Inside Marketing with MarketSurge

Welcome to Inside Marketing
With Market Surge.

Your front row seat to the
boldest ideas and smartest

strategies in the marketing game.

Your host is Reed Hansen, chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello
and welcome back to Inside

Marketing with Market Surge.

Today I'm joined by a powerhouse
in purpose-driven marketing,

the incredible Annika Jackson.

She's the founder and host of the
award-winning your brand amplified

podcast and marketing and strategy
agency, and someone who spent her career

amplifying voices that truly matter.

Annika is also a part-time lecturer
at the USC Annenberg School of

Communication and Journalism.

And she blends heart and hustle.

She's worked in corporate and non-profit
sectors, led brand storytelling efforts

that connect deeply with audiences and
is a champion of inclusivity, community

building, and ethical marketing.

So whether you're a founder marketer
or brand builder trying to do more than

just sell, this is the episode that's
going to shake you out of your funnel

fatigue and into real connection.

Let's dive right in and welcome Monica.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Thank you so much.

It's such a pleasure and honor to be here.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Well, thank you.

Um, so, so Annika, you have had, you
know, a very interesting career arc.

You've, um, you've worked in, uh,
corporate and in nonprofit and

even a stint as a stay at home mom.

Tell me, you know, where, what
got you here to where you are now?

You're, you're still wearing
many hats and doing a lot of

different, very interesting things.

But you know, how did, how did
you get to where you are today?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Uh, some of the things that you

said, I think grit and hustle and a
passion for bringing people together.

Collaborative settings where people
can really communicate with each

other and find common ground.

The way that started was
actually on the dance floor.

So I grew up in Kansas and I at
the age of 17 in high school.

Started being asked to promote DJs in
Kansas City uh, I lived in a very small

town called Teum to Kansas, but we'd go
to Kansas City every weekend because it

was the only place with anything to do so.

So I started out promoting DJs and
clubs and coming up with theme nights,

and then I put out a newsletter.

it was, it was a zine back in the days,
way before the internet where we would,

you know, take pages, print them out,
like wait, make a master copy, print

them out, and then distribute them.

because I always wanted to bring
people together who didn't know each

other, but still had some kind of bond.

That parlayed into a move to
Chicago to work for KBA marketing

and also be a club promoter, which
parlayed a move to Los Angeles.

And I started working in the magazine
world and that was where I was able

to take this really organic skillset
and build upon it and get into the wor

world of marketing, figuring out how
to sell to advertisers, how to make,

uh, experiential events and promotions
that would take advertisers and.

subscriber base and put them together in
a meaningful way made everybody happy.

took me to San Francisco where I launched
a dance music magazine in the year 2000

called Revolution and came with a cd.

I had to go onto the very early
days of music chat rooms and find

people to promote the magazine.

'cause that was the
only way to find people.

And so there's this
through line of always.

Finding ways to use technology without
even knowing it, find the right people

at the right time to put parlay a
message, whether that is marketing,

whether it was in magazines, experiential
events, public relations for clients.

that took me, you know, on
a, a much longer journey.

I launched official Xbox Magazine when
Xbox first came out, so I'm aging myself.

Then I moved into entrepreneurship.

But the issue was that my now
ex-husband, but really great

co-parent this time, right?

Um, he traveled a lot for work, so it
didn't, even though I had my own company,

I was expected to be at a lot of events.

So I ended up deciding, put my career
on the back burner, be a stay at

home mom, and did that for many,
many years until we got divorced.

And then I had to go back into
the world of work and start

working in nonprofits, which I'd
already been doing as a volunteer.

Hosting galas, cheering events,
starting nonprofits in the

Houston area, um, raising millions
of dollars for organizations.

And then I turned that into an, an
actual job for a local organization.

And then entrepreneurship, always, Dr.

You know, kind of pulled me back in.

So since then, my journey's
been a mix of both.

And in 2019, we moved back to the
Los Angeles area and that is when

I had to go, okay, I am, I'm back.

But I haven't worked
in LA for a long time.

I have to kind of prove myself and,
and figure out what's my what next?

It took about six months of pounding
the pavement, trying to find a job,

leaving a business back in Houston
that didn't really last long after I

left because it's hard when you're,
know, you have a store and you

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
and you have all these things happening.

So, uh, that's when I started
freelancing and pr and then really

quickly started getting so many
referral clients that I started an

agency right before the pandemic.

that parlayed me into today where I'm
not doing pr, but I am hyper-focused

on this intersection of, I mean,
I guess podcasting is a little bit

of journalism, a little bit of pr,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Sure.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Of artificial intelligence,

podcasting and teaching.

And that could be university level.

I've also helped create curriculum
for, um, fifth through 12th graders,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
I'm really looking at how do we teach?

The world, whether the world of
business, the world of people who need

to be upskilled or get certifications
how to, or teachers, right?

How to effectively use artificial
intelligence in the classroom.

Not just to use an LLM to write an essay
or ask prompts, but to actually create

and have that critical thinking component.

And that's really the work that
I've been moving into lately.

Um, I do podcast production,
I do do some PR on the side.

I'm really interested in the
strategy and help helping people

really see themselves this world
and see that they can do things.

They don't have to be
scared of technology.

Uh, I just got back from the AI
four conference as I was telling

you, which is really fascinating.

so at this point I've created my
own agents for my podcast, which

now is turning into a product, uh,
because other people want to use it.

I have a podcast,
production agency because.

Since I've been able to find success, and
I built my podcast slowly over time, tried

out a lot of methods, I now know how to
help people get there a little faster,

and how to have consistent um, rewarding
podcast experiences that will get them

what they want out of the experience.

And then I, I just, I really love
teaching and I, I love digging into AI

and figuring out new ways to use it.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Wow,
you're, you're quite the Renaissance

woman and you know, it probably
would've been easier to ask you what

you haven't done, you know, and.

You do so many, so many cool things.

Um, and I didn't, I actually wasn't
aware of the, the music and and club

promotion, um, in your background.

That's, that's super cool.

And, um, it, you know, I, I,
that was, must have been a really

fun, uh, industry to work in.

But, uh, prob probably harder to,
uh, I, I imagine that's probably

a lot of nights and, and weekends.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
A lot of nights, a lot of weekends,

a lot of late nights, hard to
do much else, and not a lot of

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
mean,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
the turning point was living in Chicago.

I had several job offers to become
marketing director at the age of 23 for.

A group of bars, uh, and lounges in
Chicago, work at KBA marketing full time,

and that's Kevin Berg and Associates.

I did promotions for Audi,
Smirnoff, um, and other brands.

I didn't smoke.

I still, you know, never smoked.

But, um, you know, that was what
people that we, that was when you

could smoke cigarettes in bars.

So it was a big area of

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh, right, okay.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Uh, yeah.

So I, I could do that.

There were a few other options,
but I looked at my bank

and I said, I made $16,000

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh,

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
this year.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: okay.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
That's not to live on.

you're, you're surviving, not thriving.

You're barely surviving.

So that's when I decided to come
out to Los Angeles, my sister

was here, and try something

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
and actually find a career path.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and it sounds like you're
sitting at the intersection of a

lot of, uh, a lot of key trends.

You know, you, you do
a lot with podcasting.

Uh, you, you, uh, have, have embraced
a lot of marketing technologies.

Um, you know, I, you were at the, the.

AI four conference.

Um, now tell us what were the hot
topics there and, and what, what

did you find most interesting?

What's, what's maybe next that we
should anticipate in that field?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
What was really interesting was,

unlike the year before, uh, the
big topic was education, right?

So I'm like, ah, I'm kind of at this

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
So the, the first keynote was with

the president um, the American
Federation of Teachers talking about

the recent collaboration with Microsoft
and, OpenAI to teach teachers.

How do you effectively use
gen AI in the classroom?

Right?

And so that was from the opening
keynote on education was a huge topic.

How do we educate what's
important in education?

How do we start incorporating things
and what ages are appropriate to

use different technologies, uh,
and then also human centeredness.

So we got to hear from really great
organizations that are doing things even

in film where they're saying, we still
have a writer, we still have a director.

We still have a whole team are using,
we're creating AI film, but we are using

actual actors name, image, likeness.

We're putting them into the film then
we're destroying their models afterwards,

but we're paying them SAG rates.

So unlike

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
from last year where we were saying

AI is going to take everything over.

not going to, you know,
the entertainment's going

to drastically change.

I saw a little bit more reality this
year where people are saying, yes,

technology is fantastic, but we still
ultimately believe that humans have

to be at the center of everything
and we, we don't see, we still want

people to have entry level jobs.

Well, you know, there is the thing
of, oh, AI's gonna take everybody's

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
People have to start somewhere

and they have to be trained in.

Some of the social
emotional skills, right?

The emotional intelligence skills in
the workforce and how do they get that?

They start with entry level positions.

So it was, it was quite interesting.

And the other trend I saw was that,
again, usually it's enterprise

solutions, but there were a lot
more small business solutions.

People are really going after
that sector, which is set, you

know, 10 million, 8 million small
businesses, I think in the us.

the other 2 million in the
Intuit system in the uk.

That's million small businesses.

are micro, right?

Not, not the small to
medium sized business.

These are, and, and that's what our
backbone is in the United States.

So actually offering solutions
for them that are affordable,

that can help them scale.

And also a lot more diverse founders.

So a lot of black.

Founders were there in technology.

So these were some things
that I saw differently.

So people are feeling like they do
have a voice, they have a place at

the table, and that there is room
for everybody in this new world.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
That's, that's fantastic.

You know, and then, um, you know,
there's so many questions around AI

and, and ethics and, and, um, you
know, you, you've highlighted one

around, uh, you know, protecting you.

People and their livelihoods and, uh,
which I think is a, is, is a value

we should really embrace and, you
know, having diverse, uh, diversity

represented in these technology companies.

Um, can I ask though, now you,
you sit in the, uh, communication

and journalism school.

You've got a background in pr,
you work in marketing and, um.

You know, this is kind of a
marketing focused podcast.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I'm always,
I'm often, uh, asked about the balance

between using generative, uh, like
generative AI for marketing content.

Um, you know, where
should we balance that?

Like what, what becomes.

What, you know, what's effective and
economical versus what is genuine.

Um, do you have any,
any thoughts for that?

Or did that conference cover,
did you see any sessions on that?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: I
am so glad you asked because I did, I went

to several creator marketing sessions as

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
and what we found, um, on one hand

there are companies that can fully do a
really amazing ad just using ai, right?

So that's one scale.

But when we look at businesses, medium
sized businesses who are looking to

scale their marketing, even individual
basis, a lot of the advice was.

You can use AI for everything,
but it's pretty obvious.

And the other thing that we see,
and that we've really kept our

eyes on since the pandemic, is
that people want authenticity.

They want to know that their brand
has the same values, that there's

a person behind the brand, that
it's genuine and transparent.

how do you balance that with ai?

Right.

so.

The use cases were saying, let's use
10 to 20% of, of our marketing can be

completely AI generated so that the other
parts of our content and our strategy

can still infuse the human voice.

Um, it, it's a kind of, a conundrum
because we also know that user generated

content or professional content that
looks user generated, hits harder

and it converts much more quickly.

Then professionally produced, you
know, I, I think that's where we get

into AI can look too polished, too.

Perfect.

we, we, it's still something
we very much have to balance.

The best use cases I find that I use
are things like, um, MarTech chatbot.

Um, there are, you know, a lot of AI
companies where you can put in marketing

strategy, you can put in your business
and it'll help you create a full funnel, a

whole strategy, a whole content calendar.

But you have to look at that and
make sure is this the right audience?

That it's, you know, that it's
pointing to, is this my ideal audience?

What do I need to tweak here?

So I think using it as a basis maybe
a starting point, and then infusing

the humans in your business to
review, to say, oh, we've tried that.

That actually didn't work.

Um, oh, there's this other part that's
really missing, um, to help build out

that funnel is much more effective.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, okay.

So that's, that's really interesting.

And now you, you've been
heavily involved in podcasting.

Um, and, and actually when.

When I was on your show, I, we
talked about this and, and how

podcasting can be a great, you
know, source of marketing content.

Do you, you know, tell me
how you feel about that.

Like, um, you know, it's kind
of, I'm pivoting away from ai.

How do you feel about podcasting as,
as a pr and marketing channel overall?

Uh, you know, and, and how do you
use it in your, your own work?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Yeah.

the best resource we have now
as marketers and publicists.

Right?

Uh, because you, I mean, having
you on my podcast establishes you

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Absolutely.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
a thought

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
I'm saying.

I believe that you are really
good at what you do, and I want

your voice to come to my audience
to share your knowledge, right?

So that's one really key benefit.

Another one, of course, is the
connections we make, which is,

could be lead gen marketing.

I did not used to think of my
podcast as lead gen, but now I

have a lot of people who oh, let
me introduce you to this person.

You guys should work together.

Or somebody saying, Hey.

Wanna work with you in
this way or that way.

So while that wasn't my main purpose,
it is now really predominant.

Right?

Um, we get blog posts and, and this
is where AI comes in a little bit.

So you're filming on de Script.

I use

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
I get so much great content, the

clips that Riverside makes for me.

Are more interesting probably than
the clips that other AI tools might

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
I might be able to find or my

team because it switches back
and forth between the angles.

I can make, um, anime or 3D animation
or any all kinds of fun little

clips that can entice the audience.

And can get about a hundred pieces
of content out of every episode.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Now, are we always gonna take the

time to find those a hundred gems?

No.

between blog posts, social media,
content, videos, all of that, I

really think it's the last bastion
where it's a low barrier to entry.

You don't have, you have to have a
computer, maybe a mic, or if you're

starting out and you don't have
those things, you can use your phone.

A little tiny mic and it's totally fine.

there are really great
editing tools out there.

There are ways to make the process more
seamless, and it's really great to be able

to then use, to have a great conversation.

And I do think that there's a
need for genuine conversation,

not AI people, right?

Um, then you can create all this great
material, send it to your guests, and then

they also have ways to promote themselves.

And then if content tests really well.

You could even use it for advertising,
so it can really play on mult, you

know, multiple categories of the paid,
earned, shared, and owned structure

that I like to look at the peso

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
for marketing.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: That
makes a, that makes a lot of sense.

And, um, you know, you're, you do a great
job with your podcast and definitely

somebody that I try to emulate.

Um, uh, you know, you're
so, you're so professional.

I, I, I've really been impressed,
uh, working with you and

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Oh, thank

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah, you bet.

And now, as a part of the
authenticity, that podcasting really.

Produces, you know, which I, I think is
great and I think it's almost become more

novel now with so much content out there.

And, um, but I know that you're really big
on storytelling as a part of, uh, brand

building and, um, you know, podcasting
is a great venue to have, like long form

content, you know, tell a long story what.

Where, how do you think brands
can craft tell their story?

Where's, what's, what are the
best platforms for that or

best techniques to, um, kind of
structure their, their brand story?

Um, love to hear a little bit about
that framework or, or process.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
That's, uh, that it really depends on

the audience and the stakeholders are
trying to engage, So if you are trying

to, find investors or you're trying to
exit, there are definitely publications

and websites and perhaps LinkedIn.

That you'd wanna use for that
part of your audience, right?

if you have, an e-commerce brand or
something, then you're gonna look at

what age demographics are you engaging
with and is, you know, do you wanna

advertise via Google shopping or do you
just really wanna lean into Pinterest?

'cause that's actually a really, really
great place, even for podcasters.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting,

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
I get a lot of interest

engagement on, on Pinterest,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: huh?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: I
never would've thought, um, or TikTok of

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
or you know, Instagram.

There's so many different platforms.

You really have to tailor your message.

And then the biggest thing
right now is search, right?

Making sure that your website is
really set up well for long tail

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Um, because as people move to

search, they're still searching on
YouTube, on TikTok, yes, on Google,

but a lot of searches moving to.

as well.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
you wanna make sure that

you're really well set up.

And actually what's funny is we were
having a conversation about this

before and the whole thing is, um,
in my, the words of my friend Jason

at ccu, your brand is what Google
and your favorite LLM say it is.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
So what you just shared with me, like,

oh yeah, some of that's outdated, which
means I, I have a URL with just my name.

encourages everybody to have that

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
so that when people are looking

up information that they see
who you are separate from your

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Ah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
because then all of that's going to be

picked up the most because it's your
own website, your own domain authority,

And so that's for personal brands.

For business brands, you still wanna
make sure that you are showing up in the

right places that you're using the right.

Words on your website, um, because
that is where SEO still is really

highly relevant and important.

But you're also showing up in Quora, in
Reddit, you know, you're doing Google

trends and searching for what words come
after you type in, uh, uh, first two

words of a query, what's comes next?

You know, there's so many, uh, websites
that you can use, um, to find out

what people are really searching
for and making sure that you're

tailoring to those specific needs.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Yeah, that's, that's great.

Um, did just outta curiosity
at, at, uh, AI four, did they

touch on this in particular?

The, um, the difference in SEO between,
uh, the Google search and ai, uh.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: No.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

Interesting.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that was just, that was actually,
um, things I've talked to other people

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
and researched and other AI conferences,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I, I

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: feel like
it's like a, a moving target, you know?

And so I keep bringing it up
because I'm, I am curious for any

scraps of data, data I can get.

Um.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: So when
we're talking about the messaging that

a, a company puts out there, there's
um, a lot of, there a lot of things

happening in the, the news that are
sometimes fraught or controversial.

Uh, you know, I think, um, some
have seen, maybe some positives,

but it does seem like there's a
whole lot of negatives in jumping

into the, in certain conversations.

Um, like, you know, politics
or, um, you know, international

affairs or, or things like that,
you know, but what, what do you do?

You have a guideline for brands
that wanna stay relevant, but

also want to avoid repercussions.

Um, you know, and knowing their
audience the best way they can.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: I
think we've seen a lot of companies fail.

At this,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
about Target heavily into d and

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
completely backtracked, lost a lot of

their audience, found, maybe found a new

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
right?

Um, would say that I've had conversations
with businesses that are completely

based and built in the United States.

Um, it, and even in like very niche
industries and they're doing really well.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: And
they're totally happy because they're made

in the us They do, know, they can compete
at a higher level now because their

product doesn't have to compete perhaps at
against a lot of brands that come in from

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
because of the tariffs.

So there are businesses that are happy,
but they're very, a lot of them are very

small businesses because it's hard to
bring back manufacturing industry to

the United States and stay competitive.

So, um.

Yeah, I think when it comes to
that, you really have to think about

your values of yourself as an owner
and your brand and your business.

Who, what is your target demographic?

Um, your, are you finding you know
that there's a lot of alignment with

your audience values and your values?

Or are you just a commodity that
people are buying and they're gonna

keep buying it no matter what?

Right.

So if they're gonna keep buying it,
no matter what, you might feel free

to say what you want it, whatever that
looks like, if that's part of your

brand values for your organization, or
you may not wanna mention anything and

just keep that on your personal pages.

So I, I don't know that
there's any easy answer.

I guess this, this is my
long way of saying that.

Um, but I, but I do think that if you
lean into your values, whichever way.

Whatever way they, they end up whatever
you want to say to your audience.

You can't just give lip service.

You have to actually show that in action.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: Um,
and that's, that's much more important

these days than, than anything else.

But make sure that you're willing to stay
rooted centered and not be wishy-washy

because then that you lose credibility,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
trust.

And that's the number
one thing we want in our.

Consumers and our customers is trust

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
they come back to us time and time again.

I do think that if you are really
entrenched in your values and

you have a very specific point of
view, that you can have a higher

customer lifetime value, right?

That you will get more brand loyalists.

You might lose some other people
along the way, but you'll pick up

the right ones as you keep going.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

And I, I think that's, uh, that's
a, a valid point is, um, and it

makes me think of the value of being
in a, a very specific niche, goes

back to like what we were talking
about with long tail keywords.

Um, it's going to be, you know, I think
AI and the content that AI generates does

make a lot of communication look the same.

And the more that you can
bring in personality values.

Uh, probably the better for the
long-term health of the, of the brand.

I would, I would think, you know,
we're, we're kind of at the beginning

of this, but, um, it does, it does pay
to be a little bit different, I think,

in, in, or unique in, in each way.

Um, you know, I, um.

This is kind of just an aside, but I,
every time we think about PR or brand

messaging, I, I think about the, uh,
astronomer, CCEO recently who was caught

in public and, you know, I was just
thinking like, you know, that that was

a very genuine moment, but obviously
not some of something that he wanted

out there or she wanted out there.

And, um, you know, but it,
in an interesting case study,

like the, the next thing that
astronomer did was they put out a.

A commercial with, um, with, uh,
yeah, Gwyneth Paltrow, G Paltrow

and, and, and pulled in the Chris
Martin Gwyneth Paltrow backstory.

So it was, it was a, I think that was a
tremendous, uh, pivot by, by that company.

That was, that was really fun.

Um,

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Yeah, that a hundred percent.

And that was about having, right,
because a lot of, I think today is

about being able to be agile and nimble

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: yes.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
make sure you have the right people in the

room who can quickly approve something.

Who can look at it from all
lenses, uh, to make sure it's, it's

gonna be what they wanted, right?

Lighthearted, trying to
bring it back to the brand.

Um, well the nod to culture, right?

Um, so a little bit of
everything, but it was clever

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: right.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
a lot, they got a lot of traffic

and a lot more people looked
to say, oh, what do they do?

Is this something that would be
valuable for my organization?

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right, right.

You know, I'm very unfortunate for the,
the families affected of course, but the,

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®: Oh.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
way the brand handled it, I

think was, was very well done.

They acted swiftly, you know, and, and,
um, and, and I think they demonstrated

that they can move, they can move quickly
and, and be, be witty and, and innovative.

So, um.

Yeah, really, really interesting,
uh, scene or set of events.

Um, well, well, Annika,
just a one final question.

Do you think that, you know, beyond
what we've talked about or maybe within

what we've talked about, that there are
any platforms or tactics that marketers

are under utilizing or under rating,
uh, currently that you think, uh, they,

they should take more advantage of?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Do think as people learn more about

agents, That we are in the agentic era.

Um, and so those are really,
really useful tools and to

for, to do deep research tasks.

So I think leaning in,
learning more about.

How to build or having the right people
on the team who know how to build

right is going to be really important.

We are creating, we're try, it's, we're
into this weird space where we're trying

to train people for jobs that may not
exist yet, so, but we are seeing some

of them come up like translator, right?

So the person who can translate
between the C-suite and what they

want so that you have enough business
knowledge and you also have enough.

Code speak to speak to engineers
and people are actually going

to be creating these tools.

And so that's a job that we're
seeing is, uh, there aren't enough

people who have that skillset.

Um, and that's something that
companies are starting to look for.

So looking at these kind of jobs I
think is gonna be really interesting.

We know that technology is changing,
but staying true to marketing of old.

Thinking through storytelling techniques,
story arcs, how do you get somebody to

see themselves as the hero and you are
the person helping them on their journey.

All of those things are
never gonna go away.

Um, but I think there are a lot of tools
that can help us shortcut the process.

Most LMS have a deep research component.

That's fantastic, right?

There are, um, ai, CMO, there's matric.

There's all these different small tools
out there that can help you figure

out a lot about your marketing funnel,
your strategy using AI and research.

again, they're not things you will just
wanna take out and then completely.

You wanna make sure that they really
are tuned into your brand, but

the more you put your brand voice
into these, the more you create.

Your own agents for your brands,
more knowledge you're gonna get back.

That is completely applicable,
and that gives us more time

to do the other things in our
businesses that we need to be doing.

Communicating with
people more effectively.

meetings to brainstorm about new
processes, new, you know, products

or products, or whatever the case
may be, depending on the business.

But I, I do think that.

This is something people just
need to start getting into.

Um, that's gonna help a lot.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Well, thank you.

Yeah, that, and I
completely endorsed that.

I've gotten a lot out of the agents
that I, um, that I have and, um, well.

Annika, you're, you have
a wonderful podcast.

Your brand amplified, it's,
it's only one of your podcasts.

I know you have others, but
where are, where are the venues

that people can find you?

If they'd like to hear more
from you or work with you,

where would you direct them to?

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
My LinkedIn is a great source of truth.

You can to subscribe to my LinkedIn
newsletter where I talk about, you know,

ai, but also with human centeredness.

you can schedule a meeting with me through
my LinkedIn on my featured profile.

You can even speak to my Delphi clone
and have a conversation with her

either via chat or via, you know,
you can call her, you can text her.

I haven't done the video component
yet 'cause that's all I need

right now is those two components.

But you can, she has,
uh, over 4 million word.

Knowledge base that's from me.

From classes and workshops,
I've taught interviews, I've

done my podcast, all of that.

So she's a great place to start.

If you're on the journey for podcasting,
you wanna learn about branding,

building your brand, marketing
strategy, relations, start there.

And then you can schedule a meeting
with me if you want to learn more.

I'm always happy to talk to people.

Do a free strategy session.

know, this world is always changing and
I'm almost trying to keep up on what's

new, so I'd love to share that knowledge.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Well, thank
you so much and it has been a pleasure

to have you here on the podcast and,
and, uh, uh, I've really enjoyed our,

our conversations today and in the past.

Uh, I hope we can have more.

Anika Jackson, Your Brand Amplified®:
Absolutely.

Thank you so much, Reid.

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