Interesting conversations with interesting people

To finish the year we decided to do something slightly different. In this episode, Ez & Em look back over all the episodes in 2022, and talk through one key learning we took away from each of our guests.

We have had such a diverse range of guests, talking across our topics of business, marketing, thought leadership and careers. A huge thanks to all for sharing their time and experiences with us and our audience. 

There are a number of themes which come through, taking ownership of your career, taking personal responsibility for outcomes, that there is no one pathway to success, don't be afraid to try new things and the power of personal reflection.

We have loved having these conversations and have taken so much from them, we hope you have enjoyed listening. Here's to a great 2023.

Ez & Em

In this weeks episode we are joined by the amazing Cris Parker, who works in the area of ethics within both the banking and finance sector and business more broadly. 

Cris and Ez chat about ethics, and how to ensure ethics are weaved into your business and part of your every day. 

Cris is a driving force behind two of Australia’s most profound initiatives working to bring ethics into everyday professional life. She is Head of The Ethics Alliance, a community of organisations of every size, type, and sector that are connected through The Ethics Centre to collaboratively shape the future of business with ethics. 

To contact Cris, please head to www.ethics.org.au/

In this episode, Emma is joined by James Williamson a Communications professional who has spent his career building brands primarily in the Financial Services space.  

James has worked with global brands like Goldman Sachs, Invesco, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. In Australian brands like Aware Super and Vic Super. And in smaller companies and not-for-profits like JMB Foundation. He now runs his own business ceteris communications.

James is particularly interested in the part technology has to play in Marketing, and particularly the use of AI and how it can be successfully used to amplify brands.

• We talk a little about the history of AI and what it means.
• Why are some people fearful of AI and where does that come from
• How is AI already being used in everyday applications
• How do you use AI in your comms in a meaningful way
• What part can AI play versus a communications professional
• How to balance AI with brand storytelling

Such an interesting topic and conversation, we hope you enjoy the episode. If you would like to reach out to James directly he can be reached via https://ceteriscom.com.au

In this episode, Ez is joined by Dirk De Vos. An entrepreneur, with a wealth of experience all over the world. From his roots in South Arica and learning business from an early age with his dad who was an entrepreneur, right through to starting his very first business and the valuable lessons he learnt in partnering with the right people. Dirks shares some super valuable insights into what it takes to start and run a successful business and the behaviours and traits that are needed. 

Dirk and Ez chat through:  

• What are some of the key traits of a successful entrepreneur 
• His biggest learnings from failures & successes
• Advice he would give to someone who is starting out on their entrepreneurial journey 
• What typically holds people back from starting their own business and how to overcome it 

Super interesting chat that we hope will be valuable to anyone who is starting out in their entrepreneurial journey.  Thanks so much, Dirk for sharing your journey so candidly with us! 

Emma is joined by Steph Garner to talk about her experience of working on both the Agency and Client side.

Steph talks us through her career history to date, starting in New Zealand in Agency, spending a few years in London before moving to Melbourne, and in recent years moving to an in-house Head of Marketing role.

 
We talk about some of the ‘myths’ or preconceived ideas about both and what her experience has been in reality. What both environments have to offer Marketers, what can be learnt and what some of the challenges are.

Steph also gives some advice for in house Marketers on how best to engage with their agency partners (if they haven’t had that Agency experience themselves), including how best to work with Client Service.

Ultimately, was the move what she was expecting and what advice would she give to someone looking to make the move themselves?

 
Some great insights and reflections, we hope you enjoy the episode.

In this episode, Ez is joined by the Co-founder & MD of Liminal VR, a Melbourne based multi-award-winning digital studio delivering emotionally moving augmented, mixed and virtual reality experiences in areas as diverse as training and simulation, sales and marketing, brand activations, education, research and development, corporate wellness and clinical applications.

Nick shares his journey from corporate Lawyer to cofounding one of Australia’s first VR agencies over 7 Years ago. The struggles they came across and how they got a business off the ground in what was then a very primitive industry. 

Nick talks through their immediate focus when starting the business on research, and how they hired neuroscientists to back up the front facing ‘exciting’ VR experience. There’s not a lot of new tech out there. So, we were very excited to catch up with one of the leaders in the world in VR.

 We chat through:

• The use cases for VR in business, training & marketing functions
• Where VR is currently being used, the results its getting
• Future uses for VR
• How marketing teams can utilise VR to improve the customer experience
• The cognitive impacts of VR

Super interesting to discuss this amazing technology with Nick’s personal thoughts being that we will all be using this tech in a couple of years! Thanks so much Nick for sharing your journey with us! Anyone who is interested to learn more, please visit Liminal VR here: https://liminalvr.com/

In this episode Emma is joined by Ben Jones to talk about his entrepreneurial journey, and how that lead to a love of digital marketing and more recently YouTube advertising.

 As a self-described “Serial Entrepreneur” Ben first tried out the more traditional approach to work, before realising that it really wasn’t for him. As his journey as an entrepreneur grew, he began thinking about the skills that entrepreneurs need and whether they were being taught to kids.  Firstly by encouraging his own kids to start their own businesses before going on to found Youth in Business with his wife. A really interesting idea, and Ben talks through how they do this.

 As the business grew, this lead to an interest in Digital Marketing and Digital Advertising as a way to get their message out there. Initially using Facebook Ads but then realising that Facebook was no longer leading the way and YouTube advertising was getting far superior results.

The analogy Ben gives is that it’s Bambi vs Goliath, with Facebook being Bambi.

Ben gives lots of specific examples, structure and tips on how to approach YouTube to get the best results. He goes into a lot of detail about the level of targeting which is available, and how you can use this to get the most from your advertising dollars.

Such an interesting episode, it’s certainly opened our eyes to the power of YouTube advertising and we learnt an awful lot from the conversation. We hope you do too.

In this episode, Emma is joined by Fenella Brown, a Marketing Manager in her first leadership role.

Fenella shares her career journey to date from broader more generalist roles, to specialist roles and back again, and what she learned from doing this. In addition, she also shares her advice on whether to focus on the brand, your specific role or your people leader is.

Once Fenella knew that she wanted to step up into a people leader role, she was hit with the challenge that many people face at some point in their careers.  She was getting turned down for these roles because she didn't have people leadership experience, but how do you get the experience if no one will give you a shot? 

The way in which Fenella tackled this challenge is really interesting and valuable to anyone who has ever received this type of feedback. She talks in detail about the approach she took, and how it has now paid dividends for her.

Engaging, reflective and insightful. Thank you so much to Fenella for coming on the podcast and sharing her career journey to date with us.

In this episode, we’re joined by Nina Christian, an award-winning global branding & marketing expert. Nina is a seasoned marketer who has built multiple businesses over the past 20 years (including a successful exit and an award-winning marketing agency). Nina, currently advises marketers & business leaders to help them to market effectively and in a more human way.

We talk all things personal brand. Nina has worked with hundreds of marketers and business leaders on developing and communicating a personal brand, and as a result, has a great deal of insight into the why, how and the pitfalls of developing a personal brand. 

 This episode is highly practical, and Nina shares lots of actionable tips and advice across

• What sort of journey a personal brand takes, whether it should be ‘curated’ vs being authentic and how to do this effectively? 
• How audience/consumer behaviours have changed rapidly, even over the past few months and how this has affected brand & communications.
• Key things to consider/do when going on a branding journey, what to look out for

 How to overcome the self-doubt and fear of putting yourself out there

• The compounding positive effect of consistency and inversely, how it can be detrimental to your brand if it’s not kept consistent  
• Emotional connection and the importance of this when communicating to an audience and what questions to ask yourself to uncover what you will be “known for” 

You can connect with Nina here: https://www.ninachristian.com/

Or via her LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninachristian/

Emma is joined by Kiarne Treacy Founder & CEO at Sustainable Choice a one-stop digital destination for finding and understanding brands' commitments to environmental sustainability.

Kiarne talks us through her journey from a career Marketer leading teams in large corporates, to going out on her own (something she had never envisaged doing) and finally to life as an entrepreneur in founding Sustainable Choice.

 We were interested to understand more about:

• Career history to date
• What led her to start Sustainable Choice, was there an ‘ah-ha’ moment
• How a Marketer approached a tech start-up, and how her marketing background informed some of her choices
• How has she found the ‘tech start-up’ space and what has she learned
• What she sees as the benefits of being a marketing-led tech start-up
• Some of the challenges she faces as a female entrepreneur 
• What she is hoping to achieve with the business

There is so much to take away from this episode, so we hope you enjoy it.