Digital Misfits

Today, Kate Forrester, PR and marketing guru and founder of kafandco which offers marketing and PR services to property, travel and lifestyle brands. Kate believes new brands should get back to the basics of marketing and stop chasing every shiny new trend. She believes teams need to have the long-term health of a business in mind and that leaders should guide from a high-altitude view using proven tactics rather than reacting to spikes. As someone who has helped hundreds established and startup brands with successful marketing campaigns, Kate Forrester reminds us about testing phases, knowing your customer inside and out, and more on today’s episode of Digital Misfits. 1:00 How did Kate start? What is her background? Did she like being “thrown in the deep end” early in life? 6:00 How has Kate communicated the value of being online for businesses through the digital infancy? 7:30 The importance of “meeting your customer where they are.” 9:00 How does budget impact whether a company should commit to digital or print marketing and PR? 11:00 What are the fundamentals of setting a strong foundation? When should businesses start PR? How important is content? 13:00 How do you explain to a client how long it takes to see returns, especially as a brand new brand? 15:00 How can tracking spikes make you reactive? On what timeframe should you look at PR? 16:00 How does PR relate to e-commerce and other businesses primarily in the digital space? What tactics are effective? 18:30 Follow-up and negotiation; Who do you approach when it comes to influencers? Why do they need to be relevant to your brand? Can it damage your brand to reach out to the wrong people? 21:00 How do they “big players” work? Kate Forrester discusses the waiting game and being in the right place at the right time. 23:00 What does kafandco offer? 27:00 Agile vs. traditional, big marketing teams 29:00 Where does Kate think marketing is heading in the next 12 months? Should people pay attention to trends?   Episode Resources: kafandco

On today’s episode, we are chatting with Natalie Giddings, Managing Director of The Remarkables Group. Natalie is an experienced marketer with an eye toward strategy who has worked with such diverse brands as Toyota, Nivea, Coles, Kmart, Bunnings, Target, John West, Birds Eye, Leggos, HostPlus, Herbert Adams and South Australian Tourism. Today, Natalie is speaking with us about influencer marketing. What does it really mean today to be an influencer? Who qualifies? Why are influencers valuable? How much does transparency matter? And how should brands and influencers alike protect themselves? Find out this and more on today’s episode featuring Natalie Giddings. 1:00 What is The Remarkables Group? How did Natalie end up here? 5:00 What is an influencer? What are the requirements? How much does size matter? 7:00 What is the value of influencers? Why would you pay for an influencer? 10:00 The value of transparency and the legalities involved in Australia. What sorts of disclosure legislature is there in AU? Aside from that, what impact does disclosure or lack thereof have on an audience? Does it alter engagement? 13:00 Should influencers and marketing agencies be held accountable for their activities? Plus, the importance of influencers doing their research and why it matters. 16:00 Make sure you protect yourself as an influencer and a brand. 17:30 How do you measure an effective influencer campaign? 20:30 The value of additional, curated content to marketing. What value does influencer marketing bring to the wider funnel? How does social proof help a brand? 23:00 Why “pretty” content is only one part of the picture. You have to pay attention to your audience and go toward influencers for the right reasons. 24:00 What is Natalie’s opinion on influencer marketplaces? 29:00 Influencer marketing as a media channel 31:00 Natalie discusses the differences in what you get between marketing agencies and the importance of doing your research 32:00 What piece of advice would Natalie give for the year ahead for influencer marketing? What should you do or not do? Episode Resources: The Remarkables Group

On today’s episode of Misfit Digital, we discuss the progression of video marketing since its inception, how it has impacted marketing for large outlets like Business Insider. Matt shares his rise from humble beginnings as a copywriter and details his growth in video production. Matt’s new product, the Digital Marketing Content Conservatory is also discussed in-depth. Matt provides insight into the benefits and stresses of organic marketing with large audiences and his three principles of virality. Matt has worked for some of publishing's biggest companies and driven billions and billions of video views and page views to mammoth Manhattan digital publishers. He runs a successful online learning business with his partner, Jamie, where they teach marketers and entrepreneurs how to build viral content marketing strategies. Prior to that he was a top editor and founding video producer at Business Insider, built and ran the video program at New York Magazine, and then built and ran three new lifestyle channels at  NowThis, the #1 news video publisher on Facebook. Matt also now runs a successful digital marketing agency, Guide Social. Matt can learn more about Matt's online teaching at www.onlinecontentconsultants.com   3:00 - How did Matt get his start in marketing and video? Which outlet(s) gave Matt his initial ‘break’? 4:00 - What was it like being one of the ‘founders’ of video within a more traditional setting, like BI? What tools did Matt use in the transition from content to video? What types of videos did he start out making? 9:00 - What are some of the main things Matt does to help brands build their influence organically? Why are large audiences overrated? 11:00 - Why is paid traffic frowned upon in journalism and business? What level of reach can small ad spend garner? What does Matt recommend to his clients? 13:00 - Matt explains his storytelling process. How does Matt make optimized videos? What are some common trends in marketing? How is marketing changing? 14:00 - What does Matt teach his students and patrons? What is the value of top-funnel marketing efforts? How does storytelling impact Matt’s process? 16:00 - How does emotional intelligence affect interaction via the internet? What types of stories should advertisers and marketers be telling? 19:00 - What is Matt’s new program? Who is the Digital Marketing Content Conservatory (DMCC) for? How common is a lack of understanding of the role of content in business? 22:00 - Why is it called the Digital Marketing Content Conservatory? How much do students of the DMCC have to work through? How does being pulled into an active and critical environment change students’ progression in the DMCC? 36:00 - What trends does Matt expect in content marketing? How are the basics potentially being overwritten by advertising? Where do the fundamentals come into play?

On today’s episode of Misfit Marketing with Kayla Houlihan, we discuss the success of Tribe Skincare, an e-commerce retailer which has used social proof and social selling to increase brand awareness, at first without even realizing they were doing so. Brand awareness, the measure of how much customers know about a specific business or set of businesses, is one area in which Tribe Skincare excels. Kayla strives to make anyone with an interest in eco-friendly skincare aware of her brand, and today she tells us exactly how she succeeds in doing so. She places great emphasis on the necessity and power of delegation as well as the energy which comes from taking on the roles in a business that you love as the business owner. By handling social media management herself, she is able to build rapport with her customers, retaining around 40% of all buyers as repeat customers. Houlihan also discusses some up-and-coming trends in the e-commerce space, such as automated ordering. Kayla is the creator of the cult skincare brand for sensitive skin, Tribe Skincare. After 5 years working as a skin therapist and treating many Aussie women with sensitive skin with natural ingredients, she could see a huge gap in the market that desperately needed filling. Using digital marketing, Kayla has turned Tribe into a thriving business with over $1M in sales and over 10,000 repeat customers, all in just 18 months. How did Kayla start out after high school? What drives her to help others with skincare? Does Kayla formulate Tribe Skincare products herself? What do the core Tribe employees do? Is outsourcing effective for Tribe? How does outsourcing affect company stress,culture, and costs? What has the journey of Tribe been like since it started just 18 months ago? What did Tribe reevaluate during their rebrand? How has Kayla’s role in Tribe changed with the rebrand? How important has delegation been for Tribe? What should business leaders focus on within business? What does Tribe Skincare do on social media which sets them apart? What is social proof? How has social proof been an asset for Tribe? How can other businesses implement social proof in their social media marketing? Where does Tribe focus on social media? Where does Tribe focus on paid advertising? How has Facebook’s organic reach changed? How consistent is Tribe’s focus on content for Instagram? What is the biggest lesson Kayla has learned over the last 18 months? How does distancing herself from Tribe benefit her mental health? Does pulling the emotion out of  decision-making affect the business positively? How important are before-and-after images in ecommerce and skincare? How can businesses use before-and-after images where they cannot in paid ads? Are there any ecommerce trends which have stuck with Kayla? How important is customer experience? What percentage of Tribe’s customers are repeat customers? How important is email in customer retention? Are subscription models applicable to Tribe’s business model? How important is customer lifetime value (CLV) to Tribe? What is Tribe planning in 2019? Is Tribe ready for wholesale? What preparations is Tribe making for wholesale before they reach out? How important is eco-friendly packaging to Tribe customers? Will Tribe adapt to these trends? How can businesses adapt their packaging to minimize waste? How important is being true to the brand? How does brand consistency impact customers and customer retention? What types of content is being used in Tribe Instagram Stories advertising?

Today, we’re chatting with self-taught artisanal jeweller and designer Fabienne Costa. Fabienne is the founder, CEO & Creative Director of the award-winning, global jewellery brand YCL Jewels which she started from her desk in her early twenties with no funding while nearing completion of a nursing degree. Fabienne has made her way through substantial struggles and times of utmost commitment to her brand, and she understands what it takes to build a business from nothing. Today, she lets us in on the secrets of entrepreneurs down in the trenches and explains what types of support and relentless effort it actually takes to be a success. She also tells us what’s most important for e-commerce in 2019 and offers insight into worthwhile content strategies. 1:30 - How did YCL Jewels come about? What sort of encouragement, support, and drive did Fabienne have to start her business? What did she give up? 5:00 Should you quit your job and dive into starting your own business? 6:00 What sorts of struggles did Fabienne go through? How long did it last? 8:00 What kinds of support does Fabienne attribute to growing a successful business? What do you really need? 11:00 What were Fabienne’s inspirations? 12:00 Organic marketing - When and how did Fabienne start this sort of marketing to create her initial online presence? What internal struggles did she need to overcome? 15:00 Why is consistency and consumer trust to important? How much effort should you spend on content 17:00 What difference does customer connectivity make? How can it drive business? 20:00 What are the technicalities of YCL? What platforms do they use? Why? How much should new businesses spend? 23:00 How has PR played a role in YCL? Does PR impact brand credibility? 26:00 What trends does Fabienne expect in e-commerce? 28:00 What is the importance of diversifying content across platforms?   Episode Resources: YCL Jewels