Power Marketing with Kevin Lee

Kevin Lee interviews Sally Lehrman, a distinguished journalist who is also the founder of The Trust Project, an organization whose mission is to “amplify journalism’s commitment to transparency, accuracy, inclusion and fairness so that the public can make informed news choices.” This mission is important today as trust in media organizations has cratered, even as a tsunami of misinformation and disinformation threatens to mislead and misinform the public.

Kevin and Sally discuss how the news industry has evolved, why trust in the media is at historic lows, and how The Trust Project aims to make things better through various initiatives and partnerships. Topics addressed in this discussion include:

– How Sally was able to secure funding for user-centered design research to understand why people trust or distrust the news, leading to the development of trust indicators.

– The importance of trust in journalism and the need for transparency in the media.

– How too many news outlets have continued to prioritize clickbait headlines and sensational content, which has contributed to the decline of trust in the media.

– The blurring of lines between news and opinion and the importance of distinguishing them through labeling.

– The continuing importance of supporting local news sources, given that they cover important issues relevant to local constituencies.

– How technology platforms, intentionally or not, limit the diversity of news sources visible to users, leading to a narrow understanding of the world.

– The fact that advertisers are often fearful of supporting news content due to brand safety issues, adding an additional headwind to the publishing industry’s ability to report on important stories.

– Why it would be more honest to label “sponsored content” as “paid content.”

– The four different types of news consumers (Avid, Engaged, Opportunistic, and Angry Disengaged).

– The importance of transparency in influencer marketing and the need for authenticity in labeling.

– The importance of transparency in sponsored content, urging brands to use accurate language and provide clear attribution.

– The changing dynamics of authorship in journalism, where individual journalists are gaining more power and influence outside of traditional media organizations.

– The critical role played by user education equipping users with tools to evaluate the credibility of online information.

– How brands and advertisers can help by incorporating fact-checking into their advertising and training employees on trust indicators.

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Kevin Lee interviews Michel van Luijtelaar, co-founder of GMBapi.com, a Netherlands-based company providing SEO tools and services for local businesses in Europe seeking to perform better in search and otherwise increase their online visibility. These tools and services integrate with Google My Business, providing additional functionality and ease-of-use; for example, GMBapi.com provides sentiment analysis, A/B testing, local keyword research, dashboards, bulk uploading, and other highly useful features, especially for businesses managing multiple physical locations.

Kevin and Michel discuss issues relevant to multi-channel retailers and companies maintaining multiple physical locations. They cover many topics in their talk, including:

– The importance of sentiment analysis for large organizations, which can reveal potential issues with local management or culture, as well as stocking issues.

– The challenges of managing a retail footprint in a multichannel context, including the need to keep Google My Business listings up-to-date with accurate information.

– The importance of integrating Google Merchant Center with local inventory feeds to improve local discovery and push competitors down in search results.

– Why retail organizations often struggle with ownership and budgeting for local marketing efforts.

– The degree to which digital transformation is progressing evenly among large, medium, and small retailers.

– How marketers might go about prioritizing chatbot visibility in voice-based search, given that it’s becoming increasingly important for local search.

– The importance of rich creatives (including high-quality photos), positive reviews, and effective local landing pages for local businesses.

– The potential for syndicated content and digital PR to improve the odds of being chosen by LLMs for inclusion in results.

– The degree to which Google may use translations of reviews in other languages to analyze sentiment about products or services, regardless of the original language.

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Kevin Lee interviews Scott Hardigree, founder and CEO at Email Industries, a Georgia-based company founded in 2008 as a specialist agency that now offers numerous dedicated tools enabling marketers, large and small, to make better use of the email channel.

Kevin and Scott discuss a slew of developments and topics that should matter to anyone doing email marketing today, including:

– The extraordinary potential of email marketing in a post-cookie world, especially given its ability to create one-to-one connections with customers.

– Best practices regarding email list hygiene.

– Surefire warning signs that a marketers’ email addresses need to be cleaned.

– The importance of reactivating inactive customers through reengagement campaigns to avoid throwing them away.

– Why marketers need to prepare for stricter email deliverability requirements by authenticating sender domains and monitoring deliverability metrics.

– Why brands must prioritize DMARK (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) policy enforcement to prevent phishing attacks and protect reputation.

– Common deliverability issues in email marketing that need to be overcome.

– How human error is a significant factor in email deliverability problems, often caused by a single individual’s mistake.

– Why some marketers struggle to identify and resolve deliverability issues due to lack of visibility and benchmarking.

– How email program complexity and poor data quality can damage reputation and lead to spam complaints.

– Why some marketers have been slow to adopt strategic multi-channel orchestration, instead relying on replicating messages across channels without a clear strategy.

– How Google’s algorithms have improved email filtering, allowing for more personalized and targeted campaigns.

– Why smart email marketers often use third-party data append services to create targeted segments for email marketing campaigns.

– Topics of interest at the next Inbox Expo, which will feature a variety of sessions on deliverability, creative strategy, a startup fast pitch competition, and other email-specific topics.

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Kevin Lee interviews Adam Parry, Co-Founder and Editor at Event Industry News, a UK-based publication serving as the event industry’s global online magazine. Adam has more than 10 years’ experience in the event industry and has a passion for event technology; in fact he’s co-created Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology.

Kevin and Adam discuss topics and issues relevant to the event industry, including:

– Unexpected challenges faced by event organizers, including unanticipated health and safety concerns.

– Strategies for pricing and access control at events, including offering a paid option for non-VIP attendees.

– The importance of providing value to attendees and exhibitors at events, with reference to examples of successful events that have leveraged this strategy.

– Attendees’ hunger not just for the event experience, but for meaningful experiences and opportunities for giving back to local communities.

– How successful event organizers and exhibitors create content before, during, and after events to maximize reach and engagement.

– Why higher production quality is crucial for engagement, given that audiences now expect professional-level content in the post-pandemic era.

– How lines are blurring between conferences, summits, and trade shows.

– Venue selection strategies for event organizers.

– Strategies to regain intimacy at larger events, such as segmenting attendees or creating opportunities for one-on-one connections.

– The need for alternative networking options beyond alcohol-related social activities.

– The importance of communication and collaboration between show organizers and exhibiting companies to avoid competing events.

– The importance of accessibility in the events industry, given that a significant share of attendees may suffer from physical disabilities.

– How the event industry is beginning to seriously focus on the issue of environmental sustainability.

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Kevin Lee interviews Ray Grieselhub, the Founder and CEO of, DemandSphere, which specializes in enterprise SERP monitoring for ecommerce SEO teams, both in-house and agency. Ray has spoken at numerous industry events, including Pubcon, ad:tech Tokyo, PR Summit, FOUND Conference SV, FOUND Conf NYC, DATA Conference, and many others, and he writes frequently and authoritatively on developments in the SEO landscape, which, as he notes on his blog, have been rapid and substantial in the past 12 months.

Kevin and Ray discuss topics germane to SEO professionals and anyone interested in improving search engine visibility for themselves or outside clients. These topics include:

– The definition of the term “programmatic SEO.”

– The challenges of accurately monitoring rankings on very large, database-driven sites.

– Why recent algorithmic changes tend to affect larger sites less than small sites, due to large sites tending to engage in SEO best practices.

– The challenges faced by large sites with respect to localization issues and limited crawl budgets.

– How “legacy SEO tech debt” often hampers the ability of SEO teams to correct issues which negatively impact search visibility.

– Why it’s often difficult for SEO teams to get internal support and resources for remediation of on-site SEO issues.

– Why SEO teams are often overlooked for budget allocation, with digital PR, content, and social media receiving more attention and funding.

– Why SEO is not just about ranking on Google, but about informing search engines and chatbot crawlers about a brand’s products and interactions with the broader universe.

– The importance of SEO teams understanding AI and its impact on search engine optimization.

– Steps that marketers can take to “future-proof” their SEO efforts.

– The importance of optimizing crawl budget for websites, especially those using frameworks like Next.js, to avoid taxing Google’s finite resources and ensure proper indexing.

– How different teams within larger organizations often have preferences for different content types, such as video or PDFs, which can impact how SEO strategies are developed and implemented.

– Why creating internal infra-organizational alliances is often critical for SEO teams to survive and thrive.

– How specialized search engines and single-result interfaces may become the primary means of searching for information, potentially replacing traditional search engines like Google.

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Kevin Lee interviews Batu Sat, Co-Founder and CEO at Mall IQ, a Santa Clara, California-based company whose suite of products allows the company’s partners to measure the purchase intent of customers in the physical world and make this information actionable. As the company’s website explains, “we offer the most scalable and privacy-first Location Intelligence & AI Platform for mobile apps that is store-level accurate, both indoor & outdoor without any hardware deployments.”

Mall IQ currently has many top-tier partners, including Starbucks, Samsung, several notable banks and advertising agency holding companies, and hopes to expand into other sectors.

Batu and Kevin dig into the details of how the Mall IQ technology works and touch on success stories of marketers using location data to increase conversions and engagement. Along the way, they discuss:

– How physical location can function as a purchase intent indication.

– How the Mall IQ app uses tokenization to share data without needing customer consent.

– How the technology can be used to entice new customers with rewards and offers, while also engaging high-value customers through personalized experiences.

– The importance of the concept of “nudgability” (favorably moving customers who might be “on the fence” with respect to choosing a particular product or service).

– Identifying peak moments for push notifications based on user behavior and preferences.

– How FinTech apps can use the Mall IQ technology to delight consumers with special offers, such as coffee or desserts, based on their purchase history and loyalty program status.

– How the anonymized token is used for longitudinal data analysis, providing insights on share of wallet and buying journey.

– The importance of measuring uplift in push notifications, using a control group to isolate the impact of notifications on behavior.

– The expansion of Mall IQ’s ideal customer profiles to include banks, Fintech companies, and retailers, while also receiving inbound inquiries from telcos, food delivery, and airlines.

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Kevin Lee interviews Etai Rahmil, Founder & CEO of Pure Over, a company manufacturing all-glass pour-over coffee makers. Unlike conventional pour-over coffee makers, Pure Over’s do not require the use of disposable paper filters.

Kevin and Etai discuss Pure Over’s origin story, its marketing positioning, and its efforts to build organic online support for the product. As Etai observes, “we’ve developed amazing relationships, organic relationships that don’t want to get paid by us to say talking points, they partner with us, and they spread Pure Over knowledge because they genuinely love it. And so that has been a huge part of the reason why we’ve been able to get the product out to so many people. We’re in over 16,000 homes currently. And we can directly attribute that to word of mouth and, you know, letting people know, on TikTok, that the people that they trust in coffee, trust Pure Over.”

Kevin and Etai discuss the sustainability benefits Pure Over’s plans for additions to its product lines, and future marketing plans. As Etai notes, “taking a deep dive into digital ads is going to be huge. But not only that, I think it’s doing more on the ground event sponsorships and leaning into collaborations. I think in the last couple years, just getting a hold of the logistics of the business was super important. And now that we’re really feeling comfortable in that area, I can start you know doing some of the fun brand collaborations artists collaborations to just get our word out, get our products out in new ways to new audiences. That wouldn’t have found us in our traditional marketing as of right now. So collaborations are super-exciting and we have some in the works. Some have taken a little bit long to come to fruition as we’ve been focusing on some of the not as fun stuff like supply chain and logistics. But now we have a good hold on them so some of these other more fun aspects can can come to life.”

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Kevin Lee interviews Chad Hickey, Founder and CEO at Givsly, a company working to reduce corporate “swag” waste while helping brands save money and becoming more sustainable. As he notes, “the swag industry is a $60 billion business and only 21 percent of that swag is kept. So you’re talking about $50 billion in waste.”

Kevin and Chad chat about Givsly’s origin story, how cutting down on physical swag can save brands money, and what Chad expects to achieve by attending the Cannes Lions Festival. They explore whether it’s better for a brand partnering with his platform to curate a short list of non-profits and non-profit categories from which consumers can easily choose, and chat about the degree to which brands are attracted to the Givsly platform because of money-saving potential vs. concerns relating to sustainability.

“We don’t see people focus on one or the other,” says Chad. “I think that people are starting to acknowledge that they have to broadly think about how they impact climate change.”

Chad and Kevin discuss his experience enrolling nonprofits as Givsly channel partners, whether donation amounts in the Givsly platform can increase proportionate to a user’s engagement, the degree to which gamification is being used, and Chad’s hopes for 2023 and beyond.

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Kevin Lee interviews Des Cahill, CMO at Tipalti, a company helping companies grow by making worldwide payments easier. Today Tipalti is being used by a number of big brands, including Twitch, Roblox, and Canva, that process a large number of global transactions.

Des and Kevin about how the potential market for Tipalti, given that a minority of global companies are now using any kind of automation in their A/P and A/R processes and how it’s useful in terms of onboarding freelancers, eliminating fraud and tax liability issues, working with multiple currencies, and otherwise improving payment processing efficiencies.

They discuss Tipalti’s own marketing efforts and channel philosophy. As Des observes, “there are no magic channels. Because if a magic channel appears, it’s transitive, because other marketers are going to discover that advantage and bid up the cost… I think we can always as marketers do a better job within channels and be smarter because every channel is diminishing marginal return. And every channel is addressing a different part of the funnel and the buying journey.”

They chat about Tipalti’s use of influencer marketing and testimonials and then turn to the subject of AI. Tipalti is partnering with OpenAI to introduce AI into its system and Des is bullish about how it will allow finance professionals to query the system using plain language to extract the financial intelligence they need.

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Kevin Lee interviews Megan Cunningham, CEO and Founder at Magnet Media, a global brand content studio. Prior to founding Magnet Media, Megan worked in production at PBS, HBO, Nickelodeon, and HBO. Magnet has been very successful over the years; its clients have included big brands such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, ABC, Showtime, The Associated Press, Dreamworks Animation, NBC and other top-tier brands.

Kevin and Megan discuss Magnet Media’s origin story and trade notes on the recent Cannes Lion Festival which both attended. They discuss how “run-of-the-mill” creative can be distinguished from strategic, results-driven creative, and the key role played by market data in terms of fashioning effective creative campaigns. They discuss how brands should think about allocating funds for creative campaigns, and the folly of under-investing in great creative (which makes campaigns more efficient) while over-investing in media spend supporting that creative.

They trade notes on brands using influencers in their campaigns, and the degree to which such campaigns need to be scripted or left open-ended. As Megan notes, “I think that the idea of having a (creative) brief but one that is subject to be interpreted by the influencer, in their own voice, and with what they know and works for their audience and their channel, is the best way to approach an influencer campaign.” They also touch on the issue of whether authors of short-form creative content can easily make the transition to creating long-form content.

They discuss the extent to which social media platforms have, unlike the old Hollywood or music business models, produced a meritocratic system where the best creative is rewarded. As Megan notes, some of the most successful influencers have established relationships with the platform owners, giving them an “embedded advantage” that most creators lack.

They talk about the wisdom of brands cutting back top-funnel spending in the face of a potential recession (which may or may not ever manifest itself). As Megan observes, “I don’t think it’s healthy for any business to just say, we’re going to pull the plug on stuff, we’re going to hit the brakes. To me, that’s a big red flag for that business in general, because it really is an invitation for your competition to speed way ahead of you.”

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