Alex Dunn, head of Levelset, joins to discuss the importance of building a content machine.

Alex Dunn has been a friend of MKG for a long time. He is a results-oriented business development professional in B2B and B2C marketplaces; he specializes in driving traffic through content solutions

Alex is the Head of Demand at Levelset, a payment solutions company for the construction industry. They’ve created a platform to alleviate roadblocks, get people paid.

Alex started with video content creation while getting his MBA in Massachusetts, and went on to sell his production company in 2016. That venture primarily focused on video testimonials for B2B tech companies. He honed his craft and started to replicate the success using similar content creation patterns.

As Ben Horowitz quoted in The Hard Thing About Hard Things, “There’s no silver bullet, there’s only a ton of lead bullets”.

A new company must operate and define itself around a core philosophy. There’s not going to be one quick and easy solution for all problems; most of the time, the answer will be one specific solution replicated over and over.

For Levelset, the mission and main question was ‘how do we drive the most traffic to our site?’

The solution that Alex found was to become a media company (within their niche). Levelset leverages data to create a news website for the construction industry- from news, payment disputes, trends, they seek to grow thought leadership. Rather than ABC, the sales team shifted their focus to providing quality service. Their mantra is ‘help first, sell second’; this multifaceted approach builds trust, brand recall, and expands inbound traffic. In addition to being a reliable helping hand, creating content demonstrates the human element and often forges a connection with the reader.

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Adam Mendler, host of the podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, joins to discuss the importance of understanding your superpower as early as possible. 

From Los Angeles to Wall Street, Adam Mendler has learned some hard-earned lessons. 

While earning an MBA at the Anderson School of Management (UCLA), Adam interned in entertainment (Universal). Upon graduation, he returned to finance and worked in large corporate firms.

After nearly a decade, Mr. Mendler wanted to try something different, to build his own success. He founded the Velos Group in 2012 with his brother. They built three companies under the umbrella: Beverly Hills Chairs - the biggest refurbished furniture store in Los Angeles, a fully online cigar shop, and a life insurance software. He wanted to have more of an impact as it is nearly impossible to do so early on in career at older, bureaucratic companies. Adam wanted to contribute right away; building firms from scratch allowed Adam to build upon lessons from other companies.

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This week, Marlo Oster joins to discuss the delicate balancing act of project management. She is the entire marketing force at Work Patterns, an app that streamlines management best practices through templates and simplified user experience (UX). The firm is an extremely young, seed-funded startup (out of Beta in August 2020). While the company may be new, Marlo is a veteran of the industry, having spent ten years in client-facing roles at various martech and adtech startups. True to the fast nature of the industry, she rose from individual contributor to the executive-level in a matter of six years.

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Lawrence Elliot joins to discuss conversion copywriting.

Creating In-Depth, PILLAR Content that can be written in a way that both informs and persuades.

The best copywriters pass what Lawrence calls the ‘barstool test’; in order to put the reader at ease, imagine as if you were sitting in a restaurant with the reader. By writing in a conversational tone, you invite the reader in and avoid confusing them with complicated industry jargon.

To build this perfect storm of growth, you’ll need an irresistible offer, understanding of sales psychology that drives your ideal customers, and the writing chops to weave a story that engages that audience into making a direct response.

By following three steps, companies are able to employ content as a method of lead generation.

Headlines need a solid hook and a solid graphic because people see the image first then read headline. If you don’t position your business along the way, a call to action won’t hit home. By utilizing a CHALLENGE/SOLUTION framework, companies can structure their content efficiently.

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Aileen Horgan, VP Marketing at Gremlin, joins to discuss executing fearlessness in content creation and nurturing trust among team-members. 

"People that work with you and for you don't have to like you, they just have to trust you."

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Arel Moodie is a multi-talented professional speaker and bestselling author. He has spoken to over 650,000 people in 48 states and 5 countries. 

His podcast The Art of Likability was rated the Number 1 career podcast in iTunes and is listened to in 178 countries worldwide helping people build better relationships with people. Arel Moodie joins to discuss how public speaking can be utilized to generate leads and create demand.

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2021, finally!! We've got some fantastic changes coming to the podcast starting with a new name - Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders! We hope that this new name and format can better help our audience grow big, fast through meaningful, measurable marketing. 

In addition, we're changing our release schedule and releasing all of Season 6 next Monday, January 11th! You can binge to your heart's content. 

8 New Episodes to start off your new year right, coming 1/11/2021!

On the Season 5 Finale, Tom Martin joins to discuss how to "sell greatly" and bolster marketing efforts by making friends. The sales game has shifted; old models have faded into obscurity.  Success is more often achieved when representatives choose to "sell greatly" rather than to "always be closing", to nurture a relationship instead of extracting a prize.

*Editor's Note- Thank you so much for tuning in this year! We have some exciting plans in store for Season 6, coming 2021! Have a wonderful and safe holiday season! -Kerry & Austin

Renato Agrella, Founder of 2A Consulting, joins to discuss how he helps build partnerships and utilize storytelling to communicate highly technical messaging. His firm simplifies the complex stories in ways to make it easier for an unknowing audience member to just hop in and understand the key elements. Whether they've been aware of the offer for 5 years or 5 minutes, the content needs to create an intriguing story and communicate the potential value add.

This week, Tish Millsap joins to discuss how to directly connect marketing spend to revenue. For the past 6 years, she has helped dozens of companies implement and sustain effective demand-gen and revenue-boosting solutions.