Everyone Hates Marketers | No-BS Marketing & Brand Strategy Podcast

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

To take your pitches, presentations, and positioning to the next level, you have to tap into the power of narrative storytelling

.My guest today is Andy Raskin, strategic consultant and storytelling expert. In this episode, you’ll learn how to use storytelling frameworks to establish trust, create emotional connections, and gain traction.

Topics covered:

• What Andy think “positioning” exactly is
• An example of a company that does narrative positioning well
• Can you measure the success of product positioning?
• How to create urgency in your positioning
• Why the CEO should lead the product positioning exercise
• How Andy implements his framework in 5 steps
• The one question that sparks debate in positioning discussion
• How you should approach positioning when you have multiple target audience
• What Andy thinks marketers should learn for the next 5,10, and 50 years

Resources mentioned:

• Andreesen Horowitz
• First Round Capital
• Salesforce
• Intel
• Square
• Uber
• 5 Proven Methods for Positioning Your New Product
• Crossing the Chasm
• Drift
• Marc Benioff
• Zuora
• The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen
• Tailoring Your Pitch for Multiple Audiences
• Never Split The Difference
• Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
• Ira Glass
• This American Life
• Andy’s LinkedIn
• Andy’s website
• Narrative Design: Craft a Story Using Conspiracy Principles
• 13 Positioning Principles From Hungry Hungry Hippos

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

Building trust with social proof is more than just putting reviews on your website and hoping for the best.

My guest today is Louis Nicholls, author of The Social Proof Handbook, growth consultant, and the founder of Sales for Founders.

In this episode, Louis shares his 4-step framework to improve your sales and marketing with social proof.

Topics covered:

• What is “social proof”?
• Examples of social proof in real life
• What social proof can and can’t do
• How to map out the customer’s journey of your product or service
• How social proof can help you answer customers’ objections
• The 7 sources where you can mine social proof
• The different formats of social proof
• How to reach out and get people to give you testimonials
• The biggest mistake people make when utilizing social proof
• What Louis thinks marketers should learn for the next 5,10, and 50 years

Resources mentioned:

• Gymhopper
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Yelp
• Friends
• How To Use Jobs To Be Done to Read Your Customer’s Minds - Claire Suellentrop
• Buyer Persona: Your Guide to Create 100% Accurate & Detailed Ones - Adele Revella
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Fomo
• Mark Ritson
• Website Personalization: What Is It and How To Get Started - Brennan Dunn
• Double Your Freelancing
• RightMessage
• The Brain Audit: How to Sell More - Sean D’Souza
• Baremetrics
• Stripe
• Louis’ Twitter

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

How to sell more? By earning the awareness, trust, and respect of people who could buy from you. This is, in essence, the core of Rand Fiskin's inbound marketing philosophy. In this episode, Rand Fishkin shares his step-by-step guide to selling online using inbound marketing.

Rand Fishkin is the Co-Founder and Ex-CEO of Moz.

Rand Fishkin is one of the best and most transparent marketers. During this hour we talk about the type of marketer that Donald Trump is and what Rand would do if he only had $100 and 6 months to generate $1000 in income.

Rand also tells a personal MOZ story that applies to managing people. Along with reasons why bad marketing stands out, and how to win your customer’s trust.

Topics covered:

• How Rand would spend that $100 on ad platforms to learn how to improve the ROI.
• Rand was a shy introverted kid, but he cared about people and what made them tick.
• Correlation and causation are important distinctions for marketers and understanding data.
• How a bad hire caused issues with Moz’s gender equality policy.
• How the bad marketing is what sticks and gives marketers a bad reputation.
• False best practices in marketing.
• How to identify and get in front of your audience.
• Having empathy and building trust with our customers and retention marketing.

Resources mentioned

• How to land your first digital marketing job (with no experience)
• Moz
• Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
• Basecamp
• Haiku Deck
• Buffer
• Full Contact
• Radian6
• Crimson Hexagon
• Sprinklr
• Sprout Social
• Followerwonk
• Hootsuite
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
• Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler
• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
• MozCon
• Search Engine Land and Marketing Land Events
• Social Media World
• Hootsuite Blog

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

Is your organization too afraid of trying new things?

Do you have an idea for an experiment but are not sure how to pitch it to your boss?

Let’s change that.

My guest today is David Arnoux, Co-founder, and Head of Growth at GrowthTribe. In this episode, we talk about developing an experimental mindset, why visual storytelling is vital to get buy-ins, and how to run marketing and growth experiments to find huge wins.

Topics covered:

• The symptoms of companies that are not experimenting enough
• What companies need to have in place before starting experimenting
• The danger of “growth for the sake of growth”
• The type of companies that David won’t train or work with
• Why experiment culture should begin with the mindset
• How to change the mindset in an organization
• Why visual storytelling is essential in presenting your experiments
• The single data source to help you pick the right ideas to run with
• A few examples of crazy experiments David ran
• David’s advice to aspiring marketers
• What David thinks marketers should learn for the next 5,10, and 50 years

Resources mentioned:

• GrowthTribe
• CXL
• Booking.com
• Oracle
• Claire Suellentrop - Hot to Use Jobs To Be Done to Read Your Customers’ Minds
• Asia Matos - 5 Steps to Create a Go-to-market Strategy
• Stealing Fire by Stephen Kotler
• Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
• Jeff Bezos’ 2018 Letters to Shareholders
• Smartcuts by Shane Snow
• Takeru Kobayashi (The Hot Dog Eating Contest Champion)
• Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz
• Dave McClure Pirate Metrics
• The GROWS Process by GrowthTribe
• Hotjar
• The Brass Framework
• Occam’s Razor
• Wait But Why by Tim Urban
• OCEAN model / Big Five Personality Traits
• Sandra Matz
• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Edward Bernays
• a16z podcast
• Lectures subreddit
• Growth Tribe Youtube channel
• David’s LinkedIn
• GrowthTribe Instagram

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

What is a go-to-market strategy, exactly?

In today’s episode, we’ll define the term in details and dive into the real, actionable steps to design an effective go-to-market strategy.

My guest today is Asia Matos, an early-stage startup marketing expert, and the founder and CEO of Demand Maven.

We’re going to dive into what exactly is a go-to-market strategy, when you need one, and how to create one from scratch.

Topics covered:

• What exactly is a go-to-market strategy?
• The difference between go-to-market strategy” and “marketing strategy”
• Signs that a company needs a go-to-market strategy
• The frameworks to start creating a go-to-market strategy
• Why is it important to have a “model-market fit” and “channel-market fit”
• A real-life example of model and channel market fit
• Why follow up questions is vital in customer interviews
• Using Objective & Key Results (OKRs) to translate customer interview into actionable steps
• Why targeting customers’ mindset is much more important than just aiming at demographics
• Biggest mistake companies made when creating a go-to-market strategy
• What marketers should learn in the next 5,10, 20 years

Resources mentioned:

• Hull
• Flip My Funnel
• Hotjar
• Brian Balfour
• Growth Loops: The End of Traditional Funnels?
• Sean Ellis
• Motivo
• Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters
• Objective Key Results (OKRs)
• This is Marketing
• Buyer Persona: Your Guide to Create 100% Accurate & Detailed Ones
• Buyer Persona Institute
• Forget The Funnel
• Asia’s Twitter
• DemandMaven
• Buyer Personas Need to Die a Violent Death

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

What are you afraid of? Being ignored? Irrelevant? Useless? All of the above?

If you want to be respected, successful, and maybe a little famous, it’s time to let go of your fear, take risks, and fight your inner demons.

My guest today is Hillary Weiss, a brand consultant, copywriter, speaker, and the founder of Statement Piece Studio.

In this episode, we talk about finding your own unique strength, why shipping consistently is important, and how to become a fearless marketer.

Topics covered:

• Why “data-driven marketing” is overrated
• What being “creative” really means
• Why there are no unique ideas, only unique perspectives
• What you should write down and reflect after talking to customers, and the next steps you should take
• Why you should publish your ideas through channels that energize you
• The importance of shipping consistently
• How to find your “core idea” and run with it
• Hillary’s advice to those who are not sure about their own unique ability
• How to find the courage to publish your ideas by creating a “tool” for it
• Hillary’s biggest marketing fuck-up
• What Hillary thinks marketers should learn for the next 5-10 years

Resources mentioned:

• Hillary Weiss’ website
• #HAMYAW Youtube Channel
• Margo Aaron
• DHH and Basecamp’s Guide to No-Bullshit Digital Marketing
• 8 observations from a crumbling niche — and how to avoid getting crushed
• André Chaperon: How to Send Emails w/ 83%+ Open Rates
• Seth Godin’s Marketing Secrets to Launching a New Business
• The Unique Ability
• The Copywriter Club
• Copy Chief
• Margo Aaron’s newsletter
• Live in The Feast with Jason Resnick
• Hillary’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
• Break Through the Noise in Marketing by Doing Less

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

Is your SEO strategy specific enough? Are you trying to reach your customers, or solely tricking Google’s algorithm?

My guest today is SEO expert and growth consultant Eli Schwartz.

We talked about the importance of specificity in SEO, why over-reliance on paid acquisition can backfire, why SEO is less about marketing and more about the user experience, and more.

Topics covered:

• Why Eli thinks SEO is less about marketing and more about product and user experience
• Why relying on paid acquisition is an issue
• The advantages of acquiring users organically
• The principles SEO strategists should learn for the long-term
• The importance of being specific in Search Marketing
• Interviewing internal team members to get insights into what customers want.
• Preparing for the “future of search”
• Why SEO expert should focus on marketing to humans, not tricking Google algorithms
• Eli’s biggest fuck-up in his career
• What Eli think marketers should learn for the next 5-10 years

Resources mentioned:

• Amazon Alexa
• JavaScript
• SSL
• Intel
• AMD
• Direct response marketing
• Ahrefs
• How to Do SEO Yourself: A Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research (With Examples)
• Domain authority
• Google Lens
• Shazam
• Google Search Console
• Google Adsense
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Eli’s website
• Eli’s LinkedIn

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

On today’s episode I’m talking to David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founder of Basecamp project management software and creator of Ruby on Rails.

He is well-known as a talented developer, but I also think he is one of the best no-bullshit digital marketing persons out there today.

He is a Denmark native and has learned from business practices in both Denmark and the US.Join us as David shares his path in business and his insights into the world of marketing.

Topics covered:

• David’s background growing up in Denmark and business differences with the US
• His sources of marketing and business inspiration
• Basecamp as a case study (numbers such as the amount of website visitors a month)
• Metrics overload versus hard-to-track marketing
• David’s main principles in marketing
• Best marketing books and concepts he’s come across
• Insights into the future of marketing

Resources mentioned:

• Basecamp.com
• David Heinemeier Hansson
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• About Seneca, a Roman Stoic Philosopher
• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
• Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
• Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim
• Signal v. Noise
• David’s Instagram - @dhh79
• Break Through the Noise in Marketing by Doing Less
• Is Blue Ocean Strategy Risky? Examples & Key Disadvantages

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

You might find it hard to explain what your product actually does. This leads to a weak messaging on your landing pages, which leads to people not signing up, and ultimately lower revenue.

My guest today is Pedro Cortés, a SaaS marketing and design consultant.

We talked about why companies struggle with positioning, Pedro’s framework to discover his clients’ most valuable selling points, and how he translates it to a well-crafted landing page.

Topics covered:

• How Pedro positions his consulting business
• How if a SaaS company is solving “big problems”
• Why companies struggle to explain what their product actually does
• Questions Pedro asks his clients to build a position-accurate landing page
• How to translates insights into a well-crafted landing page
• Why testimonials are valuable and how you can make it more “human”
• How Pedro goes about finding the buyer’s most important pain points

Resources mentioned:

• Pedro Cortes’ website
• Pedro Cortes’ landing page formula
• Trello
• 5 Proven Methods for Positioning Your Product with April Dunford
• G2Crowd
• Capterra
• Churn Buster
• The Brain Audit: How To Sell More with Sean D’Souza
• ConvertKit
• Dan Kennedy
• Breakthrough Copywriting
• Russel Brunson

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

***

What do you do if your customers just don't "get" your product?

My guest today is Jane Portman, UI design expert, and co-founder of Userlis.

We talked about why Userlist initial positioning didn't work, and the ten steps Jane and the Userlist team took to develop a new product positioning.

From recruiting customers, to running customer interviews, and discovering the patterns and themes amongst qualitative data.

Topics covered:

• Why Userlist changed their product positioning
• The steps Jane took to start improving their product positioning
• How Jane scheduled customer interviews
• The customer research questions that led to the best insights
• Why understanding your product’s “true competitive alternative” is important, and how to find them
• How to figure out positioning internally
• The difference between “attributes” and “features”
• How to cluster attributes and features into “themes”
• Using card sorting exercise as a product positioning
• The biggest mistake Jane made when she tried to launch her previous products

Resources mentioned:

• Userlist
• 5 Proven Methods for Positioning Your New Product
• Intercom
• Obviously Awesome
• UI Breakfast
• How To Use Jobs To Be Done To Read Your Customer’s Mind
• Benedict Deicke
• Hotjar
• ConvertKit
• Des Traynor
• Joe Leech
• Ends by Joe McLeod
• UI Breakfast Podcast
• More Isn’t Always Better - Challenging the Growth at All Costs Mindset
• Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business
• Userlist Blog
• Category Creation: 4 Reasons to NEVER Do It
• Break Through the Noise in Marketing by Doing Less

***

→ Buy my book: book.stfo.io
→ Watch my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q
→ Take my 60-second quiz: stfo.io/q
→ See my pretty face on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/
→ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3p4wL4r
→ Leave a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iEF1qovZZiaP1iRtxGARo

🐔