In the latest episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Daniel Weiner sits down with Jason Moskal, the SVP of Marketing at Randstad. Jason dives deep into the evolving landscape of consumer sentiment. He sheds light on how many brands, despite their efforts, seem to be missing the mark in truly understanding their customers.

Jason emphasizes the pitfalls of the "me too" approach in marketing. He believes that to truly resonate, brands need to be in tune with the unique needs and desires of their audience. It's not just about following trends but about forging genuine connections.

In a world where consumer sentiment shifts rapidly, staying plugged in is more crucial than ever. Jason's insights offer a fresh perspective on how brands can navigate these changes and build lasting relationships with their customers.

Guest-at-a-Glance
💡 Name: Jason Moskal

💡 What he does: SVP of Marketing at Randstad

💡Noteworthy: Jason has a mosaic background spanning beer, banking, hotels, automotive, and staffing, emphasizing diverse industry experience.

💡Where to find Jason: LinkedIn

Key Insights

The Shift in Agency Preference:

Jason Moskal discusses the noticeable shift in brands gravitating towards smaller, specialized agencies post-COVID. He emphasizes the importance of smart agencies, regardless of their size. Jason believes that agencies should prioritize partnerships and avoid merely chasing trends or awards. The focus should always be on delivering value and building a genuine connection with clients.

The Essence of Listening to Customers:

Jason underscores the importance of brands staying in touch with their target audience, especially in the wake of the pandemic. He warns against overcomplicating marketing strategies and stresses the significance of direct communication with customers. By continually listening and understanding their needs, brands can offer unique perspectives and stand out from competitors.

The Challenge of Rapidly Changing Consumer Mindsets:

Jason highlights the challenge of keeping up with the ever-evolving consumer mindset. In the past, insights from focus groups would be considered gospel for a while. Now, consumer opinions and preferences change almost instantly. The rapid pace of change keeps marketers on their toes, pushing them to discern between lasting insights and fleeting trends. The key is to stay ahead and ensure that marketing strategies align with genuine consumer needs.

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Daniel Weiner sits down with Jeff Perkins, the CMO of Greenlight Guru. Jeff shares his unique insights on the role of specialized agencies in marketing. He advocates for their use in specific tasks but also sees potential in their ability to tackle diverse projects.

Jeff, however, cautions against the idea of a truly full-service agency. He argues that the complexity of marketing makes this an unrealistic expectation. It's a candid take that challenges conventional thinking in the industry.

The conversation takes a sharp turn as Jeff expresses a bold view on marketing automation software tools. He asserts that these tools are ineffective without the right team to operate them. It's a reminder that technology is only as good as the people behind it. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking a fresh perspective on the dynamics of marketing.

Guest-at-a-Glance:
💡 Name: Jeff Perkins, CMO at Greenlight Guru

💡Noteworthy: Jeff is a published author -- check out his book here. 

💡 Where to find more from Jeff: LinkedIn

Key Insights:

Specialized Agencies: A Double-Edged Sword

Jeff Perkins, CMO of Greenlight Guru, discusses the role of specialized agencies in marketing. He suggests that while these agencies are excellent at specific tasks, they can also be given a chance to work on diverse projects. However, Perkins cautions against the idea of a truly full-service agency. He argues that the complexity of marketing makes this an unrealistic expectation. It's a candid take that challenges conventional thinking in the industry.

Marketing Automation Tools: Misunderstood Assets

Jeff expresses a bold view on marketing automation software tools. He asserts that these tools are ineffective without the right team to operate them. It's a reminder that technology is only as good as the people behind it. This insight is particularly valuable for businesses that heavily rely on automation tools, urging them to invest in their teams as much as they do in their technology.

AI: The Future of Marketing

Jeff shares his excitement about the potential impact of AI on marketing. He believes that AI can turbocharge marketing efforts and doesn't see it as a threat to jobs. Instead, he views AI as a tool that can enhance the work of marketers, from brainstorming to defining target audiences to drafting blog posts. This perspective offers a positive outlook on the integration of AI in the marketing industry.

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, host Daniel Weiner sits down with Tom Spaven, VP of Marketing at goodwipes. Tom shares his candid perspective on the marketing industry, asserting that everyone is essentially "winging it" due to the constant changes and challenges in the field. Instead, he encourages marketers to be more creative and to stand out, likening it to being the "purple cow" in a field of regular cows.

The conversation takes a deep dive into the current economic climate and its impact on consumer spending. Tom argues that consumers are still spending, but brands must drive relevance and make people feel good to attract their dollars. He also discusses the concept of the "lipstick index" and how consumers still seek self-care during recessions.

Towards the end, Tom discusses the importance of team well-being and the role of culture in an organization. He also expresses his excitement about the shift back to brand building in marketing and the potential of artificial intelligence.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Tom Spaven, VP of Marketing at goodwipes

💡Noteworthy: Tom brings a fresh perspective on marketing, emphasizing the human element and the importance of brand building.

💡 Where to find Tom: LinkedIn

Key Insights

The Human Touch: Personalization in Outreach

Tom emphasizes the importance of personalization in outreach. He suggests that everyone wants to feel special and heard, and it's crucial to inject a level of personalization into your communication. However, the sheer volume of communication can be overwhelming, and it's easy to miss opportunities. He suggests that successful outreach requires an element of humility, humor, and the luck of catching someone on the right channel at the right time.

Consumer Spending and The Lipstick Index

Tom discusses the concept of the "lipstick index" - the idea that even in a recession, consumers still want to treat themselves, albeit in more affordable ways. He argues that consumers are still spending, but brands need to drive relevance and make people feel good to attract their dollars. This puts more pressure on brands to be relevant in a target occasion and meet consumer needs.

The Pendulum Swings Back: The Return to Brand Building

Tom expresses his excitement about the shift back to brand building in marketing. He believes that the pendulum is swinging back from performance-focused strategies to a more holistic approach that includes long-term brand building. He argues that every opportunity is a chance to build a brand and to perform, and marketers should think about their strategies holistically.

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, host Daniel Weiner sits down with Kaylin Durham, Chief Marketing & Digital Officer of Aaron's and BrandsMart USA. Kaylin shares her journey from being an "agency rat" to leading marketing for two major brands. She discusses the shift in consumer behavior over the years, emphasizing the increased expectations of shoppers for curated and personalized experiences.

Kaylin also delves into the importance of agency partnerships in marketing. She talks about the balance between relationship-building and delivering quality work. Kaylin stresses that brands must invest time in providing agencies with the context they need to excel and the importance of cutting ties early when partnerships aren't working.

Lastly, Kaylin shares a bit about her personal life, including her first job mucking stalls at a horse farm. She believes this early work experience instilled in her a strong work ethic and the understanding that no one is above a dirty job. This episode is a deep dive into the mind of a seasoned marketer, offering valuable insights for anyone in the industry.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Kaylin Durham Chief Marketing & Digital Officer at Aaron's and BrandsMart USA

💡Noteworthy: From working in an agency to leading marketing for two major brands, Kaylin has gained experience that helps her recognize and nurture high-quality client-agency relationships, and why these partnerships are important. 

💡 Where to find Kaylin: LinkedIn

Key Insights

The Rising Bar: Consumer Expectations in the Digital Age

Kaylin discusses the significant shift in consumer behavior over the years. She notes that shoppers' expectations have increased substantially, with consumers now expecting more curated and personalized experiences from brands. This shift is driven by the vast amount of information and content available at consumers' fingertips. As a result, brands are now held more accountable for creating personalized experiences that resonate with their customers. This insight highlights the importance of understanding and adapting to evolving consumer expectations in the digital age.

The Marketing Conundrum: Achieving More with Less

Kaylin shares one of the critical challenges keeping her up at night: doing more with less. She notes that the days of large marketing budgets are over, and marketers are now expected to be good stewards of the funds they're given. This means leveraging the talents and resources available to make the maximum impact for customers. She also emphasizes the importance of being customer-centric and making strategic decisions based on the brand's position in the marketplace.

Agency Partnerships: Balancing Relationships and Quality Work

Kaylin delves into the importance of agency partnerships in marketing. She emphasizes the need for brands to invest time in providing agencies with the context they need to excel. However, she also stresses the importance of cutting ties early when partnerships aren't working. This insight underscores the delicate balance between building relationships with agencies and ensuring they deliver quality work.

In this episode, we dive into a rich discussion with marketing maven, Tara Robertson, exploring the landscape of modern marketing. Tara shares her insights on the importance of customer research, asserting that understanding your customer's pain points is paramount to creating effective marketing strategies. She emphasizes the value of data-driven decisions and highlights the crucial role of strong client-agency partnerships.

As the conversation progresses, Tara articulates her excitement about the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing. She contends that ignoring the growing impact of AI could be detrimental, urging marketers to stay ahead of the curve. The discussion also touches on the potential of AI to facilitate a more strategic approach in marketing.

On a personal note, Tara expresses her concerns about the current economic climate and the increasing layoffs. She emphasizes the need for building a more diverse workforce, advocating for more opportunities for diversity, equity, and inclusion in marketing.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Tara Robertson, Chief Marketing Officer at Bitly

💡Noteworthy: A dynamic marketer with a keen focus on data-driven decisions and diversity in the industry.

💡 Where to find them: LinkedIn

Key Insights:

The importance of data in marketing decision-making. During this episode, Tara Robertson emphasized the critical role of data in marketing decisions. She highlighted that relying on intuition without data backing often leads to costly mistakes. By harnessing data, marketers can validate their hunches, and improve the effectiveness of their campaigns. The conversation highlighted a real-world example of how Tara's team saved $50,000 by opting for a data-driven approach over a traditional customer research project. This insight reinforces the idea that data is an invaluable asset for any marketing team.

The necessity of firing clients who don't fit. One of the intriguing topics brought up during the episode was the concept of firing clients. Both Tara Robertson and Daniel Weiner agreed that it's important to terminate relationships with clients who hinder an agency's ability to deliver results. They mentioned that while this might initially lead to difficult situations like layoffs, in the long run, working with the right clients ensures the agency's growth and its employees' job satisfaction. This insight drives home the point that client-agency compatibility is crucial for mutual success.

The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing. AI's impact on marketing was a key theme in this conversation. Tara stated that ignoring AI's advancements in the current era is not an option for marketers. AI is not only accelerating the pace of progress in the field but is also allowing marketers to focus more on strategy than execution. The discussion emphasized that understanding and leveraging AI can lead to innovative strategies, thereby keeping businesses ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive market.

In this episode, host Daniel Weiner invites Jamie Walker, EVP, Marketing of Keyfactor, to discuss the journey and success of her digital marketing agency. Jamie shares her experiences on how Keyfactor has thrived in a competitive market and emphasizes the importance of building trust with clients, ensuring data privacy, and being transparent in their operations.

The conversation delves into the unique challenges faced by digital marketing agencies and how Jamie has tackled them head-on, making tough decisions and embracing change for the betterment of her company. Jamie also reflects on the role of data in driving business decisions and how maintaining a strong focus on performance has contributed to Keyfactor's growth.

In addition to discussing the business side of things, Jamie offers personal insights into her sources of inspiration, mentioning Serena Williams and former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty as two powerful women who have shaped her own approach to leadership. This episode provides an engaging look into the inner workings of a successful digital marketing agency and offers valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and industry professionals alike.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Jamie Walker, EVP Marketing at Keyfactor

💡 Where to find Jamie: LinkedIn

Key Insights:
The Importance of Trust in Digital Marketing. Jamie Walker, CEO of Keyfactor, emphasizes the critical role trust plays in digital marketing. As consumers become more data-conscious, it's essential for agencies to establish and maintain trust with their clients. Transparency in data collection and use, honest communication, and ethical practices are all key factors in building a trustworthy reputation. By focusing on trust, digital marketing agencies can not only protect their clients' interests but also forge long-lasting, productive relationships.

Navigating the Transition from Traditional to Digital Marketing. Daniel Weiner and Jamie Walker discuss the challenges faced by businesses and agencies in transitioning from traditional to digital marketing. They explore how both clients and agencies need to adapt their strategies, skills, and mindset to succeed in this new landscape. By learning from experiences and embracing change, companies can find innovative ways to reach their target audience and deliver more effective marketing campaigns.

The Balance Between Specialization and Full-Service Offerings. In the episode, Jamie Walker shares her thoughts on the balance between specialization and full-service offerings in digital marketing. She argues that agencies should focus on what they do best and not attempt to be all things to all clients. This approach allows agencies to excel in their areas of expertise and provide the highest quality service to their clients. By understanding their strengths and limitations, agencies can build strong partnerships and deliver better results in the ever-changing digital marketing landscape.

Developing a successful client-agency relationship takes time and dedication, and it requires open communication, transparency, and mutual trust. But above all, a client-agency partnership is a two-way street. 

In this episode of the YouShouldTalkTo podcast, our host Daniel Weiner welcomes Bryan Law, the chief marketing officer of ZoomInfo. They talk about what it takes to create a strong partnership, how both parties can work together on making a client-agency relationship work, and the importance of being receptive to feedback in these partnerships.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Bryan Law, Chief Marketing Officer of ZoomInfo

💡 Noteworthy: Bryan has over 20 years of experience in marketing, general management, strategy, e-commerce, and analytics. He has held leadership roles at ZoomInfo, Salesforce, Google, Tableau, and Monitor Deloitte, amongst others.

💡 Where to find Bryan: LinkedIn

Key Insights 

⚡Making a client-agency relationship work takes time. You can't build a strong and long-lasting partnership overnight. It takes time and dedication from both parties. Bryan says, "Normally, you're going to pay incrementally more. It's going to take a while for them to ramp [up], and so you have to be willing to make that investment in order to get the return out of them. And I think just the way in which ZoomInfo moves, we move very quickly. We iterate very quickly. I think it can be challenging for a third party to come in and really understand our business in a way that we would expect them to and move as quickly as we would expect them to. And so that's why we have not used them as much here." 

⚡The client-agency relationship is a two-way street. It takes two to make a partnership work. So, if you want to create a mutually effective partnership with your external vendor, make sure you're both committed to it. Bryan says, "The quality of the work obviously is important as well. But I do think the way in which you work together is really key and making sure that you're developing that relationship so that you're on the same page and getting the most out of the partnership." 

⚡Being receptive to feedback is one of the key traits of a good agency. Being receptive to feedback makes all the difference in a client-agency relationship. Bryan shares an example of a negative experience that turned positive. He explains, "I think, in particular, once you provide that feedback, not actioning on it is a real problem. And actually, on the flip side, that digital agency I mentioned that I've now worked with at a few companies, we had a period where it wasn't going [well], but we provided that feedback, and they jumped on it, and they said, 'Hey, this is a process we're going to put in place to make sure that we address it. This is how we're going to check in. We want to be very open about the areas that we're sort of getting that feedback.' And they would collect it across the team and share it back. So I think that's an example of where you can do a better job of it, but with this particular one, they were having issues on sort of sloppiness of work, timeliness of work, and then they weren't being responsive to the feedback and making the changes that we needed."

Too many clients report negative experiences with external agencies. And whether that's because of communication hurdles or poor quality of work, agencies often get a bad reputation. But do all of them deserve to get a bad reputation? 

In this episode of the YouShouldTalkTo podcast, our host Daniel Weiner welcomes Ashley Remstad, the VP of Marketing at Homebot. They discuss the benefits of working with agencies, explain why trust is necessary, and share tips on creating authentic relationships.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Ashley Remstad, VP of Marketing at Homebot

💡 Noteworthy: Homebot is a client engagement and retention portal that maximizes repeat and referral business for lenders and real estate agents by empowering consumers to build wealth through homeownership.

💡 Where to find Ashley: LinkedIn

Key Insights:

⚡Agencies prepare you for the unknown. The future is unknown, but it's always good to have expert professionals on your team. That's why agencies are a great way to prepare for the unknown. Ashley says, "I think that agencies prep you for the unknown. You're balancing a lot. You're working with a lot of different companies of all different sizes, depending on where you're at, and it makes you flexible. So, if I'm honest, the transition was pretty easy. I had worked with a lot of companies that were the size of my company at that time. I knew exactly what they needed. I knew exactly how I could add value. So it was pretty seamless, I will say."

⚡Agencies get a bad reputation. Agencies have a terrible reputation for being unreliable or unprofessional. But not every agency is the same. Some agencies don't deserve the bad rep they get. Ashley explains, "I think agencies do get a bad rap probably because there are a lot of bad agencies out there. Intentional or not, there are a lot of agencies that are not acting as partners, that are spreading themselves too thin, that are doing a poor job with hiring, that are not good business planners. Honestly, they haven't created a good business, and because of that, in an already crowded space, I would say there are a lot of bad agencies, and so agencies do get a bad rep. If you've been burned once, that's all it takes."

⚡The best outreach strategy is to create value and build trust. The best way to a client's heart is to provide value. Value creates trust, and trust creates strong relationships. Ashley explains, "I had a very long sales process with someone that relentlessly reached out to me, and all he did honestly was provide value. 'Hey, what can I do for you? Is there anything that I can help your team? I noticed that your team is using this tool. Hey, I've done research here. I wanted to send you this. I thought you'd be interested in this.' And he kept me connected and engaged for, I don't know, six months or something, and it worked. So you established trust that way and authority, and people want to be in a collaborative space and feel like you can add value." 

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Kathy Neumann, CMO of Rent, explains why it is important to test before pulling back the budget, even during hard times. Kathy and our host Daniel Weiner get into the benefits of digital to brands and consumers and discuss the importance of agency-brand relationships, how to work with agency partners, and how to get the most out of them.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Kathy Neumann, CMO of Rent.

💡 Noteworthy: Kathy is a strong marketing professional skilled in marketing, digital, social and brand strategy, market research, management, direct, performance and multi-channel marketing. Kathy joined Rent as the CMO in February 2022 with a wealth of experience in brand and consumer marketing. Most recently, Kathy oversaw integrated marketing at chewy.com, the beloved direct-to-consumer pet food and pet care brand, awarded one of "America's 20 Hottest Brands 2020" by Ad Age. Prior to Chewy, Kathy worked on building brands including Carter's, OshKosh B'gosh, Lands' End, Pink, and Victoria's Secret. 

💡 Where to find Kathy: LinkedIn l Website

Key Insights:

⚡ Test before you pull back the budget. The COVID pandemic has brought both changes and problems that have affected everyday life and the entire economy. Due to the uncertainty that followed COVID, many companies stopped working, and even now, we are witnessing many brands pulling back and controlling spending due to the current economic situation. Kathy points out that pulling back budgets is often a short-term reaction that can do more long-term damage, so she suggests testing first. "The most important thing to do is keep testing when you tend to pull back budgets. Sometimes we get that test because they're expensive in the short term or more inefficient in the short term, but that's what's going to give us the leverage to improve our performance over the next six, 18 months. And if you forgo your testing plan, you are really giving up future efficiencies. Whether that's new channels, new creative, new copy, CTAs, all of that stuff, it's still gotta be tested just like it was back when things were a little bit brighter, maybe. And if we walk away from that, we're walking away from really being good stewards of the business."

⚡ Agencies are a smart investment in partnerships to accelerate performance and learning. Often the success of a brand or a business depends on creating the right partnership with an agency because agencies can contribute a lot to their development. They can help you with many things, and you can also learn a lot from working with them. Kathy says that during her career, she has used agencies for many different things and that you should definitely invest in them. "Agencies can play a critical role in helping grow a business, especially as we're testing new things, and we're trying to find additional expertise, additional hands on the keyboard, skill sets that we may not have or we may not know we need yet. And it's often easier to partner with an agency and learn through something, and maybe there comes a time where you have an understanding of what's going to work for your business, you've learned through it, and it starts to migrate back into the house."

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Ivonne Kinser, the VP of Marketing and Innovation at Avocados From Mexico, explains why the Metaverse doesn't work for all brands and gets into the differences between the culture of a brand and the culture of an agency and their perspectives. Ivonne and our host Daniel Weiner discuss the importance of agencies and how you can successfully choose the right ones and work with them.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Ivonne Kinser, VP of Marketing and Innovation at Avocados From Mexico.

💡 Noteworthy: Throughout her career, Ivonne has played leadership roles in multiple corporations representing multibillion-dollar brands, as well as in top advertising agencies such as Lintas, McCann Erickson Worldwide, and The Richards Group, working with well-known brands in almost every category. In 2014, she joined Avocados From Mexico as the head of Digital Marketing, and in seven years, she built the organization's digital practice, which became one of the most successful digital groups in terms of performance and innovation. In 2022, Ivonne became the first Latina to be awarded the American Marketing Association's highest honor bestowed upon a deserving recipient, the Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also been included in the list of "100 Most Influential Latinas in the U.S." in 2021 and 2022. 

💡 Where to find Ivonne: LinkedIn l Website

Key Insights
⚡ The Metaverse is not for everyone and every brand. Recently, the number of startups and established companies working on building products around the Metaverse has been growing. The Metaverse is a virtual world, a vision of how the next internet generation will work. It's a trend, but while some see it as the next big technological breakthrough, others aren't impressed. Ivonne says the Metaverse works for some brands but not all. "You have one shot and that sort of thing. If you go and you do it right, you'll have great results; or you will burn the brand in the eyes of the consumers that may have a bad experience. And honestly, I have no doubt that we're going to get there. If we have the same conversation in maybe three years, the situation will be a lot different, but right now, I don't think the hardware is there to provide the experience that we want to provide to our consumers. There are exceptions; there are some brands that are doing it really well, but it's not a majority."

⚡ Agencies don't have visibility into all the areas of business. More and more brands are working with smaller independent agencies specializing in one or two services because hardly any full-service agency can do everything really well. According to Ivonne, it's hard to find an agency that can have visibility over all the areas of the business as someone has on the brand side. "Agencies are missing one capability that perhaps is at the strategic level. When a group of people at the part, whatever you want it to be, can look at the business of the brand and look at all the possibilities, and then identify the problem, identify the ways to get to that solution, and then assemble that team of expertise within the agency."

⚡ Ivonne says there's a lot to learn about digital integration from vendors and agencies, so she always devotes time to those who offer technology that is a strong driver of anything and those who understand brand challenges and provide a solution for a specific problem. "One of the things that makes a brand successful in this space — digital technology integration — is just gathering the knowledge from the players that are building those capabilities in the industry. So, I gain as much as they gain because I'm learning from them.