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Welcome to Little Talks, your weekly dose of marketing news, trends, and insights from Littlefield Agency.
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Grab your coffee, turn up the volume, and let's get into it.
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We haven't done that in a while.
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Breathing.
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It's nice to breathe again.
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Yeah, I guess entered.
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Hey, so the music's reminding me.
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Claudia found some of the old music on the on the server and was like, what is this?
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Oh God, isn't it bad?
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It was crazy.
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It was crazy.
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It you're just not gonna be.
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That was like one of the first times that I ever put my foot down on something because I'd just taken over the age.
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Oh, you know what he did?
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He was really judicial about it.
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What he did was he goes, well, let's do every other one.
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For a while, it was every other episode.
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We would flip alternate music.
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And then one day he was like, let's just go with mine.
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Yeah, it literally in the file it says Sam Music Roop music.
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Yeah, there's two folders.
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Yeah, I mean if we were a if we were a jamming agency in the 80s, Roop's music was fantastic.
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Yeah, I had a jazzy one.
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I had a kind of a hip hop one.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I don't know if you're gonna be able to do that.
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I made those.
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I made those in garage band.
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Yeah, he was very proud.
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Those are yours, though.
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Yeah, those are yours.
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Is it all making sense now?
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On that note, welcome back to another edition of Little Talks with Littlefield Agency.
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I am with I am Sam Littlefield, and with me is my grooving guy.
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DJ Roop.
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DJ Roop.
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We're talking uh the opening and closing music, um, which I think we've we've kind of found a happy medium.
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We've been using this now for three or four years.
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It's a staple.
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Yeah.
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You remember the uh opening to Fraser?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Scrambled eggs.
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Yeah, exactly, right?
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Like what if you took that away after seasons?
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Yeah, we'd be in up.
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We're not quite Fraser.
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Uh yeah.
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Uh we're making our way to it.
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We're a spin-off of Fraser.
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My friend, it is good to see you as always.
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Yes.
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If you are tuning in and watching the video, you will notice that we have a desk here with no script.
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Here is the irony of this.
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This is crazy.
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Ruke comes to me, what is today?
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Tuesday, last week, and he's like, hey, got a great uh script for next week.
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And I was like, Yeah, I know.
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And he's like, How do you know?
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And I was like, I know the topic.
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And he was like, How do you know the topic?
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And I said, Because we agreed up to the topic at the end of the episode saying that we're gonna talk about 2027 planning.
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I forgot.
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Oh, I forgot.
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So next week's topic is gonna be great.
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This week's topic's gonna be great because there is no script.
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Because as we plan for 2027 planning, there is no plan, but that is quite the opposite with 2027.
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Roop, you crazy man.
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Today's topic is uh about planning.
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I don't know what the there's no there's nothing for me to read, so I don't know what the the sentence is, but we're gonna be able to do that.
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Do we have a guest?
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I was like, no, we don't have a guest.
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No guest, we should have a guest.
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Chris is sitting right over there, he's not gonna come up here.
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It's okay.
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You guys once again are stuck with us.
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But before we dive into our topic, we had a, as we alluded to last week, we had an amazing Clope visit.
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So good having them.
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Let's give them some freaking love there, Claude.
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I love it.
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And uh three three full days of talking about 2027 planning, right?
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And the ins and outs and everything that we've done this year.
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And God, they're just good people.
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So it's awesome having Clope here.
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Speaking of good people, Thursday, we have Mike from Grasshopper here at the agency for his usual HubSpot stuff, but mostly planning.
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We're jump starting content planning.
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Um and there's a lot of more planning things to come with Grasshopper in the coming weeks as I look at uh schedules and outages.
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Um, Mike, as always, cannot wait to have you here at the agency.
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Mike, I'm not gonna see you though.
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I'm out on Thursday with a uh prospective client that's literally been on the books for a while.
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Oh I know.
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So uh Kenny was very nice, like, hey, can you do lunch with us?
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I was like, uh no, I can't.
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Not going to do lunch with you.
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So you're buying you're buying lunch, my friend.
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Oh Mike, you hear that?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, I'll I'll find a card.
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I used to get it.
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Remember Chelsea used to want a card?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, over my dead body.
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It could be worse.
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So uh let's get right into it, Claude topic.
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2027 planning.
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That's just it, 2027 planning?
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2027 planning.
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And for avid listeners, people that have been listening and hanging out and dealing and putting up with us for years, um, you know this is an annual topic for us.
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Here in two weeks, we have um inbound, unbound coming up, which that is a that that very much has to do with planning as well.
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Yeah.
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So that we'll probably do that not next week, but the week after.
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Yep, for sure.
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But for all intents and purposes today is 2027 planning.
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And here's what's interesting.
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What I always why I I always love revisiting this topic.
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A, we're fresh out of club pay planning, you're gearing up for grasshopper planning, and it's that time of year, no matter when you're fiscal.
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We have a lot of clients that have fiscals that are changing literally in the next uh 13 days, as they have September, October, and November fiscals.
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We do have clients, and for people listening, you might be on a normal annual fiscal.
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Whether your fiscal is changing the next couple of months or in actual January of 2027, it is time to start planning and budgeting and all the fun stuff.
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And so we're gonna walk through what that looks like today because while it's the same for all clients, I guess from a process standpoint, it's very different by client as well.
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Aaron Powell Yes, and by discipline.
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And by discipline.
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And I I would let me just say right out of the gate, the people that should be in here, Chris and Kelly at least, are not in here because they're literally they're up to their eyeballs in planning right now.
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Yeah, and it's really interesting.
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Um a lot of people will ask us, hey, you know, like what's your seasonality?
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And I always tell them, man, like it and it I would say it varies by department too.
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Um like Sammy's world, January through April, gangbusters, a lot of people changing agencies.
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It's a new year, I need a new strategic partner.
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So that's a very busy time of year for me.
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Um for our media and analytics team, it is prime time media trafficking, making sure everything is out there in the live in the wild for target respective target audiences.
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Well, it starts in July for them, I think.
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And then we're we're very, yeah, right.
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And then it's we're very steady in the summer, good work, nothing too crazy, but boy, back to school, especially for Chris and his team.
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It is bonkers.
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So as we think about um how your target audience is digesting media, what kind of content is working, what's not working, we do a lot of postmortems this time of year.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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What kind of content needs to marry up with media?
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Because there's some crossover now between Chris and the content.
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And that and that's something that is, I'll give you credit, that is something that has changed significantly over the last five years.
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And I remember five years ago, like literally coming out of the pandemic, like, hey, as we take on um paid media in-house, media and analytics now, um, pairing that with content and creative strategies and having all those minds in one room and everything everyone is synced accordingly has been a game changer for us.
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So that's that's been wonder that's been wonderful.
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But as it we think about peso.
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You know what peso stands for?
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I'm not talking the Mexican dollar.
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It's a great it's a great yeah, the Mexican dollar.
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Paid, earned, social, and uh organic.
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Do you make that up?
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No.
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Cloud knows what peso is.
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Did you know that?
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Yes.
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Like the Mexican dollar?
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Yeah.
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What?
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I don't know.
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Paid, earned, social, owned.
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Do I say I think I said organic?
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Owned.
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Um, looking at your content across the board, right?
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Under understanding what is working, what's not working.
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Um and the the biggest thing as we think about strategy is uh this is not a set it and forget it time.
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No.
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And a and a lot of people, someone uh and the reason that we're a lot of our current clients that are tuning in, you're like, oh, okay, yes, Sam, yeah, we know that that's great.
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You absolutely should know this because you've been working with us for years.
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But for our prospective clients, this is really geared towards them because there's a lot of people that don't have proper budgeting and planning processes in place.
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Um and something that someone a prospective client asked me this recently.
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Said, hey, so when you all are in planning, and okay, here's here's your media plan, you know, here's your targeting strategy, here's our measurement and analytics, like go to market.
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Um you just do you just set that and you're done.
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And I was like, oh dear God, no.
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And and I always tell people, look at look at your media plan that will be solidified here in the coming months, and then fast forward six months to nine months, and so much has changed because we're we're adapting our strategies, yeah, um, our buys, our content strategy.
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I mean, look look at what you're I can't even imagine.
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You're pretty busy, you gotta give yourself a little credit here, my friend.
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You're a little busy.
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This is my busy time of year as well.
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Absolutely.
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So walk us through, just in the sense of content, like how are you working, not only with the creative department, but how are you working with the analytics and media?
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Um, because there's a lot of moving pieces to make sure and and we have to understand too, people digest media differently, right?
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Like the content that you're reading in your email is very different than on social media, then very different on a paid media approach through native strategies out in the wild as you're uh digesting articles.
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Yeah, so content planning has evolved a lot over the years, but um you know it starts with the the basics of personas and who we're talking to and what we want to say and what search volume is available, because that's the whole thing for inbound content that we uh strategize and plan each year is we won't we're creating not creating content for the sake of it.
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It has a purpose and a goal.
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It's mostly to get more traffic, more eyeballs, and more conversions, right?
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It's just not the paid side, it's the organic side.
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Um but you know, organic can also shuffle over to the paid side a little bit.
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And uh we have clients that uh have uh uh a content paid strategy where they uh you've seen these.
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There's little ads that show up at the bottom of uh ESPN or uh some news site, and it's um, you know um just announce for Oklahoma, 400 ways you can cut your mortgage in half, and it's a picture of like a duck or something, has nothing to do with the article.
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Um That's just bad advertising.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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That's bad Yeah.
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Well, I I mean I I've wondered about that strategy sometimes, and I haven't been brave enough to click yes, clickbait is what that is.
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But those positions are or organic content opportunities.
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Those are places where you can get a paid uh placement for your organic content.
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So we we talked to them a little bit about that.
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And of course, as we think about organic content strategies, think about the world of SEO, AEO, GEO, right?
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Yeah, and and that's the thing that's evolved and is changing now.
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So um we'll have a content calendar for next year, and that's stuff we know we're gonna do.
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Um either content pillar concepts or or new articles or or videos or whatever.
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Um but the thing that is ongoing, so that's the plan, right?
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Yeah.
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But just like for media, they have a plan, and after about two or three months, that plan is adjusted some most of the time.
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Um because of uh how fast uh things change for search and especially for uh AI search now, um we have to build in flexibility into the plan to be able to make adjustments on the on the fly on a week to week basis.
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And as we look in, that's a great point.
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And as we look at uh plans evolving, a big part of that too is right, let's say um you've got different product launches, you've got different initiatives, we'll talk about that here in a little bit.
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But let's say you're pushing product and it's just totally crushing it.
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Clients like, hey, we are seeing tremendous success here, but we're not seeing as much success over here.
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But then it's a matter of do we want to keep you know press pressing the pedal down on this product and just you know, through the moon, awesome, wonderful, great, or is there a balance?
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We we have those conversations on a weekly basis with our clients.
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Yes.
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Um on the initiative front, we talked about this recently.
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A big thing.
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Um we have some clients, hey, here's our here's our top 10 focuses.
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That's a lot of focuses, right?
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It is we talk about traction, we alluded to this recently.
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Three to five focuses.
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And it's okay to have multiple priorities, but what are we as marketing, what are we trying to drive, right?
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We talk about soft metrics all the time.
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Impressions, clicks, that's great.
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Those are soft marketing metrics.
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The good stuff, the hard stuff, and I'm not talking alcohol.
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Roop, see where you're mine.
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I saw you start to smile over there.
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I was not thinking alcohol.
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I am now.
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But what are your marketing objectives and how do they tie to your business goals?
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What puts money in the bank?
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What puts money in the bank?
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Um you know, we we we think about uh directional drills for Ditchwich, right?
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Massive, very expensive, huge opportunity to mark their drills, pay the bills, baby.
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Yeah.
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And so, you know, what what is our strategy to further drive, you know, people purchasing a very, very expensive piece of horizontal directional drilling equipment?
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Um having those conversations up front and understanding how marketing can affect sales.
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We were with Clope last week.
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We had a big conversation about that, right?
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Like, and our client literally said this, and we've said this before, and it just pains me.
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Sometimes marketing can be viewed as a cost center.
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It's the worst thing in the world because it's not, it's an investment strategy, right?
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Marketing is softening the beaches for sales to make more money, for your company to ultimately make more money, for people to live happily ever after.
00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:38.000
So making sure Chris Chris Kaiser and I were working on a presentation um for a prospective client that's in later this week.
00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:39.279
And we were talking about that.
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It's like, okay, hey, this is all the marketing metrics in the world are great.
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Is marketing working?
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Yes or no?
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And you should be able to tell that.
00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:56.320
And that again, as we think about the roadmap and we think as we fast forward quickly to September of 2027, we're having the same conversation in a different light, and hopefully with some frickin script.
00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.399
More planning on that next time.
00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:03.200
Is can you say, hey, we really sought out to do this and we achieved X, Y, and Z.
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:03.519
Yeah.
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.440
And that's that's the magic of marketing.
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:07.279
That's why we're all in this business.
00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:16.320
And um, and we get it, there's a lot of different factors going on in the world right now from a macro standpoint, but ultimately marketing has to drive qualified leads that convert and make your company more money.
00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:21.519
So having having that conversation with your agency, having that conversation internally is just really, really important.
00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:23.840
And um and it's and it's a moving needle.
00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.639
We have one client that just told us that something is absolutely crushing it, like we just talked about here a little bit ago.
00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.720
And they just said go, like keep keep doing that.
00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.159
The the other part, it'll come, and um, and we'll focus on that another time.
00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.960
But we want you to just keep driving this because this is great for our company.
00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:37.679
Awesome.
00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.200
We shift strategies.
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:39.600
Yeah.
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.559
And that that's the ongoing, that's the actionable part of our program.
00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.320
It's f flexible planning, is that the right way to say it?
00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.879
I mean, there's a plan, there's a strategy, but it's it's it has to be flexible today.
00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.159
Yeah, no, absolutely.
00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:58.960
And and then also, too, like use this as an opportunity, great team building opportunity, great partnership opportunity too with your agencies.
00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.039
Is uh you know, don't say, hey, we're gonna block out an hour, two hours, and and knock this out.
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.080
Just spend a day.
00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:10.240
Um someone recently just told me that they're uh they're actually a prospective client, and they've got a two-day strategic offsite out of the office.
00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:10.879
Noise.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:11.519
Noise.
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:12.240
It's lovely.
00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:14.559
When we have our annual offsites at the Summit Club, right?
00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:15.120
It's it's good.
00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:16.320
It's good to get out of the office.
00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.080
So dedicate a day, two days, if you can dedicate a week, that's amazing.
00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.720
But we also realize that you have a lot of directives internally.
00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:25.679
Um but it's just a really good exercise for your internal team.
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:31.840
It's really good if your agency partner, if you have one, can sit and have a seat at that strategy table just to weigh in.
00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.360
It's literally what we just did with Clope, and it was so fruitful and so good.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:44.240
Um and there's just there's there's so many great things that we learned, and had we not been sitting on that conversation, it would uh it just wouldn't be part of the marketing strategy going forward.
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:47.600
We're we we we're people people and we like to be face to face anyhow.
00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:48.720
We're people people, yeah.
00:14:48.879 --> 00:15:02.879
And and uh uh Brock and Becca last week, after Clope was in town, was with another client and they were just sitting there, they were literally sitting at the table for six hours, and it was just more of an uh they were absorbing as they are uh their fiscal turns here in 13 days at September 1st.
00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:13.519
Um and so again, it's just so helpful for them because they've got so they use us as a sounding board but also can spur some great ideas as we go and do our own planning.
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.399
So it is uh it is almost September.
00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.120
It is um happy planning to those that celebrate.
00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:21.360
If you do not celebrate planning, that is okay.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:22.159
We know you're busy.
00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:23.600
I don't know if Chris Kaiser is celebrating.
00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.919
I was gonna say, do you think Chris celebrates or doesn't celebrate?
00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.399
No, but I think he he looks at it as it a good is a good challenge opportunity.
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.840
I don't think in any way he's I'm speaking for Chris.
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.320
I pour it's if you Chris, if you're listening, sorry.
00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:40.960
He's probably like saying, I I I mean I I I would I would agree I'll also speak for Chris.
00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.440
Uh I think he um I think he thrives in the pressure.
00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:46.559
Oh, 100 percent.
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:48.879
Yeah, I think he would miss it if it didn't come around.
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.519
One of the best things that Chris Kaiser ever told me is uh it's the NBA championship every day for him.
00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:55.360
It's fourth quarter, Chris wants the ball.
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:56.320
Big NBA guy, Chris.
00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:57.440
Ten seconds and counting.
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.480
Chris is our media director, by the way.
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.480
Our our director of media and analytics.
00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:03.120
Oh, yes.
00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:03.759
There's two parts of that.
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:04.159
Two parts.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:04.960
We haven't mentioned that.
00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:06.240
We've just been saying Chris and Kelly.
00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:11.039
Yeah, Chris, and then Kelly, our senior media strategist, who Kelly has literally only worked in media her whole life.
00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:11.440
Yeah.
00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:12.000
Yeah.
00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.759
It's it's a whole team of people behind them.
00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.000
Well, and it's cool too, is we look at our tenured clients, clients that we've had for a long time.
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:26.240
Like it is amazing how much our planning process has changed over the years and how like just even year-over-year stuff based off data.
00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.799
It's not us just making an emotional guess.
00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:32.159
It is it's backed by data that informs future good decisions.
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.279
So for those that are planning, you should all be planning.
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:40.480
Um, but for those that are in the thick of it right now, we sympathize with you.
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:42.720
It's an awesome opportunity, it's a good challenge.
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:47.039
If you ever need any insight, thoughts, sounding board, et cetera, you know who to find.
00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:47.519
Yeah.
00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.120
And uh I think that's what we got.
00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:52.480
Is that the end of the script?
00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:53.679
I think that's the end of the script.
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:54.399
Yeah.
00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:55.759
Thank you very much for this great script.
00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:56.159
You're welcome.
00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:56.960
Yeah, it was wonderful.
00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.480
Can can I can I can I do next say what next week's is gonna be now so we have to do it.
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:00.960
Absolutely.
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.399
And remember it this time.
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:03.600
Let's see, what is it?
00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.519
Next week's is I got it here.
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.039
Because I printed it out, even though I'm not doing it yet.
00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:15.440
Next week's topic will be should brands be smaller on social media in 2027?
00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.839
Ooh, that's provocative.
00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:19.039
Isn't it though?
00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:19.839
Yeah, no, it is.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.279
And then the week after that, we'll do our annual.
00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:22.880
And we'll do uh inbound unbound.
00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:24.960
That'll be a inbound, unbound.
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.200
Inbound, unbound, unbound HubSpot marketing conference preview.
00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.119
And you will will be leading that, Claudia.
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.480
Think you weigh in on that one too.
00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:32.799
Okay.
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:33.359
Sound good?
00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:33.920
What's happening?
00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:34.960
I can go behind the keyboard.
00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:36.079
You we'll switch places.
00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:36.720
That'd be fun.
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:37.200
All right.
00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:37.599
Yeah.
00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:40.799
Oh, I'm gonna just tear up that buttons.
00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:42.400
There's there's a like a hundred buttons.
00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:43.440
She only ever hits one or two.
00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:43.920
Yeah, great.
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.519
I'll find out what all of them are.
00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:47.920
A little worried.
00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:48.880
I know it's okay.
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:49.279
Don't be.
00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:50.000
It'll be fine.
00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:51.200
Um, okay, cool.
00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.079
That sounds like a plan.
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:52.319
Yeah.
00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:53.839
My friend, as always, it is a pleasure.
00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:55.279
Claudia, thank you so much.
00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.839
And to our listeners, thank you as always for sticking in there with us, hanging out, listening to some uh good old marketing trends.
00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:02.720
Until next time.
00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:03.359
Adios.
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.240
All right, bye-bye.
00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:05.440
And that's a wrap.
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.880
We hope you found a spark of inspiration for your marketing strategy.
00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:13.440
Don't forget to subscribe and follow us at Littlefield Agency to keep the conversation going.
00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:15.039
Catch you next time.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.120
Welcome to Little Talks, your weekly dose of marketing news, trends, and insights from Littlefield Agency.
00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.720
Grab your coffee, turn up the volume, and let's get into it.
00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:16.239
We haven't done that in a while.
00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:17.280
Breathing.
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:18.640
It's nice to breathe again.
00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:19.679
Yeah, I guess entered.
00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.600
Hey, so the music's reminding me.
00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.679
Claudia found some of the old music on the on the server and was like, what is this?
00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:27.359
Oh God, isn't it bad?
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.320
It was crazy.
00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:29.199
It was crazy.
00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:30.320
It you're just not gonna be.
00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:34.479
That was like one of the first times that I ever put my foot down on something because I'd just taken over the age.
00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:35.359
Oh, you know what he did?
00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:39.679
He was really judicial about it.
00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:42.079
What he did was he goes, well, let's do every other one.
00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:43.520
For a while, it was every other episode.
00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:44.960
We would flip alternate music.
00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.439
And then one day he was like, let's just go with mine.
00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.840
Yeah, it literally in the file it says Sam Music Roop music.
00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:54.159
Yeah, there's two folders.
00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.640
Yeah, I mean if we were a if we were a jamming agency in the 80s, Roop's music was fantastic.
00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:00.880
Yeah, I had a jazzy one.
00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:02.079
I had a kind of a hip hop one.
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:02.560
Yeah.
00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:02.799
Yeah.
00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:03.520
I don't know if you're gonna be able to do that.
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:04.000
I made those.
00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:05.040
I made those in garage band.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:06.000
Yeah, he was very proud.
00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:06.879
Those are yours, though.
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:07.439
Yeah, those are yours.
00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:08.719
Is it all making sense now?
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.560
On that note, welcome back to another edition of Little Talks with Littlefield Agency.
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.680
I am with I am Sam Littlefield, and with me is my grooving guy.
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:16.560
DJ Roop.
00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:17.519
DJ Roop.
00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:22.640
We're talking uh the opening and closing music, um, which I think we've we've kind of found a happy medium.
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:25.200
We've been using this now for three or four years.
00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:26.159
It's a staple.
00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:26.560
Yeah.
00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.079
You remember the uh opening to Fraser?
00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:30.480
Yeah.
00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:30.640
Yeah.
00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:31.599
Scrambled eggs.
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:32.400
Yeah, exactly, right?
00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.480
Like what if you took that away after seasons?
00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:35.920
Yeah, we'd be in up.
00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:37.599
We're not quite Fraser.
00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:38.159
Uh yeah.
00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:39.439
Uh we're making our way to it.
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:40.719
We're a spin-off of Fraser.
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:42.719
My friend, it is good to see you as always.
00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:43.200
Yes.
00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:48.799
If you are tuning in and watching the video, you will notice that we have a desk here with no script.
00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.480
Here is the irony of this.
00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:51.920
This is crazy.
00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:54.079
Ruke comes to me, what is today?
00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:58.879
Tuesday, last week, and he's like, hey, got a great uh script for next week.
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:00.319
And I was like, Yeah, I know.
00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:01.359
And he's like, How do you know?
00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:02.560
And I was like, I know the topic.
00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:03.920
And he was like, How do you know the topic?
00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:08.319
And I said, Because we agreed up to the topic at the end of the episode saying that we're gonna talk about 2027 planning.
00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:09.439
I forgot.
00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:10.719
Oh, I forgot.
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:12.560
So next week's topic is gonna be great.
00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.280
This week's topic's gonna be great because there is no script.
00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:21.439
Because as we plan for 2027 planning, there is no plan, but that is quite the opposite with 2027.
00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.039
Roop, you crazy man.
00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.759
Today's topic is uh about planning.
00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:30.479
I don't know what the there's no there's nothing for me to read, so I don't know what the the sentence is, but we're gonna be able to do that.
00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:31.520
Do we have a guest?
00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:32.960
I was like, no, we don't have a guest.
00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:34.240
No guest, we should have a guest.
00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:36.080
Chris is sitting right over there, he's not gonna come up here.
00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:36.560
It's okay.
00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:37.840
You guys once again are stuck with us.
00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:42.639
But before we dive into our topic, we had a, as we alluded to last week, we had an amazing Clope visit.
00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:43.520
So good having them.
00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:45.680
Let's give them some freaking love there, Claude.
00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:46.639
I love it.
00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:51.439
And uh three three full days of talking about 2027 planning, right?
00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:53.280
And the ins and outs and everything that we've done this year.
00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:54.319
And God, they're just good people.
00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:56.080
So it's awesome having Clope here.
00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:05.520
Speaking of good people, Thursday, we have Mike from Grasshopper here at the agency for his usual HubSpot stuff, but mostly planning.
00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:08.639
We're jump starting content planning.
00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:14.080
Um and there's a lot of more planning things to come with Grasshopper in the coming weeks as I look at uh schedules and outages.
00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.039
Um, Mike, as always, cannot wait to have you here at the agency.
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:18.879
Mike, I'm not gonna see you though.
00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.800
I'm out on Thursday with a uh prospective client that's literally been on the books for a while.
00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:23.840
Oh I know.
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.879
So uh Kenny was very nice, like, hey, can you do lunch with us?
00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:28.159
I was like, uh no, I can't.
00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:29.120
Not going to do lunch with you.
00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:30.400
So you're buying you're buying lunch, my friend.
00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:31.919
Oh Mike, you hear that?
00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:32.479
Yeah.
00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:34.800
Yeah, I'll I'll find a card.
00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:37.520
I used to get it.
00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:40.159
Remember Chelsea used to want a card?
00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:41.039
Yeah.
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:42.719
Yeah, over my dead body.
00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:44.080
It could be worse.
00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.199
So uh let's get right into it, Claude topic.
00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:50.879
2027 planning.
00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:52.479
That's just it, 2027 planning?
00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:53.759
2027 planning.
00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:02.560
And for avid listeners, people that have been listening and hanging out and dealing and putting up with us for years, um, you know this is an annual topic for us.
00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:08.560
Here in two weeks, we have um inbound, unbound coming up, which that is a that that very much has to do with planning as well.
00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:09.039
Yeah.
00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.360
So that we'll probably do that not next week, but the week after.
00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:12.080
Yep, for sure.
00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.199
But for all intents and purposes today is 2027 planning.
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:16.319
And here's what's interesting.
00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:19.759
What I always why I I always love revisiting this topic.
00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:25.600
A, we're fresh out of club pay planning, you're gearing up for grasshopper planning, and it's that time of year, no matter when you're fiscal.
00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:32.240
We have a lot of clients that have fiscals that are changing literally in the next uh 13 days, as they have September, October, and November fiscals.
00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.560
We do have clients, and for people listening, you might be on a normal annual fiscal.
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:45.839
Whether your fiscal is changing the next couple of months or in actual January of 2027, it is time to start planning and budgeting and all the fun stuff.
00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:54.160
And so we're gonna walk through what that looks like today because while it's the same for all clients, I guess from a process standpoint, it's very different by client as well.
00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:55.680
Aaron Powell Yes, and by discipline.
00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:56.720
And by discipline.
00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:07.439
And I I would let me just say right out of the gate, the people that should be in here, Chris and Kelly at least, are not in here because they're literally they're up to their eyeballs in planning right now.
00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:09.120
Yeah, and it's really interesting.
00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:12.000
Um a lot of people will ask us, hey, you know, like what's your seasonality?
00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:16.319
And I always tell them, man, like it and it I would say it varies by department too.
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:21.680
Um like Sammy's world, January through April, gangbusters, a lot of people changing agencies.
00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:23.519
It's a new year, I need a new strategic partner.
00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.600
So that's a very busy time of year for me.
00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:33.839
Um for our media and analytics team, it is prime time media trafficking, making sure everything is out there in the live in the wild for target respective target audiences.
00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:35.439
Well, it starts in July for them, I think.
00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:36.879
And then we're we're very, yeah, right.
00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:43.920
And then it's we're very steady in the summer, good work, nothing too crazy, but boy, back to school, especially for Chris and his team.
00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:45.199
It is bonkers.
00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:54.720
So as we think about um how your target audience is digesting media, what kind of content is working, what's not working, we do a lot of postmortems this time of year.
00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:54.959
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.040
What kind of content needs to marry up with media?
00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.439
Because there's some crossover now between Chris and the content.
00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:06.160
And that and that's something that is, I'll give you credit, that is something that has changed significantly over the last five years.
00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:23.360
And I remember five years ago, like literally coming out of the pandemic, like, hey, as we take on um paid media in-house, media and analytics now, um, pairing that with content and creative strategies and having all those minds in one room and everything everyone is synced accordingly has been a game changer for us.
00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.000
So that's that's been wonder that's been wonderful.
00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:27.519
But as it we think about peso.
00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:28.720
You know what peso stands for?
00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:30.319
I'm not talking the Mexican dollar.
00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.319
It's a great it's a great yeah, the Mexican dollar.
00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:34.959
Paid, earned, social, and uh organic.
00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:36.000
Do you make that up?
00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:36.639
No.
00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:38.639
Cloud knows what peso is.
00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:39.759
Did you know that?
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:40.319
Yes.
00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:42.240
Like the Mexican dollar?
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:42.959
Yeah.
00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:43.439
What?
00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:44.240
I don't know.
00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.399
Paid, earned, social, owned.
00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:50.319
Do I say I think I said organic?
00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:51.120
Owned.
00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.759
Um, looking at your content across the board, right?
00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.800
Under understanding what is working, what's not working.
00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:05.519
Um and the the biggest thing as we think about strategy is uh this is not a set it and forget it time.
00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:06.399
No.
00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:13.040
And a and a lot of people, someone uh and the reason that we're a lot of our current clients that are tuning in, you're like, oh, okay, yes, Sam, yeah, we know that that's great.
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.519
You absolutely should know this because you've been working with us for years.
00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:23.360
But for our prospective clients, this is really geared towards them because there's a lot of people that don't have proper budgeting and planning processes in place.
00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:27.839
Um and something that someone a prospective client asked me this recently.
00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:38.639
Said, hey, so when you all are in planning, and okay, here's here's your media plan, you know, here's your targeting strategy, here's our measurement and analytics, like go to market.
00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.319
Um you just do you just set that and you're done.
00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.079
And I was like, oh dear God, no.
00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:58.879
And and I always tell people, look at look at your media plan that will be solidified here in the coming months, and then fast forward six months to nine months, and so much has changed because we're we're adapting our strategies, yeah, um, our buys, our content strategy.
00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:01.439
I mean, look look at what you're I can't even imagine.
00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.240
You're pretty busy, you gotta give yourself a little credit here, my friend.
00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:04.959
You're a little busy.
00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.120
This is my busy time of year as well.
00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:08.000
Absolutely.
00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:14.800
So walk us through, just in the sense of content, like how are you working, not only with the creative department, but how are you working with the analytics and media?
00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:20.720
Um, because there's a lot of moving pieces to make sure and and we have to understand too, people digest media differently, right?
00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:29.839
Like the content that you're reading in your email is very different than on social media, then very different on a paid media approach through native strategies out in the wild as you're uh digesting articles.
00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:48.480
Yeah, so content planning has evolved a lot over the years, but um you know it starts with the the basics of personas and who we're talking to and what we want to say and what search volume is available, because that's the whole thing for inbound content that we uh strategize and plan each year is we won't we're creating not creating content for the sake of it.
00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:49.679
It has a purpose and a goal.
00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:52.639
It's mostly to get more traffic, more eyeballs, and more conversions, right?
00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:56.080
It's just not the paid side, it's the organic side.
00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:01.200
Um but you know, organic can also shuffle over to the paid side a little bit.
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.360
And uh we have clients that uh have uh uh a content paid strategy where they uh you've seen these.
00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:22.240
There's little ads that show up at the bottom of uh ESPN or uh some news site, and it's um, you know um just announce for Oklahoma, 400 ways you can cut your mortgage in half, and it's a picture of like a duck or something, has nothing to do with the article.
00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.159
Um That's just bad advertising.
00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:24.480
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:25.440
That's bad Yeah.
00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:31.200
Well, I I mean I I've wondered about that strategy sometimes, and I haven't been brave enough to click yes, clickbait is what that is.
00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.159
But those positions are or organic content opportunities.
00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.440
Those are places where you can get a paid uh placement for your organic content.
00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:39.120
So we we talked to them a little bit about that.
00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:44.399
And of course, as we think about organic content strategies, think about the world of SEO, AEO, GEO, right?
00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.759
Yeah, and and that's the thing that's evolved and is changing now.
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.240
So um we'll have a content calendar for next year, and that's stuff we know we're gonna do.
00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:57.919
Um either content pillar concepts or or new articles or or videos or whatever.
00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:01.519
Um but the thing that is ongoing, so that's the plan, right?
00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:01.759
Yeah.
00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:08.559
But just like for media, they have a plan, and after about two or three months, that plan is adjusted some most of the time.
00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:20.240
Um because of uh how fast uh things change for search and especially for uh AI search now, um we have to build in flexibility into the plan to be able to make adjustments on the on the fly on a week to week basis.
00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.240
And as we look in, that's a great point.
00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:32.320
And as we look at uh plans evolving, a big part of that too is right, let's say um you've got different product launches, you've got different initiatives, we'll talk about that here in a little bit.
00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.240
But let's say you're pushing product and it's just totally crushing it.
00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:42.480
Clients like, hey, we are seeing tremendous success here, but we're not seeing as much success over here.
00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:51.840
But then it's a matter of do we want to keep you know press pressing the pedal down on this product and just you know, through the moon, awesome, wonderful, great, or is there a balance?
00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.320
We we have those conversations on a weekly basis with our clients.
00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:54.799
Yes.
00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:59.759
Um on the initiative front, we talked about this recently.
00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:01.840
A big thing.
00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.200
Um we have some clients, hey, here's our here's our top 10 focuses.
00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.720
That's a lot of focuses, right?
00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:09.440
It is we talk about traction, we alluded to this recently.
00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:10.960
Three to five focuses.
00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:16.960
And it's okay to have multiple priorities, but what are we as marketing, what are we trying to drive, right?
00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:19.600
We talk about soft metrics all the time.
00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.080
Impressions, clicks, that's great.
00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.720
Those are soft marketing metrics.
00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.919
The good stuff, the hard stuff, and I'm not talking alcohol.
00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:29.360
Roop, see where you're mine.
00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:30.639
I saw you start to smile over there.
00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.159
I was not thinking alcohol.
00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:33.440
I am now.
00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:40.879
But what are your marketing objectives and how do they tie to your business goals?
00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:42.240
What puts money in the bank?
00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:44.000
What puts money in the bank?
00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:49.120
Um you know, we we we think about uh directional drills for Ditchwich, right?
00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:53.120
Massive, very expensive, huge opportunity to mark their drills, pay the bills, baby.
00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:53.440
Yeah.
00:11:53.679 --> 00:12:01.600
And so, you know, what what is our strategy to further drive, you know, people purchasing a very, very expensive piece of horizontal directional drilling equipment?
00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:06.960
Um having those conversations up front and understanding how marketing can affect sales.
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.320
We were with Clope last week.
00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:09.919
We had a big conversation about that, right?
00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:15.440
Like, and our client literally said this, and we've said this before, and it just pains me.
00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.720
Sometimes marketing can be viewed as a cost center.
00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:22.720
It's the worst thing in the world because it's not, it's an investment strategy, right?
00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:30.639
Marketing is softening the beaches for sales to make more money, for your company to ultimately make more money, for people to live happily ever after.
00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:38.000
So making sure Chris Chris Kaiser and I were working on a presentation um for a prospective client that's in later this week.
00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:39.279
And we were talking about that.
00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:43.840
It's like, okay, hey, this is all the marketing metrics in the world are great.
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.039
Is marketing working?
00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:45.840
Yes or no?
00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:47.440
And you should be able to tell that.
00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:56.320
And that again, as we think about the roadmap and we think as we fast forward quickly to September of 2027, we're having the same conversation in a different light, and hopefully with some frickin script.
00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.399
More planning on that next time.
00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:03.200
Is can you say, hey, we really sought out to do this and we achieved X, Y, and Z.
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:03.519
Yeah.
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.440
And that's that's the magic of marketing.
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:07.279
That's why we're all in this business.
00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:16.320
And um, and we get it, there's a lot of different factors going on in the world right now from a macro standpoint, but ultimately marketing has to drive qualified leads that convert and make your company more money.
00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:21.519
So having having that conversation with your agency, having that conversation internally is just really, really important.
00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:23.840
And um and it's and it's a moving needle.
00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.639
We have one client that just told us that something is absolutely crushing it, like we just talked about here a little bit ago.
00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.720
And they just said go, like keep keep doing that.
00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.159
The the other part, it'll come, and um, and we'll focus on that another time.
00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.960
But we want you to just keep driving this because this is great for our company.
00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:37.679
Awesome.
00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.200
We shift strategies.
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:39.600
Yeah.
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.559
And that that's the ongoing, that's the actionable part of our program.
00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.320
It's f flexible planning, is that the right way to say it?
00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.879
I mean, there's a plan, there's a strategy, but it's it's it has to be flexible today.
00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.159
Yeah, no, absolutely.
00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:58.960
And and then also, too, like use this as an opportunity, great team building opportunity, great partnership opportunity too with your agencies.
00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.039
Is uh you know, don't say, hey, we're gonna block out an hour, two hours, and and knock this out.
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.080
Just spend a day.
00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:10.240
Um someone recently just told me that they're uh they're actually a prospective client, and they've got a two-day strategic offsite out of the office.
00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:10.879
Noise.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:11.519
Noise.
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:12.240
It's lovely.
00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:14.559
When we have our annual offsites at the Summit Club, right?
00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:15.120
It's it's good.
00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:16.320
It's good to get out of the office.
00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.080
So dedicate a day, two days, if you can dedicate a week, that's amazing.
00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.720
But we also realize that you have a lot of directives internally.
00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:25.679
Um but it's just a really good exercise for your internal team.
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:31.840
It's really good if your agency partner, if you have one, can sit and have a seat at that strategy table just to weigh in.
00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.360
It's literally what we just did with Clope, and it was so fruitful and so good.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:44.240
Um and there's just there's there's so many great things that we learned, and had we not been sitting on that conversation, it would uh it just wouldn't be part of the marketing strategy going forward.
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:47.600
We're we we we're people people and we like to be face to face anyhow.
00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:48.720
We're people people, yeah.
00:14:48.879 --> 00:15:02.879
And and uh uh Brock and Becca last week, after Clope was in town, was with another client and they were just sitting there, they were literally sitting at the table for six hours, and it was just more of an uh they were absorbing as they are uh their fiscal turns here in 13 days at September 1st.
00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:13.519
Um and so again, it's just so helpful for them because they've got so they use us as a sounding board but also can spur some great ideas as we go and do our own planning.
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.399
So it is uh it is almost September.
00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.120
It is um happy planning to those that celebrate.
00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:21.360
If you do not celebrate planning, that is okay.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:22.159
We know you're busy.
00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:23.600
I don't know if Chris Kaiser is celebrating.
00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.919
I was gonna say, do you think Chris celebrates or doesn't celebrate?
00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.399
No, but I think he he looks at it as it a good is a good challenge opportunity.
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.840
I don't think in any way he's I'm speaking for Chris.
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.320
I pour it's if you Chris, if you're listening, sorry.
00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:40.960
He's probably like saying, I I I mean I I I would I would agree I'll also speak for Chris.
00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.440
Uh I think he um I think he thrives in the pressure.
00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:46.559
Oh, 100 percent.
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:48.879
Yeah, I think he would miss it if it didn't come around.
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.519
One of the best things that Chris Kaiser ever told me is uh it's the NBA championship every day for him.
00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:55.360
It's fourth quarter, Chris wants the ball.
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:56.320
Big NBA guy, Chris.
00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:57.440
Ten seconds and counting.
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.480
Chris is our media director, by the way.
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.480
Our our director of media and analytics.
00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:03.120
Oh, yes.
00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:03.759
There's two parts of that.
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:04.159
Two parts.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:04.960
We haven't mentioned that.
00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:06.240
We've just been saying Chris and Kelly.
00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:11.039
Yeah, Chris, and then Kelly, our senior media strategist, who Kelly has literally only worked in media her whole life.
00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:11.440
Yeah.
00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:12.000
Yeah.
00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.759
It's it's a whole team of people behind them.
00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.000
Well, and it's cool too, is we look at our tenured clients, clients that we've had for a long time.
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:26.240
Like it is amazing how much our planning process has changed over the years and how like just even year-over-year stuff based off data.
00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.799
It's not us just making an emotional guess.
00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:32.159
It is it's backed by data that informs future good decisions.
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.279
So for those that are planning, you should all be planning.
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:40.480
Um, but for those that are in the thick of it right now, we sympathize with you.
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:42.720
It's an awesome opportunity, it's a good challenge.
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:47.039
If you ever need any insight, thoughts, sounding board, et cetera, you know who to find.
00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:47.519
Yeah.
00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.120
And uh I think that's what we got.
00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:52.480
Is that the end of the script?
00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:53.679
I think that's the end of the script.
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:54.399
Yeah.
00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:55.759
Thank you very much for this great script.
00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:56.159
You're welcome.
00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:56.960
Yeah, it was wonderful.
00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.480
Can can I can I can I do next say what next week's is gonna be now so we have to do it.
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:00.960
Absolutely.
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.399
And remember it this time.
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:03.600
Let's see, what is it?
00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.519
Next week's is I got it here.
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.039
Because I printed it out, even though I'm not doing it yet.
00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:15.440
Next week's topic will be should brands be smaller on social media in 2027?
00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.839
Ooh, that's provocative.
00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:19.039
Isn't it though?
00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:19.839
Yeah, no, it is.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.279
And then the week after that, we'll do our annual.
00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:22.880
And we'll do uh inbound unbound.
00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:24.960
That'll be a inbound, unbound.
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.200
Inbound, unbound, unbound HubSpot marketing conference preview.
00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.119
And you will will be leading that, Claudia.
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.480
Think you weigh in on that one too.
00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:32.799
Okay.
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:33.359
Sound good?
00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:33.920
What's happening?
00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:34.960
I can go behind the keyboard.
00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:36.079
You we'll switch places.
00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:36.720
That'd be fun.
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:37.200
All right.
00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:37.599
Yeah.
00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:40.799
Oh, I'm gonna just tear up that buttons.
00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:42.400
There's there's a like a hundred buttons.
00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:43.440
She only ever hits one or two.
00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:43.920
Yeah, great.
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.519
I'll find out what all of them are.
00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:47.920
A little worried.
00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:48.880
I know it's okay.
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:49.279
Don't be.
00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:50.000
It'll be fine.
00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:51.200
Um, okay, cool.
00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.079
That sounds like a plan.
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:52.319
Yeah.
00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:53.839
My friend, as always, it is a pleasure.
00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:55.279
Claudia, thank you so much.
00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.839
And to our listeners, thank you as always for sticking in there with us, hanging out, listening to some uh good old marketing trends.
00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:02.720
Until next time.
00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:03.359
Adios.
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.240
All right, bye-bye.
00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:05.440
And that's a wrap.
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.880
We hope you found a spark of inspiration for your marketing strategy.
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Don't forget to subscribe and follow us at Littlefield Agency to keep the conversation going.
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Catch you next time.
