VB Engage - Mobile, Marketing, & Technology Podcast from VentureBeat

Seth Besmertnik, being brutally original, and making Spectacles of yourselves

November 22, 2016 16:00 - 30 minutes - 32.7 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart talk with Seth Besmertnik about content marketing, SEO, mobile engagement, how to make sure the output you create is actually seen, and what to do to ensure your potential customers actually care about you. And in this week's news we discuss the latest and greatest in VR, plus we talk about what's going on with Snap Inc.'s Spectacles, a wearable that interacts with Snapchat to provide a less geeky, more socially acceptable Google Glass-like experience. Want a ...

Veronica Belmont, chatbot therapy, and 72 hours in Lisbon

November 15, 2016 16:00 - 33 minutes - 35.3 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart have been in Lisbon for Web Summit, where 53,056 people ate over 97,000 custard pastries, and the world's best minds came together to drop knowledge bombs across 17 stages. We reveal who we interviewed for our special VB Engage: Web Summit episodes and discuss the highlights of the conference before talking with the brilliant Veronica Belmont on how big brands are embracing chatbots, why discovery is a big issue, and what her favorite chatbot examples are -- o...

Alexis Fogel, Hillary's emails, and telling the truth at all times

November 08, 2016 16:00 - 33 minutes - 35.6 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart discuss Hillary Clinton's biggest e-mail mistakes. No, not those e-mails, but the thousands she sends to her supporters every day. Being fair-minded, we also talk about Donald Trump's messages to voters. Thanks to new research on both candidates' outreach practices, we highlight three marketing lessons for your business. We also interview Alexis Fogel of Dashlane, who explains how the security app managed to grow so quickly, and why being transparent helps wit...

Matt Asay, mobile horror stories, and what's next for Twitter

November 01, 2016 15:00 - 32 minutes - 34.5 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart interview Matt Asay of Adobe who -- during Halloween week -- tells us a few horror stories about how some mobile app and game developers have complicated their marketing stacks beyond belief and how hard it is for web-focused businesses to make the move to mobile. We also discuss Twitter's latest news, including its earnings, user growth, and what this means for social advertising. Finally, we find out (thanks to Adobe's annual online sales predictions report,...

Ray Beharry, intelligent fridges, and the $600 million mobile game

October 25, 2016 15:00 - 31 minutes - 34 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart talk with Ray Beharry, who is not only the CEO of Pollfish -- a mobile survey solution -- but an adjunct instructor at NYU. In other words, he's a very smart man, and he delivers takeaway after takeaway to help you win in today's mobile-driven market (although we're not sure about his penchant for intelligent white goods). And in the news, we discuss some seriously clever retail solutions that marry machine learning, mobile, and online sales together with ...

Mark Ghermezian, free sneakers, and how apps are taking over the world

October 18, 2016 15:00 - 32 minutes - 34.4 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart discuss apps. A lot. There's a new solution on the block this week that could spell the end of "shovelware" on your smartphone and help you when you run out of memory or your battery is draining too fast. Plus, we reveal the details of a new study that explains exactly how to win over your app-wielding competition this holiday season. We then talk to Mark Ghermezian, CEO and co-founder at Appboy, about the rise of personalized app marketing, how to avoid being c...

David Steinberg, crossing devices, and VR ads that smash you in the face

October 11, 2016 15:00 - 36 minutes - 38.1 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart talk about Google's Pixel and Daydream VR, Facebook's big Oculus VR event, and what the future of virtual reality marketing and advertising might look like as these devices enter the mainstream. We talk about our dreams and nightmares for VR ads, including some highly unsavory futures. We then chat with David Steinberg of Zeta Interactive about cross-device measurement, multi-channel campaigns, and using audience data in the most effective ways possible, w...

Marshall Kirkpatrick, faulty Facebook, and what AdWeek taught us about content

October 04, 2016 15:00 - 33 minutes - 35.7 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart get to talk with Marshall Kirkpatrick, cofounder of Little Bird, about influencer marketing. In fact, the three of us are so excited to be talking with each other that we almost explode -- not literally, of course. We also talk about Marshall's Magic Search Engine, which is an amazing resource everyone can use. And in the news this week, we talk about the headlines coming out of AdWeek New York, including Facebook's inability to count and why content quality t...

Adam Goldstein, avoiding Chinese airlines, and Snapchat's biggest problem

September 27, 2016 15:00 - 34 minutes - 36.7 MB

This week, Travis and Stewart talk about the world's first dedicated Snapchat conference/awards show and a new solution that solves the ephemeral messaging platform's biggest issue. We then interview Adam Goldstein of Hipmunk -- the travel company and app that was just acquired by Concur -- and talk chatbots, natural language understanding, and the never-satisfied customer. And boy, do those customers ask some challenging questions.

Mark Organ, bad Kardashians, and the benevolence of Facebook

September 20, 2016 15:00 - 30 minutes - 33 MB

This week, Stewart and Travis talk with Mark Organ about influencer marketing, employee advocacy, and how we can do more important things with our smartphones than play Angry Birds. We then reveal why the Kardashians are in trouble with the FTC, what Instagram are doing to make ads better for everyone, and how Facebook plans to power the new economy of chatbot payments.

Alain Falys, VR jump-scares, and Apple's show of courage

September 13, 2016 15:00 - 36 minutes - 37.9 MB

There is no way that Travis and Stewart could leave the iPhone 7 launch out of this week's news, despite the fact that Apple has decided to leave the headphone jack out of the device. We talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Apple's "courageous" decision and then dig into the engaging future of mobile marketing thanks to a world-first Blair Witch VR trailer. Then, Alain Falys takes us into the world of payments, spelling out the future of mobile wallets.

Jonathan Abrams, Zuck beef, and what the West can learn from WeChat

September 06, 2016 15:00 - 32 minutes - 35 MB

In this episode, we talk to Jonathan Abrams of Nuzzel about the startup world, mobile engagement, being cross-platform, and how he makes a 100 percent organic acquisition strategy work. We also ask him a leading question about Mark Zuckerberg, which isn't awkward at all (honest). Finally, we discuss Travis' trip to China and dig into why WeChat is dominating and what the US can learn from its meteoric rise.

Jon Ferrara, smashing phones, and the death and rebirth of CRM

August 30, 2016 15:00 - 29 minutes - 31.9 MB

Stewart and Travis spend an awful long time reminiscing about the terrible, horrible days of using customer relationship management (CRM) solutions in the field and then muse on the future of smartphone-driven selling. We're then joined by CRM pioneer Jon Ferrara, who tells us that the past is broken, and the future is golden. Oh, and Jon forgets that visual jokes don't translate well on an audio podcast, but we love him all the more for it.

Roland Smart, vide-no, and the new marketing battleground

August 24, 2016 15:00 - 31 minutes - 33.5 MB

This week, Stewart and Travis take a massive swipe at the mess Google's video-calling strategy is creating, the joy Google's app advertising strategy is creating, and the sudden death of Blab. We then talk with the ever-clever Roland Smart about marketing tech, mobile, and the battle that's raging between marketers and engineers.

Peter Dering, Kickstarter, and winning with radical transparency

August 16, 2016 15:00 - 27 minutes - 29.7 MB

Travis and Stewart get excited about the new app sharing economy this week. What do we mean by that? Apps within apps, people, and we’ll tell you why you should get seriously pumped about this trend, too. And then we interview Peter Dering, who was just about to launch his sixth successful Kickstarter campaign at the time we interviewed him. That's right - sixth! He tells us how he made it all work (hint: radical transparency helps).

Shira Abel, Footloose, and the problem of marketing debt

August 09, 2016 15:00 - 28 minutes - 31.1 MB

This week, Stewart and Travis talk about one important news item: Instagram Stories. That's right - the Snapchat copycat has arrived on our mobile devices, and we break down what it does, what it doesn't, and why it is perfect for re-enacting '80s VHS tape covers. We then interview Shira Abel, who schools us on marketing debt, putting marketers in the boxing ring with the engineers, and why mobile is everything.

Vala Afshar, American yogurt, and improving human performance with mobile tech

August 02, 2016 15:00 - 29 minutes - 32.1 MB

Stewart and Travis take a stab at understanding what is going on at Apple in a week where everyone announced their latest results, and we wonder whether Snapchat will grind to a halt soon as it adds yet another 3D solution to its stable. We then soak in the knowledge of Vala Afshar who schools us in everything from mobile to marketing, digital IQs to data science, and why culture is more important than technology.

Brian Solis and how tech is changing our behavior

July 26, 2016 15:00 - 31 minutes - 33.2 MB

Technology is accelerating, behaviors are changing, and thankfully there are people like Brian Solis around who can help make sense of it all. We talk to Brian about customer X-perience as well as dissecting the latest news, which includes debunking a well-worn stat about mobile apps.

Peter Shankman, being ADHD positive, and scaling a give-to-get mindset

July 19, 2016 15:00 - 25 minutes - 28.6 MB

Stewart and Travis discuss new research that shows an ever-decreasing attention span, and Stewart suggests that nothing short of perfection will do for today's app-loving consumers - shipping an 'almost done' product early for feedback just isn't going to work anymore. They then we talk with the force of nature that is Peter Shankman about the power of ADHD, his latest projects, and what you can learn from his approach to engagement.

Scott Brinker, Pokemon GO, and mobile table stakes

July 12, 2016 15:00 - 29 minutes - 31.8 MB

As Pokemon GO sweeps the nation and makes the news, Stewart and Travis discuss that particular phenomenon and what it means for the future of mobile mixed reality. We then talk about the world of mobile marketing with Scott Brinker, the man behind the original 'gotta catch 'em all' - the huge marketing technology landscape infographic.

Andrew Grill, full disclosure, and influencing the influencers

July 05, 2016 15:00 - 33 minutes - 35.9 MB

This week, Stewart and Travis become artificially intelligent after speaking with Andrew Grill of IBM about employee advocacy, full disclosure, and influencer marketing in a mobile-first world. In the news, it is (almost) all about chat bots now that we've discovered Facebook Messenger alone has 11,000 of these little assistants waiting to meet your every need. Well, as long as your every need is hearing a bunch of A.I.-generated dad jokes.

Talia Wolf, testing outcomes, and jumping from perfectly good planes

June 28, 2016 15:00 - 32 minutes - 34.6 MB

This week, Stewart and Travis get excited about YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and every other live video platform while also being honest about why some of them have failed spectacularly. They then talk to the skydiving force of nature that is Talia Wolf, who helps us understand how to use conversion optimization in new and interesting ways (not just changing button colors).

Bryan Kramer, staying human, and the rise of the chat bots

June 21, 2016 15:00 - 27 minutes - 29.6 MB

Stewart and Travis muse on Apple's WWDC conference, try to work out why Microsoft bought LinkedIn, and then talk about humans, artificial intelligence, chat bots, and the future of interactions with Bryan Kramer, who promises to stop filtering our emails out of his inbox in the future.

Aunkur Arya, waterproof mascara, and the future of mobile payments

June 14, 2016 15:00 - 24 minutes - 27 MB

In this week's episode, Stewart and Travis wonder how the U.S. can't roll out decade-old Chip and PIN nationwide, yet they somehow get Apple and Android Pay before the rest of the world. They then interview Aunkur Arya of Braintree to find out what the future holds for mobile payments, and we discover that real men can cry.

Mayur Gupta, marketing, and the battle of the behemoths

June 07, 2016 15:00 - 26 minutes - 29.5 MB

When it comes to marketing with technology, tools, and other words beginning with 'T,' Mayur Gupta really knows his stuff. In this episode, we discover how you can choose the right technologies to support your marketing goals and whether the huge enterprise players are a safe option or not.

Sarah Austin, artificial intelligence, and what happens when bots start to lie to each other

May 30, 2016 21:58 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MB

Chat bots are all the rage right now, so Stewart and Travis attempt to gaze into the crystal ball and figure out what the future holds. Then, A.I. expert Sarah Austin tells us what is really going to happen, since she's much more qualified to predict what lays ahead.