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Above the Fold - Marketing and Laughs

Above the Fold - Marketing and Laughs

By Brafton

Do you wanna talk marketing and have a few laughs? Good, because Jeff and Francis think marketing should be fun first, educational second, and lecturing never. We interview eclectic guests ranging from dating coaches to mushroom experts, all in an effort to find the most interesting conversations that make marketing fun and creative.

Sure, we'll occasionally get into some educational stuff, but it's mostly by accident. We do zero half hour learning sessions. NOPE. Come have a beer, glass of wine, or whiskey with us and have a couple laughs.
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Marketing woes: Where the hell is my audience?

Above the Fold - Marketing and LaughsAug 06, 2018

00:00
43:27
Social media mastermind, Neal Schaffer, tells all

Social media mastermind, Neal Schaffer, tells all

Meet Social media expert Neal Schaffer. He’s come a long way since becoming one of the first people to join Linkedin (true story) — he’s a social media consultant, fractional CMO and author (just to name a few of the many hats he wears). And now he’s making an appearance on the podcast to share his most important lessons learned over the course of his illustrious career. Do you have to be on every social media platform? Should you trust your gut when it comes to content marketing? What’s going to happen with TikTok? Listen up to find out.

May 05, 202237:51
Bootstrapping with bathing suits, ft. Yvonne Ivanescu

Bootstrapping with bathing suits, ft. Yvonne Ivanescu

Yvonne Ivanescu made her share of mistakes while launching an ethical swimwear brand, but they didn't slow her down. This honest entrepreneur, isn't afraid to talk about the struggles — or the triumphs — of creating a brand from scratch. Even Jeff & Francis, who don't hold anything back, were inspired by her authenticity. If you're a struggling entrepreneur, Yvonne's is the voice you need to hear right now.  

Sep 17, 202149:16
Meet Jarod Spiewak, marketing's Doogie Howser

Meet Jarod Spiewak, marketing's Doogie Howser

Jarod Spiewak has been in the marketing game since age 14, but he's been hustling since the 5th grade (which wasn't that long ago for him). Wunderkind jabs aside, he has unique perspectives on marketing and entrepreneurship, particularly where client selection is concerned. He also has a respectable appreciation for '90s films, so as you might imagine, he won Jeff and Francis over pretty fast.

Sep 14, 202150:37
Shane 'Big Boy' Barker coming in hot

Shane 'Big Boy' Barker coming in hot

Shane Barker is back! And he's brought the usual jokes, insights and anecdotes with him. Hear about his exploits since we last spoke in 2018. They involve saving small businesses, trying ayahuasca and being Shane Barker, digital marketer extraordinaire (not necessarily in that order). 

Jul 28, 202151:12
The one where we actually discuss SEO w/ Greg Digneo

The one where we actually discuss SEO w/ Greg Digneo

Not only do we discuss SEO at length, but also considerations for running an SEO company. Greg Digneo of Content Guppy is one hell of a guest—a great storyteller, a seasoned SEO and a plainspoken poet of sorts. This is one of the good ones, folks. You'll learn stuff, you'll laugh and you'll walk away feeling a little more OK with things than when the episode started.

Jul 08, 202148:30
Jeff & Francis invite you into their minds

Jeff & Francis invite you into their minds

It’s vintage Above the Fold: Just Jeff, Francis and much ado about nothing pertaining to marketing. You'll learn a bit about VR, a bit about the perils of publishing SEO-tool comparisons and a lot about Francis and Jeff. This is a fun one. 

Jun 22, 202101:06:10
How to be a gooder brand, ft. Diana Fryc

How to be a gooder brand, ft. Diana Fryc

Do-gooder Diana Fryc sees brands as a force for good, but a lot goes into walking that walk. Fortunately, she knows all the steps. The co-founder of Voodoo Retail, and host of The "Gooder" Podcast, walks us through food equity, conscious capitalism, women in leadership roles, sustainability and more on what is possibly the most important episode of Above the Fold to date. 

Jun 08, 202156:33
Going meetless in 2021 w/ Josh Little

Going meetless in 2021 w/ Josh Little

Josh Little dreams of a world with fewer meetings and crunchier pickles. Hear his plan to minimize meetings and maximize crunch on this week's episode of Above the Fold, which is dedicated to everyone out there who's sick and tired of pointless meetings.

May 12, 202147:55
At the intersection of health care & marketing w/ Colin Jeffries

At the intersection of health care & marketing w/ Colin Jeffries

How do you market addiction-recovery services? It's an intimate endeavor—as all health care marketing is—and it's one that Colin Jeffries, Director of Marketing & Communications at BrightView, knows a lot about. Listen as he and Francis explore the nuances of health care marketing and the power of empathy in brand messaging. 

May 05, 202148:31
Vanlife: Lawyer turned digital nomad ft. Lisa Jacobs

Vanlife: Lawyer turned digital nomad ft. Lisa Jacobs

Lisa Jacobs has lived. This lawyer turned van lifer/digital-nomad coach/blogger/influencer is really good at being uncomfortable (and growing from that discomfort). If you're at an inflection point in your life or are considering trying something new, Lisa’s is the voice you need to hear right now. And if not, this is still a really fun use of 37 minutes. 

Apr 26, 202137:00
Unpacking consumer packaged goods w/ Michael Keplinger of SmashBrand

Unpacking consumer packaged goods w/ Michael Keplinger of SmashBrand

Grocery shopping is about to get interesting. Because there's a science to how people shop for consumer goods, and Michael Keplinger, SmashBrand's Director of Strategy knows it inside and out. If you've ever wondered why labels look the way they look and say the things they say (or don't), you're in for a treat. 

Apr 16, 202141:09
Do you know the mushroom man? (ft. Jeff Chilton)

Do you know the mushroom man? (ft. Jeff Chilton)

What's your favorite mushroom? Jeff Chilton, CEO of Nammex, can tell you facts about it that would floor you. In our strangest episode yet, we explore the medicinal, spiritual, mythical, cultural and societal significance of mushrooms. You will never look at a mushroom the same way again. Learn more about Jeff's company here: https://www.nammex.com

Apr 06, 202101:08:03
The drinking episode w/crypto, airships, and rappelling

The drinking episode w/crypto, airships, and rappelling

Featuring Kevin Leeds, developer from Arizona, the gang sips whiskey and talks crypto and Gamestop explosions, reviving airships for the purpose of partying, and rappelling down cliffs in Mexico on your butt. Don't miss this episode of Below the Fold. 

Mar 10, 202147:20
Turning likes into leads with Melissa Berrios

Turning likes into leads with Melissa Berrios

The seriously skilled Melissa Berrios is a former civil engineer from Puerto Rico turned marketing consultant who also happens to be a singer, guitarist, podcaster, and travel blogger. But social media strategy is her bread and butter, and she dished out plenty of wisdom on this episode of Above the Fold. You can learn about Melissa (and listen to her podcast) @ https://www.melissaberrios.net/

Feb 09, 202143:12
Your new New Year's resolution for 2021: Start a podcast (ft. Connor McGann)

Your new New Year's resolution for 2021: Start a podcast (ft. Connor McGann)

Jeff and Francis kick-off 2021 with the first-ever "found" episode of Above the Fold (we have an unfortunate history of losing episodes, but this is the first time we've found one). The boys are joined by former Brafton employee and content manager extraordinaire, Connor McGann, about what goes into starting a podcast. *Note: This is a must-listen for anyone who's had even half a thought about maybe, possibly, someday starting a podcast. 

Jan 25, 202101:00:60
Basement to boardroom: Resilience and SEO with Tony Guarnaccia

Basement to boardroom: Resilience and SEO with Tony Guarnaccia

Special guest Tony Guarnaccia has lived. He faced homelessness (twice), made a cake for Jennifer Lopez (seriously) and rubbed elbows with executives at some of the world's most recognizable brands. Listen to him tell his story and discuss SEO, entrepreneurship, and resilience with Jeff and Francis. 

Dec 01, 202044:17
Odd jobs and local SEO with guest John Vuong

Odd jobs and local SEO with guest John Vuong

John Vuong, Local SEO Search owner, and Jeff swap odd-jobs stories (like the time Jeff was a professional mosquito mercenary) before diving into the world of local SEO. Learn, among other things, how not to respond to "getting Karened" on Google.

Nov 17, 202048:18
How to write content for SEO with Clearscope co-founder Bernard Huang

How to write content for SEO with Clearscope co-founder Bernard Huang

Clearscope is a tool that helps content marketers and SEO experts create content that will rank in Google Search. Co-founder Bernarnd Huang explains the shifting landscape of Google search and how marketers can use tools to stay ahead of the curve.

Aug 03, 202052:04
Getting your a** in gear with your side hustle with Will Stevens

Getting your a** in gear with your side hustle with Will Stevens

Will Stevens of Seer Interactive talks about how he kicked himself into gear to start writing his first book. He also shares predictions on the long-term business ramifications of the coronavirus lockdown.

Jun 19, 202050:29
The Secret of how we get guests on this show (we get help. lots of it)

The Secret of how we get guests on this show (we get help. lots of it)

How do the boys get such interesting guests? They get help, and one of those people is Jessica Rhodes and her company Interview Connections. Taped in the pro-COVID19 days, this episode looks at the business of getting guests on podcasts and why there's no uniform way to record them. Also y'all should thank her because without Rhodes this podcast would be a parade of Jeff and Francis' drunken marketing friends all whining about the same thing. 

May 11, 202037:46
We will get through this...with our hatred of LinkedIn sales messages

We will get through this...with our hatred of LinkedIn sales messages

The boys express the realities of the current crisis, only to find their footing again when they realize the one thing that will get them out of their funk - their hatred of LinkedIn sales messages. Better yet, they have thrown out a challenge to the collective LinkedIn community.

Apr 28, 202056:14
Likes from the land down under

Likes from the land down under

What did it feel like for New Zealand to be one of the first countries to deal with Instagram's new policy of hiding likes? Francis found a digital marketing veteran named Greg Roughan to speak for the entire country on this episode of Above the Fold. Full Transparency: We recorded this back in August of this year and Jeff just found it under a stack of spam emails. Loyal listeners may remember that we talked about Greg back in season 1, episode 3 when Francis messed up his last name. He still can't get it right.

Dec 09, 201950:50
This is what's wrong with your Tinder profile, with Meredith Golden

This is what's wrong with your Tinder profile, with Meredith Golden

Meredith Golden is the rarest type of person. That thing Golden does?

People who can’t figure out why their online dating profiles repel romance come to her for help. And she provides it for a fee.

As you might expect, this episode of Above the Fold quickly revealed itself to be one of the most intriguing yet. Here’s what’s inside:

  1. Lots of good advice about online dating
  2. A few examples of what not to do on Tinder.
  3. The eerie realization that online dating is digital marketing in disguise.
Nov 11, 201954:28
Carman Pirie shoves the sales team deep into the buyer journey

Carman Pirie shoves the sales team deep into the buyer journey

On this episode of Above the Fold, Jeff Baker is accompanied by the soporific stylings of Canadian entrepreneur, marketer, co-founder of Kula Partners, host of the Kula Ring podcast and semi-sonic doppelganger of the late, great Leonard Cohen.

The discourse du jour: Reimagining the shape of the sales and marketing funnel.

Nov 04, 201952:21
Trent Dyrsmid on quitting a $200k salary playing golf to becoming a financially independent entrepreneur

Trent Dyrsmid on quitting a $200k salary playing golf to becoming a financially independent entrepreneur

The year was 2001 and Trent Dyrsmid - founder of the Bright Ideas podcast and Flowster - was earning $200k a year to play golf and go to dinner with stockbrokers.

But he was bored and, in his mind, underachieving. Plus, he never cared much for golf.

So, he did as the entrepreneurs do:

“I decided that I was going to quit that job and I was going to sell everything that I own to start a business.”

The odyssey that followed was both topsy-turvy and immensely illuminating.

In this episode of Above the Fold, listen to the seasoned entrepreneur and prolific podcaster narrate his sidewinding journey to success.

Oct 28, 201958:28
Mike Carroll proposes treaty between sales and marketing, then goes nuclear on Facebook.

Mike Carroll proposes treaty between sales and marketing, then goes nuclear on Facebook.

To start season three, Mike Carroll from Nutshell joins us for a harmless discussion about how sales and marketing can work well together. Then, without warning, he turns into a rabid beast and goes nuclear on Facebook. 

Baker introduced his guest, Michael “Mike” Carroll, head of growth at Nutshell CRM.  There was also some speak of all the weed Joe Rogan smokes - you know, the usual stuff.

Anyway, the conversation tumbled its way toward sales enablement. This part was super insightful and got to the existential core of the age-old rift between sales and marketing.

But then around the 35-minute mark, something extraordinary happened.

Carrol, who must have ingested a Molotov cocktail before recording, verbally unleashed its fiery wrath all over Facebook.

Oct 21, 201952:47
Creative and data go together like late-night scotch and fries? David Lemley opens our eyes

Creative and data go together like late-night scotch and fries? David Lemley opens our eyes

Apparently, a great story plus great data can change a marketing campaign. This is a shocking development for Jeff and Francis. Join us and our guest David Lemley as we dig into why numbers and creative can fuel the bottom line.

Aug 12, 201953:30
Tommy Griffith on starting a $100k side project and vaporware college degrees

Tommy Griffith on starting a $100k side project and vaporware college degrees

Special guest Tommy Griffith of Clickminded talks SEO training courses, college degree scams, and how SEO media has turned into a clickbait industry. 

  • 2:00 - Starting a $100k business on the side. 
  • 17:00 - The state of the clickbait SEO media industry. 
  • 35:40 - Colleges selling worthless digital marketing degrees for $50-100k, before the curriculum is even set. 


Aug 05, 201954:11
The Thunderdome: 2 men enter with multiple topics. No one survives

The Thunderdome: 2 men enter with multiple topics. No one survives

An expose on the people who have to manually review and censor offensive and violent content on Facebook. 

An influencer with over 3 million followers couldn’t sell 36 t-shirts. 

Northface caught trying to hack Wikipedia. What? 

Rand lays out the case against Google for the department of justice. Because, they definitely couldn’t figure it out themselves. 

Jul 29, 201951:02
Challenging what you know about SEO with Garrett Mehrguth

Challenging what you know about SEO with Garrett Mehrguth

Your brand is more important than your website when it comes to SEO. 

What the hell does that mean? That's exactly what we asked Garrett Mehrguth, CEO of Directive, when he pitched us this podcast topic. 

Garrett explains the value of not just showing up in search results for the keywords you are targeting, but also having your brand show up in search results that are not part of your website. 

Call it SEO brand reach? Call it Call it guest blogging and online partnerships? Call it reputation management? 

We don't know what you call it, but Garrett makes an interesting point that you shouldn't miss as a content marketer. 



Jun 24, 201942:51
Creative talk with Chuck Leddy - the non-data side of content marketing

Creative talk with Chuck Leddy - the non-data side of content marketing

We talk about data all the freaking time. Why? Because Jeff likes it and Francis cries when he has to think about charts. 

But in this episode, we talk with Chuck Leddy, a lifelong creative who explains the importance of crafting a brand story. Because yes, a brand story CAN and DOES translate to revenue. 


Jun 10, 201948:57
What the Duck? A conversation into online privacy with Daniel Davis from DuckDuckGo

What the Duck? A conversation into online privacy with Daniel Davis from DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that puts privacy at the forefront of their business model. Seriously, you will get ZERO search customization, because you are anonymous. But is that what people want? Are searchers happy to give up their information in exchange for extremely customized results? 

It seems to be a mixed bag. People seem to want the customization, but NOT the tracking. But what we can say for sure is that DuckDuckGo is gaining market share. 

Jun 03, 201950:44
Tim Soulo of Ahrefs talks searcher intent (and how it can 5x your traffic)

Tim Soulo of Ahrefs talks searcher intent (and how it can 5x your traffic)

Tim Soulo, CMO and product advisor of Ahrefs, and industry-leading SEO tool, joined us for a discussion on searcher-intent, and SEO trends.

Tim explained how a simple modification to a high-value page brought their rankings from the bottom of page one to the top, effectively 5x-ing their traffic within days.

Tim also dropped a bombshell on us; Ahrefs is creating something BIG. We are talking game-changing BIG.

May 28, 201959:15
The AI Episode: When The Robots will (or will not) take over with James Vlahos

The AI Episode: When The Robots will (or will not) take over with James Vlahos

What happens when you have a deep dive into AI for an hour? You find out Jeff is a closet Taylor Swift fan (according to a chatbot) and Francis has real fear of a robotic Barbie. This all happens thanks to author James Vlahos joining the show who, coincidentally, wrote a book about AI called Talked to Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Think. That's right people, loopholes are real and they are spectacular. 

May 23, 201950:54
Survey says - weird stats equals a high potential to go viral, with Eli Schwartz

Survey says - weird stats equals a high potential to go viral, with Eli Schwartz

Eli Schwartz, former Direct of Growth and SEO at SurveyMonkey joined us to talk about all things SEO, search trends, and the value of surveys. 

It's been a while hasn't it? This is what happens when your two co-hosts end up taking vacation on opposite weeks. On this episode we welcome SEO and survey expert Eli Schwartz as a guest to take the boys through the finer points of enterprise SEO and surveys. And interestingly enough, the conversation may just reveal a recipe for how content could go viral (spoiler alert: it's weird stats). All this and random sounds from Colombia as Jeff was still there when this was recorded.



Apr 30, 201948:34
Nick Eubanks: An SEO company with fully transparent internal costs?!

Nick Eubanks: An SEO company with fully transparent internal costs?!

Nick Eubanks, CEO of the From the Future company joined us to talk about his article that blew up on SparkToro a month ago. In this article he did something crazy...

He opened his books to the world, breaking down his exact cost of doing business. Why does anyone care? Well, for starters, nobody has ever done it before, considering cost structures as "proprietary information." 

Most importantly, this level of transparency led to a great conversation about how to express to clients and prospects why digital marketing services are considered "expensive." The cost of creating quality content is fully built into the cost structure of high-quality agencies. And as we know, high-quality content is the ONLY content that performs on the web. 

In short, if you want results, you need to pay for them. 

Apr 01, 201950:47
The Future is a Flywheel: What we learned from Rand Fishkin's 97-slide presentation on Digital Marketing

The Future is a Flywheel: What we learned from Rand Fishkin's 97-slide presentation on Digital Marketing

Have you ever seen a 97-slide presentation and lived to tell the tale? Jeff and Francis have and now they know what the future of Digital Marketing is going to look like: a Flywheel. Can either of them explain what that is? That's questionable. 

The presentation is courtesy of Rand Fishkin, CEO/Founder of SparkToro who goes in detail about what the problems are with digital marketing today and what to do to change it. 

The entire podcast is dedicated to the presentation, along with wild veers off topic. You'll hear about how social media is faring (though you can probably guess) and how position zero is changing things. Enjoy as always. 

Mar 27, 201958:08
Below the fold: Jeff is living in Colombia, and Chuck E. Cheese is allegedly making Frankenpizzas

Below the fold: Jeff is living in Colombia, and Chuck E. Cheese is allegedly making Frankenpizzas

Below the Fold is completely unrelated to marketing and probably a waste of your time. But, sometimes banter about Chuck E. Cheese creating Frankenpizzas is way too hot to leave on the cutting room floor. 

Also, Jeff is traveling to Colombia, and we have no idea if he will ever be heard from again, so we figured we would get as much mileage out of our recordings a possible.

Mar 19, 201910:36
Are we headed to a new internet in the future? (only if the one industry figures it out first)

Are we headed to a new internet in the future? (only if the one industry figures it out first)

Times are a-changing. Francis and Jeff explore how the internet is evolving from Google potentially turning into a publisher to engagement on Facebook experiencing a downward trend. Where does this all lead to and are we in a Black Mirror episode? Or do we just need more digital and IRL friends? All joking aside, there are real changes in play that could affect digital marketing and upend the search industry. Regardless, the boys do find a silver lining, tying our future to a surprising industry that has a track record with making or breaking new technology. Go ahead and guess, but you likely already know...

Mar 18, 201954:18
Duck Duck Whoa - A world without Google and Backlinking

Duck Duck Whoa - A world without Google and Backlinking

94% of content created generates ZERO backlinks, and 1.3% of articles take 74% of all social social shares. Most content does not work, but why? Is it better to be "small data" rather than "big data"? DuckDuckGo addresses this question by collecting zero data about its users, and providing a high-privacy platform. 

Topic 1: DuckDuckGo

Inspired by this article: https://www.popsci.com/google-duckduckgo-bing-comparison

  • What is DuckDuckGo and why does it exist? 
  • How important is result customization versus privacy? Users will need to consider what they value more. 

Topic 2: Why Most content doesn't work

Inspired by this report by Brian Dean and BuzzSumo: https://backlinko.com/content-study

  • Massive report from Backlinko that looked at 912 million blogs.
  • Longer headlines perform much better than shorter headlines. Also that shorter headlines can feel like stock headlines, meaning they are generic, and that could be a reason people are turned off by them. 
  • There is no correlation between social shares and backlinks. 

Topic 3: Do marketing agencies practice what they preach?

  • Inspired by the headline "Do Agencies Practice the Content Marketing they Preach."
  • We talk about the history of Brafton marketing.


Mar 04, 201901:01:53
WFH: Life goal or does it give birth to social hermits? Also Silicon Valley is the future setting of your next favorite dystopian Netflix show

WFH: Life goal or does it give birth to social hermits? Also Silicon Valley is the future setting of your next favorite dystopian Netflix show

1. Bye Bye Big Data - Hello to Big Ideas (8:00)

Is it a bad idea that brands are touting "big data" with data security being all the rage these days? 

Probably, because people aren't impressed by how much information you have about them.

2. State of Remote Work (16:30)

Working from home isn't a passing fad. Workers are embracing the new world of remote working in droves. And employees and employers are finding it to be a mutually beneficial arrangement. 

Jeff and Francis discuss a new report outlining just how prominent the new trend really is. 

3. Silicon Valley is on Fire (47:00)

Why is everyone leaving Silicon Valley? Data shows that infrastructure sucks and isn't improving, housing costs are terrible and isn't improving, and the companies people work for aren't exactly the model for business ethics. 



Feb 21, 201957:41
Learn how to engage and enrage your audience with special guest Nadya Khoja

Learn how to engage and enrage your audience with special guest Nadya Khoja

This week we were joined by Nadya Khoja, Chief Growth Officer of Venngage. 

Nadya has created 12 awesome techniques for coming up with topics your audience will go bananas for. 


1. The 12 Principles of Viral Content (there's likely more actionable takeaways here)

Nadya has developed 12 super actionable techniques for creating topic ideas that will blow your audience away. 

Major takeaway: don't write content for yourself, write it for your audience. 


2. This Gillette ad seems a bit... contrived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0

They have changed what they consider "The Best a Man Can Get", but are they wading into political waters for genuine reasons?  

Her advice: Don't do something stupid. 


3. What Nadya gets out of speaking events

Have you ever thought about attending or speaking at conferences/events? Nadya talks about what you could stand to gain both personally and professionally from participating at conferences. 


4. Getting to know the real Nadya

We asked Nadya: 

-Her favorite cocktail.

-The last song she listened to on her phone.

-How she takes her coffee.

-Hard tacos or soft tacos

You know, the important stuff. 



Feb 12, 201951:01
Fyre in the Hole: Influencers, Yelp and Facebook, oh my!

Fyre in the Hole: Influencers, Yelp and Facebook, oh my!

 Fyre in the hole! (10:30)

  • The Fyre music festival documentary on Netflix was mind. blowing. And there were marketing lessons to be learned. 
  • This dumpster fire demonstrated a perfect "A" with regards to marketing, and a perfect "F" with regards to execution. 
  • We were shocked to our core by the sheer incompetence of the organizers, and cried tears of joy watching "Influencers" and selfie culture catch some serious heat. 


Yelp can take a punch (30:00)

  • A lawyer tried to sue Yelp to get a client's negative review removed. The court told them to take a walk. 
  • But where is the line between writing or saying something that is completely accurate, and publishing content with malicious intent? 
  • We touch on bad reviews; how brands can respond with in one of three ways - refuting the review publicly, ignoring it, or admitting guilt and apologizing.  


Facebook thinks we are all idiots (41:00)

  • FB is integrating WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram... and they are trying to tell us that these apps are not going to share data. RIGHT. How stupid do you think we are? 
  • FaceBook has two things going against them: 1. It's no longer cool, and they are bleeding users, and 2. Nobody trusts them. 
  • What will the future look like without FaceBook?
Feb 05, 201956:28
Andy Crestodina on content strategy, entrepreneurship, and puppets

Andy Crestodina on content strategy, entrepreneurship, and puppets

ATF’s 2019 opener, featuring Andy Crestodina, reiterates the need for authenticity

The opening episode of season 2 is Andy Crestodina, cofounder and strategic director of Orbit Media, and God bless him for gracing Episode One with his presence. If not for Crestodina’s ability to navigate Ma’s meanderings and Baker’s bluster, turning their verbal play-dough into cogent content marketing takeaways... who knows where we’d be. 

He elaborates that the content piece - “the cheese to the traps” - will generate the links and authority to rank for commercial-intent keyphrases and address demand. But the rest of the formula, which includes utilizing influencers, shareability, posting in a variety of places and savvily employing visuals, hinges chiefly on connection. 

Be personable. Be relatable. Be authentic. It’s not a bad rallying cry for a new year’s resolution, right?

Not exactly in midseason form

Poor Crestodina. It’s unclear whether anyone prepped him with any sort of agenda for the discussion. He handles it well, despite Baker handing off segues with the grace and efficiency of a 6-year-old flag football quarterback. Not sure whether Andy was compensated for doing this - hopefully we at least sent him a Brafton tumbler. 

Undeterred, the author of Content Chemistry: An Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing casually drops digital marketing dimes like:

  • Digital ink is never dry
  • Great content marketers are collectors
  • Use screenshots, use charts. Every image should further the express intent of adding value to the piece. 
  • To be more productive with a larger content production task, break it into smaller more manageable tasks, like you would any other major undertaking. 

2019: The year of stock reckoning 

We fly down the homestretch with a lighthearted yet pointed discussion on why stock photos are canceled. Apparently Crestodina’s been “angry” (Ma’s words, not his) about stock images because they represent a missed opportunity to be authentic. A stock image neither assists the content around it nor can it be the focus itself. People are out here saying “it’s so hard to be original, so hard to differentiate,” Andy opines, and then they use a stock photo. Pssh.

Many, many thanks to our guest for hanging with us and being genuinely good-natured, while providing lots of fodder for thought as we trudge through the winter months. Crestodina has a set a high bar for as-yet-unspecified future guests, and set Season Two off with otherwise unattainable credibility. We’ll see how our favorite yahoos fare in using that credibility for good. . 

Jan 23, 201901:06:38
Google and congress leave everyone thinking "WTF did I just watch?"

Google and congress leave everyone thinking "WTF did I just watch?"

We realize podcasts aren’t necessarily supposed to have seasons. But hey, Congress isn’t supposed to ask stupid questions of powerful tech CEO’s, either.

Yet here we are with a season finale chiefly about Congress doing just that thing. Rules were made to be broken on “Above the Fold.”

For the last time in 2018, bamboozling tangents that involve San Diegans throwing scooters in lakes, important ethical questions about Google’s societal responsibilities, and a healthy dose of luddite shaming await you.

Starting with Congress’s ‘saga of ineptitude’

A lot of ignorance sloshed around the hearing room when Congress attempted to grill Google CEO, Sundar Pichai – and Jeff and Francis were quick to call it out.

But the biggest farce is what wasn’t discussed at the hearing. Such as the fact that Google’s algorithms are in a black box. Nobody fully understands them, or for that matter, the full extent to which Google uses data.

And what about the moral integrity of its algorithms? How do you encode ethics into a massive database that determines so much about what content the world sees? Do you even try, or do you let the results truly mirror some societal consensus, as Google claims it’s doing?

Congress had a huge opportunity here to probe Google’s more cloak-and-dagger qualities, and they squandered it by focusing on things like why “idiot” is equated to Donald Trump in search results.
Dec 19, 201801:10:00
Shane Barker reveals how influencer marketing can work

Shane Barker reveals how influencer marketing can work

Marketing under the influence. Episode 17 revisited a topic from a recent show: influencer marketing. The trend (think Instagram celebrities and personalities using their profiles to market products from partner brands) has gained a lot of attention lately, and not for the best reasons.

It got very weird, very quickly in the penultimate episode of the first season for "Above the Fold" during which we were joined by digital marketing sage Shane Barker — who may or may not be Paul Rudd, just based on his voice.

Is influencer marketing inherently bad? Are there ways to make the strategy work for you? What is a good amount of emoji comments?

Scratch that third thought — at least, because emojis don't equal real engagement in influencer marketing. But what does constitute true results? The guys try to answer that question and nail down how influencer marketing can be successful.

We shared a wide-ranging conversation on influencer marketing and smart marketing that had its fair share of detours into the strange and unusual, with plenty of jokes and sidebars along the way.


Dec 11, 201801:10:12
Extortion and the dark underbelly of influencer marketing

Extortion and the dark underbelly of influencer marketing

The deep, dark side of influencer marketing is starting to take shape. Jeff and Francis discuss a Wired article that depicts an unregulated, wild wild west scenario where legitimate businesspeople are torpedoed and extorted to be successful.

The story discusses Sahara Lotti who started a B2C cosmetics company called Lashify. Lotti was told that she would have to "pay to play" in this market, which included paying influencers upwards of $100k for endorsements.

Little did she know, "influencers" are not only paid to endorse products, but also to take down competitor products. This happened to Lotti, in an attempt to torpedo her business. An online war ensued, resulting in light being shed on the mafia-esque nature of influencer marketing on Instagram.

Data ownership! Make sure you check your contracts with your marketing vendors so that you own your analytics data and your website login details.

It's a damned good thing Google didn't roll out comments for ALL Google searches. Fortunately it's going to be limited to sports scores.

Red Dead Redemption has a hilarious feature that watches you crash your horse into everything, all in cinematic glory. Francis explains "cowboy time, and the incredible amount of time he sinks into this game.


Dec 03, 201801:01:57
Cyrus Shepard talks robots, chatbots, and influencer marketing

Cyrus Shepard talks robots, chatbots, and influencer marketing

Cyrus Shepard, previous Head of Audience Development at Moz and current founder and owner of Zyppy, joined us to talk about the latest news in digital marketing.

We opened the conversation with discussion about some automated brick-and-mortar developments in San Francisco. Jeff had his first experience in an Amazon Go store, a weird, Orwellian experience to say the least. Then he went to a robotic coffee shop where all coffee is made by a robotic arm. Cyrus makes fun of Jeff for losing the the remaining human contact left in his life.

We discuss voice search, where we are less worried about the trend for increasing amounts of voice-based searches, and more worried about complex voice answers, and featured snippets that are pulling away clicks.

Influencer marketing brings us into a weird territory of ethics, again. We discuss the issues of quantifying results, and overall transparency.
Nov 26, 201801:06:02
Alexa, teach Google some damned ethics

Alexa, teach Google some damned ethics

When you hear about Google's workplace, you think "ooooh nap pods and gyms and free lunches", right? Apparently not. 1/5 of all employees around the world walked out on their employer due to a host of issues, including paying off top execs for unethical behavior. Francis explains you can't create culture with beanbag chairs and lunch, you need to create a positive workspace. Has their slogan gone from "Do no evil" to "Do no evil, unless our reputation is at stake?"

27:00 - Zero click searches! Google is pulling more content into SERPs, provided by content marketers, which is resulting in less traffic being sent to the owners' of the content. In other words, Google is taking our content and populating it on SERPs to keep people in search results, rather than sending the traffic to your page. Not nice!

TikTok is the fastest growing app in the world...but it really seems like Vine v2.0

Pour one out for Vine, because it has re-emerged in the best way possible.
Nov 12, 201849:16
Marketing ethics (and fart apps)

Marketing ethics (and fart apps)

Francis and Jeff react to 2 stories in the news and plunge into the crisp, blue waters of influencer marketing to attempt to make sense of it (for better or for worse). Surprisingly, the conversation covers the idea of ethics in the industry, and leads the boys down some interesting and surprisingly roads.



6:20 - Michael Arnstein is going to jail for trying to get his bad reviews off of Google, which leads to a conversation about reputation management. How much do bad reviews affect a website? Is there a way to claw back from a bad review? Jeff provides an answer thanks to a story about a bad experience he had buying a car and how he turned into "that guy" on yelp raving about poor customer service.


20:00 - A New York Times opinion piece by Kara Swisher lays the groundwork for a conversation about the prospect of a Chief Ethics Officer position for tech companies. Is this role needed? And what does it say about the tech industry that a role like this is even needed? Francis also talks about an app called iFart. Keeping it classy as always.


31:00 - What is influencer marketing and is there a place for it in a content marketing strategy? For Reebok, the prospect of it was enough to create an entire in-house team. There's a light and dark side to this, and Jeff and Francis explore the nuances of both. And the dark side is something the really grinds Jeff's gears.
Oct 29, 201848:27