Category: Business Tips

7 Impactful Podcasts Our Giants Tune Into to Elevate Their Intelligence

Posted on September 20, 2023 by - Business Tips, Productivity

Looking for some podcast inspiration? Explore our blog to uncover 7 impactful podcasts our Giants regularly tune into to expand their intelligence, elevate their creativity and improve their everyday lives.

Podcasts have boomed in popularity over the last few years. From business and strategy to self-improvement, true crime, comedy, history and everything in between, you can find a podcast on virtually every topic known to man.

At Giant Voices, our talented team of creatives is always searching for ways to expand their intelligence, knowledge and expertise, and many of us tune into impactful podcasts regularly.

We sat down with some of our Giants to get their top podcast recommendations—explore them below and gain inspiration on what you should tune into this week.

The Tim Ferriss Show 

Starting off strong with a recommendation from our CEO, Pascha Apter.

The Tim Ferriss Show features Tim Ferriss, a bestselling author most often known for his book The 4-Hour Workweek, digging deep into the tools, tactics and tricks that world-class performers and experts utilize to further their growth, expand their minds and reach new heights.

Listen to The Tim Ferriss Show on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts. 

Leader of the Pack 

If there’s one podcast we’re truly excited to feature, it’s Leader of the Pack, a podcast started by Tom Sega, the CEO of a favorite local brand, Duluth Pack.

With Duluth Pack swiftly rising from a small business to a global brand with a loyal fanbase of outdoor enthusiasts found in every corner of the world, it’s no wonder the Leader of the Pack podcast features great business advice, impactful conversations and exciting stories from admirable individuals.

Listen to Leader of the Pack on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Stitcher—and be sure to check out episode #40, featuring none other than Pascha Apter!

The Goal Digger Podcast 

The Goal Digger Podcast, founded by influential Duluth local and entrepreneur, Jenna Kutcher, is a go-to podcast for Heather Wink—one of our exceptional account executives.

She enjoys Kutcher’s valuable advice on all things business, social media, branding, budgeting, goal setting, productivity and so much more. With over 650 episodes and authentic conversations with ambitious women, you can spend countless hours diving into this incredible podcast.

Listen to The Goal Digger Podcast on Jenna’s website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Podbean. 

Creative Pep Talk

Need to revamp some of your creativity? Tune into the Creative Pep Talk podcast by Andy J. Pizza.

Recommended by one of our outstanding graphic designers, Claudia Blees, this podcast is ideal for creatives like graphic designers, illustrators and Canva enthusiasts (and even you, doodlers).

This fun and quirky podcast shares inspiring stories, actionable strategies and clever tools to help you build a thriving creative career.

Listen to the Creative Pep Talk on the Creative Pep Talk website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. 

Marketing Against The Grain 

Are you curious as to what goes on in the brains of HubSpot and Zapier’s chief marketing officers? With the incredible success of these two globally-recognized brands, we sure are!

Suggested by our awesome account assistant, Alec Beaulieau, tune into the Marketing Against The Grain podcast for a deep dive into all things marketing trends, growth tactics and innovative strategies with Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot CMO, and Kieran Flanagan, Zapier CMO.

Listen to Marketing Against The Grain on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer and Podcast Addict. 

The Tony Robbins Podcast 

Ready to change your life in a meaningful way? Tony Robbins is a renowned life and business strategist who has transformed thousands of lives around the world.

Pascha also recommends tuning in to The Tony Robbins Podcast to receive game-changing tips, tricks and advice on how to uplevel your life, improve your relationships, elevate your mindset and maximize your success.

Listen to The Tony Robbins Podcast on Tony Robbins’ website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Podbean. 

That Will Never Work 

How many times have you heard the word no? Or been told “that will never work?” Created by Marc Randolph—veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the co-founder of Netflix (along with many other successful brands)—this podcast seeks to radically shift your perspective of rejection and problems.

Tune in to That Will Never Work and learn how to develop your analytical skills, hear from entrepreneurs and how they overcame hurdles, and gain actionable insights on building a thriving business.

Listen to That Will Never Work on Marc Randolph’s website, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

Elevate Your Business with Giant Voices 

Listening to podcasts can only help your business succeed if you make changes and take action! Fortunately, with Giant Voices by your side, you don’t have to grow your business alone.

By combining our teams and utilizing the Giants’ strengths, we can work together to catapult your brand’s growth and impact. Ready to take charge? Contact us and let’s maximize your marketing.

Celebrating Women’s History Month: 5 Giant Ways We Uplift and Support Women

Posted on March 14, 2023 by - Business Tips, Giant Fun

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re exploring the history of this annually declared month, the achievements of women in business around the world and how Giant Voices uplifts and supports women at our company and throughout our region.

Throughout history, women have often been the unsung (or sometimes silenced) heroes of monumental movements, accomplishments and changes that shaped and molded our world.

From the suffragists fighting for voting rights in the early 20th century to women climbing the corporate ladder and breaking patriarchal norms in business, women have fought tooth and nail to build a better world and pave the way for women today.

Every year during the month of March, we recognize, reflect and celebrate these ground-breaking historical, political, societal and cultural achievements of women through Women’s History Month.

It all started in California during the late 1970s, when the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women initiated a “Women’s History Week” celebration to generate awareness around the historical and cultural contributions of women. 

After years of women and historians lobbying for national recognition, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter officially declared that March 8 was the start of National Women’s History Week.

As the movement continued to gain national and global momentum, Congress then declared March as Women’s History Month in 1987.

What was once a week-long event has transformed into a tangible and communal month-long celebration that brings women together from across the world.

At Giant Voices, we are particularly excited to recognize and celebrate the ambitious and brave women who have created opportunities for women to thrive in business and everyday life. 

A Brief Look Into Women in Business

Did you know that before 1988, women weren’t able to acquire business loans without the co-signing of a male relative?

Fortunately, this antiquated and discriminatory law was eradicated when the Women’s Business Ownership Act (bill H.R. 5050) was passed and signed into law. According to the U.S. Small Business Association, women own or co-own 45% of all businesses in the United States today.

The number of women-owned businesses, as well as women in leadership roles and influential positions, has continued to rise over the last few decades.

For the first time in history, women CEOs run more than 10% of Fortune 500 companies (53 female CEOs in 2023). A monumental achievement considering just two decades ago—in 2002—that number was only 7.

While women may still have roadblocks to achieve true equality, gender equity and adequate representation in some areas, we’re excited to see the strides that women in business and leadership have made since trailblazers like Sarah Breedlove (better known as Madam C.J. Walker), Oprah Winfrey and Arianna Huffington became renowned entrepreneurs. 

Less Talk, More Action

At Giant Voices, we’re committed to fostering change and taking action to uplift, support and empower women in business. We’re taking charge in several key areas.

Building a Well-Represented Team

It’s not by design, as we have exceptional men at Giant Voices, but our team happens to consist of mostly women.

As a company that prioritizes gender representation and expanding the opportunities for women in business, we are passionate about hiring talented, creative and ambitious employees—no matter their gender or how they identify.

We believe by focusing on building a strong company culture where people—but especially women—feel acknowledged, appreciated and supported, our business and organization benefit from long-term success. 

Inspiring Other Women With Entrepreneurial Ambitions 

Giant Voices aims to become the norm, not the exception, when it comes to successful, women-led organizations.

Our leaders—Pascha, Lisa and Jena—are all ambitious entrepreneurs, involved community members, supportive partners and engaged parents.

They strive to be an example and show other women throughout our community and region that they, too, can do it all. Balancing your professional and personal life, while going after your dreams and achieving your goals, will often be hard but it can be done! 

Supporting Women in What Used to Be Male-Dominated Industries 

Historically, women have been underrepresented in male-dominated industries like mining, engineering and technology.

However, with the growth of women in business, we’ve seen a rise in women stepping into leadership roles in industries with traditionally male workforces.

Women in these fields are ambitious, goal-oriented and hardworking, and they bring a different perspective to the table. These women offer incredible value when it comes to uncovering the best way to achieve business goals.

The Giant Voices team continues to make meaningful impacts in industries that are generally male-dominated. We have proven time and again that we are experts in marketing these fields and are committed to earning trust, recurring business and delivering exceptional results. 

Prioritizing Meaningful Connections with Women in Business

At Giant Voices, we work, collaborate and connect with women in a multitude of industries. From mining and engineering to economic development, technology and tourism, our team has their hands in a broad spectrum of metaphorical industry honey pots. And we love it!

Our connections with female leaders and forward thinkers like Rachel Johnson, President and CEO at APEX, Julie Lucas, Executive Director at MiningMinnesota, and Vicki Worden, President and CEO of the Green Building Initiative, (among so many others!) give us the opportunity to work together to make an even bigger impact within our community and region.

As Michelle Obama once said, “There is no limit to what we, as women, can achieve.” 

Recognizing, Celebrating and Reflecting on Our Achievements

At Giant Voices, our women-led organization and team have achieved much to be proud of over the past ten years of business.

From expanding our team and moving into a larger office space to bringing on Jena Mertz as partner, seeing our work manifest as an Involta Billboard in Times Square and Pascha Apter—Giant Voices Founder and CEO—being recognized in the TCB 100: People to Know, our company has evolved, grown and accomplished so many incredible things, but the foundational structure has remained steady.

While we’re always looking towards the future and creating new goals, we also know how important it is to recognize, celebrate and reflect on how far we’ve come as a company founded, managed and operated by a team of primarily women. 

How Adding a Fractional CMO or Marketing Leader Can Transform Your Business

Posted on March 7, 2023 by - Business Tips, Strategic Marketing

What if you could bring on an expert to help fill in critical leadership and skills gaps but at a fraction of the cost of hiring FTEs? This is exactly what a fractional CMO or marketing leader does, and here’s how adding one to your team can transform your business. 

Marketing has always been a fast-paced industry, and the momentum continues to build faster than marketing teams can hire the support they need.

It takes time to interview, hire and train new FTEs who may or may not have the skills required to develop and execute effective marketing strategies. It may take several FTEs to fill the necessary gaps, and that overhead adds up quickly.

Yes, you can fine-tune your recruitment strategies to attract qualified candidates, and it’s essential to focus on retaining the talent you already have on board, but neither of these will guarantee your marketing team has the full breadth of expertise needed to deliver qualified leads to your sales team. 

Staying at the forefront of changes in the marketing field is often more than one marketing professional or small internal marketing team can handle—nobody should be doing this alone. 

Just because marketing takes a specialized team, however, doesn’t mean all of those experts need to be on your payroll.

Hiring a fractional CMO, fractional marketing director or fractional marketing sales and alignment expert can provide your business with the power of a full-service marketing department—for a fraction of the cost.

Giant Fractional Marketing Services

Giant Voices offers fractional marketing support to augment your existing internal marketing person or team. This type of investment gives your company the power to leverage the expertise of a full-service marketing agency for a fraction of the cost of hiring FTEs, and it amplifies your existing teams’ capabilities.

Instead of hiring for specific skills, you’ll gain access to an entire strategic marketing team with experts in marketing strategy, digital marketing, web development, SEO, content creation, social media, graphic design, and more. 

We become an integrated part of your organization, delivering what is specifically needed in terms of strategy or tactical assistance. If your team has gaps in certain areas, fractional marketing support could be the key that unlocks unlimited potential.

If you could use help in any of the areas listed below, a fractional service agreement may be worth exploring:

What level of fractional marketing support is right for you?

Marketing support services can augment your team at any level—from C-suite to (virtual) front desk. Check out the following options and consider your needs. 

Fractional Chief Marketing Officer

A fractional CMO sets the strategy for marketing and sales teams, manages your organization’s brand identity, and builds strong relationships with internal and external partners. It’s executive-level strategy and oversight, backed by a skilled team of marketing professionals. 

Fractional Marketing Director

From internal and external communications to marketing and advertising strategy development, a fractional marketing director will help move your business forward powerfully, ensuring all marketing projects are completed and optimized.

Marketing/Sales Administrative Support

Fractional marketing sales and administrative support adds capable hands to your team. They’ll keep you in touch with customers through list management, mailings, email sends, customer inquiries, event management and more.

Case study: Giant fractional CMO services fill critical leadership and skills gaps

Involta is an award-winning hybrid IT and cloud-forward consulting firm orchestrating digital transformation for the nation’s leading enterprises. Involta’s ongoing mission has been rooted in partnership for nearly 20 years.

The Giant Voices team has been Involta’s strategic marketing partner for over a decade, helping grow the company’s footprint from one market to six and providing marketing insight every step of the way.

As Involta grew, the company needed a higher level of strategic marketing insight and leadership. Giant Voices fills the role of Chief Marketing Officer to help Involta fill a critical leadership gap. 

The Giants backup Involta’s internal marketing team, provide support to build Involta’s brand, strengthen lead generation and digital advertising efforts, oversee the company’s website and manage public relations.

This tremendous amount of work wouldn’t be possible without combining the Involta and Giant Voices teams. It’s a collaborative effort every step of the way, and the results have been mutually beneficial. Deep integration leads to deep knowledge and a high level of trust. We’re one team. 

“With Lisa Bodine leading Involta’s marketing efforts, we’ve expanded our data center footprint, honed our IT security offering, elevated the Involta brand and positioned the company for acquisition by Carlyle. She and her team have been invaluable.”

—Jim Buie, Involta CEO

Ready to engage a Giant fractional marketing expert?

Reach out to our team at any time to discuss how we can augment your team.

Little-Known Recruiting Strategies for a Tight Labor Market

Posted on August 16, 2022 by - Business Tips

Welcome to part two of our series on navigating the great resignation for business owners.

For employers, the high job turnover rate seen across industries in the last few years is a double-edged sword. There’s a lot of competition for top talent—and some employers may be rightly concerned about their key people being lured away by competitors (check out our blog on improving your retention strategy for tips).

This also means there is great talent out there that might be a good fit for your team. Whether you’re looking to add to your team, or are planning for the future, it’s a great time to evaluate your recruitment strategy. 

Little-Known Recruiting Strategies for a Tight Labor Market | Giant Voices

Optimize Your Job Postings

The objective of a job posting is to make the right candidates for a position excited about the potential of joining your company.

To do this, your job postings should showcase your brand and accurately represent the work to be performed. Here are a few tips.

  • Use SEO-friendly language. Internally, you might call your accountants “Dollar Detectives” and your lead generation specialists “Click Captains,” but your candidates won’t be searching for those titles. Stick with industry-standard and searchable descriptions in postings. 
  • Describe the position accurately. Resist the temptation to massage job descriptions around what you think a candidate might want. Instead, describe the position accurately, and emphasize possibilities for advancement or position growth as applicable. 
  • Emphasize culture. What makes your company a great place to work? Flexible hours, competitive pay, access to learning and development? Include a separate section on your job posting that describes the benefits of joining your organization. Check out our blog on building a great company culture for more insight.

Encourage Referrals

Your current employees should be your biggest brand advocates and are powerful recruiting tools. Some companies offer referral bonuses, where if a referred candidate is hired, the referring party receives a monetary award.

For many employees, however, the promise of being able to work with a trusted party (and the ability to help a friend or colleague find a new position) is plenty of incentive to make a referral. 

To encourage referrals, make sure to let employees know when you are hiring, and ask them to refer qualified candidates. It also makes sense to treat these referrals with particular care.

Although you have no obligation to hire a referred candidate, you should provide a level of personal attention to referred applicants so both the applicant and the referring employee know the referral was appreciated. An employee who feels their referral had a bad interview experience is unlikely to refer again.

Treat Interviews as Marketing Opportunities

Imagine this—you fill out a lengthy online application for a job and receive no response, or you speak with a recruiter who seems dismissive of your skillset and disinterested in the task of interviewing you. 

Now imagine that instead, you apply for a job and make it to the final round of interviews. The hiring managers are engaging and personable. They seem to like their work, and they seem to like you.

Although you don’t get the job, you receive a personal thank-you note for your application and are warmly encouraged to stay in touch with the organization. 

Which of these companies will you be monitoring for future openings? Where will you tell your similarly-skilled friends to apply?

Although it is rarely framed as such, recruiting and interviewing is a marketing initiative. Making sure that even unqualified candidates receive, at the bare minimum, a formal rejection, demonstrates respect for the job-seeker’s experience. If your resources allow for it, providing a personal note and some individualized feedback can further build goodwill.

For qualified candidates who are not hired, be transparent and timely in communicating your decision, provide relevant information about your timeline for additional hires, and request that the candidates keep you informed on their searches.

You may also want to maintain a list of qualified non-hires and reach out personally when you have another position to fill. Not only will you generate positive buzz about the way your company treats candidates, you might also be able to fast-track the hiring process the next time you have an open position.

Seek Help From a Trusted Partner

From designing and disseminating job posts to processing applications and interviewing candidates, recruiting and hiring is a time-intensive process.

At Giant Voices, we can help fine-tune your recruitment strategy and offer staff support during the hiring process, so that you can bring in the right candidates for your open positions—and build your brand along the way. Reach out if you need help building a strong, dependable team.

Key Retention Strategies for Navigating the Great Resignation

Posted on August 10, 2022 by - Business Tips

It goes by many names. The great resignation. The big quit. Catalyzed by pandemic-related changes in both job structures and employee priorities, workplace turnover has been at an all-time high, and some businesses are more impacted than others.

In fact, a recent study from SHRM Hill found that about 4 million workers left their jobs every month in 2021.

This trend has prompted an increased focus on both recruiting and retention for many companies.

At Giant Voices, helping companies improve their recruiting and retention strategies is one of our core business consulting services. This month, we’re delivering a few key retention tips to help ensure you meet your business goals.

Key Retention Strategies for Navigating the Great Resignation | Giant Voices

Understanding Workplace Turnover

Some level of turnover is natural in a company. Especially for small business owners, it’s important to remember that an employee leaving doesn’t necessarily mean that you are doing something wrong.

Moving, changing priorities or interest in a new line of work are reasons employees leave happy, healthy workplaces.

Instead of focusing on individual transitions, keep an eye on your employee turnover rate to assess your retention strategy. In general, a 10% annual turnover rate (or a 90% retention rate) is considered strong.

Problems tend to arise when turnover rates are significantly higher than this baseline. High rates of turnover require you to devote time and money to replacing talent, and they can mean that your training and development dollars are benefiting your competitors (instead of your company).

A particularly high turnover rate can also suggest there is dissatisfaction within your workforce or, the incentives you offer are not competitive in the market. In this case, a trusted business consulting partner can help you identify issues and make a strategic plan to improve your retention rates.

Connect Work to Purpose

Burnout can be (and often is) caused by overwork. Recent research, however, suggests burnout is less correlated with the amount of work than it is with connection to a sense of purpose.

An employee working 45 hours a week is not a high burnout risk if she feels that her work is moving her towards her personal goals, whether those are related to finances, skill development, career advancement, or helping her company grow.

This same employee, however, might burn out working 20 hours a week if she feels that her efforts aren’t serving a purpose.

To help your employees connect their efforts to outcomes, make sure to recognize and reward strong performance and to provide clear pathways for skill development and advancement within your organization.

Foster a Culture of Feedback

Feedback is key for any healthy community. It can also be difficult to give and receive. To combat this, establish a structure (such as quarterly or annual reviews) to provide employees with consistent feedback, both reinforcing (or positive) and change-oriented (or constructive).

It’s also important to empower your employees to give feedback. Although employees can be reticent to provide feedback up the chain of command, feedback is a key source of information for leadership.

An environment in which an employee feels comfortable telling her boss if she is dissatisfied with an element of her job is one in which her boss can decide whether or not to make a change.

It’s also an inherently healthier environment than one in which the employee kept silent. In giving feedback, she is demonstrating both trust that her supervisors will accept the feedback in good faith and a continued investment in her workplace community.

To encourage a two-way flow of communication, make it a habit to ask your employees for feedback and demonstrate your appreciation of their input.

Although you might not be able to grant all requests, you can build goodwill by thanking an employee for giving feedback, giving true internal consideration to their comments, and following up accordingly.

This demonstrates professional respect and encourages open communication in the future, even if the ultimate answer is that you are not currently in the position to make a requested change.

Learn From Exit Interviews

Conducting exit interviews is one way employers gather feedback from their departing employees. Your exit interview should aim to find out why an employee is leaving, what aspects of their experience were optimal, and what could have been improved upon.

As with internal feedback, the objective of these interviews is not necessarily to learn what you should have done differently—it’s more so taking advantage of a moment in an employee’s tenure when they may be feeling both particularly reflective and comfortable speaking about their experience working at your company.

Keeping exit interview data on hand and watching for common themes can help you determine whether or not changes in your workplace policies or compensation structure are necessary to improve your retention rate.

Final Thoughts

Business owners and entrepreneurs are responsible to many parties. You need to keep your customers happy, forge strong relationships with partners, maintain workplace satisfaction, and monitor your bottom line, which is much to consider! There’s a reason that C-suite superheroes learn to prioritize self-care early on.

If you’re struggling with high turnover or retention and recruitment, a third-party consulting firm like Giant Voices can help. We will identify the root causes, and develop and implement—in tandem with your team—strategies that align with your business goals. To get started, just reach out.