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Check out the latest Partners Podcast below, or find our previous podcasts to catch up on any episode you may have missed. Happy listening!
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All About Sales: Working the 80/20
There’s no business without sales, so it’s no wonder that selling is of continuous interest to agencies and consultancies. It’s hard work, and as much as you learn, there’s always another layer of subtlety and expertise you can develop. The Google Partners Podcast now kicks off a mini-series of episodes that dive into different aspects of sales. You’ll hear ideas, insights and resources you can use to get better at pursuing the kinds of clients and contracts you want.
We start by looking into the general rule that 80% of any business comes from 20% of its clients. While simple on the surface, the 80/20 phenomenon is deeply significant and can lead to powerful efficiencies and strategies when sales teams use it wisely. And Perry Marshall is the person to explain how. Among the highest-paid business consultants in the world, Marshall wrote 80/20 Sales & Marketing, a mandatory read in many growing companies, as well as The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords, the world’s best-selling book on Internet advertising.
Perry Marshall, Author and Consultant
Perry Marshall is endorsed in Forbes and Inc. Magazine, and is one of the most sought-after business consultants in the world for his ability to integrate technology, sales, art and psychology. His reinvention of the Pareto 80/20 Principle is published in Harvard Business Review; and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs at the California Institute of Technology uses his 80/20 Curve as a productivity tool.
Marshall’s Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords laid the foundations of the $100 billion Pay-Per-Click industry, and techniques he pioneered remain standard best practices today. As a consultant, he has worked in over 300 industries and has served as an expert witness for marketing litigation. Perry has a degree in Electrical Engineering. He lives in Chicago.
Host: Alex Langshur
Thursday, January 10th, 2018
5 Steps to Strategic Copywriting
Recent episodes of our podcast have talked about positioning, seasonality, landing pages, and digital assistants. With the complexity and fast-paced evolution of many topics in marketing, it’s easy to forget that so much of what we do all comes down to words. There’s a lot riding on our ability to find the right message at the right time for any audience we’re reaching. If we’re going to succeed, we need to create or curate copy that sparkles, engages, convinces—and converts.
The good news is that like many skills, good writing can be learned. So this episode, we’re excited to welcome one of the best teachers around: Joanna Wiebe. Founder of Copy Hackers, Joanna is a highly sought after conversion copywriter who has worked with clients as diverse as brick-and-mortar stalwart, Tesco, and digital native, Nectar Sleep. A globe-spanning speaker, Joanna joins us to share techniques that make words work harder.
Joanna Wiebe, Conversion Copywriter
The original conversion copywriter, Joanna Wiebe is the creator of Copy Hackers and CH Agency, where she and her team write world-class conversion copy for clients like Nectar Sleep, Datastax, Canva and Sprout Social. She's been invited to teach conversion copywriting on 100+ international stages at events like StartCon, INBOUND, Mozcon and Business of Software. Along the way, more than 50,000 people at businesses large and small have turned to Joanna for copy coaching, and thousands more have taken her online training courses, such as Copy School. Find her at copyhackers.com or on Twitter @copyhackers.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, December 17th, 2018
Voice Assistance: The New Frontier for Brands
Twenty-five years ago, it was websites. Twelve years ago, it was mobile. Today, it’s voice assistance. By 2022, voice commerce sales are expected to top $45B in the US and UK, and even today 72% of people with voice-activated speakers use them as part of their daily routine. Clearly, if you’re in the digital agency space, you need to understand voice user interfaces (VUIs) and get yourself in front of the trend.
Wally Brill, Head of Conversation Design Advocacy & Education for the Google Assistant, is a perfect guest to walk us through this subject. He has twenty years’ experience with voice, primarily in the design of VUIs, both as a consultant and in senior roles with companies such as eBay and Nuance. In other words, he’s been in the game for as long as there was a game. In this episode, Wally shares insights on voice-based actions, persona design and what he thinks the future will hold.
For more information on this topic, see:
Wally Brill, Head of Conversation Design Advocacy & Education at Google
After twenty years of producing hit records in the US and Europe, Wally Brill set out to write an interactive opera and instead entered the nascent world of voice AI. Since then he has helped artificial intelligences generate conversations between Fortune 500 companies and their customers. At Google, he was senior persona designer for the Google Assistant and now helps internal groups and external partners develop and maintain best practices of conversation design. Before coming to Google, Wally designed persona-driven speech recognition systems for Allstate Insurance, British Airways, eBay and the United States Navy. “I’ll admit it,” he says, “I love talking with robots and teaching them to talk back.”
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, November 27th, 2018
Getting the Most Out of Seasonality
Since we’re nearing the holiday season and the annual retail apex of Black Friday/Cyber Monday, the Google Partners Podcast brings you an early holiday treat. Hana Abaza, Head of Marketing at Shopify Plus, shares insights about seasonal campaigns and campaign strategies as well as year-round wisdom for effective positioning whether you’re a digital agency or a marketer in the B2B or B2C space.
A featured speaker at conferences about tech, startups and marketing, Hana is passionate about strategy and helping companies grow. And she’s the real deal with a track record of successful marketing strategy and campaign execution across a variety of companies. Now with her vantage point at Shopify Plus, she’s uniquely poised to share what she’s learned about what works in online marketing and why.
Hana Abaza, Head of Marketing at Shopify Plus
Hana has been involved in technology and startups for a number of years. She started on the B2C side before switching to a consulting role in marketing and growth in B2B SAS. It was while working at Uberflip in Toronto that Hana started looking for her next step, wondering if she wanted to stay with a startup or a more mid-stage company, and if she wanted to stay in Toronto or move to the west coast. It was over coffee and “life advice” with Craig Miller, Shopify’s Chief Product Officer, that she found out about Shopify Plus. The new expansion of Shopify appealed to her desire to stay in the up-market space. Through that meeting, she moved into her current role as Head of Marketing where she pursues her interests and grows her talents relating to the entire marketing process from product development to commercialization.
Host: Alex Langshur
Thursday, November 8th, 2018
Are You Leaving Money on the Table?
The conversation about pricing can be a dicey one. Not only because what businesses charge is proprietary, but also because methods of pricing can vary quite a bit. Some have buttoned down processes that track expenses, calculate hourly rates, and arrive at a margin. Others go mainly on instinct or observations of what other companies are doing. But if marketers avoid looking closely at their pricing, do they run the risk of losing money? What are the gains of pricing more strategically?
Pricing really comes down to two things: 1) What’s your value to your clients, and 2) How do you communicate that value? To answer these questions, it can be very helpful to get an outsider’s perspective. Our guest today is business coach Robin Waite. Robin has helped improve pricing structure, leverage value, and grow the bottom line for many businesses.
Robin Waite, Business Coach
From 2004 to 2014, Robin Waite ran a design and advertising agency that served more than 250 clients. During that time, he began delivering workshops and classes that helped more than 1,000 business owners improve their marketing, product architecture, pricing, websites and digital advertising. As a business coach, Robin combines creativity with logical, analytical and objective thinking to help entrepreneurs become more successful.
His best-selling books are Take Your Shot: How to Grow Your Business, Attract More Clients, and Make More Money and Online Business Startup: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Launching a Fast, Lean and Profitable Online Venture. When not coaching or writing, Robin loves nothing more than spending time with his wife and two young daughters.
Host: Alex Langshur
Thursday, October 25th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Grow Sales and Margins Through Positioning
Whether we sell services, products or ideas, the first thing we need to do is find and understand our audience. Because no matter how effective we may be at communicating our value proposition and connecting to a need, we’re not going to see the results we want if we’re talking to the wrong people—or talking about our offering in the wrong way. Positioning is about defining your market and your relationship to it. So you can see why it’s a necessary process before effective marketing can happen. The challenge is taking a fresh, dispassionate, analytical look at your company, your service and your competition.
In this week’s episode, we hear from April Dunford, a marketing and positioning maven who has launched many products into market and served as a senior executive at IBM, Huawei, Nortel and other firms. Today she travels the world, sharing her wisdom and passion about positioning.
April Dunford, CEO Ambient Strategy
As a consultant, April helps technology companies position their products for market—in other words, she makes them easier to understand and purchase by the customers most need them most. As an international keynote speaker and lecturer, she offers trainings on go-to-market strategy based on the methodologies she’s developed over 25 years as an executive in successful technology startups as well as global tech giants. In that time, she has positioned and launched 16 products and grown the revenue of the companies she’s served from zero to more than a billion.
April is also a board member, angel investor and mentor to dozens of startups. The release of her book Obviously Awesome: How to Position Your Product so Customers Get it, Buy it, Love it is anticipated in early 2019.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, October 10th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Wisdom from a Millennial Leader
Entrepreneurs today can get a lot of inspiration from reading books by people like Dale Carnegie, Barbara Corcoran, Guy Kawasaki, Richard Branson—people who achieved exceptional things over the course of their lives. But for the generation now at the start of their careers, few figures could be as interesting as Brian Wong. At 27, has has already pioneered a category-defining rewards network that’s redefining mobile advertising. And he has amassed a level of savvy far beyond his years.
In this episode, Brian shares some of the insights he’s gathered and lessons he’s learned as a rising business leader and innovator.
Brian Wong, co-founder and CEO of Kiip
Author of The Cheat Code, Brian Wong’s talent has been recognized in Business Insider’s Top 25 Under 25 in Silicon Valley, 30 Under 30 in Advertising, Forbes’ 30 under 30 three times, and Mashable’s Top 5 Entrepreneurs to Watch, to name a few. He has also been called the youngest person ever to receive venture capital funding by CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.
He received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia at age 18 and co-founded Kiip the following year. Kiip is a mobile rewards network that leverages “moments of achievement” in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers. Backed by American Express, Interpublic Group, Verizon Ventures, and others, the company has raised $15.4 million in funding to date. Kiip has earned a place in Forbes’ 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Watch, Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World, and the Dow Jones FasTech50 List.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, September 26th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Building Your Market, One Landing Page at a Time
For anyone even thinking about building and testing landing pages, Unbounce is an essential tool and the platform that almost single-handedly created the field. Oli Gardner, the company’s co-founder, travels the world speaking and evangelizing about the importance of the landing page experience in marketing. He’s taken a hard look at more landing pages than anyone on the planet, and he’s obsessed with identifying and reversing bad practices. His rants against marketers who send campaign-specific traffic to their general homepage can peel paint off an unpainted wall!
Today’s episode explores how Oli got to where he is today, and how he turned a passion for crusading against marketing mediocrity into such a key online business platform. What are some of the important learnings he’s gleaned along the way?
Oli Gardner, Business Coach
Unbounce co-founder Oli Gardner is a prolific international speaker who’s on a mission to help businesses use data-informed copywriting, design, interaction, and psychology to create a more delightful experience for marketers and customers alike. He became a marketer the day Unbounce was founded. As an early pioneer in the realm of content marketing, his goal was to position Unbounce as the global leader in everything related to landing pages and ways to deliver high-converting and delightful marketing experiences.
Host: Alex Langshur
Thursday, September 13th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Managing Through Market Cycles
Building a business is hard, particularly when growing revenue depends on the staff needed to recognize that revenue. When growth is fundamentally tied to scale—as it is in service-based businesses—market cycles and other factors can create serious challenges. For instance, what happens when your enterprise becomes the hot commodity? How do you manage through meteoric growth without compromising quality? And when revenue drops, how do you protect morale and preserve the company’s culture through the hard choices of downscaling?
As a three-time company co-founder, Ben West has lived through the booms and downturns of the past decades. Here he shares stories and lessons from his long experience in growing businesses and steering them through the unpredictable economic landscape.
Ben West, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Eventbase
Ben West oversees design, product management and technology strategy for the event app platform, Eventbase. Formerly, he was CIO at StockHouse.com, growing the company from 2 to 250 people worldwide and making it, for a time, the highest-trafficked website in Canada. Ben also founded digital agency Intergalactic and co-founded a digital rights protection software company used by leading record labels.
Ben is a previous winner of the “Top 40 Under 40” award by Business in Vancouver. In his spare time Ben volunteers with branding, marketing, and knowledge-worker training, and he funds a granting program for small businesses to build digital tools as well as a scholarship program. For this work, he was a finalist for the Prime Minister's Canadian Volunteer Awards in 2016.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, August 29th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Innovation in Action
Big or small, regardless of industry or sector, most if not all organizations would say that they’re interested in innovation. But what does that actually mean, and how can individuals and companies innovate in ways that create value? Can we take a vague, overworked buzzword like innovation and make it practical?
Enter Michelle Greenwald, CEO of Inventours. She has transformed herself and her career by making innovation more than just something to talk about. Now she shares strategically tactical steps, personal experiences, and driving attitudes for embracing innovation as a priority and a daily practice.
Michelle Greenwald, CEO of Inventours
Michelle Greenwald founded DigitalLatest, a summit designed to help executives understand the evolving digital marketing landscape. She runs insight-generating “innovation days” for blue chip clients. And she is steeped in marketing, having been SVP of New Products at Disney, VP & GM at Pepsi-Cola, Business Director at Nestlé and, prior to that, an account exec at JW Thompson.
She currently teaches marketing at Columbia, NYU Stern, Cornell Johnson and other graduate schools, and she’s a regular columnist for Forbes. As if all that weren’t enough, Michelle Greenwald wrote the book Catalyzing Innovation, wherein she advocates systemic approaches to fostering new thinking in organizations of all sizes.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, August 8th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
How Google Markets Google
Google’s marketing machine is truly massive, operating across a huge range of fronts at an incredible scale. They not only use but also pioneer analytical tools that enable them to work in groundbreaking ways to reach audiences in the “moments that matter.”
In this episode, Fab Dolan, Head of Google Marketing in Canada, pulls back the curtain and shares insights into how Google runs its marketing. And he ties what Google does to strategically tactical steps that companies with a fraction of the budget and staff can take to make their marketing more effective. The truth is that while scale and technology make a difference, the basics of good marketing remain the same.
Fab Dolan, Head of Google Marketing, Canada
Drawing on his background at General Mills, where he led direct marketing for iconic brands such as Cheerios and Green Giant, Feb Dolan has helped Think With Google, the market research and insights platform, surge to more than 60,000 Canadian subscribers in just the past few years. His team also spearheads hardware marketing with Google’s Pixel and Home offerings, and it created Go North, an initiative to mentor and support Canadian tech startups.
What’s more, he advises Toronto-area students to help shape the next generation, and he co-founded Serving for Sinai, which raises funds for medical research. All of this activity has boosted Dolan’s profile as a heavyweight thought leader and in-demand public speaker.
Host: Alex Langshur
Thursday, July 12th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Fueling an Innovation Engine
Google has a well deserved reputation for being an innovative organization, and that’s by design. Because while it’s a popular buzzword, innovation as an enterprise-level priority really does make a difference in a company’s capacity to adapt, grow and thrive. That’s why Google does so much to foster creativity. It informs who they hire, how they acculturate employees, how they design workspaces, how employees collaborate, and so on.
We’re excited to have as our guest Frederik G. Pferdt, Google’s Chief Innovation Evangelist and Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. In this episode, Frederik helps us unpack the twin topics of innovation and creativity and shares approaches to sparking innovation at every level. To learn more about Google’s approach to fostering innovation, check out these resources on the re:Work website:
Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt, Google’s Chief Innovation Evangelist and Adjunct Professor at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
Frederik believes creativity exists in all of us, and his passion is to develop the capacity to innovate in everyone. At Google, he founded and now leads a team of 350 Innovation Evangelists who help Googlers solve problems more creatively. Frederik also co-founded “The Garage,” Google’s hacker/designer/maker space, and the Creative Skills for Innovation Laboratory (CSI:Lab), which tests hundreds of new to the world ideas every year.
As an Adjunct Professor at Stanford’s d.school, he taught over 10 graduate courses like: “Hacking your innovation mindset”. His creative work on innovation culture, leadership and future technology have earned him invitations to transform organizations, schools and governments globally. He currently acts as Innovation Consultant to the United Nations and is The German Football Association’s Innovation-Coach. Focus Magazine calls him “The Pope of Creativity.” He currently lives in Silicon Valley with his wife and draws inspiration from the playfulness and explorer mindsets of his three children.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, June 20th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Mindfulness in the Business World
Ask just about anyone how they’re doing, and an all-too-common answer is “busy.” Being busy—or too busy—seems like the normal state of things. Maybe that’s why mindfulness is becoming a more predominant subject in our culture as a response to the high levels of stress so many of us face in our professional lives. If we aren’t giving attention to our personal state and to our close relationships, our lives can fall apart regardless of how successful we are at work.
This episode sheds light on how mindfulness meshes with high performance in the corporate world as Ben Feder talks about the difference that meditation and mindfulness have made in his life. Take a deep breath. The adventure begins.
Ben Feder, President of International Partnerships, Tencent Games
Prior to joining Tencent (makers of China’s super-app, WeChat), Ben served as co-founder, partner and vice chairman of ZelnickMedia Corporation/ZM, a media investment and management firm, and was also Chief Executive Officer and board member at Take Two Interactive, the publisher of hit video games like Grand Theft Auto.
In 2016 he decided to step back from the boardroom and take his family to live in Bali for a year. That experience changed his life as described in his book, Take Off Your Shoes: One Man’s Journey from the Boardroom to Bali and Back. A devoted family man first and foremost, Ben now lives in New York City with his wife and four children.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, May 30th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
The Power of Personality
Is there a mindset that engenders success as an entrepreneur and a leader? Certainly the right combination of beliefs and aptitudes emerges from our upbringing, our background, our culture and so on. But the power of personality also comes from what we tell ourselves, the ideals we adhere to and the experiences we seek out.
Jean Lin, a powerhouse in the world of digital marketing, shares five potent ideas that have led her toward the success and recognition she continues to achieve. If you’d like a mantra or two to help you on your path, listen to this episode now.
Jean Lin, Global CEO, Isobar
Jean Lin established wwwins Consulting in 1999. After she joined Aegis Media in 2004, the agency became Isobar’s first Greater China office and was the driving force behind Isobar’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region. Promoted to Global CEO in March 2014, Jean is now based in Shanghai and leads one of the fastest growing digital agency networks in the world, with 6,500 people in 45 markets globally.
In 2009, Lin was named one of 30 global “Women to Watch” by Advertising Age; and in 2013, Campaign Asia Pacific included her among their Top 5 CEOs in the region. She served as President for the Cannes Lions Cyber Jury in 2015, and this year, she will serve as President for the Cannes Lions Digital Craft Jury. In her personal life, Lin volunteers at China Cedar Project, an initiative dedicated to funding education for high-potential students in small towns in China.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, May 16th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Conquering Limiting Beliefs
For Karen Brown, it started with the audacious goal of competing in the Ironman World Championship. An active recreational athlete, she nevertheless held herself back from that big dream for many years. Finally, she dove deep into the study and psychology of limiting beliefs—and conquered her own. She competed in the IWC in 2012, only two years after concretely deciding to pursue that goal.
In this episode, Karen talks about five essential ways to get beyond limiting beliefs, starting with recognizing their presence and power in our unconscious minds. Listen now—and prepare to be inspired.
Karen Brown, CEO Velocity Leadership Consulting
Karen Brown is CEO of Velocity Leadership Consulting, a Denver-based business psychology executive coaching company. With more than 20,000 business coaching hours under her belt, she founded Velocity Leadership Consulting in 2012, after finding her own divine potential while training for and finishing the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
Velocity Leadership Consulting’s coaches use business psychology and transformational coaching techniques to help CEOs, executives and managers experience greater results in their personal and professional lives. Karen personally coaches a select number of clients and delivers international keynotes and presentations to corporations, professional associations and business groups. She is the author of Unlimiting Your Beliefs: 7 Keys to Greater Success in Your Personal and Professional Life, and she continues to compete as an international ultra-athlete.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Effective Inbound Marketing
Many companies sense the value of inbound marketing and use it to some degree. But beyond simply posting articles, keeping up an obligatory blog, or investing more in SEO, what can we do to build real trust and grow business?
Marcus Sheridan, author of one of the definitive books on the subject, They Ask, You Answer, is generous with concrete, practical ideas on how to use inbound marketing to drive growth. In fact, his advice is so useful and plentiful, we split his interview into two parts.
Marcus Sheridan, Keynote Speaker, Author, Partner at IMPACT
The story of how Marcus saved his swimming pool company from the economic crash of 2008 has been discussed in books, magazines, and university case studies. Today, he is an international speaker known for his unique ability to excite and motivate audiences. In fact, Forbes named Marcus in its list of “Speakers You Don’t Want to Miss.” The New York Times dubbed him a “Web Marketing Guru,” and he has been written about in Inc., The Globe and Mail, Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, and more.
As founder and president of The Sales Lion, he has worked with hundreds of businesses, helping them to become trusted industry voices while growing their market share. As owner and partner at IMPACT, and as owner of Marcus Sheridan International, he motivates clients to achieve their potential. His book, They Ask, You Answer, was listed by Forbes as one of “11 Marketing Books Every CMO Should Read.” Mashable rated it as the “#1 Marketing Book” in 2017.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, April 11 & 18, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Marketing with Podcasts
Many are getting into the podcast game in order to connect with an interested audience and build a brand. But creating a successful podcast is a lot more complicated than buying a couple of microphones and clicking “record.”
If you’re in the marketing world, there’s a good chance you’ve heard John Wall on the “Marketing Over Coffee” podcast. In this episode, John shares five strategically tactical ideas for people venturing into the podcast world.
John Wall, VP of Marketing, EventHero
John speaks, writes and practices at the intersection of marketing, sales, and technology. He is the producer and co-host with Christopher S. Penn of “Marketing Over Coffee”, a weekly audio program on new and classic marketing. The podcast has been featured on iTunes, has hosted luminaries like Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott and Simon Sinek, and has been profiled by Forbes, CBS Evening News, The Associated Press, NECN, The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and DM News.
John is the author of B2B Marketing Confessions, which Kirkus Reviews calls “a lively, accessible guide to today's most effective sales and marketing techniques.”
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, March 28th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
The Champions Mindset
High performers: they can transform an agency and handle huge, difficult deals all while publishing, speaking and being active in their communities. How do they do it? What are the factors that enable them “to exist on a different plane of productivity” (to quote Charles Duhigg)?
Elite athletes give us a good example of the mental preparation required to achieve that powerful, energized focus. In this episode, elite coach Razor Ray Franklin shares what top athletes do — from a strategically tactical perspective — to gain the competitive edge.
“Razor” Ray Franklin, Elite Coach
Trained in martial arts, “Razor” Ray Franklin pursued a career in kickboxing as a young man. After leaving the sport, he transitioned into coaching and worked with Dallas Cowboys players on strength and conditioning. He moved to Las Vegas where he worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs to rehabilitate blind veterans. During his time there, he met legendary boxing coach Kenny Adams, who asked Franklin to work with some of his fighters.
Now he’s known throughout the boxing world for his ability to get results from his charges, having trained 4-time world champion Danny Green. Franklin’s training regimen led to Green’s come-from-behind win in a record-breaking championship megafight in Australia.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, March 7th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Smart Tips for Selling Your Business
You’ve had a good run on a lucrative business, but it’s time to move on. Selling your agency is a (typically) once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and a very complex process, so you have to make sure you do it right. Should you hire an advisor? What makes you attractive to potential buyers? How do you know it’s a good fit?
Tom Crowley joins us to share his expertise and advice on the most important steps to selling your business. From how to get organized to how selling is like marriage, he spares no details in the arduous process. Tune into hear his 5 pieces of advice.
Tom Crowley, Managing Director, Madison Alley Global Ventures
Tom Crowley, based in New York City, has been passionate about finance since his college years. He has 13 years of experience in strategic M&A, investments, financings and alliances. This experience includes 9 years at WPP in Corporate Development and 3 years at Morgan Stanley Investment Banking primarily focused on marketing, advertising, media and technology, among others. He has been at Madison Alley since 2011, where he advises clients on strategic global corporate development to build digital market leaders.
He also held leadership positions in various non-profit organizations in New York City, currently at New York Cares.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, February 21st, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
How to grow your business
Starting a new business can be an exciting time, full of possibilities! However, it’s not all fun and games - growing a business can be difficult, especially for those that have no prior experience. Are you looking for business coaching or advice on starting and growing a business? If so, you’re in luck!
In this episode, Robert Craven shares with us 5 tactical lesson he has learned over the years as an entrepreneur and business growth consultant.
Robert Craven, International Keynote business speaker, author and business growth consultant
Robert started his first business at the age of 21 and has since seen almost every aspect of running and growing a business. Voted number 42 in the UK Power 100 for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurs, Robert has worked on designing and implementing business strategy and marketing projects with household names such as Virgin, Barclays and BlackBerry and has contributed to success stories such as Nando’s, Mitie and Dickies. He has written 10 business books, including Grow your Digital Agency (foreword by Google) and Check-in Strategy Journal.
Robert is appointed as Adviser and Consultant to the boards and senior management teams of digital agencies and businesses in all sectors. He is the go-to expert on growing digital agency businesses, advising PLCs and multinationals, including Google Partners in Singapore, Romania, Netherlands, Athens, and Brussels.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, Janurary 17th, 2018
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Secrets to juggling multiple roles
In today’s day and age, we wear many hats. A full-time mother can be a working professional, a part-time graduate student, and a community leader, all at the same time. It’s common. Though some people seem to have it all figured out, many of us struggle to keep it together and stay on top of it all. How do people manage multiple different pursuits and maintain that fine balance between work and life? What drives us to excel in all aspect of life?
In this episode, Mitch Joel lets us in on his secrets to juggle work and life. The first two steps to stay on top of it all are to be engaged in what you do and to always be intentional with your time. Listen to find out the rest.
Mitch Joel, President of Mirum, Marketer, Speaker, and Author
Marketing Magazine dubbed Mitch Joel the "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and called him, "one of North America's leading digital visionaries." Mitch is the President of the digital marketing agency Mirum, and a podcaster, blogger and speaker on all things related to digital marketing and business transformation. He has also written two books: Six Pixel of Separation and the most recent CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Mitch is the Chair of the Digital Marketing Council for the Canadian Marketing Association, and an advisor for many businesses and charitable organizations. He has been named one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40.
Host: Alex Langshur
Thursday, December 21st, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
A look back at the future: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
You've likely heard the terms Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning thrown around quite a bit. But what does it mean for you? What exactly is AI and how does it differ from Machine Learning? How will it affect marketing and what can we do to prepare for its impact on us? What are concrete examples of its use and what does it mean for our jobs? Should we be concerned?
Join us as we invite Jim Sterne to look back at the future and answer this question for us: “If today is 10 years in the future, what would you have wanted to tell your today self about AI and Machine Learning?” In this episode, Jim will share with us the top 5 things you can do now to prepare for the coming AI revolution.
Jim Sterne, Founder, eMetrics Summit Co-Founder Digital Analytics Association
An internationally known speaker and consultant to Fortune 500 companies and Internet entrepreneurs, Jim Sterne spent more than twenty years in sales and marketing, measuring the value of Digital medium for creating and strengthening customer relationships. He’s written a slew of books on Internet advertising, marketing, customer service, email marketing and web analytics. He is the producer of the eMetrics Summit, co-founder of the Digital Analytics Association, and author of the Devil's Data Dictionary and his most recent: Artificial Intelligence for Marketing: Practical Applications.
Jim was named one of the 50 most influential people in digital marketing in the United Kingdom, and identified as one of the top 25 Hot Speakers by the National Speakers Association.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, December 6th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Transparency with your partners, prospects and team
The way in which we communicate and share information with our staff can be very revealing about a person, their management style and their industry. Consider how often have you found yourself leaving a leadership meeting and asking “how much should I share with my staff?”.
It’s a good and important question, and there is no wrong answer – everybody’s situation is different and some people have constraints to operate within that are outside of their control. But when it comes to transparency around company strategy, the question remains: how much, and what, do you share with your partners, prospects and team?
Greg Poirier, Founder & CEO, CloudKettle
Greg Poirier is president of CloudKettle, a tech-sector focused digital marketing consultancy company that specializes in scaling Sales, Marketing & Customer Success for B2B SaaS companies. A former manager at Radian6 (acquired by Salesforce) and executive at two other startups, Greg is a sought-after speaker and advisor specializing in digital marketing and sales for startups.
He's been featured on the Salesforce blog and podcast and has spoken at Dreamforce is addition to events like Sales Machine and Digital Summit. He also mentors emerging talent at his local accelerator and incubator.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017
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Google HR secrets: identifying & developing great managers
In this episode, we speak with Sarah Calderon about management – specifically how to find, develop and nurture great managers.
A great manager will make a tough job challenging and rewarding, and they’ll make a great job fantastic and transformational. But a bad manager will make a great job so-so, and they’ll make a tough job soul crushing.
Join us as we discuss what makes good managers and how Google selects, trains and supports new managers in their role.
Sarah Calderon, People Development, Google
Sarah Calderon is both a manager at Google and oversees the team responsible for Google’s Manager Development curriculum. Prior to this, Sarah worked in coaching, consulting and higher education, gaining experience with managing very small teams of 2 all the way through to teams as large as 100. She is known for her ability to rapidly build rapport with both clients and employees while bringing out the best in them.
Sarah has learned a lot from her own managers throughout her career, and when asked about her most influential manager, she considers their humility to be one of the most meaningful strengths they displayed.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, November 8th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Client management
In this episode we're delving into client relationships. Like any successful relationship, it's important to be engaged, responsive, seek to understand, follow-up and follow-through, deliver on commitments that you make, and when necessary steer into conflict in order to address issues and move forward.
We speak with Anke Audenaert about how her approach evolved as she progressed in her career and moved from agency side to client side.
Anke Audenaert, Digital Marketing Nanodegree lead at Udacity
After close to 8 years as VP of Market Research and VP of Traffic Optimization at Yahoo!, Anke co-founded JumpTime which was later acquired by OpenX, one of the world's leading providers of digital and mobile advertising technology. She is also a founder of Favrit, a company focused on building tools to help consumers bookmark their physical world.
Anke is the Nanodegree Lead for Digital Marketing for Udacity, building a unique curriculum with industry partners, focused on hands-on learning for beginning digital marketers. She is an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where she teaches and advises MBA and executive students on Digital Marketing and Analytics. As if that wasn’t enough, she is about to publish a book and is the parent of 2 kids!
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, October 16th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Transitioning from services to software
It happens all the time. You’re working and delivering services and in the course of business you come across a process, a system, a problem that you believe you can solve by building a little custom software. Soon enough, you’ve got it built and it's doing the job it’s supposed to do and you think... what if I sold this to another client?
It’s not easy to make the transition from selling services to becoming a full-on product company. Many agencies have tried, but few succeed. So what is it about those that succeeded that sets them apart? How did they manage to not lose focus on the services side of the business as they spun up their software efforts?
Join us as we speak to Josh Manion about making the transition from services firm to software startup.
Josh Manion, CEO, Ensighten
Josh is CEO of Ensighten, a tag management company he founded in 2009. He leads the company’s technology vision and strategic operations. He established Ensighten’s key accounts, including Sony, Microsoft, American Express, Staples, Home Depot and Capital One, which put the company on the fast track to success. Prior to Ensighten, he served for seven years as the CEO of Stratigent, a web analytics and marketing optimization consultancy. Over his career, Josh has worked with clients such as Motorola, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Mattel and General Mills, and with partners such as Omniture, Google Analytics, Coremetrics and ExactTarget.
Josh has played chess professionally and is currently ranked among the top 60 players in the United States. He holds a degree in Management Science with a focus on Information Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Host: Alex Langshur
Tuesday, September 19th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Finding leads through fearless marketing
You have the ideas, you've got the skills, you have the drive and you are pushing hard. But often times it’s a struggle to find and land clients, even when you are delivering quality work. So what is it that activates the lead generation machine? How do we achieve name recognition, or have the outbound processes in place to ignite lead generation?
Join us as we speak to Cristian Ignat about successfully making this jump through a combination of promotion, hustle & hutzpah – in other words, “fearless marketing”.
Cristian Ignat, Founder & CEO, Canopy
Cristian Ignat is the founder of Canopy, a Central Europe digital marketing agency based in Romania. Despite his young age, Cristian has been at this game for well over ten years, starting his first company in his bedroom as a side hobby, founding, building and selling another company, and running a large PPC practice for an agency, all prior to founding Canopy.
Cristian is a well known figure on the stage of European digital conferences with over 100 appearances presenting on the work he’s done for a bevy of global clients.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, August 30th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Managing a boutique agency
The classic entrepreneur trajectory has long since been to get an idea, launch the business, get a client or two, and then grow, grow, grow. Somehow we’ve come to accept the notion that agency success is tied to size and that growth is therefore THE goal. But what if that isn’t the case?
In this episode, we dive into the concept of the boutique agency and explore the benefits and drawbacks of this model. We speak with Aleyda Solis about her experiences in making it work, and how to manage your time, your clients, your marketing and resist the siren call of staffing up and going for growth.
Aleyda Solis - Founder, Orainti
Aleyda is the founder of Orainti, a boutique SEO agency specializing in international SEO. She is a blogger (Search Engine Land, State of Digital and Moz), a speaker (with more than 80 conferences in 20 countries in English and and published author ("SEO, Las Claves Esenciales"). Aleyda was named by Forbes as one of the 10 Digital Marketing specialists to follow in 2015, and Entrepreneur named her as one of the 50 Online Marketing Influencers to follow in 2016.
From helping world renowned brands to startups in competitive SEO industries, to multilingual environments or Web migrations, Aleyda excels in delivering deep know-how on complex SEO issues to help succeed her clients in challenging scenarios.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, August 7th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Ahead of the curve, head above water
As a leader within an agency, you should strive to be seen as the wise counsel for your client. That’s the person they will call to have in-depth conversations about their business, turn over ideas with and be a go-to source of guidance and advice.
While being a wise counsel might sound good, the reality is often that we're so busy simply running the business that we often get time crunched. It’s hard to stay on top of the latest trends and be able to distill these succinctly to clients.
So how do these agency leaders who are high performing individuals and recognized thought leaders with super busy lives seemingly manage to do it all? And how do they manage to do all that in an environment that is evolving so rapidly?
In this episode, David Rodnitzky discusses how you can manage yourself in order to remain aware of and connected to the pulse of the industry, and ultimately grow your business.
David Rodnitzky - Founder and CEO, 3Q Digital
David Rodnitzky is founder and CEO of 3Q Digital, a position he has held since the Company’s inception in 2008. He’s a blogger, a columnist, speaker on the conference circuit and a recognized thought leader in the field of search and search marketing.
Prior to 3Q Digital, he held senior marketing roles at several Internet companies, including Rentals.com (2000-2001), FindLaw (2001-2004), Adteractive (2004-2006), and Mercantila (2007-2008). David currently serves on advisory boards for several companies, including Marin Software, MediaBoost, Mediacause, and a stealth travel start-up.
Host: Alex Langshur
Friday, July 21st, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Journey Mapping: Connecting the Customer Dots
Understanding your customer's journey is vital to the success of your business. If you can map out the steps in how a customer engages with you, you should – in theory – be able to figure out where and how each step either enhances or diminishes their propensity to engage further.
Sounds simple, right? The reality is a lot more complex: multiple channels, multiple devices, organic growth and the ever present human fallibility in delivering a consistent experience, it all takes its toll.
So why, at what point and how should an agency look to customer journey mapping as a process to engage in? What can we learn from other sectors where journey mapping drives value, and how can we apply the lessons to the digital agency sector?
Bryan Eisenberg - Keynote Speaker, Advisor & NY Times Best Selling Author
Bryan Eisenberg is the co-founder of BuyerLegends, a New York Times bestselling author, and serves as an advisory board member of several venture capital backed startup companies. He is also a highly sought after keynote speaker for industry events across the globe.
A recognized authority & pioneer in improving online customer experiences, he has been featured and quoted in countless publications including The Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age for his thought leadership in this area.
Host: Alex Langshur
Wednesday, July 5th, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
How Google Hires
In this episode, we talk to Lisa Stern Haynes, a longtime member of the recruiting team at Google, about how Google does staffing. Hiring (and keeping) exceptional talent is never easy, but there are ways to structure how you screen, interview, and assess candidates to help you make better decisions. Lisa offers 5 tips that any organization can adopt to make for better hiring:
These tips and tools come from Google’s re:Work website where you can find more resources to make data-driven decisions about your people. Join us as we discuss Google’s deliberate and thorough process to research, design and develop a successful approach.
Lisa Stern Haynes, Staffing Lead, Google
Lisa Stern Haynes is a Staffing Lead at Google with many years of experience and practical knowledge on how Google does staffing. Having originally joined Google back in 2006 as a Recruiting Coordinator for the sales organization, Lisa has been part of the same team for over a decade, something that is pretty atypical in Google. Today, she is a Staffing Lead overseeing the overall hiring strategy for the US Ad Agency sales team and the Global Hardware Partnerships team.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, June 19, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
What you want the CMO to know (part 2)
In the second episode of this two-part podcast, we explore the interests, concerns and challenges of the modern day CMO. An agency’s relationship with the CMO is at the very heart of the agency / client dynamic. Since all business is fundamentally about relationships, putting yourself in the shoes of the other person is key.
Join us as we take a peek behind the curtain and view the world from the other side of the table. Get ready to empathize with, and understand the motivations and needs of a CMO.
Helen McCabe-Young, Acting CMO, Vidanta Resorts and Destinations
Helen has a vast experience across marketing and advertising. She was the Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at One&Only Resorts, and also previously led global marketing for Silversea Cruises. Although the travel industry might be her forte, Helen’s expertise doesn’t stop there. She also co-founded Place360 Health + Spa, an integrated health center and spa in California.
Host: Alex Langshur
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
What you want the CMO to know (part 1)
In this episode, we're looking right at the center of the agency / client relationship. Business is all about relationships, and as with any relationship, it’s necessary to put yourself in the shoes of the other person and really understand what their motivations, needs and concerns are.
Join us as we explore and understand a little more about the CMO. What are the issues they’re facing, what do they care about and what do they need?
Alan Hart, Managing Partner, ATOMCK; Host of Marketing Today
Alan is the creator and host of “Marketing Today” where he has interviewed some of the world’s top marketing professionals and business leaders. Hart is also managing partner of ATOMCK, a brand consultancy that drives results with a combination of brand science and creative fire. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for eight startups.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, May 15, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
The anatomy of an ideal startup
In this episode, we bring a laser sharp focus on the startup phase of the agency growth curve by asking the question: what is the anatomy of an ideal startup?
Today, entrepreneurship and the startup culture seems to be totally mythologized. But the reality is that it’s not easy, it’s not always fun, and it is almost always super risky. But it can also be incredibly rewarding. We spoke to Dennis Mortensen to get his strategically tactical advice on how to navigate the rollercoaster ride that is a startup.
Dennis Mortensen, CEO and Founder, x.ai
Dennis has built his career as a serial entrepreneur, with first hand experience in starting four successful start-ups. Currently the founder and CEO of x.ai, an artificial intelligence powered personal assistant that schedules meetings for you, he has spent decades perfecting the skill of entrepreneurship. Dennis is considered a strong authority on the subject of AI, intelligent agents, and the future of work, and his mom thinks he’s pretty fantastic too!
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, May 1, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
The power and opportunity in the "No"
There’s something about saying “no”, particularly in a work context, that always seems, well... just difficult. Whether it’s saying no to a colleague when they need your help, to a direct report that makes an ask that you can’t agree to, or to a supervisor when they ask you to do something that you don’t believe is a priority (for you or the business).
In this episode, learn how to use "no" as an effective tool to drive towards outcomes, to help re-prioritize projects and to get others to see outside the box.
Victoria Nessen, President, NK&A
Victoria is the Founder and President of the marketing agency NK&A Marketing. She also advises Boston area startups and is a guest lecturer at Babson College in Boston. Her experience and fascination with the art and the opportunity of the “no” stems from her work mentoring emerging women leaders.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Apr 17, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Instilling a culture of innovation
One of the most important, and yet supremely difficult things for any company to do is establish and nurture a culture that promotes and encourages innovation. While we often take our cues from larger companies that have linked their brands to the idea of innovation, it can be a trickier problem for many small and mid-sized agencies to tackle. In this episode, we look at how to make sure that innovation (in approach, processes, technology, culture, etc.) remain a part of the business ethic and Agency DNA.
Vicky Brock, CEO, Clear Returns
A graduate from King’s College London, Birkbeck and MIT, Vicky Brock is an entrepreneur, an award-winning innovator and the CEO of Clear Returns, a high-growth technology start-up. Named by Forbes.com & Bloomberg as one of the 9 top female tech CEOs to watch, she is also the winner of “Innovator of the Year” at the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards and she has led Clear Returns to be named top Tech Start Up in Europe in the European Commission “Tech All Stars competition”. Vicky is also a Director Emeritus of the Digital Analytics Association.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Apr 3, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Selling and positioning in a crowded marketplace
In this episode, we take a look at the question -- how can I get my agency to stand out from all the other “me too” digital marketers?
In a crowded marketplace how you communicate the value of your products and services is ever more important. Alex and Ben will give you insight into how to be different from your competition.
Ben Tyson - Global Live Training Lead, Google
With an extensive background in sales (including AD of Sales and Account Management for a major production company), Ben is currently the Global Live Training Lead for Google. In his role, he has designed, built and delivered sales trainings to over 30,000 sales reps, 2,000 account managers and 1,000 sales managers across dozens of partners. He is also an avid industry speaker on the subject of sales, marketing and sales enablement.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Mar 20, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
How to deliver with excellence
The role of delivery is clear: it must earn sales the right to ask for more business. This means it must deliver to scope, to budget and on time, in other words, with excellence. How can you set yourself up to make delivery with excellence the norm and not the exception?
Robbin Steif - Founder and CEO of Lunametrics
Lunametrics is a Pittsburgh PA based Digital Marketing and Analytics/Insights agency and a Google Premier Partner. Like many entrepreneurs, Robbin has been an overachiever from the start, with not one but two degrees from Harvard. She is a recipient of the BusinessWomen First award, the Diamond Award for Business Leadership, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Digital Analytics Association.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Mar 6, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Creating a brand promise
What does your brand stand for? That’s a question that more and more consumers want to know the answer to. In this episode we’ll be digging deep on discovering that one true ‘thing’ that defines your work. Alex and Ben will teach us how to communicate your core values and deliver on the promises you make.
Ben Roth, Chief Creative Officer, MKTG
Ben began his career as a designer and art director with stops at the IBM, the Ad Agency and Octagon before being named Executive Creative Director at Jack Morton Worldwide, then Publicis and then VP Creative at George P Johnson. In his current role, he is focused on driving global brand value for MKTG and their clients.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Feb 20, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Being effortless in the art of self-promotion: a beginner's guide
Your career is in part tied to how well you share your accomplishments. Being able to do so in an artful, non-boastful, but honest way is what often sets those who get noticed apart from those who don't. This is one of the most important personal skills to develop. We'll discuss the what to do's, the how to do's and the what not to do's, both from the perspective of the individual and their colleagues.
Annette Warring, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network Canada
Since joining Dentsu Aegis Network, Annette has spearheaded the group’s digital shift and led to its full integration into the agency. With over 25 years of experience in the communications industry, she has spent four years at MPG (now Havas) in the role of Executive Vice President, and paved the way in evolving media planning into holistic communications planning on accounts such as McDonald’s Restaurants and Sprint Canada. She also championed greater accountability through media measurement and analytics.
Host: Alex Langshur
Mon, Feb 6, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Clients: The good, the bad and the ugly
There are those clients we love and those we tolerate. And then there are those that can be characterized as... challenging. But there’s an art to building a client management plan, and it’s something anyone can learn. In this episode, we’ll guide you through the client management trinity and teach you how to balance communication and expectations.
Andrew Swinand, CEO Leo Burnett North America
Andrew started his career at advertising agency BBDO, and later became a marketing director for P&G. He also lead Starcom MediaVest Group, the world’s largest media agency, and has recently been named CEO of Leo Burnett North America.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Jan 23, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.
Turning leads and prospects into sales
A lead is someone who shows interest in your business and gives you their details, while a prospect is someone who, based on research and qualification, is ready to make a purchase. Converting either into sales doesn't require magic, just good old-fashioned hard work. We'll share best practices on how to do exactly that.
Guillaume Bouchard, CEO iProspect Canada
Guillaume drives the vision of iProspect Canada, a leading digital performance agency. He ensures the evolution of iProspect’s enterprise culture and relations with partners and major clients.
Host: Alex Langshur
Monday, Jan 9, 2017
*Podcasts with Google Play Music are currently available in the US and Canada.