Have you ever woken up from a dream and immediately thought, “I gotta write this down!” 

Chris Wysong went through the same thing. His dream, Bucket of Bread, was to have high-quality ingredients to make homemade bread, easily accessible and able to buy from the internet. Through Chris’ hard work, his dream made its way into a real business! 

Listen in to hear Chris tell us what it’s like to run a Veteran-owned business and the benefits that come with it.

About Chris Wysong:

Chris Wysong is a career Army Veteran. He is also the owner and founder of Bucket of Bread LLC in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Chris has an immense passion for baking and a thirst for sharing these methods with the world. 

Because of his baking experiences and his genuine love for being in the kitchen, an idea started to form in the back of his mind without him knowing. And one night at 3 a.m. Bucket of Bread was born. His dream vividly portrayed putting all his baking experiences and delicious creations into a bucket to help people. This concept then made its way to a sticky note and was pushed to the top of a to-do list.

This was unlike anything previously done in the thousands of years of baking dough into bread. The University of Wisconsin, School of Business, conducted MBA-level market research only to discover what was once old is now new with Bucket of Bread’s repackaged twist on baking with doughs! This was the sign that it was indeed time to introduce something new to the American market

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Check out Bucket of Bread’s website: https://bucketofbread.com/

Viral Solutions CMO Thomas von Ahn guest hosted with DigitalMarketer's President, Mark de Grasse. Listen to more of The DigitalMarketer Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-might-ai-impact-marketing-agency-management-with/id1397898498?i=1000594869876

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Artificial intelligence has already made its way into major industries and is quickly making its way into the digital marketing landscape. Should you be concerned if you are a digital marketing agency owner? Do you think AI will contribute to the success of your business, or is it something that will eventually wipe out small businesses, yours included? When you don’t fully understand something, you tend to fear it. But what is the truth about AI? 

“The key to a successful business, no matter what industry you’re in, is your ability to execute on a plan or the information that you’ve been given whether you’re making widgets or you’re a lawyer”

– Thomas von Ahn

In today’s episode of The DigitalMarketer Podcast, Mark engages in a dynamic conversation with Thomas von Ahn, Chief Marketing Officer of Viral Solutions, a full-service marketing agency. Together, they discuss a topic that is of primary interest to many marketers out there. How might AI impact marketing agency management? If you’re interested in knowing more about AI’s impact on marketing and what you can do to pivot your business, don’t miss this episode of The DigitalMarketer Podcast.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

• What can Mark and Thomas say about AI and ChatGPT? Should professional service providers worry about them being replaced by AI?
• Is AI a threat to small business owners? 
• Google search vs. AI/ ChatGPT
• What is AI bias? Can that bias be eliminated? What is the potential impact if the bias is not sorted out?
• With the significant shifts in the digital marketing space, how would agencies know who to trust and believe?
• How does AI impact trademarks, patents, copyrights, and other types of intellectual property?
• What is the future of digital marketing, and how can marketers compete with the emergence of AI? 
• Is there a threat of privacy violation while utilizing AI?
• How can digital marketing agencies move toward the future direction in this quickly evolving space? 
• And more!

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THOMAS VON AHN:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to The DigitalMarketer Podcast? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review!

More Resources from DigitalMarketer:

• Build Profitable Promotions From Scratch

“Whopper, Whopper, Whopper, Whopper - Junior, Double, Triple Whopper” - Kid Cudi?

Burger King’s famous “Whopper Song” has embedded itself into many of our brains. But why did BK choose to advertise such an irresistible earworm?

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In today’s episode of The Obsessed Marketer, Andrew, Holland, and Joel talk about recent episodes from January and go over marketing news from the New Year. First, they discuss Pepsi’s latest soda, Starry. What led to the departure from Sierra Mist?

The marketers also talk about brands using TikTok for the Superbowl, rising inflation, ChatGPT, and prioritizing accessibility in marketing. Tune in to the latest episode to learn more!

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Sources:

Pepsi Launches STARRY - https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/business/starry-launch-sierra-mist/index.html

BK Goes Overboard with Commercials during NFL Playoffs - https://uproxx.com/tv/burger-king-commercial-song/

Brands are using TikTok for Super Bowl - https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2023/01/19/how-will-brands-use-tiktok-in-super-bowl-marketing-this-year

Use Inflation in Your Marketing? - https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2022/12/09/many-people-are-struggling-with-inflation-should-brands-address-it-in-ads

ChatGPT takes over… everyone’s talking about it - https://viralsolutions.net/what-is-chatgpt/

Prioritizing accessibility in marketing - https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2023/01/25/prioritizing-accessibility-in-marketing

What happens when you’ve just taken over a business, and you want to make changes? What if the previous owner still works there? Do you run into creative differences?

On today’s Small Business Spotlight, we talk with the owner of Midwest Grit CrossFit, Rachael Koenig. She tells us all about the logistics of taking over an already existing business. From working and sharing ideas with the previous owner, to rebranding their image.

About Rachael:

Rachael has been active her whole life. She started playing sports from a young age and continued with playing basketball at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Throughout her teen years and through college she was also coaching youth basketball. Leading and competing are a large part of who she is.

CrossFit, which started out as a way to fill her personal void of competing and fitness after college, lead her to bigger things. Rachael has been coaching CrossFit since 2016 and in 2018 took on a full-time position at CrossFit Eastern Ridge, now Midwest Grit CrossFit. Through her passion and dedication, with the support of those around her, she took over ownership in October 2021.

Rachael’s favorite part of CrossFit is learning about the athlete, what drover him/her to step foot into the gym and watching that athlete push past mental and physical obstacles. She has a huge passion for nutrition, wellness, and health through all stages of life.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, dog, family, handfuls of nieces and nephews, and her friends. She enjoys being outdoors, hiking, playing and watching sport, reading and eating.

Visit Midwest Grit CrossFit on the web: https://mwgcrossfit.com/

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Check out Midwest Grit CrossFit instagram: https://instagram.com/midwestgritcrossfit?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=

Have you ever sat down in a brainstorming session, and it was just a bunch of awkward silence and no follow-through? We have too but don't worry, today's guest shares tips and techniques to run a successful brainstorming session.

In today’s episode of The Obsessed Marketer, we talk with Annabel Jones, leader of omnichannel marketing with Bandwidth. She goes over common reasons brainstorming sessions fail and gives us techniques to avoid these pitfalls, like only including specific people and using games!

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Annabel Jones is the leader of omnichannel marketing at Bandwidth, a global communications software company. Over the past decade, Annabel has refined her marketing leadership philosophy in in-house, agency, and freelance roles. Her diverse background runs the B2C and B2B gamut as she’s worked with big and small brands in tech, hospitality, finance, healthcare, and consumer goods, taking them to market in creative ways. Known for her out-of-the-box strategies, Annabel’s goal-focused approach to marketing connects creativity and customer insights to win buzz and pipeline.

Connect with Annabel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonesannabel/

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How can you show potential customers or donors that you truly care? The key is adopting empathy-focused, human-centered design and marketing.

On this episode of The Obsessed Marketer, we chat with Chris Keller, VP of Growth at M&T Bank on the New Ventures Team. Chris provides insight into empathy-focused, human-centered design and marketing. It’s all about uncovering the problems real people have and showing that you care about solving them. 

Tune in to learn how you can shift your approach for the better!

Chris Keller LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/imchriskeller/

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About Chris:

Chris Keller is the VP of Growth at M&T Bank on the New Ventures Team, which is responsible for building new start-ups inside the bank to help solve problems for real people. Initially, Chris attended engineering school and started as a biomedical engineer. However, he switched gears and went into business and marketing, graduating with his MBA. Chris worked as a traditional product marketer at a heavy-lifting hydraulic company. Part of his job was integrated solutions and growth, figuring out how to identify custom lifting solutions to build for people. He entered the start-up space, working as an entrepreneur in residence for a health insurance company, and was later recruited to do the same thing in New York for the food industry. Realizing he loved the growth marketing aspect and wanted to serve a broad client base, Chris started his own agency and ran it for 6 years, working with clients like Salesforce Marketing Cloud, before joining M&T Bank.

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It’s the New Year already?! Oh, how time flies! Looking back at 2022, what marketing changes did you notice?

On this episode of The Obsessed Marketer, Andrew Haese, Joel Schmitz, and Taylor Buman talk about their experiences with 2022 and what they noticed changed in the marketing sphere. 

They think back to the rise of short-form video content, smaller character counts in captions, and the early hopes for the Metaverse!

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RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Learn More About Web Accessibility -  https://webaim.org/

Walmart’s Metaverse Experience - https://mutualmobile.com/work/walmart

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As a business owner, inclusivity will only help you gain more customers. So it’s important to consider every type of guest. When it comes to your digital presence, how can you accommodate the disabled?

In today’s episode of The Obsessed Marketer, we talk about web accessibility with Andrew and Taylor. We go over the importance of using tools like the chrome extension, Funkify, to see what your site looks like to others. You’ll be shocked at the difference the color of your text makes!

Resources Mentioned:

Lawsuits Regarding Web Accessibility:

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/record-number-of-lawsuits-filed-over-accessibility-for-people-with-disabilities.aspx

WebAIM: https://webaim.org

Funkify Chrome Extension: https://www.funkify.org/

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GET A FREE MARKETING AUDIT: https://viralsolutions.net/services/free-50-point-marketing-audit/ 

REQUEST A FREE CONSULT: https://viralsolutions.net/request-free-consultation/