The Marketing Architects

For years, Tesla has been the poster child for why not every brand needs advertising. With word-of-mouth alone they became one of the most valuable companies in the world. So why is Tesla now shifting gears into advertising? CEO Elon Musk publicly claimed to hate advertising, preferring to invest in research and development. But in a recent shareholder meeting, he changed his tune, suggesting adve...

The “dark funnel” gained attention when marketers realized prospects were beginning the customer journey sooner than they’d thought. And they weren’t measuring it. The earliest stages of the buyer journey happen before marketers can identify prospects engagement or without those consumers providing any personal information. These dark funnel touchpoints take place through off-site channels like wo...

The top 100 B2B brands across the globe are worth a staggering $2 trillion collectively. But they have $1 trillion in untapped brand potential. Talk about missed opportunity, right? Historically, B2B marketing has been highly rational, focused on features and benefits. But this has come at the price of undervaluing brand-building and awareness. Now, that’s starting to change. In this episode, Ange...

Reaching large audiences is powerful. But they still need to be the right large audiences. Because even the biggest brands can't afford to skip targeting. Even on mass-reach marketing channels like TV, radio and print. In this episode, Elena, Angela and Rob are joined by VP of Strategy Dan Cleveland to discuss the MarketingWeek article “ Even sophisticated mass marketers need targeting. ” The team...

Airbnb is the only public VC-backed company founded in the US in the last 15 years that is meaningfully profitable. How did they do it? They dramatically changed their approach to marketing. Two years ago, Airbnb started prioritizing brand-building while limiting their previous focus on search advertising. In this episode, Elena, Angela and Rob discuss the Airbnb success story, why finding a balan...

Brand is far more measurable today than even five years ago. So why are we still questioning brand’s value? Maybe because it’s tough to know exactly how to grow brand—and defend its importance to the business. In this episode, Elena, Angela and Rob tackle brand misconceptions from a performance marketer’s perspective. They discuss what it means to build brand awareness and drive tangible business...

Behavioral targeting has undeniably changed marketing and advertising, fueling the online advertising industry’s growth to $540 billion globally. But what’s the real impact... for marketers and for consumers? In this episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob discuss a recent article featured in The New York Times that digs into what it means to target (and be targeted) online. They explain the different typ...

TikTok has over 100 million American users, and US marketers will spend more than $11 billion on the app by the end of 2023. So what happens if the app is banned? In this episode, we’re reviewing everything from the earliest rumors of a ban to the latest court hearings. Elena, Angela, and Rob delve into the discussion around banning TikTok, what it means for marketers, and why even the threat of a...

AI is probably the hottest topic in business right now. And while the core technology is far from new, the launch of ChatGPT has kickstarted a fresh frenzy around AI’s implications for marketers especially. In fact, marketing might be the category of work most impacted by artificial intelligence. In this episode, Elena is joined by Marketing Architects founder Chuck Hengel to discuss how marketers...

There are more than 130 marketing metrics. But how many really determine marketing effectiveness? Especially for brand-building channels like TV, radio, and print advertising? Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet when it comes to marketing measurement. But there are ways to design your campaign to be as measurable as possible. And to be more confident in your results. VP of Analytics Matt Hultg...

Budget cuts. Layoffs. Rethinking your entire marketing strategy? The economy can be confusing. How marketers should respond to economic downturns can be equally difficult to navigate. Research shows brands that maintain or increase ad spend during an economic downturn perform better long term. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Angela, Rob, and Elena share advice on how marketers can use eco...

How do you balance broad reach and highly targeted marketing efforts? Angela and Elena are joined by Chief Creative Officer Rob DeMars to talk about the challenges and opportunities marketers face in finding the right balance for their businesses. Learn how the HurryCane became the best-selling cane in the US only after reaching broad audiences, the history of performance marketing, and the team’s...

As a marketer, what is the danger of relying too heavily on digital advertising? Angela Voss, Rob DeMars, and Elena Hengel tackle this question in the first-ever episode of The Marketing Architects. Too many businesses are facing the consequences of an overreliance on digital advertising, from ad fraud to limited growth potential. Hear how brands like Airbnb have side-stepped these digital downsid...

Remember when Clubhouse was the future of audio and marketers had to get on-board? What about when headlines announced the death of traditional marketing channels? Or that everyone would be taking meetings in the metaverse by 2022? There are a lot of marketing opinions out there. It can be tough to know what’s real and what’s hype that’ll blow over next month. Which is why we created The Marketing...