MBA Training Marketing

Why is client acquisition cost wrong in nearly every law firm and consultancy? The episode argues that a CAC built only from the marketing budget is too low by a multiple, because referrals and partner outreach bring in nearly two-thirds of new business (Hinge) and lost RFPs, conflict checks and AML failures never reach the number.

Listeners learn to price partner hours at the realized rate with a practice-level displacement factor, load pursuit write-offs into CAC, and track 18-month sales cycles as quarterly cohorts. The discussion covers Loopio's 229 RFPs a year, go/no-go criteria, SPI Research utilization data, BD time credit at Wilson Sonsini, Sidley and White & Case, and why per-partner CAC becomes a weapon.

Key takeaways

• Price unbilled partner pursuit hours at the realized rate, not the rate card, and add a displacement factor set practice by practice.
• Load lost bids, conflict-check failures and AML due diligence failures into the cost of each won client.
• Measure CAC as a cohort: tag pursuits opened each quarter and count a win only when the engagement letter is signed and checks have cleared.
• Run conflict and due-diligence checks in the first week of a pursuit, and bid only when win probability times first-engagement earnings beats pitch cost.
• Report CAC at practice level, keep cross-selling out of new-client cost, and have a named partner own any long-payback bid assumption in writing.

Chapters
0:00 Partner time versus the events budget
0:44 Why marketing-only CAC undercounts
3:09 RFP volume and lost bid costs
5:08 Pricing partner hours at realized rate
7:22 Cohort CAC for 18-month sales cycles
8:41 Partner shaming risks and bid discipline

Go deeper, free lessons

• Modeling client lifetime value when engagements are irregular and unpredictable
• Why cost per lead is the wrong number in professional services marketing
• Mapping the professional services funnel from awareness to signed engagement letter
• Utilization and realization: the two numbers that make or break a firm
• Frameworks & methodology: CAC, LTV & ROAS

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/client-acquisition-cost-professional-services

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun told analysts his group now pitches chief executives directly on AI, pointing to PepsiCo's roughly $1.9 billion media move from Omnicom with no formal pitch. Does the CMO still control the agency decision? The hosts disagree: one says the CEO who owns the AI bet should own the agency choice, the other says the CMO who runs the work must be in the room.

You will understand how a media capabilities review differs from a competitive pitch, why consolidation after Omnicom bought Interpublic means fewer contests, how principal media creates conflicts of interest, and what to watch next: the Coca-Cola media review, responses from Omnicom and WPP, and CEOs discussing marketing on earnings calls.

Key takeaways

• Sit with your CEO on AI decisions now, because agencies like Publicis are going to the chief executive directly.
• Expect agency moves without a formal pitch, where the client audits data, measurement and technology in a media capabilities review.
• Ask hard questions when the group advising your CEO on AI also earns margin reselling you media through principal media.
• Watch for the land and expand playbook, where an agency wins regional work for years before asking for the global account.
• Track earnings calls for CEOs talking about marketing and agencies, a topic the CMO used to own.

Chapters
0:00 Sadoun says Publicis pitches CEOs directly
1:20 PepsiCo leaves Omnicom without a pitch
2:41 Media capabilities review versus agency pitch
3:24 Do CMOs lack C-suite weight?
4:33 CEO AI fear and holdco consolidation
6:06 Bravado, principal media and who decides

Sources

• Publicis is selling directly to AI-anxious CEOs as it steps away from traditional pitches
• PepsiCo CEO on Publicis switch
• How Publicis is winning the big global accounts without a pitch - AdNews
• Big Wins For Publicis; Small Wins For Privacy
• Future of Marketing Briefing: The holdcos long, awkward courtship of the C-suite
• Big Wins For Publicis; Small Wins For Privacy

Full transcript: https://www.mba-training.com/en/podcast/marketing/publicis-ceo-pitch-cmo-bypass

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/publicis-ceo-pitch-cmo-bypass

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Defending Main Street, a super PAC backing Susan Collins, paid about $25,000 for digital ads attacking Troy Jackson in Portland, Maine. Media buyer Cross Screen Media, part of the 1903 Group, ran them in Portland, Oregon, and a stranger on social media caught it. The episode argues that "it has nothing to do with us" is the wrong response for a CMO, because the brand takes the joke while the vendor takes the refund.

Listeners learn how geotargeting by city, ZIP code and media market can fail, why Google's Ads Transparency Center exposed this error when brand ads stay hidden, and how to check location delivery reports and add a named sign-off to agency agreements.

Key takeaways

• Pull the delivery report by location for every live campaign this week and check it against your target list.
• Judge targeting by where the ads actually landed, not by what the settings screen says you meant to do.
• Add a clause to your agency agreement requiring a named person to sign off on location settings before launch and send geographic delivery data the morning after.
• When a vendor error goes public, say you caught it, fixed it and are adding a check, instead of blaming the vendor.
• Never explain a mistake with how busy you are, since a refund fixes the invoice but not client trust.

Chapters
0:00 Super PAC ads hit the wrong Portland
2:00 Vendor blame and who owns the mistake
4:04 How geotargeting picked the wrong city
5:40 Why brand campaigns hide location errors
7:36 Delivery reports and agency sign-off rules

Sources

• Pro-Collins ads target wrong Portland in GOP super PAC mix-up
• Pro-Collins ads target wrong Portland in GOP super PAC mix-up
• Republican-Aligned Super PAC Buys Ads in the Wrong Portland - The Washington Sun
• Pro-Susan Collins ads accidentally run in Portland, Oregon
• Susan Collins’s allies spent $25,000 attacking her rival in the wrong Portland
• A GOP PAC ran an ad opposing Maine Democrat Troy Jackson — in the wrong Portland

Full transcript: https://www.mba-training.com/en/podcast/marketing/wrong-portland-ad-buy-geotargeting

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/wrong-portland-ad-buy-geotargeting

MBA Training, mba-training.com

What does it really cost to win a car buyer? Most automotive marketers quote NADA's $739 in dealer advertising per new vehicle, but Cox Automotive puts incentives at $3,192 per vehicle, more than four times that figure. The episode argues every acquisition dollar should be counted once, on the ledger of whoever pays it, as front-end gross falls at dealers like Sonic Automotive.

Listeners learn to build a fully loaded CAC that adds co-op, OEM incentives, floorplan assistance and lead-vendor fees from Cars.com, CarGurus and TrueCar without double counting. A worked example shows a $3,931 blended CAC, and a holdout test shows how to compare cost per incremental sale against new gross plus F&I income.

Key takeaways

• Book dealer advertising net of co-op reimbursement and keep co-op on the OEM marketing line so each dollar is counted once.
• Do not add portal subscriptions on top of advertising, but find TrueCar per-sale fees booked as cost of sale and add them in.
• Leave floorplan assistance out of CAC unless it funds a discount or an aged-unit cash program.
• Never show the blended CAC to a CFO without the incremental cost per sale from a holdout test next to it, presented as a range.
• On Monday, ask finance for last quarter's incentive spend by nameplate and region and put it on one page next to media spend.

Chapters
0:00 Why the $739 dealer ad cost misleads
3:18 Co-op advertising double counting fixes
4:42 Portal subscriptions and TrueCar fees
5:56 Floorplan assistance in or out of CAC
6:51 Fully loaded CAC and incentive holdout tests
9:09 When to use fully loaded CAC

Go deeper, free lessons

• Calculating true customer acquisition cost across dealer and digital channels
• How dealers, floorplan financing, and captive lenders actually make money
• Financing and incentives as marketing levers
• Modeling automotive lifetime value beyond the first vehicle purchase
• Real-world application of CAC, LTV & ROAS

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/automotive-customer-acquisition-cost-incentives-co-op

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Brands spend about twice as much on price promotions as on paid media, yet 75% of 250 UK consumer goods leaders surveyed by Censuswide for Les Binet and Kantar's Dom Boyd can't estimate which promotions make money. The episode weighs practitioners' faith in discounts against margin data, including a Nielsen analysis where nearly two thirds of 300 million promotions lost money, and argues for adjusting promotions rather than abolishing them.

You'll learn how the promotion dependency spiral erodes pricing power, why judging promotions over less than 13 weeks hides the hangover, how econometrics puts promotions and advertising on the same basis, and how to bring your CFO a list of loss-making promotions to cut.

Key takeaways

• Ask finance or revenue management for last year's ten largest promotions, with each one's cost and sales during and for eight weeks after it ended.
• Judge promotions over 13 weeks or more, including the dip afterwards, instead of the one-week spike.
• Propose cutting only the bottom slice of promotions you can show lost money, and keep the ones that worked.
• Use econometrics to hold price, promotions and advertising to the same standard of evidence.
• Keep the Black Friday deals you have committed to, but decide now how you will measure them.

Chapters
0:00 Binet and Kantar price promotion research
1:14 Promotion hangover and the dependency spiral
3:12 Brand strength versus discounts: the evidence
5:13 Econometrics and the six-step promotion plan
6:05 Making the case to cut promotions
7:19 Black Friday measurement and first steps

Sources

• Brands spend twice as much on price promotions as paid media, research finds
• Binet and Boyd Want Marketers to “Kick the Promotion Habit” — LBB
• Are you in a promotion dependency spiral? 75% of marketers are unable to identify profitable promotions
• Les Binet cautions against ‘senseless’ price promotions as recession looms
• Promotions dominate marketing spend but with a profit blind spot, Binet and Boyd find

Full transcript: https://www.mba-training.com/en/podcast/marketing/price-promotions-binet-boyd-profit-blind-spot

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/price-promotions-binet-boyd-profit-blind-spot

MBA Training, mba-training.com

TikTok announced eight products at Advertising Week New York, including Buy Direct one-click checkout in the For You feed, a conversational Shopping Assistant, Agentic Leads and US access to the TikTok Ad Network built from Pangle. The position here: the real story is not the checkout button but the shift of product answers, qualification and transactions into systems TikTok runs, while the brand stays merchant of record for tax, refunds and disputes.

You leave knowing how to treat TTAN as a separate channel, what the DoubleVerify and IAS controls do and do not prove, why GMV Max adding commissions and coupons breaks your benchmarks, and why auditing stock, sizing and shipping fields comes before any eligibility test.

Key takeaways

• Test the TikTok Ad Network as a separate channel with its own benchmarks, not as an extension of TikTok feed spend.
• Audit three catalogue feed fields against reality, stock accuracy, sizing and shipping times by region, before applying for shopping eligibility.
• Bring your customer service lead into the plan, since the brand stays merchant of record for anything the Shopping Assistant says or sells.
• Do not compare October to August performance once GMV Max starts factoring affiliate commissions, coupons and referral fees.
• Cite the $81 billion GDP figure only alongside the fact that TikTok commissioned the PF Global report.

Chapters
0:00 What TikTok actually launched at Advertising Week
0:55 TikTok Ad Network and 400,000 outside apps
2:09 Shopping Assistant errors and merchant of record
3:48 Agentic Leads, Smart+ and GMV Max changes
5:02 Is agentic commerce ready, or a pilot
6:51 Attribution loss and auditing your product feed

Sources

• TikTok’s Agent Checkout Enters the Race — Inside the Feed, Not on the Merchant Site
• TikTok rolls out an AI shopping assistant and one-click checkout
• TikTok broadens agentic AI play, brings global ad network to US
• TikTok Brings Agentic Updates, Third-Party Ad Network To Brands 10/06/2026
• TikTok adds Buy Direct, Agentic Leads and GMV Max changes
• 5 Ad Tech Trends That Will Shape the Conversation at AWNY 2026 - Kite Hill
• Marketing Dive: TikTok broadens agentic AI play, brings global ad network to US

Full transcript: https://www.mba-training.com/en/podcast/marketing/tiktok-agentic-commerce-buy-direct

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/tiktok-agentic-commerce-buy-direct

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Where does creator budget actually go, and why do hidden agency margins, AI content measurement and publisher-sold GEO all arrive in the same week? The position here is that each one is an intermediary being asked the same three questions: what unit was counted, who counted it, and how much money passed through to the people doing the work. The ISBA poll, TrinityP3's 35% versus 60% talent split, SPUR's five telemetry events, Future and Ziff Davis selling GEO, the Ahrefs llms.txt data and MIT Sloan on Alturas Capital Partners all sit in that frame.

You leave able to audit an invoice on unit, counter and pass-through, test an AI visibility vendor against cited, displayed and engaged, and write an AI use declaration into creator contracts.

Key takeaways

• Demand creator invoices split into five lines: talent fee, usage rights, production, platform fees and agency margin, since a bundled number can leave talent as little as 35% instead of 60%.
• Score every line item on three columns: the unit being counted, the counter who counts it and whether you can reproduce it, and the percentage that passes through your building.
• Ask your AI visibility vendor whether it can report against SPUR's five events of retrieved, grounded, cited, displayed and engaged, and treat a single blended score as an opinion rather than measurement.
• Do not rely on llms.txt, since Ahrefs found 97% of files across 137,000 domains got zero requests in May 2026 and Google confirmed it does not support it.
• Add an AI use declaration to creator contracts covering ideation, editing, voice and likeness, then decide which of those still earn full rate.

Chapters
0:00 Only 42% of creator fees are transparent
1:23 Bundled versus unbundled: 35% or 60% to talent
2:34 SPUR's five AI content telemetry events
4:41 Publishers selling GEO and the llms.txt problem
6:18 In-house AI and agency pricing after Alturas
7:53 AI use declarations for creator contracts

Go deeper, free lessons

• CMO playbook & advanced tactics for agency management
• Real-world application: agency management in practice
• CMO playbook & advanced tactics for omnichannel attribution
• CMO playbook & advanced tactics: AI & ML in marketing
• CMO playbook & advanced tactics: SEO & content marketing

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/creator-agency-fees-transparency-ai

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Seven months after ads launched inside ChatGPT, should a brand move real money in? The position here is no, not yet. Digiday reported Accuracast seeing zero conversions on a UK lead generation campaign for two weeks, and roughly 100 platform clicks against 20 of its own. Other agencies, including AdRoll and Jellyfish, report timing lags of 24 to 36 hours rather than missing data, and many advertisers never switched tracking on because legal teams will not sign OpenAI's tracking terms.

You leave with a way to test without trusting the platform's own counting: a geographic holdout, KPIs defined in advance, a legal decision date on the tracking terms, and two signals to watch, named third-party measurement partners and stable cost per acquisition from conversion-optimised bidding.

Key takeaways

• Define your KPIs and an independent measurement framework in writing before any ChatGPT ad spend, rather than accepting platform reporting at face value.
• Run a geographic holdout, switching the channel off in matched regions, so results do not depend on OpenAI's own conversion counting.
• Put OpenAI's conversion tracking terms in front of your legal team now with a decision date, since you cannot argue about data you refuse to collect.
• Keep ChatGPT ads funded from test money until OpenAI names third-party measurement partners with a timeline, not just an intention.
• Track whether conversion-optimised bidding produces a stable cost per acquisition in your own category before shifting budget from Google or Meta.

Chapters
0:00 Zero conversions reported inside ChatGPT ads
1:38 Who disagrees: late data versus missing data
2:16 The tracking terms catch-22 with legal
3:05 Bidding on clicks while inventory swings
4:59 LiveRamp, AppsFlyer and third-party measurement
6:37 Set a measurement framework before you spend

Sources

• OpenAI's measurement gaps are keeping ChatGPT ads budgets at test level
• Delivery Apps And Retailers Unite; How Do You Measure, Measure An Ad
• OpenAI takes ChatGPT ads into Europe
• OpenAI opens up ChatGPT ads manager to the U.S. while promising third-party measurement, CPA bidding
• OpenAI’s ads get their first measurement partner in LiveRamp

Full transcript: https://www.mba-training.com/en/podcast/marketing/chatgpt-ads-measurement-gap-test-budgets

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/chatgpt-ads-measurement-gap-test-budgets

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Winning a place on a platform approved list or consultant buy list is the distribution chokepoint for asset managers, so why do polite quarterly meetings with a consultant almost never produce a rating? The position here is blunt: three meetings moves you from stranger to acquaintance, and acquaintances do not get allocated. Selectors are not comparing you to cash, they are comparing you to the manager they would have to fire.

You come away able to write the one sentence a selector can take to committee, audit whether your site and fact sheets show up when an analyst searches a specific strategy, prepare for operational due diligence, and ask a consultant which incumbent they are least happy with.

Key takeaways

• Write the justification sentence for the selector: which gap you fill, with a repeatable process and a stable team.
• Stop pitching performance, since everyone already on the shortlist has it; show what the incumbent does not do.
• Audit your search visibility for specific strategy terms, such as European dividend fund process, because analysts research quietly before booking a call.
• Prepare the operational due diligence material, including compliance and systems, not only the investment story.
• Ask the consultant what gap they are filling and which incumbent they are least happy with, then move on if there is no vacancy.

Chapters
0:00 Approved list cuts after eleven years
0:37 What a fund approved list is
1:22 Why three consultant meetings fail
2:27 Marketing's role in selector research
3:24 Operational due diligence and the plumbing
3:51 Mapping the vacancy before you pitch

Go deeper, free lessons

• The distribution chokepoint: why platforms and gatekeepers hold the power
• Mapping the distribution battlefield: advisor, institutional, and direct channels
• The value chain from manager to distributor to client
• Performance versus trust: what really wins the allocation
• Retention, redemption and net flow benchmarks

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/fund-gatekeepers-consultants-platforms-model-portfolios

MBA Training, mba-training.com

Direct-to-consumer insurers can report quote volume to three decimals, but most cannot say which funnel stage kills the sale. This episode argues the loss sits in the four or five unmeasured steps between showing a price and charging a card, including the identity and eligibility re-entry screen that cost one motor insurer eighteen percent of buyers because no team owned it.

You come away able to measure bind rate stage by stage, weigh HubSpot's B2C cost per lead figures against the seventy percent that evaporate, apply MIT Sloan Management Review's point that recovering existing intent beats new demand, and fix the ownership gap between product, marketing and underwriting.

Key takeaways

• Instrument every step between quote display and payment, not only quotes in and policies out.
• Pull your last thousand quotes and map which screen and which field each dead quote died on.
• Stop asking customers on price comparison sites to re-enter date of birth, postcode and no-claims history.
• Fix the worst-leaking stage before buying another click, since cheaper traffic into a leaking funnel loses money faster.
• Give one person authority to change the underwriting screen, marketing copy and pricing display in the same week.

Chapters
0:00 Why 70% of insurance quotes never bind
0:49 The identity and eligibility re-entry screen
2:03 Cost per lead and top-of-funnel vanity
2:53 Recovery rate beats buying new demand
3:22 Who owns the whole quote journey
3:57 Map your last thousand quotes

Go deeper, free lessons

• Mapping the insurance distribution stack: agents, brokers, and direct-to-consumer
• Customer acquisition cost by channel and line of business
• Winning the price-comparison war and defending retention
• Modeling customer lifetime value for policyholders
• Benchmarking retention and renewal metrics across lines

Sources

• From Heritage to Happy Hour: How Campari Keeps Iconic Brands Moving With Culture
• How to Outcompete Your Client’s AI
• What is llms.txt & should you use it?
• 10 SEO best practices for Google and AI search
• How to make the most of your 7-day Semrush free trial
• B2B answer engine optimization: How to show up in AI
• How to conduct an AI visibility audit with Semrush
• What is agentic SEO? 8 workflows run on a live site

The article: https://www.mba-training.com/en/blog/quote-to-bind-funnel-insurance-dtc

MBA Training, mba-training.com