Guest: Brian McHale, CEO & Owner, Brandience (Cincinnati, OH) Host: Jonathan Gaby Runtime: ~70 minutes Episode Snapshot: Agency veteran Brian McHale breaks down what real strategic partnership looks like between brands and agencies, why misaligned expectations tank relationships, and how his team at Brandience uses human-centered generative AI to shave hours off workflows without replacing people. We also dig into life after third-party cookies, how to think about AEO (AI Experience/Answer Engine Optimization) alongside SEO, and when a regional agency can beat a big national firm (and when it can’t). Top Takeaways Alignment > everything: Most client–agency blowups start with fuzzy goals. Define business objectives, success metrics, and who’s doing strategy vs. execution up front. Be what you are (and say what you aren’t): Credibility comes from owning your strengths—and partnering out what you don’t do. Human-centered AI wins: Use AI to remove drudgery and speed research, but keep humans for nuance, judgment, and brand voice. Privacy-first measurement: With cookies fading, double down on first-party data, store visits/footfall attribution, and relationship-led marketing. SEO isn’t dead; AEO is additive: Structure content for answer engines—author bios, credentials, fresh stats, citations, and strong FAQs. Regional agencies = nimble + local savvy: Faster turns, sleeves-rolled local work (especially for franchises). Nationals still make sense for global brand work. Chapters & Timestamps 00:11 – Cold open: what Marketing Distilled is about 02:13 – Brian’s background & Brandience overview 05:55 – When agency–client relationships go sideways (expectations!) 08:17 – What a strategic partnership actually looks like 10:11 – Building trust & credibility (values, being honest about gaps) 15:21 – Brandience core competencies (digital, traditional, creative, brand) 17:09 – Life after cookies: attribution, first-party data, privacy stance 24:32 – Sponsor: Asana Partners (via JonathanGaby.com/Asana) 26:17 – AI in action: internal roll-out, process mapping, responsible use 29:09 – Case: 11 AI agents cut prospect research from 45 → 10 minutes 33:32 – Why humans still matter: editing, nuance, tone 37:23 – From SEO to AEO: winning answer engines (bios, stats, FAQs) 48:24 – Sponsor: WP Engine (via JonathanGaby.com/WPEngine) 50:02 – Regional vs. national agencies: speed, flexibility, and fit 54:24 – Franchise/local marketing done right (Tropical Smoothie openings) 62:30 – Lightning Round 67:12 – Final advice: become a better writer to become a better AI prompter/editor 68:36 – Where to find Brian (LinkedIn) 69:57 – Outro & how to connect with the show About the Guest, Brian McHale Brian McHale is the CEO/Owner of Brandience, an award-winning, retail-minded advertising agency. Former President/Partner at Empower Media Marketing; recognized by Ad Age (Media Maven) and Cincinnati Business Courier 40 Under 40. He serves on multiple nonprofit and business boards and is a graduate of Miami University (OH). Mantra: Measure what matters, communicate wisely, embrace imperfection, sprint when needed, prepare for what’s next. About Brandience A retail-minded agency blending bold creativity + data insights. Early adopters of human-centered generative AI with a formal policy and ongoing training. Core sectors: restaurants, franchise, healthcare, retail. Services span brand strategy, creative, digital and traditional media, and social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Marketing Distilled, our Master Distiller interviews Bart Caylor. Bart Caylor is the president and founder of Caylor Solutions, a marketing agency that specializes in serving the education industry, especially higher education institutions. In this episode we talk all about the ins and outs of higher education marketing. Topics Covered: Higher Education Marketing His book, Chasing Mission Fit: A Marketing Guide to Fill Your Institution with Students Who Will Succeed Use of Artificial Intelligence in marketing and life. About Bart Caylor With a 35-year background in design, marketing, and development with corporate, education, and non-profit clients, Bart now focuses his expertise entirely on marketing for K-12 and higher education. He is an Anderson University graduate and lives with his family in Fishers, Indiana. Find Bart's Website, Book, and Social Media Website: www.caylor-solutions.com LinkedIn: Bart Caylor Chasing Mission Fit Book: www.chasingmissionfit.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Episode 27 of the Marketing Distilled Podcast, entitled, Re-Entry. In this episode, let me reintroduce myself, review a piece of tech I recently bought, and then help you deal with imposter syndrome in your career. Reintroduction: Hi, I'm Jonathan Gaby, the master distiller of Marketing Distilled. I have a masters in marketing from the University of Cincinnati, and I am the communications and marketing manager at Haile College of Business at Northern Kentucky University. I am also an adjunct professor of marketing at Kentucky State University. My hobbies include playing music, walking our dog daily, and lately going to the gym. I'm driven by impacting the world and people for the better, either by sharing a new product or service, or seeing something in themselves they didn't see and encourage them towards greatness. Review: The reMarkable Paper Pro I recently bought a remarkable paper pro and love it. It's a digital notebook that I can write notes and keep notebooks organized by topic. My top features and benefits include: A closed system (no social media, other apps, or notifications) mean I can focus on the work at hand and not be distracted. I can devote my entire focus to reading, writing, or thinking about my project Ease of organization through notebooks, folders, and tag No more clutter with loose papers and documents strewn about. I can write in different types of writing utensils and it can be in color. If you'd like to see more, visit www.remarkable.com for more. I don't have an affiliate link and won't be compensated by a purchase. Dealing with Imposter Syndrome Imposter Syndrome is not a new phenomenon. It has it's roots in an older study (perhaps around the 70s) that focused on women in the workplace. Here are the five ways I've learned how to deal with Imposter Syndrome: Know that Imposter Syndrome is Normal Create or join a community of other professionals to vent and discuss Don't let perfection paralyze you Re-frame the discussion to adoption of a learning and growth mindset Record Your Wins Using these techniques will help you deal with Imposter Syndrome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing Distilled sits down and interviews marketing consultant and author Aaron Templer. Aaron Templer Aaron Templer is an unapologetic eclectic. By day he is a 20+ year senior marketing professional. Aaron founded and owns Three Over Four, a full service, boutique marketing firm that works with people and organizations that have values at their center. His first book, Leading in a Social World, is available now. You can learn more about the book and order it at www.leadinginasocialworld.com Aaron consults with organizations in the areas of brand, brand management, marketing, strategy, and leadership. He's actively involved with the American Marketing Association as a professional instructor, past president, and volunteer for their national Professional Chapters Council. By night Aaron has a music problem. Some of his current projects are: SF1 Music Mudra Dance Studio Mudra Rhythm Section. Aaron also likes to spread ideas as a keynote speaker, sitting on and facilitating panels and workshops, and by way of an occasional adjunct faculty gig on the topics of the social web, branding, the creative mind, and marketing communications. Aaron spoke at a recent Cincinnati AMA Ignite event where he didn't pull any punches about the dangers and ethical concerns on Artificial Intelligence at this years conference talking about AI. Marketing and the Ethics of AI Marketers have AI all wrong. While unions strike and artists file lawsuits over AI job- and value-displacement, marketers wring our hands about so-called AI threatening marketing jobs and making our marketing departments obsolete while we … wait for it … use AI to do marketing. Operating under this strange dichotomy, marketers have fallen hard for unprecedented hype and are rushing to be the first to master AI tech, hell-bent on self-fulfilling a fate of our own making — all for a tool that, as one scientist puts it, is nothing more than algorithms that are “haphazardly stitching together sequences of linguistic forms … according to probabilistic information.” Or as a user on Mastodon put it, “mansplaining as a service: superficially plausible but totally fabricated nonsense presented with unflagging confidence.” Implausibly, we’ve decided to pay a steep ethical price for participating in this illusion: • We're now just stealing content (content that we’ve created for our brands and clients, astonishingly). • We're publishing content from and giving juice to a biased system that causes real harm to many groups, a system that one scholar calls “the civil rights issue of our time.” • We're choosing not to accept the significant environmental impact of our actions during a climate and humanitarian crisis. How to Follow Aaron Three Over Four Agency Aaron Templer's Personal Site Aaron Templer on LinkedIn Aaron Templer on Mastadon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intro For the past couple months, I have been working and onboarding to a new marketing role. Because I am a department of one, I often need hep with what I need to do. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped me in my career so far. In this episode I share with you the top five ways I am using AI to help me become a better marketer. Help me create an onboarding plan Help me generate an agenda for my day Use Dall-E to generate images for social media and the web Generate a workflow and first ideas for a Vlog Create Social Media Content for specific avatars or personas BONUS: Create strategies and tatics to communicate with your avatars or personas Tips: Verify what ChatGPT and other AI generate. Sometimes it can be incorrect or not suitable for your purposes Manage your expectations. It's not a genius. It's more like an intern or personal assistant Be curious about it and ask GPT or your AI of choice if it can do what you think it should Conclusion AI is a remarkable tool that you can use to enhance your career as a marketer. You can use it to generate an onboarding plan. You can use it to create a daily agenda. You can use it to generate images for social media or the web. You can use it to generate a workflow and first ideas for a vlog. Finally you can use AI to create a custom avatar or persona and use that persona to help you create social media and other resources geared towards the avatar. How are you using AI How are you using AI in your career? Leave me a tip via email at info@marketingdistilled.net. Can you Review the Show? Please consider rating and reviewing Marketing Distilled. A Five-Star Review would help get this content to others and a review would mean the world to me. Please rate and review the show here: https://www.marketingdistilled.net/reviews/new/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Gaby, Master Distiller of Marketing Distilled, interviews Heather Heuman, CEO of Sweet Tea Social Marketing, social media strategist, international keynote speaker, and author of The Golden Rules of Social Media Marketing. She has 24 years experience in sales, social media, and business. Identified as a Top Business Influencer, Heather has worked with Chick-fil-A as well as hundreds of businesses, CEOs and organizations. Heather also hosts the #2 Christian Business podcast talking all things business for Christians in the Marketplace. Heather calls Columbia, South Carolina home where she lives with her husband of 21 years, where they are raising their three teens. Career Questions What You're most proud of in your career What event or taught you the most Marketing strategies and tactics for the small business owner Being a Christian in the market place Motherhood in business Lightning round Conclusion Connect with Marketing Distilled Website: www.marketingdistilled.net LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-distilled-podcast Twitter (X): @MKTGDistilled Connect with Heather Heuman Website: https://www.sweetteasocialmarketing.com Podcast: The Infinitely More with Heather Heuman Twitter (X): @HeatherHeuman Facebook: Sweet Tea Social Marketing YouTube: @TheHeatherHeuman LinkedIn: Heather Heuman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do marketers adjust to a new job? In this episode I share with you some personal news and share six tips and lessons for anyone who gets a new job. People in new roles need to learn a lot! Do not think your questions are dumb. Learn from your mistakes. Give yourself lots of grace, space, and patience. Get organized. Stay close to your supervisor and your team. These tips will undoubtedly get you off on the right foot in your new career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing Distilled sits down with Sarah Panus, a content marketing expert, to talk about career and marketing content. About Sarah: Biography: Marketers and business leaders often lack the right people, skills or time to create content plans. Content expert & Certified StoryBrand Guide, Sarah Panus, helps you check storytelling projects off your marketing to-do list using 20 years of frameworks and methods, so you get time back while confidently engaging new and existing customers with great content that drives business results.  It shouldn’t feel like you’re falling behind because you can’t figure out your content. Sarah understands how hard it is to juggle your demands. Her client roster includes big and small B2C & B2B brands including: Sleep Number, Starbucks, SHEFIT, LegalZoom, Katie Couric Media, Thrive Global, Nestle Waters, Lindt Chocolate, American Heart Association, Western Green, Cox Communications, Alta Tech, King Technology, Christos Bridal, and numerous small businesses. She’s a content marketing strategy consultant, podcast host of Marketing With Empathy® (in top 5% of all marketing podcasts), Certified StoryBrand Guide, speaker, and owner of Kindred Speak® consulting. Sarah works with clients by either doing the work for them through her freelance consulting services; OR, coaching them to think like Content Directors through her online courses, keynotes and workshops. Visit www.kindredspeak.com to learn more. Show Notes Get to know Sarah Panus (career, hobbies, the 360 view of Sarah) Career: What are you the proudest of in your career? Career: Tell us a story of when you made a mistake and what you learned from it? Sarah is a Certified StoryBrand Guide. What is that and why did you get that certification? What was easiest about the course and what was most difficult? What's the StoryBrand Framework? Why is story telling a good way to market a business? In the Framework, where is it toughest to move the hero from one phase to the next? How can you make sure they don't change the channel? What are two or three key things a brand gets wrong abour the StoryBrand framework? How SB integrates into a content plan, beyond the typical sales funnel. Lightning round of questions. How to Connect with Sarah Panus Website: www.kindredspeaks.com LinkedIn: Sarah Panus Instagram: Sarah Panus Listen to Her Podcast Marketing With Empathy® Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introduction If you're in business you know you need to market what you do or what you sell. Without sales of your product you won't make money or last long in your business. If you don't provide your services to clients or customers they won't experience the benefit that you provide. Most businesses are in the business of selling their products at a profit, or providing their services so that more people can experience the transformation you provide. This sounds simple enough, but what I find is that most businesses don't think through how they will market themselves and grow their business. Business owners and managers often focus on the operations, products, or services they provide, but don't go far enough to work on the business's marketing plan. If they do, it's likely that they decide to have a website and a social media presence. That's it. In this episode though, I'll guide you through a process to create a killer marketing strategy. This strategy can be used for a product or a service. At the end you'll be able to work through these steps for any aspect of your business. Ready to get started? Let's dig in! How to Create a Killer Marketing Strategy You begin with your business first, not your customer. You know what your company's objective is. You know your customer and how to talk to them. You know how to execute your plan. You know how to analyze the results and adjust. Show Website: Marketing Distilled Follow the Show on Social Media: Twitter LinkedIn Email the Show info@marketingdistilled.net Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing Distilled interviews Colin Jeffries, VP of Marketing and Communication at Brightview Health. About Colin Jeffries In less than four years, Colin built the most sophisticated and efficient multi-channel in-house marketing and communications function in addiction treatment in the United States. He is an award-winning marketing executive who frequently speaks and writes on the follies of mainstream marketing methods. He is an inductee of the Hospital Marketing National Hall of Fame, one of Podcast Magazine's 40 Under 40, and was named Chief Marketing Officer of the Year in 2023 by the Cincinnati Business Courier. He leads marketing, communication, and innovation efforts for BrightView Health, co-hosts The Rethink Marketing Podcast, and serves in advisory roles for several organizations. He has his bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Cincinnati, Carl H. Linder College of Business, and the MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business Colin Jeffries is the Host of The Rethink Marketing Podcast and both Rethink Marketing and Marketing Distilled podcasts are members of the Marketing Podcasts Network. Colin Discusses the Following In this episode, we answer some of the following questions: You had started out in the AEC Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry, but now work in healthcare. Colin, tell us what led you to switch industries. Uncovering why your organization is really better than the competition. Why conventional marketing wisdom is probably backfiring for your organization and what to do about it (team hiring practices, web page  word count, bounce rate, segmentation, etc.) Major learnings from trying to connect with an “impossible to reach” audience. Major learnings from scaling a "marketing team of one" to a team of 10 within 4 years. Lightning round of questions. Connect with Colin Connect with Colin Jeffries via LinkedIn, and subscribe to his podcast using the links below: LinkedIn The Rethink Marketing Podcast Personal Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twitter (X): @MKTGDistilled LinkedIn: @MKTGDistilled Have you ever stepped inside a business hoping to buy from them, only to discover you're just another transaction the staff had to deal with? I think we all have had that experience. I experience this nearly every time I go to a big-box store. I'm just a number, a transaction, and worse, a walking dollar sign as I navigate the aisles and shelves. As a consumer I'm sure you'll agree that this type of experience is less than ideal. How can you avoid this cold, soul-less, walking dollar sign approach to your  business? That's the subject of this episode of Marketing Distilled, I'll cover personalization in marketing. I'll talk about what it is, how you can incorporate it into your business, what to avoid, and some examples of how I see companies do this well, and how companies have really messed up in their execution of being more personalized in their marketing. What is personalization? How Does Personalization Benefit me and my customers? How to get started personalizing your marketing How to Avoid the pitfalls of personalization Conclusion To conclude this episode, you've learned about the power of personalization in marketing. You've learned what it is, the benefits you have as a business, and the benefits you give your customers. You have an idea of what you need to do in your business to start if you haven't already. Finally, you have a cautionary tale on the pitfalls of personalization. References What Is Personalized Marketing? | Mailchimp What is personalization? | McKinsey The Power Of Personalization In Marketing | by Taylor Wilson | Medium How Companies Learn Your Secrets - The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing Distilled opens up their virtual mailbag and answers a question from Jeff Parrott, owner of a debt collection company. He asks, "how do I market an unsexy or unglamorous brand or business?" On the show you'll learn: How to reframe ones thinking about unsexy or unglamorous brands Discover the features, benefits, and emotions of a business A sampling of frameworks that someone can use Finally, after a short commercial break, our Master Distiller, Jonathan Gaby, gives some actionable tips and ideas on how to put into practice some of the theory behind the marketing challenge, including websites, social media, and email marketing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing Distilled sits down with Troy Sandige, Strategy Hacker, to get to know his business, his background, insights into the world of marketing and more. Tune in for a triple pour of wisdom, insights, and more from Troy Sandige. You'll discover: How Troy went from being an electrical engineer to 5x agency owner. How he grew donations for fetal heartbeat monitors in Africa His frameworks for every business you can use today. You'll also learn about DEIB Marketing strategies and why it's important for every business. And, because it's Marketing Distilled, the interview concludes with a smooth finish of actionable items for the early career marketer and the business owner, looking to grow their business. Troy has written a book, called Strategize Up. Click the link to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Master Distiller Jonathan Gaby reviews his first full year of being an adjunct professor of marketing at a small historically black college or university (HBCU) in Kentucky State University. Highlights include: Start small Be smart in my approach Figure it out as I go Make small changes over time. Then, Jonathan thanks the newest followers of Marketing Distilled Podcast on LinkedIn. Episode Webpage: https://www.marketingdistilled.net/reflections-of-a-rookie-adjunct-professor-of-marketing/ Follow Marketing Distilled on Twitter (X) : https://twitter.com/MKTGDistilled Connect with Marketing Distilled on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-distilled-podcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Marketing Distilled, I'll talk about how you can take charge of and start thinking about the experience your customers have when they do business with you. In the simple framework I talk about you'll have a great tool set to use to help make sure that the experience your customers have is actually the desired experience your business, brand, or cause wants to have. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing is hard to begin with and what makes marketing harder is not having the right tools or frameworks to adequately solve business problems and make intelligent decisions. The Big Picture Framework is the best framework and approach to solving business problems and marketing strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Marketing Distilled, We Interview a veteran of the marketing industry and digital marketing expert and educator Matt Bailey. Matt has worked with high-caliber brands like Microsoft, Disney, Nationwide, Proctor & Gamble, and more. We discuss the tactics of analytics, SEO, websites, and more in this wide-ranging episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Marketing Distilled, I want to talk about how everyone should periodically audit and review their social media profiles to make sure that they are the best they can be. Perhaps this episode is an encouragement to make sure that you're following the fundamentals of social media and communication, but also helps us all to think about how our social media fits into the overall strategy and marketing mix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I just received the Shure MV7 Limited Edition White Noir and I thought to record a short episode to highlight the new product. It will be available on August 15th on Amazon! jonathangaby.com/shuremv7 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the Marketing Distilled podcast we are joined by Izzy House, who I think might be one of the few experts in the field of marketing for the aerospace industry. Izzy is a marketing expert and space nerd. Space Marketing is at the heart of Izzy's career. She combines both her expertise in marketing with her love of space exploration and technologies. With more than twenty years of experience in marketing, public relations and affairs, and civic outreach for governmental agencies, aerospace, and aviation organizations, her goal is to empower new space companies to take their ideas and products out of this world! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices