The Smart Marketer Podcast

This has been an unusual year for a lot of brands and a tough year for many. So today, Molly and John invite you behind the scenes to look at the last six months at Smart Marketer. Hopefully, you can glean something from their experience and maybe feel a little less alone in your journey! Whether you're having a knock-out year or not, it's always a good idea to stop and reflect before you move for...

How do you handle it when someone comes out of the left field and throws insults and accusations your way? Has this happened to you in business? This JUST happened to our Host Ezra Firestone, Founder of Boom by Cindy Joseph and Smart Marketer. In this episode, Ezra takes us behind the curtain and talks through what happened, the whole interaction, and how he's choosing to process it.  Listen if yo...

How's 2021 going for you? Is your business experiencing a reaction to 2020? Are your clients reeling or thriving? How about that pesky iOS14.5?  In this episode, our hosts Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw talk with Ezra Firestone at the halfway point of an  interesting  year! Ezra shares frankly about the challenges and the successes across his E-Commerce and Saas brands. Listen if you could use so...

Does the thought of taking time off make you feel anxious? Resentful? Even guilty? We have an important episode for you today as John and Molly team up to discuss another #NotBusiness topic that will reframe rest and set you up for (sustainable) success.    If you want to feel less stressed and less reactionary, this episode will help! Listen as they share how intentional time off will help you fe...

Get ready for a high-impact 20 minutes! John is the solo host of this episode, where he breaks down your 4 best opportunities to make additional sales and increase your brand's average lifetime customer value. Using tons of real-world examples, John teaches you how to pinpoint the moments WHEN your customers are ready and willing to make additional purchases and HOW to capitalize on these opportun...

How can a Chief Marketing Officer help YOUR brand grow? Our hosts Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw welcome Pepijn Hufen to the show to discuss why brands need a good CMO. You'll learn how this idea led the 3 of them to start a new joint business, the Your Next Move Group, where they act as "fractional CMOs," providing their clients with guidance and strategy to help them grow. Listen to this episod...

Which (non-business) books have had the biggest impact on your life? In a follow-up to episode 50, Molly and John share the 6 books that have helped mold them into the people they are today: literature that has inspired our hosts to travel the world, control their minds, and make the world a better place. Now, they hope to inspire you to give these books a read!  To get the show notes for this epi...

How do you come up with high-converting offers? In this episode, hosts Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw detail their journey from ideation to launch of Smart Marketer's new mentorship program,Train My Social Media Manager. You'll hear why they included additional teammates in the creation process and why it was important to have 4 great hooks. Plus, Molly shares how she structures Facebook campaign...

Which books have helped you grow personally and professionally? In this new segment of #NotBusiness, John and Molly discuss the books that have had the biggest impact on their professional growth. You'll learn what Molly reads every year to refuel her creativity, the book that helped John prepare for his new role at Smart Marketer, and more insights they've picked up across years of reading. From...

Why should you invest in product creation and remodeling? Molly and John just launched Smart Marketer's new mentorship program and it was one of their most successful product launches to date. Why? Because they innovated. To promote Train My Social Media Manager, they used a next-level lead magnet to deliver tremendous value and attract warm and cold audiences alike, earning them super low CPAs de...

How do you prepare for the day ahead? In this episode, our hosts Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw share their 7 best tips for staying productive, energized, and efficient throughout the day. They discuss topics like scheduling tactics, hosting ZOOM meetings, half-day Fridays, and smiling (until it hurts). Use these 7 tips to help support good habits and conquer the day! YOUR ENGAGEMENT MATTERS!  He...

What are the pros and cons of selling on Amazon? Ezra hosts this episode solo to share insight into why — after 9 years and $125 million in sales — he finally expanded his ecommerce brand onto Amazon, including why he always avoided selling on the platform and the factors that ended up changing his mind. Plus, you'll learn why advertising is expected to be a little more difficult this year, and th...

Want to grow your own Social Media Director in-house? Continuing our conversation with BOOM!'s Social Media Director, Laura Palladino, she tells us all about how she discovered her passion for digital marketing. We'll discuss what she was doing before she met Ezra Firestone, how she came to work for him, and how he provided a safe learning environment for her to grow into her new role. You'll also...

Want to turn social media into a high-impact marketing machine for your brand? Laura Palladino is the Marketing Director at BOOM!, a $40 million-a-year brand, and she joins the podcast to share her proven social media strategy — the ICOSA Framework. ICOSA stands for "Ideation, Creation, Optimization, Syndication, Amplification" and by using this 5-step system, Laura helped BOOM! generate over 355K...

How did an 8-figure business optimize ad performance after the iOS 14 update? Find out in this conversation between the Marketing Manager of Smart Marketer, Dani, and the CMO of BOOM!, Boris. After some of the worst ad results he'd seen in years, Boris discovered a few small changes that had a big impact on ROI. You'll hear how BOOM!'s Amazon launch impacted their ad results, what Boris learned fr...

This is essential to managing and growing a brand... John is the solo host of this episode focused on the MVP Inventory System. MVP stands for "Mission, Vision, Principles" — concepts that are essential to managing and growing a successful brand. In this episode, John shares how we're applying these concepts at Smart Marketer, how the MVP inventory can be used in decision-making, and the mindful e...

Molly is joined by Ryan McKenzie of TruEarth to talk about how he scaled to over $100,000/day in ad spend with amazing video ads. During this chat, you'll learn the 7-step ad formula Ryan used to create the viral videos that have skyrocketed his laundry detergent brand. He'll show you how to create the perfect storm for opportunity and growth, including how to use the right hook, invest in consuma...

New environments offer us amazing opportunities to learn more about ourselves. Molly's move back home to Kentucky has provided a wealth of experiences that have reinforced her beliefs and helped her grow. Continuing our conversation from Molly's major life updates in episode 39, she shares the top 5 lessons she's learned since moving back home and how these lessons help push her to lead a happy, w...

Are you freaking out about the iOS 14.5 update? In this #WeOutHere segment, John Grimshaw (CMO of Smart Marketer) is here to help alleviate any concerns you have with a 360 ° view of the iOS 14.5 update. This is the big one, folks, but it's NOT the end of advertising (despite everything you're being told). He shares what's changed so far, how this update impacts marketers, and how smart advertiser...

Have you ever moved back to your hometown? Molly's been traveling a lot these past few years, and now she's ready to start putting her roots down in one place. In this episode, she opens up about her transition from college student to CEO and the discovery that the places she's travelled are less important than her growth as a person and the relationships she's cultivated over that time. Get inspi...

What happens when execs from Smart Marketer, Zipify & BOOM! all link up?  In this episode, learn the process we used to form our business plan for the next 18 months. We also talk about all the FUN we had at our C-level retreat — we did everything from chopping wood, to revisiting our mission statement, to Ezra cheffin' up a delicious dinner for us. Plus, Molly answers 2 questions from her Instagr...

Want to work from home? Here's how... To help you secure that coveted position, Molly and John give you 3 steps to follow to increase your chances of getting hired. They discuss rebuilding your resume and reflecting on positive outcomes, as well as the vast opportunities available in the digital marketing world. (Are you in a leadership role? To learn how to hire new employees and build a team, li...

What did you miss in Ezra's private Q&A hosted by Shopify? Clubhouse is an exclusive new social channel where you can listen in on live conversations between entertainers, educators and influencers (among others). In this episode, we share the 10 most interesting questions from Ezra's Clubhouse Q&A hosted by Shopify — including ecomm questions like how Ezra knew his business was headed in the righ...

Hey CEOs: Want to be a better leader? In this conversation taken straight from his private Mastermind, Ezra Firestone discusses the roles, responsibilities, and challenges that come with being a CEO. He highlights the six pillars you should focus on if you want to become a better leader, including how to handle critical tasks, the key to building a winning culture, and how he gets high-level talen...

Do you save tedious tasks for certain days of the week? In part 2 of this series on routine and productivity, Molly and John describe their process for mentally and physically preparing for the work week. You'll learn the day-to-day routines that boost their productivity, including why you should intentionally divide your time, how Molly starts her mornings off right, and why John's ready to "eat...