Podcasts about Odeo

Send us a textIn this second part of the "Best of SEO" series, industry leaders share their insights on creating compelling content that boosts organic traffic and supports strong SEO strategies. The episode explores the evolving relationship between AI and content integrity, the benefits of WordPress as an enterprise platform, and the critical role of brand building in search visibility. Additionally, our lineup of guests discuss how social proof, thought leadership, and offline branding can drive digital success, while offering practical tips for staying ahead in a rapidly changing SEO landscape. Tune in to discover how to maximize your visibility through curated content and how to adapt to the future of digital marketing.Episode Highlights:Industry leaders share personal stories about how mentorship and authentic self-expression have shaped their SEO careers and industry influence.  The episode explores the evolving importance of brand in SEO, emphasizing its role in building trust, authority, and long-term visibility, especially through social media and content marketing.  Experts discuss how AI is transforming content creation and SEO, making processes more efficient and future-proof, despite ongoing industry turbulence.  Practical insights are shared on how small businesses can leverage branding and offline momentum to compete with larger companies in search rankings.  The conversation highlights the necessity of continuous learning, networking, and adapting strategies—such as embracing AI tools and focusing on quality content—to succeed in SEO landscape. Episode Links:

Send us a textMentorship and representation transforms careers - this truth echoes throughout our conversations with leading SEO professionals in the first installment of our two-part "Best of SEO" episode series. From personal journeys to strategies for tackling the various technical aspects of SEO, our expert guests reveal how adaptable and human-centered SEO truly is. As they explore how AI is revolutionizing search, these conversations emphasize the importance of trust and reliability in the field, especially at pivotal career moments. Episode Highlights: Nine SEO industry leaders share personal stories about how mentorship and representation have significantly shaped their SEO careers.Guests discuss the importance of authentic self-expression, visibility, curiosity, and the willingness to learn from mistakes can inspire others in the SEO community.These SEO experts emphasize that effective SEO strategies are highly tailored to client needs, from technical SEO for large e-commerce sites to content-driven approaches for news outlets.The conversation explores how AI is transforming search, emphasizing the ongoing importance of trust, reliability, and innovative algorithms in the evolving landscape.Episode Links:

Send us a textIn this episode, Danny sits down with LinkedIn Ads expert AJ Wilcox to dive into his marketing journey, his views on mentorship, and his laser-sharp insights into B2B advertising on LinkedIn.AJ shares how a passion for teaching and authentic connection laid the foundation for B2Linked, an industry-leading agency for LinkedIn Ads. He discusses the power of mentorship, from hiking with his boss's boss to mentoring rising marketers in Utah, and shares the advertising strategies that generate real ROI.Episode Highlights: AJ explains why he left SEO and Google Ads behind to become a LinkedIn Ads specialist focused on high-quality B2B leads.He shares how weekly mentorship hikes evolved into a career-boosting tradition for local digital marketers.Learn the essential elements of effective LinkedIn targeting and why deeper funnel strategies outperform surface metrics.Discover the benefits of combining mentorship with marketing expertise—AJ shares his advice for building both.AJ compares native LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms vs. landing pages, and how to pick the right tool for your campaign goals.Episode Links:

Send us a textIn this episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, Danny speaks with Chaya Glatt, a brand strategist and the founder of Brand Authority, about her journey from special education to branding and marketing. Chaya shares her thoughts on branding as a solution rather than just a service, offering insights into how businesses can use branding to solve real problems. The discussion touches on the importance of having a strong foundation in brand strategy and the dedication to gaining a deeper understanding of what branding can do for business growth. She also gives an honest take on parenting and building a successful career in digital marketing as a working mom.    Episode Highlights: Chaya shares how her unexpected journey from special education to branding led to her successful career in brand strategy.The discussion makes an argument for branding as a solution to business problems, defines it as more than just logos and visuals, and highlights the importance of creating messages that resonate with customers' true needs.Chaya shares actionable advice for startups and small businesses, placing emphasis on the importance of clear messaging and focus on client outreach before worrying about complex branding.She discusses the role of AI in branding and explains how it can assist with execution but will never replace the human-driven strategy behind strong brand development. Chaya encourages women to embrace their value and lean into the perspective and strengths that come with being a working mom. Episode Links: 

This is a special inbetweenisode, which serves as a recap of the episodes from last month. It features a short clip from each conversation in one place so you can easily jump around to get a feel for the episode and guest.Based on your feedback, this format has been tweaked and improved since the first recap episode. For instance, listeners suggested that the bios for each guest can slow the momentum, so we moved all the bios to the end. See it as a teaser. Something to whet your appetite. If you like what you hear, you can of course find the full episodes at tim.blog/podcast. Please enjoy! This episode is brought to you by 5-Bullet Friday, my very own email newsletter.Timestamps:Craig Mod: 03:16 Ev Williams: 13:49Richard Taylor: 23:57Full episode titles:Craig Mod — The Real Japan, Cheap Apartments in Tokyo, Productive Side Quests, Creative Retreats, Buying Future Freedom, and Being Possessed by SpiritsEv Williams — The Art of Pivoting (e.g., Odeo to Twitter), Strategic Quitting, The Dangers of Premature Scaling, Must-Read Books, and MoreRichard Taylor and Greg Broadmore, Wētā Workshop — Untapping Creativity, Stories from The Lord of the Rings, The Magic of New Zealand, Four Tenets to Live By, and The Only Sentence of Self-Help You NeedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us a textIn this episode, Danny welcomes Sara Strickland, a former full-time NICU nurse turned paid search coordinator at Optidge. Sara shares her powerful journey of transitioning from saving lives in hospitals to optimizing Google Ads campaigns.She discusses the transferable skills from nursing—like pattern recognition and empathy—that have made her a natural in PPC. Along the way, she's found guidance from mentors (including her sister) and now mentors others through team training and client relationships.This conversation is packed with advice for anyone considering a leap into digital marketing from a non-traditional background.An Optidge “Office Hours” EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights: Sara shares her inspiring journey from NICU nursing to digital marketing and the transferable skills that helped her thrive.She emphasizes the importance of mentorship in building confidence, particularly learning from her sister and colleagues.Sara explains how teaching others has helped solidify her own PPC knowledge and build client trust.Her advice to others considering a career pivot: test the waters, find a supportive environment, and always ask questions.Listeners gain a unique perspective on how empathy and structure from healthcare can enhance marketing strategy.Episode Links:

Send us a textIn this episode, Danny sits down with Susan Yen, a digital marketing expert with over seven years of experience in Pay-per-Click (PPC). Together, they discuss Susan's journey from her communications background to a career in paid search, her views on mentorship, and how diversity plays a crucial role in marketing. Susan talks about her experiences working in agency and in-house settings, the difficulties small businesses have with PPC, and how artificial intelligence is changing the sector.Episode Highlights: Susan shares her journey from struggling with traditional schooling to discovering her passion for marketing, detailing pivotal moments that led her to specialize in PPC.She highlights the importance of mentorship, crediting Navah Hopkins and Mark Irvine for encouraging her to speak at conferences and step out of her comfort zone.Susan discusses the common challenges local businesses face with PPC, stressing the importance of investing in digital marketing and understanding its potential for business growth.With a focus on diversity, Susan explains how companies can genuinely support diverse voices, going beyond tokenism to create meaningful change.As AI evolves in PPC, Susan emphasizes the need to balance technological tools with human creativity to maintain authenticity in marketing.Episode Links: 

Ev Williams is the co-founder of Mozi, a new social network that helps you connect in person with the people you care about. Over the past 25 years, Ev has co-founded several companies that have helped shape the modern internet—including Blogger, Medium, and Twitter. This episode was recorded live at Diggnation, where digg.com was relaunched. Go to digg.com and sign up to get early access when invites go out.Sponsors:David Protein Bars 28g of protein, 150 calories, and 0g of sugar: https://davidprotein.com/tim (Buy 4 cartons, get the 5th free.)Sundays for Dogs ultra-high-quality dog food: https://sundaysfordogs.com/tim (save 50% on your first order)Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://Wealthfront.com/Tim (Start earning 4.00% APY on your short-term cash until you're ready to invest. And when new clients open an account today, you can get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.) Terms apply. Tim Ferriss receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage, LLC for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of Wealthfront Brokerage. See full disclosures here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us a textIn this episode, Danny dissects the intricacies of paid advertising with Grace Glass, Paid Social Media Strategist at Optidge. She shares her expertise in balancing creative and strategic elements to build high-performing campaigns, especially for beginners. Tune in to gain valuable insights on ad budget allocation, testing methodologies, campaign optimization, segmentation strategies, and common pitfalls to avoid for beginners. An Optidge "Office Hours" EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights: Grace explains the difference between paid and organic social – emphasizing that paid social is necessary due to declining organic reach.This episode with Grace takes a closer look at why Meta is the best platform for beginners to start paid social due to its diverse audience targeting capabilities.In Grace's opinion, creative elements are one of the most crucial factors in ad performance as platforms increasingly automate audience targeting.She urges businesses to focus on conversions and cost-efficiency rather than vanity metrics like clicks.The episode shares through discussion and examples how regularly testing and optimizing ad creatives, audience segments, and budgets is key to a successful paid social campaign.Episode Links:

Send us a textIn this episode, Danny speaks with Jyll Saskin Gales, a Google Ads coach and former Google employee, about her journey from studying psychology to becoming a leader in digital advertising. Join us as Jyll shares insights on her time at Google, how she transitioned to consulting, and her approach to coaching and mentorship. She discusses personal branding, content creation, and the importance of audience segmentation in Google Ads. Jyll's experience offers helpful advice on optimizing ad effectiveness and business growth, applicable regardless of your level of experience with digital marketing. Episode Highlights: Jyll shares her journey from psychology to Google Ads mastery along with the importance of mentorship and strategic learning.She discusses the key differences between coaching and mentorship and how both play a role in personal and professional growth.Jyll dives into the immense value of niching down in marketing and how specificity in audience segmentation leads to stronger connections and business success.A firm belief Jyll has for businesses getting started in paid advertising, is to focus on establishing a solid organic marketing foundation to validate messaging.Her upcoming book, Inside Google Ads: Everything You Need to Know About Audience Targeting, explores the changes in audience segmentation and advertising.Episode Links: 

Send us a textThis episode of the Digital Marketing Mentor features Ameet Khabra, founder of Hopskip Media, who shares her unconventional journey from studying business administration to an unexpected stint in audio engineering, leading her to become a prominent figure in the PPC space. The conversation explores the importance of mentorship through nurturing community and personal passions, as well as dissects the role of AI and the value of asking the right questions. In this uplifting episode, Ameet's story serves as an inspiration for aspiring digital marketers, showcasing the power of curiosity, community, and confidence in navigating the complexities of the industry.Episode Highlights:Ameet shares her transition from business administration to marketing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where her exposure to email marketing and Google Ads sparked her interest in the field and her belief in the importance of curiosity and asking questions to unlock professional opportunities. She describes mentorship as a guiding relationship that fosters critical thinking and transparency, recounting experiences with mentors like Julie Friedman, Brian Smith, and Idras Fashan, to showcase how they've helped to broaden her perspective.  Ameet advocates for authenticity both in her personal relationships and her online presence, noting how her experience sharing personal stories and challenges has helped to position her as a reliable and relatable mentor and leader. Ameet and some of her latest research comparing human versus AI-generated copy reveals the significance of emotional context in effective marketing, advising caution regarding the implications of using AI in the advertising space. She encourages listeners to get involved in supportive online communities, crediting her early involvement in the Google Partner community for her proactive learning and networking opportunities. Episode Links: Follow Ameet on Social Media: Instagram: @adwordsgirlLinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

¡Llegamos al final de la serie de Elon Musk con este episodio sobre Twitter! Después de entender los grandes éxitos de Elon, Tesla y Space X, es hora de sumergirnos en su inversión más polémica hasta el día de hoy. La inversión que plantea que quizá el lado obscuro de Elon es el que gana.En este episodio de Chisme Corporativo, exploramos la historia detrás de Twitter, una red social que comenzó como un experimento en Odeo y se transformó en el escenario principal de la conversación política, social y cultural. Desde su fundación, llena de traiciones y disputas, hasta su impacto global y su reciente adquisición por Elon Musk que abrió la conversación sobre lo que son realmente la libertad de expresión y la censura.

Send us a textWhat happens when nearly two decades of digital marketing expertise, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a passion for mentorship converge? In this episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, Danny Gavin sits down with Jeremiah Andrick, a seasoned digital marketing professional who has worked with powerhouse companies like Microsoft, Logitech, and SteelSeries. Jeremiah's journey is anything but conventional, as he shares how mentorship shaped his career, lessons learned from his immigrant grandfather, and his philosophy of building teams that thrive. Dive into this insightful conversation to learn how personal values, lifelong learning, and challenging the status quo can create extraordinary results in marketing and leadership.Episode Highlights: Jeremiah shares how mentorship is a two-way street, helping both mentor and mentee grow. He highlights the importance of shared learning, testing ideas, and embracing constructive challenges to achieve meaningful progress.In today's ever-changing digital landscape, Jeremiah emphasizes strategies like avoiding the ROAS trap, aligning marketing with financial goals, and revisiting fundamentals to create impactful, sustainable campaigns.Jeremiah shares how his immigrant grandfather and mentors like Lance Binley shaped his leadership approach, instilling values of resilience, fairness, and investing in others. He also stresses the importance of diverse teams and creating space for all voices to thrive.Episode Links: Jeremiah's Social MediaLinkedInInstagram Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIn this Office Hours episode on The Digital Marketing Mentor Podcast, Danny sits down with Optidge's Head of Paid Search, Brianna Deboever, to dive deep into Google Ads. As our resident expert in paid search, she shares her insights on spotting red flags, optimizing campaign settings, and avoiding common pitfalls.  Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just getting started, this episode will guide you through building stronger, more efficient paid search campaigns. Our Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights: When it comes to Google Ads campaign setup, a few best practices include limiting ad groups to 3-7 keywords, avoiding overuse of broad match keywords, and setting location settings to “presence only.” Once your campaigns are ready to go live, Brianna recommends beginning with manual bidding and regular monitoring of conversion tracking to ensure accuracy and alignment before transitioning to automated tracking tactics. Brianna suggests incorporating negative keywords to reduce wasted ad spend and reviewing search terms frequently to refine keyword lists, assign accurate values to conversions, and enhance targeting. It's good practice to utilize tools like Clickcease, Google Tag Manager and GA4 in paid search to block spam traffic, streamline conversion tracking, and ensure alignment with campaign goals. Episode Links: Brianna's Linkedin Brianna's previous The Digital Marketing Mentor podcast episodeFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textWhat if the lessons of a logical classroom and a father's breakfast table could transform your approach to leadership and life? In this episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, we talk with Bo Bothe, president and CEO of BrandExtract, a brand strategy firm in Houston, to discover insights gathered over the course of his career journey - from his education, leadership style, and the importance of mentorship. Bo highlights lessons from his father, his MBA experience, and the value of resilience, personal growth, and community. Bo also explores the challenges of hybrid work, detailing his company's evolving approach to maintaining team connection and productivity in a remote environment. Episode Highlights: Bo highlights the complexities of hybrid work, noting the challenges it poses for team connection and productivity. His company has experimented with various models over the years and has recently moved to a four-day in-office schedule to foster stronger collaboration.He considers his father as a pivotal mentor, whose resilience, positivity, and unconventional wisdom has dramatically shaped his outlook on life. He also mentors others, from employees to young people in sports, and believes in understanding individuals' personal visions and challenges. Bo values mentorship and takes a personalized approach, tailoring his guidance to individual needs to promote positive personal and professional growth. Episode Links: Bo's LinkedInBo's InstagramRecent Article on Mentorship and Hybrid Work by BoFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIn this episode, Sophie Fell, Head of Paid Media at Liberty Marketing Group, shares her journey in digital marketing after motherhood, discussing her transition from managing Facebook posts for a startup to overseeing multi-million-dollar ad campaigns. She emphasizes the value of mentorship, data-driven decision-making, and the challenges faced with top-of-funnel PPC strategies. She highlights the advantages for beginners of being a “t-shaped marketer,” advocating for a blend of broad knowledge of all platforms with deeper specializations. The episode also explores the impact of AI on digital marketing and the evolving role of paid media professionals. Episode Highlights: Sophie built a successful career in PPC and paid media without a formal university degree. She started by managing Facebook posts for a startup and developed her skills through hands-on experience, emphasizing that practical knowledge often outweighs formal education in the marketing industry.Sophie views mentorship as a collaborative relationship built on trust and mutual respect. She credits her mentor, Kevin Ashley, for shaping her career and now mentors others within and outside of her agency, focusing on helping mentees define and achieve their goals.Sophie and Danny share in the belief in the advantages of being a “t-shaped marketer,” possessing a broad understanding across all platforms while having deeper expertise in one or two specific areas as they begin to align with career aspirations. Sophie highlights the critical role of data analysis and optimization in PPC, especially for beginners in the industry. While learning platform UIs is straightforward, understanding metrics, making data-driven decisions, and translating those insights into actions are what set top professionals apart.Many brands fail with top-of-funnel Google Ads campaigns because they focus on the wrong metrics, like direct conversions. Sophie advocates for redefining KPIs to measure engagement and awareness, which can better justify top-of-funnel strategies.Episode Links: Sophie's LinkedInSophie's XSophie's Book: Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIn this episode, Danny speaks with Mike King, SEO pioneer and founder of iPullRank, to explore the power of authentic representation through mentorship in the field of digital marketing and SEO. They discuss Mike's journey from computer science to SEO leadership. These mentors helped shape his path and model for diversity in the industry and emphasized the importance of visibility for aspiring professionals reflecting all forms of diversity. Listeners will gain insights into the future of SEO, the impact of AI advancements, effective brand-building strategies, and tips on navigating the world of SEO and professional mentorship. Episode Highlights: Although Mike studied computer science, he found his true calling outside the classroom, ultimately leading him to a career in SEO.Mike discusses the importance of explicit and implicit mentors, crediting individuals like Tony Effick, Rand Fishkin, and Will Reynolds for guiding his growth in SEO and helping him think strategically about the big picture in digital marketing and professional network-building. Mike advises small businesses, particularly, to focus on building genuine brand connections and targeting long-tail keywords rather than relying on SEO shortcuts, as Google increasingly favors quality and user-focused content.With the rise of AI-driven search, Mike predicts that SEO optimization will shift toward micro-optimizations within specific content segments and leveraging structured data.Episode Links: Mike's LinkedInMike's InstagramMike's iPullRankFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

This week we talk about Mastodon, Threads, and twttr.We also discuss social platform clones, user exoduses, and communication fractures.Recommended Book: Invisible Rulers by Renée DiRestaTranscriptIn 2006, a prototype of a software project called twttr, t-w-t-t-r, was developed by Jack Dorsey and Florian Weber, that name used because the full twitter.com domain, the word with all its vowels, was already owned and in use, and because the vowel-less version of the word only had five letters, which aligned with SMS short codes for the US, which were basically shorthand versions of telephone numbers that were used in lieu of such numbers by mobile network operators at the time.Going without vowels was also super trendy in Silicon Valley back then, due to the flourishing of online success stories like Flickr.Twitter, in that early incarnation, was meant to be a one-to-many SMS service, which means sending text messages from one phone to multiple phones, rather than one to one, which was the default.This early prototype was used internally at Odeo, which was an early-2000s web-based media directory, founded by some of the same people who eventually founded Twitter as a company, and random fun fact, Kevin Systrom who eventually cofounded Instagram, was an intern at Odeo one summer, back in 2005, before the company was sold in 2007.Twitter was spun out as its own company the same year Odeo was sold, and by 2009 it had become the hot new thing in the burgeoning world of the web—folks were sending tens of thousands of tweets, messages that were shared one-to-many, though online, on the web, instead of via SMS, by the end of 2007, and that was up to 50 million a day by early 2010.The whole concept of Twitter, then, from its name, which was initially predicated on SMS short codes, to its famous 140-character limit, was based on earlier technology, that of text messages, and that sort of limitation—which has in the years since been messed with a bit, the company slowly adding more capabilities, including the sharing of images and videos and other media types—but those limitations have in part helped define this platform from its peers, as while Facebook expanded and expanded and expanded to gobble up all of its general-purpose social networking competitors, Instagram dominated the photo-posting space, and YouTube has locked down the long-form video world for more than a decade, twitter held its own as a less-sprawling, less successful by most metrics, but arguably more influential network because it was a place that was optimized for concision and up-to-the-minute conversation, as opposed to every other possible thing it could be.This meant that while it didn't have the same billion-plus user base, and it didn't have the ever-growing ad-revenue that Meta's platforms could claim, it was almost always the more culturally relevant network, its users sharing more up-to-date information, its communities generating more memes, which were then spread to other networks days or weeks later, and it became a hotbed of debate and exclusive information from journalists, politicians, and business owners.A lot changed when Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk bought the network in October of 2022, changing the name to X in mid-2023, and pivoting the company dramatically in basically every way: removing a lot of those earlier limitations, cutting the number of employees by something like 80%, and losing a lot of advertisers because of his many ideological statements and political stances—including his backing of former president and now president-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election.What I'd like to talk about today are the twitter clones that have popped up in recent years, and one in particular that, despite its still-small size and arguable underdog status, is being heralded as the possible successor of Twitter—in that original, influential and scrappy sense—and what makes this network, Bluesky, different from other would-be successors in this space.—The leadership at X, including owner Musk, recently promoted a new feature on the app that refocuses attention away from buttons like likes and shares in favor of views—a metric of engagement that some analysts have claimed is meant to conceal the fact that the network is seeing a lot less actual, human engagement, and because it feeds people posts it wants them to see, this change allows them to artificially inflate the seeming activity on these posts for advertising purposes: they can say, hey look how much attention these posts are getting, please buy some ads, and that allows them to charge a higher price than if they were using those more conventional engagement metrics, which are apparently collapsing.As a company, X has been hemorrhaging money since Musk took over, its ad revenue, which makes up the majority of its income, dropping by nearly half from 2022 to 2023, and it lost another 24% from the first half of 2023 to the first half of 2024.One estimate released in November of 2024 suggests that X may have missed out on nearly $6 billion in lost ad revenue since Musk took over in 2022, mostly because of all the decisions he's made—including basically going to war with many of the company's top advertisers, publicly criticizing and threatening them for not paying more and buying more ads—but also his many foot-in-mouth statements and, at times, support of extremist causes and characters.He's attempted to bring some of those advertisers back, with mixed success, as the ones that have returned after boycotts have usually invested far less than in the past, and most of the ad-buyers that have filled the gaps are paying a lot less per ad unit than before, and are generally of a lower quality: a lot of cheaply products from low-grade Chinese factories, scams of various sorts, and/or products sold by companies that are politically conservative culture-warriors, aimed at the network's increasingly right-leaning and far-right audience; a bit like what we've seen on Fox News over the past decade or so, following waves of sexual assault and other scandals on that network, which led to similar advertiser exoduses.It's also been estimated that the network lost a substantial portion of its total user-base following Musk's takeover, including something like a third of all users in the UK and around a fifth in the United States, all just in 2024, up till the month of September.That loss of revenue and users was enough to cause Fidelity, which owns a multi-million-dollar stake in X, to write down the value of its investment by more than 75%; in July of 2024, it estimated the company, which was purchased for about $44 billion by Musk was only worth about $9.4 billion; a substantial loss for them and their investment, but also for all other shareholders.All of which leads up to what happened in the wake of the US's most recent presidential election, during which Musk shelled out more than $100 million to support Trump's campaign, while also pulling out all the stops to promote the former president on X—something that many users weren't too keen on, as the owners of other social networks have been criticized and threatened in the past for showing any hint of political bias in their business decisions or personal life, and this was incredibly overt.This heavy-handed biasing of the network toward Trump, and that very public support of the candidate by X's owner, sparked a new exodus from the platform, some people simply quitting social media entirely, at least for a while, but others looking for something of the same, and thus checking out the twitter-clones that have popped up over the past handful of years; the majority of which only actually gained real momentum in the wake of Musk's takeover and rebranding of the network a few years ago.One of those twitter-alternatives, Mastodon, attracted a lot of early attention because of what it offered that twitter, and other mainstream social networks, did not: an open source platform based on the ActivityPub protocol, which means it can connected to other ActivityPub-capable social networks.So in theory at least, you can have a profile on a Mastodon instance—which a self-hosted Mastodon network, a social platform island of sorts that is connected to other such islands, the totality of the social network made up of a huge number of such instances, all interconnected in various ways, and each offering different rules and focuses—you can have that profile on that island function on other networks beyond Mastodon, as well.And that's interesting because it means your work, your posts and conversations, are all more portable, allowing you to move to different networks if you choose, without losing your history and connections and credibility, because it's all compatible with other networks.So it's almost like having a Facebook profile that you can also use on Twitter and Instagram and YouTube, if all those networks played well together and shared information and post types between each other; that's the promise of a protocol like ActivityPub and a network like Mastodon.Mastodon was made public in 2016 as a nonprofit, has basically the same feature-set as pre-Musk twitter, and while it had already gained a steady stream of users from previous upsets at networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, among other more mainstream networks, it attained a huge number of new users in 2022 on the news that Musk would be taking over Twitter, hitting around 2.5 million monthly active users by the end of that year.That number has since dropped to just under a million as of September 2024, suggesting that the initial wave of enthusiasm has crested; though the platform continues to see a lot of support within some online communities, and its interactivity with other networks, including Meta's Threads, which has also added ActivityPub functionality, means that its numbers will always be a little weird, as folks can read Mastodon content and interact with Mastodon users from other, connected networks.Speaking of which, Threads is a twitter-clone that was released by Facebook and Instagram parent-company Meta in July of 2023, and it attained more than 100 million users in just five days, which set a new record for the rate of user-attainment.It took a little while for the network to be released beyond the US, especially in the EU, due to regulatory concerns, and an earlier version of the app was more of a Snapchat-clone, but that one did badly enough with users that the company pulled it from app stores and reused the brand for this new app a few years after that failed experiment.Threads was able to achieve that high adoption rate in part because it promoted the app heavily on Instagram and Facebook, and in part because of Musk's takeover of, and changes to Twitter. Folks looking for a Twitter-alternative, but who didn't want to deal with the comparable complexity of something like Mastodon flooded into this new network, and Meta's decision to push politics and other serious discussions to the algorithmic back-burner made it a friendly space for brands and influencers who didn't want to be associated with the chaotic forces that were swirling around the newly rebranded X.So Threads is similar to Twitter, but it supports ActivityPub, like Mastodon, and has similar community guidelines to other Meta products—which means there's a lot less nudity, and fewer references to illegal things, like drugs.It was recently announced that Threads has surpassed 275 million monthly active users, which puts it within spitting distance of independent assessments of X's monthly active user figure, which Musk recently said was around 600 million, but Sensor Tower says is closer to 318 million, as of October of 2024.There's been some hubbub about the possibility that Threads might be seeing losses in activity on the network, though, including a drop in how much time users spend on it. This is potentially the result of that decision to keep controversial stuff more or less hidden, and to heavy handedly, compared to other networks, at least, curate the feeds of users, who have very limited power over what they see in their feeds.The company announced they would be adjusting the algorithm significantly in the near-future, in order to allow more breaking news and other such posts to rise to the forefront, and it's thought that this might be a response to the recent success of another twitter-clone called Bluesky.Bluesky was founded in 2021, and it was originally, back in 2019, an initiative by Twitter to see if decentralizing the network might be possible—making Twitter just one network in a fediverse of networks, basically. As a result, it's perched atop an open communication protocol it developed called the AT Protocol, which is distinct from, but similar in utility to ActivityPub, in that it allows social platforms to link up and interact with each other, despite being different networks.Bluesky is superficially similar to pre-Musk twitter, but one of its killer apps, one of the things that distinguishes it from most other options in this space right now, alongside the AT Protocol, is the ability to choose your own algorithm, so that rather than having Meta decide what you see in your feed, and rather than just seeing a chronological list of posts from people you follow, you can also choose to follow curated lists of people, to tweak the word and content filters you use, the way posts are arranged, and an abundance of other options; it's pretty versatile, and you can easily flip between different filters to peruse different sorts of content filtered in different ways.The network launched on an invite-only basis in 2023, and was fully opened to the public in February of 2024, at which point it had already attracted more than 3 million users.Shortly after that launch, Jack Dorsey—the co-founder of Twitter and Bluesky—left Bluesky's board, saying that the company was making all the mistakes Twitter made and that he was stepping aside to focus on another decentralized social network he founded, Nostr, instead.Bluesky continued to gain users though, relatively slowly most of the time, though whenever Musk did something controversial they would typically see a larger influx, as was the case for all twitter-clones.In October of 2024, several changes to Twitter, including one that basically rendered its block feature useless, and another that said the company could use all posted content for AI training purposes, led to a surge in Bluesky adoption, bringing in more than 1.2 million users in just two days.That paled in comparison to what happened in November, following the election, though, when Bluesky started to grow by about a million users a day, catapulting its user base to more than 20 people million as of November 20—a surge that rocketed the app to the top of the app charts. And for context, the company only has about 20 employees, as of late-November, so that's a huge employee-to-user ratio.Bluesky is not without controversy, as the company's leadership has already been criticized for taking investment money from Blockchain Capitol, which could change its incentives, and though it's approaching 25 million users as of the day I'm recording this, up from a small fraction of that just a month ago, that's less than 10% of what Threads and X have, and that growth is almost certain to slow sometime soon, once the post-election flight from X has subsided; so it's possible this surge could be similar to what Mastodon saw not too long ago—a big surge in users, followed by a ebb in activity as people stop using the network for various reasons.The company has also been experiencing growing pains, in terms of tech, because of that sudden, much larger scale, but also in terms of culture.All those newbies joining the network all at once are changing the platform's makeup, accidentally trampling Bluesky's traditions and folkways, while also changing the conversational mores and topics and trends from how they were, pre-user-flood.Bluesky is currently the one the beat in terms of growth rate, in other words, and it seems to have achieved significant cultural resonance following the election, especially for people on the left of the political spectrum who no longer feel welcome or comfortable on X.But both Mastodon and Threads have represented the same in recent years, too, though their growth largely the consequence of X's failure, not necessarily the result of their own accolades and advantages.It's possible what we're seeing here, then, is not a struggle to become the next Twitter, but rather the emergence of a fractured text-based social media ecosystem, each platform offering something the others don't, or favoring some groups and their needs over those of others, and that, in turn, leading to a more fractured communication ecosystem, and maybe reinforced filter bubbles, as well.Show Noteshttps://www.fastcompany.com/91230935/the-website-tracks-how-fast-bluesky-is-growing-in-near-real-timehttps://techcrunch.com/2024/10/18/bluesky-surges-into-the-top-5-as-x-changes-blocks-permits-ai-training-on-its-data/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(social_network)https://news.sky.com/story/the-x-exodus-could-bluesky-spike-spark-end-of-elon-musks-social-media-platform-13254722https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-hides-x-engagement-figures-user-exodus-1990065https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/31/metas-threads-app-now-has-275-million-users-zuckerberg-says.htmlhttps://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/21747/2024-08-27/ad-revenue-freefall-continues-at-x.htmlhttps://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/warc-curated-datapoints/counting-the-cost-xs-59bn-in-lost-ad-revenue-since-its-2022-takeover/en-gb/157583https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/11/21/are-users-leaving-elon-musks-x-en-masse-and-where-are-they-headinghttps://www.euronews.com/next/2024/10/01/x-has-lost-75-of-its-value-since-elon-musk-took-overhttps://www.cnn.com/2024/11/06/business/elon-musk-election-bet/index.htmlhttps://anderegg.ca/2024/11/15/maybe-bluesky-has-wonhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/technology/bluesky-growing-pains.htmlhttps://thenextweb.com/twitter/2011/07/15/5-years-ago-today-twitter-launched-to-the-public/https://www.businessinsider.com/how-twitter-was-founded-2011-4?op=1https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/technology/31ev.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Corp. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Send us a textKaty Katz, Head of Digital Marketing and E-Commerce at Basic Fun!, discusses how mentorship, including her mother's early influence, shaped her career and approach to continuous learning in marketing. She emphasizes balancing creativity with data, fostering collaboration, and setting healthy boundaries to build effective growth-driven teams.Episode Highlights: Katy says traditional and non-traditional mentorship has always been incredibly important to her, and attributes her dedication to continuous learning in digital marketing from one of her earliest mentors, her mother. She values relationships that allow for mutual growth and learning, which she applies in her role as a leader.Her unique approach to marketing blends creativity with a data-driven mindset. This balance is critical because she leverages data for e-commerce while fostering creativity in toy marketing.Katy says it's easier to set boundaries when working at an agency than in-house because the former always has a clearly defined contract.Episode Links: Katy's LinkedInKaty's XFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIn this special episode, Senior SEO Strategist Mandy Politi reveals key strategies for mastering SEO in the age of AI, focusing on Google's EEAT guidelines. Through the compelling case study of a real Optidge client, Mandy and Danny highlight the risks of relying too heavily on AI-generated content for the sake of ramping up quantity, emphasizing the importance of aligning content with user intent. The conversation shares expert insights on on-page and local SEO, comprehensive content audits, addressing technical challenges, and best practices to ensure long-term success in search rankings.An Optidge "Office Hours" EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights: Mandy emphasized that AI is a valuable tool but must be used in alignment with Google's EEAT guidelines. Content created at scale using AI can lead to a dramatic drop in traffic if it prioritizes search rankings over user experience and relevance, as seen with Client X.Taking the approach of targeting every possible keyword, even those that are irrelevant, and producing low-quality content are both harmful tactics for a website's long-term performance. These strategies were especially detrimental for a business in the medical field, where establishing trustworthiness is essential. Unqualified traffic results in users quickly exiting the site, signaling to Google that the content is irrelevant, leading to drops in rankings and overall site performance. The conversation highlighted that duplicating content, especially using AI, dilutes SEO value and confuses Google about which pages to rank. For Client X, this led to non-indexed pages, poor rankings, and irrelevant traffic, showing the importance of targeting the right keywords and maintaining content quality.The solution lies in a thorough content and technical audit, focusing on removing irrelevant content, resolving duplication, and optimizing for qualified traffic. By following these best practices, the client could see improvements in traffic and conversions over time.Episode Links: Mandy's LinkedInAnother TDMM episode with MandyOptidge blog on this case studyFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIn this episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, Danny talks with Mordy Oberstein, Head of Brand SEO at Wix, about his unique career path from teaching to SEO expertise. Mordy discusses the importance of mentorship and education, Wix's SEO transformation, and the impact of brand identity on search rankings. He also shares insights on balancing brand building with performance marketing, along with personal stories like his love for the Yankees and ground coffee.Episode Highlights:Mordy views mentorship as a deep interpersonal relationship, where mentors guide by sharing life experiences rather than just teaching skills. Key traits of a mentor include forgiveness, effective communication, and having a clear vision.Mordy says it was community engagement, product improvements, and strategic rebranding efforts that helped propel Wix into an SEO leader in the industry. Mordy emphasized the growing importance of brand marketing in SEO, arguing that brand identity, recognition, and reputation can significantly boost search engine rankings and long-term success.Mordy explained the tension between performance marketing, which seeks immediate results, and brand marketing, which focuses on long-term relationship building. He stressed the need for businesses to balance both approaches for sustainable growth.Episode Links: Mordy's LinkedInMordy's XMordy's podcast, the SEO RantFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIn this episode of the Digital Marketing Mentor podcast, host Danny Gavin sits down with Ross Hudgens, the founder and CEO of Siege Media. Ross shares his journey from studying creative writing to scaling one of the leading content marketing agencies through discussion on the role of mentorship, strategies for scaling a business, and evolving SEO practices in the age of AI. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned marketer, this episode offers practical advice and insights on business growth and effective digital marketing.Episode Highlights: Mentorship has played a crucial role in Ross's career. Influential digital marketing figures and direct competitors such as Grayson LaFrance and Wil Reynolds have provided guidance and support in his successful pursuit of scaling Siege Media. Effectively scaling his agency has meant Ross has had to learn to delegate responsibilities, particularly in sales and operations. Ross's approach to SEO has evolved from traditional link building to “product-led digital PR.” This includes creating unique, data-driven content that stands out in a digital landscape. Episode Links: Siege Media Ross LinkedInRoss's XRoss's InstagramFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textIt's been said that the future of digital marketing is female: creative, data-driven, and unstoppable. Join us for an inspiring episode of the Digital Marketing Mentor as we explore and reflect on past conversations that follow the remarkable journeys of women who are breaking barriers and redefining the industry. From embracing unexpected or unplanned career transitions and the importance of mentorship to overcoming imposter syndrome and balancing expectations, this group of women is laying the groundwork for the next generation and leading the charge in digital transformation.Episode Highlights From journalism and physical therapy to theater and psychology, these inspiring women shed light on the non-linear career paths that can lead to success in digital marketing. The prevalence of imposter syndrome and self-doubt in the workplace is growing and it's crucial to proactively address it by finding mentors and prioritizing continuous learning.Mentorship has played a crucial role in all of these women's lives - fostering community and inclusivity in the workplace and allowing them to effectively build careers they are proud of. This episode highlights the importance of supporting the next generation of female digital marketers by creating new opportunities, bridging skill gaps, and promoting diversity and inclusion.Episode LinksSarah Presch, Purna Virji, Tracy Murray, Vicky Charleston, Sicily Dickenson, Navah Hopkins, Shelly Fagin, Adele Beiny, Emily Ryan, Batli Joselevitz, Allie Danzinger, Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a textThe perfect blend of digital marketing and psychology, this discussion features Sarah Presch, Digital Marketing Director of Dragon Metrics, who shares her journey from studying marketing to pursuing psychology, emphasizing the critical role of understanding consumer behavior in this space. The conversation explores the rewarding nature of mentorship, emphasizing mutual learning, humility, structured success plans, and regular check-ins. In this episode, Sarah explores ethical considerations in digital marketing and SEO, including the influence of cognitive bias, the importance of psychological safety, and the challenges of ethical content creation. The discussion wraps with Sarah's passion for music as a therapeutic tool and how it's all tied into her achievements with Dragon Metrics. Episode Highlights: Understanding human behavior is crucial in marketing and the intersection between psychology and marketing promotes innovation and perspective.Sarah founded Neurodivergents in SEO to provide a safe space for digital marketing professionals on the spectrum to talk and learn about marketing career paths. Ethical considerations that exist in digital marketing and SEO, include the influence of cognitive bias - specifically a user's confirmation bias, the importance of psychological safety, and the challenges of ethical content creation.She stresses the importance for marketers in understanding an audience's culture and language. Episode Links: Sarah's professional websiteSarah's LinkedInSarah's XDragon Metrics websiteDragon Metrics LinkedIn Neurodivergents in SEOFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a Text Message.This episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor takes us through the remarkable journey of Julia McCoy, President of Content at Scale, whose early struggles finding a passion inspired a career transition to the world of freelancing.  In overcoming doubts and with the support of mentors along the way, she's turned storytelling passion into a thriving career, pioneering several approaches to marry SEO, content creation, and AI to enhance efficiency and productivity. Julia reveals her take on the role of mentorship in shaping our professional paths - sharing stories of support through her launch into public speaking and entrepreneurial pursuits.  Tune in to hear Julia's predictions on the future of content and SEO, and how AI is powering the charge. Episode Highlights: Having transitioned to digital marketing, Julia shares her take on how mentorship plays a crucial role in shaping career paths, sharing stories of her own mentors who have encouraged her to step into entrepreneurship and embrace public speaking. Julia says content writers should embrace the arrival of AI and learn to use it to their advantage, harnessing the power of these tools for more creative content solutions. Julia has launched a feature that allows AI to replicate a writer's style and unique voice which helps maintain brand identity and integrity. Her Unified Editor tool allows anyone to create powerful content regardless of their writing experience making the writing process more accessible and efficient. AI is revolutionizing content marketing by allowing writers to focus on strategic thinking and creativity while keeping burnout at bay. Episode Links: Julia's LinkedinJulia's InstagramJulia's YouTubeJulia's booksContent at ScaleFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a Text Message.In this ‘Office Hours' episode, we examine PPC budget management closely. We speak with paid search analyst, Alejandro Torres, whose frustration with unpredictability of Google Ads' spend tracking led to a revolutionary solution. With the assistance of his team, they built a robust tool designed to help them with pacing the spending schedule and optimizing the budgets of PPC campaigns for their clients. Tune into an episode packed full of tips on the technical aspects, team collaboration, and unique challenges faced in managing PPC campaigns. An Optidge "Office Hours" EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights: Despite Alejandro's initial disinterest in digital marketing in college, his path led him back, allowing him to apply his practical knowledge in finance and management to his current role on the Optidge PPC team. Alejandro initially heard about an innovative, data-tracking PPC tool, Dataslayer, from another department at Optidge and began testing the tool to see how its capabilities might help handle the headache of tracking PPC campaign spending. Dataslayer and the custom solution put together by Alejandro and the team can now accurately monitor the spending habits of multiple campaigns at once and notify the PPC team when they're under or overspending (with special thanks to color coding).Episode Links:Alejandro's LinkedInDataslayer Optidge PPC Services Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a Text Message.Join us as we uncover the transformative power of mentorship and cause-driven marketing with Aimee Woodall, founder of The Black Sheep Agency. Amy unpacks her public relations experience for political initiatives and the pivotal role that her academic journey played in shaping her passion for politics and communication. She fondly recalls some of her most influential mentorship experiences and highlights the evolution of mentorship in business. Finally, we journey through Aimee's establishment of a cause-driven agency, discussing the challenges and rewards of prioritizing social responsibility in marketing. Episode HighlightsAimee defines the relationship between a mentor and a mentee as a two-way street where both parties learn from the experience with each other.One of Aimee's mentors showed her that there could be meaning behind her work, and that propelled her into cause-driven marketing.One of the greatest gifts Aimee received from her work is learning about all the different social challenges in our society and how to weave social responsibility into marketing strategies. Episode Links Black Sheep AgencyAimee's LinkedinAimee's InstagramAimee's XFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a Text Message.This episode of the Digital Marketing Mentor takes us back to the classroom as we talk with Noah Frydberg, full-time university student at the University of Texas and founder of the multi-million dollar social media marketing agency, Maverick Creative. We discuss with this young entrepreneur about his greatest mentor, what led him to take the leap into starting his own company, and why he feels TikTok is a social media marketing goldmine that's being underutilized by businesses looking to scale.Episode Highlights TikTok offers an incredible opportunity to grow your company or brand. Noah highly recommends taking the time to completely understand this social media platform's potential for creators of all types.As a member of Gen Z,  Noah has used his age to his advantage. He often pursues clients looking to access that specific market. Noah is in a unique position as an entrepreneur in his generation that can make the most from his tremendous knowledge of TikTok.Noah's greatest mentor has been his father. He's shown him the art of cold-calling, managing client demands, and making the sale and Noah has carried those attributes to his company when mentoring his own employees. Episode LinksNoah's TikTokNoah's LinkedInMaverick Creative WebsiteFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Send us a Text Message.Pack your bags and join us as we head to Minnesota to speak with Nick LeRoy, freelance SEO consultant and owner of SEOjobs.com.  In today's episode of the Digital Marketing Mentor Podcast, we'll explore how Nick hit the ground running by learning SEO in his first job out of college. Having experienced several professional setbacks, he shares how he used this experience and leaned into mentors to propel him into entrepreneurship and a freelance career in SEO. We'll hear about his passion project, SEOJobs.com, and his vision to revolutionize the SEO job market. Episode Highlights:Nick's love of SEO began after learning the necessary skills on the job straight out of university. He credits reading ‘how to' books at the local Barnes and Noble with helping him to understand the subject.According to Nick, a mentor challenges another's thinking and provides necessary guidance.After losing his job twice, Nick has learned that he prefers working as a freelance SEO consultant instead of within an agency. Being his own boss allows him to be brutally honest with his clients, and he feels he produces better work.The keys to success in the SEO industry include strong communication, genuine curiosity for SEO, and understanding the industry's ‘hard skills.'Nick enjoys mentoring uniquely by offering advisory services and actively seeking out employment opportunities for SEO professionals through his passion project, SEOjobs.com. Episode Links: Nick's Leroy's Company: Nick Leroy Consulting  Nick's  X account  Nick's  LinkedIn  SEO job board seojobs.comFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Buckle up for today's episode as the Digital Marketing Mentor takes you on an exciting journey with Wil Reynolds, the founder, and VP of Innovation at SEER Interactive. As one of the most esteemed digital marketing agencies in the U.S., we'll talk to this former economics teacher about his life-long passion for learning, creating value, and giving back to others and what led to his creation of SEER Interactive. Wil also discusses the power of mentorship and the importance of the human connection with customers through SEO in the face of growing AI influence. Episode Highlights Wil's passion for giving back, creating change, and making an impact was born from his early professional years as an economics teacher. His passion was put into overdrive after being denied the opportunity to volunteer, which became a significant value he instilled in the creation of SEER Interactive. Wil has been grateful for his mentors throughout his career and says they have taught him some of his most valuable life lessons. The truest indication that a mentor has done a good job is when the mentee has outgrown them, which has happened to Wil several times. Will is not anti-SEO. Instead, he supports the most ‘frictionless' way for users to access their desired information, which seems to be through AI. The invention of AI has undoubtedly helped with SEO and content creation. However, Wil says it's important not to lose the human connection,  including using your ideas instead of those from a bot and connecting with your viewers through organic social media traffic.Episode LinksWil Reynolds LinkedInWil Reynolds YouTubeWil Reynolds InstagramSeer Interactive Website Seer Interactive LinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

This episode features Purna Virji, principal consultant of Content Solutions at LinkedIn, and explores her holistic view of content marketing. She dives into what has shaped her perspective through her 20-year career in marketing as a content creator, program manager, SEO public, instructional designer, and brand evangelist. Tune in to learn more about mentorship's role in Purna's journey in content marketing and hear some of the best engagement tips from one of the industry's social media marketing gurus. Episode Highlights Purna says her life purpose is to ‘lift others' through education and empowerment.  She's an active mentor to many professionals and feels the responsibility of the job includes shining the light on their strengths and talents while providing constructive criticism. Purna herself has several high-profile mentors she calls her ‘board of directors'. They are a fabulous sounding board when she has questions.The foundation of successful marketing content rests in knowing your audience. Purna stresses the importance of  ‘studying your customers' to learn what they want, their motivations, and their problems. When you understand your audience, the content will write itself. Additionally, a company must identify its core values, brand purpose, and the ‘connective tissue' that links its audience to its product or service. Purna compares a brand's message to water; it can take the shape of any container. So often, content that hasn't been working is tossed. Purna argues that instead of wasting time creating new content, well-researched and ideated material can be reused or repurposed on a different platform; it still has value.Episode LinksPurna's LinkedInPurna's X Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us for this special episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor as we reflect on our conversations with various guests about their experiences with PPC advertising. We cover everything from why our guests entered this industry to bid management, control metrics, conversion tracking, and GA4. Whether you're new to PPC or a seasoned pro, this Best of PPC episode will offer advice and anecdotes regarding this rapidly evolving industry. Episode Highlights The many experts we've interviewed about PPC advertisingI seem to share a few understandings: A detailed PPC audit is an excellent way to ensure a new or revamped campaign will move in the right direction and best utilize company budgets.Manual vs. automatic bidding tends to be a popular topic in the PPC community and our guests believe that the intent and goals behind the campaign should drive the bidding strategy. Digital marketers must pay more attention to the power of good ad copy as even small changes can steer a PPC campaign in the right direction.In a lead generation campaign, some key indicators to evaluate and frame the budget include the length of the campaign (how long it has been running), CPL to acquisition, visibility, and conversion rate. PPC experts emphasize the value of attribution since the cost-per-lead data often drives the connection between campaign results and company growth.Google's elimination of third-party cookies will most impact companies that don't conduct online transactions or have an e-commerce presence as it will make accessing customer data more difficult. Episode Links Susan Wenograd - Mastering Google Ads: Secrets to Success in Search, Speaking, and StrategyNavah Hopkins - English, Ethics, Education, and Encouragement in Paid SearchSarah Stemen - Effective Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurial EndeavorsDuane Brown - Destination: Digital Marketing Data  Kirk Williams - Speaking, Sparking Connections, Star Wars, and (Google) Shopping Brianna Deboever -  Office Hours | Making Alphabet Soup for Lead Quality: PPC, UTM, CRM, and MoreRachel Howle -  Office Hours  | ManuFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us for an inspiring episode as we explore Brie Anderson's journey from soccer scholarship to digital marketing expertise, discovering the power of saying “YES!” to opportunities and effective mentorship. Gain valuable insights into navigating digital landscapes, leveraging data, and empowering yourself in today's ever-evolving world. Don't miss this enriching discussion filled with actionable analytics advice.Episode Highlights Brie Anderson's journey from scholarship soccer student athlete to digital marketing showcases the importance of embracing opportunities. Transitioning from communications to digital marketing, she learned and grew by saying "Yes" to new experiences. Mentors like her first boss and industry leaders guided her journey.For Brie, mentorship is about open communication and taking initiative. She shares her experiences and insights to support others facing similar challenges. Despite initially not seeing herself as a mentor, her wife helped her see that her openness with her mental health struggles and readiness to share her technical skills and knowledge certainly qualifies her as a mentor to others. As the founder of BEAST Analytics, she helps clients understand and use data effectively, navigating changes like the shift to Google Analytics 4. Brie empowers clients to adapt to evolving digital trends while addressing privacy concerns. Through education and practical advice, she ensures their digital strategies remain effective and responsive.Episode Links Brie's LinkedInBEAST Analytics website Brie's email InstagramFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

In this episode, learn how Optidge teamed up with Berlin Heart to customize HubSpot, revolutionizing their data management. Explore the challenges Berlin Heart faced with spreadsheets and discover how Optidge customized HubSpot to streamline workflows and enable remote accessibility. Hear about the benefits of tailored CRM solutions and join us as we uncover the transformative power of this partnership with Berlin Heart. An Optidge "Office Hours" EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights Berlin Heart came to Optidge to help set up Hubspot, a customer relationship management system (CRM), for their unique needs. As a medical device company that develops, produces, and markets innovative devices for mechanically supporting the heart, Berlin Heart needed the CRM to do more, and be more of a database management system. They needed to transition from a system of data management that existed in 12-20 spreadsheets, only accessible in the office, with multiple redundancies - to a cloud-based, interconnected database of data. They needed to track hospitals, staff, patients, devices, training logs, status updates, maintenance records, and more. And they needed to know their information was up-to-date and accurate.Optidge utilized Hubspot's custom objects to build out an expansive, interconnected database system for Berlin Heart. Through the creation and customization of custom objects, they could oversee a variety of data points configured in different ways. They could see all the device pump changes and their next needed timing. They could view all the patient status updates for a given week in one table. They could also look at a specific device and see which hospital, patient, staff, and crate it was currently connected to. Episode LinksBerlin Heart Berlin Heart LinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Discover Andrea Cruz's journey from Venezuela to Boston, mastering business administration and international marketing. Learn about the power of mentorship and the intricacies of B2B marketing in this insightful episode.Episode Highlights Andrea Cruz's journey from Venezuela to Boston shaped her into a versatile business professional. Her degrees in Business Administration and International Business equipped her with digital marketing skills ahead of their time. Mentors like Jeremy Krantz, AJ Wilcox, and JD Prater played pivotal roles, guiding her through career transitions and public speaking fears.Embracing diversity in Massachusetts, Andrea thrived among various cultures, fostering a deep understanding of global perspectives. Fluent in multiple languages, she embodies a polyglot identity, enhancing her ability to empathize and connect across diverse communities. Andrea's dedication to mentorship reflects her belief in holistic growth, emphasizing emotional openness and strategic planning.As a B2B marketing enthusiast, Andrea challenges misconceptions and advocates for personalized strategies. Her managerial role allows her to empathize with team members and champion inclusive, hands-on leadership. With a passion for niche verticals and brand differentiation, she navigates the complexities of B2B marketing with creativity and purpose, emphasizing customer-centric approaches for sustainable growth.Episode LinksTinuitiLinkedInX/TwitterFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join Susan Wenograd as she shares her journey in digital marketing, blending creativity with practicality. Explore mentorship insights and the evolving landscape of Google Ads and new strategies to optimize in a post-cookie world! Episode Highlights Susan Wenograd, characterized by her unique blend of practicality and creativity, recounts her transformative journey from initially considering film studies to ultimately carving out a successful career in the realm of digital marketing. Through her experiences, she embodies the ethos of adaptability and perseverance, demonstrating how embracing both sides of her personality has been instrumental in navigating the complexities of the industry.Susan has seen a profound impact from mentors like Mike King and Jeremy Bloom, whose guidance transcends conventional boundaries, offering Susan holistic insights that extend far beyond their apparent roles. Their mentorship serves as a testament to the power of genuine connections and the invaluable lessons that emerge from meaningful relationships within one's professional journey.Susan dives into the deep, ever-evolving world of Google Ads. She provides valuable insights into strategic shifts in bidding tactics, optimizations, and the differences in strategies over the past decade (and more). She offers a glimpse into her entrepreneurial venture with Can'tdles, a candle-making business that beautifully intertwines her creative flair with astute business acumen. Through her multifaceted experiences, Susan offers a compelling narrative that underscores the importance of adaptability, mentorship, and embracing one's unique blend of skills and passions in navigating the complexities of the modern business world.Episode LinksSusanWenograd.com Susan's LinkedInTwitterFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us for a captivating conversation with Britney Muller, where she delves into the realms of mentorship, AI innovations, and her enchanting ASL escapades. Explore the intersection of expertise and experience in this digital marketing adventure!Episode HighlightsBritney Muller shares her journey from pre-med to journalism to internet marketing, emphasizing learning beyond the classroom through diverse experiences like waitressing and mentorship from industry giants like Rand Fishkin. She reflects on the pivotal role of informal mentorship, highlighting relationships that blur the line between guidance and friendship.In the realm of AI, Muller warns against overreliance on LLMs for deterministic tasks like keyword research. She predicts a surge in industry-specific LLMs and advocates for thoughtful integration to maximize their potential. She discusses the importance of diversity in AI and shares a paper about the affinity group talks she saw poorly attended at NeurIPS. Additionally, she sheds light on biases in AI models and the importance of transparency in mitigating them.Beyond AI, Muller discusses her passion for American Sign Language, recounting inventive experiences like introducing ASL interpretation on ski slopes. She emphasizes the value of quality content over quantity in marketing and PR strategies. Through her diverse interests and expertise, Muller offers valuable insights into navigating the ever-evolving landscape of technology and communication.Episode Links Website - Data Sci 101Website - Britney MullerArticle/Paper re: Indigenous NAI researchersBlack in AIMuslim in AIIndigenous in AILatinX in AIFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us on this episode as Andrew Foxwell shares his journey from St. Olaf University through Capitol Hill to California, revealing how mentorship played a pivotal role in his career. Discover the inception of Foxwell Founders, a thriving community connecting marketers and mentors. Andrew reflects on the power of mentorship, the challenges of parenting during a pandemic, and the evolution of digital advertising and paid social on platforms like TikTok.Episode HighlightsAt St. Olaf University, Andrew Foxwell delved into political science and business, finding solace in the college's renowned music program. As a choir member, he embraced singing as a unique form of worship, considering choir practice a meditative escape from the complexities of daily life. Andrew's journey into the political arena began in rural Minnesota, fueled by a fascination with government and a desire to be 'in the room where it happens.' His active involvement in political campaigns, including volunteering in the 2008 presidential campaign, eventually led him to a life-changing role in Washington, D.C. Working for a congressional representative.The pivotal moment for Andrew in the realm of digital advertising occurred when Congress allowed social media ads. This opened the door for Andrew to run ads on platforms like Facebook and Google, eventually leading him to specialize in Facebook Ads. His journey into the advertising world involved working with a diverse range of politicians and agencies, fostering a bipartisan approach to his work. This experience laid the foundation for his later endeavors in mentoring and community building within the digital marketing space.Foxwell Founders (FF) is a community founded by Andrew Foxwell, focusing on digital marketing mentorship and collaboration. Initially created to facilitate discussions on social media advertising challenges, FF has grown into a substantial online community of marketers. The community aims to provide a platform for members to seek guidance, learn, and connect with mentors. They've expanded their topics of discussion and launched specific communities, like the PPC community. Foxwell Founders is dedicated to building self-sustaining programs, fostering mentorship, and helping members learn and grow in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing.Episode LinksFoxwellDigital.comEmail – andrew@foxwelldigital.comAndrew's LinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

In this episode, Raphael Gavin, the media-production master, spills the beans on navigating the advertising industry, humorous entry to his career, and the transformative power of mentorship. From his accidental title upgrade to the importance of tailored guidance, dive into the world of advertising with wit and wisdom.Episode HighlightsRaphael Gavin, son of advertising legend Louis Gavin, found his own path in advertising after a chance meeting during his time at his father's agency. He believes no degree can match the power of learning from experience.Raphael emphasizes three key elements of mentorship: clear communication, mutual trust, and tailored guidance. His mentors include his wife and agency co-founder Sean Dawson, who shaped his business acumen and taught him how to always show up better the next time. As a mentor, Raphael prioritizes support, sharing experiences, and acknowledging that mentees may surpass their mentors. Flexibility, highlighted by COVID-19, is crucial in adapting to unpredictable situations in the advertising industry.Raphael's advertising journey, starting as an account executive, led him to appreciate production. Despite challenges, working with family accelerated his career growth, providing constant strategic discussions at work and home.Episode LinksLevergyInstagramXLinkedInRaphael's LinkedInJay Steinfeld EpisodeFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us in this episode as we hear about Sarah Stemen's journey from programming through in-house marketing to starting her own business. From unexpected mentorship lessons to the art of being an accessible mentor, Sarah spills the beans on agency struggles, the power of conversation in consulting, and her unique approach to Google Ads. Episode HighlightsSarah Stemen began her digital marketing journey before the field fully existed, transitioning from a tech-focused background with an MBA pivot into marketing. Sarah's genuine care for doing good is reflected in her mentoring style. Accessible at any hour, she emphasizes nonjudgmental advice and building trust with mentees.Like many agencies, Sarah faces challenges marketing her own business. Limited budgets and the common struggle with being objective about one's own business guide her choices, emphasizing outsourcing for content and SEO.With the guidance of other agency professionals, Sarah challenges the notion that agency success correlates with size, limiting her clients to four. Her focused, strategic approach echoes the value of staying small and niche. Like a video game player who is a “button-masher,” Sarah goes into a new client's Google Ad account and pushes every button. She will find the settings and patterns to optimize an account through her own discovery. Episode Links: Kirk Williams EpisodeKirk Williams Book - Stop the ScaleAkvile's recommendation: Jasper AISarah Stemen LLC Sarah's SocialsLinkedInX/TwitterInstagramTikTokFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

On this special Office Hours episode, we are talking with Tracy about making a grand career change. After nearly a decade of working, after achieving a doctorate in physical therapy, Tracy transitioned to freelance work in marketing. Listen in to hear how she faced the questions, both from others and herself, the imposter syndrome, and the challenges of starting a new career. An Optidge "Office Hours" EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights Tracy, a physical therapy director, felt unfulfilled and anxious in her 9-5 healthcare job. Pandemic uncertainties pushed her to transition to digital marketing, finding solace in ODEO's tailored support for career shifts. Leaving her secure job, Tracy navigated through a grieving process for her previous profession. And despite missing in-office friendships, she found new camaraderie in the dynamic world of digital marketing.Tracy challenges the notion of university degrees as essential for marketing. ODEO, with its tailored support, exemplifies how knowledge and training are more accessible today. Soft skills from diverse backgrounds seamlessly translate into digital marketing.Tracy's transition from a corporate salary to freelancing involved careful financial planning. She embraced a mindset shift, starting a few rungs lower on the career ladder, valuing service and adding value. Imposter syndrome is tackled through accountability and recognizing growth.Episode Links: Tracy's LinkedInOptidge Website Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Venture on Vicky Charleston's transformative journey from art student to corporate leader. Uncover the profound impact of mentors, familial wisdom, and the challenges of breaking biases in the corporate realm. Explore the multi-chromatic blend of creativity and analytics in her digital marketing odyssey, proving that artistry and strategy can coalesce seamlessly.Episode Highlights Vicky Charleston's journey from abstract art studies at the University of Houston to graphic design success is marked by academic achievements, including a selective entry into the junior block of the graphic design program. She remembers this accomplishment to this day if she ever doubts herself. Vicky's father, a strict military man with artistic insight, instilled valuable life lessons in his children throughout their whole lives. His encouragement, overcoming humble beginnings, motivated her through doubts. The mantra "never be afraid to ask" remains a guiding principle in her life. Vicky emphasizes the impact of mentors throughout her career, acknowledging those who invested in her growth. She reciprocates by mentoring others, emphasizing honesty, listening, and empathy as essential mentorship qualities.As a woman of color in leadership, Vicky gracefully navigates biases and challenges in organizations. She highlights the importance of representation for younger people of color, and her education through Optidge's ODEO digital marketing program broadened her digital marketing knowledge, proving the value of diverse skill sets.Episode Links: Vicky's LinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Explore the dynamic world of social media advertising with Joseph Wolf, Optidge's Head of Paid Social. From diverse campaign strategies to understanding audience behaviors, uncover the importance of quality over quantity and the nuances of tracking for optimal results. Join us as we debunk common myths and gain insights into crafting effective social media campaigns.An Optidge "Office Hours" EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode HighlightsJoseph Wolf's passion for marketing ignited in high school, leading him from a marketing degree at St. Edward's University to honing analytical skills in business intelligence. His career journey and expertise truly bloomed at Optidge.Contrary to common advice from big media buyers and Meta reps, diversification is crucial for effective advertising, especially in low-budget scenarios. Joe advocates varied campaigns, content, and audience targeting to achieve success without massive spending.Dispelling the myth of broad targeting success, Joe emphasizes diversification in demographics, regions, interests, and creative. Backup audiences play a vital role, ensuring sustained success as specific audiences may lose efficacy over time.Optidge's approach prioritizes lead quality over quantity. Joe recommends focusing on the relationship between CPL and lead quality, leveraging diverse campaigns, and testing creatively to achieve success in the evolving landscape of paid social advertising.Episode LinksJoseph's LinkedInOptidge Website For the full list of episode links, visit our main page. Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us as Stacey Piefer shares her transformative career, from journalism to purposeful, personal branding. Discover the power of mentoring, authenticity, and Stacey's mission to banish imposter syndrome on the University of Houston campus. Unveil the truth in advertising and explore the evolving landscape of marketing through the lens of a perpetual student of life.Episode Highlights Stacey Piefer's journey began in broadcast journalism at Alvin Community College and led to a degree in Communications and Public Relations at the University of Houston. This shaped her impactful career in communications, personal branding, and career coaching.Stacey emphasizes kindness, influencing, and listening as key mentorship skills. At the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, she and her colleagues adopt diverse mentoring approaches, prioritizing what's best for each student.Stacey's transition from PR to branding at Savage Brands led her to discover her purpose, evolving from "express" to proudly identifying as a "guide." Authenticity is the cornerstone of personal branding, embracing uniqueness and multi-dimensionality.Stacey challenges the term "imposter syndrome," aiming to debunk the notion that students should feel fraudulent for being in a continuous learning phase. She advocates building confidence and dispelling unrealistic expectations, fostering a culture of growth and authenticity at the University of Houston.Episode Links: LinkedInStacey PieferBauer College of Business - Rockwell Career CenterFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

In today's episode, hear Pinny's extraordinary journey from Montreal to Harvard, shaped by mentorship, global ventures, and entrepreneurship. Discover the transformative power of an unconventional Rabbi, lessons from a father who survived the Holocaust, and the innovative era of early digital marketing with Ice.com. Join us for a conversation on life's variety of experiences, business adventures, and the joy of being a "Zadie."Episode HighlightsWith an education that spans Montreal, Los Angeles, London, and New York, two master's degrees, and a current Harvard degree program, Pinny has a unique upbringing and education. Guided by a Rabbi who taught him to go against the grain, he started his career in digital marketing with confidence and creativity that took him very far. Pinny views mentors as guides, not answer-providers. His Harvard-assigned coach trades coaching for Chassidus study with Pinny. Pinny, as his mentors have for him, now emphasizes clarity without ego and letting others do the important work of arriving at their own solutions.Pinny's venture, Ice.com, was a trailblazer in the early anarchic days of digital marketing. Starting in 1999, he navigated challenges, including high website setup costs, utilizing PPC ads, and employing customer-focused rebranding strategies.Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, Pinny embraced it as a revelation. Armed with newfound understanding, he strategically surrounds himself with finishers, leveraging his creativity while learning to navigate and thrive with ADHD in both personal and professional endeavors.Episode Links: Pinny's LinkedInDelmar JewelersFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

In this episode, we explore Sicily Dickenson's unique journey from film to marketing, driven by fearless challenges and mentorships. Learn how she shapes careers, empowers customers, and tackles the intricacies of national brand marketing. Discover the importance of likability and responding to challenges in the make-or-break moments of branding. Episode Highlights Sicily started her career in the film industry to satisfy her love of creativity, working with others, and storytelling. She learned she was destined for a different industry and used her familiarity with computers (thanks to learning digital editing software in college) to enter the world of digital marketing. A mentor, for Sicily, is someone with close proximity and immediate feedback. Her fearless approach led her to new roles, like VP of Marketing at NRG, mentored by Brad Fogle. Later, Karen Jones became a significant mentor, guiding Sicily's growth and even recommending her as CMO.Sicily must believe in her mentees. She relates mentoring to the Montessori principle of teaching to master a concept. At Sun & Ski, she emphasizes customer empowerment and likability in marketing, tackling challenges from revitalizing sales to managing diverse regional preferences.Episode Links: Lightning Round - BooksTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowHello BeautifulYellow FaceSun & SkiSicily's LinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

In today's episode, we discover the transformative journey of Natara Branch, from her early experiences at the University of Houston through her unprecedented career at the NFL to her pivotal role in cultivating a thriving startup ecosystem, as she leads Houston Exponential in redefining the city's identity beyond its traditional industries.Episode HighlightsNatara Branch calls Houston home, even if she's not a native Houstonian. And Houston happily welcomes Natara into its family. She attended the University of Houston after falling in love with its scrappy, underdog personality on a campus tour. After growing up in a military household, the blue sky, no guardrail type of dreaming and thinking that happened there was pivotal to her future career. She has taken the concept of mentors and meshed it with a concept from a book she read many years ago and now has a life board of advisors. These people are family, friends, professional acquaintances, and former mentees of hers who mentor her in all aspects of her life. Mentors help hone and add polish to your life. At Houston Exponential, Natara is passionate about its goal to bring startups and entrepreneurs to the Houston Region and help nurture partnerships and collaborations between new businesses and the legacy industries (petroleum and healthcare). She sees all the amazing things happening in the Houston Metro and is determined to help the city market itself and the amazing opportunities it offers. Episode LinksHouston Exponential WebsiteLinkedInInstagramX - TwitterYouTubeNatara's LinkedInFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Join us in this episode as Duane Brown, Founder & Head of Strategy at Take Some Risk Inc.,   shares his unique journey from college in Canada to the realm of digital marketing, unveiling the power of mentorship, strategic PPC tactics, and the often-overlooked nuances of data analysis in advertising.Episode Highlights Duane Brown first started his career in Public Relations after attending college and then university and getting two marketing certificates. His first (hard-won) digital marketing position taught him many business skills and PPC. He's worked in the data-rich realm of paid search and paid social advertising ever since. Mentorship should be tailored to the person. A mentor is someone who will root for you to succeed but not just give you the answers. They should guide you in your journey. He finds it necessary to discover what motivates his mentees and what they want to work on. He will then try and find the points where the business can help them achieve their goals. Ultimately, PPC is about taking action. Duane and his team have a general rule that if a campaign is performing poorly for three or more days, that's no longer an anomaly and has become a trend, and you need to make a change. People often underestimate the power of good ad copy and of delving deep into the data of a campaign. He knows how beneficial it can be to look deeper than just campaign-level metrics into the SKU, ad level, keyword, and ad group data. Episode Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duanebrown/?originalSubdomain=caWebsite: https://www.takesomerisk.com/about/Blogs: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/author/duane-brownArticles: https://www.appbind.com/agency-connect-featuring-duane-brown/Twitter: @DuaneBrownFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

In today's office hours episode, we discuss all things data-driven marketing with Optidge's Caroline Pham. She shares insights on creating and optimizing paid search campaigns, goal-type selection, and navigating budget increases. You'll also learn how her drawing of a Dalmatian won her Best of Show at the Houston Rodeo and set her on her path to a great career in digital marketing.An Optidge Office Hours EpisodeOur Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to's, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!Episode Highlights: Caroline Pham is a paid search strategist. Her journey into digital marketing started with a Rodeo award-winning drawing of a Dalmatian puppy. She then explored her creative side and realized that advertising was the path she wanted to take. While attending the University of Texas's advertising program, she discovered her aptitude and inclination for data and statistics. When it comes to setting the best foundation for a successful paid search campaign, Caroline knows that clear, solid goals are the place to start. Once the goal is determined, all other questions can be answered. For paid search, the goal is usually sales. When choosing between Cost Per Lead and Cost Per Acquisition, she operates by the rule of thumb of 30 days. If the conversion window is longer than 30 days, CPL will be the best metric on which to optimize. Finally, if you have a campaign that is being limited by budget but is still performing well, the “budget increase” conversation can be an easy one to have. It's essential to look at several metrics like share of voice, visibility, industry conversion rate, and more to determine what the ideal budget could be. Then you start the conversation armed with the data showing how the campaign can bring the client even more sales, and isn't that why we're doing all of this anyway?Episode Links: Previous Podcast Episodes ft. Blinds.comJay SteinfeldMosheh PoltorakDaniel CotlarOptidge.com - Paid SearchFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor: Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com Instagram: @thedmmentor Linkedin: @thedmmentor YouTube: @thedmmentor Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family: Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations. ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

"The history of social change shows us that it's not fear that leads to better situations. It's Hope." - Rabble My guests today are Ben Arc and Rabble. Ben is a FOSS (free and open source software) hobbyist and activist, founder of LNbits, bitcoin/lightning software and hardware builder, and creator of one of the first twitter clones utilizing the nostr protocol. Evan “Rabble” Henshaw-Plath is a social media pioneer, Jack Dorsey's former boss at Odeo (where they worked together on code that would become what we now know as twitter/x), and and creator of Nos social, a nostr client. In this episode we discuss all things social media and how Bitcoin-inspired tech like Nostr aims to reinvent social media as an open ecosystem beyond the control of big tech gatekeepers. Beyond social media and bitcoin, we discuss culture, how we interact with one another in this rapidly evolving and information intensive world, and hope we have for social change. It's such a pleasure to sit with two technology/social media pioneers like Ben and Rabble and hear their reflections on the world and a possible path forward.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsu_VInPazY  Ben Arc twitter: https://twitter.com/arcbtc  nostr: https://primal.net/p/npub1c878wu04lfqcl5avfy3p5x83ndpvedaxv0dg7pxthakq3jqdyzcs2n8avm  Rabble: twitter: https://twitter.com/rabble  nostr: https://primal.net/p/npub1wmr34t36fy03m8hvgl96zl3znndyzyaqhwmwdtshwmtkg03fetaqhjg240 Trey: https://nostree.me/Trey@progressivebitcoiner.com  SPONSOR: BitBox: Use promo-code TPB during checkout to get 5% off your purchase: https://bitbox.swiss/tpb  Sazmining: Get $50 off the purchase of a miner using the following link: https://app.sazmining.com/purchase?ref=tpb. Sazmining is a hosted bitcoin mining provider with a commitment to using 100% renewable energy for your mining operation. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Start 00:00:06 Introducing Guests 00:06:02 Bitcoin and Social Media 00:17:16 Building on Nostr 00:25:21 Freedom of Association 00:31:15 Economics and Social Change 00:38:52 Hopes for the Social Web 00:45:30 Sponsor Ad 00:46:05 Early Adoption Challenges 00:55:01 The Shock Doctrine 01:10:00 Building Connections 01:18:10 Conspiracy Theories 01:27:02 Catastrophe and Control 01:35:10 Slow Change Over Sudden Revolution 01:41:00 Where to Find the Guests 01:45:36 Conclusion SUBSCRIBE Website: https://zurl.co/z6c8Libsyn: https://zurl.co/Bkw2Apple Podcasts: https://zurl.co/WPZg    Spotify: https://zurl.co/Y41f    Amazon: https://zurl.co/io24    Fountain: https://zurl.co/c7bl    RSS: https://zurl.co/wHWC    Youtube: https://zurl.co/VT9p    FOLLOW Nostr: https://zurl.co/q7qB    Bluesky: https://zurl.co/0w35   Twitter: https://zurl.co/k1ay    Instagram: https://zurl.co/rYZW    Threads: https://zurl.co/KcMx    Facebook: https://zurl.co/Zekf    LinkedIn: https://zurl.co/SGY2    The Team: Producer/Editor: @DamienSomerset Branding/Art: @Daniel Website: @EvanPrim Send Some Sats: https://geyser.fund/project/theprogressivebitcoiner