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It was great having author, social psychologist and keynote speaker Owen Fitzpatrick on the podcast again. This time, Owen joined to discuss his latest book: Inner Propaganda: Leading Hearts and Minds through Turbulent Times. It offers a deep dive into propaganda: what it is, how it works, how to use it, how not to be used by it, and how it helps explain the thoughts that rattle around our heads. We had a wide ranging conversation that covered the following points: Owen's book launch experience, captured in his LinkedIn post: The truth about my bestseller campaignWhat are story wars, and what's the ultimate example?Great characters and stories that bring these pinciples to life The 5 types of truths and why they are importantImplications for messaging, persuasion, and influenceTips for relating to people across the political aisleHow can "belief merchants" like startup founders use these ideas to win over VCs and rally their own teams to success Thanks, Owen, for coming on the podcast and sharing your insight. You can find Owen here https://owenfitzpatrick.com/ and on LinkedIn.

It was great having Dirk Nicol, CEO and founder of AI visibility and optimization platform Majentics, on the podcast. It's a hot topic, as everyone wants to increase their share of answer. There's also a lot of excitement about AI search's potential to spike demand for earned media, and hence PR. There's also much hype and confusion surrouding it. We wanted to clear this up, explain how it works and offer practical tips for PR and marketing teams. Dirk and I spoke about these topics and others: How AI search changes the customer journeyRoles of earned media, press releases, forums, and website contentThe folly of guaranteed resiltsInfluencing LLMs vs. chat's web retrievalHow to stay ahead in a rapidly changing arena Thanks, Dirk, for joining ahd sharing your insights. Our listeners and viewers can get a free scan by visiting https://majentics.com/pr-scan Users just need to fill in a few fields to get back useful information about their brand's share of answer and see the websites and content that influence the reults.

Those who like music and marketing were likely fascinated by the story of Geese, an indie band that recently generated massive buzz - and controversy. Some accused them of using "psyops" and being an industry plant, thrusting Geese and its agency Chaotic Good into an uncomfortable light, We invited an expert panel in to unpack the Geese episode, and dig deep into the topic of buzz creation. Podcast host Bob Geller moderated the round table. Panelists included: Kimberly Morgan, CEO & Founder of the Fashion Tech Exec. She is also an Executive Board Member for Retail Women in Tech (RWIT)Michael F. Schein, Hype Handbook author, MicroFame Media founderOwen Fitzpatrick, social psychologist, author of soon-available Inner Propaganda (will be out next month) The panel provided great takeaways on what buzz it, how it works, and how to drive buzz. The topics we explored included: Buzz in rock era, from the Stones and Beatles to todayThe psychology of buzzThe ethics involvedThe roles of hype, propaganda, technology, AI and PR Thanks panel, for joining and sharing your insight.

Silicon Valley vet Bruce Cleveland joined the podcast to discuss his books Market Engineering and Traversing the Traction Gap. Bruce has helped fight and win some of the most storied tech marketing wars, first on the product side (for Apple, Oracle, Siebel Systems), then as a VC; later as a CMO for C3 AI, up until where he is today: Founder and CEO of Traction Gap partners. The victories were no accident They came from a disciplined approach called market engineering, which Bruce explains in detail. It is a great complement to the Play Bigger strategy, which we heard about when Kevin Maney, co-author of the book of the same name, was on recently. Bruce covered these areas and others: Great examples of category leadership, including Salesforce, Marketo, C3 AI and others.How market engineering works, AI that can helpThe cornerstones: market blueprint, messaging, positioning, thought leadership.Despite the name, it is a CEO-led approachHow to define the playing field (category rules) and evolve to constantly stay ahead of the pack.Thanks, Bruce, for coming on the podcast and sharing your experiences and wisdom. You can learn more by visiting https://www.tractiongappartners.com/

It has been 10 years since Play Bigger hit the bookshelves to great acclaim, and three years since co-author Kevin Maney last appeared on PR, Done & Doner. We thought it was high time to have him back on again, closely following release of The Category Creation Formula, the new book that he and partner Mike Damphousse co-wrote. It provides an update and playbook for playing bigger, based on 10 years of their experience helping companies mint and dominate new categories, or markets. We had a wide ranging conversation about what works today, covering these topics and others: Is it harder to become category king today?AI impact on category creationThe category creation formula Building vs. following categoriesGetting VCs and the team on boardStars and flops, spanning Jobs, Bezos, the knuckleball (yes, there's a category for that) and the SegueThanks, Kevin for coming back on and sharing your insight. You can find him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmaney/ and at https://www.categorydesignadvisors.com/

This episode was recorded from a LInkedIn live stream AMA with inudstry AR guru Robin Schaffer, of Schaffer AR. It was great having Robin on again, to discuss the state of AR and answer a wide range of questions from the audience. Topics we covered included: AI impact on analysts and ARWhen is the right time to engage AR firms?When shoud you consider investing in them?How much budget to allocate.Evaluating metrics and ROI.How to choose the analysts and vendor evaluation reports to pursue.Using AR to boost PR, marketing and sales.The 3 key things to get from your AR efforts.In addition, Robin shared pro tips on working AR for optimal advantage. Thanks, Robin, for joining and sharing your insight and answers.

In this episode, we invited four experts on to discuss how to use AI and take it to the next level in PR - that means in generating results, not just streamlining work. The panel included the following guests: Participants: Elena Davidson, CEO Liberty CommunicationsEmily Fang, VP Greenough CommunicationsKatie Passarello, Director, The Pitch Club; Cofounder, PitchwellMilos Eric, Co-founder, GM at OysterLinkThey brought a range of experiences, everyone was eager to share and compare notes; there was great chemistry - we agreed more often than not. Here are some of the topics we explored: The importance of the human touch vs. overreliance on AIThe tension between avoiding AI for wanton content generation and using it to improve pitches and results.Katie, Milos and Emily shared proprietary tech their firms have developed; with Pitchwell, Katie and her team have launched a commercial offering that uses AI to boost results with podcasts and other media.Favored GenAI and agentic platformsWays to improve targeting and "road test" messagesSought answers to questions like: can AI help you guess what a journalist will respond to; and what PR content helps boost "share of model"?Several shared quantifiable results they achievedThanks, all, for joining and sharing your insight!

Can tech stave off a surge of synthetic spokespeople?  That is one question we discussed when I had Nick Toso on the podcast. He's the founder and CEO of Rolli, an AI-powered platform that provides state-of-the-art tools and resources for newsgathering. Nick began his career in newsrooms (started at Voice of America, eventually becoming a bureau chief at CNN) and saw the need for a better way to find expert sources, leading him to launch Rolli six years ago. The subject should be of greatinterest to journalists, and PR pros who want to increase success with Tier 1 and 2 media, especially broadcast. We had a wide-ranging conversation, covering these points and others: The challenges of finding expert sources for breaking news.How is Rolli different (do we need another news source matching service)?Why email pitching your spokeseople has low odds for success.How AI amplifies email pitch spam, and fake info and profiles.Rolli cuts through the AI fog, connecting busy newsrooms with just the right source on demand. Thanks, Nick, for coming on the podcast and sharing your insight. Check it out at https://rolli.ai/ You can find Nick on LInkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicktoso/

The podcast is PR, Done & Doner, but it was the Nic and Vic show when we welcomed Nic Silver and Vikram Ekambaram to discuss the emerging world of AI agents and GenAI in PR and marketing.  Both have built businesses and expertise applying the technology to areas like content, social media posting, demand generation, lead qualification, GTM and other use cases. It was a wide ranging conversation that should be of interest to PR & marketing teams who want to get a better grasp on AI and how it can help meet their goals. We covered these topics and others: Favored tools for agents, GenAI, orchestrationContent acceleration and GTM solutionsCoping with rapid AI change; and resulting org. changeHow to achieve success with the techWhat's next in AIThanks, Nic and Vik for joing the podcast and sharing your expertise. Here is their info if you'd like to reach out to the guests: Nic Silver https://digitalalchemy.social/ (newsletter) https://www.nicsilver.com/  (website) [email protected] Vikram Ekambaram Contact info - [email protected] LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vekambar

In this episode we welcome back Co-Communications founder and CEO Stacey Ross Cohen. Stacey is an accomplished PR pro, an educator and also an author; we discussed her books Brand Up and Brand Up 2.0 before launching into the topic at hand: how to best adapt to the many changes rocking the PR world. It was a lively chat. We compared notes on what's happening, implications for the field, and offered advice for agency and internal comms teams. There are a number of challenges - but each presents new opportunities, too: AI: how is it helping, hurting, what should PR teams do?Changes in media landscape, blurring lines of paid and earned.Emergence of alternative media channels.The importance of thinking holistically, and integration with other marketing channels.Measuring and achieving the results that really count. Thanks for tuning in! And thank you, Stacey, for sharing your insights.

It was great having Kourtney Jason on the podcast. She was an entertainment journalist before launching and growing book publicity and digital marketing agency Pacific and Court. Kourtney offered advice on how to improve media relations and results. We discussed top tips, such as: How to succeed in a changing media landscape.The growth of alternative media channels, and how to best identify and pursue them.Honing outreach based on timing, freelance vs. staff writers, headline consideration.Thinking outside the email pitch boxA new media opportunity alerting serviceHacks for finding journo emailsThe importance of research to understand an outlet's voice. Thank you, Kourtney, for sharing your insight with our audience, and thanks , listeners, for tuning in. You can reach Kourtney at: [email protected]

Some may take a dim view of hype and publicity stunts. But both can be used in good ways to break out of the boxes of email pitches and press releases. Joining host Bob Geller is Michael F. Schein, author of The Hype Handbook, and Joseph Dans, host of the Creativity and Tech in Business and Life radio show, on WTBQ AM and FM in the greater NY area. We discussed the use of these things and big ideas to advance PR goals. It was a wide ranging conversation covering these points and others: Hype history - Edward Bernays, PR inventor and hype artistThe cornerstones of ethical hypeShake up your program with creativity and big ideasExamples of successful stunts Thanks, Michael and Joe, for joining the podcast and sharing your insight. You can find them at these Web addresses: https://michaelfschein.com/ https://wtbq.com/wednesday/

In this episode, digital marketing consultant Neal Schaffer joined the podcast to discuss setting the social media agenda for 2025. We talked about his new book, Digital Threads , and the importance of taking a digital-first approach in marketing. The conversation covered these points and others: Putting the SES (search, email and social media) cornerstones in place.Advice for PR teamsThe most critical piece of advice for social media success.Should you stay or should you go now? (The incursion of politics into social media - which networks to leave behind and which to join or double down on?) Neal, I have truly enjoyed our collaboration over the years. Thanks for joining the podcast and sharing your insights. Everyone, please check out his sitehttps://nealschaffer.com/to learn about Neal's services and books.

We invited Ben Guttmann, author of Simply Put, on the podcast. It's a book about how to intentionally design simple, clear and effective messages. Ironically, getting simple is not necessarily easy. His book is a great guide, with practical, actionable tips, anectodes, and research behind the ideas. In 30 minutes, Ben took us on a tour of the challenges, benefits and cornerstones of designing messages that can rise above the noise and hit home. We covered these topics and others: The disconnect between message senders and receivers Cornerstones of simple messages Putting the ideas into practice The importance of the 1000 most common words How AI and other tools can help You can connect with Ben and download the first chapter of Simply Put for free at ⁠BenGuttmann.com⁠. Also check out the ⁠Resources page⁠ for a tool that can help you write more simply.

AI has been invading every area of our lives since the launch of ChatGPT about a year-and-a-half ago. Especialy with how we find info and get answers online. What does this mean for marketers, especially those involved with content and SEO? To find out, we invited our friend and SEO guru Mark Traphagen back onto the podcast. It was a great conversation. In 20 minutes, Mark shed light on these areas: How big a deal is AI for search and SEO? State of the tech and how it works Short and long term impact Next steps for big brands and niche players PR that can assist optimization efforts Thanks, Mark for joining the podcast and sharing your insight! You can find Mark and connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktraphagen/ Also, he posts regularly on the seoClarity blog: https://www.seoclarity.net/seo-content-learning-center