In this episode of the Long Game podcast, hosts Alex Birkett, Allie Decker, and David Khim, members of the Omniscient Agency team discuss the concept of taste, its development, and its significance in various domains like movies, content, and SEO.
In this episode of the Long Game podcast, hosts Alex Birkett, Allie Decker, and David Khim, members of the Omniscient Agency team discuss the concept of taste, its development, and its significance in various domains like movies, content, and SEO. They explore whether taste is innate or can be developed, and the difference between genuine taste and posturing. Personal experiences and the influence of mentors in shaping their taste are shared. They also express concerns about the outsourcing of content creation and its impact on society's taste. The episode concludes with a discussion on the importance of being intentional and thoughtful about the things one cares about.
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What is Kitchen Side?
One big benefit of running an agency or working at one is you get to see the “kitchen side” of many different businesses; their revenue, their operations, their automations, and their culture.
You understand how things look from the inside and how that differs from the outside.
You understand how the sausage is made.
As an agency ourselves, we’re working both on growing our clients’ businesses as well as our own. This podcast is one project, but we also blog, make videos, do sales, and have quite a robust portfolio of automations and hacks to run our business.
We want to take you behind the curtain, to the kitchen side of our business, to witness our brainstorms, discussions, and internal dialogues behind the public works that we ship.
Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Ryan McReady (Reforge), and many more.
Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:
Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)
Building Competitive Marketing Content with Sam Chapman (Aprimo)
How to Build the Right Data Workflow with Blake Burch (Shipyard)
Data-Driven Thought Leadership with Alicia Johnston (Sprout Social)
Purpose-Driven Leadership & Building a Content Team with Ty Magnin (UiPath)
Also, check out our Kitchen Side series where we take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made at our agency:
Should You Hire Writers or Subject Matter Experts?
How Do Growth and Content Overlap?
Connect with Omniscient Digital on social:
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Listen to more episodes of The Long Game podcast here:
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Key Takeaways
[00:03:15] The concept of taste
Discussion on the importance of taste in holding high standards of excellence and its relationship to standards of quality.
[00:04:22] The role of taste in design
Conversation about how having taste informs design choices and the importance of being able to execute on taste.
[00:06:35] Differentiating taste in movies
Comparison between artful and complex films and entertaining, action-packed movies, discussing how taste is not simply about enjoying "fine things" but about personal preference.
[00:09:22] Taste and Parroting Tropes
Discussion on the concept of taste and how people often parrot tropes without substance.
[00:10:12] Appreciation vs Creation
Exploration of the relationship between appreciation and creation in the context of taste.
[00:16:56] Expertise and Content Creation
The importance of subject matter expertise in content creation and finding the right balance between expertise and comprehensibility.
[00:18:49] The importance of taste and its development
Discussion on the concept of taste, its significance in different domains, and how taste is developed through experience, reflection, and mindfulness.
[00:20:22] Taste and experience in content creation
Exploration of how experience and mindfulness contribute to taste in content creation, using examples of following professionals who have practical experience in their field.
[00:22:44] How taste is cultivated through reflection
Discussion on the connection between experience, mindfulness, and taste, emphasizing the importance of reflection and digesting what has been learned to develop taste.
[00:26:47] Taste Development and Excellence
The speaker discusses their experience of learning about good and bad content, statistics, and case studies, and how it shaped their understanding of taste and excellence.
[00:27:40] Developing Taste through Guidance
The speaker mentions their mentor, Pep, who helped them set a standard for excellence and explained why certain things were good or bad in terms of presentation and content.
[00:32:27] Experience and Observing
The speakers discuss the different types of experience in developing taste, whether it's through actively doing something or observing and analyzing it. They use examples like business operators vs. investors and painters vs. art critics to illustrate the point.
[00:35:37] The importance of taste
Discussion on the significance of taste in different domains, such as content creation and SEO.
[00:36:36] The development of taste
Exploration of how taste is developed over time and the effort it takes to cultivate good taste.
[00:40:01] Editing process and taste
Reference to a quote by George Saunders on the revision process, highlighting the role of taste in making micro decisions during editing.