As a follow-up to Summing Up 2024: A Brandformance Review of Marketing Podcasts, this article dives deeper into each recommended episode. Here, you’ll find a breakdown of key insights, strategies, and standout moments that align with the brandformance approach. Whether you’re looking for actionable marketing tactics, fresh perspectives, or just a great listen, this guide will help you decide which episodes deserve a spot on your playlist. Let’s dive in!

Everybody Hates Marketers – 2024 Episodes Recommendation

Professionalism is Killing Your Brand: Here’s the Cure (S03 Episode 50)

If your brand communication feels stuck, or if you’re not doing any at all, this is the episode for you. Louis interviews Dave Harland, who challenges the conventional wisdom around brand communication. Harland offers a fresh perspective on ditching corporate jargon and formality, focusing instead on honest messaging that helps build lasting connections with your audience. As Harland puts it, “Anytime I’ve signed up for something or followed a brand, it’s because they’ve entertained me first, made me smile, or given me something of value rather than just asking for a random sale.”

Two key principles emerged from this episode:

• Being personable and approachable sets brands apart. Developing a unique voice takes time and encourages experimentation, testing, and gradual refinement to create a tone that connects meaningfully with the audience while avoiding a forced or unnatural feel.
• Specificity is crucial. Create content so unique and targeted that it stands out in Google searches. Take Zuora’s brilliant coining of “Subscription Economy” as an example, a term so specific it not only became synonymous with their brand but also gained widespread adoption.

Tune in to this episode for inspiration and practical tactics to develop an authentic voice for your audience. While there’s no exact blueprint for building lasting connections, this discussion provides a clear path forward.

How to Have Better Ideas (S03 Episode 40)

This episode offers an unconventional take on creativity, challenging the typical group-driven brainstorming methods. Scott Dikkers’ solo-creator philosophy highlights the risks of over-reliance on individual personalities within a creative brand. As he aptly points out, “Magazines like National Lampoon made their writers celebrities, and when those writers left, the brand suffered.” His insights emphasize the profound importance of giving creators the space they need to produce groundbreaking work while ensuring they remain behind the scenes to preserve the brand’s identity.

3 key principles emerged from this episode:

• The Power of Solo Creation: Dikkers advocates for individual responsibility in nurturing an idea from inception to completion. Group dynamics, while valuable, often dilute the original vision as participants strive to contribute or outshine one another.
• Balancing Branding and Authenticity: In today’s world of hyper-authenticity, Dikkers’ philosophy resonates with the paradox of modern branding—navigating the tension between polished presentations and raw, authentic connections.
• Creative Freedom and Discipline: Creativity thrives when individuals are trusted with the autonomy to explore and refine ideas, fostering innovation that can redefine brands and captivate audiences.

This episode is an eye-opener for anyone looking to rethink traditional creative processes and embrace a more focused and transformative approach to innovation.

4.5 Psychological Biases (S03 Episode 29)

This episode serves as a cheat sheet for any marketer building a brandformance strategy. In this insightful conversation, Louis Grenier interviews Richard Shotton, a renowned behavioral scientist, to explore cognitive biases that can be strategically applied to elevate brand awareness and engagement. Packed with actionable tips and examples, it’s a guide to creating lasting impressions and driving meaningful audience connections.

Here are four standout principles from the episode:

• The Power of Differentiation: Going against traditional norms not only helps brands stand out but can also earn widespread admiration. Liquid Death demonstrates this perfectly: the company disrupted the bottled water market by adopting an unconventional beer brand persona. Their success proves that bold differentiation works.
• The Impact of Specificity: Tangible visual examples are more memorable and impactful than abstract concepts, making campaigns stick with audiences and improving engagement.
  Peak-End Rule: This principle helps marketers design campaigns that leave lasting impressions. You can create more impactful brand interactions by focusing on how experiences are remembered rather than just how they are experienced.
• Strategic Use of Cognitive Biases: Understanding when and how to leverage cognitive biases is crucial for marketers. This episode highlights how to engage audiences effectively while staying true to your brand and avoiding missteps that might alienate your target market.

A go-to resource for marketers looking to enhance their strategies, packed with practical insights and inspiring examples you’ll want to revisit time and time again. Don’t miss it!

Social Media Marketing Podcast – 2024 Episodes Recommendation

Anticipation Marketing: Crushing Your Next Launch Without Being Salesy

If you’re curious about leveraging influencer marketing, this episode is a must-listen. Michael Stelzner dives into an insightful conversation with Justin Levy, unpacking actionable strategies and uncovering the essence of influencer marketing in the B2B space. With roots that go back far before social media, influencer marketing has transformed over time but remains a powerful and adaptable tool. This episode provides a compelling guide to getting started without a budget.

Here’s what you’ll take away:

• Relationships Are the Foundation: Building an influencer program is all about relationships. Amplify your brand’s reach by leveraging content and meaningful connections. While monetary collaboration might come later, the initial focus is on fostering genuine partnerships.
• Influence marketing is not mass marketing: Forget the notion that you need influencers with massive followings. True influence lies in engagement, not sheer numbers. Prioritize individuals who post regularly, respond to their audience, and demonstrate a loyal, engaged community.
• Persistence pays off: Securing influencer endorsements takes effort and resilience. Most influencers won’t jump on board immediately, so it’s essential to identify your ideal collaborators and nurture these relationships over time. Levy shares practical tactics to build trust and secure impactful partnerships.

Whether you’re in B2B or another industry, these principles are universally applicable. Tune in to learn how to harness influencer marketing effectively and create meaningful, measurable results!

How to Create a No-Cost B2B Influencer Marketing Program

Email marketing has always intrigued me. While it’s one of the most enduring digital marketing strategies in the playbook, it often gets a bad reputation – and for good reason. Yet when done right, email marketing remains a powerful tool to stay top-of-mind with your audience, even in today’s overstimulated world. In this episode, Tyler Cook shares a compelling approach to creating winning welcome email sequences, offering insights into both the psychology and practical methods behind successful email marketing.

Here are the key takeaways:

• First Impressions Are Key: Your welcome sequence sets the tone for your subscriber’s relationship with your brand. Data shows that most conversions happen within the first 48 hours of someone signing up. A strong welcome sequence can boost email deliverability, build brand trust, and ensure your emails land in inboxes – not spam folders.
• The First Email Sender Matters: Tyler suggests sending the first email from someone unexpected, like the CEO’s assistant (or a similar role). It’s a clever way to make the email feel personal, stand out, and grab attention right away.
• Bridge Email and Social Media: Encourage subscribers to connect with your brand on their favorite social platforms. This ensures continuous exposure and engagement beyond the inbox.

This episode is a goldmine for marketers looking to craft welcome sequences that combine personalization, engagement, and strategic thinking. By generating replies, setting clear expectations, and diversifying your engagement channels, you’ll not only drive conversions but also build lasting relationships with your audience. Tune in for actionable email insights and high-impact strategies!

UGC Strategy: Boosting Visibility and Sales With Customer Content

User-generated content (UGC) has emerged as a powerful tool for brands seeking authentic ways to boost visibility and sales. In this engaging episode, marketing expert Neil Schaffer explores how everyday users, not brands, create and share content that delivers the authenticity and social proof that traditional marketing often lacks.

Neil goes beyond the basics, providing actionable strategies and examples of how different industries can incorporate UGC effectively. Drawing from his experience, he demonstrates plenty of real-world insights to help you integrate this approach into your marketing.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Get People Talking: The key to sparking word-of-mouth marketing on social media is putting your product into the hands of users. Content creators are often willing to share their experiences through photos or videos, which can significantly impact your brand.
• Lighten Your Load: Showcasing UGC not only reduces the effort required to produce content but also strengthens the bond with your audience by valuing their contributions.
• Start Small: For brands without naturally “Instagrammable” products, Neil recommends starting with influencer gifting or working with UGC creators to develop content that resonates.

If you’re looking to engage your audience in a more meaningful way, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on creating authentic connections through customer content.

B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt (An Exit Five Podcast) – 2024 Episodes Recommendation

Why Cookie Cutter Marketing Doesn’t Work with Gurdeep Dhillon, CMO at Contentstack

Gurdeep Dhillon, CMO at Contentstack, shares his forward-thinking approach to demand generation and growth marketing, illustrating how these roles are constantly evolving in today’s dynamic landscape. He emphasizes a critical shift in focus: From traditional lead generation and MQLs to a more holistic, account-based, and intent-driven approach. Building trust, fostering relationships with decision-makers, and creating brand resonance are at the heart of this transformation.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Content Marketing in a Noisy World – In an era flooded with low-quality content, Dhillon highlights the importance of authenticity. High-quality, engaging content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs is more vital than ever.
• The Rise of Audience Marketing – Moving beyond aggressive sales tactics, Dhillon introduces “audience marketing” as a strategy that prioritizes alignment with your audience’s interests. This approach focuses on delivering genuine value and nurturing trust, leading to meaningful, long-term connections.
• Long-Term Engagement Over Short-Term Gains – Success in B2B marketing is about more than chasing the 10% of buyers ready to act. Dhillon discusses the importance of engaging with the other 90%, building a foundation of trust and familiarity for future opportunities.

Dhillon’s insights challenge you to embrace bold strategies that prioritize brand-building and deep connections. Tune in and discover how to make your marketing efforts truly resonate with your audience!

How Storylane Grew Organic Traffic 10x Through SEO in 6 Months

Having worked at one of Storylane’s competitors, I found this episode particularly fascinating. It brought back memories of closely monitoring their strategies and offered fresh insights into their approach to growth marketing. If you wonder how SEO can drive significant growth in a competitive B2B landscape, this episode offers valuable insights you won’t want to miss.

Unlike brands like Walnut.io, which prioritized a bold, standout brand identity (a strategy you can learn more about in this piece), Storylane took a different route. They focused on driving significant traffic from their ICP through SEO, even when the product lacked strong inherent demand. The episode dives into how they achieved this ambitious goal, offering plenty of practical takeaways.

Key Insights:

• Creating Demand Differently: Storylane redefined SEO by targeting related topics and personas, such as sales, marketing, and product professionals, rather than just product-related keywords. This highlights how marketers can creatively adapt familiar tools to generate demand. Storylane redefined SEO by targeting related topics and personas such as sales, marketing, and product professionals, rather than just product-related keywords. This highlights how marketers can creatively adapt familiar tools to generate demand.
• Scalability Through Preparation: They structured their plan meticulously, enabling fast execution and the production of high-quality, scalable content that resonated with their target audience.
• Building Trust Early: By addressing related needs and engaging their audience before the decision-making process, Storylane cultivated long-term brand affinity, standing out from competitors focused solely on features.

This episode is packed with actionable insights for marketers looking to craft scalable, innovative strategies in low-demand markets. Tune in to learn how Storylane turned SEO into a powerful growth engine and take away lessons that can elevate your marketing playbook.

How to Get Sales on Board with Your Marketing Content with Kira Federer, VP of SMB Marketing at Paramount

Creating impactful marketing content is essential for B2B success, but one of the biggest hurdles marketers face is ensuring that sales teams actually adopt and use that content. If you’ve ever heard a salesperson say, “This isn’t what I need” or “We’re not using that,” you know how frustrating this disconnect can be. In this episode, Kira Federer, VP of SMB Marketing at Paramount, joins Dave to explore strategies for aligning marketing efforts with sales priorities.

Key Insights from This Episode:

• Understanding Resistance: Sales teams are less likely to adopt marketing content when they aren’t involved in its creation, leading to misalignment and missed opportunities.
• Collaboration is Crucial: The secret to creating content that sales teams will actually use lies in early collaboration. Involve sales from the start, tailor materials to their needs, time your launches effectively, and foster advocates within the sales team.
• Sales Enablement is a Continuous Process: Success doesn’t end with the first campaign. Regularly connect with sales to evaluate what’s working, identify gaps, and make ongoing improvements.

This episode is perfect for any B2B marketer grappling with conflicts or misalignment with their sales team. The solution, as it turns out, lies in fostering a human connection. Tune in to uncover how empathy, collaboration, and mutual understanding can transform your content strategy and energize your sales team.

Masters of Scale – 2024 Episodes Recommendation

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman on rescuing the social network from the brink (with Reid Hoffman)

Steve Huffman’s interview about Reddit’s journey from a simple platform to a cultural phenomenon taught me a valuable lesson about the impact of staying true to your core values. Brands trying to establish a long-term marketing strategy and cultivate a culture around their identity can learn a lot from their story. One key takeaway from 2024 is the growing recognition of the importance of investing in brand building in any industry. What’s hard to accept is that this process takes time. This episode highlights why the patient is worth the effort.

Key Insights from This Episode:

• Core Values Anchor Success: Reddit balances free speech with good manners, encouraging meaningful discussions while ensuring respect and order. This makes Reddit inclusive and appealing to a wide range of users. Aspiration for any type of brand, isn’t it?
• Strengthens Platform Longevity: Reddit’s focus isn’t on traffic picks or click-bite. Their positive reputation attracts new users while retaining existing ones, making them appealing to stakeholders and advertisers.
• Trusted value proposition: The persistence in its principles set it apart from other media platforms, solidifying its place as a trusted online forum.

This nuanced approach ensures Reddit remains both an open and orderly platform, driving user growth, community satisfaction, and financial success. Tune in to discover how Reddit’s story can inspire your marketing and business strategies.

How The Flex Company founder Lauren Wang disrupted menstrual care

Lauren Wang’s journey with The Flex Company is a testament to the power of bold ideas and relentless determination. In this episode, she shares how she redefined an industry, creating not just a groundbreaking product but also a movement that challenges long-held stigmas about menstrual health. If you’re curious about the delicate balance of scaling a mission-driven brand, this conversation delivers.

Key Insights:

• Breaking Stigmas with Impact: By normalizing conversations around periods and menstrual health, Lauren turned her brand into a platform for change, sparking conversations that resonated far beyond the product itself.
• Proving the Power of POC: In her early days, Lauren went to extraordinary lengths (like personally shipping products from Europe) to demonstrate market demand and build confidence among investors. This unconventional approach highlights the importance of showing, not just telling when pitching new ideas.
• Leveraging Networks for Knowledge: Faced with manufacturing and supply chain challenges, Lauren leaned on her professional network, seeking specific, time-bound advice to fill knowledge gaps and drive progress.

This episode is a masterclass in turning audacious goals into actionable strategies, blending innovation with grit. Tune in to discover how Lauren’s story can inspire your approach to building something truly transformative.

Liquid Death’s Mike Cessario: Trust your taste

Liquid Death stands out as one of the most intriguing brands of our time, owing much of its success to daring, unapologetic branding. From their edgy can designs to their unforgettable marketing campaigns, Liquid Death has redefined what a beverage company can be. Having previously featured them in a Brandformance story, I was already impressed, but this episode with Mike Cessario brought a whole new level of insight into their strategy. Hearing Mike’s bold vision and the fearless decisions that shaped Liquid Death left me inspired and deeply appreciative of the power of innovative branding.

Key Insights from This Episode:

• Branding as a Business Cornerstone: Mike emphasizes the importance of creating a brand that is not just a wrapper for your product but the very essence of your business. He shares how building a bold, shareable identity can drive growth, making the brand the central focus of scaling strategies.
• The Pizza Shop Delusion: In a sharp critique of traditional marketing, Mike calls out the obsession with perfecting superficial elements, like the “cheese pull shot” in pizza ads. Instead, he champions the idea that real impact comes from daring and distinctive branding that challenges norms and captivates audiences.
• Creating Conversations: Liquid Death is designed to be a talking point. From its name to its provocative ads, everything is crafted to pique curiosity and spark dialogue. Mike highlights how this approach gives consumers not just a product, but a story to share and enjoy.

Mike Cessario’s journey is a masterclass in the art of standing out. Whether you’re a marketer, a brand builder, or simply someone who appreciates innovative ideas, this episode offers a wealth of inspiration. Tune in to explore how boldness and creativity can transform not just a brand, but an entire industry.