The Long Game

Kitchen Side: Marketers Aren't Storytellers, Hard Truths in SaaS, and SEO Signal vs Noise

Episode Summary

In this episode of Alex Birkett, Allie Decker, and David Ly Khim, the co-founders of Omniscient Digital explore various topics related to the marketing industry, with a particular focus on the role of storytelling in content marketing.

Episode Notes

Welcome to another insightful episode of the "Kitchen Side" series of the Long Game. Today, we delve into a thought-provoking discussion with Alex Birkett, Allie Decker, and David Ly Khim, the co-founders of Omniscient Digital. We explore various topics related to the marketing industry, with a particular focus on the role of storytelling in content marketing.

They debate its significance, application in different contexts and its purpose in content marketing and touch on other topics such as CEO focus areas, hard truths in the SaaS industry, the importance of honesty and validation in marketing, the fear of failure, and taking risks, creating a culture that embraces failure, SEO tips, and the importance of understanding the reader's perspective in content creation.

Listen and learn insights that will help you navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing.

Topics

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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:

Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean SEO

Should You Hire Writers or Subject Matter Experts?

How Do Growth and Content Overlap?

Connect with Omniscient Digital on social:

Twitter: @beomniscient
Linkedin: Be Omniscient
Listen to more episodes of The Long Game podcast here: https://beomniscient.com/podcast/

Episode Transcription

Key Takeaways

[00:04:07] The Role of Storytelling in Content Marketing 

Debate on the importance of storytelling in content marketing and its application in different contexts.

[00:07:20] Debunking the Myth of Marketing as Storytelling 

Exploration of the confusion surrounding the term "storytelling" in marketing and the disconnect between storytelling in journalism and content marketing.

[00:10:20] Using Personal Anecdotes in Content 

Exploration of the use of personal anecdotes to relate to the audience and provide solutions in long-form content.

[00:12:01] Debating the Role of Storytelling in Marketing 

Debate on the belief that marketing is storytelling, questioning its validity and practicality in various scenarios.

[00:20:34] Defining A Player 

Debate on the definition of A players in a team, including their rarity, the bell curve distribution of employees, and the importance of fit and initiative.

[00:25:14] Building Systems and Redundancy 

Importance of building systems and redundancy in a growing company to ensure that key processes can be replicated and to mitigate the risk of employee turnover.

[00:28:01] The Importance of Taking Risks and Embracing Failure 

Exploration of the benefits of taking risks, learning from failures, and the need to embrace the iterative process of success.

[00:36:01] Encouraging Openness Around Failure in Organizations 

Exploration of the need for leaders to encourage openness around failure and create a culture where it is safe to discuss and learn from failures.

[00:44:27] Balancing SEO and User Experience 

Debate on the tendency of content teams to focus on SEO metrics rather than considering the value and experience for the reader.

[00:45:58] The Challenge of Noise and Distractions in the Industry 

Exploration of the abundance of noise and complexity in the marketing industry, and the need to focus on foundational basics rather than getting caught up in unnecessary tools and trends.