This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing and Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing.

In this episode of The New New Thing Podcast, we feature one of Sumo’s growth and website optimization Specialists, Troy Stites. Sumo offers free tools to automate your site growth (as well as premium features.) The company’s main goal is to help small businesses boost their brand and revenue, and Troy joins us to share some of the expert tips in converting visitors to your social channels and website into paying customers.

In addition to being a growth expert at Sumo, Troy has found success monetizing his personal YouTube channel and shares insight into how you (and your brand) can do the same. What we found in our conversation is that as marketers, we already have the resources needed to take our engagement with our audience to the next step in becoming loyal customers. What’s missing are the tools and tactics to get us there. Tune in to learn how you can flip the funnel!

In this podcast, we discuss:

-The successes—and failures—Troy’s seen with marketers using images in their conversion tactics. (We answer which is better: stock photos, or original ones?);

-What your goals should be if you want to monetize your YouTube channel;

-How to tailor your lead capture forms on your website for maximum conversion. (The Sumo team has seen up to 70% conversion on its customers’ sites.);

-How—and why—to add value to your opt-in forms;

-The importance of balancing authenticity and risk with your marketing strategies;

-And for fun: We share some of our best (and embarrassing) screen names.

Bonus:

As a thank you for listening, use code newnew17 for a 10% lifetime discount on SumoPro! Visit Sumo to learn more about increasing growth on your website.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @tnntnews.

This week’s podcast features AWS solutions architect certified tech-enthusiast Brian Schuster. Brian has over seven years of experience in SQL, development and data warehousing and has recently ventured into content writing to attract the attention of talented and enthusiastic professionals interested in creating new blockchain technology.

When you hear the word "blockchain" or the phrase "dark/deep web", you may have the same reaction as us: What exactly do these words mean? With blockchain being a trending topic, we asked Brian to join our podcast so we could interview him on what it is, why it's significant, and what marketers need to know.

In this podcast, we discuss:

-Where the term "deep/dark web" started and what it means;

-What blockchain really is and why it's significant (also for specific industries, like finance, for example);

-What hosting a site on a decentralized network actually means and why you need to know about it;

-What marketers need to know about blockchain and resources to reference for more information (see below).

Follow Brian and learn more about blockchain through his latest venture Hivergent.com. You can also find more information about blockchain by diving into these three books:

1. Digital Gold: Learn more about why blockchain exists.

2. Internet of Money: Learn how blockchain is going to impact the world.

3. Mastering Bitcoin: Understand the inner workings of the world’s largest blockchain technology.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TNNTnews.

Want to be featured on our podcast? Reach out to [email protected].

This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing and Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing.

This week's podcast features the co-founder of Indianapolis' Tinker Coffee Co., Steve Hall. Steve has a background in digital marketing and has been able to take his passion for coffee roasting and turn it into a career. At The New New Thing we love taking inspirational stories from entrepreneurs and learning from their experiments in building a business, marketing, and more. We pick Steve's brain on how he landed this career in coffee and discuss his latest experiment in video content that ended up taking him to a competition in Europe.

In this podcast, we discuss:

-Steve's video content experiment that wound up winning him and a partner a trip to a mixology contest in Amsterdam;

-The science behind coffee roasting (there are a lot more factors than you would think!);

-How pivoting strategies and thinking on his feet helped boost his business and brand;

-Why ongoing experimentation and innovation is key to nurturing your passions (and business);

-Bonus: Wine recommendations for summer and an opportunity to give back to the organization Tinker works with, Project Alianza.

Follow Tinker Coffee Co. on Twitter @tinkercoffeeco, and if you're local to Indianapolis visit tinkercoffee.com for more information on its May Inaugural Indianapolis Cup event. The Indianapolis Cup benefits Project Alianza, an organization focused on bringing quality education to children living in the coffeelands of Latin America.

Listen to more podcasts on The New New Thing, and subscribe to our SoundCloud for updates. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TNNTnews.

Want to be featured on our podcast? Reach out to [email protected].

This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing, Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing, and Despi Ross, VP of Customer Success at High Alpha.

On this week's podcast we feature Snaplytics CEO Thomas Cilius. Snaplytics is an analytics platform for brands to manage Snapchat. Snapchat is still an mostly-unknown channel for many brands and marketers, and we ping Thomas on best practices for your brand on the social media app, as well as metrics and KPIs needed in order to measure success to validate the time invested.

In this podcast, we discuss:

-Why Snapchat Stories are so different from any other channel today;

-How Snaplytics' has seen brands' overall strategy with Snapchat as trial and error — brands use it for completely different reasons;

-Why continuity is key;

-How to come up with creative (ongoing) stories;

-Metrics of success to establish for Snapchat campaign efforts and how often to post;

-Why Facebook won’t push out Snapchat.

Follow more tips @TNNTnews on Twitter.

This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing and Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing.

Off the tails from our previous podcast on visual marketing, this week on our show we feature OneClick's Director of Growth, Jon Corwin. Jon leads a team dedicated to continued growth, with a foundation built on experimentation through different digital methods and strategies. OneClick, an online retailer offering Sunglasses, Readers and a complete line of Rx eyewear for people across the globe, dedicated an entire growth team to their business to stay ahead of the demand of the ever-changing digital landscape and world of e-commerce.

In this podcast, we discuss:

Examples of experiments that worked — and what hasn't;

-Why OneClick rewards innovation and creativity among its team, even when failure is involved;

-How OneClick maintains a culture that encourages creativity and personal growth and why its key to their business' success;

-The composition and drivers behind forming a growth team [at One Click], and why your business should build one;

-How to decide on what you're trying to optimize for (i.e., acquisition, conversion, retention);

-The best way to generate new experiment ideas;

-OneClick's growth framework and process – particularly how they score and prioritize opportunities;

-Learnings OneClick had early, on vs. how their process and thinking has evolved over time.

In addition to being a growth-guru, Jon loves to travel and recently got back from a three-week trip to India. Follow his adventures on Twitter @joncorwin.

Listen to more podcasts on TheNewNewThing.com, and subscribe to our SoundCloud for updates. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TNNTnews.

This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing, Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing, and Despi Ross, VP of Customer Success at High Alpha.

This week on our podcast we're talking all things visual marketing. Our expert that weighs in is Amrita Chandra, self-proclaimed tea lover and head of marketing at CrowdRiff. Influencer marketing and leveraging channels like Snapchat and Instagram all rely on visual marketing in order to be successful, and we picked Amrita's brain on how to do this in the best way for your brand in 2017.

In this podcast, we discuss:

-The definition of visual marketing and why it's crucial for marketers in 2017. "Visuals aren't a decoration to the meat of marketing."

-New ways to adopt video in marketing campaigns and how live video is changing the game;

-Why static photos are still "cool";

-How to make your content stand out from competitors;

-How micro-influencers and authenticity play a part in your brand's marketing.

Be sure to follow @CrowdRiff on Twitter for daily tips. You can also visit their website crowdriff.com for more information.

Listen to more podcasts on TheNewNewThing.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TNNTnews.

This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing and Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing.

If there was a swear word in marketing land, we're confident that "SEO" would be the term used. Here at The New New Thing, we set out to get how-to's and expert tips on the tough topics for marketers, so in this podcast we feature guest Ashley Faulkes, who is an SEO, blogging, and Wordpress consultant. Ashley shares his unique background with us, including how he become an SEO-guru, as well as tips for where to start when developing your SEO keyword strategy.

In this podcast, we discuss the follow around SEO for marketers:

-How Google's algorithm, or code, is built around the searcher: It changes frequently to deliver the best results to your potential visitors and is watching up to approximately 200 different factors across the web to figure that out;

-How Google's algorithm has evolved, and what marketers can do to keep up;

-If you're creating great content, keep it up! Google is noticing;

-What marketers need to do for their SEO strategy if their website is bi-lingual;

-Why it's key your website is mobile ready;

-and more!

Follow Ashley on Twitter @madlemmingz, and The New New Thing @TNNTnews. Visit thenewnewthing.com for more marketing inspiration!

This podcast is hosted by R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing, Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing, and Despi Ross, VP of Customer Success at High Alpha.

These days, some of the biggest influencers in marketing are social stars — teens on apps like Music.ly, Instagram, and Snapchat. Brands have taken notice of the success of individual marketers on these platforms, and they've started to invest heavily in launching and maintaining a presence there.

The question many marketers have when it comes to influencer marketing is, "where do we start?" We sat down in our latest podcast with guest Jeremy Shih, head of marketing — AKA "The Marketing Dude"— at influencer media agency MediaKix.

We took a look at brands that have seen success and broke down the basics of influencer marketing and best practices, including:

-How brands measure ROI on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and more;

-When should brands look to incorporate influencer marketing into their marketing strategy, and how to identify the right channels to experiment with;

-How to find a balance between testing and experimenting strategies, and going "head's down" on what's proven to work;

-Which platforms are hot for 2017: Taking the latest news from SXSW 2017, Jeremy shares what the next big thing is for influencers (hint: live streaming!)

Get more marketing inspiration on thenewnewthing.com and @TNNTnews on Twitter and Instagram.

Our latest podcast features guest Heike Young, Content Innovation Lead at Salesforce and co-host of Salesforce’s podcast, Marketing Cloudcast. Heike joins hosts R. J. Talyor, editor-in-chief of The New New Thing, Liz Prugh, managing editor of The New New Thing, and Drew Beechler, research analyst at High Alpha Venture Studios.

The group dives into Heike’s success with Salesforce’s award-winning podcast Marketing Cloudcast, discovering best practices for starting a podcast and retaining an audience:

-Heike’s “blanket fort”: Heike shares her DIY-way of recording the best sound in her home studio;

-What your initial goals should be when starting your first podcast;

-How Heike and her team went from "wow, we have no clue how to do this," to winning the Content Marketing Institute's Best Podcast award in about a year;

-How to leverage your internal employees to drive listeners and raise awareness;

-Bonus: The group shares their favorite podcasts to listen to.

You can subscribe to Heike's podcast here: sforce.co/cloudcast.

Listen to more podcasts on The New New Thing, and subscribe to our SoundCloud for updates. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TNNTnews.

In this episode of The New New Thing podcast, we feature special guest Sujan Patel. Sujan is a widely-recognized growth marketer and and co-founder of WebProfits, Inc. Sujan joins hosts RJ Talyor, CEO of Quantifi, Liz Prugh, Editor-in-Chief of The New New Thing, and Despi Ross, VP of Customer Success for Quantifi, to talk all things content and marketing for 2017. The group also gets insight into Sujan’s extremely adventurous extracurriculars (jumping out of planes, driving race cars), and how they help motivate his business efforts.

As marketers, we are constantly bogged down in keeping up a with our digital responsibilities: presence on several social channels, consistent growth, etc. Because of this, it’s challenging — and daunting — to think about trying new things. In this podcast, we break down those common struggles and effective solutions, as well as:

-How to identify pockets of potential customers and followers through new methods of marketing experimentation;

-Sujan’s Snapchat experiment, (which he dedicated a phone to), and the expectations he set;

-How marketers get over the fear of experimenting on new and different social channels;

-Being comfortable with failure, and talking about how failure and experiencing failure are two different things;

-Bonus round: The group shares some of their most adventurous travel stories where they went way outside of their comfort zone, as well as where they each go for comfort and to unwind. (Spoiler: Most of the answers revolved around TV!)

Follow Sujan on Twitter @sujanpatel and on his website on www.sujanpatel.com.

Follow The New New Thing on Instagram and Twitter @TNNTnews