Is social media fading? When will Influencer Marketing no longer be influential? Kymber Heinze, Director of Social Media at SmartSites and this week's guest on The Longer Game, says no time soon and we tend to agree. We dig into some of the biggest failures of brands when it comes to Social Media Marketing and the myths that agencies and service providers perpetuate. Digital Marketing as a whole is fast paced, changes happen often, and what's in this year could be out the next. Social is no different. And you can't predict the future. The reality? Most of digital marketing is a well-controlled experiment. I bet you didn't see that one coming. Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of whiskey, dealer's choice, and join us as we dig into the whys of Social Media Marketing.

Technology is always exciting! And it's easy to get lost in the midst of the shiny object that is tech. But why are we using it? What is our desired outcome? Those are two questions we ought to be asking ourselves but often don't. Brian Purkiss, Senior E-commerce Manager at Honest Paws, joins us on Episode 2 of The Longer Game to share his insights on how people can take better care of their DTC sites. With approx 20 years of experience building and improving websites, he walks us through the necessary questions to ask and tactical actions to take to improve site performance.

Don't be fooled by the sales reps that rush to demos or the marketing pitch of "you don't need developers just use this plugin." There's always more to the story. Buckle up and let's get down to business.

Amazon has changed. Gone are the days of launching a no name product with minimal effort and winning the category. You have to build brand that has long term draw or at least be building towards that. You also have to come up with creative ways to get your brand out there, allowing you to cut through the noise as the marketplace has become saturated.

Have you ever been told to fall in line by your boss because you didn't line up with their expectations of you? Many of us are familiar with not showing up as our true selves at work and Carol Shih, Chief Everything Officer of Qode Space, along with our host, are no stranger to this phenomenon. Too funny? Not what people expect from a woman? Buckle up because the world is a tough place.

Agency life is no different. And those tough experiences are what mold and shape us to actually be even more impactful in our communities. When it comes down to it, we're all humans and when we start to operate our businesses like our employees and customers are robots, we lose. Carol tells us about her experiences as a web development agency owner, what finding a good partners takes, and how she fully leans into authenticity to build trust with clients, which leads to longer relationships and better quality of work. We're here, we're going deep, and want you to join us on the journey.

The Longer Game is a podcast focused on leaning into the trends and advancements in retail so brands see a clearer path to success across ALL channels. We’re looking at retail in a whole new way, looking to better understand the future of retail. It’s Retail Reimagined. Sharing hope about the future. No one channel can a business sustain. Go omni-channel.

Like what you’re hearing? Subscribe to our channel and make sure to click or tap the bell so you get notified whenever new episodes drop.

Want to learn more about The Longer Game? Head over to https://thelongergame.com to read show notes, watch more episodes, or contact us.

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/thelongergame

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Our Guest's Name is Carol Shih. Carol is a third-culture kid who grew up in Taiwan, was raised in Australia, and moved to Los Angeles for university when she turned 19. She has been in the eCommerce industry for over a decade; an expert in fashion, beauty, and CPG eCommerce life cycle. Carol started Qode Space, one of the few female & minority-owned tech agency in the United States; with the mission to put quality first in eCom web development, and focus in community, transparency, and being purposeful.

You can find her at...

Website: http://qodespace.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shihcarol/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karolz/

Michael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at…

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/immichaelmaher

This podcast is sponsored by Cartology and Podcastify Me.

Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create a strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more?

Website: https://thinkcartology.com

Find Cartology on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/cartology

Find Cartology on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thinkcartology

Find Cartology on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkcartology

Podcastify Me is designed to help coaches of all kinds enter the podcasting space with minimal lift for them. And, inviting past, current, and future clients to your show as part of your marketing and sales process sets you apart from your competition, in a time where podcasting is really gaining popularity.

Website: https://podcastify.me

Find Podcastify Me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podcastify-me/

Find Podcastify Me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastify.me/

Find Podcastify Me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2biqOTN2UbZ5aaM4Sx6NQ

RoAS is a powerful metric: until it's not. When App Tracking Transparency got rolled out with the updates to iOS 14, RoAS suddenly dropped. Advertisers couldn't see to whom their sales were attributed. As the dust settled from the shakeout, new ways to measure ad effectiveness emerged. Enter MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio). Also known as blended RoAS, MER has become the new gold standard in assessing the performance of ads. Nikki Lindgren, Founder and Managing Partner of Pennock, is leading the charge of helping brands better understand the correlation between spend and total sales. Focusing on female-led beauty brands, Nikki has pushed for greater creative diversity, trying to cut through the noise of our current status of information overload. Grab a seat and listen in to find out what keeps brands from succeeding and how to frame the future of advertising. It could just be that easy.

The Longer Game is a podcast focused on leaning into the trends and advancements in retail so brands see a clearer path to success across ALL channels. We’re looking at retail in a whole new way, looking to better understand the future of retail. It’s Retail Reimagined. Sharing hope about the future. No one channel can a business sustain. Go omni-channel.

Like what you’re hearing? Subscribe to our channel and make sure to click or tap the bell so you get notified whenever new episodes drop.

Want to learn more about The Longer Game? Head over to https://thelongergame.com to read show notes, watch more episodes, or contact us.

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/thelongergame

Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelongergame

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thelongergame

Our guest is Nikki Lindgren. Nikki, founder and managing partner of Pennock, is a leader in scaling DTC businesses through paid ads with a focus on helping female-led beauty brands. With expertise in digital media management exceeding $100 million, Nikki and her team leverage strategic advantages for impressive MER and ROAS.

You can find her at...

Website: http://pennock.co

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkilindgren/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we_are_pennock/

Michael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at…

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/immichaelmaher

This podcast is sponsored by Cartology and Podcastify Me.

Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create a strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more?

Website: https://thinkcartology.com

Find Cartology on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/cartology

Find Cartology on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thinkcartology

Find Cartology on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkcartology

Podcastify Me is designed to help coaches of all kinds enter the podcasting space with minimal lift for them. And, inviting past, current and future clients to your show as part of your marketing and sales process sets you apart from your competition, in a time where podcasting is really gaining popularity.

Website: https://podcastify.me

Find Podcastify Me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podcastify-me/

Find Podcastify Me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastify.me/

Find Podcastify Me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2biqOTN2UbZ5aaM4Sx6NQ

The signals on Amazon are everywhere. But what do we do with them? Advertising on Amazon is all about honing in on customer behavior and then taking advantage of every opportunity you have to increase sales in the short term and profitability in the long run. Neha Bhuchar, CEO & Co-Founder of atom11, a retail-aware advertising platform for brands and agencies on Amazon, schools us on how to actually address the real problems of your customer and take action. One of the biggest issues: customers don't always know what they want or what they need. In order to find out you have to ask the right questions and then... Shut up! Listening is your new superpower. Neha shows us how to listen to our customers in order to get to the root cause of problems so you can make impactful change. You don't fix problems on Amazon or in business. You fix root causes. It's time to shut up and listen to this next episode.

The Longer Game is a podcast focused on leaning into the trends and advancements in retail so brands see a clearer path to success across ALL channels. We’re looking at retail in a whole new way, looking to better understand the future of retail. It’s Retail Reimagined. Sharing hope about the future. No one channel can a business sustain. Go omni-channel.

Like what you’re hearing? Subscribe to our channel and make sure to click or tap the bell so you get notified whenever new episodes drop.

Want to learn more about The Longer Game? Head over to https://thelongergame.com to read show notes, watch more episodes, or contact us.

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/thelongergame

Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelongergame

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thelongergame

Our guest's name is Neha Bhuchar. Neha is the founder of Retail aware advertising software, atom11. A long-term Amazonian, well! not just any Amazonian - Neha was a founding team at Amazon Ads. She has led sales, product, and account management functions at Amazon Advertising. She has helped over 300 brands and agencies create better ad strategies to ultimately increase sales.

You can find her at...

Website: http://www.atom11.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehabhuchar/

Michael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at…

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/immichaelmaher

This podcast is sponsored by Cartology and Podcastify Me.

Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more?

Website: https://thinkcartology.com

Find Cartology on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/cartology

Find Cartology on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thinkcartology

Find Cartology on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkcartology

Podcastify Me is designed to help coaches of all kinds enter the podcasting space with minimal lift for them. And, inviting past, current and future clients to your show as part of your marketing and sales process sets you apart from your competition, in a time where podcasting is really gaining popularity.

Website: https://podcastify.me

Find Podcastify Me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podcastify-me/

Find Podcastify Me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastify.me/

Find Podcastify Me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2biqOTN2UbZ5aaM4Sx6NQ

Is it possible to do good AND make money? Can you actually have a positive impact while growing a business? My guest on today's episode, Keith Hartnett, CEO of Better World Goods, thinks so. And we tend to agree. Keith's experience in selling on marketplaces and running an agency has shown him that making change requires you to be involved. You can't win in ecommerce or life if you don't play the game. We also dive into the realities and facades of agency life. In a social media world where everything gets divisive really quickly and we focus on the positives only, the reality of agency life is it's difficult. Not everything is a W and you will inevitably come up against problems. Intentionally hiding the difficulties shouldn't be the norm. Being willing to be authentic will go a long way and can actually provide you with credibility. Want to know more about how to run an agency with integrity? Listen to Keith's story.

The Longer Game is a podcast focused on leaning into the trends and advancements in retail so brands see a clearer path to success across ALL channels. We’re looking at retail in a whole new way, looking to better understand the future of retail. It’s Retail Reimagined. Sharing hope about the future. No one channel can a business sustain. Go omni-channel.

Like what you’re hearing? Subscribe to our channel and make sure to click or tap the bell so you get notified whenever new episodes drop.

Want to learn more about The Longer Game? Head over to https://thelongergame.com to read show notes, watch more episodes, or contact us.

Our guest's name is Keith Hartnett. He helps small, sustainable & social impact businesses on Amazon.

You can find him at...

Michael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at…

This podcast is sponsored by Cartology and Podcastify Me.

Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more?

Podcastify Me is designed to help coaches of all kinds enter the podcasting space with minimal lift for them. And, inviting past, current and future clients to your show as part of your marketing and sales process sets you apart from your competition, in a time where podcasting is really gaining popularity.

Website: https://podcastify.me

Amazon hasn't always been "Amazon." Nobody could have fully imagined the way it would take over the ecommerce ecosystem but here we are 20-something years later and Amazon is straight dominating. Many people in the current ecosystem started small, Host included, making people who say Amazon killed small businesses dead wrong. My guest today on The Longer Game, Ryan Burgess, Head of Growth at the ad optimization and analytics platform Intentwise, did just that. Not old enough to get a "real" job, he started buying products wholesale and selling them on eBay. Then came Amazon. 10 years later here he is leading companies to success on Amazon along with other ecommerce platforms, helping them track and take action on customer intent signals. Join us as we geek out on all things Amazon and discover our similarities live on camera.

The Longer Game is a podcast focused on leaning into the trends and advancements in retail so brands see a clearer path to success across ALL channels. We’re looking at retail in a whole new way, looking to better understand the future of retail. It’s Retail Reimagined. Sharing hope about the future. No one channel can a business sustain. Go omni-channel.

Like what you’re hearing? Subscribe to our channel and make sure to click or tap the bell so you get notified whenever new episodes drop.

Want to learn more about The Longer Game? Head over to https://thelongergame.com to read show notes, watch more episodes, or contact us.

Our guest is Ryan Burgess. Ryan has over 10 years of Amazon Ads experience. He worked as a senior executive at several Amazon Agencies and Brands before joining Intentwise as Head of Growth.

You can find him at...

Michael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at…

This podcast is sponsored by Cartology and Podcastify Me.

Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more?

Podcastify Me is designed to help coaches of all kinds enter the podcasting space with minimal lift for them. And, inviting past, current and future clients to your show as part of your marketing and sales process sets you apart from your competition, in a time where podcasting is really gaining popularity.