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In all of my time as a marketer, and in the 11 plus years of having my own business, I have never not collaborated with another marketer.
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Everyone, welcome to the very first interview of Marketers Managing, the miniseries of the Marketers Barely Managing podcast right here on But Wait, There's Moore.
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I am your host, of course, Rachel Moore, but I'm not by myself for this miniseries because we are starting to talk to marketers that are here on the ground at Content Marketing World in Denver.
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It is the year of our Lord, 2026, and I'm here talking to Anh Nguyen.
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She is the Chief Brand Amplifier of Amplified Marketing.
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Yes,
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ma'am.
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Yes, ma'am.
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And, uh, Anh and I, just a disclaimer, we've known each other… How long have we known each
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other?
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Over 10 years.
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It's been over 10 years.
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It has.
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And we met online, y'all.
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We did.
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Yeah.
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On a- Friendships can happen… Anh Nguyen: on a Twitter chat.
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On a T- oh.
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Back when Twitter chats were a thing.
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I miss
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Twitter chat.
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Play the many violins, man.
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You gotta play that one out.
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But, um, yes, we, uh, met online, and then we met in person, and then we roomed in person at Collision a couple years in a row.
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And you know you get to know people really well when you travel with them and room with them.
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You do.
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I mean, you get to all the, like, oh, the food and the Wi-Fi needs, and, like, do we do coffee?
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Do we not?
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How do we do our coffee?
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Walking around.
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But Anh's awesome.
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She was, like, an amazing travel partner right out the gate.
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She is an amazing marketer right out the gate, and for years.
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Anh, how long have you been in marketing?
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I have been in marketing and advertising for over 25 years.
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Uh, I started when I was five.
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Damn.
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Yeah, 'cause so, so do the math.
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That's, that, that's all we're dealing with.
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Yes.
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Yeah,
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exactly.
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But I've had my own business, Amplified Marketing, now for a little over 11 years.
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Oh my gosh.
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I can't say that.
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I've only had mine for, like, three, and this is my third attempt.
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And so she, she's obviously successful at having her own business and marketing
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and- Oh, girl girl.
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There have been other failures.
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So no.
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No, don't, don't let that fool you.
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But that's how we learn.
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Honestly, so I'm really glad that you're my first interview here at Content Marketing World this year because you're the reason I'm here, uh, frankly.
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You're the reason- Oh … I'm at Content Marketing World.
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I, um, at your behest and encouragement over a few years.
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I love that word, behest.
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Yes.
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I, I like to employ it when I can.
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Also, nebulous.
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Ooh.
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But, um, I was feeling nebulous actually about do I wanna try Content Marketing World?
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'Cause it's always an investment, right, when you go to a conference and invest that time and money to get there- Mm-hmm and what have you.
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Um, you introduced me to the mentorship program at Content Marketing Institute.
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Uh, how lo- and how long have you been part of that program?
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Oh, gosh, uh, probably five years because I it piqued my interest immediately after the first year that I attended.
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And so, yeah, I've been involved
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now.
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Excellent.
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Yeah.
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And, uh, it's a really great program if you haven't tried it out, um, or didn't even know about it.
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Content Marketing Institute will, uh, they set up a mentor and mentee.
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You apply to be part of it.
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They pair you up, and for six months, you have that relationship, and those individuals then get a free ticket to the conference.
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An all access
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pass … all access pass.
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That's right.
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And you do have to pay your own way to go, but, uh, this worked out really nicely for me this year 'cause it's in Denver.
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Um, but so we set the groundwork here.
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Uh, the reason we wanna have you on microphones here is we are talking about marketers managing, and I'm going to be asking everybody who joins me on these microphones kinda what's front of mind for you right now.
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Um, you know, it, it can be anything.
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We have thought leaders.
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You're an expert, obviously.
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You've had your own business.
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You've been in marketing for a long time.
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Um, what is front of mind for you right now?
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What do you want people to be thinking and talking about right now that's fresh?
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Well, you know, I suggested to you that we talk about AEO, GEO, you know- Yeah A, E, I, O, all the vowels.
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But since this show is called Marketers Managing-
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Yes… Anh Nguyen: I'm gonna make a pivot.
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Because as marketers, we have to manage a lot of things.
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And really, I wanna talk about marketers being collaborators and partners, especially being here at Content Marketing World.
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Yeah.
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It's like a family reunion to me.
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Yeah.
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I have gotten to know so many people, and I still keep coming back because of the community.
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Sure, yes, I learn stuff.
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Of course.
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But it is really the people- Yeah … and there, it's thousands of other marketers that you could essentially consider as your competitor-
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Yeah
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but I've never considered other marketers- Right … as my competitor.
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I've always considered them as collaborators, because as you and I both agree-
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Yeah… Anh Nguyen: there's plenty of There is.
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There's so many people.
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And there are so many different roles within the marketing, um, scope as well, and so I wanna talk about that- Yeah because I had a very bad experience recently.
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Mm.
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And it shocked me, because I truly had not had this happen with another marketing professional before.
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Yeah.
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And so, um, I live in the Dallas area, and I'm gonna name names.
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Is that okay to name names?
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Uh,
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you know what?
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This is your microphone.
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This is your time.
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Okay.
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We are going there.
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I'm gonna name names.
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Um, I usually don't name names, but I'm gonna do it today.
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So I was invited to be on a podcast called Good Neighbor, which is a little ironic, so remember that name.
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Um, one of my clients had submitted me as a potential guest, and I was honored and surprised, like, "Okay, cool, a podcast.
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I love being on podcasts." So I submitted all of my information, uh, my business name, I'm a marketing strategist, all the things, and I got a booking confirmation by the booking production assistant.
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And I got very generic questions asked- Yeah and I thought, "Okay, I get it.
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It's one of those types of-" Sure.
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So the day of, this, mind you, this had been two weeks since, um, I had submitted all my info, so there's two weeks' time span where they could've looked at all my information.
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And this is important because the day of the recording, I get on, set all my equipment up to be a good podcast host, podcast guest, excuse me.
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The podcast host comes on and says to me are you in marketing?
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Because if you are, w- I can't interview you." What?
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Ex-
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what?
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I- Why?
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… was shocked.
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I was- a- and for somebody to make me speechless- That's a lot.
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No … so it took me a minute or second, and I said Um, I submitted my information a couple weeks ago.
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Did you not see it?" She goes,"Oh, I've just been so busy.
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I haven't had a chance to look at any of that." One, that's so unprofessional.
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Would you ever show up at a podcast- No … not being prepared and knowing who your guest was?
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No, because listen, y'all, this is time.
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This, she is here for a 15-minute interview, and if you see the agenda for this conference, time is money.
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This is how you respect people.
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Yeah.
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And if they're going out on a limb to be a guest on your podcast, you respect that by giving them a great experience, and that does not sound like a good experience.
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No.
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I'm so sorry.
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Oh my gosh.
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So I said my business name is Amplified Marketing, so yeah, I guess," bum, bum, bum.
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All in
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the name, folks.
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I'm in marketing.
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All the words.
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So then I proceeded to ask, "Do you mind me asking why you would not- speak to another marketer.
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That's what we do and, and we do the same thing, and so I can't speak to you.
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Basically she considered other marketers, uh, their competitors.
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And she said, "That's just a decision that my business partner and I made." The wheels were spinning in my head, and my partner just happened to be in the other room, and he was like- "Oh, Lord.
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Oh, no" … "Oh, I can already hear this wheel spinning in Anh's head." And I said,"Well, one, this is very unprofessional.
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You wasted my time completely not being prepared, not-
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That's right
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not seeing all this information so you could have said, 'Hey, sorry.'"
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Yeah.
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Two, that is very shortsighted and stupid.
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Yes, I used that word.
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Yeah.
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Because in all of my time as a marketer, and in the 11 plus years of having my own business, I have never not collaborated with another marketer.
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Yeah.
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I have never not featured another marketer.
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You know, you've been on my shows- Yeah … on my livestreams.
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I am happy to support and feature and talk about and promote my marketing colleagues and friends because- Mm-hmm … again, that's what makes the world go round.
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Yeah.
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And everybody is not a good fit for everyone.
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That's right.
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And so I would rather say, "Hey, I'm not great at podcast production or media production, but my friend Rachel is, and she's got a company that does it," and refer someone over.
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Right.
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And so I wanted to share that because one, it was just such a horrible experience.
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Yeah.
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I know.
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I had- I was flabbergasted.
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I'd never had that experience before.
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So y'all, remember, Good Neighbor Podcast in the Dallas area- … if they reach out to y'all- Mm … just expect a so-so experience, and if you're a marketer, don't even.
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Yeah.
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And, um, so there.
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I would submit, I know she told you, "Well, we do the same thing." I'm gonna submit that you do not do the same thing.
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Exactly.
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And that's exactly what I thought in my head too because- I thought the same … I'm like, well, maybe you focus on social media and influencer marketing.
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I'm on the strategy side, and I work mostly with B2B companies.
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Yeah.
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So I have nothing to do with, like, the consumer side, and I've had plenty of folks come up to me and say, "Hey, we'd love to work with you.
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We do this." And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry.
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It's not my expertise.
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I would not be a good fit for you."
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Yeah.
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"But I have three other colleagues who would be."
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That's right.
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Well, and that's the thing, y'all.
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I mean, let's just look at yesterday.
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We met some new people yesterday.
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We were at, uh, a couple different gatherings where there's several different marketers.
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So many different specialties.
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I mean- Yes … it's a vast world.
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And so to just immediately say, "Oh, I'm sorry, you're disqualified," two weeks after you gave us information, that you cannot be on our show, that- it's just very shortsighted, and it does, it does feel very clutchy.
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And you're right.
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That is not the way to build business.
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And y'all know if you watch my podcast or, or follow me anywhere online, we get here because of our network.
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We get referrals, that's how we make money and that's how we do that.
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And so the network is the thing, I just think that's so shortsighted and so-
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Extremely shortsighted, and that's a great point because in my 11-plus years of having my business, do you know how I've gained all of my business, all my clients?
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Probably through referrals?
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Yes.
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Mm-hmm.
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Referrals- Yeah … with my community because I connected with other, um, marcom professionals, PR professionals- Yeah … marketing professionals who said, "Hey, Anh sounds like she'd be a good fit for your, what you need."
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Yeah.
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And vice versa.
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I've done the same thing, and it, and it's, mind you too, it's not tit for tat, right?
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Like, oh- Right … I sent one, and they should send me one.
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It is just, again, you're putting it out there, good karma, and I would rather do the right thing by a potential client- Mm-hmm … um, or someone who's looking for help- Yeah … than to say,"Oh, I'm gonna do it," and then not be the expert that they truly need.
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Exactly.
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No, I… And I appreciate that, but that's… Honestly, Anh, that's why it's so great you're here at Content Marketing World, but you're out in these networks and these feeds.
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Y'all should go connect with Anh because that is the kind of collaborator she is.
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If you, if she knows and recognizes, like, hey, you got value with what you offer, she will refer you, and she has, and I can vouch for that as well.
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But that's how we do this.
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That's how we make this a bigger pond.
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Mm-hmm.
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Uh, and that's how we all get better at this thing called marketing.
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And maybe someday you could have your own business that you've been successful at for 11-plus years, been in marketing for 25, and be like this woman, Anh Nguyen of Amplified Marketing.
00:11:07.744 --> 00:11:13.808
Anh, um, what, uh, any good plans you've got for the rest of this week here at Content Marketing World- Mm-hmm … aside from the amazing sessions and such?
00:11:14.232 --> 00:11:21.092
Yeah, just really reconnecting with folks- Yeah … and seeing friends, and I love the fact that it's here in Denver- Yay … and I get to hang with you extra.
00:11:21.278 --> 00:11:21.504
That's
00:11:21.505 --> 00:11:21.719
right.
00:11:21.721 --> 00:11:37.022
Um, and I'm looking forward to checking out the TMRE stuff, though, 'cause I'm very- Yeah … interested in data insights, I'm a little bit of a data nerd and how it can help to inform what you do- Yeah … and the strategy you create, so that's the stuff I'm ex- in- interested in, and then AI in action.
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AI in action.
00:11:38.197 --> 00:11:42.423
Yeah AI for sure, without data, we don't really do good marketing, so it's very important.
00:11:42.429 --> 00:11:48.186
But Anh, thanks so much for stopping by these microphones, and, uh, again, where can people find and follow you online?
00:11:48.567 --> 00:11:49.695
Thank you for having me.
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I am most active on LinkedIn.
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Mm-hmm.
00:11:52.489 --> 00:11:53.653
So find me there.
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It's AnhTNguyen170 is, uh, how you'll find me on LinkedIn, and also in, on Insta.
00:11:59.777 --> 00:12:01.270
But connect with me on LinkedIn.
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I love the space there and what it's become now.
00:12:03.964 --> 00:12:04.787
I, I do too.
00:12:04.788 --> 00:12:07.273
It's, it's been real… and you guys know I live on LinkedIn.
00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:15.062
So, uh, find us both there, but thanks so much again for joining us on this, uh, episode in the miniseries Marketers Managing right here on But Wait, There's Moore.
00:12:15.198 --> 00:12:15.679
Bye, y'all.
00:12:15.830 --> 00:12:16.404
Bye.