Chris Marrano

Agencies often talk crap on other agencies and it's a pointless exercise but here's why I find it amusing Hiring is hard Running a company of 10 is hard Running a company of 40 is harder Most agency owners can never scale above either 40 heads or 40 clients because they don't replace themselves The reason I am at 450 clients and 500 employees is because processes (sops etc) simply outperform talented people who ignore checklists My interns beat anyone Thrasio hired for example, they with ultimate sophistication ignored commandment 1 of selling on Amazon. They let their top sellers go out of stock. Boutique agencies claim better talent allows them better results, often posting on social media like a solo fashion show Not only is this misleading but it's also their only claim they can make because they can't or haven't yet scaled their own company to merit a higher level argument But with that said, it's not me against you (other agencies), it's all of US vs Amazon There is simply no need to attack other agencies to gain ground, the ground is infinite and I get more client referrals when I help my competitors anyway Business is not a zero sum game, on the contrary it's an infinite value giving game This is why I give away everything Some of you will hate on me just because I am successful But most of you who learn something and apply it to your own business will grow And to the few who come back and say thank you for all the content? You're the reward that keeps me going

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CMOs have no shortage of pitches - what you need is a filter. In this video, I share the three filters I use: measure quality beyond CPL, scale with brand-safe compliance, and align incentives so you only pay for outcomes that matter. If a partner can’t show their playbook on those three, keep looking. What’s your must-ask question before you sign?

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B2B buyers are hungry for information, but is your content optimized for E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust)? Nick Nelson at TopRank Marketing shares how to conduct an E-E-A-T Audit and what you’ll learn from it: https://lnkd.in/dPuSj4aM from

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✔️ LeadScale’s Gen5 Software and XBM™ Framework Transform Marketing Operations ✔️ Marketing Operations professionals face a daily struggle with fragmented, siloed data spread across dozens of platforms—resulting in inefficiencies, unclear account stories, and slow meeting velocity. LeadScale’s Gen5 software with our under-lying XBM™ (Anything-Based Marketing) framework, is designed to solve these challenges by unifying technology and workflow integrations into a single, adaptive platform. 📌 How XBM™ powers Gen5 to support MOPS: 💥 Continuous, Unified Data Journeys XBM™, at the heart of Gen5, treats data as a continuous journey—constantly flowing, adapting, and updating as new signals arrive. Gen5 integrates data from every source (Marketo, Salesforce, product analytics, and more), providing a real-time, 360-degree view of each account’s engagement and status. 💥 Standardized Account Status and Pattern Recognition Gen5 leverages standardized account status (unknown, known, engaged, qualified, etc.), enabling Marketing Operations teams to index, track, and analyze accounts consistently. This makes it easy to recognize engagement patterns and progression, improving targeting and forecasting. 💥 Real-Time Data Validation and Governance The Gen5 platform validates, enriches, and routes all incoming data instantly, reducing errors and eliminating redundant or conflicting records. Advanced de-duplication and standardized tagging ensure your team always works with clean, actionable data. 💥 Centralized Asset Management and Workflow Automation Gen5 consolidates all campaign assets and data into a single platform, streamlining operations and reducing reliance on multiple third-party tools. Automated workflows free your team from manual processes, so you can focus on strategy and execution. 💥 Accelerated Meeting Velocity and Revenue Growth With unified, high-quality data and clear account statuses, Marketing Operations can quickly identify which accounts are ready for outreach, which need nurturing, and which require re-engagement—leading to faster pipeline movement and more productive meetings. 📌 Why Gen5 + XBM™ Is a Game Changer for MOPS LeadScale’s Gen5 software makes XBM™’s adaptive, circular data journeys a reality—delivering a self-service, enterprise-grade platform that unifies technology and workflows for Marketing Operations professionals. No more patchwork of tools or fragmented insights, just a single, scalable solution designed to drive clarity, control, and compliance at every stage of the funnel. Ready to see the whole picture and unlock the true potential of your data? Gen5 with XBM™ is built for Marketing Operations. #MarketingOps #MarTech #WorkflowAutomation #DataIntegration #LeadScale #Gen5 #XBM™

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🚨 Big news for Local SEO & Social Marketers! 🚨 Starting July 10th, #Instagram will allow search engines like #Google, #Bing, #ChatGPT, and others to crawl deeper into its content. 📲 That means social content will become even more searchable and #SEO & #Social are about to become best friends. For local businesses, this unlocks a new opportunity: ✅ Get your Instagram content to show up in search results especially for high-intent local queries. Try searching “burgers near me” and you’ll now see social posts indexed right in the middle of Google’s results page. So what should businesses do? 🔍 Create locally optimized content that reflects what people actually search for. 🏷️ #Citations and brand mentions matter more than ever having your business name, address, phone number, and a clear business summary across platforms will improve your chances of ranking in #AI powered results. 📈 The future of AI search is visual, local, and social. #FranchiseMarketing #LocalMarketing #LocalSEO #SocialMedia

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Across our entire portfolio, every client has increased investment with us YoY. Why? Performance. For one client, leads are up 50% while CPL is down 20% For another, total revenue is up 178% And we do this while maintaining privacy compliance. Privacy-first marketing doesn’t have to mean loss of performance.

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Why are you still funding the channel that gets all the credit, but killing the one that actually drives growth? This is the trap of attribution thinking, and it's costing you revenue. Attribution = Which touchpoint gets the credit? Contribution = How did each touchpoint help? THE PROBLEM Your customers don't buy linearly. They research across 6-10 touchpoints, switch devices, and are influenced by ads they never click. Attribution asks: Did video or email close the deal? Contribution asks: How did video AND email work together? REAL EXAMPLE Customer sees programmatic ad → watches video → clicks social post → opens email → purchases Attribution: Email gets 100% credit as last-touch Contribution: → Programmatic built awareness → Video educated on the solution → Social provided proof → Email delivered the offer Each played a role. None worked alone. THE COSTLY MISTAKE Attribution: Video has low last-touch attribution. Cut the budget. Contribution: Customers exposed to video convert 2.5x more and spend 35% more. Increase the budget. BOTTOM LINE Attribution divides credit. Contribution understands how channels work together. Stop optimizing for the last click. Start investing in the full journey. What's one channel you've undervalued because it doesn't get "credit" in your attribution model?

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🚀 Key Insights from 16,000+ Paid Search Campaigns from WordStream by LocaliQ (Apr ’24 – Mar ’25): CTR: 6.66% on average - but over half of industries saw a drop CPC: $5.26 on average - 87% of industries faced higher costs CVR: 7.52% on average - 65% of industries saw improvements CPL: $70.11- up 5% year-over-year 📊 By industry: Legal continues to be the priciest for leads ($131) Auto Repair remains the most efficient ($28) Takeaway: Costs are climbing, so you need to have smarter, more relevant campaigns paired with stronger landing pages to drive better results. Reach out to the Digital Strike - Targeted Marketing team if you are not getting the results you need! 🔗 Full report: https://lnkd.in/ejvjkGxy #PPC #PaidSearch #DigitalStrike #GoogleAds #CampaignOptimizations

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Reaching the right audience isn’t just keywords or job titles. Advanced targeting and customer journey mapping have become survival skills for advertisers. The stakes are high because you risk wasting your budget if you miss the right audience or stage. In the latest article in my Hero Conf San Diego preview series for the PPC Hero blog, I cover why precision, authenticity, and smarter journey design are reshaping paid media, with insights from: 👉 Garrett Mehrguth on LinkedIn Ads tactics learned from $68m in B2B spend 👉 Ashley Mo on scaling trust with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads 👉 Jordan Stark on uncovering hidden revenue by optimizing every stage of the customer journey If you want to refine your targeting and turn wasted impressions into WINS, this is one to read before Hero Conf! Link in comments 👇

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Google Ads makes it easy to launch a campaign...but far too easy to launch it wrong. In The Ward Group's latest blog post, we break down some of the most overlooked (yet costly) platform defaults hiding in plain sight. Read the article for a closer look at how to protect your budget - and your brand - from the silent inefficiencies of automated advertising.  👉 Read the full post here https://lnkd.in/gw5RUcjp #MediaBuying #DigitalStrategy #GoogleAds #MarketingROI #TheWardGroup

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CMO’s and agencies are so enamored with bottom-funnel targeting tactics that they totally lost the ability to move people effectively—their judgement is out of balance with real needs today. The targeting down funnel ‘disease’ gives marketers a feeling that they aren’t being wasteful but so much is showing they aren’t being effective either. “This ….reveals …a fundamental mismatch. Respondents are applying bottom-of-funnel tactics to what they've identified as top-of-funnel brand building objectives.”

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