One to One: the Conversational Marketing Podcast Spectrm.io

In this episode, Ben speaks to Leah Sushelsky, Director Of Communications and Public Relations at GlassesUSA.com. During the episode, they share about the importance of providing a seamless experience for customers, and using technology and data to anticipate customer needs and drive personalization efforts.
Topics discussed:
Leah’s history in brand management, and what connecting with customers looks like when in-house with a brand.
What the current state of consumer marketing is, and what customers are looking for in a relationship with a brand.
How to use user-friendly technology — like AI for virtual try-on and a frame finder quiz — to drive personalization efforts for their customers.
How GlassesUSA.com is driving customer acquisition through a variety of channels, including social media, influencers, and their newsletter.
Why using data to drive decisions for improved personalization and increased customer engagement is the most exciting trend in marketing today.
Advice for consumer marketers on how to anticipate customer needs and integrate personalization techniques to improve engagement.
What the future of consumer marketing is, and why it requires both adapting to change and listening to the customer. 
Resources Mention: 
GlassesUSA.com 

On this episode of One-to-One Conversational Marketing, Ben speaks with Alanna Marder, Senior Director of Communications and Influencer Marketing at ColourPop, which is a line of products from Seed Beauty. Starting out in luxury fashion but feeling drawn to the less well-known brands because of their more agile and responsive market development strategies, Alanna now spends her time dominated by social media, figuring out innovative ways to optimize this ultra-interactive commercial space.
She speaks to us about what most people get wrong about influencer-led marketing strategies, why a traditional google spreadsheet remains her best option for keeping track of a growing client base, and why treating all your users like human beings is the best way to build authenticity for products and content alike. With community content at the heart of her approach, and a thoroughly engaged online presence, you can be sure to see ColourPop rising higher and faster than ever before in the next few years.
Topics discussed include: 
Why working for big name brands might not always be as rewarding as seeking out your own c-d brand partners to  build something special together
Why being close to customers and maintaining communications is absolutely critical for contemporary marketing
Being a social media native brand, and the advantage that gives ColourPop in initial customer outreach
How to manage a whole roster of influence with individual schedules and specific concerns, the power of a simple google spreadsheet
How GRIN and Tribe Dynamics became the perfect tech stack for calculating the value of influencers to ColourPop’s brand
Treating influencers with respect, and giving them some autonomy in the product promotion choices
Giving influencers space to market their authenticity, but doing your homework and investigate who to trust
Leveraging community content as the peak of authentic customer promotion
Different engagement strategies for Facebook vs. TikTok, investing in conversations
Why impressions score highest for ColourPop's social media sales performance

On this episode of One-to-One Conversational Marketing, Ben speaks with Cécile Moser, Head of Marketing & Communication at one of Zurich’s premier premium department stores, Jelmoli. From a background in journalism and PR, like many other creative individuals, Cécile found her way into the marketing space and helped transform a legendary brick-and-mortar store into the e-commerce powerhouse it is today.
She speaks to us about the state of consumer marketing in the digital era, combining strategies between cyberspace and brick-and-mortar stores, and why youth engagement is key to keeping the pioneering spirit alive for a department store approaching the end of its second century in business. Her approach to marketing balances the digital and physical worlds, bringing together the best of each one to create a truly omnichannel approach to personal, strategic consumer marketing.
Topics discussed include: 
Top choices for today’s marketing channels, and why diversity in your approach is key
Balancing the online and offline marketing approaches, and how to integrate them where possible
Planning cycles, the real work of consumer marketing, and how to stay agile while also thinking a year ahead
Digital marketing channels, knowing your market, and why LinkedIn is a good choice for a premium retail business
The youth factor and why digital natives are crucial to effective TikTok activation, both to drive e-commerce traffic and footfall in store.
Personalization at scale and nourishing your existing customer base with loyalty programs, exclusive benefits, and hyper-targeted engagements
Identity and longevity for a heritage business in a constantly shifting marketplace
Metaverse activation in a brick and mortar store, why starting small is a great learning experience
Why keeping close to customers is the perfect supplement for detailed big data analyses

On this episode of One-to-One Conversational Marketing, Ben speaks with Hannah Craik, the Marketing Director at Riess, who has 20 years brand and digital experience – both in leading agencies, including Pivotal Consulting, which she co-founded, and at disruptive brands, like ASOS and Heist.
Hannah’s recent work has been predominantly in retail where she is pushing for more responsible practices alongside more transparent communications. Other areas of focus include a broad range of sectors, such as technology, entertainment and government. 
Topics discussed include: 
Hannah’s perspective on digital marketing today as both volatile and exciting
How the duopoly of Google and Meta is being challenged for the first time 
Why a cookie-less world can be good for the digital marketing community 
What one-to-one personalization means to Hannah
The challenges Hannah has encountered with one-to-one personalization
One-to-one service personalization versus product recommendations 
Why showing up for customers with service personalization will up level their digital experience 
Hannah’s experience with the chatbot hype cycle of boom, bust, and growth again based on new technology and channels
Why it is harder to drive repeat sales in the apparel category and her advice for what can be done
How recommendation algorithm bias plays out in fashion and apparel 
Hannah’s top 3 pieces of advice for other marketers looking to better meet consumer demands

On this episode of One-to-One Conversational Marketing, Ben speaks with Arte Merritt who leads Conversational AI Partnerships at AWS. Arte is formerly the CEO and Co-founder of Dashbot, an analytics platform for chatbots and voice assistants, which he led to 20,000 customers, 90 billion messages processed, and multiple acquisition offers. 
Previously, Arte founded the mobile analytics platform, Motally, which he led to a successful exit via sale to Nokia. Arte has more than 25 years experience in the analytics space, working with companies like Yahoo Mobile, Turner Broadcasting, and a wide variety of startups. Arte is an MIT alum.
Topics discussed include: 
The importance of analytics to see how people are interacting in conversational channels
The power of unstructured data gathered from chatbots 
What excites Arte the most about conversational analytics to help brands fill the gap and learn from how people are interacting 
Examples of what a true multimodal experience looks like and tips for how brands can leverage those interactions 
The power of NLP for document processing, image recognition, and more 
The framework Arte uses to manage multimodal interaction complexity when dealing with different partners 
Multi-bot orchestration based on persona use cases and context 
What channels Arte is seeing work best and which ones he's most excited about 
Tips for how global brands can benefit from a multichannel approach 
Why brands should focus on training algorithms over time to better identify customer intent 

On this episode of One-to-One Conversational Marketing, Ben speaks with Joe Anhalt, VP of Marketing at Koio. Joe has nearly a decade of marketing experience working with startups and more established organizations in the B2C space. 
Topics discussed include: 
How Joe’s foundation in startups and massive growth helped shape his perspective on one-to-one marketing 
The importance of autonomy to execute on a vision 
First party data and the value of understanding who your best customers are 
Joe’s process of segmentation and cohort analysis to better discern the most important customers 
How being a media company first helps build affinity for your brand
The channels Joe is seeing perform best and the data differences he’s seeing between them 
The trade offs between keeping your brand buttoned up versus letting it develop culture in the wild 
Marketing in an economic downturn and how to focus on the fundamentals of customer acquisition and lifetime value to grow a sustainable business  
Joe’s actionable advice on how to add more value to consumers by simplifying decisions, rather than adding to an abundance of choice