Brenda
Welcome to another episode of Little Talks, your weekly dose of marketing news and insights from Littlefield Agency.
Sam
Welcome back to another edition of Little Toxic Little Series. I'm Sam Littlefield. With me is Roop and Joy. Joy, welcome to the studio. Clapping, clapping. There we are. Joy is in the house. Joy has been with us for ten months. I thought it was six, but it’s ten. Roop thinks it’s longer. It’s actually ten. Yeah. And is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Sam
So Joy goes by Joy, and about two weeks ago, she got a new nickname of Yeager Meister Joy. Any thoughts there?
Joy
In there right away?
Sam
Absolutely. Gloves are off. Welcome to the pod, Joy. Is this your first podcast?
Joy
Sure. What?
Sam
She's in. First half, we’re 30 seconds in, and it's a disaster. Secondly, we are the trio, the three amigos, the three best friends that anyone could ever have. The three Bostonians. Because we all endured three days of HubSpot together.
Roop
Was it 3 or 4?
Sam
Tuesday through Friday. Yeah. You guys left? Yeah, we left early. So Joy’s here for a special reason because you guys got to hear the 30,000ft view of our HubSpot experience. We're actually going to dive into some of Joy's favorite sessions, which we’re really excited to hear in a little bit.
Sam
But Joy, could you give a quick overview of who you are? They obviously know that you've been here for ten months. What you do. And a fun fact.
Sam
I've got some fun quotes from Joy. Don’t read on my phone. Let’s go ahead, Joy.
Joy
Senior Manager, Client Engagement here at Littlefield. But I've been in and out of agency life for… Gosh, do I have to say that? Years.
Sam
Say it. 20. By the way, she's only 35, which is pretty cool. She’s just really smart.
Joy
Started working at the age of 12. Went out on my own for a little bit, and then Littlefield opportunity dropped in my lap.
Sam
Tell our listeners. I get goosebumps every time I hear this story.
Joy
I have a connection with Scott PD at Ditch Witch. I actually used to work for him. And hadn’t seen him in almost 15 years.
Sam
It had been 15?
Joy
Yes. Scott introduced me to Sam. After many conversations, Scott was like, "You've got to work with this guy." He connected us. We had a conversation and…
Roop
I like how she buries the part where we worked together also.
Sam
We did actually. Dude, that's truly what she thinks of that! I’ve never seen Scott PD’s vertical leap higher than when he jumped out of that chair to go give Joy a hug. We were at Bar Serra. You remember that? That's pretty cool. I mean, he was so excited. Just loves Joy. And he called me two weeks later when we launched this position, and he said, “Hey, do you want the best account structure that I’ve ever worked with? Call this lady.”
Joy
Feeling's mutual.
Sam
Yeah, it’s been awesome. Ten months later. So, some of the brands that you worked with when you were on your own, doing your own digital work. The name of your company was like Joy Holder Consulting? Jagermeister Inc.? What were some of the brands that you worked with in Tulsa?
Joy
I worked with a lot of clients in Utica Square. One was Superfood Café, which…
Roop
That's my jam.
Sam
That’s your jam, dude.
Roop
They know me by first name.
Sam
Every day, Steve?
Joy
Am I giving you my inside menu there?
Roop
Oh, I heard there’s an awesome energy drink.
Joy
There's a Joy there.
Sam
Shut the front door. There's a Joy? What’s in it?
Roop
I don’t know. Someone was telling me about it last week.
Joy
It’s the yowza, which is on the menu.
Sam
Technically, the sexy yowza.
Joy
Technically, the sexy yowza. So, it’s cold brew and blueberry.
Sam
Oh, dude. And if you want a sexy Joy, add a shot of Jager. Perfect.
Joy
Never. No. Oh, my gosh.
Sam
I am so sorry. Oh, Brian, I want to… Okay, all right.
Roop
We had a quick cut because Joy had her headphones on backwards.
Sam
Yeah, I thought something was off over here.
Joy
You guys set me up.
Sam
For extra COVID fun, we’re back at it. So, to cut to the chase here, Roop, Joy has had some awesome experiences. We’re going to pick her brain on all things inbound. But before we do that, we have a whole crew out in Jenks shooting a really cool company called Grasshopper Mowers.
Sam
Look at that. Do you know who that is?
Roop
Who is that?
Sam
Holding a really nice towel.
Roop
It’s like a golf towel.
Sam
Yeah, but the material is incredible.
Roop
It’s got a four-color print on it.
Sam
And it says hashtag mode. We’ve got a shoot out there today and tomorrow. It’s fun being out there this morning. And now we talk all things inbound.
Sam
So Joy, you’re with us for two and a half days of content. Walk us through. Last week, as you definitely listened to the podcast and heard our three top takeaways, let’s dive into 2 or 3 of your favorite sessions and kind of tell our listeners any takeaways, insights, nuggets of information.
Joy
Okay, well, one of my favorite sessions I attended was the influencer marketing session.
Sam
Which Roop and I did not attend.
Roop
This is exclusive to Joy.
Joy
That was super fun. You know, one of the things we heard in the first session, I believe, was people want to connect with people, not brands. And that’s one of the reasons influencer marketing works. And in the session I attended, I learned two new terms. One is narrative transportation.
Sam
Holy mother. Okay, that means…?
Roop
I know what the individual words mean.
Sam
Yeah, take us on this journey.
Joy
Narrative transportation is when you’re watching a movie and you put yourself in the story. So, it’s why you get scared, or why some people cry at movies.
Sam
There’s a good rom-com that makes me tear up.
Joy
Narrative transportation is putting yourself in the story. So when we use influencer marketing, we tend to put ourselves in their story, and that’s why it’s so important to pick influencers that we trust. When we buy media, we control the narrative. But with influencers, you don’t get to control that narrative. So this session talked a lot about how you really can’t give influencers a script or tell them, “Hey, say x, y, z about my brand.” You need to let them write the script and be authentic to their audience.
Sam
I love that insight. Well, we actually have a client that we’re about to launch an influencer program for, so I’m assuming you’ve told Brock and Chelsea about this. Very nice.
Joy
So the opposite of narrative transportation—take a guess?
Roop
Quiet.
Joy
No. So close. It’s incoherence.
Sam
Holy smokes.
Joy
Incoherence is when the viewer pulls out of the narrative. It happens when an influencer says something that feels off, and the audience feels it’s not trustworthy or relevant to what they’re used to from that influencer. So they pull out of the story.
Sam
I love that.
Joy
You're really buying the trust they've built with their audience.
Sam
Yeah, totally. So, what was session number two?
Joy
We all went to this one—the email teardown session, which you referenced last week.
Joy
I thought our listeners would be interested in these two takeaways. First, include a "P.S." and repeat the offer in it.
Sam
Yes, your eyes go straight to the P.S.
Joy
Right. It increases your offer’s effectiveness by 14%.
Sam
That makes sense. It’s a great reminder.
Joy
Second, the first email you send is the most important. Usually, the confirmation email is the first thing the customer sees from your brand. It shouldn’t be overlooked.
Sam
Totally. That’s a great point.
Joy
Here’s another: if you include more than four lines of text, your read rates go way down.
Roop
You might be okay if it’s broken up into shorter paragraphs.
Sam
Right, yeah. Breaking it up is key.
Joy
Exactly. I also loved how they said to test emojis in subject lines. I used to think they were hokey, but apparently, they work.
Sam
Emojis definitely catch your eye. And for something like St. Patrick’s Day, guess what emoji was in every email? Shamrock! But using something unexpected can make your email stand out.
Roop
Exactly. Like using a Christmas tree on St. Patrick’s Day to create curiosity.
Joy
Oh, and speaking of trends, the most trending word in subject lines right now is "ghosting."
Sam
Yes, that’s right! It was trending big-time in the session.
Sam
Okay, session three?
Joy
This was Erickson’s session. He talked about SEO and search trends, and it was super insightful. One thing that stuck with me: people might buy from you, but they stay for the community. I loved that.
Sam
Yes!
Joy
It's a reminder that social interaction and creating community is still vital in today’s digital landscape.
Roop
Exactly. Tech is important, but it’s not a replacement for real human connection.
Joy
They also talked about how younger generations, like Claudia’s, are using TikTok and ChatGPT to search, rather than Google.
Sam
I love that you mentioned SEO because Neil Patel’s session talked about search everywhere optimization. It’s not just Google anymore.
Joy
Exactly! YouTube is exploding, and if you’re not on there, you’re missing out.
Sam
And Mr. Beast is a great example. He’s dominating YouTube!
Joy
Yep, largest YouTuber ever. His mom kicked him out for focusing too much on YouTube, and now look at him!
Sam
He’s doing just fine. How much is he making? Like, $20+ million?
Roop
He’s young too, mid-20s. Just incredible.
Sam
Okay, rating for that session?
Joy
A solid 8.
Sam
Nice! Do you have a half-session takeaway?
Joy
I do. One takeaway from LinkedIn ads—don’t go with maximum delivery. It’s the most expensive option, and manual delivery is usually much cheaper and more effective.
Roop
Yeah, platforms always default to what benefits them most, not you.
Joy
Exactly! It was a great session for tips and tricks.
Sam
Okay, you heard it here—three and a half takeaways from Joy! Thanks so much for being with us. We’ll see you all next week!
Brenda
And that's a wrap. We hope you’ve enjoyed our little chat and found ways to grow your own marketing strategies. Remember to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and follow us on social media at Littlefield Agency.