Creating Superfans

Like me, Lauren Teague is obsessed with fandom and how it can act as a business lever for customer and employee experience. Lauren was the original social media lead for the PGA Tour where she pioneered brand-to-fan engagement on Twitter and set the standard for all social media platforms today. Since then, she has spent 15+ years optimizing fan engagement in sports, B2B, B2C, healthcare, higher e...

Scott Harris is a Founder, CEO, and author. He’s the CEO of Experience.com, a company he founded in 2015 to redefine the way the world thinks about Customer Experience, Employee Experience, and the all-important interplay between the two. Scott and I had the pleasure of working at Experience.com together, and he might just be the only person that’s more passionate about experience than me. In toda...

Did you know that awkwardness is  your greatest asset for professional and personal growth? My guest today is here to tell us all about it. She's my dear friend, Henna Pryor. Henna is an author, sought-after workplace performance expert, executive coach, and award-winning, two-time TEDx speaker. Following two decades in the corporate world, a few career pivots, and a wildly successful leap to...

In honor of Customer Experience Day (10/3), I'm thrilled to be joined by my good friend, and fellow CX expert, Jay Baer. Jay is a Hall of Fame speaker, New York Times best-selling author of 7 business books, founder of 5 multi-million dollar companies,  and a trusted business growth advisor to 40 of the FORTUNE 500 brands. In today's episode, Jay and I chat about his new book, "The...

On this episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, I'm joined by Andy Cockburn, the co-founder and CEO of Mention Me. Mention Me is an award-winning referral marketing platform that helps brands harness the exponential power of their fans through referrals.  Since 2013, Mention Me has delivered more than 6m referrals totaling $1.8b in revenue for 500 brands, including Puma, Charlotte Tilbury,...

In this week's episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, I'm joined by Charles Ryan Minton, a customer and employee experience expert, keynote speaker, and best-selling author. Ryan has worked with high profile brands such as Hilton Hotels Worldwide, Marriott International, and InterContinental Hotels Group. As a Hotel Executive, Ryan created environments where employees felt valued and...

In today's episode of the podcast, I have TWO special guests: Bridget Hilton and Joe Huff. Bridget and Joe are obsessed with experience - but not in the same way that I am. They're all about how to embrace the human experience. In fact, they call themselves experiential billionaires. Determined to unlock the secrets of their power to transform lives, they have spent years interviewing so...

This week, I am joined by one of my dear friends, James Shaw. James is an accidental entrepreneur who turned an engaged Facebook group into a thriving mastermind during the pandemic.  In this episode, James shares his journey of building a connected community, providing value to his customers, and the key choice every leader must make. After listening to our conversation, you’ll understand the pow...

In this week's episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, I'm joined by David Wachs, the founder and CEO of Handwrytten.  Handwrytten is bringing back the lost art of letter-writing through scalable, robot-based solutions that write your notes in pen - directly from your CRM.  Used by major subscription-service brands, eCommerce giants, nonprofits and individual professionals, Handwrytte...

If you've been on the Internet at all this year, you have likely seen many stories about Taylor Swift's game changing Eras Tour. She is breaking records, rewriting the rules, and has had a seismic  (literally seismic!)  impact on just about every area of pop culture. In today's episode of the podcast, I am thrilled to welcome my friend Emily Yahr to talk about the Eras tour and what...

To wrap up season 1 of the Creating Superfans podcast, I sat down with Angela Higgins and Traci Saliterman of Total Expert. Angela and Traci are two of the masterminds behind Total Expert’s annual customer conference, Accelerate. As a keynote speaker, I attend over fifty events each year, and Accelerate has truly set the standard for creating the best attendee experience.  I asked Traci and Angela...

This week's guest on the Creating Superfans podcast is Laura Casselman. From broadway to boardroom, Laura is a former professional dancer turned CEO of JVZoo and co-founder of Vidastreet. She’s also the author of the new book, Trust Your Increments: How Small, Consistent Steps Can Lead to Massive Success.  Companies under Laura’s direction have landed on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companie...

In this episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, I welcome back my partner-in-crime, Alix Steinberg. Alix and I break down one of my most recent newsletter topics: loyalty programs and pricing tiers.  Whether your business has a tiered loyalty program or a tiered pricing structure, you’ve got to strike that perfect balance of creating a delightful ‘base’ experience that still encourages customer...

Identifying your unique purpose and developing your personal brand are two of the most important, yet challenging, components of being an entrepreneur. Without a clear North Star, you’re doing a disservice to all of your potential customers that are in need of your message. To help us distill our personal brand is Rory Vaden, a New York Times bestselling author, Half of Fame speaker, and co-founde...

Dr. Aaron Ahuvia knows a thing or two about superfans. He co-authored the publication that popularized the term “brand love” and is the world’s most widely published and cited academic expert on non-interpersonal love. He’s the author of The Things We Love: How Our Passions Connect Us and Make Us Who We Are.  Aaron is a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan Dearborn. Aaron researche...

If you’ve ever been to downtown Franklin, Tennessee or to one of Nashville’s trendiest neighborhoods in 12 South or the Gulch, chances are you’ve either walked by or shopped in Finnleys, a women’s clothing boutique. I’ve been a superfan of Finnleys for the last several years. In fact, if you’ve read my book, Creating Superfans, you may recognize this week’s guest from my case study in chapter 17....

Have you ever wondered what goes inside the iconic celebrity gift bags at A-list events like the GRAMMYs or the Oscars?  Today’s guest of the Creating Superfans podcast is the pioneer of celebrity product placement and award show swag. He’s transformed it into a bona fide media obsession.  Lash Fary, otherwise known as the “Gift Guru” or the “Sultan of Swag,” is the president and Founder of Distin...

What do ADP, JP Morgan Chase, Universal Resorts, and Visa all have in common? They’ve all worked with today’s guest, Howard Tiersky, to transform their digital customer experience. Howard is the CEO and Founder of FROM, a digital transformation agency that helps companies go from where they are, to where they need to be.  He’s the author of Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance ,...

If you feel like your cold outreach is getting ignored in the digital clutter, or you’re struggling to make personal connections with your clients, this is the episode for you. This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with a dear friend of mine, Ethan Beute. Ethan is the Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, the host of my favorite podcast, The Customer Experience podcast, and the author of several amazi...

If you’re a Customer Experience nerd like me, then today’s guest is going to leave you inspired. His name is Ron Holt and he’s the founder and CEO of Pink Zebra Moving. Ron is on a mission to disrupt the moving industry - but not with big data or advanced technology. Instead, taking inspiration from brands like the Savannah Bananas, he’s designed a magical experience for his customers that he’s wo...

This episode of the Creating Superfans podcast welcomes a very special guest, Amy Porterfield. Amy is an ex-corporate employee turned online marketing expert and CEO of her own multimillion-dollar business. She’s the creator of several best-selling marketing courses, the host of the top-rated Online Marketing Made Easy podcast, and the author of the brand new book, Two Weeks Notice: Find the Coura...

In this week's episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, Alix and I are breaking down the best and worst TV commercials from Super Bowl 57. You'll hear our opinions on the brands that did the best job of overcoming apathy, and which ones fell totally flat. Reach me on all socials @BrittanyHodak and let me know how you felt about the commercials! Show Notes 2:56 - Farmer’s Dog simple bra...

Customer experience is not a department—it’s a philosophy that must be embraced by every member of an organization. When executed correctly, it becomes your most powerful competitive advantage. Perhaps no guest has understood this better than Jim White, the Chief Experience Officer of Ignite Medical Resorts.  Jim and his team at Ignite are “extinguishing the stereotype” of traditional rapid rehabi...

Social media is no longer just a content creation platform - it plays a complex role along every step of your customer journey. Your social accounts are the point of entry for prospects to learn about your brand for the first time,  the new call center where they go to voice their complaints, and everything in between. In this episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, I chat with Hillary Applegat...

As consumers, our basic wants and needs haven’t really changed, but our preferences and expectations for how we achieve what we want or need has changed. Customers expect seamless digital experiences from the brands they interact with, which can introduce a daunting challenge to unprepared companies. Joe Harouni is the Connected Commerce practice lead at Avionos , where he works with clients to de...