The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Podcast

The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Podcast

Discover how to increase your online visibility, drive more qualified traffic to your site, and convert that traffic into leads and business! AOC comes to you weekly with expert interviews on SEO, social media, lead generation, AI, neuromarketing, and everything you need to grow your business online and off. Listed as a top podcast for owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs from sites such as Inc., Entrepreneur, and hundreds of other marketing and business websites, this is the podcast that will make a difference to your bottom line. Subscribe today!

Episodes

November 5, 2025 41 mins

If you've ever wondered why some marketing messages stick while others vanish faster than your last new year's resolution, you're not alone. The problem isn't that you're bad at messaging—it's that you're only talking to half your audience's brain. Message designer Tamsen Webster returns to the show to explain why speaking to both the analytical and automatic brain is the difference between messages that get ignored and ones people...

Mark as Played

Look, I get it. You've got a modest marketing budget, and every time you hear about Google Ads, you think: "That's for the big players with deep pockets." But here's the thing: paid search can absolutely work for small budgets—you just can't play by the same rules as enterprise brands throwing around unlimited cash. Brooke Osmundson, Director of Growth Marketing at Smith Microsoftware, joined me to break down exactly how small busi...

Mark as Played

You know that sinking feeling when you realize your carefully crafted content sounds exactly like everyone else's? (Yeah, me too.) Here's the uncomfortable truth: expertise has been commodified. You can share everything you know, and it still won't be enough to stand out because a hundred other voices are saying the same thing—just maybe with different GIFs. Jay Acunzo spent years building a speaking career without a book, without ...

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You've got brilliant ideas rattling around in your head. Your process works. Your approach gets results. But when someone asks what makes you different, you stumble through an explanation that sounds like everyone else's pitch. Here's the thing: the difference between "yeah, I do marketing" and becoming the go-to expert isn't just what you know—it's how you package it. Melanie Deziel has built her reputation helping speakers, coach...

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Small budgets and Google Ads don't have to be enemies. Andy Janaitis, founder of PPC Pitbulls, has spent over a decade proving that point by helping founder-led brands and e-commerce businesses grow past seven figures without breaking the bank. His engineering background brings a refreshingly technical (but not overwhelming) approach to paid advertising that cuts through the noise and gets straight to what actually works. Today, we...
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You're spending money on Facebook ads, and after a week, you see barely any sales coming through. Naturally, you think Facebook is a bust and pull the plug. But what if those ads were actually working—just not in the way you expected? That's exactly what happened to a Maine lobster company that almost wrote off Facebook as useless after spending $4,000 and seeing only one $200 sale. Turns out, they were actually breaking even withi...
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After 600 episodes of interviewing digital marketing experts, I've learned a thing or two about efficiency and workflow. What started as a solo endeavor has evolved into a streamlined workflow that leverages AI, remote production teams, internal teams, and a not-so-virtual assistant—from guest vetting to social media promotion. Whether you're thinking about starting a podcast or just want to see how AI can transform your content cr...
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If you've been feeling overwhelmed by the constant changes in Facebook and Pinterest advertising, you're not alone. Between iOS updates killing our targeting superpowers and algorithms that seem to change faster than a toddler's mood, it's enough to make any marketer want to throw in the towel. But here's the thing: while the platforms have evolved, the opportunities haven't disappeared—they've just shifted. Today's guest, Karen Ne...
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AI is everywhere - and soon every business will have access to the same tools. What will set you apart is the human touch. Jay Baer shares why adding back small, meaningful moments of connection can become your strongest competitive advantage in a world where AI is just table stakes. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/598

 

Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://w...

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Most small business owners treat their Google Business Profile like it's some afterthought—maybe they fill out the name and address and call it good. But here's the thing: your Google Business Profile is basically the homepage of your business online. It's often the first impression potential customers get, and it's your ticket to showing up in those coveted top three map pack results. My guest today, Greg Gifford from SearchLab, h...
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Your customers aren't making decisions the way you think they are. They're not carefully weighing pros and cons or conducting rational cost-benefit analyses. Instead, they're relying on mental shortcuts—psychological triggers that happen so fast they don't even realize it's happening. Richard Shotton has spent over two decades studying these invisible forces, and in this episode, he reveals how small businesses can harness the same...
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You know that feeling when you hear "link building" and immediately think of sketchy tactics that'll get your site penalized? Yeah, me too. But here's the thing—while the spammy guest posting networks got nuked by Google's helpful content updates, the smart marketers pivoted to something way more sustainable: digital PR. My guest today, Vince Nero from BuzzStream, spent years at agencies like Siege Media figuring out what actually ...
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Nina Clapperton went from hating her job as an estate law clerk to building a seven-figure business through SEO—and she did it by completely ignoring what most "experts" tell you to do. Instead of chasing algorithms and obsessing over backlinks, she focused on something revolutionary: actual humans. Her audience-first approach to SEO has helped her grow blogs to 50,000 sessions in six months and scale to six-figure monthly income. ...
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Most business owners hit publish and immediately start planning their victory lap. But here's the uncomfortable truth: pressing publish isn't the finish line—it's barely the starting gun. Ross Simmonds, founder of Foundation and Distribution.ai, has built his career on what happens after you hit that button. In our conversation, he breaks down why your best content is probably gathering digital dust and shares his surprisingly simp...
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Email marketing isn't dead—it's just been sleeping on the couch while you've been chasing the latest social media trends. While everyone's panicking about Instagram going down or TikTok's latest algorithm changes, smart marketers know there's one channel that nobody can take away from you: your email list. Today's guest, Jessica Best, has spent over 15 years proving that email isn't just alive—it's got superpowers that make every o...
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What if the key to growing your business isn't doing more, but listening more? Georgiana Laudi, co-author of Forget the Funnel, explains how customer-led growth flips the script on traditional marketing by using real customer insight to guide strategy, improve onboarding, and uncover the moments that truly move the needle. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/591 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out t...
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Most small business owners think earning media coverage is about luck or having the right connections. The truth? It's about understanding that journalists are humans with preferences, deadlines, and pet peeves—and treating them accordingly. PR maven Nancy Marshall has spent 35 years building relationships with journalists, from local Maine reporters to Al Roker from the Today Show. Her approach isn't about flashy pitches or aggres...
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If you've ever stared at a Google Analytics dashboard wondering what the heck all those numbers actually mean for your business, you're not alone. Most small business owners are drowning in data but starving for insights. They've got conversion rates of 100% (because they're tracking page views as conversions), bounce rates that mean nothing, and reports they never actually look at. That's exactly why I was excited to sit down with...
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What if everything we've been taught about brand positioning is backwards? While most businesses scramble to cast themselves as the hero swooping in to save the day, conversion optimization expert Brian Massey argues there's real power in embracing your inner villain. Not the mustache-twirling, world-destroying kind of villain—but the purposeful antagonist who sees something wrong with the world and has the audacity to change it. I...
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For many marketers GA4 isn't exactly the analytics platform we were hoping for when Google forced us to make the switch. But while everyone's been complaining about GA4, some smart marketers have figured out how to actually make it work for them. That's exactly what Dana DiTomaso has done. As a digital analytics expert who teaches at the University of Alberta and has helped over 170,000 learners through her LinkedIn Learning course...
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