AQ's Blog Grill

In this episode, broadcasting personality Angela Onuora joins Alan to discuss the shifts she has experienced in moving to Canada from Nigeria. In Nigeria, Angela became a popular TV host, actor and radio personality. She discusses her popular radio show, "We Women", and how it was the first ever talk-radio show in Nigeria.

"We Women" dealt with serious women's issues such as rape, divorce and domestic violence. Angela shares how she grew her fanbase and how she brought a bit of lightness to such dark material.

In 2014, Angela and her family made the move to Canada. She discusses Canadian culture shocks and the opportunities she has found here to expand her knowledge and grow her career.

About Our Guest

Angela Onuora is a broadcasting personality, screenwriter and media developer from Abuja, Nigeria. In 2014, she moved to Canada to grow her media company, Izureel Concepts. Angela is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University with a BSc. (Hons) degree in Estate Management.

Known as the "career-whisperer", Dr. Larry Smith joins AQ's Blog & Grill to share insights from his new book, "No Fears, No Excuses". After a 2011 TED Talk that garnered millions of views on YouTube, Larry found himself answering thousands of questions stemming from the talk. "I always knew people struggled with careers," he states. "But that gave me a sense of the scale that I'd honestly not imagined." The messages Larry was receiving in relation to the TED video showed him what people wanted answered. This led him to create a truly market-tested book, tested by real people asking real questions.

In this Q&A, Larry describes the structure of the book and what the reader will find, including pragmatic guidance and the "unsexy subject of planning". Larry tells us the difference between having a strong interest in something and being truly passionate, and how that passion will shape your career. He also discusses the vexing issue of work/life balance and how not having a balance can cause your startup or business to fail. "Just because you work hard does not mean you will be successful."

About Our Guest Dr. Larry Smith is an adjunct associate professor of economics at the University of Waterloo. He has counselled more than 23,000 students on careers, representing more than 10 percent of UW's alumni. His efforts at the university led to his receiving the University of Waterloo's Distinguished Teacher Award. His TEDx Talk, "Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career", has been viewed by millions.

She's the CEO of Sprint.ly, a marketing mentor and angel investor who started her hurricane of entrepreneurial activities by studying engineering. In this episode of AQ's Blog & Grill, April Dunford shares her experience from engineer to marketing greatness. April finds that most start-ups struggle with their positioning statements. They either follow the fill-in-the-blank, Frankenstein-style model, or they don't create one at all. To help, April breaks down the top four types of positioning statements and shares a new way for crafting them. Alan and April discuss marketing strategy vs. tactics, creating the right metrics and shifting your mindset from selling to helping your customer buy. Becoming a "stay-up" isn't an easy road, so April provides her top three marketing strategies start-ups should follow to find success. "In theory, everything is possible," April says. "But I live in practice, and the road to theory has been washed out".

About Our Guest

April Dunford studied engineering at the University of Waterloo but happens to be a B2B marketing guru. She has a history of helping to bring start-ups to success and assisting large corporations to launch new products. April is currently the CEO of Sprint.ly, an agile project management tool, and the founder of Rocket Launch Marketing.

Just in case you missed the memo, traditional brand marketing has officially taken a back seat. Audiences want authenticity, transparency and "right-time" marketing. So who are you going to call to perfect your strategy as the digital platforms constantly change? Our suggestion: Brian Fanzo. As Chief Social Media Officer at MyChannel Inc and founding partner of Backlamp LLC, Brian always has his finger on the pulse of new technologies and platforms to reach your audience the way they want to be reached. This year, live video is the game-changer. Live video allows us to scale relationships and build trust. But it's more than hitting a button and chatting away. You still need to have a strategy. Brian, who is connecting to us for this interview while visiting SXSW, provides us with his 5 keys to a successful live video stream. He also gives tips to creating a strong digital footprint with every marketing move you make. Alan and Brian discuss the quick demise of Meerkat, the 24-hour lifespan of Periscope and the large reach of Facebook live.

Brian makes the point that we must constantly collaborate by sharing information and bridging audiences to keep up with the rate of change found in digital marketing today.

About Our Guest

Brian Fanzo is the Chief Social Media Officer at MyChannel Inc and the founding partner of Backlamp LLC. Brian is the proud father of three girls, a social media specialist and technology evangelist. As a keynote speaker, Brian shares his knowledge on millennial leadership, digital storytelling, personal branding and the power of community.

How does a young guy from Winnipeg become the founder of the leading search marketing software company? Answer: A lot of hard work, an undying drive for success and a lot of time spent working with the free wifi at Panera Bread. Larry Kim joins us to share his story of going from a University of Waterloo student to building a successful business that manages over half a billion dollars in ad revenue worldwide. After discovering the power of AdWords through a previous career, Larry decided to take his new-found skills to the next level by advising clients on how to efficiently manage their online ad spend. As his workload grew, he began to write software programs that eased his consulting responsibilities. Fast-forward six years, Larry's company, WordStream, employs hundreds in the Boston area, has tens of thousands of customers, and has been named by Google as an AdWords Premier Partner. Alan and Larry discuss the "why's" of starting a business, the challenges around "vulture" capitalists, and the entrepreneurial myths that need busting. Larry wraps up by providing advice to emerging startups and entrepreneurs.

About Our Guest

Larry Kim is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of WordStream, Inc., which is the leading provider of Adwords, Facebook and keyword tools used by over a million marketers worldwide. Larry is a top columnist at "Inc. Magazine", Search Engine Land, Social Media Examiner and is a regular contributor to The WordStream Blog. Larry has many awards under his belt, including "Most Influential PPC Expert" three years running, and Search Marketer of the Year at the 2015 US Search Awards.

Top digital analyst, futurist and award-winning author, Brian Solis joins Alan to share the inspirations and aspirations behind his new book, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design. Brian's major influence for the book comes from Joseph Pine and James Gilmore's article-turned-book, The Experience Economy (1999). Brian notes that well over a decade later, their points on customer experience are still valid—customers want experiences, not products or services. Brian depicts the framework for experience architecture and how one can become an experience architect. Brian discusses data-artistry and how we must not dehumanize data. We must use data to tell a story and humanize who we are trying to reach. Brian also explains the technique of Hollywood Storyboarding to build a narrative so people can have the best brand experience.

About Our Guest

Brian Solis is a sought-after keynote speaker, an award-winning author, and the Principal Analyst at Altimeter Group (a Prophet company). Brian is a trail blazer in digital transformation, innovation, digital lifestyles, and connected consumerism. He shares his insights in his writings with AdAge, Wired, VentureBeat and on his personal blog at briansolis.com. Brian also hosts an online video series titled Revolution where he examines technology, trends and more with thought leaders from around the globe.

Back in 2007, unaware of the incoming economic recession, Joe Pulizzi left his successful career with Penton Media to embark on a journey of entrepreneurship. Joe had no product to sell, but with the help of inspiring messages from authors like Stephen Covey and Napoleon Hill, he wrote out his goals and began developing an audience. Every day Joe blogged, and after a few years he managed to compile a database of over 10,000 email subscribers. It was only then that he decided to develop products and services to sell to his trusting followers. There are many lessons to take from this, but the number one is that if you build an audience and become their trusted source of information, you can establish a successful business based on that audience's needs. Joe outlines much of this in his bestselling book, "Content Inc.", one of the topics in this episode of AQ's Blog & Grill. Alan and Joe break down many aspects of a stellar content marketing strategy, debate the future of content marketing, and Joe shares his inspirations for writing Content Inc. By the way, since you've been reading this, another 1,000+ blogs have been launched on the internet. How will you stand out among them?

About Our Guest

Joe Pulizzi is a bestselling author, a world-renowned keynote speaker, and the founder of the Content Marketing Institute. Joe can often be found at the top of Content Marketing Influencer lists from publishers like Entrepreneur and Newscred. He is known for being one of the founders of the content marketing movement, using the term way back in 2001 when the internet was still a toddler. Joe has built his business, the Content Marketing Institute, from a small, daily content-focused blog to a world-leading media company that publishes an ongoing magazine and hosts the largest content marketing event in the world.

There are many skeptics out there who believe that public relations is a dead industry. Experts, like our guest Melissa Durrell, know better. Yes, the digital age is transforming the landscape of public relations, but that doesn't mean any Joe Blow off the street can get your word out like a PR expert can. A self-proclaimed "news junkie and political wonk", Melissa joins us to discuss the importance of public relations and why every brand needs to have a strategy. In 2015, the marketing word of the year was 'content', so brands everywhere jumped on the content-creation train hoping for an increase in brand awareness and, ultimately, sales. However, Melissa notes that if no one is reading your content, what's the point? This is just one area of the spectrum that shows having a PR strategy is critical. Melissa also shares tips on crisis communication; giving a pitch that will grab the attention of investors; the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and advice for people looking to work in public relations.

About Our Guest

Melissa Durrell is the President of Durrell Communications, a boutique public relations agency in Waterloo, Ontario. As a trusted mentor and award-winning communications expert, Melissa works with hundreds of startups, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists across Canada with their communications strategies. Melissa's passion for community is shown daily in her work as a City Councilor.

Michael Brenner is at the top of content marketing influencer lists web-wide. He inspires marketing minds to stay agile in this new and evolving age of the customer. With great skill comes great questions, and the number one question Michael receives is "How do I measure the ROI on my content marketing?" Behold, "The Content Formula", his new book, filled with applicable knowledge to satisfy any CFO. Michael Brenner joins Alan to share some of the expertise the reader will find in "The Content Formula" and to talk about what adventures are next. Alan and Michael discuss why "marketing has a marketing problem" and what we need to do to fix it. They wrap up this insightful interview by considering the future of marketing: Will video take over the Internet as Cisco predicts? Will there even be any advertising – or just personalized branding?

About Our Guest

Michael Brenner is the Chief Executive Officer of Marketing Insider Group and previously vice-president, marketing and content strategy at SAP. He is a results-driven, strategic marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience in marketing and sales. He is also a frequent speaker at marketing and leadership events, a contributor to "The Economist", "Forbes" and "The Guardian", and a blogger at B2B Marketing Insider.

Rob Barnett is a pioneer in the media world, bringing audiences entertainment on the platforms they crave. The founder of Omnivision Entertainment and My Damn Channel joins Alan to discuss the past, present and future of branded content. With a history working at MTV, VH1 and then taking an entrepreneurial route in media, Rob's true passion lies in providing talented entertainers with the right platform to achieve success. When YouTube was merely an infant in diapers, Rob Barnett launched My Damn Channel, a platform to bring original online comedy direct to the audience without the red tape from networks in the way. Rob brought together great talents Harry Shearer, Don Was and David Wain to launch the indie channel and eventually opened the doors to discover and launch fresh talents like Grace Helbig (Daily Grace), reaching audiences as significant and large as television. Alan and Rob discuss the rise of Grace Helbig and how she was one of the first internet stars to build a unique relationship between artist and audience that was consistent and dedicated. They also debate the future of branded content and if we will ever get tired of video now that anyone can be their own producer. Rob Barnett wraps up the discussion by providing us with three things publishers should consider to achieve media success in this new age of communications.

About Our Guest

Rob Barnett is the founder of Omnivision Entertainment and My Damn Channel, a multi-platform media company working with established and emerging talent and major brands to create premium content in all outlets. Rob produces innovative, original content for TV, film, radio and the web. He has created content with diverse communicators including former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla and more. For over a decade, Rob was a production and programming executive at MTV and VH1 and he was President of Programming for CBS Radio.