Remarkable Content with Ian Faison

If you don’t have a map, you’re lost. How do you know where you’re going or even what the next step is? 

This is true whether you’re navigating Middle Earth or content creation. We’re here to help you get oriented.

In this episode, we’re taking marketing lessons from The Hobbit with the help of our special guest, CMO at ChurnZero, Hunter Montgomery.

Together, we talk about drawing a map, finding a mentor who will push you out of your comfort zone, blocking and tackling, and getting your partners to tell your story.

About our guest, Hunter Montgomery

Hunter Montgomery is Chief Marketing Officer at ChurnZero, customer success platform providers. Hunter is a results-driven marketing professional with more than 25 years experience developing, executing and measuring global sales and marketing strategies and campaigns. He has held executive and upper management roles at Higher Logic, Vocus (now Cision), and Verizon. 

What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Hobbit:

• Draw a map. Have a plan for your content from creation to promotion, reuse, repurposing and beyond. Hunter says, “You can't just start out thinking, ‘Well, I'm here and I want to get there. I'll figure it out along the way.’ You gotta have a plan. You have a map. You will get things thrown at you and so know it's going to change a little bit along the way. But you just can't say, ‘Well, I'll know when I get there.’ That doesn't really work.” The Hobbit starts with a map. And just like how the reader can find their bearings throughout the story by revisiting the map, a content map or plan is useful for marketers too. The map gives you your foundation to be prepared and guide you along the way. And it’s also super satisfying to look back at your map and see how far you’ve come.
• Find a mentor who will push you out of your comfort zone. This is undoubtedly Gandalf. Because hobbits are creatures of comfort, it’s Gandalf who gives Bilbo the push to go on an adventure. So find your Gandalf. Ian says, “It doesn't actually have to be someone you know. It could be someone you listen to on a podcast. It could be someone who is out in the culture, who you follow on Twitter, or it could be someone that you know personally.” He says, “Gandalf is the one who recognizes with Bilbo, ‘I think there's something unique about you, and I think that you need this push.’ And it's just special. It's one of the great things about this story, is that Gandalf believes that Bilbo can do it.”
• Block and tackle. Hunter says, “Sometimes you just got to get the basic stuff done every day, little by little. Two months, three months, six months, a year later, you're where you needed to be. And I think people sometimes just track it out. They want the big and the brash. You gotta go big sometimes. You gotta take big risks and be creative. And I totally believe you have to do that. And when people zig, you gotta zag.  But a lot of other times, you just gotta get it done. And so I think Bilbo was the one who did that.”
• Partner up. Don’t be the one telling your audience how great you are. Find partners who will do that for you. It builds credibility and trust. Hunter says, “It could be vendors, could be thought leaders, bringing them in. Have them talk, have them validate customers. Customers are great for content. We have a community, so you hear from them on that, but don't be the source. Just try to find other places, other people to tell your story, because they can do it better. And they’re more legitimate in the eyes of the buyer in many ways.”

Quotes

*”Finding people to collaborate, there's co-marketing, there's co-creating. Co-creating content with your ideal customers or prospects is so important. Cause we always try to figure out like, ‘What do they want to hear? Why don't we just go make it with them?’” - Ian Faison

*”The content needs to match the journey. Customer journey mapping is one way of doing it. But I think that that can be too specific to your actual exact journey of your customers. And I think you need to sometimes pull back from that and have a bigger picture. Have a map, but don't let it restrict what you do.” - Hunter Montgomery

*”People are pretty poor at telling their own stories. But if you ask enough questions to get the right answers and dig in there, then you can really find those pearls of wisdom and put that stuff together in a really meaningful, digestible format.” - Ian Faison

*”Just go after something. Take a leap of faith in something that you feel strongly is going to work. - Hunter Montgomery

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Hunter Montgomery, CMO at ChurnZero

[1:32] Hunter Montgomery's Hobbit-Inspired Marketing Insights

[3:33] The Hobbit's Origin Story: From Bedtime Tales to Global Phenomenon

[8:50] Marketing Lessons from Middle Earth

[15:57] The Power of Maps in Storytelling and Marketing

[21:49] Exploring Bilbo's Unassuming Heroism

[22:48] Marketing Lessons from Gandalf's Mentorship

[24:18] B2B Marketing Insights and Strategies

[27:00] Leveraging Content and Partnerships in Marketing

[31:47] Evolving Event Strategies and Content Creation

[35:20] Navigating the Tech Stack and Data Integration

[38:52] Strategic Content Planning and Execution

Links

Read The Hobbit

Connect with Hunter on LinkedIn

Learn more about ChurnZero

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Leslie Knope once said, “We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn’t matter, but work is third.”

And we agree, waffles are important. But we’re here today to talk about friends. Because making marketing friends is key to supporting your growth and content production.

That’s one of the lessons we’re taking away from Parks and Recreation with the help of our guest, Director of Content Marketing at Intellimize, Jen Lacey. Together, we talk about building relationships, collaborating for creative problem solving, and embracing your weirdness.

About our guest, Jen Lacey

Jen Lacey is Director of Content Marketing at Intellimize, where she’s responsible for web strategy, brand and maintenance including a complete corporate rebrand. She oversees content strategy, production and promotion to align with sales and revenue goals, which has resulted in a 32% increase in pipeline. She  shapes the brand’s footprint through multiple content channels including PR, web and partner channels among other responsibilities. Prior to joining Intellimize in July 2022, Jen served as Marketing Director at Fountain. She also spent nearly 9 years in marketing at SparkPost (acquired by Message Bird). 

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Parks and Recreation:

• Build relationships. Create sources of mutual support and collaboration. It’s a symbiotic relationship that strengthens your content and marketing. Jen says, “Leslie is all about building relationships, which I feel is the foundational thing that has helped me excel and thrive in my roles, being able to work cross-functionally with different stakeholders, getting feedback from people, my CS team internally, working with customers, doing outreach to talk to customers about how they're using our product…being that kind of conduit and building those relationships is so critical to success anywhere, and especially in the B2B world.”
• Collaborate for creative problem solving. If you’re working on a tight budget - and let’s be real, most of us are - you gotta put your heads together with your team and brainstorm innovative solutions. This is when a lot of great ideas come up that could be your next big success. Jen says, “In the show, Leslie does this constantly. Every episode, there's some new problem or something that they've got to solve. And she's always thinking outside the box of how to motivate her maybe not-so-motivated team to do things. Or how to get creative in approaching different challenges. And I think that leaning into that creativity and collaborating with people, and using your team, your different individual team members to their strengths is how you circumvent a lot of those challenges.”
• Embrace your weirdness. Your weirdness is a strength that you can use to be relatable and connect with your audience. It’s what lets your audience know that there’s a human behind the content. Jen says, “Don't try to be anyone else. Think of where you stand out and where you can contribute, and embrace that. Embrace what makes you unique and weave it into your marketing tactics and strategy. I think everyone associates B2B with straight-laced, very serious LinkedIn ad campaigns and email nurtures that are dry and boring. But at the end of the day, I'm marketing to other marketers. They’re still people. And that human element is what makes us relatable. And so coming up with weird, unique, wacky ways to connect with them and get their attention and then pitch them on whatever it is you're trying to sell them on or get them to do, is key. That’s how Leslie anything done in her office, catering to people's unique personalities and being weird and being herself. And her team loves her for it at the end of the day.” 

Quotes

*”In B2B, there's only so many ways you can say the same thing. And we're all kind of saying the same flavor of something. Like we're all selling to other businesses, whether you're selling to tech people or you're selling to other marketers. It's the way that you can get yourself to stand out and lean on that creativity, especially if you don't have a giant budget to work with or a big team or a ton of bandwidth. How can you embrace your creativity and think outside the box, even if you're saying basically the same thing? Like how do you stand out, how do you set yourself apart?” - Jen Lacey

*”There are so many ridiculously great characters in the [Parks and Recreation]. Putting two people that are opposites together is a great B2B marketing takeaway because we have so many opposites in the business world. Whether it's your CIO and your CMO, or your CFO and the salesperson. There's these huge differences between people just based off of like personalities. And you can play with that stuff so much and turn it up to an 11. And I think the big lesson there is turning up those things to 11, which makes it so funny because you see parts of the Ron Swansons or the Aprils in people you work with. And that's why these shows are so funny.” - Ian Faison

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Jen Lacey, Director of Content Marketing at Intellimize

[1:38] Jen Lacey's Unique Marketing Approach Inspired by Parks and Rec

[3:51] Exploring the Creative Process Behind Parks and Rec

[7:57] The Art of Character Development in Parks and Rec

[13:58] Leveraging Opposites and Relationship Building in B2B Marketing

[19:45] The Mockumentary Style of Parks and Rec

[28:11] Adapting Marketing Strategies to Resources and Situations

[28:32] Innovation vs. Imitation in Creative Marketing

[29:42] Embracing Creativity and Uniqueness in B2B Marketing

[33:26] Leveraging Personal Experiences and Humor in Campaigns

[40:03] Maximizing Content Impact with Strategic Planning

[41:57] Showcasing Successful Campaigns and Their Outcomes

[50:40] Future Projects and Final Advice for Marketers

Links

Watch Parks and Recreation

Connect with Jen on LinkedIn

Learn more about Intellimize

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There’s a very real shift in mindset between making a single piece of content and making a long-standing series. 

But that shift in mindset launches a content machine that can fill your calendar, grow a dedicated audience, and build a name for your brand.

And in this episode, we’re learning from one of the biggest content machines in reality TV: Survivor. 

We’re looking at the show that’s been running for 46 seasons to date with the help of our guest, Founder of Distribution First, Justin Simon. 

Together, we talk about repeating your winning formula, creating a distribution plan, and staying true to who you are.

About our guest, Justin Simon

Justin Simon is founder of Distribution First, a membership community where smart marketers create less, distribute more, and grow together. He is also a consultant and the host of the Distribution First podcast. Prior to starting his consulting firm, Justin served as Senior Content Marketing Manager at metadata.io. He also previously served as Global Content Strategy Manager at TechSmith Corporation, a global provider of screen capture and screen recording software. He worked for TechSmith for over 10 years, having started as a Sales Intern in February 2011.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Survivor:

• Repeat your winning formula. Be consistent over time with the things that have proven successful. With some tweaks here and there, Survivor has followed essentially the same formula for 46 seasons, making it one of the longest lasting reality TV shows of all time. Justin says, “I think that that's like the magic of what has made it last, amongst many other things, for so long. It's consistent, it's repeatable, and you always know what you're getting.”
• Have a plan for distribution of your content before creating the content itself. Justin says, “Know what distribution channels you have available to you. Pick one or two that you're really going to hammer in on and get really good at those. Make sure your audience is aware that you exist on those channels. It goes back to consistency. Be able to consistently deliver value to the audience on those channels.” And then understand “How much content do you actually need? And then reverse engineering back to that. Because I think a lot of people get themselves stuck on a hamster wheel of creating content because they don't actually know how much content they need.”
• Stay true to who you are. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Keep your core values at the center of your content. From the first season, first episode, Survivor has used the tagline “Outwit, outplay, outlast.” And it's become an iconic slogan for the show. Justin says, “My biggest lesson from Survivor is just staying true to who you are and being able to create something that is really long lasting and not a flash in the pan. There's lots of flash in the pan marketing. And so how do we build up plans? How do we keep saying the same things over and over and talking about those things in a way that resonates, adjusting angles, and switching things?”

Quotes

*”Creating content for the sake of creating content is not good enough anymore. And I think a lot of teams still feel the need to hit a drumbeat of production without a ‘why’ behind that, or how the audience is going to engage with that, or a reason that it fits in with the larger marketing strategy, business strategy, all that type of stuff. But hey, we're creating content, so we're ahead of the game here. And so I think for me what that caused is a lot of stress, a lot of burnout, a lot of just trying to keep that ball rolling up the hill and then no time or energy or effort to be able to actually step back and be more strategic or be creative or experiment or any of these things that we wanted to do when we started to be marketers, do the fun stuff, try new things, try new formats, because we've got to still pump out all this content.” -Justin Simon

*”Most people have no clue what's happening with the content they create. The irony of it all is very, very thick that we're spending so much time and so much effort to create all of these things and we have no way of knowing how that's getting in front of anybody, if people care, in what ways they’re going to use it. How are we going to maybe reintroduce that same concept in different formats and in different ways? I think especially for folks who are creating evergreen content, it's a huge miss to not be repurposing and distributing that content.” - Justin Simon

*”In a typical marketing content landscape, distribution gets tacked on at the end. Like, ‘All right, we've got the thing. Now, what do we do?’ Versus throwing it at the beginning, distribution first, and thinking through, ‘All right, as we're creating this podcast, as we're creating this monthly event series, what's going to happen once the show goes live? So now they're creating a real engine that they can just kind of repeat and reuse and then adjust as necessary.” - Justin Simon

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Justin Simon, Founder of Distribution First

[1:49] Survivor's Enduring Appeal: A Deep Dive with Justin Simon

[7:16] The Evolution of Survivor: From Concept to Cultural Phenomenon

[10:28] Survivor's Winning Formula: Strategy, Diversity, and Adaptation

[19:16] Survivor vs. Alone: Analyzing Reality TV's Survival Shows

[22:48] Marketing Insights from Survivor's Success Story

[24:15] Unlocking the Secrets of Content Longevity and Consistency

[25:50] The Aspirational Power of Location in Storytelling

[27:25] The Role of the Evangelist in Content Creation

[28:50] Redefining Leadership and Charisma in Content Series

[33:01] Survivor's Lessons for B2B Marketing and Content Strategy

[40:34] The Art of Repurposing and the Power of Distribution

[47:08] Final Thoughts on Content Marketing and Distribution Strategies

Links

Watch Survivor

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn

Learn more about Distribution First

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Making content that’s truly original is something all content marketers want to do.

But then why does so much B2B content look and feel the same? 

Today, we’re giving you permission to express yourself in content like you might express yourself in art. 

In this episode, we’re taking lessons from the Japanese collective of ultra-technologists known as teamLab. 

Together, with the help of our guest, SVP of Marketing at Sigma Computing Erik Bower, we’re talking about defying convention, starting with the last mile, and more.

About our guest, Erik Bower

Erik Bower is SVP of Marketing at Sigma. Prior to joining the company in November of 2023, Erik ran marketing at startups like Daily and Amplitude. He owned growth and digital demand at Palo Alto Networks from $125M to $2.9 billion in 8 years. He is an AI patent holder and has been building ML based machine marketing engines since before 2015.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From teamLab:

• Question convention and then defy it. Don’t just fall back on the way things are usually done. Think critically about your content and make something truly original. Erik says, “Think differently about things that are sitting right in front of you, and ask questions like, ‘Why is the convention to do things this way in our industry? It doesn't make any sense.’ You always have to take things with that lens of questioning what actually works, and not work from some kind of template that you see other people do.” It’s like how TeamLab operates outside of convention. They create immersive experiences that are truly original.
• Start with the last mile. Plan how you’re going to promote your content before you make the content itself. Erik says, “Why wouldn't you start with the last mile? Like you're going to put all of this energy into creating this super expensive event or packaging up this asset,  and then the actual promotion of it is kind of like an afterthought that no one really pays attention to. Start with the last mile and work your way back. If you can't generate interest for this thing, then why are you producing it?”

Quotes

*”Especially as it pertains to B2B marketing and tech marketing,  I think a lot of what you see is very rote. It's checkbox marketing. But I think that teamLab shows you that original ideas are still possible. I think you have to strive for what a boss of mine called the thumb test, where you put your thumb over the logo. Can you still tell that it's your brand? But go beyond that. Where every experience is innovative, engaging, and not rote. It's a challenge to stay fresh like that, but you can definitely achieve it.”

*”It takes that wild hair to just say, ‘I want to use this technology in a new way.’ So I think if anything, I have a reputation for having a wild hair. Think differently about things that are sitting right in front of you, and ask questions like, ‘Why is the convention to do things this way in our industry? It doesn't make any sense.’”

*”You always have to take things with that lens of questioning what actually works, and not work from some kind of template that you see other people do. Original ideas are still possible and important that you have them. You have to have a point of view.”

*”In order to make email marketing and these other things perform well, they have to be more and more micro-targeted to the persona,  the vertical, the use case for line of business. And then it also has to take into account the things that they've already engaged with, where they are in the funnel. And so it becomes this big matrix that's sometimes referred to it as ‘Battleship.’ And if you start to do that, you realize that you have a pretty insurmountable amount of content you have to generate. So you have to start to pick your battles and learn which ones are the highest value segments to focus your energy on content generation.”

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Erik Bower, SVP of Marketing at Sigma Computing

[4:13] The Magic of teamLab: Blending Art, Technology, and Experience

[7:08] Sigma Computing: Revolutionizing Business Intelligence in the Cloud

[10:21] The Art of Experience: How teamLab Transforms Perception

[12:07] The Philosophy Behind teamLab: Art, Technology, and Interaction

[15:54] Revisiting teamLab: The Ever-Changing World of Interactive Art

[20:56] Marketing Inspiration from teamLab: Pushing the Boundaries of B2B

[27:09] The Challenge of B2B Website Design

[28:14] Innovative Storytelling in Web Design

[29:19] The Fast Fashion of B2B Websites: Embracing Simplicity

[30:08] Decoding Sigma Computing's Marketing Strategy

[30:30] Micro-Segmentation: The Future of Targeted Marketing

[32:09] The Potential and Pitfalls of AI in Marketing

[34:15] Winning the Last Mile: The Importance of Clear Messaging

[42:17] Predictive Marketing and the Future of CRM

[51:25] Sigma Computing's Upcoming Initiatives

Links

Check out teamLab

Connect with Erik on LinkedIn

Learn more about Sigma Computing

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s every marketer’s dream to inspire a cult-like following, but that term is usually used for B2C brands. Until you use the tips from this episode in your marketing.

We’re pulling inspiration from the leather bag brand that brought in $128M in sales last year, Portland Leather Goods. With the help of our guest, Head of Marketing Production at Boomi, Danalynne Menegus, we’re talking about building a community, creating a sense of exclusivity, and personalizing your marketing.

About our guest, Danalynne Menegus

Danalynne Menegus is Head of Marketing Content Production at Boomi. She joined the company in 2018 as Senior Consultant, Marketing Communications. In her current role, she is the editorial lead and manager of Boomi's content production process for external-facing marketing assets, from concept through publication, and manager of the Boomi Blog. She is also the steward of the Boomi brand language and style guide, responsible for sharing standards and reviewing everything from press releases to event signage to ensure consistency in messaging. Her role combines strategy, process management, writing, editing, idea sourcing, resource management and assignment (for a team of internal and freelance/contract writers), editorial calendar management, research, and extensive collaboration with colleagues and stakeholders.

Danalynne brings with her more than 25 years of B2B experience and expertise in editorial processes, copy editing, messaging, positioning, content strategy, creation and marketing, sales enablement, and much more. She has previously served as Global Product Marketing Lead of Cloud & Virtualization Software Platforms at Dell; Managing Editor of Corporate Event News, an online publication for event professionals; and Director of Marketing at Sybase/SAP.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Portland Leather Goods:

• Build a community. Create a space for customers to come together and spread the word about your brand. Word of mouth is an incredibly effective way to drive sales. Danalynne says, “digital marketing is something that's gotten more and more sophisticated, but if you are going to do it, be smart about it and draw upon a community. Try and build a community because if you can get other people to really love your product and talk about it, evangelize it, then you are going to get many more customers or even just potential interest.”
• Create a sense of exclusivity. Invite top users to a special community with exclusive benefits and incentives. Danalynne says, “Fear of missing out can go a long way if people feel like they're only going to have a deal for a limited time, or even that you're doing something specially for them, and hopefully you really are, but to me that translates into programs like loyalty programs, or or Customers where, you know, you're a loyal customer. So we're going to give you a discount, or we're going to give you maybe a free pass for an event.”
• Personalize your marketing. Write to your viewer as if you were talking to them in person, and put your personality in it! Danalynne says, ”Behind every brand, there are people. So even in a B2B marketing outreach or B2B sell, you're still selling to a person. And you want to build those relationships. That's what any good salesperson does, or any community manager or customer advocacy manager, or anybody who has those relationships as part of their job does, because people want to buy from people. So if you personalize [your marketing], that's the best way to market.”

Quotes

*”If you're trying to draw people in who know nothing about what you do or your industry or your product, or more importantly, The problems that you can help them solve, you need to lay that out in language that they're going to understand, in the format that they want to consume it in, and on the channel that they want to receive it in.” - Danalynne Menegus

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Danalynne Menegus, Head of Marketing Content Production at Boomi

[6:09] The Birth and Rise of Portland Leather Goods

[13:36] Unboxing the Mystery: A Personal Experience with Portland Leather Goods

[17:26] Marketing Insights: Building a Brand and Community

[27:31] From Bags to B2B: Marketing Lessons from Portland Leather Goods

[31:47] Behind the Scenes: Crafting Content at Boomi

[39:56] Final Thoughts: Humanizing Your Marketing Strategy

Links

Check out Portland Leather Goods

Connect with Danalynne on LinkedIn

Learn more about Boomi

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Director Christopher Nolan once said:

“You have to do something that really excites you. It’s the things that you can bring to what you’re doing that maybe not everyone else is doing. That’s what’s going to distinguish the thing.”

That's the energy we’re taking into this episode of Remarkable. 

Guided by our guest this week, Jellyfish CMO Kyle Lacy, we’re taking marketing lessons from the Oscar-winning director, Christopher Nolan. Together, we talk about mastering each channel, building the day-to-day life of your buyer into your content, and much more.

About our guest, Kyle Lacy

Kyle Lacy is CMO at engineering management platform Jellyfish, the pioneer Engineering Management Platform that enables engineering leaders to align engineering work with strategic business objectives. There, he helps engineering leaders translate and maximize the business impact of their teams. Kyle has 17 years of experience in high-growth software. Prior to joining Jellyfish in November 2022, Kyle served as CMO of Lessonly. He has also led marketing at Seismic, OpenView, Salesforce and ExactTarget. He is a published author of three books: Twitter Marketing for Dummies, Branding Yourself, and Social CRM for Dummies. He is a marketing and digital trends speaker, having spoken at marketing and technology industry events around the world on content marketing, collaborative consumption, email marketing, technology trends, and more. He has been recognized as one of Indiana’s Forty-under-40 by the Indianapolis Business Journal, Anderson University’s Young Alumni of the Year and TechPoint’s Young Professional of the Year. But most importantly, he says, he’s the father of two boys, an energetic dog, and one too many books on World War II.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Christopher Nolan:

• Master each channel. Reach a deep understanding of what your audience wants and needs from each channel and create content for it. Kyle says once you've mastered the channels, “you can start creating brand content that is more creative and entertainment oriented and more about the human that's buying the product, not necessarily the product itself.” It’s like how Christopher Nolan has mastered fiction with Memento and Inception and non-fiction with Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. He understands what viewers of each genre are looking for and creates content specifically for them.
• Build the day-to-day life of the buyer into your marketing. Include different storylines and details in your content so that it shows an understanding of your audience and their lived experience. The more your content clicks with them, the more they’ll remember your brand when they’re ready to buy. Kyle says, “We sell to an engineering leader. There are 500 other things that that engineering leader is dealing with on a day to day basis that might not necessarily pertain to our product, but does lead to exuberance, stress, productivity…the Amazon package being late for his daughter's birthday present. So how do we build more of the day in the life of the buyer into our content? It's the human element that's the most interesting part of marketing.”

Quotes

*”When you've mastered your craft and you understand the minute technical details that make it enjoyable, whether that's marketing or producing a movie, you can make decisions and take risks because you understand what the impact will be because you've spent so much time obsessing over it. ” - Kyle Lacy

*”Christopher Nolan got very lucky that he has a brother that's a very good screenwriter. But he also understands how to surround himself with people that are very good at what they do. And I think part of being a manager - and it doesn't even have to be marketing - is that you have to find the people that truly love their craft and are good at what they do so that the end product, no matter what it is, is the best that you could possibly do.” - Kyle Lacy

*”Anybody can tune into a podcast about leadership values. And what does it take to be a great manager? Like there's 500 of them because it's easier to do. It's harder to do what we're doing right now. Y'all prepped for a Christopher Nolan-slash-CMO interview. But it's interesting, right? And that's why people like to be on it. That's why people listen to it. And that's, I think, this idea of illogical marketing, right? Like the more illogical you can be, the more creative it is and the more people enjoy it. It's just hard to grasp for a lot of marketers.” - Kyle Lacy

*”I think the nuance Is how you balance the extremely illogical podcast, weird direct mails, lego building sets, all the stuff that I think surprises and delights people with the other things that might not be as fun and creative but drive business value. And that's where I would love to tell you that there's a framework you should follow. But it's, what is enjoyable to the customer? How do you understand that they like it, whether that's an increase in listeners or shares, or you got more people wanting to be interviewed? And then it's that you're hitting the numbers that you put in front of the board, and that's ultimately the value.” - Kyle Lacy

*”You kill creativity when you try to apply too much ROI to a project. Doesn't mean you shouldn't track it, doesn't mean there shouldn't be ROI. But you sit down with a creative team and say, ‘Hey, let's think about how many downloads we can get or how much pipeline this thing is going to drive. And they just glaze over. Good creatives glaze over because you're not starting with the most important thing, which is the experience that thing is driving. You can work back, you can figure out the business impact of the thing. And it really depends on the piece of content, right? Like a playbook is going to be different than a podcast.  But I'd like to start with the experience and then back into the business impact because I think it just has more value and people are more creative when you start with the experience.” - Kyle Lacy

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Kyle Lacy, CMO at Jellyfish

[2:51] Exploring Christopher Nolan's Storytelling Techniques

[4:45] The Art of Making Complex Narratives Work

[7:31] Christopher Nolan's Unique Approach to Filmmaking

[10:14] Applying Nolan's Strategies to B2B Marketing

[17:47] Drawing Parallels Between Nolan's Work and Marketing

[18:52] Mastering Different Storytelling Formats

[21:32] The Human Element in Marketing and Filmmaking

[23:51] Exploring the Camera as a Character in Marketing

[24:59] The Human Element: The Core of Marketing and Storytelling

[26:26] Christopher Nolan's Mastery of Objects in Storytelling

[28:04] Marketing Lessons from Nolan's Use of Totems

[29:32] The Power of Mascots and Brand Identity

[31:33] Creative Choices in Filmmaking: The Case of Bane's Voice

[39:17] The Challenge of Balancing Creativity and Business Goals

[43:58] Advice for other CMOs

Links

Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn

Learn more about Jellyfish

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Marketing is really lovely underneath it all. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration.

And this week, we’re bringing you marketing lessons from the Grammy-winning and diamond-certified album holders, No Doubt. 

Together, with the help of the Director of Product Marketing at GetResponse, we’re talking about going pop with your content, sharing the good with the bad, and so much more.

About our guest, Abby Hehemann

Abby Hehemann is Director of Product Marketing at GetResponse, a comprehensive email marketing platform that provides small businesses, solopreneurs, coaches, and marketers with powerful and affordable tools to grow their audience, engage with their subscribers, and turn subscribers into paying customers. Prior to joining GetResponse in January of 2023, Abby served as Director of Product Marketing at Coursedog. She also spent nearly 9 years in marketing at GetResponse previously. She specializes in strategic product positioning and value-driven messaging. She has a demonstrated history of high impact GTM, lead gen, activation, and retention campaigns. She’s skilled in Digital Marketing, Customer Education, Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, and Content Marketing. She is a customer-first and product-obsessed – with an MBA from the University of Central Arkansas.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From No Doubt:

• Go pop with your content (Hint: Use AI). No Doubt expanded their audience by transitioning from niche ska music to pop. And they did it without losing what made them unique - namely Gwen as an iconic frontwoman and lyrics based on her lived experience. You can expand your audience too by putting out content on new and unique channels you haven’t accessed before and the trick is using AI. Abby says, “Using an AI tool, we could still use our own content, what we wanted to communicate with our unique voice, but experiment with a new format, like a comic book. This is a way we're trying to figure out how to adapt and evolve with new technologies and be more efficient, but in a way that's still foundational to what we care about and the content is still in our voice and our perspective.”
• Share the good with the bad. Talk about your mistakes and shortcomings as well as your strengths and successes. It builds trust, relatability and likeability. It’s like how No Doubt’s album, Tragic Kingdom, was about Gwen’s breakup with her bassist, Tony. It’s not a positive experience, but it became their diamond-certified album because it spoke to listeners. Abby says, “Not that you need to air all of your mistakes, but the idea of like, that is what authenticity is, right? You share the good with the bad. You share the parts of your life where you're vulnerable. And that's like what artists are doing. It's just something that we don't do in B2B marketing.”

Quotes

*”Most new startups and SaaS orgs emerge solving a very specific problem for a very specific audience, which is excellent. And that makes you special and unique and have a really strong selling point. But then the next thing is on scaling. How do we do this for more people? And then you have such a risk of diluting what makes you special. If you try to expand, it's super risky. It's risky for you to try to do more often with less and still make a big impact.” - Abby Hehemann

*”The one with the most customer insights - the one who knows what customers are feeling, what they're saying, what words they're using - you win. You have clout in a meeting. You have the most legitimacy. You should be driving conversations and doing whatever it takes on your team to figure out how to have access to your customers.” - Abby Hehemann

*”B2B content marketing gets such a bad rap for being a sea of sameness, super boring, not distinctive. Everybody’s talking about driving revenue and getting more leads. And you don't know who's saying it. It doesn't even matter. There's no distinctive tone of voice, point of view, who's talking about what. And I think that definitely points to the need for authenticity. That's what we're craving as humans, even though we're representing companies purchasing software. We're still wanting to make those connections and actually have some element in our brain that recognizes, ‘Oh, this is an actual human being I'm trying to do business with.” - Abby Hehemann

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Abby Hehemann, Director of Product Marketing at GetResponse

[4:25] The Remarkable Journey of No Doubt: From Ska Band to Pop Icons

[8:02] Gwen Stefani's Evolution: A Deep Dive into Her Creative Process

[13:54] No Doubt's Transition to Pop: A Lesson in Authenticity and Branding

[19:47] B2B Marketing Insights: Drawing Lessons from No Doubt's Success

[27:03] Decoding the Iconic 'No Doubt' Album Cover

[28:11] Evolving from Ska to Pop: No Doubt's Musical Journey

[29:10] Adapting to Market Changes: Lessons from No Doubt

[29:37] Embracing AI and Generative Content in Marketing

[30:36] The Power of Email Marketing and User-Generated Content

[32:25] Innovative Marketing: The Comic Book Experiment

[34:24] Employer Branding and Gender Representation

[37:56] Content Strategy Insights from GetResponse

[47:03] The Future of Content Creation and Marketing

[51:57] The Essential Role of Customer Insights in Marketing

Links

Listen to No Doubt

Connect with Abby on LinkedIn

Learn more about GetResponse

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When do you put together a campaign and think, “This is my masterpiece”? 

You probably just need some inspiration. And today, that inspiration is coming from Francis Ford Coppola who created his masterpiece in 1972. 

So in this episode, we’re gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.

We’re bringing you marketing lessons from The Godfather with the help of our guest, Director of Content, Digital Marketing & PR at Nexthink, Thomas McGrath. 

Together, we talk about appealing to your internal audience first, nailing the ending, and much more.

About our guest, Thomas McGrath

Thomas McGrath is Director of Content, Digital Marketing & PR at Nexthink, the leader in digital employee experience management software, and co-host of their DEX Show podcast, where he discusses the latest advancements in digital workplace experience with leading industry experts and his colleague Tim Flower. Thomas has been with Nexthink for over 4 years, having started in August 2019 as a Content Strategist. Previously, he served as Head of Content & PR at 1E. He has also led Content at Informa.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From The Godfather:

• Appeal to your internal audience first. Run your content by your colleagues before posting or publishing it. They’re like your “family”. Their reaction is a good indicator of how your content will perform out in the wild. Tom says, “If you're not creating enthusiasm and interest internally, with people who are going to be most naturally curious about what you're talking about and most invested in its success, how can you hope to begin to appeal to an external audience?” 
• Nail the ending. No spoilers here, but it’s important to wrap up your content and satisfy the need for a resolution. Ian says, “The ending of The Godfather is one of the most satisfying. The idea to have this massive, big,  satisfying ending I think is something that marketers can really think about with their campaigns, events or content. To be able to finish something with a lot of wrapping paper and having some big pizazz or big show. They landed the plane. And if they didn't land the plane, nobody would ever have remembered The Godfather as the best movie of all time.”

Quotes

*”You shouldn't have to point to your own success and explain it or justify it. It should be self-evident internally that it's been successful.” - Tom McGrath

*”Humanize your material. It's an absolutely vital part of marketing and I think that's where content marketers can come into their own. It's the difference between vehicles that are there to convey information, which absolutely have their place. The importance of web pages, explanatory videos, and assets such as podcasting, surveys, social media. Where you're trying to create interest and engagement or put a literal human face or voice on a story or a message is incredibly powerful.” - Tom McGrath

*”Sometimes marketers can be too nervous about upsetting people, which sounds like a paradox, right? When I say the most important people to impress are your colleagues and most important people to engage and involve in what you're doing are your colleagues. That doesn't necessarily mean they dictate the way you tell their story.” - Tom McGrath

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Thomas McGrath, Director of Content, Digital Marketing & PR at Nexthink

[3:04] The Godfather: A Cinematic Masterpiece Explored

[9:30] Behind the Scenes: The Making of The Godfather

[15:11] The Godfather and Marketing: Drawing Parallels

[19:06] Marketing Insights from The Godfather: Internal vs. External Focus

[24:50] The Vulnerability and Importance of Marketing Within Organizations

[27:38] Drawing Parallels: Marketing Dynamics and The Godfather's Succession Plan

[34:06] Marketing Insights from The Godfather: Nailing the Ending and Humanizing Content

[45:03] Content Marketing Strategies and Success Stories

Links

Watch The Godfather

Connect with Thomas on LinkedIn

Learn more about Nexthink

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You can control your content. But you can’t control who sees it.

That’s why you need to write both for your niche audience and the general public.

Though writing for both is tricky, in this episode, we’re learning from the masters.

We’re talking about Monty Python and the Holy Grail with the help of our guest, Emmanuel “Manu” Cohen, VP of Marketing at Walnut.io.

Together, we talk about making your weakness the cornerstone of your content, being down-to-earth and using self-deprecating humor, and writing for both your niche audience as well as the general public.

About our guest, Emmanuel Cohen

Manu leads marketing at Walnut.io. He worked for 7 years at Wix, where he managed the social presence and blogs - and took part in 5 Super Bowl campaigns. He has also spoken about social media content at many marketing events, including Social Media Week. Most recently, Manu created an employer branding video for Walnut that went viral in Israel (and did it in less than a week).

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

• Make your weakness the cornerstone of your content. Ian says, “What [Monty Python] did was they took their biggest weakness, which is ‘We don't have a lot of money.’ How do you tell a medieval story without horses? That’s when they had this crazy idea for the coconuts. So instead of coming up with this crazy idea and making it a gag once and that's it, they built it as a cornerstone of the story.” And Manu points out that the coconuts became a running gag, which is a tactic marketers can use, too. He says, “I think people enjoy the wink, you know? ‘Oh, I know what they are referencing.’ It creates an emotional connection.” When you not only acknowledge your shortcomings but commit to highlighting them, they become a point of definition and differentiation. Iconic, even. So stand out from the other B2B content by making your weaknesses your strengths.
• Be down-to-earth (and maybe even a little self-deprecating.) Manu says, “I can't hear someone telling me another time that there is cutting-edge technology that's going to revolutionize an industry. I read this sentence so many times that it's like, ‘Come on,’ you know? Show some self-derision and take yourself a nudge down. Be honest about what you are trying to do instead of being pompous, trying to oversell and to show your muscles. I think it worked 20 years ago. Today, it doesn't work. Today, you need to talk to your audience honestly.” It’s like how though the members of Monty Python were well-educated, having gone to Oxford and Cambridge, they used plenty of low-brow and self-deprecating humor. So when you’re writing content, keep in mind that people easily sniff out hyperbole. So be real in your content, especially about what your product does - or doesn’t - do. 
• Write for both your niche audience and the general public. In other words, appeal to both the human and the industry specialist. Manu says, “[Monty Python] knows their topic. And this is the very basis of their success. They know the story [of King Arthur] very well. They know the time very well. They know the history very well. And then they can make jokes that are on one side that address people who understand what they are talking about. And on the other hand, they need to make jokes that are large enough to address a wide audience.”

Quotes

*”When you think about all the creative work that everyone is doing, they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on each video so it looks good. But you don't care if it looks good if the story is right. The creativity needs to be there, but you don't need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make good creative work.” - Manu Cohen

*”The absolute genius is that instead of taking the lack of budget as a problem, they turn it to their advantage, right? Por them, it's an opportunity to be more creative.” - Manu Cohen

*”Creativity has outsized results. Boring stuff does not have outsized results. Boring things don't go viral.” - Ian Faison

*”Find the crazy thing and pull the thread. Find your version of the coconut. Continue going with that as far as you can go.” - Ian Faison

*”People are trying too hard to sell the benefits, when in fact benefits are not really important. What people try to solve are pains. So solve a pain with a good story.” - Manu Cohen

*”Owning the story is much more powerful than selling a feature or even selling a product. The story is your ‘why.’ Why you do stuff. And people connect with that.” - Manu Cohen

*”What we're trying to do is always do more. And always trying to create a motion that moves toward more creativity, even if it means a huge failure, right? Because first of all, failure is learning. And second, because you have more of a chance of getting better by trying and failing than by not trying at all. Or by trying what everyone else is doing, which is boring because everyone else is playing it safe. But it's boring. You need to try stuff, to take risks.” - Manu Cohen

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Emmanuel “Manu” Cohen, VP of Marketing at Walnut.io

[2:59] Exploring the Genius of Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[6:48] Manu's Marketing Insights Inspired by Monty Python

[15:01] Breaking the Mold: Creative Marketing on a Budget

[16:57] The Power of Creativity Over Budget in Marketing

[24:38] Embracing Humor in Marketing

[27:11] The Power of Storytelling and Creativity

[28:37] Leveraging Absurdity and Running Gags

[31:41] Building Emotional Connections Through Stories

[34:12] The Importance of Taking Risks in Marketing

[41:18] Content Strategy and the ROI of Creativity

Links

Watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Connect with Manu on LinkedIn

Learn more about Walnut.io

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What do you want your audience to understand about your brand? 

Ask this question with every piece of content you create. Because you want to drive home a specific message. 

If it’s not doing the job, you need to synthesize the information for your audience. Distill your message to show the value and benefits of your product. 

It’s how you cut through the noise and capture the attention of your audience. 

That’s what we’re talking about today with the help of Sproutloud’s Director of Demand Generation, Aaron Morrissey. 

Together, we watch Parts Unknown and chat about lessons we can take from Anthony Bourdain, including being yourself in your content and synthesizing your message. 

About our guest, Aaron Morrissey

Aaron Morrissey is the Director of Demand Generation at Sproutloud Media Networks, where he works with enterprise clients to help them launch, manage, and optimize digital campaigns across their distributed network. He joined the company in November of 2022. Prior to his current role, he served as Director of Demand Gen at Topia. He is also a content creator for HockeyStack and other B2B SaaS brands.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Parts Unknown:

• Be the same person in your content as you are in real life. Show that there’s a real person behind the content you’re creating, not some corporate bot. So breathe personality and soul into your content. Aaron says, “When the cameras turned on from when the cameras turned off, [Anthony Bourdain] was the same person. If I'm the same person all around, people will start to either  gravitate toward that or realize that I'm not their cup of tea. People talk so much about authenticity. The real authenticity is truly not being afraid of the consequences of being yourself.” 
• Synthesize your message to drive home the point you’re making. Supplement the visuals with a carefully crafted narrative in your voice that explains what you want your audience to understand. Ian says, “[Anthony Bourdain] brings you into a world that you don't know anything about. And he's giving you these visuals and these conversations. But then he's also synthesizing the information for you in an extremely tight narrative so that he's hammering home the point of what you're seeing with a very clear lesson in every episode. It’s what makes it so brilliant.”

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Aaron Morrissey, Director of Demand Generation at Sproutloud

[1:47] Exploring the Uncompromising Creativity of Parts Unknown

[5:36] Aaron Morrissey's Journey: From Content Creation to Demand Generation

[7:47] The Essence and Impact of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown

[15:22] Crafting a Personal Brand: Insights from Anthony Bourdain's Legacy

[19:24] The Art of Content Creation: Learning from Bourdain's Approach

[21:09] Synthesizing Information: The Key to Engaging Content

[24:45] Exploring Culinary Delights and Conversational Skills

[25:35] The Art of Storytelling in Parts Unknown

[27:12] Anthony Bourdain's Legacy and the Power of Serialized Content

[28:18] The Impact of Following Bourdain's Footsteps

[30:35] Creative Evolution and the Importance of Authenticity

[36:49] Marketing Strategies and the Future of Content Creation

[47:06] Predictions on the Future of the Creator World and B2B Content

Links

Watch Parts Unknown

Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn

Learn more about Sproutloud

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.