The Big Idea

The Big Idea

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The Big Idea episodes

  • Will Your Site be Deemed ‘Trustworthy’ After July 2018?
    Google is rolling out with important security updates on Chrome in the next few months. These updates will not only affect the credibility of your website, but they could also cost you your customers.

    When it comes to the web browsing market, Google Chrome holds the lion’s share. So, chances are that these upcoming security updates will inevitably affect your website, especially if you collect email addresses and credit card information on your website.

    In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with SEO specialist Colm O’Sullivan about how to identify any potential security issues on your website.

    To avoid a negative impact on your site’s bounce rates, advertising impressions, affiliate clicks, and e-commerce sales in the future, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast to find out how to ensure that your website is secure and ready by July 2018.
    12 min
  • Pinterest - A Potential Lead Generation Goldmine?

    Pinterest is synonymous with DIY weddings, home decorating tips, vintage furniture, fat-burning workouts, and cupcakes. Unless you are focusing on a very specific demographic, none of these are ideal sources for leads. So, when it comes to using Pinterest as a potential ad platform, many marketers scoff at it...


    But don’t be too quick to roll your eyes.


    Even though it may seem like an unlikely lead generation candidate, with 37 million wealthy customers, this visual search engine definitely has some hidden and untapped potential... and then we’re not even talking about specialized audience targeting options such as “act alike audiences” (similar to lookalike audiences) and a robust keyword targeting mechanism, which could be a goldmine for low-cost leads.


    In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Christina Clapp and David Jackman share their thoughts and observations with Grant Perry about using Pinterest as part of diversified marketing strategy.

    Correction: It was previously mentioned that Christina’s team hit CPCs that were around $1.50; however, while the bids were $1.50, actual CPCs of $.60-.70 were achieved for Actalike targeting, and $.95 for keyword targeting.

    31 min
  • Marketing Bootcamp Recruits Reflect on Working for The Agora
    In our very first episode of The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry, Brian York and Natalie Eagling spoke about the challenges of finding the right marketing talent. For marketers, of course, there is an equal challenge in finding the right company to work with and convincing them you are the best person for the job.

    So, what’s the solution? How do you side-step the restrictions of impersonal interviews that offer limited opportunities to find out what talent and skills candidates can bring to the table?

    Here at The Agora companies, we’ve run bootcamp-style recruitment initiatives for a few years now, which have proven to be very effective in bringing in the right talent. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry speaks with the two newest additions to the AIM team, Will Palmer and David Jackman, about their experience at the marketing bootcamp held in Ireland earlier this year, and what attracted them to work for The Agora companies in the first place.
    23 min
  • A Quick, Easy and Effective Strategy to Launch Ad Campaigns Fast

    Where do you begin if you are looking to start an ad campaign? What copy do you use? What images do you to select? And if it’s a lead generation campaign, what lead magnet do you use?

    These are all important questions, but finding the right answer can often be a massive hurdle. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry is flying solo as he discusses a simple strategy that can help you translate the core ideas of a promotion into a congruent ad campaign.

    12 min
  • Alexa, does Siri know I’m “dating” you too?

    For some of us, virtual assistants (like Siri, Alexa and Google Home) have slowly permeated our lives to the point that we almost can’t live without them. Then for others, despite its tremendous potential, Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Voice Search in particular — has not been met with a great deal of enthusiasm.


    That’s the topic of discussion in today’s The Big Idea podcast with Brian York, Grant Perry, and Colm O’Sullivan as they talk about the future of AI, Smart Homes and Voice Search.


    Whether you are ready to embrace AI or if it is something that you don’t have a need for (yet), the fact is by 2020, 50% of all search queries will be image or voice searches and by 2021, 8 billion devices will have digital assistants built-in. The robots are coming!


    Tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast to find out where all of this heading…

    22 min
  • 115 Active openings... are you made for one of them?
    As a regular listener to The Big Idea podcast, you already know that The Agora companies operate in a unique space. We are mostly financial and health publishers that specialize in direct response. Understandably, the niche market that we’ve created for ourselves also takes our requirement efforts to a completely new level.

    Following on from last week’s episode, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Jennifer DiFolco, the manager of Talent Acquisition. Over the years, Jennifer has seen The Agora companies grow into a global enterprise that often searches for talented candidates that have that “special something” that we are looking for… It’s not always an easy find.

    So, what does it take to be a really successful direct response marketer with The Agora Companies? Or a copywriter? Or an editor? Or even a front-end developer? To find out, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast.
    19 min
  • From data scandals to marriage proposals – F8 puts Facebook back in the saddle
    A stroke of genius? Or a man desperately trying to regain the trust of the 2.2 billion active users on Facebook?

    That’s what many people asked themselves after Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of FaceDate at this year’s F8 – the annual developers conference held by Facebook.

    Come to think of it, with all the data Facebook holds on its users, developing an algorithm that matches Facebook users who are looking for love is kind of a brilliant idea… Of course, the next question is: why did it take Zuckerberg this long?

    But this year’s F8 was not all about casual hook-ups and marriage proposals. Tune into The Big Idea podcast with Brian York and Grant Perry as they unpack the big F8 announcements that could have a real impact on direct response marketers. Things like Facebook Groups getting their own tab on the app, the Messenger makeover that will make it simpler and faster, and WhatsApp new group video chat feature.

    Listen to this week’s The Big Idea podcast to get the full scoop on this year’s F8.
    22 min
  • Working at The Agora... Where Career Progression is 100% Self-determined
    The Urban Dictionary defines “hustle” as having “the courage, confidence, self-belief, and self-determination to go out there and work it out until you find the opportunities you want in life.”

    Anyone who has ever worked for The Agora will tell you that the hustle is part of what makes working for The Agora so appealing and unique, because career progression is 100% self-determined. That is, as long as you embrace the virtue of thinking independently and taking individual responsibility for your future.

    If you are curious about what it is like to work in an environment where you are not pigeonholed by corporate structures and where your creativity and ideas are celebrated, then tune into todayrsquo;s The Big Idea podcast with Brian York and Grant Perry.
    20 min
  • Double Your Conversions on Facebook Quickly and Easily
    It’s no secret that Facebook has taken a few hard knocks during the past month in light of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Coupled with changes the company made earlier this year to its newsfeed as well as a surprise clampdown on crypto currency ads, many marketers now look at the platform with great apprehension and skepticism…

    Is this media giant about to fall? Hardly. There’s the old saying: The highest trees get the strongest winds. And it’s certainly true for Facebook (and Zuckerberg!).

    While Facebook is going through a few hiccups and challenges, this uncertainty has created a perfect environment for digital marketers to get creative with their creative. The question on everybody’s minds is: With more selective competitors on Facebook, potentially fever ad spots and stricter “community guidelines,” what can advertisers do to get their content seen?

    In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry, Brian York and Natalie Eagling discuss one of the biggest and easiest wins on Facebook that most publishers probably don’t do: Facebook Videos. So, if you want to know how to make Facebook Videos work for your business during a time of rapid change, tune into this week’s The Big Idea podcast.
    24 min
  • How to accelerate leads into paying customers
    Today we are broadcasting our 10th The Big Idea podcast. To mark this event, we asked our listeners a couple of weeks ago to send in their big ideas and topics that they would like to have covered.

    We received quite a lot of feedback and suggestions, and one of the most common topics that came up was around lead generation and how to monetize leads. Generating leads can be relatively easy but making sure that those leads become loyal, paying customers is where things become a bit trickier.

    Today, Grant Perry talks about one of the easiest (and most under-utilized) ways to accelerate your leads into paying customers… and it all comes down to one single page. To find out how you can turn this page into a handy little money-spinner, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast.
    15 min

About The Big Idea

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The Big Idea is a free podcast that taps into the resources and intelligence of some of the world’s leading digital marketing experts.