Mark and Brooke go toe-to-toe in an episode that covers Instagram fetishes, LinkedIn spam, Facebook boycotts, influencers united, and the reason everyone loves Mark Schaefer's feet.

Mark and Brooke examine emerging research that may indicate key post-pandemic consumer changes. Among the insights in this episode is the indication that children have taken over the eCommerce function for the family. Other topics include comfort spending, commerce levels, BOPIS, and new digital advertising trends.

Mark and Brooke dissect an extraordinary piece of thought leadership from author Martin Lindstrom. Lindstrom creates a data-based view of the likely "new normal" and this episode explores the implications for the new "imbalances" and marketing professionals.

Mark and Brooke discuss an explosive revelation from the Facebook strategy playbook: The company is mindfully encouraging extremism, ignoring warnings from 2016 that the platform was contributing to hate and polarization. The hosts also discuss the emerging importance of corporate communities and the post-pandemic normal.

Technology is creating incredible opportunities to connect with customers in meaningful new ways. Mark and Brooke look at some of the most exciting examples of how marketing and customer connection might be transformed.

Mark Schaefer returns to the show after recovering from COVID-19 and relates three lessons of his experience, including an unexpected insight with long-term implications for the world. Mark and Brooke reflect on the impact on their own businesses and how they are being inspired during this crisis.

Guest host Mathew Sweezey joins Brooke Sellas to talk about his new book, The Context Marketing Revolution. Together, we discuss the five context elements needed to create better customer experiences.

Guest host Katie Robbert joins Brooke Sellas to discuss how brave brands stay relevant in times of crisis, including advice from other top marketing experts, a note on advertising, and which tools are making work-from-home easier.

Mark and Brooke dissect important new research to find some surprising shifts in the use of social media, smart speakers, podcasting consumers. We reveal the identity of listener number one million!

Mark Schaefer shares his view of personal and business priorities in this time of extreme disruption and loss.

Mark and Brooke dissect a variety of trends including an experiential marketing plan that includes "full body towelettes," innovations from Twitter and LinkedIn, a discussion of slow tech adoption, and a personal reflection from Mark on his competition.

On the latest show, Mark and Brooke announce a contest to honor the one millionth download of The Marketing Companion podcast! Could YOU be the lucky winner? The hosts also cover big news from the podcasting world plus innovations coming from Twitter and Instagram.

New statistics show that blogging activity has slumped after a decade of continuous growth. Mark and Brooke examine the true story behind blogging in the content ecosystem and also discuss an integrated marketing trend, the marketing ideas consumers love most.

Need a celebrity for your next event? New technology may allow you to bring Elvis, Marilyn Monroe or Elvis to your next customer meeting. Mark and Brooke look at this new trend as well as LinkedIn events, and the impact of digital detox ion the advertising industry.

Machine learning is entering the world of everyday marketing helping us streamline tasks and free up time for our employees and customers. The tech is getting simpler and less expensive. Mark and Brooke look at how this can be applied to our everyday marketing lives. They also cover an unexpected new retail trend and discuss tech optimism versus tech pessimism.

Mark Schaefer and guest Jay Baer reminisce about their decade in social media. What were the hits, the misses, the things they love, the trends they regret? Lots of wisdom and insight jam-packed into this unmissable episode!

In this episode, Mark and Brooke discuss some surprising trends impacting marketing in the years to come, including a surprising take on a "culture in, brand out" movement that is percolating in the business world. And, the world is introduced to the "Nimbie"

Mark and Brooke explore "parasocial" relationships that seem to be forming in the podcast space and how this might be useful to brands. They also look at an experiential marketing case study and marketing lessons from the streaming video wars. Meanwhile, Brooke debates a potential move to another closet.

Forrester reports on a 20-year trend to eliminate top marketing positions. If marketing is central to the success of your company, what is going on and what can we do about it? Hosts Mark Schaefer and Brooke Sellas explore this vital topic and also explain why "anxiety" is the hottest social media trend.

Mark and Brooke dissect some heavy issues surrounding the legal, ethical, and political issues surrounding social media news, ads and fact-checking. Practically, what can be done? The hosts also explode the "OK Boomer" craze, marketing leadership imperatives, and the 10 words that absolutely indicate fake news.

A few years ago, Mark Schaefer predicted that "Facebook would be the next Facebook," explaining that the company had the engineering, technical, and financial resources to build or buy their way into the next phase of social networking. Is that still the case? Brooke and Mark also examine developments at Amazon and an "office-less" office.

In this final bonus episode, Mark Schaefer gives away another free chapter from his book LESSONS: Essays to help you embrace the chaos. In this installment, he provides his best tricks to help you get ready for an important presentation.

Host Mark Schaefer hosted a marketing retreat dedicated to exploring the future of marketing. Mark and Brooke report on some of the key takeaways from this exciting gathering of business thought leaders.

In this exclusive bonus chapter from Mark Schaefer's book LESSONS, he tells a story about one his great mentors changed his life with a single word!

Many businesses are being disrupted by new digital entrants. Perhaps the only way to fight back is to add emotion. Mark and Brooke look at a new retailing case study, the end of likes, and a new marketing platform from Amazon.

In this free audio chapter of Mark Schaefer's book LESSONS, Mark provides you exclusive insight from studying under management and marketing legend Peter Drucker

In this episode, Mark and Brooke discuss the vital topic of staying relevant in a fast-changing world. There are some surprising insights here as they tackle strategies on trends, skills, technology and even the impact of your personal appearance.

Use the same book cover graphic on all five episodes please. In this exclusive bonus content, Mark Schaefer provides a free chapter from his essential new book LESSONS: Essays to help you embrace the chaos, In this episode, Mark teaches us how to stay relevant in an age of disruption

Marketers flock to whatever is popular until the ruin it. Mark Schaefer rants on this show that great marketing should be about non-conformity. He and Brooke Sellas also discuss an exciting new trend from Nike, an honest tech movement and the 10 Gen Z words you need to know now.

In this bonus episode, Mark Schaefer provides and essential chapter from his new book LESSONS: Essays to help you embrace the chaos. In this free chapter, mark explores how to function as a business person when you're dying inside.

Mark and Brooke reveal one of the worst marketing tactics in history, now being used by At&T and others to drive customers to their breaking point. Also, TikTok comes of age and a new book to help you embrace the chaos!

This episode highlights a few marketing mega-trends including platform-agnostic video, using customer social media comments as marketing gold, and the three characteristics of genius.

Whether you'e working for a big company or a small one, the advertising industry is getting crunched in all directions. Mark and Brooke look at trends in TV, digital, podcasts, TikTok, and gaming that will determine the future of advertising.

Some social media influencers have turned their lives into a dramatic, brand-fueled play. Nothing seems real, let alone authentic. What does that mean for marketers? Mark and Brooke also cover an attempt to measure company culture and a shocking look at the data your iPhone is broadcasting about you.

New monetization considerations at Facebook, with short video content, and Google maps comes to the forefront in this new show. And Mark and Brooke introduce a new video feature exploring the wonders of mukbang!

Samsung announced a new AI technology that allows somebody to create "deep fake" videos of individuals with a single photograph. As the ease of this technology improves and costs come down, every business is vulnerable to advanced forms of deception. How do you prepare for this now? Mark Schaefer and Brooke ("Brookie Cookie") Sellas take on this critical topic.

Trolls seem to ruin everything good about the web with their persistent, hate-filled ranting. But there is a fascinating psychology behind what they do and why. Mark Schaefer and Brooke Sellas examine this topic, as well as the case against influencers and a scientific proof of content shock. The hosts also consider the art of spam.

The number of consumers refusing to participate in research has quadrupled since 1990, imperiling some marketing efforts. Mark and Brooke look at the problem, ding Instagram on a weird strategy, and agree with Amazon's tough stance on employee productivity. They also sing.

Values-based marketing is a hot topic. Aligning with customer values is an important consideration but what happens when a company starts to act more like a non-profit? A fascinating discussion! Hosts Mark Schaefer and Brooke Sellas also demonstrate ASMR live, look at the retail apocalypse and show why Dell CCO Karen Quintos is a great marketing leader.

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Brooke Sellas look at the mega-trends forming the future of social media. The future is hazy for marketers ready to place their bet. The show also looks at the economics of live events and the hottest (secret!) chat app for teens

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Brooke Sellas cover highlights from Social Media Marketing World and Mark points out a lemming-like marketing trend. The show features BossMom Dana Malstaff and advice on monetizing a Facebook Group, plus using social for government surveillance.

Ted Wright is a word of mouth marketing pioneer. On this final episode of the Rebellion Papers, Ted discusses why the world's oldest marketing idea has never been more important or relevant in the post-loyalty era.

A new co-host is welcomed onto the Marketing Companion to discuss the growing concern over digital monopolies. This has become a political issue in the U.S. that extends beyond party lines. Is the Facebook franchise doomed? The hosts also discuss a new book by Brian Solis and digital burn-out.

In this special episode, Mark Schaefer says farewell to Tom Webster as the long-time co-host of The Marketing Companion and announces plans for a re-boot of the podcast.

In this limited edition series, Mark Schaefer introduces the innovative marketers featured in his book "Marketing Rebellion." Marc Simons is one of the founders of Giant Spoon, a path-finding agency creating fun and immersive customer experiences. He's leading the way with this controversial new marketing approach.

In this show, Mark and Tom look at some eye-popping new data covering the social media landscape. For an up-to-the-minute glimpse of the social web, you won't want to miss this show!

In this limited edition series, Mark Schaefer introduces two of the innovative marketers featured in his book "Marketing Rebellion." Steve Rayson, founder of BuzzSumo, contends that the biggest problem in our field is the over-use of technology and automation. Marketing icon Philip Kotler urges marketers to adopt a more human-centric approach that emphasizes emotion and experiences.

Mark and Tom look at surprising new data on hard-to-find marketing skills, the idea of creating a career as a social media influencer, and the myth of employee advocacy.

In this limited edition series, Mark Schaefer introduces some of the innovative marketers featured in his book "Marketing Rebellion." Megan Conley is a ground-breaking agency founder who insists that tomorrow's customer journeys will be co-created with the involvement of our customers.

Too many times companies are saying "whoops" after introducing new ideas. Testing new ideas becomes complicated when the sample size has to be large and consumers don't want to be treated like lab rats. Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster unpack this vital issue. They also discuss the opportunity to turn Marketing Companion into a television series.

Intro music credits: Heartwarming by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100207 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

In this limited edition series, Mark Schaefer introduces some of the innovative marketers featured in his book "Marketing Rebellion." Martin Lindstrom is a fascinating anthropologist who plops himself into the middle of homes and businesses to find the consumer secrets others miss. He is leading the way in a new way to view marketing leadership.

How do you win in a post-loyalty, post-sales funnel, post-advertising world? Mark Schaefer discusses the genesis of his new book "Marketing Rebellion" with Tom Webster and reveals some exciting bonus content coming to Marketing Companion fans.

When it comes to marketing and business leaders, Kerry Gorgone has talked to some of the best through her Marketing Smarts podcast. In this special episode of The Marketing Companion, Mark and Kerry discuss the leaders and marketing wisdom that have inspired her the most over the years.

The advertising industry is convulsing as traditional channels dry up. This episode explores how "pipelines" are effortlessly feeding products into consumer households, why young influencers are ruling the roost and how advertising's brightest light is destroying new publishing models. Mark and Tom hand our their annual "wurst" awards.

In this episode, Mark and Tom dissect research indicating severe reliability problems with popular sentiment analysis algorithms. They also discuss re-branding strategy in the news, new evidence of mis-trust in corporate brands and Alexa's growing dominance.

Mark and Tom talk about why Microsoft's president is calling for immediate legislation on some new technology, why ad agencies are losing business to consulting firms and why "the show" may be the most important consideration to your marketing plan. It all points to changes on the marketing landscape.

Marketers have too little time and too much data. Why isn't AI making a positive impact on data analysis yet? How will new opportunities with smart speakers integrate with AI and what does the artificial intelligence revolution mean for business education? Nipsey makes a surprise appearance to show off new human-like qualities.

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster explain how a strong economy impacts professional behavior, why streaming television is heading for a fall-out and how Facebook's first entry into hardware tips the creepy scale

Host Mark Schaefer reflects on lesson learned in his ten years as an entrepreneur, and Tom Webster dissects why there are no new social media channels emerging.

Mark and Tom explain why you should be excited by the promise of Medium, nervous about the WSJ coverage of internal Google politics, and applauding an insurance company for doing something crazy cool.

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster tackle three huge topics: New regulations trying to get internet companies to conform globally to one country's standards, political stands in the marketing mix, and Apple's third act. Also, there is a surprise performance from Nipsey the smart speaker.

In this episode Mark and Tom talk about some of their favorite marketing stories and lessons on the marketing genius of KISS, why intrapreneurship won't work, and how singer Tom Jones is a master networker.

In this episode, Mark and Tom review new research that points to vast opportunities in the podcast world. This show goes deep into podcasting reality and unearths data-driven insights all podcasters need to consider to develop and grow their shows.

Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster discuss the growing challenge of establishing emotional connection in a world of declining loyalty and point to an amazing success at Spotify, the rise of anger on Facebook, and a revolution at LinkedIn. They also vanquish Mercury Retrograde.

The retail industry has been in a state of upheaval for decades. Is a store that sells no goods the future? Tom Webster and Mark Schaefer think so, and they discuss it in this new episode of The Marketing Companion. Listen in as they also debate what will happen when digital ad prices keep rising, a threat to marketing nobody's really discussing, and their effort to make The Marketing Companion the world's most hipster podcast.

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster dissect several big new ideas, including the role of customer engagement in digital transformation, Facebook's big new opportunity for community leaders, and a content marketing fail from GE (or, is it?). Plus, Tom riffs on cows.

Against all odds, Mark and Tom have completed five years of podcasting together. In this episode, the hosts reflect on how they got started, how the program has changed and what's next for The Marketing Companion faithful.

In this episode, hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster review some of their favorite recent marketing books, including new releases from Bernadette Jiwa and Neen James.

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster examine several current marketing issues, including a stroke of brilliance from Amazon, Google culture, and the unexpected dominance of Facebook in the surging private messaging space.

In this episode, hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster talk about a new Schaefer book in the works, AI, hacking, and how companies are being forced to take a social, and even political, stand in the world today. This trend is undeniable, but flies in the face of classical economics. how does a marketer sort it out?

There are a number of ethical issues emerging as technology allows us to connect to consumers in new ways. Just because we can, should we? In this episode, hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster look at "addiction" as a goal, the cultural implications of AI, and new research on the time it takes to become a friend. And oh yes, to celebrate a milestone, they introduce the world's first audio infographic!

Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster reflect on the hot topics they covered five years ago and discuss the relevancy of influence marketing (and Klout), Google Glass, Twitter strategy and more. And they bring out a retro look at Google Pants!

Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster discuss revealing new research that may indicate a tipping point for social media, video, podcasts and smart speakers like Alexa and Google Home.

Social media marketing has been the hottest marketing concept for the last 10 years. Is it losing steam, or just taking off? In this episode, hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster look at the data and reveal new perspectives on where social media fits in the marketing mix. The fellas also reveal a new premium service to sell fake followers so you can become an influencer in record time!

How important is it to create customer experiences that lead to awareness and loyalty? In this episode, Mark and Tom explore dramatic trends impacting any strategy involving customer experience. They also dive into stupid agency tricks and a wishlist for our favorite tech leaders. And Tom issues an apology for mis-casting Mark!

What is "Tech-lash?" Mark and Tom cover a variety of subjects in this fast-paced show. They cover the Facebook changes, an explosive report on influence marketing, the fastest-growing tech gadget (surprise!) and new rumbles about a backlash against the largest tech companies.

Have you ever wanted to learn what Mark and Tom actually do for a living? In this unusual episode Mark and Tom open the curtains and talk about their careers -- How they got to where they are today and how they intend to remain relevant for the next level. A fascinating discussion about relevance in the fast-changing digital age!

Special guest Mitch Joel, president of Mirum, discusses the challenges of the modern marketing agency. What are the implications of higher levels of competition, the trend toward bringing work in-house, the impact of AI and other new technologies, and the emerging eCommerce on-ramps? You won't want to miss this fascinating discussion!

New research from Ford shows that consumers are polarized, energized and a bit weirded out by what marketing is up to these days. Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster take a look at this new report and discuss the implications for business leaders. And they have a casting call for "Marketing Companion: The Movie." Who will play Mark?

How could writing a book help you establish thought leadership, open new opportunities, and grow your business? Hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster explore these issues and open the Marketing Companion Holiday Catalogue for exciting gift "ideas."

Five years ago I predicted that Facebook would become the most evil company on earth. The claim was tongue-in-cheek, but the logic was solid:

1. The "raw material" that Facebook uses to build its wealth is our personal information.
2. As a public company, Facebook has a mandate to grow its profits every quarter, without exception, without end.
3. At some point, to meet that relentless financial goal, Facebook will have to take greater and greater risks in both collecting our personal information and monetizing it.
4. ... and that sets up the potential for evil.

We caught a glimpse of how Facebook might do this when the doors were blown open on a controversial experiment the company conducted to manipulate emotions through the news feed. What is really going on at Facebook? Will my prediction eventually become true? Is Facebook evil?

Facebook evil, the inside story

A number of high-profile executives have recently weighed-in on the "Facebook evil" factor:

• In his final days as president, Barack Obama himself warned that Facebook and Twitter were becoming a threat to democracy. “We become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there.”
• Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya recently echoed this sentiment. “Do I feel guilty? Absolutely I feel guilt,” he told CNN. “Nobody ever thought that you could have such a massive manipulation of the system. You can see the reaction of the people who run these (social media) companies. They never thought it was possible.”
• Sean Parker, who briefly served as Facebook's president, said the social networking site exploits human psychological vulnerabilities through a validation feedback loop that gets people to constantly post to get even more likes and comments. “It's exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology,” he said. “The inventors, creators understood this consciously. And we did it anyway."

The psychology behind Facebook became the center of a public debate when a story about a company called Dopamine showed how it is using psychology and neuroscience to manipulate users into a state of social media addiction. And, it's working.

Is social media addiction OK?

What is the ethical boundary? Don't all business people want customers to be "addicted" to their products? If you're a public company like Facebook, don't you in fact have a mandate to make customers addicted to your business? “God only knows what Facebook is doing to our children’s brains,” Sean Parker said at a recent event. But it doesn't take God to figure it out. Some university researchers are already putting the puzzle together. A study shows that the number of teens experiencing severe anxiety (with social media a leading cause) is exploding. When does business and public health collide and crash? I have to wonder ... when will the world wake-up and understand the full truth of Facebook? And what will it mean to marketing when that happens?

Let's explore some more ...

Tom Webster and I thought this would be an excellent debate for our latest episode of The Marketing Companion. What are the ethics of social media addiction? In this episode, Tom and I also cover the current state of Twitter. Their third quarter earnings announcement beat Wall Street expectations and user growth had a surge. How does Twitter fit today in the marketing mix? A third topic on our program is a news event that shook social media and I'm not sure most people caught its significance ... A Chinese company bought part of Snapchat's parent company. We discuss why this is a watershed moment in the history of social media marketing. And finally, Tom brings out a favorite piece of spam to demonstrate once again that it's not annoying ... it's an art form! Let's go ... 

• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe in iTunes
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide
• Find the podcast on Stitcher

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

88% of Consumers check online before making a purchasing decision. Brand24 gives you instant updates about what your customers are saying about you. Now you can give them timely responses and give your customers peace of mind. With Media monitoring you can search the web for key topics, trends, or discussions. Brand24 enables you to reach customers, so you can react and engage quickly to real-time comments made about your brand. Imagine having all your channels in one place – that’s Brand24. Plus, with Apple and Android apps, you can track customers, trends, and insights on the go. At Brand24.com/companion you’ll receive THREE MONTHS FREE, just for our podcast fans!

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typeform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Try this extraordinary application today and go to Typeform.com/companion for a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

SoloSegment’s Site Search Inspector illuminates a huge blind spot for marketing teams and helps them unlock the revenue trapped there. If you’re like 85% of companies, you have no idea what’s going on in your site’s search engine. You either don’t have measurements or you ignore what you have. Up to 30% of your visitors search and they could be your best customers. Site Search Inspector targets the site search customer experience with a set of proprietary measures designed to improve success. They’re so convinced you’re going to improve your success rates, they’ve tripled the free trial period to 45-days and they’re offering 10% off an annual subscription. You can find this special offer on solosegment.com/companion

On the new episode of The Marketing Companion, Tom Webster and I open up a discussion on three touchy issues in the digital realm. YouTube's deplorable algorithm: The New York Times reported that evil people have been slipping violent cartoon knock-offs into the YouTube Kids channel.

In this case, relying on an algorithm to vet children's programming is unacceptable. This is a problem that is not difficult to solve but it appears to us like greed and laziness is driving the wrong behaviors. We make a case that YouTube should be held to the same standard as traditional television networks. Is regulation in the cards? We say yes. Social sharing in decline -- Steve Rayson of Buzz Sumo published research that shows an apparent correlation between the amount of content that is published on a subject and the amount the content is shared. In other words, as a topic grows saturated with content, people become weary of the content and engage less. We discuss how Content Shock isn't a trend, it's a wave.

One touchy implication for marketers: A very common strategy of "piling on" to popular content topics doesn't work. Outing people on social media -- We discuss the recent sexual harassment episodes involving Weinstein, Spacey and Scoble and how social media has become the engine for "outing." What are the implications for business, for marketing, for working with influencers? And what is the psychology behind accepting or rejecting these claims? Are we in a world where accusations become facts? We also introduce Nipsey: The new Marketing Companion smart speaker system. Let's just say it still has some development work ahead! This is a very provocative and interesting show. You won't want to miss it ... 

• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe in iTunes
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide
• Click here for the show’s RSS feed – for Android listeners.
• Find the podcast on Stitcher

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

88% of Consumers check online before making a purchasing decision. Brand24 gives you instant updates about what your customers are saying about you. Now you can give them timely responses and give your customers peace of mind. With Media monitoring you can search the web for key topics, trends, or discussions. Brand24 enables you to reach customers, so you can react and engage quickly to real-time comments made about your brand. Imagine having all your channels in one place – that’s Brand24. Plus, with Apple and Android apps, you can track customers, trends, and insights on the go. At Brand24.com/companion you’ll receive THREE MONTHS FREE, just for our podcast fans!

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typeform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Try this extraordinary application today and go to Typeform.com/companion for a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

SoloSegment’s Site Search Inspector illuminates a huge blind spot for marketing teams and helps them unlock the revenue trapped there. If you’re like 85% of companies, you have no idea what’s going on in your site’s search engine. You either don’t have measurements or you ignore what you have. Up to 30% of your visitors search and they could be your best customers. Site Search Inspector targets the site search customer experience with a set of proprietary measures designed to improve success. They’re so convinced you’re going to improve your success rates, they’ve tripled the free trial period to 45-days and they’re offering 10% off an annual subscription. You can find this special offer on solosegment.com/companion

One of my great marketing heroes is Tom Fishburne. Not only is he a brilliant innovator and marketer, he is THE WORLD-FAMOUS MARKETOONIST: On the new episode of The Marketing Companion, Tom Webster and I had the great fun and pleasure of interviewing Tom about humor in marketing including ...

• The "slow revelation" that made him realize humor could be a key part of his marketing future
• The connection between "story" and humor in corporate communications
• The process companies go through to add humor to their marketing communications
• Why the best humor starts with pain points
• What happens when you get it wrong
• How you consider humor, cultural references, and the international audience
• Tom discusses his new book Your Ad Ignored Here: Cartoons from 15 Years of Marketing, Business, and Doodling in Meetings

And Webster and I challenge each other to a joke-off. I won. You won't want to miss this interesting (and funny!) episode about humor in marketing ... 

• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe in iTunes
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide
• Click here for the show’s RSS feed – for Android listeners.
• Find the podcast on Stitcher

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

88% of Consumers check online before making a purchasing decision. Brand24 gives you instant updates about what your customers are saying about you. Now you can give them timely responses and give your customers peace of mind. With Media monitoring you can search the web for key topics, trends, or discussions. Brand24 enables you to reach customers, so you can react and engage quickly to real-time comments made about your brand. Imagine having all your channels in one place – that’s Brand24. Plus, with Apple and Android apps, you can track customers, trends, and insights on the go. At Brand24.com/companion you’ll receive THREE MONTHS FREE, just for our podcast fans!

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typeform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Try this extraordinary application today and go to Typeform.com/companion for a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans! 

SoloSegment’s Site Search Inspector illuminates a huge blind spot for marketing teams and helps them unlock the revenue trapped there. If you’re like 85% of companies, you have no idea what’s going on in your site’s search engine. You either don’t have measurements or you ignore what you have. Up to 30% of your visitors search and they could be your best customers. Site Search Inspector targets the site search customer experience with a set of proprietary measures designed to improve success. They’re so convinced you’re going to improve your success rates, they’ve tripled the free trial period to 45-days and they’re offering 10% off an annual subscription. You can find this special offer on solosegment.com/companion

I had an opportunity to attend the outstanding Marketing Profs B2B Forum and witness a truly tour-de-force speech by my friend and podcast co-host Tom Webster. Although we had mentioned this talk in a previous podcast episode, I had not seen Tom's presentation and I found his insights to be remarkable and very relevant to marketing today.

I thought our Marketing Companion fans needed to hear some of those insights. Using lessons from his political research, Tom makes the case that you can't win in marketing today by staying in the "treetops," by immersing yourself in dashboards. You need to get down in the trees and get back to basics by visiting customers. He argues for radical segmentation to the point that "personas" may be out of style. In the new episode we also discuss quite a remarkable revelation made by Dharmesh Shah, one of Hubspot's co-founders.

Shah said that content marketing is now pay-to-play and that content today has a "cover charge." In addition, you'll hear these snippets:

• "I'm feeling this in my loins"
• "I've found a younger podcast host."
• "We want our freedom, we want more Mark."

You'll have to hear it to believe it, I suppose. Here we go: 

• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe in iTunes
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide
• Click here for the show’s RSS feed – for Android listeners.
• Find the podcast on Stitcher

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

88% of Consumers check online before making a purchasing decision. Brand24 gives you instant updates about what your customers are saying about you. Now you can give them timely responses and give your customers peace of mind. With Media monitoring you can search the web for key topics, trends, or discussions. Brand24 enables you to reach customers, so you can react and engage quickly to real-time comments made about your brand. Imagine having all your channels in one place - that’s Brand24. Plus, with Apple and Android apps, you can track customers, trends, and insights on the go. At Brand24.com/companion you’ll receive THREE MONTHS FREE, just for our podcast fans!

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typeform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Try this extraordinary application today and go to Typeform.com/companion for a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

SoloSegment's Site Search Inspector illuminates a huge blind spot for marketing teams and helps them unlock the revenue trapped there. If you're like 85% of companies, you have no idea what's going on in your site's search engine. You either don't have measurements or you ignore what you have. Up to 30% of your visitors search and they could be your best customers. Site Search Inspector targets the site search customer experience with a set of proprietary measures designed to improve success. They're so convinced you're going to improve your success rates, they've tripled the free trial period to 45-days and they're offering 10% off an annual subscription. You can find this special offer on solosegment.com/companion

There's a lot of pressure to create content today. Epic, authentic, viral content. But perhaps the key to content success is not necessarily through originality, but through creating a wise curated content stream that helps people save time and money. Most industries have at least one go-to newsletter of curated business highlights.

If your industry doesn't have that, maybe it's a golden opportunity. I've seen people create curated content in pharma, tech, defense, and entertainment. Many have gone on to leverage this real or perceived expertise into consulting, books, and speaking careers. But summarizing the work of others isn't necessarily easy.

In fact there is a certain art to it which we cover on the newest episode of The Marketing Companion. In this episode, Scott Monty takes over as co-host for a day and explains his process behind the Full Monty newsletter. He explains how an internal newsletter at Ford Motor Company was the inspiration for what has become the go-to weekly content in the digital marketplace. We also explore why there seems to be a "Tom Webster bias" creeping into the show ... 

• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe in iTunes
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide
• Click here for the show’s RSS feed – for Android listeners.
• Find the podcast on Stitcher

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typeform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Go to Typeform.com/companion to receive a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

Between 30 percent and 50 percent of your online visitors use your website’s search function. But analysis proves that customers rarely see the precise content that leads to a sale. Why leave this conversion opportunity to chance? Deliver search results that create sales conversions by deploying the powerful machine learning intelligence of Site Search Inspector from SoloSegment. Site Search Inspector can be set up quickly and continuously “learns” how to improve your search conversions. Visit the SoloSegment discount page to get 10 percent off your order for Marketing Companion fans!

In this new episode of The Marketing Companion, Tom Webster and I cover some of the highlights of the 2017 Content Marketing World. It was the first conference Tom and I attended together for some time so it was a good opportunity to compare notes on the content marketing spectacular. We discuss:

• Why Tom faced a nearly empty room for his politics-related talk
• Why Mark thinks "loyalty" is a fading marketing idea
• Content Marketing World hits and misses
• And as a bonus, we announce new plans for Companion Storm 2!

Check it out! 

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typeform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Go to Typeform.com/companion to receive a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

Between 30 percent and 50 percent of your online visitors use your website’s search function. But analysis proves that customers rarely see the precise content that leads to a sale. Why leave this conversion opportunity to chance? Deliver search results that create sales conversions by deploying the powerful machine learning intelligence of Site Search Inspector from SoloSegment. Site Search Inspector can be set up quickly and continuously “learns” how to improve your search conversions. Visit the SoloSegment discount page to get 10 percent off your order for Marketing Companion fans!

It seems like everywhere you look the news is bad for the ad industry. In just the last few weeks, the news has reported ...

• The stock value for many large agencies is in decline as company billings fall.
• Traditional ad impressions are down almost everywhere as newspapers, radio, and magazines struggle to survive.
• Many of their customers -- the big CPG brands -- are cutting ad spending as their most valuable products struggle to be relevant to today's digital consumers.
• Ad blocking continues to rise in developed nations (Ad Age called it an "apocalypse")
• Many companies are bringing the rising areas of influence and content marketing in-house to save costs and maintain direct relationships.

Like I said ... a mess. What's the future of Madison Avenue and how does it turn things around in this rapidly changing world? That would be a fun discussion to have ... which is exactly what Tom Webster and I do in this new episode of The Marketing Companion. You won't want to miss this scintillating analysis!

Resource mentioned in this episode WSJ article on advertising decine Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro.

Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Go to Typeform.com/companion to receive a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

Between 30 percent and 50 percent of your online visitors use your website's search function. But analysis proves that customers rarely see the precise content that leads to a sale. Why leave this conversion opportunity to chance?

Deliver search results that create sales conversions by deploying the powerful machine learning intelligence of Site Search Inspector from SoloSegment. Site Search Inspector can be set up quickly and continuously "learns" how to improve your search conversions.

Visit the SoloSegment discount page to get 10 percent off your order for Marketing Companion fans!

In this very personal episode of The Marketing Companion, hosts Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster reveal their own best marketing successes and failures. Learn why desperation may be a key to success, how money is made in the margins, and why a dial-up internet connection destroyed a great business. Mark and Tom also announce plans for the first human-powered self-driving vehicle!

Starting a new social network is a perilous prospect. The battlefield is littered with companies that had big ideas and little results ...

• Meerkat
• Ello
• Path
• Google+

It's a tricky business. A new social platform needs to solve a unique customer problem or find an under-served niche and then avoid assassination by Facebook (by having intellectual property and a huge war chest to protect it).

It has been so difficult breaking into the pantheon of elite social networks that in the past five years there has only been one new entry (Snapchat) that is attracting significant advertising dollars.

Until now.

Amazon Spark is news

This month Amazon launched its own social network, Spark. Amazon Spark is available through the mobile app and is sort of a mash-up of Instagram and Yelp. And I think it's going to be a hit for several reasons.

It passes the Schaefer sniff test: It occupies a unique niche and Amazon has the war chest to do it right. Also, unlike Google, which seems to use its best customers as guinea pigs as it tries to "fail fast," Amazon is more methodical. When it introduces something new, it is usually done right.

Another reason I think this is going to work is because it is addictive. Since you get to tailor your experience, you only see posts about products that will delight you. It's like flipping through an Instagram account of awesome products and how people are using them.

It's early days. Will it work? Who knows, but as a marketer, I am certainly paying attention to ANY significant new effort from Amazon and I think this is a winner.

And there's more.

In our new episode of The Marketing Companion, Tom Webster and I discuss this new social network and more. We also get into:

• Projections of augmented reality dominance
• YouTube versus Netflix in the video wars
• Lessons in customer service (or the lack of it)

Also, Tom and I experiment with "Chipmunk Speed." You'll have to hear it to believe it. You won't want to miss this!

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Go to Typeform.com/companion to receive a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

CoSchedule is the world’s number one marketing calendar utility, used by more than 8,000 companies. The application allows users to build out their entire marketing strategy from one master calendar, collaborate with their teams, and streamline their entire execution process in one place. CoSchedule is the web’s most popular marketing calendar and the fastest growing startup in North Dakota. Ranked as the best business tool built by a startup on Entrepreneur.com. Get your Marketing Companion 30-day free trial by heading to www.coschedule.com/marketing-companion.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

Google search goes away?

You might think this title is ridiculous. Maybe even sensational. But traditional web search is changing dramatically and it's a real concern for marketers and traditional SEO. Let me explain ... As consumers, we depend on a reliable list of products and references from Google to get through our daily lives, find the right dress, or answer a question in an argument. Google now processes 40,000 search inquiries every second of the day! On the business side, we want to be the answer. This is the heart of the digital marketing battle -- Whether organic or paid, we want to be at the top of the search results. This is the penultimate goal of content marketing - to earn our way to the top of that list of Google content recommendations. But what if there was no longer a list of results? What if there was just one answer ... And it wasn't coming from Google.

The new way to search emerges

In 2015, voice search went from a statistical zero to 10 percent of all search results and ComScore estimates that by 2020, 50 percent of all searches will be by voice. While it won’t likely replace existing screen-based search, voice search is already enough of a factor that businesses need to understand strategies for being found this way. And a significant portion of those strategies will be new: No one I know of really has an existing SEO strategy for Siri! As evidenced by a new Smart Audio Report from Edison Research and NPR, smart speakers are becoming part of our daily lives, and at least at this point, the winner is Amazon Echo (better known as "Alexa.") Google has its "Home" product and Microsoft, Apple and other companies will have serious entries soon, but the biggest beneficiary of the boom in voice-controlled personal assistants and search has been Amazon.

An indispensable voice

This new home appliance is having an increasing impact in people's lives. Developing a "voice search skill" is like learning to type with your thumbs five years ago. Smart speakers are becoming part of the fabric of our lives:

• 65% of smart speaker owners indicate they would not want to go back to life before getting their devices, and 42% say their device is now “essential” to their everyday life.
• 70% of smart speaker owners say they are listening to more audio at home since acquiring their device – across news/talk, podcasts, audiobooks and music.
• Among smart speaker owners, 45% expect to purchase another device – and, of the non-owners surveyed, more than half say they are likely to purchase their first smart speaker in the next six months.

Another important finding is that smart speaker owners are using the devices to manage their homes. Owners who make their home “smart” say they most often connect smart speakers to control home lighting, the thermostat, home security systems, and outdoor lighting and sprinklers.

Back in 2010, I wrote one of the most fun and fascinating blog posts of my life. A new trend was coming into view, led by a company called Klout. By analyzing millions of bits of social media data and the reactions the posts caused, the company proclaimed it could estimate your social media influence. At the time, it was a revolutionary idea. My post, which projected some of the implications of such an application, seemed to rock the social media world. It was shared more than 2,000 times and attracted hundred of comments, many of them harshly critical of this company and their bold claims. People lamented that they didn't want to be ranked and rated and that their social media presence was not something that could be assessed and dissected.

But there was something there ...

But I disagreed. I was intrigued by the idea. Using big data and algorithms to judge social media effectiveness made sense. Klout was a blunt instrument ... but it was also a start-up that I thought I was on to something. And, believe it or not, I was about the only blogger out there who did! I saw a huge potential in what I called at that time "social scoring." The term did not catch on, but Klout did, a forerunner to the many sophisticated social media influence measurement systems in the marketplace today. A few months after I wrote the post, I had a chance to meet the company's founder, Joe Fernandez, at SXSW. Joe was taking a tremendous amount of heat from the social media analysts and bloggers ... but I also learned that he receiving a lot of traction with some of the biggest brands in the world. Despite the fury in the world of bloggers, his idea was catching on. with corporate marketers. This was a new way to actually discover the passionate product advocates in the world, those who were gaining massive audiences through their independent content creation.

The cusp of a revolution

The world of power and influence was being flipped on its head. The traditional media editors and executives in the corner offices weren't calling the shots like they used to.  We were on the cusp of a marketing revolution, led by anyone willing to step up and let their voice become heard through blogs, videos, and podcasts. Most exciting to me, companies were actually enacting the first influencer marketing programs -- and seeing amazing results. While the social media world was pounding Klout, the critics were missing the bigger picture, the entire new influence trend! A frenzy was building to connect with these new media stars. Eventually my early interest in influence marketing helped me land a book contract to write Return On Influence, the first book on the subject of social influence marketing. The book came out in 2012 and at the end of the book I predicted that within two years this would become a mainstream marketing channel. And, it has.

The rise of influencer marketing

Five years later, I jumped at the chance to help Traackr, a frontrunner in the influence measurement space, to create a new piece of research aimed at determining the state of the art of the field from a B2B perspective. I interviewed leaders from Dell, Microsoft, Intel, Samsung and many other companies and discovered that the channel was maturing, and becoming quite sophisticated compared to those early days. In fact, today influencer relations is on par with how companies interact with the press or industry analysts. This marketing revolution became a fascinating podcast discussion with Tom Webster and I'm sure you'll love this episode.

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

The results don’t lie: Typeform has a 57% completion rate on surveys, against the industry average of 20% (according to Survey Gizmo). The difference? Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time interface creates a memorable user experience. Use images, animated GIFs, and even video to express yourself more fully. And Typform integrates with your favorite tools including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Airtable, and hundreds more. Remember: What you ask matters. How you ask is everything. Go to Typeform.com/companion to receive a special 30 percent off discount for our podcast fans!

CoSchedule is the world’s number one marketing calendar utility, used by more than 8,000 companies. The application allows users to build out their entire marketing strategy from one master calendar, collaborate with their teams, and streamline their entire execution process in one place. CoSchedule is the web’s most popular marketing calendar and the fastest growing startup in North Dakota. Ranked as the best business tool built by a startup on Entrepreneur.com. Get your Marketing Companion 30-day free trial by heading to www.coschedule.com/marketing-companion.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

Like many digital marketers, I look forward to the epic internet trends report produced each year by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Better known as "The Meeker Report," the epic slide deck is an exhaustive summary of the relevant trends we need to be considering for our companies as the digital world moves forward. Over the past few years, Tom Webster and I have discussed this report on our podcast, The Marketing Companion, and it has always been one of my favorite episodes of the year. However, this year, my keen-eyed co-host (who knows a thing or two about research) noticed a pattern that arguably tarnishes the reputation of the report. Much of the report obviously features Kleiner Perkins' investment partners, its specific financial interests, and it even has a section sponsored by another company. Sponsored content in a research report? Over the years, I've read a lot of analysis of the Meeker Report and I've never heard another person connect the dots like this. Kudos to Tom for his sharp-eyed observation. In the new episode of the Marketing Companion, Tom and I begin by dissecting the report, culling out data points which may impact our listeners, but we also look at this from a content marketing angle. What makes this report important, effective, and distinctive ... and will Kleiner Perkins ruin it over time by catering to sponsors and its own self-promotion? We don't imply that Kleiner Perkins has done anything sinister. In fact, we like the report. But at the same time, it is not necessarily an "Internet Trends" report ... it is a report that supports KP's investment decisions. This is a unique analysis and an important new perspective about our industry's most notable annual research. Listen to this episode and let us know what you think ... Resources mentioned in the podcast episode:

• The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly
• Content Shock
• Reliance Jio
• Tom Webster dives into a little more detail in his observations on this blog post

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

CoSchedule is the world’s number one marketing calendar utility, used by more than 8,000 companies. The application allows users to build out their entire marketing strategy from one master calendar, collaborate with their teams, and streamline their entire execution process in one place. CoSchedule is the web’s most popular marketing calendar and the fastest growing startup in North Dakota. Ranked as the best business tool built by a startup on Entrepreneur.com. Get your Marketing Companion 30-day free trial by heading to www.coschedule.com/marketing-companion.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

My Marketing Companion co-host Tom Webster told me that within a few weeks, three of his clients all came to him with the same question: How do we get our content discovered? The answer you typically hear in our space is "create quality content and it will rise to the top" but that does not work any more. Perhaps it never has. There are content discovery algorithms and bots working behind the scenes that hold us in our place. The digital world is presented to us in an ever-shrinking filter. Tom uses some examples from the music industry to show how content is starting to rise to the top through a never-ending popularity "loop." This reality  -- and how companies are dealing with it -- makes for an incredibly interesting episode of our podcast.

Content discovery strategies

Tom makes the point that in our digital world so much of the content we see is issued to us based on some popularity formula that we don't have the experience of surprise and delight we used to experience looking through a record store, a book store, or a magazine stand. Our options for discovery might are more limited in the digital sphere than in the "real world!" And that makes it harder for new content, new brands, and new ideas to be discovered. What we want is what we know, what is familiar. This implies that the goal for marketing in this environment is to create "habit," more than "loyalty." We also get into a great discussion on differentiation, segmentation, and lessons from a new New York Times blueprint to get their content discovered in the future through technology, quality and new content forms and new skill sets. You won't want to miss this!

In our show, we also introduce our new sponsor CoSchedule, the world's greatest marketing scheduling utility. Ranked as the best business tool built by a startup on Entrepreneur.com, you can receive your exclusive Marketing Companion 30-day free trial by heading to www.coschedule.com/marketing-companion.

And, on the lighter side, I reveal to Tom surprising common business phrases I picked up on my recent visit to Eastern Europe. Ready? Here we go ...

Please support our extraordinary sponsors.

Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

CoSchedule is the world's number one marketing calendar utility, used by more than 8,000 companies. The application allows users to build out their entire marketing strategy from one master calendar, collaborate with their teams, and streamline their entire execution process in one place. CoSchedule is the web’s most popular marketing calendar and the fastest growing startup in North Dakota. Ranked as the best business tool built by a startup on Entrepreneur.com. Get your Marketing Companion 30-day free trial by heading to www.coschedule.com/marketing-companion.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

The inevitability of a business world dominated by artificial intelligence seems to be the headline of the day, and yet the notion for many marketers may seem distant and unreal. On our Marketing Companion podcast, Tom Webster and I have been toying with this subject for years and decided it was time to devote a full-blown episode to the topic. Artificial intelligence and marketing -- what's real, what's now, what's ahead? Our latest episode is a far-ranging discussion that gets into:

• Customer service -- brighter days ahead
• The incremental change that is happening now
• AI as a source of innovation
• The revolution in marketing technology ... it's more than automation
• The impact on our jobs (Tom and I disagree on this point)

You won't want to miss this timely and important discussion. Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity. Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

SaneBox is like a super-smart assistant who’s been with you for years and knows what’s important to you. It moves unimportant emails from the inbox into a new folder and summarizes them in a digest, where you can quickly bulk-process them. An average SaneBox customer saves 12+ hours/month. It works with any email provider, client or device. And we have a special offer for you. Simply go to sanebox.com/marketing to receive a risk-free 14-day trial and $25 off your initial subscription! With glowing reviews from TechCrunch, Forbes, The New York Times and emailers everywhere, you will fall in love with email again.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

For decades, I've been a big fan of the sports channel ESPN. They have a great brand -- serious about sports, but not too serious about themselves. Their bold style of storytelling went far beyond the cable TV channel to web, print, apps, satellite radio, social media, and podcasts. They created exceptional content, bought into premium sports events, and seemed to be nurturing their brand as effectively as any company. From a content standpoint, they seemed to be doing everything right in the digital age. And they just laid-off 100 people. It just made no sense. ESPN is an iconic standard of multimedia content excellence. If they can't make money with their content, who can? What went wrong?

The content monetization challenge

When I dug into it, it became clear that the ESPN story provides a great case study about the bigger picture of content, branding, the expense of producing content, the success of Facebook and mobile ads, channel fragmentation, the transition from advertising to subscription models, "cord-cutting" in the television business, and more. It turns out that this is not just an ESPN issue. It's a content monetization issue. ESPN's parent company Disney said that interest in the sports network has never been higher -- it's just that the subscription audience has moved online where the content is free and ads have not caught up. This ad-industry fall-out may just be the tip of the iceberg. A recent New York Times article points out that TV ad spending is still probably too high and out of touch with the reality of where consumers are spending their time -- online and social media. Exploring the problems with ESPN reveals the rifts in the dynamic world of content and business today. And, it made a fantastic podcast topic! Please join me and Tom Webster as we dissect this case study, the content monetization challenge ... and the world's worst games. Ready? Please support our extraordinary sponsors.

Our content is free because of their generosity. 

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

SaneBox is like a super-smart assistant who’s been with you for years and knows what’s important to you. It moves unimportant emails from the inbox into a new folder and summarizes them in a digest, where you can quickly bulk-process them. An average SaneBox customer saves 12+ hours/month. It works with any email provider, client or device. And we have a special offer for you. Simply go to sanebox.com/marketing to receive a risk-free 14-day trial and $25 off your initial subscription! With glowing reviews from TechCrunch, Forbes, The New York Times and emailers everywhere, you will fall in love with email again.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

This headline is a bit misleading. In fact, you will probably receive far more than 20 incredible insights from our Marketing Companion conversation with BuzzSumo founder Steve Rayson. The episode posted a few days ago and we have already received more comments on this conversation than any other episode.

Arguably, Steve Rayson analyzes more content than any other person in the world -- billions of pieces in all. Tom Webster and I tap into his years of experience and I think you'll find some of his insights both remarkable ... and perhaps even a little controversial. Here's a sample:

Content doesn't go viral

Don’t bank on your content going viral. Content NEVER goes viral in the true sense of two people share and two of their friends share, then two of their friends share etc. It just doesn’t happen. Studies show that over 90 percent of content people read from social comes from just one point of separation from the original source. To get content to "move," you need multiple influential broadcasters at the same time.

Links are more important than shares. Links give your content longevity.

Most people share without reading

A big influencer recently shared a post on Twitter but forgot to include the link. It was still shared more than 50 times. None of them added the link and I assume few, if any, of them read the post. We see many examples where a post gets more shares than views.

People link and share for different reasons (can discuss the different reasons)

Both shares and links matter but links give your content longevity. Personally I much prefer links to shares.

Content marketing is hard work, not rocket science.

You need to produce regular content that is helpful to your audience. However, to produce unique and valuable content you need to be an expert or very knowledgeable. Otherwise it is difficult for you to add value. The data show the value of original research content as it gains both shares and links.

Try to help people and expect nothing in return. Share your knowledge, your network and your compassion. In time this will be returned and more.

Steve hates pop up forms and landing pages

As Mark Schaefer says in his speeches, "love is the killer app." Give away your content for free, don’t barter for an email address.

"I hate landing pages," Steve said. "I never use them on our site. If people like our content they can sign up. I particularly hate the forms that say sign up or click agree I am an idiot who doesn’t want more sales. However, the data suggests that pop up firms work, so we are likely to see more of them."

Content shock hasn’t even started yet.

Content Shock is real and here but we are just starting to see the impact. The number of internet users is growing, tools to create content are easier to use, and BuzzSumo is seeing significant growth in auto-generated content. Still early days. but content writing algorithms and tools are getting better every day. They will also get cheaper.

More content means you can cater to a wider range of audience interests, the long tail. It's easier to cater for multiple niche audiences if you write ten articles a week rather than one. Steve's research suggests that as sites increase frequency of content publishing they actually get more traffic and more shares, not less, though often less per article on average.

Once people realize "more is more" we will see very significant growth in content.  There are limitations like minimum quality, max frequency, etc. but lots of scope for growth.

Starting to get the picture? This episode is jam-packed with interesting insights you won't want to miss. let's get started ...

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

SaneBox is like a super-smart assistant who’s been with you for years and knows what’s important to you. It moves unimportant emails from the inbox into a new folder and summarizes them in a digest, where you can quickly bulk-process them. An average SaneBox customer saves 12+ hours/month. It works with any email provider, client or device. And we have a special offer for you. Simply go to sanebox.com/marketing to receive a risk-free 14-day trial and $25 off your initial subscription! With glowing reviews from TechCrunch, Forbes, The New York Times and emailers everywhere, you will fall in love with email again.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

I recently had a conversation with pioneering blogger Chris Brogan and he mentioned that he had ended his latest podcast series and had begun a new one. "I just thought it was time to create something new," he said. This seems like such a simple idea, and yet it set my wheels spinning. Creating content means building equity in an audience and a body of work. What would make you decide to walk away from that? My promise to you on this blog is that it will always be relevant, interesting, timely, and entertaining. It will be worth your time and I will never let you down. But what if the ideas no longer come to me? What if it becomes a chore? When is it time to end this thing ... or any content project on the web?

The art and science of stopping

I've been consistently creating content for eight years. I've blogged at least twice a week, every week, since 2009. I've written six marketing books in that timeframe. Tom Webster and I have published more than 100 episodes of The Marketing Companion podcast over four years. I've consistently posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn (and less consistently on YouTube and Snapchat) ... and I've never considered the thought of quitting. It's a delicate subject but an important one. What are the signs that you're getting stale, that your audience is dis-interested, or that it's simply time to start something new? Tom and I had never debated this before. We started The Marketing Companion in 2013 without ever having a discussion about our long-term goals, and our purpose ... let alone the end the game. We did it to learn about podcasting and have a little fun along the way (and we do). But the show has become a "thing" now. We have sponsors. We have thousands of people all around the world who listen to every show. But one day we will have to pull the trigger and stop. What does that look like? So this new episode of the podcast is dedicated to "stopping." Tom and I have a frank discussion about our expectations and endings. We reveal for the first time a period last year when the show was in crisis and what we did about it.  We're NOT stopping, but I think you'll enjoy this very unusual show on endings ...

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

SaneBox is like a super-smart assistant who’s been with you for years and knows what’s important to you. It moves unimportant emails from the inbox into a new folder and summarizes them in a digest, where you can quickly bulk-process them. An average SaneBox customer saves 12+ hours/month. It works with any email provider, client or device. And we have a special offer for you. Simply go to sanebox.com/marketing to receive a risk-free 14-day trial and $25 off your initial subscription! With glowing reviews from TechCrunch, Forbes, The New York Times and emailers everywhere, you will fall in love with email again.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers, and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. It is an indispensable application for content research, analysis and SEO. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

In 2012, I escaped the crazy crowds of SXSW to have dinner with my friend Tom Webster and his wife Tamsen. We had a magical evening and at the end of our time together I commented that I wish we had recorded the conversation. A lot of people would have loved to hear that debate! A year later, I was thinking about starting a podcast. It was a difficult decision because I didn't want to begin anything that would distract me from creating great content on the blog. I decided I needed a podcasting partner and there was literally only one person I could do it with -- Tom. When I asked him, he didn't hesitate. Would he want to do a podcast with me? "Absolutely," he said. And with that one word, we began a four-year journey together that has culminated this week in the 100th episode of our show. For 99 episodes, we have torn into marketing's biggest issues but for this milestone, we asked our friend Douglas Burdette to interview us about the process and perils of creating 100 episodes of a podcast. I think you'll enjoy a bit of reflection on our show and as always, we can't let a show go by without having a good bit of fun along the way. Thank you so much for supporting us in this journey. We never take you for granted and we'll always be committed to creating the world's most entertaining business podcast for you!

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

Is social media turning into a three-horse race? New research by Edison indicates that Americans are starting to migrate to three big social media platforms, while usage and preference is flattening out on secondary platforms. In this scintillating, 99th episode of The Marketing Companion, Tom Webster reveals a study 2o years in the making: The Infinite Dial. Some of the highlights of this show:

• The social media shake-out: Why Snapchat will last and Twitter is in trouble
• Emergence of smart speakers (like Google Home and Alexa) ... and why Apple is falling behind.
• The profound implications of the extraordinary growth in video subscriptions
• The decline of advertising opportunities and the impact on marketing
• Surprising listener trends in podcasts (and why young people aren't going there)
• The rise of YouTube as a music channel

In this episode, Tom and I also read our spam, because we can. Who's ready to rumble? Resources mentioned in this podcast: Edison's Infinite Dial Report Norm McDonald's Moth Joke.

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!

If you've been following popular culture at all, you've probably learned by now of the downfall (at least temporarily) of YouTube's greatest star, PewDie Pie. PewDiePie, a Swedish gamer and humorist, is the first person alive to hit 10 billion views on YouTube. He pulls in more money each year than most Hollywood movie stars and he's the epicenter of YouTube culture. And then it all went south. The Wall Street Journal documented at least nine of his videos that had anti-Semitic messages. Two in particular went viral, one were two people in Africa held up a provocative sign and another where an actor dressed as Jesus explained that Hitler had done nothing wrong. The outfall was swift. An affiliate of Disney terminated his contract with a thud. His career was over, right? Not so fast. Here's the rest of the story.

• In his initial apology video, PewDiePie seemed stunned. He said, "What I really don't understand is how you people did not get the joke." In a second video he railed at The Wall Street Journal for not understanding new media and accused the organization of targeting him.
• Millions of online fans around the world defended him, and after the article, his subscriber base increased at its fastest rate ever.
• Several journalists also came to his defense, including a prominent Jewish writer.
• Nonplussed, PewDiePie created a video where he goes back in time and kills Hitler to clear his name. It received over 6.5 million views.

On the surface this makes no sense. How can people rally behind a person who sponsored those kind of messages? The truth is deeper, more subtle, and there is a profound message here for every company employing Millennials or selling to them. Something has changed. This is the topic of a fascinating new episode of The Marketing Companion. Any show that begins with rich Corinthian leather and ends with Hitler has to be interesting (you have to hear it to believe it). I think this is one of better shows and it pulls in some help from Chris Brogan. If you've never listened to the Marketing Companion before, give it a try. If you don't laugh in the first 90 seconds I'll give you your money back. Here we go ...

Please support our extraordinary sponsors. Our content is free because of their generosity.

Many thanks to our friend Scott Monty for the awesome show intro. Be sure to check out his amazing newsletter The Full Monty and his new podcast available here: fullmontyshow.com.

 BuzzSumo is the world’s best way to discover, analyze and amplify your content. Run over to BuzzSumo today for a 14 day free trial. Beyond data, BuzzSumo offers priceless insights into content discovery, monitoring, influencers and outreach, content research and planning, and competitor research. Find out why so many Marketing Companion fans are now hooked on Buzzsumo. Check out BuzzSumo’s powerful technology to look at the hottest content trends down to the hour!