Shows
Ditching HourlyAn Insider's Perspective with Pranav Kale: Jonathan Stark's Journey to Ditching HourlyBig Idea archaeologist Pranav Kale joined me on Ditching Hourly for a reverse interview about my journey to the center of the solar system.Chapters(00:00) - Introduction and Guest Welcome
(00:39) - Pranav's Evolution and Current Focus
(03:01) - Jonathan's Epiphany on Hourly Billing
(06:26) - The Trust Fracture in Hourly Billing
(07:45) - Jonathan's Problem-Solving Journey
(16:59) - The Move to Rhode Island and Finding the Solution
(22:38) - Implementing Value-Based Pricing
(26:30) - Content Creation and Teaching Others
(30:35) - Understanding Business Personality Types
(31:08) - The Journey to Writing a Book
(31:56) - Transitioning to Advisory Roles
(32:37) - The Impact of the...
2025-11-041h 01
Bold Moves Business Podcast for EntrepreneursFinding Your Villain: How to Compete With Ideas, Not Just Expertise with Pranav KaleWant your consulting or expertise to stand out, attract real clients—not just “likes”?Check out these powerful insights from my recent conversation with Pranav Kale on the Bold Moves podcast.Pranav specializes in helping solo consultants and experts clarify the big idea behind their work so they can turn content into real client conversations. Here are my top three takeaways from our chat:🔑 Key Takeaways:Your Perspective Is Your Superpower:Expertise is expected, but your unique perspective is what truly sets you apart. Clients are drawn in by your worldview, not just your...
2025-06-1547 minDitching HourlyPranav Kale - Reverse LinkedIn InterviewLinkedIn Ghostwriter Pranav Kale joined me on Ditching Hourly to do a reverse interview about what I've learned during my recent experiment of posting daily on LinkedIn. Pranav’s Links: Website: https://www.pranavkale.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranavkale120/
----Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like:Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time?Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space?Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours...
2024-08-201h 09
The Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 82 - How to create an irresistible story for your brandA great brand story pulls the right people
Instead of pushing our marketing message down their throat, we can pull the right audience towards us. A great story cuts through the noise and gets the attention of the audience. It inspires them. It moves them from inertia. And pulling eventually leads to more profits and better impact.
There is a simple framework that we can use to create this story - The Old Game/New Game framework.
In this episode, I take you through the step-by-step process of creating a brand narrative by...
2022-06-0808 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 81 - Want to grow your business? Start talking to your customersYour existing customers are a gold mine. They have a lot of wisdom to share with you... wisdom that will completely transform the way you do Marketing.
Asking the right questions to our customers gives us an insight into -
Why did the customer purchase your product?
What was the exact pain that they felt because of which they decided to buy your product?
What were the exact objections that they had before buying?
What is the problem your product solves?
Which features are loved by customers?
And so on.
...
2022-05-2511 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 80 - Build your brand story using these 3 themesEvery brand that aspires to build its 1000 true fans, needs a story. A story that pulls the right audience towards the brand.
Building a brand story isn't always easy. And so here are 3 themes that you can use to create your brand story.
1. Good vs. Evil
2. Counter-intuitive thinking
3. Expert view
2022-05-1507 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 79 - Why you cant build an audience using a funnelWhile Creators and Small businesses want to build an audience, most of them use a traditional vertical funnel to get the job done.
But if you study successful Creators like James Clear, Louis Grenier, Jonathan Stark, and many more... you would realize that their thought process of building an audience is entirely different. They don't depend on the vertical funnel.
Instead, they use a horizontal funnel. And this is what we discuss in this podcast episode.
2022-05-0114 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 78 - How to collect ideas for your storiesGreat storytellers collect ideas for stories. These are the ideas that they can use later in their stories.
Now, this goes against the traditional image of a prolific storyteller who can pull stories out of thin air. But it’s the truth. Like a chef who keeps his ingredients ready, storytellers keep their ideas ready.
In this episode, we discuss 3 ways in which you can collect ideas for building kickass stories.
2022-04-2704 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 77 - A simple 3-step storytelling framework that you can useIn this episode, I talk about a simple storytelling framework that you can use to build your Brand Story as well as other stories that are needed in your content. By taking examples like Harry Potter and Finding Nemo, we explore the nuances of this framework and then also discuss a few other brands who are using this framework for storytelling.
Here's what we cover -
- The simple 3-step framework for storytelling
- How movies use this framework
- Examples of brands that have been successfully using this framework
2022-04-1709 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 76 - How do successful Creators measure the performance of their Content?How should online Creators measure the performance of their Content?
Should they be concerned about the number of Tik-Tok followers?
Should they be looking at their Google Analytics every day?
Should they be creating more Instagram reels?
To find the answer I decided to reach out to a few Creators that I admire.
Here are the 2 questions that I asked -
1. How do you measure the impact of your content?
2. What kind of numbers do you pay attention to?
And here are...
2022-04-0305 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 75 - 3 lessons from Nathan Barry, ConvertKit CEORecently, I came across an incredibly powerful Twitter thread by Nathan Barry, the CEO of ConvertKit. In this thread, Nathan talks about how he was able to scale from 0 to USD 22 million in ARR. Here's the link to the thread.
In this particular episode, I talk about the 3 lessons that I personally took from this thread.
2022-03-1508 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 74 - 3 essential skills of a CreatorWhat are the skills that you need to build as a Creator?
What are the crafts that you should focus on?
In this episode, I talk about the 3 essential skills that a Creator needs to build.
2022-03-0910 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 73 - 5 businesses that focused on a tiny audienceCan we talk about mass marketing, please?
The kind of marketing, where we target almost everyone and end up diluting our story?
Most businesses that I have known, have wanted to focus on a mass market. These businesses have felt the need to target a very broad audience, with the hope of selling more of their products.
But once in a while, there are businesses that decide to focus on the ‘tiny’. These businesses showed courage and battled the self-doubts that usually come up, as a consequence of facing on the tiny.
In...
2022-02-2814 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 72 - Sequence of beliefsWhat type of content should you put at the Top of The Funnel?
Should you just chop your big piece of content into smaller pieces and distribute the content?
Or is there something else that you should consider?
According to Shyam, there is.
In this episode, Shyam and I discuss the concept of “Sequence of Beliefs”. Understanding this sequence of beliefs helps you strategize your content much better. Listen now and let me know :)
Talking points -
1. What is a sequence of beliefs?
2...
2022-02-151h 05The Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 71 - How to get a client testimonial that is not boring?Why won't your clients give you testimonials?
What holds them back?
And even when they do, they send testimonials that are as boring and ineffective.
In this episode, I talk about how you can create a testimonial that is awesome and totally convinces your prospects to buy.
Here’s what I cover in the episode -
1. How to ask for a testimonial from the client, so that he doesn't refuse
2. A testimonial shouldn’t be ready-made. It should be constructed
3. The right questions to ask whil...
2022-02-0813 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 70 - Should you build an audience first or offer first?Do you first develop your offer?
Or do you first develop your audience?
Of course, the answer isn’t simple. And has a lot many nuances to consider.
In this episode, Shyam and I explore the pros and cons of both these strategies. Here are a few talking points -
What is the difference between audience building vs. offer creation approach?
The benefits and drawbacks of both the approaches
How people buying from you can start trusting you
When to consider the offer path and when to consider the audience building path
2022-01-1857 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 69 – Building your 1000 true fansCreators and small businesses want to build an audience. But how many people do we actually need? Should we aim to get a million followers on Instagram?
Or should we listen to legends like Kevin Kelly and Seth Godin, and just focus on building 1000 true fans? In this episode, Shyam and I talk about the drawbacks of chasing a big market and the advantages of obsessing over 1000 true fans.
Talking points -
The problem with mass marketing and interrupting people
How mass marketing needs big budgets
You don't need to be a mass-market brand...
2021-12-141h 00The Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 68 - Write for your customers, not colleaguesWho are you writing for? Who is your real audience?
I recently participated in the Copy Workshop by Margo Aaron and I had an aha moment. I realized how my inner demons are holding me back from unleashing my best writing work.
In this episode, Shyam and I discuss how to think about your audience and push everyone else out of your mind, when you are writing copy.
Talking points -
How our conditioning affects our writing
How we write to impress our colleagues, instead of customers
How wanting to write for...
2021-12-0730 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 67 - How your life changes when you publish dailyIn this episode, Shyam and I discuss the Pros and Cons of having a practice of writing and publishing daily
Talking points -
1. The role of writing in building an audience
2. The difference between writing daily and publishing daily.
3. How writing and publishing on Linkedin got me a couple of clients
4. How writing every day changes you as a person
5. The disadvantages of publishing daily
6. The mindset of a daily publisher
2021-11-1656 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 66 - Systems thinking vs. Linear ThinkingAll the parts in your Marketing are inter-connected. It’s a complex system.
Some Marketers foolishly focus on a single part and optimize it. They don’t consider the repercussions of this optimization on the whole system.
Example -
“Oh, the business is low. Let’s see what the problem is. Oh, the Conversion Rate of the Landing Page needs to increase. Currently, it’s at 1.32%. Let’s aim at 2.5%. Because when that happens, the business will improve.”
And then they put all their efforts into improving this conversion rate. They use the best p...
2021-11-0234 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 65 - Building an audience by using Deep ContentA lot of content on the internet is just noise. And it fails to build an audience.
Why does this content fail?
Well, mainly because most Content Creators struggle to build an audience.
They struggle because they use Shallow Content Strategies.
What is a Shallow Content Strategy?
If you are using social media platforms like Tik-Tok, Clubhouse, Instagram, etc. to build an audience, then you are going to struggle. This Content does not bring about a transformation in your audience.
The alternative is Deep...
2021-10-2648 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 64 - Five habits of an Impactful StorytellerWithout stories, you cant build an audience.
If you are a Creator or a Marketer of any sort, then telling impactful stories is a skill that you just can't ignore anymore. Without this skill, it's difficult to stand out from all the noise out there.
This is precisely why I recorded this episode with Shyam.
In this episode, we discuss the 5 habits of an Effective Storyteller.
2021-10-1944 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 63 - What successful Creators know about audience building that others dontThe question is - How do we build an audience?
An audience that trusts you, likes you, and respects us. They would cross the street for you.
It’s easy - Run Facebook ads, get them onto a landing page, get their email ids, send them emails, and boom… you have now started building an audience.
Except, that this approach doesn’t work anymore.
All the successful Creators have a completely different approach to audience building. They use, what I call, the Horizontal Funnel. It’s generous, it’s long-time… but more importa...
2021-10-1249 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 62 - How to create impactful content dailyThis is the recording of a live session that I had conducted.
Many of us want to publish impactful content daily. But, there is this one tiny little problem. Fear.
This is exactly what we address in this live training episode, along with the other strategies and tactics that Creators can use, to publish impactful content.
A few things that were covered in this episode -
1. How publishing content gives us clarity of thoughts
2. How publishing helps us build an audience
3. How we can lea...
2021-10-0553 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 61 - Why shouldn't you use a tripwire funnel?In this episode, I and my friend Shyam (The Founder of Lazyfitness.in), go deep into the topic of the Tripwire Funnel.
if you are a Creator who is selling an Online course (or if you plan to launch one in the future), then this episode is a must-listen.
Here are a few pointers that we discuss in the episode -
What exactly are tripwire offers? How do they work?
Why are tripwire funnels so popular?
The advantages and disadvantages of tripwire funnels.
Should you be using Tripwire funnels?
What is th...
2021-09-2852 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 60 - Humanized Marketing Podcast is back!I have been away from Podcasting for a while now. But that’s about to change.
The Humanized Marketing Podcast was so far, let’s say… ummm… not so streamlined. It was just me narrating my learnings, my experiences, with the hope of adding value to the listeners.
And then I stopped publishing. I am not quite sure why, but I did.
But now seems like a good time to revive the whole Humanized Marketing Podcast Experience.
Going ahead the podcast makes a simple promise - Humanized Marketing Podcast is for Creators...
2021-09-2112 min
The Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 60 - How I solved my client getting problem once and for all?In this episode, I tackle the question by one of the readers - Garret Mickley.
His question is - “Pranav, as a Copywriter, how do I get quality clients quickly?”
This episode talks about how you can get out of the rut of not getting clients... and no, the answer is not something you would expect.
2021-05-2909 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 63 - Struggling to find your audience online?At various stages, a brand needs to ask itself the million-dollar question -
“Who is the audience?”
“Who are the people that we seek to serve?”
Broadly, there are 2 ways to describe the audience.
Demography
Psychography
But what type of targeting is better? Demographic or psychographic?
2021-01-0607 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 62 - Are you in a relationship based or just a locksmith?Are you in the business of solving really urgent problems?
Or are you in a business that depends on relationships? Because if you are, then stop focusing just on the solution aware people.
2020-12-3006 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 61- Want to be a storyteller? Buy a diaryWhen we go for a walk, we don’t really go for a walk. We want to listen to a podcast while walking. We never really just sit in the coffee shop. Our mind is in the Instagram feed flashing on our phone.
This prevents us from collecting stories.
2020-12-3003 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 60 - What are you building your audience for?Building an audience is a brave endeavor.
It needs patience, humility, empathy, consistency, and a whole lot of other words that end with ‘y’.
But here’s one mistake that we see Creators, Solopreneurs, and Freelancers make while building an audience.
A mistake that’s costing us. It’s not just costing us time, money… but also ‘peace of mind’.
2020-12-3003 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 59 - One benefit of email marketing that they never told you...When you ask a Marketer, the true purpose of email marketing, you would get a few answers like these...
Email marketing is for increasing your conversions
Email marketing is for nurturing leads
Email marketing is for reducing churn and so on.
Fair answers, really. Nothing wrong here.
But when you ask the experts, you get some interesting answers.
2020-12-1002 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 58 - Is Email marketing spiritual?Is email marketing merely transactional? Or is there some kind of a spiritual side to it too?
2020-12-1002 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 57 - What I learned by doing a cross-sell email campaignIn this episode, I talk about a cross-sell email campaign that I did for one of my clients, and the result I got for the same.
2020-12-0106 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastWhy I have a problem with Donald Miller's brand story framework part 2In part 1, we discussed the flaws of the brand story framework that Donald Miller uses. Here, we talk about how to complete the framework.
2020-11-1709 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 56 - How to send Happy Diwali emails that actually get a responseMost of the Happy Diwali emails do not get a response from the reader.
Why is that?
How can we change that?
How can we create high-engagement emails?
Let's find out.
2020-11-0708 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 55 - How to consistently find new stories to tell your audienceSocial media marketers, email marketers, copywriters, content marketers - all have a problem.
It's challenging to consistently create new stories that will appeal to the reader.
In this episode, we talk about one way to tackle this issue...
2020-11-0704 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 54 - Why I have a problem with Donald Miller's brand story frame-work (part 1)Donald Miller helps brands build a compelling story.
Through his writing, workshops, and Consulting, he has helped numerous brands clarify their message and create a story.
In his book, ‘Building a Story Brand’, Donald Miller lays down a 7-step framework that brands can use to tell stories. Here’s what the framework looks like -
A Character/Hero - (The client)
Has a Problem - (The struggle)
And meets a Guide - (The brand)
Who gives them a Plan
And calls them to Action
That helps them avoid Failure
...
2020-10-2806 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 53 - Sending product emails that dont suckImagine this beautiful scenario - A subscriber is intently staring at his inbox, eagerly waiting for your email.
Yeah, now stop imagining that. Because that doesn’t happen too often. :(
But, even though we know the rarity of this phenomenon, when we send emails, subconsciously we assume that the reader really, really cares about what we have to say.
The honest truth is that the reader doesn’t care about you. The reader cares about himself.
And the reader especially doesn’t care about your product features and the updates to these...
2020-10-2103 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 52 - An email persuasion secret that I have never told anyone...There’s a whole lotta science in the subject line that I used in this email.
Stick around, I will explain what I just did there.
People like information.
That’s what evolutionary science says.
“Hey, I know a secret. But I won’t tell you.”
Yeah, this creates curiosity, tension, and at times obsession.
And that’s the reason why so many shows on Netflix withhold information at the end of every episode. There is always a cliffhanger. Because people cant live with the secret.
But it doe...
2020-10-1305 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 51 - One question to ask yourself before sending that emailThe other day, I received an email from a brand that was quite selfish and annoying.
I think our email marketing would get a lot better if we asked one simple question before writing that email.
2020-10-0602 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 50 - Making emails conversationalThe other day, Pooja, my wife, was almost convinced, that I had lost my mind.
It so happened, that I was reading out a piece of content that I was going to publish online.
What was I up to exactly?
Most brands out there, use copy that is robotic, corporate, and almost makes the reader puke. And so here is a tip that I learned from Nick Usborne through this copywriting course - Conversational Copywriting.
2020-10-0102 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 49 - How specific should your lead magnet be?When J.K. Rowling puts out a book, it is well received by her raving fans, regardless of the title of the book. However, a brand that is new and looking to build trust, is much less likely to earn trust with a vague message.
You get to choose how specific you want to be.
But you can’t afford to be too vague.
2020-09-1502 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 48 - A tip for experts to earn trustI have a love-hate relationship with hacks. I feel a squirming inside my stomach when I hear words like ‘quick hack’, ‘growth marketing’, ‘tips and tricks’ and so on. The BS detector in me just won’t shut up...
However, I try to be aware of my biases.
I don’t think tips and tricks are inherently bad. I don’t that tactical advice is always useless. There is always a time and a place for those.
If I have severe pain in my arm, I do need tactical advice from my doctor.
Yep, you got...
2020-09-0807 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 47 - Email Marketing lesson from CialdiniIn this episode, I talk about how experts can learn about Persuasion from Cialdini and apply it to their Email Marketing.
2020-09-0107 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 46 - How can an expert get more email subscribers?A lot of experts produce a substantial amount of content. However, many of us still struggle to get more subscribers in our email list. In this episode, I talk about how experts can build their top of the funnel, to get relevant people into their email list.
2020-08-2517 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 45 - Is it okay for GaryVee to drop F-bombs?In this episode, I talk about how every word that we use communicates something to the audience. I also talk about coming up with a word-cloud for your brand - basically freezing on a few set of words that you will use time and again in your communication, so that your brand sticks.
2020-08-1804 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 44 - Every element of your brand is telling a storyIn this episode, I talk about how all the elements of your brand Online and Offline are telling different stories. They are making a promise. The question then is, is the promise in-line with what you want to convey? Is it in line with what your brand stands for?
2020-08-1106 minThe Humanized Marketing Podcast6 ideas for you to enable Word of MouthIn this episode, I have taken 6 random business ideas and attempted to create word of mouth strategies for them.
2020-08-0412 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 42 - Are you enabling word of mouth for your business?In this episode, I talk about whether word of mouth really matters, and if it does, how can businesses enable their audience to talk about themselves...
2020-07-2809 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 41 - Controversial opinion : A headline is not importantIn this episode, I talk about how a few Marketers do not depend on their headlines, but rather depend on the trust that they have with their audience.
2020-07-2107 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 16 - Case study: Building a brand story for an offshore product development companyIt's case study time.
This time it's about employer branding.
I worked with this offshore product development company a while back and helped them with their Employer branding story and content marketing. This case study is all about that experience.
2020-07-1412 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 15 - Building a business story with Natalia AlvarezSo far you have seen me ranting on my podcast.
And it’s been fun.
The ranting will continue.
But, once in a while, I will take a break. ;)
And have a conversation with a change-maker… a Creator… someone who is doing work that will help humanize marketing.
Natalia Alvarez is one such kind soul.
Natalia and I have been friends for a few years. Both of us connected when we were a part of eth Godin’s Marketing Seminar.
Natalia believes that stories can change t...
2020-07-0842 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 24 of Email Storytelling - Writing impactful emails part 3In the third part of the series - “How to write impactful emails”, we will be talking about the storytelling framework.
I have learned this framework from one of my favorite Marketers - Bernadette Jiwa.
2020-07-0311 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 23 of Email storytelling - Writing impactful emails part 2Most of the emails are noisy, cluttered, and overwhelm the reader.
Your emails don't have to be that way.
In this episode, we talk about the process of writing clean emails that make an impact.
2020-06-2406 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 22 of Email Storytelling - Writing impactful emails part 1In this episode, we talk about the most foundational element of executing world-class email campaigns.
2020-06-1815 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 20 of Email storytelling - Writing bad emailsThis is the 4th episode of the series - "How can Creators get started with Email Marketing?"
In this episode, we get very tactical, and talk about the different elements involved in email marketing such as - Lead magnets, welcome sequence, monthly newsletter, and so on. We touch upon the functions of all these elements and then dive into the frequency.
2020-05-2715 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 19 of Email Storytelling - Know your audienceEmail marketers are worried about their email open rates and their click rates. In order to improve these metrics, far too often they focus on petty tactics like optimizing the subject line.
People don't ignore emails because the subject line is not fancy. They ignore the emails because they are not simply not valuable enough for them. Rather than focussing on other things, if we focus on knowing our audience, our campaigns will work much more effectively.
2020-05-2312 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 18 - Characteristics of an ideal email listWhat does an ideal email list look like?
Does the number matter? Does it have to be huge? What kind of open rates would you expect?
Or perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way?
In this episode I talk about the purpose of having an email list and characteristics of an ideal email list.
2020-05-1611 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 17 of Email storytelling – How to start building your email list?While Email marketing is probably the best tool for Creators, when it comes to actually execute it, Email marketing can get overwhelming.
In this episode, I talk about how a Creator can get started with Email Marketing. This is is going to be a 4 episode series, this being the first one.
2020-05-0712 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 16 of Email storytelling - Should you be using exit intent pop ups?The world is divided into 2 groups. One group fiercely justifies and even advocated the use of exit intent pop-ups. The other group says that they are annoying. What is the real deal? Should you be using exit intent pop-ups for your brand?
2020-04-2910 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 15 of Email Storytelling - Why smart Marketers prefer Email Marketing over Social Media Marketing?Even though I started my career started as a Social Media Marketer, at a later stage, I decided to go deeper in Email Marketing.
Email Marketing fascinates me. And it should fascinate you.
Find out why smart marketers prefer Email Marketing over Social Media Marketing.
2020-04-2313 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 14 of Email storytelling - Is it okay to write opinionated Emails?There is a disease in the Email Marketing world. Most of the emails that we get from most of the organizations fail to move us. They don’t touch us. They do not change us. They are not remarkable.
In this episode, we discuss if it is okay to have opinions in your emails. Do opinions kill your emails, or do they make them awesome?
2020-04-1505 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 13 of Email Storytelling - HTML emails vs. Plain text emailsThere has been an ongoing debate, since the beginning of time. The debate is about the usage of HTML emails vs. plain text emails. Which types of emails give better results?
The answer is not black and white. There are a few nuances that need to be considered.
2020-04-0913 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 12 of Email storytelling - Writing your emails isn't everythingFor the longest time, I used to think that 'writing' is the only skill that makes or breaks your email.
But not anymore.
2020-04-0104 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 14 - Don't let Corona stop your MarketingThese are tricky times indeed. For a Marketer, this uncertain situation can bring guilt and anxiety. You might question what your audience wants to hear from you. In fact, you are not even sure if they want to hear from you. I address these points in this episode.
2020-03-2506 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 13 - (Case study) How to create content when you don't have in-house expertiseAt times, it may happen that the organization does not have enough in-house expertise to create content. How to deal with this situation?
In the last episode, we spoke about how “Interviewing experts” is one of the most effective strategies for creating valuable content. In this episode, let me take you through a case study, where I implemented this strategy for one of my clients.
2020-03-1113 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 12 - How to create content if you don't have the expertiseAt times, Marketers and Entrepreneurs come across a situation, where the in-house team is just not equipped to produce content. This is a problem. In this podcast episode, I talk about how using the Crowdsourced Content Model can help organizations solve this problem.
We discuss how 'Interviewing experts' is an awesome way of executing this Crowdsourced Content approach.
2020-02-2611 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 11 - Case study - How to drive insane amount of email open ratesIn this episode, I discuss a case study.
I had created a lead magnet for a client, which created a bunch of engaged subscribers. The open rates of that email campaign were really high!
2020-02-1917 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 10 of Humanized Marketing - How to build relationships (A Twitter case study)In this episode, I talk about how conversations can enable deep relationships with people that you seek to serve.
I also get tactical here. I talk about how to implement this strategy on Twitter. It includes steps like finding the right people and engaging with them with thoughtful tweets.
2020-02-1215 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 9 of the Humanized Marketing podcast - How can specialty coffee brands create super fans using emailIn this episode, I talk about how retaining customers is better than acquiring new customers, and then we go into the ways in which a customer can be retained, and upselling opportunities can be availed!
2020-02-0523 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 8 - How can a Marketer create memorable experiences for his customers?Brands and Marketers need to be brave enough to break the script and create memorable moments for their customers. We discuss this in detail in this episode.
2020-01-2913 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 11 of Email Storytelling - When people aren’t subscribing, create moreFor the new reader, here is just a 2 line summary of what I am trying to do -
I have taken on an impossible project. I want to build a subscriber list of 100 people and have an email open rate of more than 90%.
The landing page is ready at this link - (http://bit.ly/2MMULCS)
The struggle with Traffic
As you must have observed, I have built a Multi-page pre-sell site. In other words, there is no single page with opt-in form. Instead, there are multiple pages and the opt-in...
2020-01-2309 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 10 of Email Storytelling - Why aren't people subscribing to your content?For the new reader, here is just a 2 line summary of what I am trying to do -
I have taken on an impossible project. I want to build a subscriber list of 100 people and have an email open rate of more than 90%.
The landing page is ready at this link.
Now here is the challenge -
So far, I have stuck with this one lead magnet and focussed all my attention on getting in front of the ‘right people’ and then getting them subscribed to lead magnet.
2020-01-1607 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 7 - How to become a stress-free Marketer?The world of a Marketer is a mess.
The days are busy, with ad-hoc tasks, last moment briefs, and just too many activities.
I have been there and done that.
Not anymore.
It might seem that being busy is getting you somewhere… but being busy and getting the real work done, are 2 different things altogether.
And I have struggled with this myself, and here I am sharing what has worked for me.
Here are the points that I talk about in the podcast -
Deciding on cl...
2019-12-2618 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 9 of Email Storytelling - My experiments with Quora and Reddit to get trafficThe progress has been slow. I can barely give only 4 hours to this project.
The struggle has been to get traffic onto the MPPS. I considered paid advertisements as well. But for targeting reasons, I decided to not go ahead with them. I decided to focus on organic traffic strategies, instead.
So this week and the next week, I will talk about my organic efforts to get traffic.
I want to specifically talk about the forums like Quora and Reddit. Both of these platforms are forum-like platforms or in other words question-answer platforms.
2019-12-1810 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 8 of Email Storytelling - The right message and traffic strategiesIn this episode, I talk about 2 things-
1. How I decided to be more specific about the audience that I am targeting.
2. The struggle with the traffic strategies and my plan to overcome those.
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I have undertaken a new project. I am calling it Email storytelling.
The idea is simple-
I am executing a project, which is intended to help Marketers work with great clients
The project will be executed through Email Marketing... and more importantly, storytelling will be a key element in the whole...
2019-12-1310 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 7 of Email Storytelling - TOFU challengesIn this episode, I talk about the progress that I have made so far in this project.
This episode covers topics like measurement of the landing page traffic, promotional strategies for this lead magnet, and the performance of the emails so far.
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I have undertaken a new project. I am calling it Email storytelling.
The idea is simple-
I am executing a project, which is intended to help Marketers work with great clients
The project will be executed through Email...
2019-11-1713 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 6 of Email Storytelling - Landing pages, Content, Story and analyticsIn this episode of Email Storytelling, I talk about my approach of having multiple pages to capture leads, the content of those pages, and also the analytics.
It is crucial to measure the behaviour of the traffic that visits these landing pages. If my story is not resonating with the target market, the drop-offs and the bounce rates will be high. Using the data, I can find out the weak elements in my story and work on making them better.
I am going to use Google Analytics and Mixpanel to measure the traffic on the...
2019-11-0609 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 16 - What to do when your client is not open to your Marketing ideas?Quite often Marketers (and Marketing freelancers) complain that their ideas are not being accepted by the upper Management, bosses, clients, etc. It is quite frustrating when that happens.
Getting angry at your client doesn't help. Instead, we need to understand their worldview.
In this episode, we talk about the strategies to use, to sell your Marketing ideas to the clients.
2019-10-2307 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 5 - Changing the course of this projectI am changing the course of this project.
Earlier, I was doing it for Online Course Creators.
But, I just wasn't feeling the topic.
And so, I decided to change my audience, to people who would actually benefit from this course.
In this episode, I talk about why I changed my audience, and why it is okay to pivot and change your strategy. :)
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I have undertaken a new project. I am calling it Email storytelling.
The idea is simple-
I am executing a p...
2019-10-1709 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 4 of Email StoryTelling - Don't collect leads through Scarcity MindsetIn this episode of Email StoryTelling, I talk about how Marketers can become selfish and try to trap people in their funnel, by using lead magnets. Lead Magnet is an opportunity for your audience to keep in touch with you. There is no need for you to trick them and force them.
Instead, provide value first. And then politely ask if they want to keep in touch.
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I have undertaken a new project. I am calling it Email storytelling.
The idea is simple-
I am executing a project, which...
2019-10-0911 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 3 of Email StoryTelling - Don't collect leads selfishly. Provide value.In this episode, we talk about landing pages. I talk about the issues with selfishly collecting leads and suggest a better approach of adding value to the visitor before you seek permission to talk to them.
We talk about -
1. The hook, which is your big idea to get people hooked onto your page.
2. The role of Authority in your landing page
3. Deductive reasoning - To install beliefs in your target market.
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I have undertaken a new project. I am calling it Email...
2019-10-0319 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 2 of Email StoryTelling - A really bad way to start your Email campaign...In this episode, I talk about the dangers of having a bias, starting with the solution instead of a problem and understanding your audience.
The failure of the email campaign is not when we don't get email subscribers. In fact, it is quite easy to get email subscribers. What is difficult is have a relationship with them. That is the real failure of an email campaign. This is what we want to avoid.
In order to start the relationship on the right note, we need to start our email campaign by understanding our audience.
2019-09-2518 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 1 of Email StoryTelling - What is Email StoryTelling and why am I doing this?I have undertaken a new project. I am calling it Email storytelling.
The idea is simple-
I am executing a project, which is intended to help Online Course Creators with Marketing. Through this project, anyone who is creating an Online course would be able to Market their course in a Strategical way, and thus leading to better results.
The project will be executed through Email Marketing... and more importantly, storytelling will be a key element in the whole process.
I plan to document the whole journey, and share with everyone my s...
2019-09-1915 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 15 - Let's not call it Content Marketing anymoreIt is time that we start looking at Content Marketing differently.
2019-09-1103 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 14 - Three questions to validate your Online Course ideaMany people launch their online courses, but only a few of them succeed. What are the questions that we can ask, to validate our idea before a course is created?
2019-09-0411 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 13 - Marketers don't do tasksA lot of times, Marketers are treated as technicians by their clients and bosses. But we are better than that. We don't do tasks. We solve problems.
2019-08-2805 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 12 - Marketing is easy when you listen...All we want to do is talk, talk and talk.
It's time that Marketers stop living outside their own head and talk to the target market instead.
2019-08-2109 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 11- 2 questions that can help Marketers find their nicheSpecialize, they say.
The path towards specialization is hard, though. These 2 questions, I hope, will help Marketers find their niche...
2019-08-1613 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 10 - Email ids collected out of desperation will give poor resultsMost of the Marketers are desperate when it comes to Email Marketing campaigns. They put systems in place with an intention of getting all the people to sign up for the lead magnet!
Nothing wrong with this approach.
But...the results of these email campaigns usually suck.
Can there be a better way?
2019-08-0712 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 9 - Helping a Video Production brand with their Marketing strategyFor this podcast episode, I decided to take a very different approach.
I put out a Linkedin post and offered a free strategy session to whoever wished to jam with me. Ankit Bourai responded and in this podcast we will help Wondact with their Marketing strategy.
2019-07-3119 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 8 - Marketing is not about youNo, Marketing is not about you. It is about someone else.
2019-07-1708 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 7 - Should a Marketer really care?It seems as if there are 2 groups of Marketers. One of them are extremely focussed on their personal metrics... and the others who are extremely focussed on caring about their target market.
Which strategy is better and in what situations?
2019-07-1013 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 6 - Why Content Marketing is a bad idea to get clientsIn this episode, I talk about why Content Marketing is not a great idea to get initial clients. What could be the alternative?
2019-07-0314 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 5 - Creating a Brand story for Third Wave Coffee RoastersYou need to go beyond a commodity and build a story! Like Simon Sinek says, "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."
Today, I made an attempt to create a brand story for one of India's favorite specialty coffee brands - Third Wave Coffee Roasters.
2019-06-2626 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 4 - You say you are a bad writer? Stop lying to me.Recently, I completed publishing 100 articles on my blog. When I told everyone about this milestone, people congratulated me. They also told me how they want to write consistently but have failed to do so.
"I am not a good writer."
"I don't have time."
"My English isn't good."
These are a few things that I hear. Let's destroy these arguments once and for all.
If you are looking to become a writer who writes consistently, this will help.
2019-06-1917 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 3 - The right and the wrong reasons to start a blogA few years back, my client told me that he wanted to start a blog. When I asked him the reason he gave me a few interesting answers.
In this episode, we dig into the right and the wrong reasons to start a blog.
2019-06-1215 min
The Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 2 - How to win the SEO battle, while being nice to your competitorsSEO is often perceived as an act of defeating the competition. This cut-throat mindset demands that the Marketers try to beat their competition. But can there be another way?
Can we embrace the abundance mindset instead?
Can we be nice to our competitors and still make the impact that we want to make?
2019-06-0515 minThe Humanized Marketing PodcastEpisode 1 - Don't ruin your career by calling yourself a Digital MarketerThere is a boat and there is a shore.
The boat takes us to the shore. Period.
Digital marketers tend to get too attached to the boat and they forget about the shore. In this episode, we talk about differentiating between the two. We discuss about how we need to stop calling ourselves "Digital Marketers" and gradually move towards the inner circles of Marketing.
Link to the circles of Marketing
Link to Seth's blog post: https://seths.blog/2012/07/the-circles-of-marketing/
Intro music credits: Dan O songs. Link: https://danosongs.com...
2019-05-3111 min