The Purposeful Marketing Podcast

Mary has been creating TikTok content and evaluating her results. Aaron has been delving into TikTok experiments with clients. James has never downloaded the app. All three discuss the platform’s potential as a B2B content distribution channel. James and Mary are convinced that the platform can work for B2B marketing. Aaron suggests there’s only one way to find out.

The end of the year is wrapping up and now it’s time to show your work. Mary and Aaron reported on their thoughts about reporting including how to think about metrics and dashboards, what are the best reports to show marketing success for your fiscal year, and asking the tough questions about data and how best to tell the story.

The way customers buy is evolving. Therefore, marketing should too. However…is marketing strategy and tactics evolving fast enough? Mary, Aaron and James breakdown how even common marketing terminology can keep you stuck in the past while your customers make buying decisions with the future in mind.

The short answer is never.  Mary, Aaron, and James tackle a lofty topic and idea that impacts many marketers. At what points in your day-to-day are you faced with confronting the truth and what scenarios occur when you're faced with confronting a lie? Listen to find out more!

James and Aaron tackle the topic of redistribution in Mary’s absence. They talk through why it’s valuable, what it looks like when it goes wrong, and how to get a redistribution engine humming. The tactic itself is becoming more common, which means there are more good examples of redistribution than ever. It also means there are more bad examples than ever.

What is a content pillar? This podcast. What’s not a content pillar? Is a hot dog a sandwich, a content pillar or both? Aaron, Mary and James talk about what makes a great content pillar in 2022. To nobody’s surprise, a good content pillar in 2022 looks different than the content pillars of 2012. As always, focus remains on the why and how the content pillar tactic helps your customers win.

If you’re active on LinkedIn, then you’ve seen the noise about customer research over the last couple years. The fact is getting close to your customers will make you a more successful marketer. But is it that easy? Aaron, Mary and James discuss how to get started, how to conduct customer interviews, what you do with the research and how you apply it tactically to your marketing efforts.

If we could have it our way, it would be sunshine and rainbows everyday. However, in your marketing role, that is not always the case. Today we discuss how to address negativity in your workplace and on the channels you spend your time to build your personal brand including social media. Aaron, Mary and James put their positive spin on this challenging discussion.

The act of clocking on and off forms the bedrock of work-life balance. When you’re punching a clock in retail or food service, it’s quite easy to separate your work time from you-time. But what about in marketing in 2022? Aaron, Mary and James discuss.

What is a marketing playbook? What should it be? How can playbooks help? Do they hold marketers back? The group has seen a lot of chatter about marketing “playbooks” on social media recently. They slow things down to talk about why people use playbooks and whether or not other people’s playbooks are worth paying attention to. Mary makes a case for innovation, Aaron wonders whether playbooks help c...

Aaron and Mary discuss their thoughts on what makes an exceptional client and agency partnership. Both pull from their own experiences working on an in-house marketing team and working in an agency. They ask: What makes a good client/agency relationship? What goes right? What goes wrong? Best-fit clients? What does that look like? And they provide the top 5 characteristics of a good client/agency...

James and Mary talk about goal-setting. They share some of their mixed experiences with setting, reaching and failing to achieve personal and professional goals and offer their perspective on a healthy mindset re: goals both on and off the clock. Of course, they talk about why goals are helpful (and instances where they aren’t).

James, Mary, and Aaron talk about transferable skills that they’ve taken with them over the years including tips from gigs working at gyms, coffee shops, restaurants, and retail. Because every job has something to teach you. And you don’t have to forget those lessons. In fact, you can apply them to your marketing. Hope you enjoy it!

With landscape-altering shifts on the horizon, Aaron, Mary and James discuss attribution and working with and without attribution data. As always, discussion tends toward the question of why. What value do we gain from marketing attribution? Should we prioritize replacing that value or shifting our focus? Aaron and Mary are excited, if a little anxious. James says we should be careful what we wish...

On imitation, origination, copywriting frameworks and LinkedIn marketing advice. Aaron, Mary and James turn a vague question into a discussion of the value in prioritizing being “original” vs. using imitation as a guide. As per usual, discussion explores the gray area somewhere in the middle and the learning experiences of three marketers from non-marketing backgrounds.

Hello listeners! Here is a bonus episode from the vault. This episode was recorded several months ago. But it's jammed-packed with actionable marketing advice for the everyday practitioner. We discuss: why should you write for your customers and not for Google? What is the random stuff you get told as a copywriter? What feedback do you wish you received as a copywriter? What is your role to extrac...

What if you’re not the right fit? What happens when you feel like your skills or stagnating? What is your role as a marketer? These are the question to ask for any marketing role if you are in-house or at an agency to see if you're stuck. Aaron and Mary break down how marketers can keep moving in their careers with personal anecdotes and tips to tackle. As always, thanks for listening. Let us know...

Does your company's marketing strategy align with the way your customers buy? Do your company's tactics? If not, what should you do? Aaron, Mary and James talk through sensible ways to align your work to the buying processes of your customers and what you can do if your leadership team doesn't see the disconnect. As always, thanks for listening. Let us know if there's anything you'd like us to tal...

Hello listeners! Here is another thought-provoking episode from our team. We debate if a marketer should strive for profit or perfection? Is this a rhetorical question? You have to listen to find out. We break down: - What should your performance be evaluated on? - Are marketers close enough to profit to understand their impact? - How does this differ from in-house vs agency? - If you are just sta...

Retargeting is a tactic we perform as marketers but a tactic we don't love as consumers. Mary even had a popular post on how retargeting becomes essential when you have a small media budget (see post link below): https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mary-keough-437824a2_marketing-b2bmarketing-industrialmarketing-activity-6937750960219836416-CB5t?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_we...

Is imposter syndrome normal in marketing? Do we all just feel like imposters? Mary, Aaron & James break it down to discuss the questions that matter most. Including: How do you overcome imposter syndrome? What does imposter syndrome mean to you? What’s one example of facing imposter syndrome? What causes imposter syndrome? Is it good for your career/bad for your career? Are there benefits to d...

Personal Branding is not just about selling yourself, it's about being yourself.  We discuss: What does decentralized content mean? What impact does personal branding have on your career? Is being a content creator the only path forward? For companies, what does this mean? Would you rather do PR or have your own people create your own media company? How can I make the business case to have a...