The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Podcast

Rich Brooks | Interviews with Marketing Experts | SEO | Social Media Market

Discover how to increase your online visibility, drive more qualified traffic to your site and convert that traffic into leads and business!

In The Marketing Agents Podcast, we'll interview leading marketers from around the globe to get their insider tips and tricks on SEO, social media and mobile marketing.

If you've been looking to reach more of your ideal customers and build your business, be sure to subscribe to The Marketing Agents Podcast today!

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21 episodes
Updated Wednesday

Episodes21

Newest first

Wednesday · 32 min
How to Build Trust on LinkedIn with Kaila Vander Horn
LinkedIn is the one social platform that hasn't burned me out yet, and after this conversation, I understand why a lot more businesses should be paying closer attention to it. My guest is Kaila Vander Horn, head of content at Speedwork, a LinkedIn advertising agency where she runs organic strategy for B2B companies and the leaders behind them. We get into what thought leadership really means (spoiler: you don't need a corner office or a Fortune 100 badge to claim it), how often you really need to post to see results, and why LinkedIn has quietly become one of the most cited sources for AI tools like ChatGPT. If you've been putting off posting because you don't think anyone cares what you have to say, this episode, and this recap, is for you. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/633 NY Times Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/technology/personaltech/chatgpt-gemini-prompts-privacy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0FA.zhw-.mAZ5BSDr9qg7&smid=url-share Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
July 29 · 38 min
The Neuroscience of Storytelling with Jennifer Gardner
You already know stories beat spreadsheets when it comes to winning people over. But what if the story itself isn't even the most important part? This week I'm talking with Jennifer Gardner, a Los Angeles trial lawyer, persuasive communication speaker, and administrative law judge who's spent three decades convincing juries to see things her way. Jennifer breaks down what's actually happening in the brain when a story lands, why admitting your flaws builds more trust than any case study, and why the AI-generated content flooding your feed is missing the one ingredient it can't fake: you. If you've ever wondered why some stories grab you instantly while "important" ones put you to sleep, this conversation gives you the answer, and a few techniques you can start using today. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/632 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
July 22 · 33 min
Beating Big Competitors through Local SEO with Nick Cohen
If you've ever felt like local search is a game rigged for the big guys with bottomless ad budgets, this episode is going to change how you think about winning. My guest, Nick Cohen, is a rare combination: a practicing attorney and the COO of Matador, where he helps over 180 law firms compete against much bigger competitors in local search. But don't let the law firm focus fool you. Everything Nick shares here about reviews, backlinks, content, and the wild new world of GEO (that's optimizing for AI search) applies just as much to your HVAC company, your dental practice, or your marketing agency. We get into why reviews might be the single highest-leverage thing you can do this month, how to figure out exactly which keywords to target with his refreshingly simple "what you do, where you do it" framework, and why showing up in ChatGPT might convert better than showing up in Google. Let's get into it. GEO Audit: https://www.takeflyte.com/geo-audit?utm_source=aocp&utm_medium=id3&utm_campaign=aocp GEO Snapshot: https://www.takeflyte.com/geo-snapshot?utm_source=aocp&utm_medium=id3&utm_campaign=aocp https://www.theagentsofchange.com/631 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
July 15 · 35 min
Email Welcome Sequences That Convert with Allea Grummert
Most of us obsess over growing our email list, then greet new subscribers with... nothing. Maybe a generic "thanks for signing up" if they're lucky. Allea Grummert, email marketing strategist and owner of Duett, says that first stretch after someone joins your list is where relationships (and revenue) are won or lost. In this episode, she breaks down how to build a welcome sequence that answers your subscribers' biggest questions, shows off your best content, and quietly identifies your hottest leads, all on autopilot. If your welcome email still says "welcome to the community," this one's for you. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/630 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
July 8 · 35 min
Simplify Your Marketing Analytics with Kyle Akerman
If you have ever opened your Google Analytics, felt your eyes glaze over, and quietly closed the tab, this episode is for you. I sat down with Kyle Akerman, a digital measurement consultant in Nashville who helps small B2B marketing teams turn data into decisions without the overwhelm. We get into why your analytics should work like a feedback loop, why three good questions beat thirty random metrics, and how 25 minutes on a Friday (beer and tacos optional) can tell you more about your marketing than a year-end report ever will. If measurement has always felt like the punishment for loving the creative side of marketing, Kyle has a simpler, saner way in. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/629 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
July 1 · 41 min
NotebookLM for Marketers AI Workflows with Lisa Monks
If you've been using ChatGPT or Gemini and quietly wondering whether you can trust everything it tells you, there's a Google tool built to solve exactly that problem. NotebookLM only works from the documents you give it, which means it's grounded in your own content instead of guessing at the entire internet. This week I'm joined by Lisa Monks, an Australian social media strategist and AI educator, who has spent the last few years figuring out how to put that grounded approach to work for real businesses. We talk about everything from repurposing podcasts and building staff training quizzes to creating fully branded slide decks, and by the end of this episode you'll have a clear list of ways to put NotebookLM to work in your own business this week. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/628 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
June 24 · 34 min
Creating Better Graphics with AI with Jeff Sieh
If your AI-generated images are starting to look like everyone else's, you're not alone. The problem isn't the tools. It's the approach. Jeff Sieh, visual content expert and host of Creator News Live, has been deep in the AI image generation world long enough to watch it transform from a novelty into a genuine workflow essential. In this episode, we get into how to develop your own visual style, how to use tools like Midjourney and Nano Banana for very different jobs, and why the best prompt you'll ever write is the one you let AI help you write. Whether you're creating YouTube thumbnails, social graphics, or just trying to figure out where to start, this one's worth your time. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/627 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
June 17 · 31 min
AI Visibility and the Buyer Journey with Tom Rudnai
If you've been trying to get your business cited by ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews, you might be optimizing for the wrong thing entirely. Tom Rudnai, founder of Demand-Genius, spent two years running structured prompts across the full buyer journey and found something that should change the way marketers think about AI visibility. Most of the influence AI has on your potential customers happens long before it ever recommends a specific brand. In this episode, Tom breaks down exactly what that means, what the data shows, and what practical steps you can take to stop chasing citations and start shaping how AI understands your category. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/626 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
June 10 · 29 min
AI Legal Risks Every Marketer Should Know with Sharon Toerek
If you've been using AI tools to create content, generate ideas, or speed up your workflow, you probably haven't spent much time thinking about what could go wrong legally. But you might want to start. I sat down with Sharon Toerek, a marketing and intellectual property attorney who works exclusively with independent agencies, and she laid out the legal landscape around AI in a way that's practical, clear, and genuinely useful. No scare tactics, no doom and gloom. Just a straightforward look at what the risks are, what you can do about them, and how to build the kind of foundation that keeps you from getting caught flat-footed. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/625 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
June 3 · 29 min
Behavioral Science Tricks for Marketers with MichaelAaron Flicker
If you've ever wondered why some brands just seem to "stick" while others fade into the noise, the answer might have less to do with budget and more to do with brain science. On this episode of the Agents of Change podcast, I sat down with MichaelAaron Flicker, CEO of XenoPsi Ventures and co-author of Hacking the Human Mind, to dig into the behavioral triggers behind some of the most iconic marketing campaigns in history. The best part? These aren't strategies reserved for Fortune 500 companies. MichaelAaron breaks down exactly how small and mid-sized businesses can put these same psychological principles to work today. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/624 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
May 27 · 41 min
Agentic AI for Marketing and SEO with Eliot Prince
I first found Eliot Prince the way most of us find the good stuff online: by falling down a YouTube rabbit hole. I was researching Claude Cowork, his video popped up, and within an hour I was organizing my downloads folder with agentic AI for the first time. Eliot is a UK-based AI trainer and curriculum developer who helps business owners and professionals use AI in practical, systematic ways. Today he joins me on the podcast to walk through real examples of what agentic AI can do right now, from building a full PR study for under $10, to turning a single transcript into branded social media content, to running a complete SEO audit in minutes. If you've been wondering what "agentic AI" means for your day-to-day marketing work, this is the episode to start with. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/623 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
May 20 · 33 min
Canva AI Tools Every Marketer Should Know with Maliha Khan
If you've ever opened Canva, slapped some text on a template, and called it a day, you're barely scratching the surface. Canva has quietly rolled out a suite of AI-powered tools that can batch-create branded graphics, generate images and video from text prompts, and resize everything for every platform in seconds. In this episode, I sit down with Maliha Khan, a strategy-first marketing consultant and the creative force behind Khannect the Dots and Khannections Studio, to dig into the Canva AI features most marketers don't even know exist. Whether you're a small business owner trying to keep up with your social media calendar or a marketer looking to level up your visual content without hiring a designer, this conversation is packed with practical workflows you can put to use today. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/622 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
May 13 · 41 min
Better AI Images with Prompts (and Practice) with Ross Symons
If you've ever typed a prompt into an AI image tool and ended up with something that looks like a corporate stock photo had a fever dream, you're not alone. Getting genuinely good output from these tools takes more than a two-word description. Ross Symons, co-founder of Zen Robot and a guy who spent a decade making origami stop-motion content before the influencer wave even had a name, breaks down what most people are doing wrong, and more importantly, what the people doing it right understand about these tools. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/621 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
May 6 · 27 min
Content First or Design First? Settling the Debate with Sarah Johnson
You've probably been there: the new website launches, it looks great, and then six months later you're wondering why the bounce rate is brutal and nobody's converting. Chances are, you designed the shell before you figured out the story. That's the problem Sarah Johnson has been solving for years. As the author of Content First Design and the forthcoming Meaning at Scale, Sarah works at the intersection of content strategy, user experience, and organizational alignment — and her argument is simple: if you don't know what you're saying or who you're saying it to, no amount of beautiful design is going to save you. In this episode, we dig into how to put content first, what "meaning drift" is costing your business, and how all of this connects to getting more out of AI. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/620 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
April 29 · 29 min
Fix Your Leaky Sales Funnel with Jason Kramer
You spend good money getting people to your website. They fill out the form. And then... nothing. No one follows up. Or someone follows up once, gets no reply, and moves on. Meanwhile, that lead is sitting there, probably still interested, just waiting for a reason to say yes. Jason Kramer has built his entire business around solving that exact problem. As the founder of Cultivize, he works with distributors, service providers, and agencies to plug the holes in their sales process — and the fixes are often simpler (and more embarrassing to ignore) than you'd think. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/619 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
April 15 · 34 min
Agentic AI for Marketers: What It Means with Mike Kaput
You've probably heard the term "agentic AI" thrown around lately — and if your eyes glazed over a little, you're not alone. It sounds like something for engineers in hoodies, not the person trying to juggle content marketing, lead gen, and whatever fire broke out in the office this morning. But here's the thing: agentic AI isn't some far-off technology. It's already baked into tools you might already be paying for. And once you understand what it can actually do for your workflow — not in theory, but in practice — it changes how you think about getting work done. I sat down with Mike Kaput, Chief Content Officer at Marketing AI Institute, co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence, and co-host of the Artificial Intelligence Show, to cut through the noise. Mike explains what agentic AI actually means for marketers, how he's using it to automate real work, and — importantly — how not to let it delete everything you care about. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/618 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
April 1 · 38 min
AI Search Optimization Strategies with Rebecca Emery
With AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity changing how people search (and how answers get delivered), your old keyword strategy might not cut it anymore. If you want your business to show up—not just in search results, but in actual AI-generated answers—then it's time to rethink how your content works. Rebecca Emery breaks down what's changing, what still matters, and what you should be doing right now before your competitors figure it out first. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/617 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
March 18 · 32 min
Stop Prompting, Start Delegating: Agentic AI with Christopher Penn
AI used to be about prompts, now it's about delegation. Christopher Penn breaks down what agentic AI actually is, why it represents a leap forward for small businesses, and how tools like Claude Cowork are turning strategy into execution. If you've been curious about moving beyond copy-and-paste AI and into systems that actually get work done, this conversation is your starting point. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/616 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
March 4 · 29 min
Building a Brand World That Converts with Luna Battalia
Description: Your logo isn't your brand. Your colors aren't your brand. Your brand is the feeling someone gets when they interact with your company—whether they're reading your about page, talking to your receptionist, or bumping into your founder on a plane. Luna Battalia calls it a "brand world," and she's got a four-part messaging framework that's helped her clients hit conversion rates of 11–25% when the industry average sits at 3–4%. If you've ever poured money into a rebrand and still felt like something was off, this episode is going to explain exactly why. https://www.theagentsofchange.com/615 Need help with your branding, website, or digital marketing? Reach out to me (Rich Brooks!) today at https://www.takeflyte.com/contact
February 11 · 35 min
Cold Outreach That Converts with AJ Cassata
Most cold outreach sucks. You know it, I know it, and definitely the people getting bombarded with "Quick question" emails know it. But here's the thing: done right, cold outreach is one of the most direct, cost-effective ways to reach your ideal customers without relying on algorithms, ad budgets, or social media luck. AJ Cassata built his business on outreach that actually works. From knocking on 10,000 doors to helping over 440 clients build consistent pipelines through cold email, LinkedIn, and strategic calling, he's learned what makes prospects respond versus hitting delete. And spoiler alert: it's not about volume. It's about being specific, providing value, and not treating people like numbers on a spreadsheet. If you've ever wondered whether cold outreach still works (it does) or how to stand out in a crowded inbox (we're covering that too), this episode is your field guide to reaching prospects without sounding like a bot.