Juhi Pikale is a unicorn marketer. She's creative, analytical, and hyper-experienced across all forms of marketing channels - TV, retention, acquisition, and paid social in general. We discuss high level themes around her experience running 8 figure marketing budgets for some of the worlds largest brands. Juhi touches on the significance of testing new platforms, the potential in TV advertising and streaming, and her personal journey towards consulting, writing, and filmmaking.

It's a killer episode from a truly brilliant marketer

Luke Thorburg joins the podcast to discuss the whirlwind world of TikTok marketing. He unravels the secrets behind leveraging TikTok's dynamic platform to catapult businesses from obscurity to spotlight in record time. With a blend of passion and pragmatism, he shares why investing in your team, product, and industry knowledge is more crucial than ever in the crowded arena of small media marketing agencies.

Key Takeaways:

• Start with organic on TikTok and scale with paid ads to posts that see huge traction.
• TikTok shops can be effective for products under $150, while higher-priced products may require more nurturing and a landing page approach.
• Media buyers need to shift their focus from targeting to creative and data-backed decisions to drive successful advertising campaigns.
• Investing in team, product, and knowledge is crucial for growth and differentiation in the competitive market of small media marketing agencies.
• Networking and connecting with others in the industry can be the difference an SMMA has over its competitors

We chat with John Loomer where he shares his personal journey into entrepreneurship and the importance of perseverance and consistency. He discusses his unique approach to content creation, focusing on transparency and avoiding hype. The conversation also covers the significance of creative testing, first-party data, and attribution in digital marketing. John emphasizes the need to balance brand and performance marketing and shares insights on AI and its role in marketing. He concludes by discussing his focus areas for 2024 and the value of marketing efficiency and organic marketing.

In our latest podcast, Parker Kump from Tuff Media explores the evolving landscape of performance marketing agencies. He emphasizes the critical role of creative testing and the necessity for agencies to adapt swiftly to stay relevant. Parker shares insights on effective account structuring and the process for creative testing, highlighting how these strategies are vital for delivering superior results to clients.

Our conversation also touches on the growing importance of creative strategists in advertising, where media buying increasingly integrates with creative strategy. Parker stresses the need for media buyers to bolster their creative skills and find a balance between brand impact and analytics. He also discusses the preference for lifetime customer value over immediate return on ad spend (ROAS) in 2024.

Key Takeaways:

• Revisiting traditional agency models is crucial in the dynamic performance marketing sector.
• Continuous, innovative creative testing is key to success in digital advertising. Master your offers.
• Pivot fast, both in success and in failure.
• 2024 is the year of LTV!
• Agencies need to be quick and adaptable in recognizing successful ad campaigns.
• Media buyers need to become creative strategists in today's landscape. If they do, the world is their oyster.

In our latest podcast episode, we had the pleasure of diving deep into the world of AI with Mike Taylor, a pioneer in prompt engineering. Mike emphasized how AI, despite its current buzz, is still vastly under-hyped. He believes that with well-crafted prompts, people can boost productivity and output by an astonishing 3-4 times (like he has personally experienced). 

Mike’s enthusiasm for AI’s possibilities is contagious. He goes into how paid social agencies can harness AI with the right prompting techniques, suggesting that AI’s capabilities might be even more expansive than we currently imagine.

It's a fascinating episode well worth the listen. It may even change the way you run your business or personal projects this year!

Takeaways

• Getting to average has never been easier or faster than it is today. And this saves a lot of time because often average is the baseline to reach before iteration, and taking it from good to great
• Agencies should take the time to distill their processes, in detail, and the possibilities of adding AI will become much clearer and easier. 
• Prototyping with AI is a huge use case people should not be ignoring, especially ones that deal with clients and need to seek approval on ideas
• By facilitating rapid iteration and prototyping, AI is transforming performance marketing and creative testing, making these processes more efficient and effective.
• AI is set to democratize access to sophisticated tools and processes, paving the way for a more inclusive future in technology.

Paul Fairbrother joins the podcast, offering a candid and straightforward perspective on the critical considerations for teams and brands when it comes to scaling. You'll learn not only about scaling for short-term performance but also preserving brand longevity. Fairbrother's no-nonsense advice cuts through the noise and provides actionable takeaways that can help your brand's journey.

Some takeaways from he episode:

• Paid social is not a guaranteed path to success; “turnover is vanity, profit is sanity.”
• Creative output and first-party data are crucial for success in performance marketing.
• Tools like Foreplay and MagicBrief are going to become critical for teams pushing the boundaries of creative testing.
• Agencies should focus on being strategic partners for brands, not just execution partners.
• Balancing brand and performance is important, and brands should define their red lines to avoid short-term wins.
• What you should do in 2024: INVEST IN A CREATIVE STRATEGIST.

This episode covers two critical topics for 2024: the need for relentless creative testing strategies and getting your first-party data right. Listen to Simon Kreienbaum talk about these two pillars and  how they will reshape the landscape of paid social in 2024.

In this episode, join us for an insightful dive into the fundamental elements of performance marketing. Our guest, Tomasz Śledź, sheds light on the pivotal trifecta: offers, account structure simplicity, and the art of crafting attention-grabbing creatives. Drawing from real-world expertise, our conversation unveils the critical role these components play in achieving marketing success. Discover actionable tips and industry best practices as we explore how mastering these key elements can transform and elevate your performance marketing strategies to the next level