REAL MARKETERS

Marketing and wine. Talk about two of my favorite subjects...in the same podcast episode. But we're not just talking about any type of marketing, we're talking about international marketing and why it's foolish for marketers to assume what works in one country will work in another. In this episode, we chat with international marketing expert, Katarina Hakansson. She has more than 15 years of international marketing experience and previously worked at Taxback International, Design Council, University of Westminster, HBK Consulting, South Thames College, London College Wimbledon, and more. We're talking about the definition of international marketing, why so many companies don't really get what it means to market internationally, how you can gain experience in the subject, the importance of cultural differences, and so much more.

Spoiler alert: influencers are not only found on TikTok or Instagram. Some of the best influencers for your brand are actually employees. In this episode, we chat with Laura Rose, Global Marketing Director at STANLEY Security. She has more than 10 years of marketing experience and previously worked at Koorsen Fire and Security, Target 20 CRM, The Bottom Line, and digitalKnowledge. We're talking about how to create an exceptional brand experience, benefits of creating an internal influencer program, getting the sales team onboard with social selling, importance of celebrating even the small wins, and so much more.

In this episode, we chat with Christoph Trappe, Content Strategist at Voxpopme and Chief Content and Marketing Officer at The Authentic Storytelling Project. He has more than 20 years of experience in content marketing and journalism. He's previously worked at Stamats, MedTouch, United Way of East Central Iowa, BVS Performance Solutions, The Gazette Company, and Lee Enterprises. We're talking about how getting your executive team on board with strategic content, creating a culture for content within your business, how designers and content writers should work together, and so much more.

Let's not sugarcoat it...2020 was a rough one. For many reasons. For marketers in particular, we had to throw all of our 2020 plans into the trash. So yes, 2020 probably won't win the "Best Year Ever" award, but it did teach us a lot about ourselves. For 2020's final episode, Stephanie Cox is recounting the top lessons she's learned as a marketer this year. We're talking about why planning every detail may not be in your best interest, why we saw a ton more creative work in 2020 compared to other years, and why and having an inner circle you can trust is so important. We'll see everyone in 2021! And don't be alarmed if you see a few surprises in the new year. We have a ton of exciting things planned.

So, Stephanie went kind of viral last week on social media thanks to #MarketingTwitter. We had an overwhelming number of responses from marketers who wanted to be on the show and learn more about what it takes to produce a podcast. In this episode, we chat with Michelle Lawrence, Content Marketing Specialist here at Lumavate. We're talking about the ins and outs of podcasting, why we rebranded REAL MARKETERS, how to create tons of great content from one episode, and why big names shouldn't always be your go-to when it comes to guests.

Paid media...oh how marketers love and hate you all at the same time. When your paid media strategy is working, it feels like you're on top of the world as you watch sales or leads come in. And when it's not working...it feels like you're basically throwing money away. In this episode, we chat with Brett Westerman, Founder at Oktober Media specializing in B2B and B2C paid media. He has more than 15 years of marketing experience in driving incredible SEO and paid media results for various B2B and B2C brands. Prior to starting his own agency, he's worked at Newell Brands, One Click Ventures, Angie's List, Barefoot Proximity, and more. We're talking about all things paid media including why you're missing out if you're not investing in Spotify and YouTube right now, his secret hacks for driving incredible performance with LinkedIn ads, why Google is both your friend and foe, and so much more.

Perfection. Control. My fellow Type A personalities know what I'm talking about on this subject. So many of us are engrained to not make mistakes from such a young age and it often continues with us into adulthood. While striving for perfection may seem like a good idea initially, it actually tends to hold you back in your marketing career if you're constantly waiting for perfection and increasing your time to market. Years of experience has taught me and many other marketers that speed is definitely better than perfection. In this episode, we chat with Leslie Bloom, VP of Marketing at Dozuki. She has 15 years of marketing and design experience. She's previously worked at Experts Exchange, San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition, political campaigns, and her own agency. We're talking about what it's like to be a recovering perfectionist and learning to get over needing to have constant control, handling feedback, leading marketing in an industry where you don't have previous experience, and so much more.

Failure. No one seems to like to talk about it, but it happens to all of us. No matter how many years of experience you might have, you're destined to fail at something in your career. And I'm here to tell you that it's OK. From finding a typo in a piece of content countless people reviewed to spending an entire year's budget in a month to sending out a broken email to hundreds of thousands of subscribers...you get the idea. We've all been there, done that. And we'll likely fail countless times again in our career because we're human. In this episode, three listeners are being super honest and sharing their biggest career failures. We hear from Lauren McConnell, who is in content marketing at Stanley Security, Brett Westerman, who is a paid media guru and runs Oktober Media, and Anthony Coppedge, Agile Transformation Lead at IBM.

It's true. You don't need everyone to like you. And your company doesn't have to be for everyone. In fact, it's probably better that it's not if you really want to stand out. Most companies would be weary of publicly admitting their company isn't for everyone, but not this week's guest on Real Marketers. In this episode, we chat with Kelli Maxwell, CEO at Campfire Blend Coffee Co. and Owner of Ember Marketing Group. She has more than five years of marketing experience and started her career with a Premier Princess Party Company and realized she could use that experience to create her own marketing agency. We're talking about why her brands aren't for everyone, why she doesn't make her customers sign contracts, her secrets for driving value on social media and with content creation, how her podcast turned into an idea for a coffee company, and so much more.

What comes to mind when you think of field marketing? I bet you think of events...at least it was in a pre-COVID world. For years, field marketing has been partnering with sales teams in a specific region to create VIP events for key prospects. And it's worked extremely well. Then COVID-19 happened and everything changed. So, what does field marketing look like now? Is there even still a need for it? The answer is a definite YES. In this episode, we chat with Nick Bennett, Director of Field Marketing at Logz.io. He has more than 10 years of marketing experience and previously held roles at Clari, PlanGrid, Jive Software, HPE SimpliVity, Lightower Fiber Networks, BDS Marketing, and more. We're talking about what field marketing is in a post-COVID world, how field marketing can accelerate deal pipeline, why sales is a team sport, how field marketing and demand generation work together, and so much more.