In this episode, Gordon Borrell and Corey Elliott put their own assumptions about local advertisers to the test by bringing in Shannon Kinney, founder of Dream Local Digital, who has worked with more than 90,000 businesses. Together, they unpack what SMBs really think about marketing today: deep skepticism toward inflated audience claims, an obsession with proving ROI, and a pragmatic—if still uneven—embrace of AI as a “happy intern” rather than an all-knowing oracle. The conversation challenges the idea that email and traditional media are dead, showing instead that targeted newsletters and branded content can still perform, while underscoring that scattered, low-budget tactics are often the real culprit behind disappointing results. The episode ultimately lands on a nuanced truth: local advertisers aren’t anti-media or blindly pro-digital—they’re searching for trust, clarity, and partners who can help them connect the dots between marketing effort and real business outcomes.

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