Shape the Conversation
Nicole Mears and Jon Davis
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Top 10 Shape the Conversation Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Shape the Conversation episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Shape the Conversation for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Shape the Conversation episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
A Review of Rand Fishkin's Book "Lost and Founder"
Shape the Conversation
09/13/18 • 41 min
With an emphasis on empathy, vulnerability and transparency Rand's writing style allows readers to see the good, the bad and the ugly of his experience.
Rand is undoubtedly one of the pivotal figures in modern digital marketing. Moz's early success set them on a path of raising ~$30 million dollars from venture capitalists and forever changing the company to focus on software. Rand writes about his struggles coping with this new phase of the business and what he'd do differently.
One idea that stood out to us was the concept of a "startup cheat code".
Rand's best advice for starting a company is to solve a problem you have yourself, that's the cheat code. This way you know what to build early on and have the validation of at least an audience of one. We can echo this sentiment because our platform is built to solve problems our team saw first hand in our careers. Early on especially, this was a huge advantage when building new features.
Other concepts, ideas and events of the book we discussed:
- Why despite all his negative feelings for the fund raising process, he still chose to raise $1.5 million dollars from investors for his new company. He did tweak the way he went about it this time, but Rand is a realist when it comes to the advantages capital provides early stage companies.
- Flywheels > Growth Hacks
- We wonder how Moz employees are reacting to the book in which Rand describes the experience as a "mostly horrible, sometimes awesome experience."
- Why entrepreneurs are actually some of the most risk adverse people out there. They don't take risks for risks sake.
- Why Jon hates stats like '1 in every 150 startups lasts 5 years'.
- The importance of building a diverse team for the health of your product.
We commend Rand for his "painfully honest guide to the startup world." It can't be easy to describe in detail some of the toughest moments of your life. Will be fascinating to follow the journey of Rand's new company SparkToro and see how he adjusts.
Check out Rand's book "Lost and Founder".
If you want another perspective on the same story, Rand's wife Geraldine DeRuiter wrote "All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft".
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!
Making Big Career Changes
Shape the Conversation
07/05/18 • 25 min
Happy Independence week! In 1776, America made a big decision that changed history. In this episode, Nicole and Jon covered how to think through making big changes that will influence your personal history. Along the way they talked about:
- The risks and perceived risks that come with making big career changes.
- Is there anyway to know if you are truly "ready" to take a leap?
- Emotionally dealing with leaving a team behind and why we are all a little less important than we think.
- Thinking about your day-to-day now as prep for the future
The best we advice we have is to trust yourself to make a hard call if you've put in the work. Talk to people you trust around you. Get some feedback. Build your savings account if needed. But at the end of the day, making a big change is an emotional decision that's on you.
Taking a big leap can be scary. Drew Hudson, co-founder of Dropbox, says he considers which path to take based on what will lead to obtaining the most knowledge or is the most interesting to him. We like this way of thinking because it can lead to taking on work that you haven't done before but have always wanted to try.
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions or feedback on the podcast!
Chatbots: A New Frontier
Shape the Conversation
06/28/18 • 25 min
Jon and Nicole talk about how they define the different types of chatbots and the massive changes that may be ahead as chatbots become even more prevalent.
- Chatbots as a whole new realm of conversion rate optimization (CRO)
- Are forms dead?
- Chatbot design and how it mirrors landing page optimization in many ways
- Could chatbots complete replace websites for many businesses?
We encourage everyone to get out there and experiment with a chatbot. We can personally vouch for these two platforms for launching your chatbot:
Drift - The "new way businesses buy from businesses". Great for booking meetings with new prospects and sparking conversations with prospects visiting your site.
Landbot - Great way to easily launch a chatbot with low risk. What we love about Landbot is the visual bot builder and options to implement your bot as a sidebar chat, embedded widget or take over the whole page with the bot experience.
Nicole came prepped with research for this episode. Here are the articles and research she referenced:
"The Sudden Death of the Website" - Techcrunch
"Gartner Top Strategic Predictions for 2018 and Beyond" - Gartner
"8 Changes Chatbots Will Bring to the Workplace" - CMS Wire
The best we advice we have is get out there and start experimenting because chatbots are becoming a larger piece of converting prospects to customers.
If you don't have a chatbot strategy yet, you need to think hard about why.
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions or feedback on the podcast!
Introducing Shape the Conversation
Shape the Conversation
05/04/18 • 3 min
This is a new podcast from shape.io. In the upcoming episodes we'll be talking about our experiences building a SaaS business in Bend, Oregon, the future of digital advertising, talking to some great guests and more.
Don't hesitate to reach out.
Nicole's email: [email protected]
Jon's email: [email protected]
The Evolving PPC Landscape for Agencies and Software with Kirk Williams
Shape the Conversation
10/16/19 • 57 min
We're back for a special episode!
Big thanks to Kirk Williams of Zato Marketing for joining Nicole and Jon.
In this episode of Shape the Conversation, Kirk provides his perspective as a PPC agency owner and we (Nicole and Jon) compare it to our experience running a SaaS company in the same space.
Kirk talks through how he thinks about providing value for his customers in a world where the ad networks are seeking to create direct relationships with advertisers.
Nicole and Jon talk about how although our industry is one where you can build a profitable SaaS company, there is much less venture capital appetite for PPC-focused technology then there was 5 years ago.
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!
Accountability & Freedom with Michael Mack
Shape the Conversation
12/13/18 • 49 min
On this episode of Shape the Conversation we invited the great, Michael Mack, into our set to tell us all about his new LinkedIn post titled, "Accountability & Freedom". Michael and Jon cover topics like:
- What does it mean to be accountable
- The will to wanting to make a change
- How to own your own accountability
- How to be happy with who you are
- Goal VS Intention
- Feeling "stuck: between choices you don't like
- Practicing the constant smoothes you out
Don't blame others, don't blame yourself. Mistakes happen in life and being accountable means finding a solution that solves the issue and works for everyone involved. Take the things that didn't work as a learning experience, not as a failure. Keep your attention on the outcome you want to create and let go of blame.
"The primary outcomes of Accountability are improved results and an increased sense of choice and interestingly enough, freedom. Try it yourself." -Michael Mack
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!
✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]
Breaking Down BuzzFeed's Report on Ad Fraud on Mobile Apps
Shape the Conversation
11/08/18 • 21 min
Every day users are seeing hundreds of ads while they play apps. There is no saying how many of the ads that are seen are fake or real. A BuzzFeed article, written by Craig Silverman, sheds some light on one major act of ad fraud that resulted in millions of dollars being stolen from advertisers.
In this episode of 'Shape the Conversation' Nicole and Jon cover topics like:
- The details of the scheme
- The amount of money that these ads have taken
- Big companies impacted by fraudulent ads
- Concerns with children on devices today
- People starting to question advertising as a whole
- Tips to avoid fraudulent ads
- Tips to avoid being seen as a fraudulent ad
- The poor quality of traffic on mobile ads
- and more...
Our biggest take away from this episode is, know where your ads are going and how to control the placement of your ads so they don't get mistaken as ad fraud.
Companies That Worked With The Apps/Sites In Some Way.
Option 1 for controlling ad placement.
Option 2 for controlling ad placement.
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!
Creating a PPC Strategy for a Brand New Product/Service
Shape the Conversation
11/01/18 • 23 min
You have an amazing new idea. No one has ever done anything like this before. But can you get it in front of anyone to get validation that it is that great of an idea? Is anyone searching Google for the solution you’ve created?
Nicole and Jon have had to tackle this challenge before and have some advice for creating digital ad campaigns when search volume might be low or the search phrases you want to target are less obvious.
In this episode of ‘Shape the Conversation’, Nicole and Jon cover topics like:
- How to find details on the ads of any potential “competitors”
- Focusing on the questions your target market are asking Google to find search phrases to target.
- How to leverage the Google Ads Keyword Planner to research what people may be searching for.
- Ways to think about quickly explaining your new product/service to the market.
Our biggest takeaway is that you can use this process as a way to prove to yourself and others that there is a market for your idea. Digital marketing is a great way to get your product out to the world and begin getting feedback, even before you build.
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!
The Importance of Defining Your Target Market for Anything
Shape the Conversation
10/25/18 • 25 min
We believe an important first step to any project is to have a clear vision of who your customers will be and what problem they will solve your solution. Knowing this will help you set appropriate goals and build solutions that actually get used once they exist.
Nicole and Jon went in-depth on:
- How knowing your target market can be invaluable to helping you gauge interest pre-launch.
- Why persona based target market strategies sometimes don’t tell the whole story.
- But how personas are useful for researching the size of a market.
- Why a target market of ‘everyone on earth’ is probably a mistake.
- Why once you pin down a target market, you need to talk to as many people as you can in it.
- How free trials are a great low-friction way to build an audience in a target market.
Ultimately, you shouldn’t fall in love with your solution, but you should fall in love with the problems of your target market. And it all starts with defining the target market.
PPC Management Software For Agencies
Shape the Conversation
01/03/19 • 36 min
Nicole and Jon have been in the business of PPC Management Software for many years and know all of the in and outs, dos and don'ts associated with choosing the right platform for your PPC agency. Nicole and Jon cover topics like:
- What is and isn't PPC Management Software
- The difference between reporting software and management software
- All management platforms for PPCers
- The importance of automation
- How the world of management platforms for PPC has changed over time
- "Point Solutions" versus platforms
- The biggest competition to all PPC management platforms
- And more...
The biggest takeaway from this episode is to go look into PPC Management Softwares because it is not as overwhelming as you might think. Making the change to better manage your ads and budget could really put your team ahead your competition. There really aren't that many companies out there making management software for PPC agencies, but you will need to identify your needs and figure out which platform is best for you and your team.
Hanapin Marketing Product Link
Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!
✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]
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FAQ
How many episodes does Shape the Conversation have?
Shape the Conversation currently has 30 episodes available.
What topics does Shape the Conversation cover?
The podcast is about Marketing, Saas, Podcast, Podcasts, Technology, Digital Marketing, Business and Oregon.
What is the most popular episode on Shape the Conversation?
The episode title 'PPC Management Software For Agencies' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Shape the Conversation?
The average episode length on Shape the Conversation is 29 minutes.
How often are episodes of Shape the Conversation released?
Episodes of Shape the Conversation are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Shape the Conversation?
The first episode of Shape the Conversation was released on May 4, 2018.
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