Marketing Unf*cked

From planting trees to fighting hunger, many companies have a cause to champion. But with so much greenwashing and virtue signaling, audiences are (understandably) suspicious. How do you build an authentic purpose into your business in the right way? And can it really help your marketing?

Join me on Marketing Unf*cked as I speak with Fiona Ras-Jones, founder of the Make Impact agency, as we talk about the right ways (and wrong ways) to build a purpose-driven business.

We get into the perils of greenwashing, how to measure the effects of your work, and the many benefits you can find by aligning your purpose with your business — at every possible level.

In this episode:

• Let’s define what a purpose is, and how it impacts your business.
• You have to do integrate your company’s purpose throughout your entire business.
• Why do marketers need to have a purpose in the first place?
• Customers want companies they can believe in, and they are more aware than ever before.
• Why aren’t more marketers working on their purpose?
• Every good purpose aims to solve a clearly defined problem.
• Once you define your purpose, how do you measure its impact?
• What are the prerequisites you need to achieve first?
• When your purpose is aligned with your business, more profit also means more social impact.
• How do you align your purpose with your business when it comes to e-commerce?
• We’re all scared of doing this the wrong way...but it’s a learning process.
• Consider the negative impacts and side effects of your business.
• What are the benefits of the Theory of Change Framework?
• How do we communicate our positive impact to customers?
• Consider the power of a clear, compelling story that conveys your purpose.
• How do we deal with the challenges of greenwashing (and other forms of “washing”)?
• Don’t project perfection, but be honest and realistic about how much impact you can make right now.

Resources:
Fiona on LinkedIn
Make Impact
Theory of Change Framework
Website Carbon Calculator

SEO can be defined as the practice of making your website findable on search. But there’s a lot more to it than checking a few boxes. You need good research, a holistic approach, and a consistent framework to make sure your SEO delivers results. 

Join me on Marketing Unf*cked as I speak with Maeva Cifuentes, content marketing specialist and founder of Flying Cat Marketing. We discuss the value of quality SEO that goes beyond keywords and backlinks to become part of a company’s very foundation. 

We’ll dig into how to use research and data to understand what customers need, how to build valuable content that actually works, and why you need to have an end goal from the very beginning. 

In this episode:

• Good SEO should be a core part of your business strategy. 
• SEO is about building assets that drive growth.
• Every company is different, and will need different strategies. 
• The best SEO is holistic, with multiple areas to balance. 
• Which kinds of businesses benefit most from SEO? 
• Start with the end goals for the company, and set KPIs based on those goals. 
• More traffic doesn’t mean more conversions. 
• Don’t focus too much on rankings, and remember to create good content. 
• How do we measure the ROI of our SEO? 
• The FGS Framework: Foundations, Growth, and Scale. 
• Use market research to understand the customer’s journey and pain points. 
• SEO strategy can help guide a company’s decisions. 
• Which kinds of content does your website need? 
• A few thoughts on landing pages, subject matter experts, and content writers. We have to help clients understand the value of SEO. 
• If you know where you’re going, you know what to prfioritize, and you’ll see bigger results faster.

Resources:
Maeva Cifuentes
Flying Cat Marketing
The FCM Podcast

Marketing agencies and SaaS companies can partner up to gain leads, grow revenue, and offer a better customer experience. But that’s a lot easier said than done. In many cases, software providers don’t truly understand an agency’s needs, and agencies don’t want to change the way they do things. So, how do we create two-way partnerships that benefit everyone involved?
Join me on Marketing Unf*cked as I speak with marketing specialist Juliana Jackson. We discuss how to create stronger partnerships between SaaS companies and marketing agencies by using data, being kind, and forging more authentic relationships from the start.
We cover how to build trust by starting small, and why a zero-expectation mindset helps form connections. We go over tips on using research, data, RFM segmentation, and tech to gain better understandings — because that leads to better relationships, better business, and better everything.

In this episode:

• When SaS companies don’t understand agencies, prospecting can come across like spam.
• If software providers talk to agencies, they can learn what their interests are.
• Develop a mindset of helping others without expecting anything in return.
• Data is important, but remember there’s always a person at the other end of the line.
• Before launching a full partnership, start with small collaborations to build trust.
• People know what works for them. Agencies may be hesitant to reinvent the way they do things.
• Make sure you get along, and align on values, before committing to work together.
• Be present, available, and helpful. It goes a long way.
• Customer support logs can be a goldmine of information.
• Track customer behavior to guide your content creation, curation, and updates.
• How to use RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value) segmentation to understand customer behavior.
• Use your tags wisely to gain new insights.
• Understanding your customer leads to a better relationship, which ultimately gives you better everything else.

Links
Juliana Jackson
The End of Average - Todd Rose
RFM Segmentation

Excellent marketers don’t just do the work — they believe in their work, support others, and create opportunities for people to thrive. If you want to show your audience you really care, you have to have some serious skin in the game. But what exactly does that mean, and how does it help you succeed?

Join me on Marketing Unf*cked as I speak with Andra Zaharia, a Content Marketing specialist with cybersecurity expertise, who outlines why it’s so crucial to develop a personal stake in our work as marketers.

Andra shares thoughts on educating your audience, Customer Development Interviews, investing in yourself, the value of human connection, and why in this industry you absolutely have to eat your own dog food in order to thrive.

In this Episode:

• As marketers, we have to put skin in the game. That means having a personal stake in our work.
• Excellent leaders support others, and create opportunities for people to thrive.
• Our work is always about serving someone. Those who do it best care about the issues they’re trying to solve.
• Blanket models are not enough, because every audience is different.
• People are looking for specific information, not generic concepts.
• To better understand your audience, eat your own dog food.
• Do our customers always want to be educated? It depends.
• Ask yourself what kind of customers you want — and build a relationship with them.
• Investing in yourself helps you understand how other people think, create more empathy, and connect more directly.
• How the Jobs-to-be-Done framework helps you serve your customers.
• The benefits and insights of Customer Development Interviews.
• Immediate goals versus deeper emotional goals.
• Pain and happiness are the essential drivers for our decisions.
• You can’t make much headway without talking to people.
• Personal experience is more powerful than information alone, and keeps us connected to our customers.

Find Andra:
on LinkedIN
on Twitter
on her Website
and make sure to check out her podcast Cyber Empathy

How can we be more inclusive in our marketing, intentionally? What steps can we take to choose an audience, make them feel seen, and avoid excluding others along the way?
Join me on Marketing Unf*cked as I speak with Sonia Thompson, an inclusive marketing strategist and consultant. She helps brands win customers by delivering inclusive and remarkable experiences that make them feel like they belong.
Tune in to learn how to create an authentic and inclusive marketing plan that connects with your audience, and can grow along with your business. Sonia shares her 5 Degrees of Inclusivity, the importance of knowing your values, and how all of this will make your brand more successful — in more ways than one.

In this episode:

• Brands unintentionally exclude people, because they don’t decide who they want to specifically include.
• How can you re-think customer personas to better address the needs of your audience?
• Start small, be realistic about who you can serve now, and scale as you grow.
• Inclusive marketing isn’t about including everybody every time, it’s about intentionality.
• What can you do to make sure your audience feels seen in your marketing materials?
• You can serve a specific audience while still welcoming others.
• How to choose who to serve with your brand.
• Sonia’s 5 Degrees of the Inclusivity Spectrum.
• How does better inclusion affect the success of your overall business?
• Inclusion and customer experience are intertwined.
• To create an inclusive marketing plan that sticks, you have to align it with your values, and apply it to all aspects of your business.

Words are powerful. As marketers, we know this is true. Yet so many businesses struggle to find the right message. If you want to unfuck your messaging, you’ve got to lead with the customer.  

So, what does this mean, exactly?

Messaging Strategist and Conversion Copywriter, (and the founder of Lion Words), Diane Wiredu, reveals everything you need to know about creating customer-focused messages in this episode of Marketing Unfucked.

Diane helps scaling SaaS and B2B companies simplify their message, attract more perfect-fit customers and get better results from their marketing. With a focus on customer research and brand strategy, she blends the art of storytelling with conversion-focused techniques to help her clients stand out from the crowd.

Tune in to find out how to get inside your customers’ minds so that you can create powerful messaging that speaks to your ideal customer.  

In this episode:

·      00:25 – Why your marketing messages should always ‘lead with the customer’

·      01:08 – The problem with copying your competitors instead of sharing messages your customers need to hear

·      03:11 – How fear stops marketers from creating truly unique messaging 

·      04:35 – Why you need to focus on a specific message that speaks to your target customer

·      06:01 – What it means to ‘start small’ when it comes to your messaging

·      07:33 – How to identify and create an ideal customer persona

·      09:09 – How Diane helps business owners identify their customer persona

·      11:43 – The benefits of supplying copywriters with additional information 

·      15:32 – Tips to help you focus your messaging on the customer

·      17:32 – How and why you should validate your messaging

·      18:55 – How to unfuck your marketing by delivering customer-focused messages 

If you enjoyed this episode and want more insider tips to help you unfuck your marketing and run a business that gives a shit, please subscribe to the Marketing Unfucked podcast.

Resources:

·      Jobs-to-be-Done Framework

·      LionWords website 

·      Newsletter sign-up

·      LinkedIn (Diane Wiredu)

·      Twitter (@dianewiredu)

·      Free resource: Voice Of Customer research template + interview and survey questions

·      Free resource: 27-point High-Converting Landing Page Checklist

Ever wonder if there are any principals that can guide an organization way to being better?
Join me on Marketing Unf*cked as I speak with Tim Frick, advocate for the responsible, equitable, and sustainable use of design and technology, about Corporate Digital Responsibility and itss 7 principals.

In this weeks episode we cover:

• the 7 principals of Corporate Digital Responsibility
• using b-corp assessment to help understand impact
• the importance of aligning your story
• how marketing can avoid green-washing, woke-washing, rainbow-washing...
• the affect of digital on the environment - no, it's not all good!
• where the team the created CDR envisions it going in the long term

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Tim Frick on LinkedIn
• Tim Frik on Twitter
• https://corporatedigitalresponsibility.net/
• What is Corporate Digital Responsibility? (blog)
• 7 Core CDR Principles (blog)
• CDR Infographic (PNG file)
• CDR webinar (YouTube Video)
• Mighty Bytes Code of Ethics 
• CDR Manifesto (page on a full blog dedicated to CDR)

What is the key role of marketers today? Is it to generate leads for the sales team, or strategically position the company to win? Discover the answer in this episode of Marketing Unfucked featuring my special guest, Derek A. Lackey. 

Derek is the Managing Director of Newport Thomson, a company that seeks to assist marketers to update their data practices to comply with new privacy and data protection laws around the world – including the new privacy regulations in Canada.

Tune in to learn how to market to consumers while respecting their data and privacy. You’ll also find out why Derek believes that the secret to unfucking our marketing starts with respecting your customer’s data and privacy.

In this episode:

·      00:25 – Derek shares why marketers have become digital executioners rather than strategic marketers

·      01:21 – Why the key role for marketers should be to strategically position the company to produce results

·      04:50 – Why companies should consider dividing marketing from digital marketing teams

·      06:22 – How marketers can gain consumer’s consent

·      07:32 – Derek talks about Canada’s new privacy regulations and how it will impact how we market to consumers

·      10:50 – The problem with the lack of creative thinking in digital advertising

·      12:57 – Will personalized marketing have a place in the future of digital advertising and marketing?

·      15:31 – Derek shares his top tips for marketing in Canada in light of the new privacy regulations

·      17:04 – The best consent management tools for marketers

·      19:40 – How better consent management can help increase consumers' trust in a company

·      21:25 – Why more companies need to use legitimate interest

·      25:37 – How legal oversight can damage your customer relationships

·      27:34 – Derek reveals how he would fix the problem with today’s marketing industry

If you enjoyed this episode and want more insider tips to help you unfuck your marketing and run a business that gives a shit, please subscribe to the Marketing Unfucked podcast.

Resources:

·      Newport Thomson

·      Best of Privacy

·      Connect with Derek on LinkedIn

·      Follow Marketing Unfucked on LinkedIn

·      Cassie

Mailchimp

Do you want to know why your website isn’t performing as well as you hoped? 

Dennis van der Heijden, Founder and CEO of Convert.com, warns marketers that neglecting to measure performance could send your business down the crapper… 

Alright, maybe he didn’t say those exact words… but he did raise some important points around measuring and A/B testing. Don’t be fooled into thinking that measuring performance is only for businesses with tonnes of traffic! It isn’t. You should still measure even if you don’t get a lot of traffic.

Find out why in this episode of Marketing Unfucked featuring my special guest, Dennis van der Heijden. I promise that by the end of this episode, you’ll be ready to start experimenting and making data-driven decisions to help unfuck your marketing.

In this episode:

·      00:35 – The consequences of not measuring the effectiveness of your marketing and ‘going blind’

·      01:33 – Dennis shares some intriguing examples of times when marketers are going blind but pretend that they aren’t

·      03:52 – Why you should be willing to keep trying and learning as you go

·      04:49 – The ‘right’ approach to unfuck your marketing and why you should trust ‘the hunch’

·      05:33 – The value of quantitative measurement and how big brands (like Amazon and Netflix) have perfected their approach

·      07:54 – How to measure if you haven’t got a lot of traffic (yet!)

·      10:24 – The first steps to accurately measure your marketing 

·      12:15 – Why you need to set a ‘big goal’ before you start A/B testing

·      14:36 – Dennis reveals a simple starting strategy to help marketers measure effectively

·      15:57 – Why you should try to learn something from your failed A/B tests and experiments

·      20:50 – Dennis talks about why people aren’t measuring 

·      24:30 – What you stand to lose if you don’t measure

If you enjoyed this episode and want more insider tips to help you unfuck your marketing and run a business that gives a shit, please subscribe to the Marketing Unfucked podcast.

Resources

·      Convert.com

·      Dennis’ LinkedIn profile

When was the last time you invested in a content audit for your website? A good content audit will help you decide which content to keep, re-write, update, or delete. If you keep convincing yourself that a content audit isn’t necessary, this episode of the Marketing Unf*cked podcast will change your mind.

My guest in this episode, Lauren Pope, is an independent content strategist who knows how to help marketers like you get the right content to the right person at the right time. She shares insider tips on how auditing your content can improve your accessibility, authenticity, and sustainability. 

Listen in to find out how performing a content audit can unf*ck your marketing and stay tuned until the end for Lauren’s top three tips to make your content more user-friendly, accessible, and inclusive.

In this episode:

·      00:29 – Why marketing professionals need to focus more on doing less and sustainability

·      01:09 – How to be more sustainable when it comes to your content strategy

·      02:25 – How user research helps marketers slow down and become more sustainable

·      03:58 – Why it’s important to carry out a content audit and make sure your content is always relevant

·      06:14 – What to look out for when running a content audit on your website

·      07:28 – How auditing your content can improve your authenticity and sustainability 

·      08:56 – How content audits can help determine if your website is accessible and inclusive

·      09:34 – How deleting irrelevant content will impact your SEO

·      11:27 – Tips for building a content strategy following an audit

·      13:00 – How Lauren builds a content strategy from start to finish

·      14:03 – How to make sure you’re delivering the right solutions for the user while also considering company stakeholders

·      15:11 – The consequences of not auditing and strategically thinking about your content

·      16:07 – Lauren shares some stories that’ll make you think twice about skipping your next audit!

·      18:26 – Three things you can do to make your content more user-friendly, accessible, and inclusive

If you enjoyed this episode and want more insider tips to help you unfuck your marketing and run a business that gives a shit, please subscribe to the Marketing Unf*cked podcast.

Resources:

·      LaPope Website

·      Sign up to Lauren’s Ten Things Newsletter

·      Download Lauren’s Toolkits

·      Lauren’s LinkedIn

·      Lauren’s Twitter