Ponderings From The Perch

It was a dark and stormy Thursday. The small office, normally peaceful, was a flurry of anxious murmurs and frantic typing. Tony the intern had brought donuts, but who could eat at a time like this? There had been a disappearance. On tonight's episode of Palm Springs from the Purge, we dig deep to discover what dastardly fate has befallen the online presence of a well-established business. Was it saboteurs? Spies? Walls of fire? Join us as we inspect the crime scene, talk with eyewitnesses, consult with experts, and dredge the lake before making a bone-chilling discovery. A word of forewarning - this episode is not for the faint of heart!

While Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman won’t be joining us, Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney, rises to the challenge of being the official SEO MythBuster. People have pulled Priscilla aside on numerous occasions to ask her to confirm or deny SEO rumors and gossip. Enough people were asking. It was time for her to get talking. As always, she pulls back the curtain and starts from square one, eliminating jargon and outlining what all the acronyms actually mean.  The reason people have so many legitimate questions is that in this incredibly noisy market of tons of websites, it’s a struggle to be seen. How do we get your website to rank high and be optimized for search engines? It all starts with Google thumbs, and with knowing that Google wants to deliver a “wow” experience to their users.  Google Thumbs See, we left behind jargon and then created some ourselves. But this is an important acknowledgement that how anyone (your 13 yo son, or your 83 yo mom and even your most ideal client buyer) is usin

Hi, I’m Priscilla McKinney, CEO and Momma Bird here at Little Bird Marketing and I’m a St. Patrick’s Day birthday! Everyone wants to party on my birthday and have fun. I am a fun person - very outgoing and funny (if you agree, please call one of my kids and let them know). But people often think I am a people person. I’m really not. I’m a “my kind of people” person. What I mean by that is I like people who are overtly helpful, bring energy into the room, give without thinking of getting and don’t take themselves too seriously. I love this industry and have met so many colleagues who have become friends - like really good friends. I had a lot of friends before I got into this industry, but I made room for more. Do you see how much fun I’m having and want to be a part of it? Good news! In this episode I scrap the rules, call my bestie, Sarah Kotva and gossip about people in the industry. It’s all good and you’ll have a great time. So grab a glass of wine with us and let us introduce you to people you HAVE TO

It’s time to talk about the D-word.  Disruption. Angel Bellon, Senior Director of Insights and Cultural Intelligence at Paramount, joins Little Bird Marketing’s CEO, Priscilla McKinney, and divulges a deluge of facts, hacks, and insights around disruption and trend forecasting. It’s a drenching downpour of mindset-shifting expertise that will change YOUR game. The truth is that business cannot go on as usual. The ever-changing digital landscape and especially *cough cough* Gen Z are disrupting the role of marketing altogether. It’s the role of generations to disrupt, but we’re now living in constant disruption with generational disruption on top of a fast pace of technological disruption and it’s a lot to make sense of at once. It’s even harder for brands to move forward in a meaningful way.  To operationalize disruption, we first need to get clear on the definition. While innovation and disruption are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. Innovation is something new. Disruption is a shift in th

Reality is reality and finances are finances. There’s a cost and a loss for not finding the right company or the right candidate at the right time. While there is a pendulum swing between when it is a company’s market or a candidate’s market, the pendulum's rate is accelerating— faster than it ever has oscillated before and if you’re not careful it can give you whiplash! Bob Ferro, Founder of the executive recruiting firm Trusted Talent, joins Priscilla McKinney, Little Bird Marketing’s CEO, to discuss the current job market from a company and candidate perspective, as well as the pros and cons of delaying hiring. From Bob’s perch, he’s seeing a huge slowing down in hiring. In fact, he describes it as a pause. However, it’s vital to understand that “if you don't hire a salesperson for a quarter, you've lost two quarters' worth of revenue - minimum.” They also discuss retaining talent. As Bob says, “My number one asset isn't my product and my market and my customers, it's my talent. It's the people that make t

Uncomfortable, squirmy and guilty? Those are the common side effects when thinking about fundraising. But, fundraising isn’t a dirty word. Like any other business or entity right now, non-profits are facing a dilemma:  How do you break through the noise? How do you keep up your own resilience around messaging when it feels like it’s falling on deaf ears? We’re in an attention economy and translating your mission and message into bite-sized pieces is more important than ever. That being said, non-profits’ marketing and fundraising marketing efforts are held to a different standard. No one might complain about getting thirty emails from Lululemon about holiday sales, but getting a half-dozen messages from a non-profit about end-of-year fundraising goals can make people huff and puff and blow your email right until the dreaded trash can. Executive coach and fundraising consultant, Mallory Erickson, joins CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney, on the podcast to discuss strategy work at the intersecti

So you want to be the top dog, or rather the top bird? How do you do that? It starts with breaking down the journey from Point A to Point B. Join Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney as she guides you through organizing your marketing, proactive planning and mindset shifting needed to put your goals together T Since organized marketers are 674% more likely to report success and proactive planners are 3x more likely to report success, the proof is in the pudding. Success means planning your marketing strategy in advance. Yet you can’t start planning without understanding your current marketing efforts. This is where clarity comes in. What is your “Point A”? Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix. While Little Bird Marketing won’t be offering anyone a train ticket to Hogwarts, Priscilla shares tons of free resources, including the Order of the Phoenix Marketing Assessment Quiz to evaluate your brand’s marketing strategy and the best way to push your efforts forward. Everyone loves a good quiz! Once you

At PFTP we’re always pulling back the curtain to reveal the wizards behind the wizardry. To that end, I’m always looking for industry leaders who are willing to share their expertise openly. They are willing to say, “it’s just us behind the curtain and this is how we make the magic.” Today we’re going to talk about all things at the crossroads of shopper insights, marketing and behavioral science. Anne Stephenson has been a guest on PFTP before and when I heard their team at Explorer Research had a new framework for their work I just had to ask her to tell us more! Anne and I are both endlessly curious. You’ll love this guest. Welcome back, Anne Stephenson! Anne Stephenson, Founding Partner of Explorer Research, is a behavioral science shopping insights expert helping clients develop and launch effective retail strategies grounded in shopper behavior. With over 30 years of marketing and research experience with packaged goods, retail, pharmaceutical and more, she captures and translates shopper behavior to he

We've looked at it from all market research from all the different sides on the Ponderings from the Perch Podcast. Why is private equity interested? Why are people looking more to research technology to solve problems? How are people developing their teams in order to deal with technology?  Join Little Bird Momma and CEO, Priscilla McKinney, as she chats with CEO and Founder of Hatch Tank, and VP of Qualitative Research at Numerator, Shamsu Bhaidani about the value of human support when it comes to market research technology. With the push for better, cheaper and faster — and the word that we all have gotten sick of hearing: agile — teams were being asked to get more done with less. So what do they do? They turn to technology. Shamsu shared his observations, “​​What I see is that a lot of people get into using these platforms, do not necessarily use them to full capacity because they know what they know. They don't have time to explore more and take advantage of the different features and the different capa

Do not get on the train to “I suck.” When fear rears its head, especially in regards to public speaking, it’s too easy to get lost in the mental story of, “I have nothing to say, and I'm not good at this and nobody wants to hear what I have to say.” That is the train to “I suck,” and it doesn’t go anywhere else. Enter: Johanna Walker.  As a speaking coach and storytelling expert, Johanna joins Little Bird Momma and CEO, Priscilla McKinney, on the Ponderings from the Perch podcast to discuss the stories that we tell ourselves, and how tapping into, owning and sharing your story can transform your business and can transform YOU. One of Johanna’s mantras is: “Go before you’re ready.” While there are a thousand uncomfortable feelings and thoughts that can pop up when imagining getting on stage, being vulnerable and sharing your story, you have to embrace the sensations and drop the stories. If you wait until you’re ready, you may never feel ready. You have to go before you’re ready. When fear arises, “Drop out

Be forewarned: This episode is probably a gateway drug to a Little Bird Book Club.  If you keep up with Priscilla, you probably already know some of her thoughts on competition (yuck!), and how collaboration (yay!) is a better strategy. But even collaboration can be a perilous landscape. It goes all the way back to fifth-grade group projects where one kid does all the work and the others just coast. In the professional realm, there are many examples of things that *look* like collaboration on the surface, but are not actually collaborative at their core.  In this episode, Executive VP Leighton Cordell commandeers the podcast to get the scoop on Momma Bird Priscilla McKinney’s forthcoming book: Collaboration is the New Competition. Given that Priscilla is well acquainted with the stunning discomfort of entrepreneurship, paired with the fact that her heart is always with business owners who are trying to make an impact, get traction on their ideas and sell their products and services — a book was born! She s

No matter what Little Bird Momma and CEO, Priscilla McKinney, and Executive VP, Ashley Le Blanc do, they somehow end up writing. If you’re working on writing posts on LinkedIn, blogs or books, get ready for four applicable tips from these seasoned veterans to make writing that much easier for you.  You know Priscilla is a straight shooter who doesn't shy away from tackling the big issues. In this episode, she delves into the world of ChatGPT, OpenAI, and the impact of NLP and NLG on business and branding. While she sees the potential for these tools to revolutionize the way we work, she also highlights some key concerns. For example, the lack of SEO integration in these systems can harm your online visibility, and using the same generated content as others can lead to plagiarism and a drop in page ranking. Additionally, the impersonal nature of these tools can detract from your brand's unique voice and style, and raises questions about the impact on thought leadership. Tune in to hear Priscilla's candid take

To succeed, brands can’t just go around selling products anymore. Brands have to create transformative experiences and positively impact people’s lives and the world as a whole. Join Little Bird Momma and CEO, Priscilla McKinney and the Global Lead: Brand Thought-Leadership at Ipsos, Emmanuel Probst, as they discuss Emmanuel’s new book, Assemblage: The Art and Science of Brand Transformation and how brands can transform today to be truly successful. So just what is assemblage? Emmanuel draws a delicious metaphor between the process distillers go through to create a perfect cognac by choosing wisely from a wide range of barrels, grains and other alcohols to combine and mix the blend until arriving at the perfect product, to what marketers and brand managers need to do — collect a wide range of personal, social, and cultural attributes that to bring to the brand, the product and the perception of the product. Consumers are overwhelmed with products and overwhelmed with brands. Brands are waking up to the pos

It’s here! It’s here! It’s the 7th Annual Holiday Spectacular! Spectacular! Get ready for holiday fun, a movie quote quiz, musical merriment and the Great Birdish Bake Off! The Peeps are baking holiday treats and the judge is none other than our CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney!  Follow the trials and tribulations of our passionate holiday bakers whose goal is to be named the best Little Bird baker and the champion of the Great Birdish Bake Off! The bakers each tackle a different holiday treat, and Priscilla expects excellent flavor, top-notch texture, show-stopping looks and off-the-charts deliciousness.  The Peeps also are all on board to share their favorite holiday desserts, dishes, and sides and then battle it out in the holiday quote quiz. We’re also going to share our top four photography tips for taking the best holiday photos! Be careful though, as we may be getting a little silly will all this holiday fun! When the chaos subsides and your food coma ensues, wind down with our always h

Do you want to bring a box of chocolate chip cookies to the party, or do you want to bring a box of gluten-free, Himalayan sea salt, fair-trade dark chocolate cookies to the party? Are we really talking about cookies? Nope. This is our segue into the differences between generalists and specialists. Generalists are generally suited for everyone whereas specialists serve a niche market. CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney, and Co-CEO of Ag Access and Co-CEO of Communications for Research (CFR) Colson Steber dig into the differences between specialists and generalists in the world of market research. Colson Steber also volunteers as the President of the Insights Association Great Lakes Chapter, which is the combination of five regional chapters into one.  In this episode, we also discuss the value of serving a niche. Ag Access is laser-focused on the agricultural sector and has done large-scale work at a gigantic scope to stand out. His company has put together a phenomenal resource called the Ag Res

This show certainly gave us lots to ponder! Join CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney, and the Former President of ESOMAR and Chair of the Board at Zappi, Dan Foreman, as they unpack a laundry list of questions about WTF is going on with market research right now? They start by pondering the big questions: Why are market researchers, albeit jokingly, bad at business? Are they really bad at business or are they just focused on their work? Do they simply lack the vernacular to have their point of view heard? Do they understand HOW their work is used for revenue or brand impact? Are they looking to solve their boss’s boss’s problem?  As Dan says, “Data is the new oil.” Dan continues on to say, “Data is what people carry around in their heads and their hearts and their guts.” When you’re advising brands, governments, foundations, and people to make huge decisions based on the data, you get to see these incredible impact stories. Yet, the market research industry doesn’t effectively communicate that to

What is the difference between marketing and storytelling? While marketing is promoting your business, storytelling is a method for engaging your audience that takes longer, is more honest, and asks people to pause, take a minute and connect with your brand. Is there storytelling in marketing? Absolutely. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes vulnerability. Join Little Bird Momma and CEO, Priscilla McKinney, and VP of Marketing and Communications at Fluent Research, Stefanie Cousins, as they compare and contrast marketing and storytelling, and discuss the Venn diagram when two worlds collide!  A lot of brands struggle, struggle, struggle to tell their story. As Stefanie Cousins says, “There’s a transparency to storytelling that some brands might not want to dig into.” While social media has given brands the opportunity to dig deeper into storytelling, melding and mixing storytelling in marketing takes finesse.  Brands need to think about the craft of marketing, and hold space for storytelling to create

Chaos isn’t a word that usually makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. It’s a word that maybe you flinch when you hear, or your stomach does a little flip. Who wants life to be filled with chaos and uncertainty anyways? Well, chaos is inevitable. It’s part of growth and change. Personally and professionally. CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney, and Executive VP Ashley Le Blanc know a thing or two about navigating chaotic situations with grace and strategic planning. Join us on the Ponderings from the Perch podcast as we become your collaborator in turning marketing chaos into marketing organization.  Does this sound familiar? “Our company doesn't have a strong system in place to generate the right leads” “Our marketing actions are not in alignment with company goals” “My team just lacks the time and/or marketing expertise to execute our plan” When strategic planning is at the forefront and there is a plan in place, marketing chaos evolves into marketing organization, which leads to *sigh* marketin

Digital transformation is more than a buzzword. It’s a real, valid, and necessary concept and change necessary to be a part of the market today. Nobody uses a phonebook to find a business phone number, and your employees likely aren’t carrying around heavy three-ring binders anymore. To play ball— you’re going to have to step up to the plate: the digital transformation plate. In this episode of the Ponderings from the Perch podcast, CEO and Little Bird Momma Priscilla McKinney pulls back the curtain on digital transformation and how your business and brand can utilize these tools and tips to supercharge your marketing efforts and engage your team at a whole new level! 4 Tips To Digitally Transform Your Team Get Your Team Engaged With Social Selling Take A Load Off Your Plate With Content Management Systems Get Clarity by Streamlining Communication Channels Change the Game with Project Management Systems Social selling, when done with genuine employee advocacy can engage your employees in exciting new

Want a standing invitation to every party? Your wish is our command. Actually, it’s at the generous command of Paul Gaudette, CEO and co-founder of Dig Insights. Priscilla McKinney, CEO and Momma Bird, talks shop with Paul about tech-enabled consumer insights. As Dig Insights is one of the fastest growing consumer insights companies in Canada and is often listed as one of the most innovative research companies globally— Paul is definitely someone who talks the talk and walks the walk. He also, quite literally, has extended an invitation for you to attend any Dig Insights party he throws. Toss some confetti and pop that champagne! While there was no imbibing on the podcast, Paul ceremoniously pulled back the curtain on tech-enabled consumer insights and about what innovation means to him and his company. Innovation isn’t one-sided. It’s two-sided. Consider the consumer experience and the client experience. Ask the right questions. Speak to people as if they are normal people. Using relevant language is key. If