Today's guest on The Freedthinker is Sam Mestman.

Sam is the Head of Marketing for OWC, Other World Computing, the CEO of We Make Movies, and the Founder of Lumaforge. He is also the lead contributor for the largest Final Cut Pro X website in the world, fcp.co, and has worked with many major brands including Apple, ESPN, Glee, and Break Media. He is also marketing consultant with Orphaned Starfish Foundation, and his current passion is video literacy, and bringing the We Make Movies' Smartphone Studio mobile filmmaking workshops to communities around the world.

During the episode, we discussed:
* Identifying your ideal customer.
* Knowing whose problems you can solve, and how you can do it - that’s the essence of any business.
* How to target ‘smaller’ leads in a way that is more effective than a big brand.
* Why marketing claims have to match the deliverables - ie why it’s time to stop making outrageous claims.
* Getting creative when you are marketing on a limited budget.
* The role of niche blogs and niche targeting to meet your ideal customer.

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Today's episode is with Laurie Moldawer, the founder of Park City Culinary Institute.

During the episode, we discussed:
* Learning quickly from failures, like paying lots to promote classes when few people showed up.
* Finding out what people want, rather than what you *think* they want.
* “Spending money is the trick to making money” - knowing where to spend it.
* Making good decisions with your time so that you can accelerate growth.
* Getting very clear on your ideal customer - what the local cultural issues and needs are, being aware of it and catering to it accordingly.
* Identifying the acquisition cost of your customer, knowing what the customer ‘lifetime’ value is, and using that information to shape your marketing spend.
* The importance of referral marketing through happy customers - making sure that your customers are *ecstatic* so that people refer their friends.
* Pivoting your business as the market changes.
* Automating marketing.

***

Laurie Moldawer is the founder of Park City Culinary Institute. Her school helps people start and grow food-related businesses, and has some famous alumni including the founders of Crumbl Cookies and Kodiak Cakes. Born in NYC, Laurie is a graduate of le Cordon Bleu in Paris and moved to Utah to become a better skier.

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Welcome to the The Freedthinker, a marketing podcast hosted by Marcus J Freed. It's where we talk to business owners and thought leaders, looking at cutting-edge marketing techniques, what’s working in today’s business climate, how to market on a shoestring, and essential skills to get heard above the noise of the competition.

Freedthinking is a marketing agency based in Los Angeles and London, and can be found at www.freedthinking.com. We help companies get seen & heard by potential customers. Our approach is do *whatever it takes* to market your business - using both traditional and cutting-edge techniques - websites, promo videos, blogs, podcasts, social media-management, digital advertising - and of course harnessing the power of AI as it continues to evolve.

***

FREEDTHINKING MARKETING SERVICES

• Promo Videos: https://www.freedthinking.com/promotional-videos
• Digital Ads: https://www.freedthinking.com/digital-ads
• Websites, Copywriting & Consulting: https://www.freedthinking.com/growth-marketing

THE FREEDTHINKER PODCAST ON OTHER PLATFORMS:

APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-freedthinker/id1705696941

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JvB8dynCJmeagNjQ3T0VO?si=d5e640fb531f4515

RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2237966.rss

AMAZON/AUDIBLE: https://shorturl.at/cAJPY

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/freedthinking

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/freedthinkingconsulting

***

ABOUT JEFFREY VAN DYK:

Jeffrey Van Dyk is on a mission to help visionaries, trailblazers, and change-makers unleash their paradigm-shifting work upon the world. As the founder of The Courageous Messenger, his special genius translating forward-thinking, visionary work into packaging, positioning, and messaging that resonates deeply with the people who are calling for it most. Drawing upon his innate intuition, deep empathy, and seasoned marketing acumen, Jeffrey has a proven track record of helping leaders build thriving businesses from their life’s truest calling that have a significant and lasting global impact. www.TheCourageousMessenger.com

During the interview, we discussed:

• What can do when traditional solutions haven’t worked for you so far?
• How you can package and position your messaging in a way that resonates deeply with the people who are called to it.
• What is “intuition-led” marketing?
• How you can bring a new consciousness to your business and leadership.
• How difficult life experiences can affect to powerful business insights and results.
• Seeing how your inner challenges from the past can show up as the pains and desires of an ideal client.
• Why people hold back from doing marketing that they really need - they may want more business, but on a deeper level they also don’t want to be seen.
• How to make your messaging stand out in a “sea of sameness”.

***

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Welcome to the The Freedthinker, a marketing podcast hosted by Marcus J Freed. It's where we talk to business owners and thought leaders, looking at cutting-edge marketing techniques, what’s working in today’s business climate, how to market on a shoestring, and essential skills to get heard above the noise of the competition.

Freedthinking is a marketing agency based in Los Angeles and London, and can be found at www.freedthinking.com. We help companies get seen & heard by potential customers. Our approach is do *whatever it takes* to market your business - using both traditional and cutting-edge techniques - websites, promo videos, blogs, podcasts, social media-management, digital advertising - and of course harnessing the power of AI as it continues to evolve.

***

FREEDTHINKING MARKETING SERVICES
Promo Videos: https://www.freedthinking.com/promotional-videos
Digital Ads: https://www.freedthinking.com/digital-ads
Websites, Copywriting & Consulting: https://www.freedthinking.com/growth-marketing

THE FREEDTHINKER PODCAST ON OTHER PLATFORMS
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-freedthinker/id1705696941
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JvB8dynCJmeagNjQ3T0VO?si=d5e640fb531f4515
RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2237966.rss
AMAZON/AUDIBLE: https://shorturl.at/cAJPY
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/freedthinking
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/freedthinkingconsulting

***

TODAY'S GUEST: HANNAH FELDMAN
Hannah Feldman is co-founder of Kidadl, the global online platform for parents looking to discover the best resources to educate and entertain their children. The business is scaling rapidly and serves an audience of millions of parents worldwide.

Prior to founding Kidadl Hannah worked across law, finance and media. She was a corporate solicitor at Linklaters, before embarking on a banking role at UBS. Hannah worked as a Director at PE firm Hamilton Bradshaw alongside the former “dragon’s den” tycoon James Caan. She is a mum to 3 energetic children and lives with her husband and family in North London.

During the podcast we discussed various things, including:

- How the Kidadl team saw an opportunity during Covid.
- Why they pivoted their business model to make it more relevant to parents and serve many more people.
- How content marketing has proved to be an incredibly successful technique to grow the business.
- Identifying the pain point you are solving in business.
- The deep satisfaction of helping families as a result of what Kidadl offers - and solving real problems in real life.
- Knowing that you can quit your job and start a successful business: you don’t have to be restricted to the 9 to 5.
- Feel the fear and do it anyway!

HANNAH'S LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/kidadl
Kidadl
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcRgoNJXnm1n9I7mB0lm9rw
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Kidadl
https://twitter.com/kidadlofficial
www.Kidadl.com

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Welcome to the The Freedthinker, a marketing podcast hosted by Marcus J Freed. It's where we talk to business owners and thought leaders, looking at cutting-edge marketing techniques, what’s working in today’s business climate, how to market on a shoestring, and essential skills to get heard above the noise of the competition.

Freedthinking is a marketing agency based in Los Angeles and London, and can be found at www.freedthinking.com. We help companies get seen & heard by potential customers. Our approach is do *whatever it takes* to market your business - using both traditional and cutting-edge techniques - websites, promo videos, blogs, podcasts, social media-management, digital advertising - and of course harnessing the power of AI as it continues to evolve.

OUR MARKETING SERVICES
Promo Videos: https://www.freedthinking.com/promotional-videos
Digital Ads: https://www.freedthinking.com/digital-ads
Websites, Copywriting & Consulting: https://www.freedthinking.com/growth-marketing

***

THE FREEDTHINKER PODCAST ON OTHER PLATFORMS:
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-freedthinker/id1705696941
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JvB8dynCJmeagNjQ3T0VO?si=d5e640fb531f4515
RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2237966.rss
AMAZON/AUDIBLE: https://shorturl.at/cAJPY
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/freedthinking
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/freedthinkingconsulting

TODAY'S GUEST: RON DAWSON
Ron Dawson is a Brand & Content Marketing Strategist, an expert who runs BladeRonner Media. He has a background in branding, marketing, business development, finance, and media production experience, plus a proven content marketing record. Ron has worked a lot within the movie industry, whether it’s as an award-winning video editor with 18 years experience, as Senior content marketing manager for Frame.io, or as Marketing Strategist for We Make Movies. He's also very active as a podcaster, and you can check out his many video insights on TikTok!
https://bladeronner.media/


We discussed:
- How to grow your social media following for business.
- Why it’s important to create content that is specific to your social media platform.
- SEO in the age of AI
- Prompts for AI when it comes to writing blog posts, and how you can use AI to kick-start the writing process.
- Being aware of the limits of AI and ChatGPT when it comes to creating original marketing content.
- Google ranking for your blogs, and how duplicate content can affect your visibility.
- Getting the name of your business out there.
- Google advertising.
- Knowing your ideal customer and tailoring content specifically for them.

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Welcome to the The Freedthinker, a marketing podcast where we talk to business owners and thought leaders, looking at cutting-edge marketing techniques, what’s working in today’s business climate, how to market on a shoestring, and essential skills to get heard above the noise of the competition.

Freedthinking is a marketing agency based in Los Angeles and London, and can be found at www.freedthinking.com. We help companies get seen & heard by potential customers. Our approach is do *whatever it takes* to market your business - using both traditional and cutting-edge techniques - websites, promo videos, blogs, podcasts, social media-management, digital advertising - and of course harnessing the power of AI as it continues to evolve.

FREEDTHINKING MARKETING SERVICES
Promo Videos: https://www.freedthinking.com/promotional-videos
Digital Ads: https://www.freedthinking.com/digital-ads
Websites, Copywriting & Consulting: https://www.freedthinking.com/growth-marketing

THE FREEDTHINKER PODCAST ON OTHER PLATFORMS
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-freedthinker/id1705696941
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JvB8dynCJmeagNjQ3T0VO?si=d5e640fb531f4515
RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2237966.rss
AMAZON/AUDIBLE: https://shorturl.at/cAJPY
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/freedthinking
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/freedthinkingconsulting

***

TODAY'S GUEST: VIVI FRIEDGUT
Vivi Friedgut is the founder/CEO of Blackbullion - the financial wellbeing company reaching over 1.2 million young people worldwide. The award winning startup, utilising gamification and open banking, supports young people to make the best financial decisions for their future. Students are also able to access additional funding through the recently acquired Scholarship Hub - the largest platform of its kind in the UK.

Vivi is former UHNWI wealth manager and a regular presenter about financial empowerment and developing a personal financial playbook. Vivi is a regular public speaker and panelist and a published author who was recently named FinTech Magazine’s Top100 Women

In this episode, Blackbullion CEO Vivi Friedgut discusses:
- Why she saw the need for marketing very early on, and how it became one of her key focal points as she grew the business.
- How startup entrepreneurs can learn from these successes and effective lessons.
- The rise of "Finfluencers" - Fintech (financial technology) influencers, and problems that can arise.
- How she grew Blackbullion from a primarily in-person experience to a powerful online platform.

LINKS
Fintech100 women https://fintechmagazine.com/magazine/fintech-top-100-women
https://www.blackbullion.com/blog
https://business.blackbullion.com/
https://twitter.com/blackbullion
https://www.instagram.com/vivifriedgut/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivifriedgut/

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Welcome to the first episode of The Freedthinker, a marketing podcast where we talk to business owners and thought leaders, looking at cutting-edge marketing techniques, what’s working in today’s business climate, how to market on a shoestring, and essential skills to get heard above the noise of the competition. Freedthinking is a marketing agency based in Los Angeles and London, and can be found at www.freedthinking.com

APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-freedthinker/id1705696941
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JvB8dynCJmeagNjQ3T0VO?si=d5e640fb531f4515
RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2237966.rss

We are delighted to welcome today’s guest! Our first episode is a special episode. We originally filmed the series in Summer 2024 and were planning to launch in October 2024, but everything was put on pause after the October 7th pogrom massacre in Israel - all of our efforts went into “war footing”, supporting family and friends in Israel. Freedthinking projects turned towards community support, and the podcast launch was delayed.

As such, this new first episode was filmed in January 2024, where we speak with Israeli-American entrepreneur Leron Kornreich, where we discussed:

How are marketing techniques being used by Israel?
What marketing lessons can be learned?
How can we apply these principles to small businesses?

ABOUT LERON:
Leron Kornreich is the founder of Si14 Global Communications - a global PR agency specializing in high tech. The agency has launched about 100 tech startups and expanded the brand recognition of numerous established companies. Before establishing Si14 Global Communications, Leron spent 10 years as a television news reporter and producer covering breaking news in NY, NJ and Connecticut. She has also written articles for prestigious publications, including Time magazine, The Washington Post, The Star Ledger and Fast Company.


Many of the agency's clients are Israeli tech firms so Leron has a very good sense of how the current situation is impacting Israeli tech and, as a former reporter, she has insights into the way the media is covering the war.

Discover more about Leron: https://www.si14global.com/our-team

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed

Here is Trailer #2 of the Freedthinker marketing podcast. We filmed most episodes last summer and I was all set to launch it in the second week of October…but after October 7th, I put everything on hold as our top focus was Israel. The big question became; how to respond appropriately, and how to do it in a way that is relevant to the @freedthinking podcast? All will be revealed in the first episode, #comingsoon!

#Freedthinking #MarketingMonday #marketingpodcast #marketingdigital #marketing #marketingtips #digitalmarketing #marketingagency #businessmarketing #marketingstrategy #marketingstrategies #marketinglondon #marketinglosangeles #marketingconsultant #marketingcontent #marketingconsulting #smallbusiness #business #sme #businessgrowth #businessgrowthstrategy #businessgrowthtips

Freedthinking is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Discover more at www.freedthinking.com.

Instagram: @freedthinking and @marcusjfreed