We're back for a special episode! Big thanks to Kirk Williams of Zato Marketing for joining Nicole and Jon. In this episode of Shape the Conversation, Kirk provides his perspective as a PPC agency owner and we (Nicole and Jon) compare it to our experience running a SaaS company in the same space. Kirk talks through how he thinks about providing val…

Nicole and Jon have been in the business of PPC Management Software for many years and know all of the in and outs, dos and don'ts associated with choosing the right platform for your PPC agency. Nicole and Jon cover topics like: What is and isn't PPC Management Software The difference between reporting software and management software All manageme…

On this episode of Shape the Conversation we invited the great, Michael Mack, into our set to tell us all about his new LinkedIn post titled, "Accountability & Freedom". Michael and Jon cover topics like: What does it mean to be accountable The will to wanting to make a change How to own your own accountability How to be happy with who you are Goal…

Every day users are seeing hundreds of ads while they play apps. There is no saying how many of the ads that are seen are fake or real. A BuzzFeed article, written by Craig Silverman, sheds some light on one major act of ad fraud that resulted in millions of dollars being stolen from advertisers. In this episode of 'Shape the Conversation' Nicole a…

You have an amazing new idea. No one has ever done anything like this before. But can you get it in front of anyone to get validation that it is that great of an idea? Is anyone searching Google for the solution you’ve created? Nicole and Jon have had to tackle this challenge before and have some advice for creating digital ad campaigns when search…

We believe an important first step to any project is to have a clear vision of who your customers will be and what problem they will solve your solution. Knowing this will help you set appropriate goals and build solutions that actually get used once they exist. Nicole and Jon went in-depth on: How knowing your target market can be invaluable to he…

Jon is a big fan of Steve Blank and his concept of “getting out of the building” to talk with your customers. Routine conversations with your customers can strangely be one of the toughest habits to maintain. people are busy. Once a month or even once a quarter may seem like too much of a commitment for some. But, these conversations are extremely …

LinkedIn Should be on the short list of consideration for any marketers selling a B2B product. The combination of an exploding audience and rapidly improving ad targeting options is driving a lot more advertisers to consider investing in the platform. We love that you can target a specific list of emails or LinkedIn profiles with campaigns and have…

As Nicole puts it, the ultimate threat to most companies is 'losing the eyeballs'. This is especially true for networks like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn which command huge percentages of people's attention. These networks build features and new tools to grab more of people's attention. And it's working. LinkedIn has seen an explosion of activity …

We highly recommend you read through Raskin's writing on LinkedIn to pull out all the nuance for yourself. But in our eyes his post, "The Greatest Sales Pitch I've Seen All Year" is the place to start. Nicole and Jon broke down the 5 elements to a crafting a powerful story for your product/company/service according to Raskin which are: #1 Start wit…

With an emphasis on empathy, vulnerability and transparency Rand's writing style allows readers to see the good, the bad and the ugly of his experience. Rand is undoubtedly one of the pivotal figures in modern digital marketing. Moz's early success set them on a path of raising ~$30 million dollars from venture capitalists and forever changing the …

People seem predisposed to resist advertising and marketing because they don't want to feel manipulated. People also tend to lump all advertising in with the worst advertising they are exposed to. Nicole and Jon dug into people's relationship to advertising/marketing and covered topics like: - How Jon believes people don't hate advertising, they ha…

Nicole and Jon covered a bunch of ways to improve the communication channels and influence you have over the management of your company including: The importance of knowing your boss's motivations and goals when pitching them an idea. The importance of knowing your boss's personality to craft a pitch. Why you should invite yourself to meetings wher…

Under Julie Harrelson's leadership, Cascade Angels has become a go to place for early stage companies looking seed funding in the Northwest. It's no mystery as to why. Julie and her investors have a reputation for being extremely founder friendly during the pitching process. In this episode, we dig into what it is like to pitch a room full of inves…

Facebook has undergone scrutiny and allegations regarding their business and Nicole and Jon cover many topics around them like: The congressional hearings and Zuckerberg's message to congress about advertising The "core" of Facebook's revenue How Facebook has successfully monetized Instagram and WhatsApp The influence of bots on the ad ecosystem Ke…

Michael talked in depth about how he views growth, marketing and competition. The reality is, "If you don't grow, you die in the beer business." - Michael LaLonde, CEO, Deschutes Brewery The status quo isn't an option for Deschutes and craft brewers like them. But, finding ways to continue to build a brand and invest in marketing when attribution i…

Michael talked about how he found his way to Bend and a lot of the core values that make Deschutes Brewery tick. He believes deeply that, "When an individual works for a company and they can have an impact on that company they are much happier." - Michael LaLonde, CEO, Deschutes Brewery How He Got his First Job with Deschutes Despite the "worst int…

In this episode, Nicole and Jon cover a bunch of topics surrounding Google/Alphabet including: Jon's blog post, "Still the Best Analogy for Google's Business Model I've Ever Heard." (Here is Jon's self proclaimed 'heroic tweet' about it) They talked through a Business Insider article breaking down Alphabet's Q2 earnings Nicole's ongoing frustration…

In this episode, Jon and Michael go through three defining events in Michael's career and how they demonstrate his core beliefs. Event #1 - Leaving Bain to Found a Company In his 30's, Michael made the decision to leave his consulting job at Bain to do something radically different: open up restaurants. It was the 80's and he believed American soci…

It's common to hear there are ‘riches in niches’. But you should be on the lookout for signs that indicate maybe you should look beyond whatever niche you find yourself in. Jon and Nicole talked through some of the indicators there might be good reasons to venture out: Your niche is limiting your growth potential in painful way. Your niche is at ri…

Happy Independence week! In 1776, America made a big decision that changed history. In this episode, Nicole and Jon covered how to think through making big changes that will influence your personal history. Along the way they talked about: The risks and perceived risks that come with making big career changes. Is there anyway to know if you are tru…

Jon and Nicole talk about how they define the different types of chatbots and the massive changes that may be ahead as chatbots become even more prevalent. Chatbots as a whole new realm of conversion rate optimization (CRO) Are forms dead? Chatbot design and how it mirrors landing page optimization in many ways Could chatbots complete replace websi…

There has been a lot written about voice search but one of the most well thought out points-of-view we have read is Ian Lurie's article, "Beware: Voice Search Isn't That Exciting." We highly recommend reading Lurie's work before listening to this episode where we touch on his thoughts and more: "genuine" vs "non-genuine" voice searches voice search…

Mary Meeker's 2018 Internet Trends Report. Jon and Nicole cover the top 20 most interesting slides according to them. Click the links to follow along: Follow along using the the original slides: Internet Trends 2018 Follow along with our YouTube video that syncs with the audio of this episode: Shape's YouTube Reach out to us with any ideas, questio…

Managing your stress and emotion is one of the most important things you do during your workday. Not reacting in the moment to every good or bad event gives you space to make better decisions. But it's not easy when things get tough. Jon and Nicole cover topics such as: How it can be frustrating to restrain your emotions at all times The challenges…

Making decisions about what NOT to do can be harder than deciding what TO do. Jon and Nicole cover topics like: Being okay with the things you do and don't do What Shape does and doesn't do with our marketing What Shape does and doesn't do with our product What Shape does and doesn't do with our sales process Why you do not need to do everything to…

There are good problems to have and then there are bad problems to have in the business world. Jon and Nicole recognize the problems that they faced when starting a company and talk about topics like: Differentiating good problems from bad problems How to properly address bad problems How to build off of good problems Taking a problem and turning i…

Getting your first customer can be the largest hurtle when starting company. Nicole and Jon know this challenge all too well and cover topics like: how to market a brand new company making your product 'free'/offering a 'free trial' overcoming early mistakes satisfying investors without making fast sales when to publicly announce your product the i…

Going from team member to team manager can be tricky. Nicole and Jon have both gone through it and cover topics like: - is 'management' even right for you? - signs you might be ready for management - ways to gain the confidence of your team - making delegation decisions - having 1 to 1's - the body language of a leader - and more... Best advice we …

This is a new podcast from shape.io. In the upcoming episodes we'll be talking about our experiences building a SaaS business in Bend, Oregon, the future of digital advertising, talking to some great guests and more. Don't hesitate to reach out. Nicole's email: nicole@shape.io Jon's email: jon@shape.io…