Strategy Talks: Content Strategy for Small Teams

Your open rates aren't the problem you think they are. In this episode, we're getting under the hood of email marketing — the welcome sequences, the authentication settings, and the domain reputation scores most small business owners have never even heard of, let alone checked.

This conversation covers why a healthy open rate isn't what you think, what's actually happening when your emails start landing in spam, and why "open rates are dead" as a metric (Apple's already skewing yours). We also get into AI's role in writing and designing email content, what belongs above the fold, and a...

Your LinkedIn following isn't one audience. It's two, and most small B2B teams are writing for the wrong one.

This week's guest split his own following into fans and customers, then built his content strategy around fans first. The result: growth from 4,000 to 22,000 followers, without ever chasing the people who actually buy.

We cover how to tell the two apart in your own analytics, why customers tend to lurk while fans do the engaging, what to actually track instead of vanity metrics, and how long it realistically takes before this pays off.

...

I'll admit to opening Reddit last month and thinking, 'Okay, AI search loves this platform, I should be here.' And then, scrolling for ten minutes, having no idea what to post or where...and so... I gave up and closed the app.

Yikes. Anyone else?

Reddit isn't a content channel you 'post to', but rather a community you earn your way into.

The brands showing up in ChatGPT and Google results right now are the ones that showed up like actual humans first.

Sound familiar? It's the same principle behind...

It's Thursday, and nothing's gone out since Monday. Not because you didn't know what to post — the editorial calendar is full and the strategy is solid. Getting it written, published, and adjusted is the part that keeps slipping.

This week I'm talking to Zach and Jason Francis — the Francis Brothers — serial entrepreneurs who've built and exited businesses in real estate, media, and now AI. Their newest company, Willo, is built around a simple idea: most business ideas don't die from bad strategy. They die in spreadsheets and to-do lists.

We get into what actually makes an AI...

The world's top Facebook ad buyers will tell you the same thing: if your foundation isn't solid, paid traffic doesn't fix the problem. It speeds it up.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, Liana Ling, who personally manages millions in ad spend every year, shares the first question she asks every new client before running a single ad: "Have you sold anything yet?"

We get into what a business that is genuinely not ready for ads actually looks like, why AI-generated ad content is starting to blur together in people's feeds, and what Liana is...

You're posting consistently. You've got a content calendar and a plan, and yet... the premium clients aren't showing up.

So you do what any smart business owner does: you try more. Adding more platforms. Trying more formats and increasing your posting frequency.

Yikes! Volume was never the variable. Now what?

The businesses pulling in six-figure clients from social media aren't posting more than you. They're operating differently than you — with a connected system where every piece of content, every ad dollar, and every relationship feeds the same pipeline.

In this episode of...

You don't need a big budget, a PR firm, or a Shark Tank appearance to earn real media coverage. What you need is a strategy, and the right story.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, host Dorien Morin-van Dam and guest Mickie Kennedy dig into why 97% of press releases never generate a single piece of earned media, what the 3% that do have in common, and how small businesses can use tools like industry surveys, customer story arcs, and strategic press releases to build real credibility and visibility, without spending a fortune.

You'll walk away with...

Lotsa people treat LinkedIn like a billboard. They pick a look, post some updates, hope the right people notice.

And when it doesn't work, the instinct is to fix the tactics. Better headlines. More hashtags. A new posting schedule.

But tactics built on a story you haven't found yet? They won't save you.

This week's Strategy Talks guest has been helping entrepreneurs and consultants do the harder, more important work first: uncovering the story that makes everything else on LinkedIn actually land. Once you have that, the strategy almost writes itself.

→ Jo...

You can have thousands of downloads and still feel like you're talking to nobody. The difference between a podcast people consume and one they can't stop talking about isn't production quality or a big marketing budget; it's community. And it's something you can build deliberately, from day one.

Jen Cole knows exactly how. A social media strategist with over a decade of experience building loyal fanbases for brands, she co-launched So THIS Happened less than a year ago — and already has listeners texting her when an episode is late, sponsors emerging from her inner circle, and a co...

You pour yourself into a piece of content. You write it, refine it, hit submit... and then silence. Did it go live? Did it get changed? Did someone above you decide it wasn't right, and never tell you?

Most content creators never find out what happens on the other side of that handoff.

This week's guest has lived on both sides of that wall. She started as a creator, with a background in fine art, and now she's the one in the room deciding what gets approved, what gets sent back, and what gets shelved...

You're posting consistently. Maybe you're even running some ads. But somehow the results still feel disconnected, like two separate efforts that never quite add up.

The brands winning on social have figured out how to make organic and paid work together as one strategy. And the gap between what they know and what most small businesses are doing? It's bigger than you think.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, host Dorien Morin-van Dam sits down with someone who has built that strategy from the inside, at P&G, Mercedes-Benz, Robinhood, and Western Digital. She's here...

If you want to (re)start YouTube on a limited budget and with limited resources, this Strategy Talks episode is for you! Learn the exact YouTube system small teams use to launch fast, grow consistently, and turn content into revenue — without a big budget or burning out your team. Digital media executive Andrii Salii has scaled 50+ channels to €10M+ in revenue and 5 billion views, and in this episode he's giving away the whole playbook.

→ Join the NEW Strategy Talks community

Andrii Salii is a digital media executive with 5+ years in YouTube, content strategy, and growth operat...

Wouldn’t it be nice if your entire content strategy fit on one page, and your whole team could actually follow it?

Small teams keep borrowing strategies designed for someone else entirely: different budget, different headcount, different audience, and wondering why nothing sticks.

Stop working with a strategy that was never built for you.

Guest Patricia Aber has spent her career doing the opposite: stripping complexity down until what's left is something a real team can actually execute.

→ Join the NEW Strategy Talks community

Patricia Aber is a Digital Mark...

Is your marketing based on assumptions?

You think you know why someone downloaded your lead magnet. You think you know what problem they have. You think you know if they are ready to buy.

Well, you are probably wrong.

In this week's episode of Strategy Talks, you get to meet Moni Oloyede. She joined me to talk about what your prospects are dying to tell you, and how to set up your marketing to actually hear it.

A system of smart questions built into what you are already doing.

...

Are you the bottleneck in your own business?

If your team stalls when you step away, you may be missing something most founders never think to build. Yvonne Heimann, founder of Ask Yvi and author of Mastering the Basics of ClickUp, joins Dorien Morin-van Dam as a guest on Strategy Talks this week to show you how visibility systems create real consistency in small teams, without adding complexity or headcount.

→ Join the NEW Strategy Talks community

Yvonne Heimann is the founder of Ask Yvi and FemAuthority, where she helps marketing teams and founders bu...

What would someone find if they Googled you right now?

For most founders, the answer is… not much. Not because they don't have the expertise, but because they've been so heads-down doing the work, they've never taken the time to be known for it.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, we're digging into one of the most overlooked growth levers in business: authority. Not the flashy, overnight kind — the real, durable visibility that makes the right people trust you before they ever get on a call with you.

My guest spent twenty years help...

Some leaders are one bad week away from quitting content for good.

You start strong: the ideas, the energy, the plan. Then life hits. A client crisis. A missed deadline. A season where you have nothing left. The content stops. Weeks turn into months. And the silence starts to feel permanent.

Here's what nobody tells you: the leaders who show up consistently aren't the ones with more time. They're not the ones with bigger teams or better ideas. They're the ones who stopped trying to create like a machine, and learned to lead like a...

LinkedIn engagement is at an all-time high, and yet video views just crashed 36%. Audience growth is slowing. And the format nobody was talking about a year ago is now the top performer on the entire platform. So which LinkedIn are you showing up to: the one that's thriving, or the one that's leaving you behind?

The 8 key findings from Socialinsider's 2026 LinkedIn Benchmarks report, based on the analysis of 1.3 million posts across 16,000+ business pages:

If you can't take a two-week vacation without your agency falling apart, you don't own an agency. You ARE the agency.

This week's guest Steve Guberman built one, sold one, and now coaches others to stop making that mistake.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, we will be talking about

This episode is your wake-up call.

→ Join the NEW Strategy Talks community here

00:00 You Are the Agency

01:20 Welcome to...

Rebranding feels productive, right? But it rarely fixes what’s broken.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, Dorien Morin-van Dam hosts Beatrice Gutknecht as she breaks down why most companies don’t have a brand problem; they have a positioning problem.

And how that misalignment shows up everywhere: in unclear messaging, content that doesn’t convert, and sales conversations that stall.

You’ll learn how to spot the difference, and what to change, so your brand actually drives pipeline.

If your content isn’t converting or your message keeps changing, this is the con...

Ever notice how the post is basically done… but somehow it never publishes?

That “last 10%” is where small teams lose momentum: endless tweaks, one more review, waiting on someone to approve it, waiting on someone to “have time.”

And here’s the hard truth: most small teams don’t have a content problem. They have a shipping problem.

In this episode, Dorien is joined by Robin J. Emdon, creator of GetResultsology, to break down what’s actually happening when smart teams procrastinate, and how to replace the chaos with a simple system that compounds: clear...

If your market is crowded, ‘more content’ won’t save you, but more of you will.

In this episode, guest Stephen Mostrom and host Dorien Morin-van Dam break down what it actually means to outwrite AI as a small business: keeping your human voice, sharpening what makes you distinct, and using AI in a way that supports your thinking instead of replacing it.

Because the goal isn’t to publish faster. The goal is to be remembered—and trusted—when the buyer is comparing options.

Are you struggling to be seen and heard? THIS one’s f...

Every single week, I tap into someone else’s audience — on purpose.

And every week, my guests tap into mine.

That’s not luck. That’s strategy.

Strategic partnerships are one of the fastest, most powerful ways to grow, ESPECIALLY if you’re a founder, consultant, or small team without a massive audience (yet).

This week on Strategy Talks, I’m bringing on someone who gets it:

Alexandra Black-Paulick; a strategist who helps brands grow by partnering smarter.

We’re breaking down:

🧡 How to access warm, trusting au...

You know that feeling when you’ve posted your 4th piece of content this week…

… and all you hear is crickets?

You’re not alone, and you’re not doing it wrong. You might be missing something, though.

You need direction.

This episode of Strategy Talks features Kendra Losee, marketing strategist, visibility expert, and host of the brand new podcast 'Marketing for People Like Us', to talk about the shift smart teams are making in 2026: from reactive content to intentional strategy.

We’ll get into what to stop doing, how to lead...

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most of your content, the content you’ve spent time researching and creating… is going nowhere.

You are posting, people are liking, maybe even commenting, but it’s not turning into real relationships, or real results.

That’s because what happens after you post is just as important as what you post. And that’s where today’s guest comes in.

I this episode, Dorien is joined by Brooke Sellas — award-winning CEO of B Squared Media — who’s here to show us how social care is the missing link between content...

Search is changing fast. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google SGE—your future customers are asking questions in tools that skip the traditional click. So how do small teams stay visible in a world where links are disappearing?

In this episode of Strategy Talks, Dorien sits down with AI visibility and SEO expert Jason Khoo, founder of Zupo, to explore how brands can earn presence in large language models (LLMs) without relying on huge content budgets or outdated keyword tactics.

You’ll walk away with:

+ A clear definition of “AI Visibility” and how it differs from SEO

If your team’s content is unclear, inconsistent, or just not getting (enough) traction, it might not be a content problem but a leadership problem. Ahem. You!

It's you; you might be the problem.

Join executive coach Lori Bruhns and host Dorien Morin-van Dam, as we kick off Season 5 of Strategy Talks, with a bold conversation about what small team leaders get wrong about content strategy, and how to fix it fast.

We’ll unpack the hidden leadership habits that block content flow, dilute brand voice, and create endless bottlenecks.

Walk away...

How do you stay true to your story when your market forces you to change everything? 

On this episode of Strategy Talks, I sit down Haley Walden to dig into how the most resilient creators pivot not just what they sell,  but how they talk about themselves. (And yes, we talk martial arts & books too.)

The market is changing, and if you are in need of a business pivot, this one’s for you! 

★★★★★

Haley Walden is an intuitive brand voice copywriter, editor, and book coach who helps thought leaders and innovative brands...

Want to stop posting more and start being heard? 

In this episode of Strategy Talks, Dorien chats with Carrolee Moore, founder of The Podcast Pitching Society, about how to turn podcast guesting into visibility that sells. Want more visibility (and more contracts)?

Learn about pitching, appearing, and converting via Other People’s Podcasts.

★★★★★

Carrolee Moore is a Jamaican-born entrepreneur, speaker, and founder of The Podcast Pitching Society. She helps overlooked experts get paid for what they know, not just what they do, through high-impact podcast placements and long-form visibility strategies.

After being lai...

What if your social media strategy could do more than drive clicks?

What if it could drive real, lasting change?

Here is the good news: you can!

On this episode, Dorien is joined by Dr. Misha Kouzeh, global consultant, TEDx speaker, and digital changemaker, to explore how purpose-driven brands use social media to create measurable social impact, and what we can learn from them! 

If you’re ready to move beyond vanity metrics and into meaningful influence, this is your episode.

★★★★★

Dr. Misha Kouzeh is a TEDx speaker, dist...

What really breaks down collaboration between sales and marketing? And how do you fix it, for real?

In this week’s episode of Strategy Talks, we meet B2B strategist and author Pam Didner. She reveals what happens when teams misalign, how to rebuild trust, and why shared KPIs aren’t enough. 

We’re diving deep into the mindset, structure, and culture needed to make revenue teams actually work together, and how AI will change the way we collaborate next.

★★★★★

Pam Didner is a seasoned B2B Consultant, Speaker, Fractional CMO, Author, and Podca...

What does it really mean to live and work with peace and purpose, especially when the world expects performance and perfection, and ...constant hustle? 

This week's guest is Mike Gingerich. From the Andes to the Amazon, Mike guides transformational journeys in life, leadership, and mindset. This conversation is your invitation to slow down, and level up.

★★★★★

As a lifelong endurance athlete, former executive, coach, and tour guide, Mike Gingerich helps overachieving professionals get beyond perfectionism, people-pleasing and chronic stress, and optimize performance…both in life and business. 

He offers coaching & training, as well as retr...

“Why didn’t that reporter write about us?”

If you’ve ever wondered why you didn't get media coverage, this episode of Strategy Talks is for you. Julie Kelley knows exactly what the media wants, because she used to be on the inside.

Now she helps rural brands and nonprofits ditch tired press releases and get the coverage they deserve.

★★★★★

Julie is Chief Strategist and Founder at Rural QueenB Media, a Rural America Business Amplifer. She turns 20 years of newsroom relationships into strategic wins for expansion stage companies, female founders, nonprofits, and global compani...

AI is transforming how brands are discovered online. The rules of SEO are changing fast. 

Join me this week for a Strategy Talks episode with search strategist Dale Bertrand as we dive into AI-driven search and what it means for visibility, traffic, and growth.

★★★★★

Dale Bertrand has been an SEO specialist to Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups around the world for two decades. His clients include global brands such as Citizen Watch, Nestle, Raymond Weil, Exxon Mobil and Bulova.

He applies his graduate school work in artificial intelligence to search engine marketing...

We built brands for humans. But the first judge of your next message is now an algorithm.

Are you marketing to the machine before the customer?

This week on Strategy Talks, I’m talking with THE Mark Schaefer; bestselling author and business coach, about his latest book: How AI Changes Your Customers.

Let’s find out how AI is rewiring buyer behavior, the signals algorithms actually reward, and the moves that rebuild brand trust when fast, confident answers crowd out nuance.

If you want practical strategies you can use right now, don’...

What if… productivity didn’t start with hustle?

Transformational trainer Sheetal Sujan joins me today, to challenge the traditional productivity playbook. 

We talk practical tools, inner alignment, and how softness and stillness, can drive high-impact results. 

Tune in for a conversation that blends strategy with soul

★★★★★

Sheetal Sujan is a transformational trainer, emotional intelligence facilitator, and the founder of Lybra Training, Coaching & Consulting in Suriname. With over 15 years of experience in people development, Sheetal has led powerful programs across communication, leadership, MBTI, team building, productivity, and AI for both private and publ...

Are your marketing reports full of numbers… but short on meaning? 

Do dashboards get updated weekly, but no one really uses them?

Today’s guest says: “You don’t need perfect data, you need insight you can act on.”

Dana DiTomaso is here to help us cut through the noise! She’ll share how to build reporting strategies that actually guide decisions, and rethink what metrics really matter in 2025 and beyond.

If your team is drowning in data but starving for clarity, this episode of Strategy Talks is for you.

★★★★★

What makes an agency partnership work, and what makes it fall apart?

On this episode of Strategy Talks, my guest and I sit down to explore some of the unspoken rules, partnership pitfalls, and of course, best practices of strategic agency partnerships. 

If you’ve ever subcontracted a service, or thought about white-labeling your work, this one’s for you.

★★★★★

A lifelong New Jersey native, Adam Wormann spent a decade in the non-profit sector before transitioning to agency life, leading digital marketing for multiple agencies.  In 2016 he founded Wormann Consulting, a boutique digital...

If selling makes you cringe, or if you’ve ever tried to 'build rapport' and accidentally made things weirder, this one’s for you. Whether you’re pitching a product or service, or just your own ideas, adding humor can be your secret advantage.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, you’ll learn how to sell without sounding salesy, how to make people laugh without losing the sale, and why humor might be the best trust-builder you’re not using yet.

This week, Chris Castanes joins us with stories, strategies, and just the right amount of sarcasm...

Did you know your content keeps working for you months after you post it, quietly driving traffic and growing your list, and attracting ready-to-buy customers - on Pinterest? This week's Strategy Talks guest, Trona Freeman, helps small businesses use Pinterest and SEO.

Whether you're brand new to Pinterest or ready to scale your results, this is a strategy talk you don’t want to miss.

★★★★★

Trona Freeman helps small businesses use SEO and Pinterest to grow and connect with their customers online. She has a varied background, including an MA in Art History, and a previo...