Ponderings From The Perch

Who here loves PowerPoint? Anyone… yeah, us too. On today’s episode of Ponderings from the Perch, a Little Bird Marketing Podcast, host Priscilla McKinney and guest Rob Biesenbach discuss how to captivate an audience beyond tech. With backgrounds in both business and acting, the latter of which he trained for at Second City in Chicago, Biesenbach understands the power of storytelling to captivate audiences and drive meaningful change, and firmly believes that traditional presentation methods like the aforementioned Death by PowerPoint and basic info dumps are no longer effective in engaging modern audiences. Specializing in business-to-business (B2B) strategies via peer-to-peer relationships, Biesenbach encourages individuals in business to craft compelling narratives that blend engaging topics with personal experiences that resonate deeply with their audience, fostering genuine connections and driving positive outcomes. "You're doing more than presenting information,” Riesenbach explains. “You are trying to

He’ll admit, Shawn Nason is a lot. He’s looking for leaders who are mavericks. He’s the founder and CEO of MOFI, a maverick-minded, human-obsessed boutique consulting firm that uses ethnographic research, journey mapping, human-centered design, experienced-based training, and design sprints to transform organizations. Shawn believes the only way to build a sustainable and thriving business is to put people first. As an experienced evangelist and experienced ecosystem designer, he unapologetically challenges leaders to blow up outdated, siloed systems and rebuild them with an aligned, human-first approach. He states, “If you put the human experience first in business you will get the numbers you need.” He helps companies realize the tangible benefits of this commitment: employee retention staying relevant in business significant revenue growth regaining hope for what the business experience could be He and Priscilla talk about the state of leadership and how our culture creates the expectation that it wi

ROI & KPIs, MQLs& SQLs… The acronyms in marketing never stop. But the only KPI that really matters is that feeling you get when you’re exceeding revenue goals! At Little Bird Marketing, we’re overtly helpful, providing amazing resources and expertise like this lead generation funnel blog to provide important benchmarks for your work. What is also immensely helpful is knowing how to bring your sales and marketing departments together for a revenue generation WIN. No more listening to marketing blame sales for not closing leads or listening to sales say marketing doesn’t deliver quality leads. Instead, we’ll share our expertise on how to pass the baton successfully from marketing to sales in a way that creates predictable revenue generation. Our CEO and Momma Bird, Priscilla McKinney, hosts our very own Chief Revenue Officer, Stephanie Douglass, to discuss the important focus needed on that important hand-off that happens at the intersection of sales and marketing. Getting that baton handed off correctly and c

It’s time to quit thinking inside the box you’re creating for yourself. Our CEO and Momma Bird, Priscilla McKinney, loves advocating for women in business. Today, she pulls the curtain back to show the woman (and friend of hers) behind Harvest Insights, Alisa Hamilton. Her out of box business venture is a story every aspiring leader should hear. Alisa started Harvest Insights out of a need she saw to help overwhelmed research teams be able to siphon off some of their overflow work on an as-needed basis. She went out to focus group research companies to simply offer assistance, and her business organically grew from there. With her research training, the phrase “I’ve been in your shoes, let me help” brought the opportunity for brand building and delivering value to others. Great moderators provide a space for empathy and curiosity while engaging an audience. They break the ice by delivering a relaxed environment to discover the most accurate insights from the face-to-face focus group. As an experienced mode

Join Priscilla McKinney, CEO, and Momma Bird here at Little Bird Marketing as she gets down to the nitty-gritty of why our expertise in market research matters for better content, lead generation, and ultimately, revenue growth. So many market research firms hire a marketing agency only to spend the next 18 months explaining the difference between qual and quant, nuances in the competitive landscape, getting familiar with insights associations and organizations, and still not being any closer to gaining traction in terms of hitting revenue goals. To be of immediate significance as a content marketer in the insight industry, it is paramount to understand the variations of the buyers in the space. Any great marketing plan starts with creating meticulously detailed buyer personas that grasp the challenges, fears, aspirations, and frustrations of their ideal customers. Generic market research personas simply won't cut it, and success hinges on gaining granular insights into the target audience. A great marketing

In a world where survey respondents are basically sick and tired of doing all the work to TELL as screener about their behaviors, qualifications, demographics, and more just for the chance at participating in a survey, along comes Qrious Insight with their “always on” approach to passive data collection. In this episode, Priscilla McKinney, CEO and Momma Bird of Little Bird Marketing is joined by Andrew Moffatt, CEO and Co-Founder of Qrious Insight to discuss the future of dynamic brand tracking instead of static brand trackers. In their work with marketing and ad effectiveness, brands benefit from the aggregation of data they passively collect from panel members who opt in for continual tracking. This provides rich information about who they are, what they do, and how long they do it on their digital device in a wholly less intrusive manner than traditional survey models allow. Now, instead of searching for the potential respondent and asking them if they have, for example, seen a Domino’s ad in the last 30

We’ve had DEI 101, can we advance? It’s time for 201. Our CEO and Momma Bird, Priscilla McKinney loves advocating for women in business, and brought Kim “Kimfer” Flanery-Rye Founder & DEI and Culture Practitioner for Inclusion Equals to open the conversation for change. Inclusion Equals is a social enterprise focused on the IDEA: Inclusion = Diversity + Equity + Accessibility to build culture from the inside out. Entrepreneurial in spirit, creatively minded, and service at heart, Kimfer is a seasoned professional with 20+ years of experience with a diverse background in design, digital marketing, and organizational and leadership development, just to name a few. She is also an Adjunct Professor teaching Creativity and Innovation for MBA students and has her MBA in Executive Leadership. She speaks locally, nationally, and globally and has most recently spoken at the 2022 and 2023 World Economic Forum regarding the importance of women on boards and what it means for women to have power, authority, and agency.

So, you want to write a book? Is the idea becoming a burden because you can just see a way forward to getting it done? In the true spirit of “always be helping” (ABH), our Momma Bird and CEO of Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney pulls the curtain back and talks about her experience hiring a scribe to complete her book. The most important first step is to get clarity about WHY you MUST write your book. Are you looking for new clients? Want opportunities for public speaking? Want some street cred to increase your speaking fees? No matter what the goal is, it’s important to understand how a book can support broader professional and personal goals. She gives great advice about how to take book ideas and make them a reality by looking clearly at book title ideas, evaluating the topics, goals for writing a book, the need for considering the audience and getting the right structure in place to turn that book idea into a published book. You may have a lot of great book ideas floating around in your head, but g

It’s here! Get ready for tidings and good cheer…it’s the 8th Annual Holiday Spectacular! Spectacular! The Peeps won’t be baking any treats this year, but we do have quite a few treats (and tricks) up our sleeve for you. Which holiday are we celebrating again?  Little Bird Marketing is – as you may know – a marketing company. This year we’re covering something near and dear to our hearts…holiday marketing! While we don’t really do holiday marketing we can all appreciate a good holiday commercial. Walk down nostalgia boulevard as the Peeps spill on the best gift they’ve ever received and whether or not marketing influenced it. Play along with us on not one, but TWO holiday marketing trivia quizzes!  We close out the episode with a fireside chat you won’t want to miss. Who doesn’t love a little Mad Men-esque holiday marketing ploy?  This time of year is plenty busy, so take a brain break with the Peeps. Reminisce on your favorite childhood toys and let nostalgia take hold as we discuss the best holiday marke

Q: How did Microsoft Office get so famous? A: Word of mouth. Now, how did Microsoft Office improve its products using user experience research to satisfy customers and improve retention? No more dad jokes here. That’s a serious question for Joanna Jones with InterQ Research. CEO of Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney, welcomes Joanna to this podcast episode on Ponderings from the Perch. Joanna founded InterQ Research, a full-service qualitative and quantitative research firm headquartered in San Francisco. InterQ specializes in the tech industry. She has used user experience research, in-depth interviews, ethnographies, biometrics, Jobs To Be Done, social listening, and quantitative surveys to help clients like Delta Air Lines, Audi, Microsoft, Disney, Google, and Salesforce. When tech companies need to understand what’s next in B2B lead generation, product and innovation and so much more, they have tapped into this female-founded and run company. Joana shares that finding quality respondents is the

Roll out the red carpet and act as paparazzi for those you admire in the business world; It’s time to start collaborating! CEO of Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney, is joined by content strategy expert, and good friend, Andy Crestodina to discuss the power behind collaboration. If you know Andy, you know he is helpfulness incarnate! In this episode, he’s doling out secrets to driving growth in content creation by finding ways to help others. Andy has been in the web design and interactive marketing space for more than two decades.  He has helped thousands of people get results online. He’s a true evangelist for content marketing and ethical digital marketing. Together with the team at Orbit Media, Andy has put out some of the best digital marketing advice available in hundreds of practical articles, including posts on virtually all of the top marketing websites.  Andy finds success when focusing on the success of others. While business leaders must find new growth strategies, there is plenty of roo

A few questions from the CEO of Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney about your current marketing plan template: - When you think about your marketing efforts, is it strategic? - Have you defined and written down your goals and objectives? - How are you holding your marketing efforts accountable? - Are your marketing efforts repeatable? When we sit down to do something, it's easy to have the mindset of just getting it done. We get hung up on the daily hustle and bustle of marketing efforts. But marketing goals are not achieved with random busy work. Getting the RIGHT work done is the key to success. Leaders should ask themselves if they have been clear about the goals and objectives of their work. Tasks need to have alignment with the overall campaign and inbound marketing strategy. If a junior staff member can’t explain the goals of the work in alignment with the strategy, there needs to be a shift in connecting tasks with desired outcomes. Also, you can’t get where you’re going if you aren’t c

Don’t get caught sending an email to Gen Z expecting them to take your survey. They won’t see it in their inbox of 5,735 unread messages. CEO of Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney, welcomes Jennifer Reid, Co-CEO and Chief Methodologist at Rival Group, to discuss how to best engage with Generation Z for market research. Jennifer is an expert in Gen Z engagement, specifically the ability to connect with younger generations for the purpose of consumer understanding and insights that move brands forward. As with any generation, trust and transparency are important frameworks from which to operate to get dynamic insights, but with this generation, they are paramount. Jennifer works with teams to help them successfully engage with this important pool of respondents. Her advice? When trying to reach GenZ to participate in market research, we should ask ourselves if we’re using the wrong channel, have the wrong tone of voice, are using the wrong format or are asking the wrong question. According to Jennifer,

Feel like you’re becoming irrelevant and lost in the industry? In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, CEO and Momma Bird at Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney, is joined by Nancie McDonnell Ruder, an experienced marketing strategist, branding consultant and consumer researcher. As Founder and CEO of Noetic, a Marketing and Leadership Consulting Firm, Nancie shares the issues marketers face and the steps to move past old thinking and onto new strategies. Marketers today are confronted with challenges that demand constant vigilance. The fear of losing resonance with target audiences due to evolving trends and dynamic consumer behavior is a perpetual concern.  It’s easy to go at these new problems with old solutions. People get comfortable with what they are confident in and don’t want things to change. We all have feelings about what we are and aren’t good at. Even when we should find new digital marketing tools, reconsider our content strategy or rethink our media planning, we stay with the kn

What do the greatest research minds share when brought together? If you’re experiencing a serious case of FOMO because you didn’t make it or are just wondering what everyone else was talking about while you were there, we bring you the Insights Association Corporate Researcher's Conference in a nutshell. When it comes to market research, consumer insights, shopper insights, survey sample fraud, focus groups, UX and CX, mock juries, what AI can do in the industry, and what the heck a synthetic respondent is, we have you covered.  Hear it all right from these research pros: Melanie Courtright - Chief Executive Officer at Insights Association. Listen to our episode with Melanie, MRX Mavericks: Protecting and Serving the Industry with Melanie Courtright Andrew Cannon - Co-Founder of EQJOY, and Executive Director at GRBN. Listen to our episode with Andrew, Fostering a Life of Joy with Debby Schlesinger-Hellman and Andrew Cannon Andrew Seinfeld - Innovation Ambassador at Appinio. Carlos Hevia - Business Deve

Spending too much money on in-person events? Experiencing FOMO when you don’t go to an industry conference?  Struggling to get a return on investment from your trade show booth?  You are not alone.  Today, on Ponderings from the Perch, CEO and Momma Bird at Little Bird Marketing, Priscilla McKinney, delivers the tried and true maxim for in-person events: “What you put into it is what you’ll get out of it.” She outlines tips to make the most of your experience during the next conference…should you choose to go! Time and money are lost when business leaders and execs don’t take full advantage of the conference season with tools for networking or when companies invest a lot of money but not enough time planning. Planning ahead seems like a simple mandate, but it is amazing how many plan a lot of details but little strategy to get the most out of the time and budget!  Also, planning HOW your team will participate is critical, and Priscilla shares networking tips and how to hold teams accountable for outcomes

Q: Who do you call if your insights are taking you to Japan?  A: Myth-busting Japanese culture expert Dominic Carter and his team. Today, our CEO and Momma Bird, Priscilla McKinney, welcomes a good friend and experienced researcher, Dominic Carter, Representative Director and CEO of The Carter Group. Originally from Australia, where he was educated and started his career, Dominic has lived and worked in Japan since 1999. He has launched and nurtured several successful businesses in the market on his own account and worked as a key consultant on numerous large-scale launches and business expansions for his clients, which include some of the largest names in the world. His professional focus is the translation of cultural and customer insights into effective strategies for market entrants and established players. Brands looking to expand to the Japanese market need researchers and recruiters who know and understand both them and the Japanese people. The Carter Group has professionals who can bridge the gap b

You have been questioned. The marketing and market research industries have been challenged. But what if we had the courage to face them boldly? Join Priscilla McKinney, CEO and Momma Bird, here at Little Bird Marketing as she welcomes inspirational and aspirational colleague Eileen Campbell. With an amazing amount of experience in the industry and a finger on the pulse of what the change makers are thinking about today, she shares her insightful perspective about what conversations we should be having for better outcomes, including: How do we help our clients grow their business? How do we start moving at a faster pace that is more in alignment with the pace of business? How do we increase the amount of value we bring to the C-suite table for better decision-making? How do we clarify the voice of the consumer to the stakeholders? As we continue to partner with businesses to help them face their most pressing challenges, we all can start asking better questions of each other. Eileen underscores that she

What level of energy is needed to produce h@!y sh!t level of insights? Let’s just ask the? Verve team! Today, Priscilla McKinney chats with Alex Charlton, the SVP at Verve North America, a global insights consultancy. The conversation delved into how Verve approaches marketing, consumer insights, and market research in a rapidly changing post-pandemic world. Unlike traditional agencies, Verve boasts a team of experts from behavioral scientists to tech experts, data scientists to cultural experts, all working collaboratively. This integrated approach synthesizes complex challenges more effectively to deliver a usable understanding of how culture and other unwritten rules and beliefs are driving consumer sentiment and behavior. Alex emphasizes that technology should solve problems, not create them. The team and leaders at Verve North America know that in this digital age, it’s vital to be a modern insights agency that leverages a wide range of tools and techniques to understand consumer behavior. And while

John C. Maxwell famously said, “If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.” True dat. In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, our CEO, Priscilla McKinney and Tony D’Amato, a dedicated leader with over 20 years of marketing experience, discuss challenges and opportunities in the marketing ecosystem – from brand awareness to digital transformation.  Tony emphasizes the importance of understanding and valuing the customer experience, which he has plenty of experience with! As the Senior Manager of Experiential Marketing and Public Relations at 3M, he spent 21 years living and breathing all things CX in the automotive appearance industry. Now leading his own consulting firm, this expertise can guide brands looking for a deep connection to their customers.  He enters into conversations daily where companies have reached a point of reassessing marketing strategies neglected during high-growth phases. These issues can range from underinvestment in marke