This episode of Let's Talk Marketing explores the art and science of data-driven marketing. Host Katya Allison interviews Brook Shepard, founder of Mason Interactive, about the role data plays in modern marketing strategy and execution. Brook shares how he's stayed hands-on as a CEO, the challenges of balancing intuition with analytics, and why an overemphasis on efficiency can backfire. The conversation dives deep into the importance of understanding ROI in context, defining clear customer acquisition goals, and the “halo effect” of brand awareness. Brook also reflects on personal growth, mentorship, and the lessons he’d share with his younger self—offering a candid look at both the strategic and human sides of marketing.

Listeners will walk away with insights on:

• Data should inform, not dominate, long-term customer acquisition strategy.
• ROI-focused marketing often leads to over-serving existing customers.
• Successful brands define clear new customer acquisition goals monthly.
• Brook encourages running Meta ads despite higher CPL due to halo effects.
• CEOs and interns alike need to align on the meaning of key data metrics.
• Attribution models like last-touch are often misleading without context.
• Creative decisions benefit from intuition, but performance must be data-led.
• Mason Interactive balances scale with personalized client engagement.
• Smaller DTC brands often misuse “brand feeling” to block effective ads.
• Marketing without new customers leads to long-term decline.

This episode of "Let's Talk Marketing" explores navigating uncertainty in the marketing world. Host Katya Allison interviews Gwen Hammes, co-CEO of Cro Metrics, about how businesses can thrive amid volatility. Gwen shares her journey from global creative agencies to leading a growth marketing firm that helps brands like Google and Bombas drive measurable impact. With deep insights into consumer behavior, the psychology of change, and balancing brand equity with performance, Gwen offers strategic, actionable advice for marketers and leaders alike. Whether it’s addressing change management, the evolving role of AI, or building resilient agency partnerships, Gwen’s perspective is refreshingly real and future-focused.

Listeners will walk away with insights on:

• Marketing must tie initiatives directly to business results to remain indispensable
• Change resistance is often neurological—marketers must lead with empathy and momentum
• AI should be seen as a creative accelerator, not a threat to human value
• Agencies must show up with a steel-stomach leadership style during turbulent times
• Creativity and boldness are essential, especially when budgets are under pressure
• Personalization isn’t a buzzword—it’s a way to adapt to consumer “choose-your-own-adventure” needs
• Strategic daydreaming and imagination are underrated tools in innovation
• "Don't bring more than you can carry" applies to life, leadership, and marketing strategy

• Learn More about CRO Metrics www.crometrics.com
• Follow Gwen on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwen-hammes/
• Follow Gwen on Instagram @gwendolorosa

This episode of Let's Talk Marketing explores how marketing truly operates beneath the surface by comparing it to building a house. Host Katya Allison walks solo through her original ArchMark Framework—a mindset and structural tool she uses to assess and stabilize any marketing function, whether you're inheriting a mess, scaling up, or just trying to get your head above water. Forget the shiny paint and Pinterest boards—Katya breaks down the gritty, foundational work of building a sustainable marketing strategy that actually delivers. From aligning value props to pressure-testing your execution, she lays out a grounded, no-BS approach that will help marketers stop decorating dysfunction and start building something solid.

Episode Insights:

• Marketing often looks good on the surface, but can leak underneath without solid structure.
• The ArchMark Framework breaks marketing down into four phases: Foundation, Framing, Blueprinting, Buildout.
• Your foundation includes value props, personas, and sales alignment—skip it and everything crumbles.
• Framing covers the “unsexy” stuff—operations, systems, plumbing—that keeps marketing flowing.
• Blueprinting turns goals into actual structure so you don’t end up with a “hallway to nowhere.”
• Buildout is where plans meet execution—this is not decoration, this is construction.
• Without systems and strategic sequencing, execution becomes “random acts of marketing.”
• The glam of marketing often hides chaos—this framework exposes and fixes the root issues.
• A mindset shift from "what looks good" to "what works when no one’s watching" changes everything.
• Katya will be breaking each phase down in future episodes for deeper, actionable insights.