In the latest Marketing Companion, we take a "behind the scenes" examination of The Content Code, a new book that charts a course for winning in a world of overwhelming information density. But along the way, Tom Webster and I also discuss ...

• A few takeaways from SXSW 2015
• The virtures of a sub-premium dating service
• Why the four benefits of traditional publishing are obsolete, and what I did about it.
• The reason why this is the hardest time to be in marketing -- ever.
• The Alpha Audience -- Why this is the bedrock of your business.
• Why you should be writing for the smallest possible audience.
• Why it's time to re-evaluate the sacred cow of SEO.
• Why the success of digital marketing might rely on gray social media.

Wow. That sounds like one great podcast, doesn't it? Well let's stop this dilly-dallying and get right to it!

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

gShift’s Web Presence Analytics platform provides agencies and brands with search, social and mobile content marketing data in one place. Monitor and report on an entire web presence. Create smarter, faster content through gShift’s proprietary data. Report on the engagement and performance of your content marketing investment.

Our podcast is also brought to you by Voices Heard Media. Please check out this tremendous resource for scaling social media engagement. Take a look at building an engaged and relevant audience through innovative new games, contests, analytics, polling platforms, and other innovations.

I used to work for a big metals and mining company called Alcoa. Whenever I worked on a new customer contract, we always had an extremely conservative legal position, especially when it came to anything that had to do with the competition. Everybody in sales and marketing had to go through annual training programs about what to do if we ever saw a competitor, or a competitor spoke to us. If we were attending a trade show where a competitor would be, we had to get written permission ahead of time from the Legal Department and brush up on our training again. Does this sound like overkill to you? It might make more sense if you knew that the company was the subject of the most famous lawsuit against a corporate monopoly in U.S. history. Alcoa actually lost the suit, leading to the break-up of the company into smaller parts that eventually grew into the company's competitors. Can you imagine what that would be like? Your former manufacturing plants and employees turn into your competitors almost overnight? Obviously something that dramatic would have a powerful impact on the company culture. No wonder Alcoa was so conservative when it came to anything that looked like monopolistic behavior. Oh by the way ... that famous legal ruling?  It occurred in 1944.

Company culture rules.

Can you see how complex and important corporate culture can be? An event that happened decades ago still influences the company culture today. You really have to dissect the cultural DNA of a company to understand how it works. And I believe there is no more powerful influence on a company's ability to change and adopt new marketing practices than culture. This is the subject of an extremely interesting new Marketing Companion podcast. Of course Tom Webster and I also introduce three new Marketing Companion products including a discount escort service and subpar child care. Simply a natural connection, right? But that's another story. The challenge of corporate culture and how to get over the resistance to change is a struggle for almost all of us today. In this podcast we discuss:

• Why so many executives are slow to change and what to do about it
• How to get a change effort started: education, quick wins and the safe sandbox
• The foundational blocks of leadership
• Why you MUST document your progress as a buffer against future change
• The social media quote that gives Mark a stomach ache.
• The march of Milennials is on. How will this impact culture?
• Culture swap -- Can we cross-pollinate cultures?

Are you ready? Let's do this thing!

Resources mentioned in this podcast episode:

Merav Chen

Douglas Burdett

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

gShift’s Web Presence Analytics platform provides agencies and brands with search, social and mobile content marketing data in one place. Monitor and report on an entire web presence. Create smarter, faster content through gShift’s proprietary data. Report on the engagement and performance of your content marketing investment.

Our podcast is also brought to you by Voices Heard Media. Please check out this tremendous resource for scaling social media engagement. Take a look at building an engaged and relevant audience through innovative new game, analytics, and polling platforms.

A lot of people are ga-ga over the "social enterprise," a nirvana state where every employee is a brand advocate blissfully tweeting and posting on behalf of the company each day. Obviously this is far-off dream for many organizations, and perhaps not even desirable (gasp). The issue came to the forefront again last week when the web blew up over possible legislation in the state of South Carolina banning the use of social media in the workplace. Outrageous you say? Unheard of? Dystopian? You might be surprised to know I agree with the legislation, and after Tom Webster heard my argument, he changed his mind and agreed, too. Luckily, we have the whole conversation recorded on our podcast this week. We also have a lively discussion of the best and worst Super Bowl ads ... and we have some pretty divergent views! Ready to listen to another awesome adventure with The Marketing Companion? Let's do this!

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

gShift’s Web Presence Analytics platform provides agencies and brands with search, social and mobile content marketing data in one place. Monitor and report on an entire web presence. Create smarter, faster content through gShift’s proprietary data. Report on the engagement and performance of your content marketing investment.

Our podcast is also brought to you by Voices Heard Media. Please check out this tremendous resource for scaling social media engagement. Take a look at building an engaged and relevant audience through innovative new game, analytics, and polling platforms.

In the latest edition of The Marketing Companion podcast, Tom Webster and I climb all over today's hottest marketing topics. Here's a sampling of our latest audio adventure:

• Tom amazes Mark with his knowledge of the Seven Dwarves.
• Cancelling Google Glass -- Is this a blip on the wearable tech radar or has Google set the industry back a step?
• Under-used social media platforms -- Mark tried an experiment that increased his page views by more than 10X. Would it work for you? What platform seems to be attracting more thought leaders than any other? Clever ways to use a new Soundcloud with audio content.
• Mark declares that they are the World's Dumbest Marketers. Tom agrees.
• Personal marketing priorities -- What are Mark and Tom working on to get more bang for their marketing buck?
• Mark's advice on the very first step you should tackle if you are starting a new marketing job.
• Tom embarrasses himself by momentarily forgetting he is on mute.
• What are most exciting digital trends? Mark and Tom weigh in the most interesting digital developments to watch. One of them could turn into a big business.
• SoundClown. You need to hear it to believe it.

Now I know it's hard to believe we fit all of this into a 30 minute podcast. You're just going to have to hear it to believe it:

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

gShift’s Web Presence Analytics platform provides agencies and brands with search, social and mobile content marketing data in one place. Monitor and report on an entire web presence. Create smarter, faster content through gShift’s proprietary data. Report on the engagement and performance of your content marketing investment.

Our podcast is also brought to you by Voices Heard Media. Please check out this tremendous resource for scaling social media engagement. Take a look at building an engaged and relevant audience through innovative new game, analytics, and polling platforms.

This week we scrapped plans for the podcast we had planned to address a controversy that emerged at Edison Research, Tom Webster's company. It was time for us to reflect on the great two-edged sword we all face on the Internet: the historically important opportunity to publish and be heard, and the vulnerability we face to be skewered without compassion ... or facts. Overall, the Internet is a good place. A VERY good place, in fact. But it is also a reflection of the human race and about 2 percent of the population discovers some psychological reward in being angry. Twenty years ago, a business could probably ignore those people without much damage but today there is a very real chance that strategy will make the problem worse. Big business or small, we must be aware of these risks and the appropriate responses. In this discussion, we cover ...

• Guidelines for responding or not responding to Internet haters
• The fear of toxicity ... real and imagined
• Learning to handle trolls
• When to go to the mat and when to walk away
• Showing your true colors in the face of hate
• Is 100 percent customer satisfaction possible?

Ready to do this thing? Here we go: Resources mentions in this episode The Infinite Dial blog post by Larry Rosin A six-step plan to respond to negative comments on the web Research on 98 percent customer satisfaction survey Illustration: Check out the beautiful peace sign art by Laura Barbosa

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

gShift’s Web Presence Analytics platform provides agencies and brands with search, social and mobile content marketing data in one place. Monitor and report on an entire web presence. Create smarter, faster content through gShift’s proprietary data. Report on the engagement and performance of your content marketing investment.

Our podcast is also brought to you by Voices Heard Media. Please check out this tremendous resource for scaling social media engagement. Take a look at building an engaged and relevant audience through innovative new game, analytics, and polling platforms.