Listen
Coffee with a CMO – Dave Gerhardt & Brian Kardon
Guys, guys, guys, listen up. We’ve got an amazing Listen for you today. Full disclosure: it’s not actually a podcast. It’s a video interview (but you can just listen to it) with the CMO of Fuze, Brian Kardon.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t heard of Fuze or Brian, here’s what you need to know about him:
- He was the CMO at Eloqua, Lattice Engines, and a few other amazing companies.
- He was named a Top 10 Global CMO for companies with over $250 Million in revenue.
- He was named a Top 50 Most Influential Person in Sales Lead Management.
Basically, the dude knows sales and marketing. And today, we’re featuring an interview with him and the VP of Marketing at Drift, Dave Gerhardt. These two guys geek out on all things marketing. This isn’t exactly an actionable podcast, but you’re definitely going to get some knowledge dropped on you.
You’ve gotta listen in. Here are some highlights to pique your interest…
- (03:49) Marketing automation is a commodity now. It’s old news. Everyone has it. So what’s next?
- (07:27) Too often, marketers focus on technology over things like marketing & sales alignment. More tools won’t help if your teams aren’t aligned.
- (10:52) It is absolutely essential to do marketing technology audits. Find out who is actually using what tool, and is each one worth the money?
- (13:44) Marketers have to do the research on how their audience buys. You can’t make assumptions or use instinct.
- (16:23) How do you break through the noise now? Be highly personal. Know your audience, know what they need, and be real.
- (19:48) The real competitive advantage in marketing is curiosity. Be willing to try new things, experiment, and fail.
- (22:07) Want an example of a big, “boring” company doing awesome marketing? Look at Aetna. They do an amazing job with storytelling in marketing.
If you have 30 minutes today, tonight, or tomorrow. Listen to this episode of Coffee with a CMO.
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Pinterest Marketing
You know what social platform is pretty underrated? Pinterest.
Serious updates have been making waves within the year. From new profile looks to more Promoted Pin features.
We’re not talking tsunami big, but if you were a surfer, this sick barrel would have you totally amped. Translation: we’re excited. You should be too.
Anyway, AdEspresso has the step by step guide to marketing on Pinterest. They cover getting started to integrating Pinterest and Facebook ads. We’re just picking a few strategies to keep things easy peasy.
- Image size: best ratios for pins fall between 2:3 and 1:3.5 while 600 pixels is the recommended width. NOTE! Pins a tad longer than the width perform better.
- Feature images of users actively using your product. Fair warning, you want high-quality photos but don’t go overboard. If you’re trying too hard, it’s not authentic.
- Overlay text to get your point across quicker. Pinterest isn’t Facebook. They’re cool with words.
- Make your pins more accessible with simple or bold typography on images to make it easier for everyone to read. Contrasting colors work wonders too.
You know how Instagram has Shoppable Tags? Well, Pinterest has Buyable Pins. The real kicker? Users will go through the check out process on Pinterest. Guess who isn’t doing that yet… cough Instagram cough.
That’s right, impulse buyers are doomed.
Wanna hear something else that’s amazing? Of course you do.
Pinterest won’t take a cut of your sales! Let that sink in. As marketers, this is music to our ears. We’re so pumped.
- Image size: the ideal ratio is 1:3.5 or 600 pixels wide by 2,100 pixels tall.
- Post at peak times. See what works for your audience but 8 to 11 pm on Saturdays seem to be juuuuust right.
- Add CTA’s to your description. For some odd reason, CTA’s are wildly underused for something that can increase engagement and conversions by 80%.
- Look into Rich Pins.
We’re ending it here but reading this whole blog is really worth it.
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#CruiseChallengeAccepted
Oh geez, it’s already August people! How in the world can we be nearing the end of summer so soon?
Sorry to any pumpkin spice lovers out there, but we are not ready to give up the sun just yet, and neither is Instagram legend Celeste Barber.
Celeste is taking on a Royal Caribbean cruise challenge where she attempts to complete as many fun cruise activities as she can in one day…. on dry land.
She successfully eats a not-so royal breakfast, creates her own makeshift flowrider, and has an interesting leaf blower skydiving experience. Oh, and we can’t forget about the world’s worst ever cocktail hour.
We’re hoping all of you have filled these past couple months with adventurous activities, relaxing vacations, and delicious food. But if you haven’t, this quirky commercial will have you cracking up and get you packing for a spontaneous end-of-summer cruise.
