producing months of content in one sittingA colour theory approach to static creative that helps ads stand out against LinkedIn's blue-and-white interfaceWhy B2Linked doesn't run LinkedIn ads for its own business and what that says about the relationship between organic and paidThe CRM integrations most teams underuse, and why manual lead follow-up is costing more than people realiseWhy LLMs are emerging as a real lead source and the simple form-field fix that gets them properly creditedGuest:AJ Wilcox is the Founder of B2Linked, a LinkedIn Ads-only agency that helps B2B marketers get better results from their LinkedIn campaigns. AJ has worked with 5 of LinkedIn’s top 10 spending accounts and managed over $150 million in LinkedIn ad spend.He is a trusted expert in LinkedIn Ads and has spoken at more than 80 industry events and appeared on over 200 podcasts.You can follow AJ on LinkedIn.Find Us Online:James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/ Smarter Marketer Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/smarter-marketer-podcast Rocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/ Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/Buy Smarter Marketer:Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kg Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm About the Podcast:This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author, James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.

The real test of a solid marketing strategy is whether you understand it well enough to stress-test it, and actually use it to make a decision when it counts. And now that AI can spit out a "strategic" brief in seconds, that distinction matters more. Looking strategic and being strategic are not the same thing, and it’s starting to become obvious.In this episode, James Lawrence sits down with renowned strategist Julian Cole, Founder of Strategy Finishing School and someone who's spent his career inside the rooms where PlayStation, Snickers and M&M's strategies were crafted to talk about what good strategy really looks like and where genuinely pivotal insights actually come from.Key Takeaways:Julian's path from social and digital strategy in Australia to running strategy teams at BBH and BBDO in New YorkWhy nailing the fundamentals matters more in an AI-powered world as the tools get ‘smarter’ and the bar for judgment goes upHow to use AI as a sparring partner for strategyThe four essential ingredients of any strategy: the goal, the problem, the insight and the solutionUntangling business strategy, marketing strategy, brand strategy and creative strategy: what each actually does, and how they fit togetherWhat separates a genuine consumer insight from a nice-sounding observation, and why the best ones change how you see the problem entirelyPractical, unglamorous ways to find insights you can get started with todayWar stories from behind the scenes on PlayStation and SnickersHow smaller marketing teams can think more strategically without a dedicated strategist on staffWhy the best strategies boil down to one clear idea that can guide creative, brand and marketing decisionsGuest:Julian Cole is a strategy consultant and the founder of Strategy Finishing School. He's worked with global brands including Apple, Uber, Meta and Disney, and held senior strategy roles at BBH and BBDO in New York, where he worked on campaigns for PlayStation, Snickers, Bacardi, Mountain Dew and M&M's. Through Strategy Finishing School, he's helped thousands of strategists and marketers build the skills to develop, communicate and defend an effective marketing strategy.You can follow Julian on LinkedIn.Find Us Online:James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/ Smarter Marketer Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/smarter-marketer-podcast Rocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/ Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/Buy Smarter Marketer:Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kg Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm About the Podcast:This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author, James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.

Rocket Agency's Co-Founder and podcast host, James Lawrence, sits down with US-based agency-owner Jordan Slover to explore the common traits they’ve seen across high-performing marketers and marketing teams, drawing on 50 years combined experience working with over 500 businesses in Australia, the UK and the USA.Key Takeaways:Why clarity about what success looks like helps marketers stay focusedWhy chasing every new platform, tool or tactic can do more harm than goodHow a strong understanding of brand can improve long-term marketing performanceWhy staying close to customers is one of the most valuable things a marketer can doHow genuinely considering the advice of specialists and building trust leads to stronger agency partnershipsWhy relentless curiosity and a genuine desire to learn are essential marketing traitsHow reading widely and staying across news and culture can make you a better marketerWhy marketers shouldn’t rely on AI to assess strategies without applying context and critical thinkingGuest:Jordan Slover began his digital marketing career at Google, working in New York and London before moving to Australia. He later returned to the United States and founded Neon Ambition, a lead generation and digital marketing agency that works primarily with professional services businesses. Neon Ambition has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies for three consecutive years.You can follow Jordan on LinkedIn.Find Us Online:James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/ Smarter Marketer Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/smarter-marketer-podcast Rocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/ Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/Buy Smarter Marketer:Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kg Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm About the Podcast:This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author, James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.

AI search has moved far beyond theory. 14.3 million Australians now use ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews to research and decide which brands they trust, often before they ever visit a website. But most marketers are still measuring the wrong metrics and applying SEO tactics that don’t fully translate to AI search.In this episode, James Lawrence sits down with Rocket’s Head of SEO & GEO, Joe Alder, to unpack exactly what Rocket has learnt after three years of research, studying the landscape, testing and optimising brands for AI search.Rather than discussing AI at a high level, this episode dives into the practical strategies that are delivering results today, including technical fixes, content strategy, brand sentiment, AI measurement and the framework Rocket uses with clients to improve visibility across different AI search tools.Key takeaways:Why AI search is already changing how customers buyThe STAR framework Rocket uses to build GEO strategiesThe technical issues quietly preventing AI platforms from accessing many websitesWhy trust, reviews and third-party sources matter more than everHow to improve the information AI platforms use when describing your businessWhy AI referral traffic dramatically understates AI’s real commercial impactThe metrics marketers should actually be measuringReal examples of brands improving AI visibility through practical changesGuest:Joe Alder is Rocket’s Head of SEO & GEO and one of Australia’s leading voices on the evolving AI search landscape. He has worked closely with Australian brands to help them navigate the shift from traditional search to AI-driven discovery, combining deep technical expertise with practical strategies for improving visibility across platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Gemini.You can follow Joe on LinkedIn.Find Us Online:James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/Smarter Marketer Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/smarter-marketer-podcastRocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/Buy Smarter Marketer:Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kgKindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWmAbout the Podcast:This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author, James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.