The Rethink Marketing Podcast

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries walk the fine line between attention-grabbing advertising and brand suicide--which may also translate to career suicide for marketing leaders! How far is too far, and where do advertisers find the equilibrium of being memorable without offending their core audience? Sometimes taking a walk on the wild side pays off big...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries delve into some of the reasons why major business media publications aren't talking about eye contact in 2023. Does eye contact matter in the world of sales and marketing today? Remote work, virtual meetings, phone calls, and even texting have hindered our regular skills of making eye contact, so what is a salesperson o...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries unpack the side of sales and marketing where relationships falter and fail. Breakups can be a relief for customers but devastating to businesses, so how do we keep the happy couple together? Conventional sales and marketing wisdom will tell us to raise prices, ask for reviews, coax customers into social media engagement...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries get vulnerable and share their learnings from hiring marketing and sales professionals of all levels. Sentiments around age and tech-savviness may be wrong for certain candidates. Are candidates with specific industry experience without marketing principles better than candidates that know marketing but who don't have i...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries discuss the misses they've seen with rebrands and brand refreshes. Asking ourselves some specific questions up front may result in achieving success, whether or not a rebrand is involved. First, is the business problem one that a rebrand can actually solve? If pricing, customer segmentation, employee satisfaction, or an...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries discuss the timely topic of insourcing and outsourcing marketing and sales talent. It starts with understanding the ultimate objectives. Having an attentive problem-solver who is bought-in and engaged is vastly different than looking for anyone who can complete a project by Friday at noon. Hiring W2 employees may not be...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries chat about managing anxiety, stress, overthinking, and negative self-talk in marketing and sales. How do we let go of what we think will happen and instead embrace doing what is required for the best outcome to happen? Negativity perpetuates while positivity requires intentionality. Sometimes struggling in sales is the...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries converse about why being in second position may actually be superior to being in first. While counterintuitive, there is tremendous power in proactively building relationships even while another provider is in place. As salespeople, we often think of selling as running plays in a sports setting, but is there ever an end...

On this episode of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed and Colin Jeffries discuss why making it more difficult for customers to conduct business with you may be a competitive differentiator for your brand. Going mass-market with high volume is the best strategy for some businesses, but often a strategic position of niche elitism results in higher margins. Which one makes sense for your organi...

On episode #158 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric Reed returns alongside Colin Jeffries to talk about the often cliché topic of story. Mastery of our story is a core function of marketing, and we need to take the necessary steps to ensure ours is concise, understood, and that our team can deliver on it. Because our story can change depending on the audience, how do we pull out the core and av...

On episode #157 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith extend last week's conversation by sharing their experiences with event marketing. In this two part series, part I focuses on attending and sponsoring other events while part II unpacks creating your own events. For those of us that plan our own industry events, tradeshows, symposia, and beyond, knowing how and where t...

On episode #1526 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith share their experiences with event marketing. In this two part series, part I focuses on attending and sponsoring other events while part II unpacks creating your own events. For those of us that attend industry events, tradeshows, symposia, and beyond, going in with a plan, working the plan, and then taking clear ste...

On episode #155 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith chat about their experiences managing humans, agility, and innovation--simultaneously! Nick shares the following formula for managing innovation: Meaningful unique ideas = [(stimulus )^(Diversity)] / Fear Since, as Robert Frost put it, “Ideas are feats of association,” the key is for managers to put people in stimulati...

On episode #154 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith talk about their experience as and managing individual contributors. Not everyone is cut out for management and leadership, so what do we do when there are too many chiefs and not enough braves? How can marketing and sales leaders support those who aren't ready or interested in getting on the management track? Listen t...

On episode #153 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith discuss some ideas to actually standout on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Small Business Saturday. The old, tired playbook of cutting prices, buying expensive media, and competing with everyone else for share of wallet is hackneyed and overdone. Plus, when everyone is shouting about discounts, it can be nearly impossi...

On episode #152 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith split hairs and talk semantics. If words have power over thoughts, why are we still using the word "consumer" so widely? We have replaced "salesperson" with "consultant" and "vendor" with "partner," so why aren't we leaving the word "consumer" back in the 1950s? Does it really matter what language we use to describe pe...

On episode #151 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith take a swing at the ever-controversial question: should founder sales count? Often, founder-led organizations bring in a sales or marketing leader so that the founder can focus on scaling business operations. Unfortunately, due to misaligned expectations, poor onboarding, or a host of other reasons, revenue generation...

On episode #150 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith unpack the paradox of customers' desires and expectations of data collection and management. On the one hand, customers are generally opposed to companies exploiting their data. On the other hand, people generally prefer personalized, relevant ad experiences and offers. Are there any current solutions that marketers ca...

On episode #149 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith dive into ways that marketers and sales leaders can win the arms race for attention. Marketing departments and sales development teams are getting increasingly creative and aggressive with their drive to gain attention, which has created a lot of noise for would-be buyers. How do we break through the noise and win the...

On episode #148 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith explore self-awareness in sales and marketing. Many marketers fall victim to imposter syndrome: thinking that they aren't good enough and may be discovered for lacking knowledge or competency. On the other end of the spectrum, some fall prey to the Dunning Kruger effect and believe they have the Midas touch! Is one bet...

On episode #147 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin Jeffries and Nick Smith explore when hands-on sales management is ideal and when leaders should be hands-off with their revenue teams. If goals are clearly defined and deals are closing, do sales leaders really need to micromanage daily habits of the team? When should salespeople push back, and when should they ask for more hand-holding? You...

On episode #146 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Colin and Nick explore the goals of cold calling and where it should live within our organizations. Is cold calling a sales function, or is it better at achieving marketing objectives? Should sales development (or business development) representatives report through sales or marketing hierarchies? You can listen to take5: The Rethink Marketing Podc...

On episode #145 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric and Colin are joined by Tendayi Viki, Ph. D. He is an author, speaker, academic, consultant, and corporate innovation expert. Tendayi unpacks how we can turn ideas into innovations and innovations into successful, scalable business models. Remember, just because we find a market does not mean we have found a profitable business model that can...

On episode #144 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric and Colin are joined by Marianne Lewis, the Dean of the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati and author of Both/And Thinking. Dean Lewis explains why paradoxes are so common in business and how to navigate them well. Both/and thinking takes work and repetition, but you too can break free of linear and either/or thought p...

On episode #143 of the Rethink Marketing Podcast, Eric and Colin are joined by innovator, professor, speaker, and retired tech executive Vivek Wadhwa. Vivek shares his insights on what the near future holds for businesses of all sizes and those who lead them. Technology, customers, the workforce, delivery channels, computing power, and seemingly everything else are changing, so how can today’s bus...