Jay Acunzo and Mark Schaefer discuss their success in sustaining their personal content production for years, even decades. They discuss their mindset and strategies of incorporating a content lifestyle and beating the odds. Mark Schaefer is a strategy consultant, college educator, keynote speaker, and the author of 10 books including "KNOWN," "Belonging to the Brand," and "Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World." His annual marketing retreat is The Uprising. For more of Mark's insights every week, subcribe to his award-winning blog. Mark also offers classes in personal branding and professional speaking. Jay Acunzo consults experts and entrepreneurs to differentiate their messages and content. He hosts the podcast How Stories Happen, where guests dissect signature stories piece by piece. Learn more at jayacunzo.com

Mark Schaefer begins the show with a significant announcement about the future of The Marketing Companion. Co-host Sandy Carter kicks off a discussion about how Deep Fakes are overwhelming even the most famous brands and company leaders. Mark and Sandy also cover the impact of AI speed on marketing, the rise of the humanoids and more. Mark Schaefer is a strategy consultant, college educator, keynote speaker, and the author of 10 books including "KNOWN," "Belonging to the Brand," and "Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World." His annual marketing retreat is The Uprising. For more of Mark's insights every week, subscribe to his award-winning blog. Mark also offers classes in personal branding and professional speaking. Sandy Carter is COO of Unstoppable Domains and has held marketing leadership positions at IBM and AWS. She is the author of AI First, Human Always.

Let's put AI on the corner of a moment and remind ourselves of the OG marketing ideas that still make sense. In this episode, Mark Schaefer and Andy Crestodina talk about the enduring need for strong branding, live events, and sex (you'll just have to hear the whole story!). Mark Schaefer is a strategy consultant, college educator, keynote speaker, and the author of 10 books including "KNOWN," "Belonging to the Brand," and "Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World." His annual marketing retreat is The Uprising. For more of Mark's insights every week, subcribe to his award-winning blog. Mark also offers classes in personal branding and professional speaking. Andy Crestodina is CMO and Co-Founder of Orbit Media, an award-winning 55-person digital agency. He has 23_ years of experience in analytics, SEO, content strategy and visitor psychology ...and months of experience in AI. Andy has applied his expertise in SEO and conversions to drive both visibility and lead generation for 1000+ businesses since 2001.

Special guest Ethan Pierse argues that AI isn't just for developers or technical founders. Instead, non-technical but entrepreneurial folks can now build tech products without deep coding skills. AI is breaking down traditional barriers and letting more people "create their own future." This is the age of the AI Solopreneur and in this episode, Ethan spells out his vision, as well discussing the economics of AI, the future of Web3, and more.

Mark Schaefer and Dana Malstaff discuss how they are utilizing AI in distinct ways to attract new customers. Mark built an expert-trained model called MarkBot that is informed by his life's work. This is available to all through his website. Dana has created custom bots that encourage top-of-funnel engagement for her business while blending human connection that builds trust. This episode is an inspiring and engaging discussion on breakthrough ideas to connect to customers by blending AI and the human touch. Mark Schaefer is a strategy consultant, college educator, keynote speaker, and the author of 10 books including "KNOWN," "Belonging to the Brand," and "Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World." His annual marketing retreat is The Uprising. For more of Mark's insights every week, subscribe to his award-winning blog. Mark also offers classes in personal branding and professional speaking. Dana Malstaff is an author, speaker, consultant, and the founder of Boss Mom.

One of the most urgent and interesting questions in business today: How does AI affect the sales process? From product discovery to referrals and recommendations, AI is making its way into customers' hearts and minds. Whether B2B or B2C, the implications are enormous. Marketing legend Sandy Carter joins the Marketing Companion to explore these new commercial realities. What is the new role of brand, trust, and human relationships in the commercial process?

Mark Schaefer has a new grandchild. Amanda Russell has a toddler. Both of them wonder what an AI-dominant world has in store for them. In this personal and introspective episode, Mark and Amanda reflect on what college meant to their careers, the advice they would give to kids about college today, and how education will need to change for Gen Alpha. This is an essential episode for everyone wondering how AI will impact the next generation. Mark Schaefer is a strategy consultant, college educator, keynote speaker, and the author of 10 books including "KNOWN," "Belonging to the Brand," and "Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World." His annual marketing retreat is The Uprising. For more of Mark's insights every week, subcribe to his award-winning blog. Mark also offers classes in personal branding and professional speaking. Amanda Russell is a marketing leader, entrepreneur, and scholar. By age 32, she built and sold two successful businesses: an online fitness subscription community for women and a digital marketing and production company. She served as Chief Marketing Officer at a NYC-based portfolio fund and developed the world's first accredited MBA & EMBA Influencer Marketing programs at Northwestern University. She also founded the Global Center for Influence at the University of Texas. Amanda has taught at renowned institutions such as Bocconi University, London Business School, Harvard, Wharton, HEC Paris, NYU, and the University of Stockholm. Her book, "The Influencer Code," explores influence, consumer behavior, and the future of marketing. Amanda advises major companies, including Lamborghini, Cedars-Sinai, Lionsgate, and Silk-FAW.

As use of AI soars and customers place more trust in AI, the bots are making decisions for our customers. From vacations to recipes, we're using AI in creative ways to make our lives easier and skip the time to analyze options. But how does AI make the decision? The platforms are getting their information from somewhere. What is the role of traditional content and marketing? The answer will surprise you. In this far-reaching show, Mark Schaefer and Andy Crestodina explore new research on how AI makes decisions and what matters. This episode also contains extraordinary bonus content. Mark Schaefer is a strategy consultant, college educator, keynote speaker, and the author of 10 books including "KNOWN," "Belonging to the Brand," and "Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World." His annual marketing retreat is The Uprising. For more of Mark's insights every week, subscribe to his award-winning blog. Mark also offers classes in personal branding and professional speaking. Andy Crestodina is CMO and Co-Founder of Orbit Media, an award-winning 55-person digital agency. He has 23_ years of experience in analytics, SEO, content strategy and visitor psychology ...and months of experience in AI. Andy has applied his expertise in SEO and conversions to drive both visibility and lead generation for 1000+ businesses since 2001.