I think everyone should work on having an effective online presence — a personal brand. It’s like an insurance policy for your career. If you’re “known,” more doors will open, more calls will be returned, you’ll have more choices in your career.

Like most people I know, Amanda Russell barrelled into her brand without a clear plan. When her career as an elite athlete was upended by injury, she took her re-hab exercises online and became one of the first YouTube fitness influencers.

She leveraged this experience into business ventures, starting and selling a couple businesses. Her next venture was in academia, creating pioneering programs at Northwestern University and the Univerisity of Texas. Along the way she’s consulted to some of the biggest brands in the world.

Sounds like a dream, right? But something was missing. Amanda realized she wasn’t practicing what she had been preaching — authenticity, human connection, and taking risks. She spent months working through her next step and she discusses this journey in the next episode of The Marketing Companion.

I think this is an interesting point in time to look at this issue. Some of us have been working on personal brands for years … 15 for me! But many are out-growing their skin and it’s time to evolve. Amanda provides a case study on personal brand evolution.

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 311

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

The post Exploring the personal branding pivot appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

The Uprising Alumni

Twice a year, I host a marketing retreat called The Uprising. It’s not unusual for people to call this “magical” or “transformational” as it blends actionable marketing ideas, meaningful new relationships, and a connection with food, fun, and nature. I created this event out of my own frustration that marketing conferences were overwhelming, impersonal, and focused on iterative, small thinking. This retreat is limited to 30 people and focused on the future and our relevance as marketers.

I’ve captured a few highlights from this intimate gathering. The major themes were:

• Artificial intelligence
• Personal branding
• Future of the brand
• Word-of-mouth marketing
• Megatrends

These priorities were pre-determined by the participants. Here are some highlights:

Artificial Intelligence

Of course, this theme was woven throughout the retreat. I kicked off the discussion with high-level observations about the near future, including:

• Navigating the rapid pace of change
• AI Agents and their impact on work
• Implications of relying on AI as an “external brain”
• How generative AI will lead to even more addictive behaviors

In a world where AI increasingly curates our content, there is a marketing opportunity to introduce serendipity and surprise into customer lives.

Dr. Lisa Palmer gave a stunning presentation about the “AI legal storm.” What happens when AI can produce mass complaints, employee claims, and destructive comments against an organization? The current legal system will be overwhelmed, and it’s happening now.

Robbie Fitzwater, a university lecturer and entrepreneur, provided practical tips for integrating AI into our lives and businesses. He is achieving massive productivity gains by building AI into repeatable processes like quality checks on his emails and social media posts.

Daniel Nestle and Tyler Stambaugh led open discussions on AI business integration.

Personal Branding

Lauren Colbert

Before each Uprising retreat, I survey the participants to observe their educational priorities. For the first time, “personal branding” came out as number one.

Lauren Colbert of Filament led the group through a hands-on workshop on determining where each person fits in their business eco-system. One exercise encouraged participants to create a personal brand “haiku” by naming:

• Whom do I serve? (in five words)
• What do I do for them? (in seven words)
• Why does it matter (in five words)

Mark and Amanda Russell

The group also had a unique opportunity to hear the inspirational personal branding story of Amanda Russell, who discussed the evolution of her career from elite athlete to pioneering YouTube star, entrepreneur, consultant, academic, thought leader, and author. For me, there were a few lessons:

• Amanda’s intense tenacity in the face of life obstacles.
• How she was able to assess her strengths and deploy resources at each stage of her life to get to the next step (as a broke college grad, she mailed companies old running shoes as a sign of her work ethic!).
• How she was able to view her “shit jobs” as a path to a achieve a greater vision.
• How she demonstrated courage to say “no” to financial opportunities when they were not aligned with her values.

A key theme of the personal brand discussions was considering the feeling or emotion your brand elicits in others. Think beyond functional relevance.

By building meaningful connections and providing valuable, empowering experiences for audiences, creators can sustainably monetize content and thrive in a changing world.

Future of the brand

Claudia Sciaretta

We were honored to have Claudia Sciarretta, Global Insights Director of Pepsico, return to The Uprising with views on connecting customer research with brand strategy. Claudia gave a fascinating talk that included insights on:

• Using customer data to discern changes in “slow trends” (like values and basic needs) versus “fast trends” that might represent short-term opportunities. One of her biggest challenges is figuring out which trends will last, and communicating that to Pepsico’s many brands.
• When we heard from Claudia two years ago, she talked about the end of the brand “bonfire” as companies focus on being relevant in cultural moments. This year, she talked about brands actually changing culture – a bold and interesting idea.
• She described how she is integrating AI into generating and unlocking insights, especially when it comes to micro trends in different countries.

Sara Wilson debuted a new talk on the community-powered brand. Her premise is that consumers are increasingly barricaded in “digital campfires” outside traditional social listening platforms. Somehow brands must earn their way into these communities.

Strategies included:

1) IRL (in real life) events
2) Media and Brand Partnerships
3) Creator Collaborations
4) Social content

To achieve success, brands must be clear on what they stand for, identify organic communities relevant to their customers, and activate within the communities.

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Sarah Neely

There was synergy between all of the presentations at The Uprising, but the connection to WOMM was particularly strong throughout the retreat. There is a recognition that as customers become unreachable by traditional media,  we need to connect in new ways. While trust in companies and the media might be in decline, we still trust each other – a strong business case for WOMM.

Sarah Neely is a word-of-mouth marketing expert with extensive experience with brands like Red Bull, Major League Baseball, and Chipotle. She led a workshop to help each participant explore WOMM opportunities for their own businesses.

While WOMM success can be a complex cocktail of research, data-informed strategies, and identification of customer groups, Sarah helped participants focus on the authentic, relevant, and helpful story elements most likely to create word of mouth success.

I debuted a new speech that will accompany the ideas of my book, Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World. While not strictly a word-of-mouth marketing book, Audacious describes a path to disruptive marketing that will help businesses stand out in a world swamped by AI content. All of this ultimately fuels WOMM, the purest and most trusted form of marketing.

Mark Schaefer

I opened the presentation with data showing why marketing is so boring today. I then provided lively case studies that illustrated three paths to disruptive marketing:

Disrupt the story narrative

• Start with wrong
• Leverage anxiety
• Break taboos

Disrupt where the story is told

• Add awe
• Mix the media
• Lean into customer signals

Disrupt who tells the story

• Critical importance of UGC
• The math behind WOMM
• Social objects

Mega trends

It’s always an honor to host Jola Burnett, SVP of Ipsos, and learn her views of the critical mega-trends impacting our world. Jola focused on several key areas:

Consumer confidence in the economy, which is high and growing in the U.S. and other places in the world.

The AI threat to news and how this will negatively impact consumers. The lines between news and entertainment have blurred, leading to a decline in journalistic integrity. Most people cannot discern disinformation. Trust issues spill over. Most of the issues facing news and journalism apply to your brand messaging, too.

Cookies can quantify how many times a digital ad appears onscreen (“viewable impressions”). But more powerful brand tracking frameworks can evaluate campaign performance over time in recognition, emotion and retention, which Ipsos calls “memory currency.”

By focusing on memory currency, marketers can go beyond whether an ad was simply viewable. They can craft more influential attention-getting ads while centering their real target: human impact.

Most employees want to be more creative at work. There is workplace tension about having a creative outlet versus working in a “sea of sameness.” Generative AI could be a release valve for this tension.

Lisa Palmer and Jola Burnett

Ipsos sees marketing becoming much more visually-oriented, driven by easily-accessible AI capabilities.

Jola showed data illustrating that most people are not worried about AI. My view is that they’re not worried because they don’t know!

Over the next few years, marketers will be challenged to navigate authenticity alongside the explosion of AI-generated and hyper-personalized content.

Jola concluded with a fascinating talk about the future of parenting, including the impact of AI, shifts in values, mental health, climate anxiety, and rising financial costs. A major opportunity is for brands to help buffer this stress of parenting:

• Help me be fully present at the key daily and life moments of my kids
• Help me seamlessly shift between work mode, parent mode and elder caregiver mode
• Prevent me from missing out on anything important (work promotions, kids’ milestones, unexpected curveballs, etc.)

The Uprising Conclusions

As you can see, The Uprising was quite an intellectual goldmine. But this is only a fraction of the professional value of the event.

Most of my “a-ha” moments came from the group discussions connected to each of these presentations. For example, I realized that AI algorithms and exposure to social media might be depressing creativity, risk-taking, and fun. Jola’s talk opened my eyes to the vast and complex new needs of parents. A talk I had with Uprising friends led me to realize the unexplored new roles for employees in word-of-mouth marketing.

That is the true beauty of The Uprising. We don’t think out of the box. We combine boxes for breakthrough ideas.

And lest you believe that all we did was hurt our brains with all these new ideas, we also had plenty of time for relaxation and fun, including hikes, meals, reflection time, and a private concert.

The Uprising is an extraordinary experience that I hope you’ll experience for yourself one day soon. Registration is now open for the next retreat. Hope to see you there!

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post The future of marketing happens here appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

My theory is that if you created a word cloud of the most popular subjects on LinkedIn, somewhere between “let me help you skyrocket your sales” and “AI will destroy us all” is imposter syndrome. It seems to be everywhere.

One of the people I follow declared that she is writing a book about imposter syndrome and then decided that she couldn’t do it because of imposter syndrome. It seems to be a ubiquitous subject these days.

On a personal level, I don’t suffer from it much. I figure if I am invited someplace, I belong there. Either the people who believe in me are stupid, or I should be there. And I don’t think people are stupid. I have not met too many people who are immune from imposter syndrome. Why me? I’m not sure but I received a lot of positive reinforcement early in my career that might have helped.

But it’s still a frustration in my business coaching practice. For people I help, imposter syndrome seems common. I can see how worthy and talented they are, and maybe I can get them to believe it for a week, but then they devolve and feel the insecurity a week later.

In the latest episode of The Marketing Companion, Amanda Russell and I talk about different sides of this issue, and she brings up an important idea. In her days as an elite athlete, she underwent “brain training” to help develop the mental toughness to overcome injuries and setbacks. Why wouldn’t we use these techniques in the business setting?

It’s an interesting conversation you won’t want to miss! Just click here to listen in >

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion episode 293

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy Unsplash.com

The post Beyond Imposter Syndrome appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

One of my podcast co-hosts, Amanda Russell, has an incredibly tough marketing problem.

She is on the cutting edge of a movement that could overturn sports as we know it. Traditional sports training is destroying the mental and physical health of young women. In some cases, it is taking their lives.

The research is there. Women are speaking out. But how do you get the world to pay attention, especially when it threatens careers, storied sports teams, the Olympics, and a multi-billion-dollar industry?

That is the topic of the latest episode of The Marketing Companion podcast. Amanda talks about her own health struggles, her passionate fight to be heard, and a bold attempt to change the sports world.

The latest episode of The Marketing Companion is sure to inspire you and teach you something new. Just click here to listen!

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion episode 286

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

The post Marketing a radical new idea that could change sports appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

When I dress for the day, the first question that enters my head is, “I wonder how old this shirt is?”

So … I’m not a shopper. But I do love studying the marketing behind shopping trends, and there is something going on right now that is blowing my mind. Temu and Shein are dominating the retail scene, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

And when I say out of nowhere, Temu was founded 18 months ago and is now the most downloaded retail app in the world with 250 million customers. Shein has been around longer, but since the pandemic, it has become the number one fashion retailer in the world. It’s the second-most downloaded retail app.

The fascinating marketing case study here is the non-intutive way they did it.

Both companies are leveraging a massively large selection and unbelievably low prices — taking advantage of the low-cost (and controversial) Chinese supply chain. Low prices have always had a place in the value shopper’s heart, but there is something more going on here.

Shein and the eCommerce revolution

Shein is offering basement-level prices — think $3 for a bikini — and yet seems to be pulling off fast deliveries, respectable quality, and responsive customer service. That doesn’t make sense.

Another achievement that goes against the grain is that these are cheap Chinese goods, and yet the brands are winning the hearts of fashion-conscious teens as a preferred fashion statement. Again … what?

Both companies are driving awareness hard through aggressive, ubiquitous digital advertising. But the advertising and promotions offer even deeper discounts on already low prices. They continue to build loyalty by introducing 1,000 new products a day and offering incentives for customers to earn loyalty points. Rapid innovation, aggressive advertising, and loyalty rewards are not typical hallmarks of a bargain basement brand!

The companies are innovating so fast that they have no time for product descriptions, let alone SEO. They seem to be getting by on product photos, thousands of positive reviews, and push from teens doing “unboxing videos” from their shopping adventures.

Now, here’s where it gets really weird. Research shows that about 60% of Shein’s customers consider themselves eco-buyers. They’ll even spend more for sustainable products. Yet Shein’s “fast fashion” is basically throw-away consumerism and the company has been hammered by both environmentalists and critics of harsh labor practices. Does purpose matter to these consumers … at all?

It’s an enigma that Amanda Russell and I joyfully explore in this new episode of The Marketing Companion. We explore all these ideas and suggest that these shopping sites don’t just threaten Amazon, they are becoming the new social media communities.

You won’t want to miss this. Click here to listen:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion episode 280!

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

The post How Shein and Temu threw a bomb at eCommerce conventions appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I’ve been noticing a lot of messy marketing in the world and it’s driving me crazy.

For example, there is a commercial playing during American sports events that is just SO ANNOYING. It’s a Burger King commercial like this one:

Why does this bother me so much? The singer is off-key.

I’m not the only one who noticed. The most popular search term for this advertisement is “annoying Burger King commercial.”

Burger King is a successful chain that can afford a decent singer. The commercial also has a throwback 1980s sensibility that reminds me of an 8-track tape.

So I can safely assume Burger King is TRYING TO BE ANNOYING.

Why? I had to know.

When does it actually makes sense to make your marketing messy? How can mistakes, problems, and even off-key singers improve your marketing? Some friends provided examples …

Messy marketing in action

Jeff Tarran is a direct mail marketing expert for Gunderson Direct. He said “ugly” really works in direct mail because it creates a feel of local and demands attention. Jeff told me that “Ugly sells.” Design perfection can actually depress response.

Mail with scuff marks and even wine stains get attention:

Jim MacLeod, an expert in brand experience, added another perspective: “Friction can build brand affinity when it’s done right. Birkin Bags are popular BECAUSE of the level of effort it takes to purchase one. If they were easy to get, people would care less.

Anna Bravington, a marketing strategist, noted that many brands trying to appeal to a younger generation are going for an “unfinished” look: “Ryan Air, for example, is really embracing the raw and fun aspect of the TikTok video format with no fancy overlays and a look like it was just straight out of a phone.

“Research shows that people are around 2x more likely to love a brand that is perceived as more human. So, bringing imperfection into something that is usually so polished brings a certain human vulnerability.”

In fact, “raw” is in right now. Bruce Scheer shared with me that the two biggest Instagram trends are:

1. Authentic, unedited photos
2. Desaturated, moody palettes

Scarcity might be the best known form of friction. Spencer Crandall of Small Biz Pathfinders told me:

“I owned a store that sold LEGO products and the reason it worked was our tables full of bulk random LEGO parts. It was a daily treasure hunt for those special rare parts for the enthusiasts and the fact that today just may be the day they come across a find. That kicks those endorphins into high gear. That’s what exclusivity is about — facing the possibility of not getting the thing, but maybe actually getting the thing!

And back to that annoying Burger King commercial … Mary Kathryn Johnson, a conversation designer, had this take on it:

The Burger King ad is a perfect example of indoctrinating a new generation to the brand by being off-key with the song of the last generation. They’re not changing the song, just making it off-key. I think this is a great subtle marketing tool for a brand to attract customers who have a preconceived notion of their products/services, and the brand can try to change that perception for the new generation of consumers.

The Pratfall Effect: Messy Marketing Genius

My exploration of messy marketing hit a new gear when I mentioned it to my friend and podcast co-host Amanda Russell. She said, “Hey! Have you heard of the Pratfall Effect?”

The pratfall effect is a psychological phenomenon that describes the way people’s perceptions of someone’s competence can be influenced by their display of vulnerability or mistakes, often in a humorous or endearing manner. This effect was first studied by social psychologist Elliot Aronson in 1966.

The main idea is that mistakes can disrupt initial perceptions, make somebody look more endearing or attractive, and enhance an image of fun and humility.

The Pratfall Effect is more likely to work when the individual’s competence is already relatively high. If someone who is perceived as incompetent makes a mistake, it may not have the same endearing effect because it reinforces the existing negative perception.

Messy marketing for the win!

OK get ready for this! Amanda and I recorded an entire episode of The Marketing Companion dedicated to messy marketing and the Pratfall Effect! So. Much. Fun.

• We talk about our own experiences with mistakes and vulnerability
• We explain how Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie breaks a pattern — and why that won’t work for most people.
• Why is a chunky cookie more endearing than a perfectly round one?
• How the Pratfall Effect can actually destroy your reputation.
• And then there is the case of an $85 pocket square.

One of the most fun episodes ever. Click here to get in on the conversation!

Click here to get messy with this new podcast episode 274!

Please support our sponsors who bring you this amazing episode!

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy Pexels.com

The post Is it time for you to try messy marketing? appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

My friend Amanda Russell and I had a vital discussion about the connection between strategy, AI-generated content, and the personal brand.

Obviously, these factors are interconnected. For many creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses, content drives the brand, and the brand drives the business.

We are in a period of incredible upheaval as AI-generated content swarms our lives like locusts on a grassy plain. When the cloud of uncertainty lifts, where might we see a stable place where human content might thrive?

There are always exceptions, but here is a view of where I think it will settle out:

• The cells in red represent content categories that will be dominated by AI-generated content.
• Yellow cells indicate there will be a mix.
• Green cells represent categories where humans can still have a dominant role.

The over-arching theme is that where consumers need only information, AI-generated content will overtake human roles. If consumers seek inspiration and insight, they will seek out human thought leaders and artists.

Let’s examine this on a more granular level.

AI-generated content and information

Column one is entirely red. We already see jobs displaced where emotional connection to a human insight is not important. When we read news or see a new logo, we usually have no idea the name of the human connected to that work. This type of content is ruled by patterns. Even a news story is formulaic, as Google recently demonstrated. I’m not saying there won’t be a human hand behind the overall strategy in this column, but any commodity content will probably move to AI.

Column two is the area where there will always be a mix of creators, depending on whether a consumer is looking for information or inspiration. Many corporate blogs will be overrun by AI-generated content, and we are already seeing the massive automation of social media posts. The scale could tip toward humans in this column if there is a meaningful connection between a creator or corporate leader and an audience.

The outlier here is podcasts. Generative AI podcasts are here, and some of them are interesting, pitting virtual historical figures against each other in debate. But overall, I can’t imagine a world where AI podcasts would be anything but a niche category. Most people will prefer insight and inspiration from a real person and a real voice.

Column three is almost entirely human. My thinking goes like this … While we might be entertained by a gallery of AI-generated art, we would probably want to buy fine art from a real artist (and the fine art market is booming right now!)

Similarly, AI-generated content has flooded the book industry, but most people will choose to buy a book from a beloved author who is expressing personal experiences and interpreting the world through their stories.

Many movies are already dominated by AI-generated images, and there is no reason scripts, scores, and even the actors cannot come from a bot. As I watch an intense battle scene in a Marvel movie, I wonder if any of it is filmed in a real place with real people. We already accept AI-generated content as a superior experience in many film genres. The recent Academy Award winner Everything Everywhere All at Once could not have been created without it!

I hope there will be more AI-based movies. I’d like to see the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, and Robin Williams in the same film.

When do you cross the line?

I realize you’re looking at where AI might be able to essentially replace humans at tasks here…

Obviously, there is going to be a layer of AI applied to everything we do, even novels and podcasts. I’m sure when I write my next book, I will be able to use it many imaginative ways to help me ideate, organize, and edit.

My friend Frank Prendergast comments: “What has been on my mind lately is how much we are still thinking of content and AI in a binary way — was this AI or human?

“I think AI will be so baked into tools and processes everything will be somewhat AI … Which raises even more complications for your axis.

“If I read a blog post from someone on the assumption it’s written by them, and I find out it was actually AI, I’ll feel cheated. Like I’ve been a victim of the old bait-and-switch.

“But where’s my line? Is 20% AI OK? 40%? 60? I have no idea. And how would it even be measured?

“Will that question be a thing of the past when AI is ubiquitous?

“And at that point, is it more likely more of your green turns red? Or reddish?”

Frank makes a great point. ChatGPT is to writing like the calculator is to math. We don’t feel compelled to declare that we used a calculator to do math. When does AI simply become … life?

Implications of AI-generated content and careers

I have been writing about the intersection of AI, strategy, and personal brands for some time, and there are three consistent themes that I elevate:

1. If you are in a career providing information, you’re vulnerable. If you provide insights and inspiration, you’ll probably be OK.
2. Going forward, the personal brand is everything. If you mean something to people, then your content will mean something too. I’m not worried about blog readers abandoning me for AI-generated content because I am known and trusted. For many, my posts, podcast, and books are part of the fabric of their lives.
3. Another theme of my practice has been “the most human company wins.” I’ve exhorted for years the importance of attaching real humans and real stories to the corporate content environment. Is there an opportunity for your company to inspire instead of just inform? Your “informing” is about to become overwhelmed by AI competition.

Join the discussion

In the latest Marketing Companion podcast episode, Amanda Russell explains that she probably would read a book generated by AI. There is no cut-and-dried guideline here! But I hope the chart I present today makes sense!

I hope you’ll choose to learn more about this topic by clicking here to listen to the full podcast episode exploring the intersection of strategy, AI-generated content, and the personal brand. Amanda is always full of energizing ideas and insights!

Click here to listen to Episode 278

Please support our wonderful sponsors who bring this content to your inbox.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Build Your Brand with the Architects!

Introducing a research-first podcast that builds revenue, not condos — The Marketing Architects!  Keep up with the biggest marketing trends and news through discussions based in marketing, psychology, and economics research. Along the way, learn about marketing accountability, category leadership, brand-building, and much more. Featuring a team of experienced marketers whose blueprints for success are marketing strategies that have actually been proven to work.

Today’s image courtesy MidJourney

The post The hierarchy of AI-generated content: Where humans thrive appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

In my career, I have served as marketing advisor and consultant to a wide variety of industries … automotive, pharmaceutical, hospitality, sports, and consumer products to name a few. I find that in general the foundations of marketing research and insight a scalable across almost any challenge I’ve faced. But there is one segment I’ve avoided, and always will — luxury brand marketing.

The dynamics, language, and culture of luxury brand marketing is so far beyond my life, perhaps my understanding, that I don’t think I could be effective in that world.

Which is why the new episode of The Marketing Companion is so intensely and utterly fascinating! In fact, I think this is one of the most amazing discussions we have ever had on the show.

My co-host Amanda Russell is an advisor to the CEOs of some of the most exclusive luxury brands in the world, including Bottega Veneta, Lamborghini, Gucci, and many others.

This discussion will make your head spin. Topics include:

• What drives somebody to re-finance their home to buy a handbag or luxury watch?
• How the digital transformation may actually jeopardize the allure of a luxury brand marketing
• Why 50 percent of the luxury brand marketing today may not exist by 2030
• Why China drives much of the luxury brand marketing trends
• How the future of luxury brand marketing may depend on building community
• The essential role of word-of-mouth marketing
• Why the most exclusive brand in the world doesn’t care about their brand because they think their customer is the true brand. In fact, during the pandemic, they stopped all marketing because they didn’t need it.

I guarantee this conversation about luxury brand marketing will twist your mind in crazy new directions. And some actionable ideas apply to any marketing strategy in a competitive world.

Let’s go!

Click here to listen to Episode 272

Resources mentioned in this show:

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Belonging to the Brand  by Mark Schaefer

Mark Schaefer is the executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books and is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak at your company event or conference soon.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Diving into the bizarre and secret world of luxury brand marketing appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

The new episode of The Marketing Companion is a study in networking contrasts.

Author and college educator Amanda Russell begins our show by explaining how she gathered some of the most influential people in Austin, TX, for a dinner where they exposed their most vulnerable lessons — and she didn’t even know these people!

On the other extreme of the networking continuum is me. I explain how I had a chance to go to a cocktail party with CMOs from Disney, ESPN, and other big brands and passed it up because I preferred to have dinner with an old friend. I’m an introvert who hates crowded events. How do I succeed in business? I’m not quite sure.

Amanda provides a masterclass in networking (a word Amanda dislikes, but it is what it is!). This is a fascinating show exploring ideas on connecting to people in meaningful ways, even when our lives are moving 1,000 miles an hour.

Some themes:

• Deep research on potential connections
• Creating value that cuts through the noise
• Continual effort to build on momentum
• Establishing a mutually-beneficial relationship
• Focus on the individual, not the ask
• Prioritizing follow-up and follow through
• Establishing reciprocity
• The role of community

You won’t want to miss this fascinating discussion!

All you have to do is click here to listen:

Click on this link to listen to hear Episode 257

Resources mentioned in this show:

Mark Schaefer’s Personal Branding Master Class

Will Storr’s book The Status Game

Book by David Marx Status and Culture

Other ways to enjoy our podcast

• Try this! “Alexa, play the latest episode of The Marketing Companion.”
• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe on iTunes
• Listen to us on iHeart Radio
• Find us on Google Play
• Find the podcast on Stitcher
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide

Original illustration created by AI through MidJourney

The post My fatal flaw: I’m allergic to networking appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.