Ashley Walton

Today is an important milestone for Punchbowl News — We are announcing The Portal with Enbloc AI. Since we launched in 2021, we've heard consistently that our community isn't happy with their data subscriptions that they pay thousands of dollars for but aren't actually that useful. That gave us the idea to create a platform that changes the way Washington works, made with Washington in mind. At the end of last year, we bought Electo Analytics, a congressional data startup. We then redesigned the entire platform, using our deep knowledge of what Capitol Hill and K Street need every single day. This became The Portal, which includes integrated news, congressional directories, legislative text, regulations, real-time alerts and much more. The Portal members will also receive a weekly Monday newsletter and a mid-week update to keep them ahead of the game when it comes to legislative news. Come January, subscribers will start to use Enbloc AI, a Punchbowl News-designed AI platform embedded in The Portal that brings together all of the databases that you use every day in Washington, overlaid with our news and proprietary Washington data. Enbloc AI's searches will also be embedded in Punchbowl News newsletters. Enbloc AI uses natural language searches to help you do your job more quickly and efficiently. This will save you time, money and make you smarter and sharper. This has truly been a full-team effort to take this from an idea to a market-ready product. Rachel Schindler has been integral in leading this massive project. Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Dave Clarke and the editorial team are at the center of Enbloc AI. And our tech and product team deserve huge kudos for the late nights, problem-solving and creative thinking that have brought this to life — Mary Tyler (MT) March, Soraya Bagheri, Elizabeth Turner, Anthony Garreffa, and Brandon Chiazza. Interested in learning more? Check it out: https://lnkd.in/edxtR8nR

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Did you Hear?????? The #Olympics are coming back to Utah in 2034, and I'm beyond thrilled. As a much younger individual, I remember the Winter Olympics coming to Utah, and it was epic. I'm ready for the next go around -- put me in coach. Speaking of Olympics, are you ready for the upcoming Opening Ceremonies? Domo, as it turns out, is pretty good at #data -- actually it's kind of our thing (connecting to data, transforming data, visualizing data, automating data, taking action on data, etc). So...of course we put together a bit of an Interactive History of the Olympic games (Medals by country, athlete, and games) -- all showcasing the power of DATA. Take a look at the total number of Olympic Games, how many unique events, total athletes, and even individual athlete and country performance. The visualization of this data is actually pretty darn cool. Take a look, enjoy, and GO USA!!!!!!!! Link to the post and visualizations are in the comments. ENJOY!!!!!!! Thanks Ben Schein, Jace McLean, and everyone else who made this happen. Epic Stuff!!!!!!!

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I’m gonna mix a little bit of info with a lil sharing. If you know me this is pretty standard behavior. I was chatting with someone about programmatic direct mail and incrementality. When I think of incrementality I think of stickiness vs reach. Showing your ad to a new person is dope, but the data shows that channel diversification is more about breaking through the noise then unlocking a new audience. If you’re spending in the millions there’s a pretty good chance you’re hitting a lot of your target demo on digital channels. Tell me the last 10 meta ads you saw? 5? Tell me one meta ad you saw today? (This brings up another convo of frequency in this evolved digital age but Idk best practices) it takes a lot for something to stick so if you’re going to a new channel for incrementaltiy choose channels that are going to stick. Hence programmatic DM. When you start testing I’d think of it as a lift channel. Part of your lifecycle nurture flow. Test with unconverted audiences and see if it lifts. Then use the lifted to lal for prospecting. Ok the other thing. I was chatting with a brilliant marketer who complemented my posts and it gave me the biggest imposter syndrome ever. I thought about it a bit and I think it’s because all of these posts are the results of failures, experiments, and learning from other great marketers. Plan A has worked so rarely I could count it on my hands. The speedy pivot to plan B, C, & D is the real gold. I’m learning new stuff constantly because I care about marketing (I’m learning about social media right now). I’ll probably suck at it for a bit and then I’ll get good and write something about it if I think it can be helpful. Idk just thought I’d share.

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"It's beginning to look a lot like..." The incredibly busy end-of-year when your teams are trying to balance work, getting in that PTO, and family time with projects that need movement, wrapping up, new ideas, and so on. Everyone's sharing productivity hacks and tips for managing the chaos. Here's my radical suggestion: Do less. Not everything needs your energy right now. Not every email needs an immediate response. Not every meeting needs to happen this week. I once watched a brilliant leader handle pre-holiday overwhelm. Her secret? A sticky note with three words: "Impact or Cancel." That's it. Every task, meeting, or decision got measured against those words. And her productivity? Through the roof. I've never forgotten it. Sometimes the simplest solution is just permission to prioritize. #KeepItSimple #Leadership #Productivity"

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Health privacy is breached every day online. Most Americans don’t realize their Amazon info is being aggregated with Google searches, news browsing, FB/Instagram/TikTok posts & more. So our entire online experience, including health, is being sifted for marketing. Two LDI fellows, Ari Friedman and Matt McCoy, showed how hospitals and abortion clinics are just as likely as others to track users and pass on the info to aggregators. Check out this LDI piece that lays it out. #https://lnkd.in/eetqaPi3

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The best time to align on content is before a crisis. The second best time is now. I get it - everyone is busy and there are a bunch of conflicting priorities. But orgs. that take their content to the next level have cross-functional collaboration down to an art form. Talk first before you react later. #contentstrategy

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Good Gravy! I've got a Turkey Trot special offering for this Thanksgiving - in addition to 20% off any agreed rate for content strategy and writing, I am also offering a free consult to discuss how you can get ahead of AI to help make your content life simpler. Get in now before all my bandwidth is 'gobble' gobbled up. 🦃 simplcontent.com [email protected] or the DMs

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Here is a hill I will die on: Use sentence case over Title Case for all titles and subtitles. Unless You Are Writing a Book. 📙 That includes website headlines and subheads, ebook titles and chapter titles, blog post titles and section heads, slide titles, etc. Who out there is still using title case? Honest question! I know Forrester and Gartner do.

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"The Least Expensive Ways To Build A Quality Website on the HubSpot CMS" That's the title of the article I share most often when I'm asked about what I'm known for and what I help with. I love this article but have my reservations about the title. Appreciate Peter Caputa for writing this up 🙏. I don't think I understood my own business as well as he did in this post. I'd like to follow this one up with a new post or article. I think the new title will be "The Most Expensive Lessons Learned from Buying Website Projects On Price..." The sick burn of the business I'm in is that often it's shopped by proposal or bid and it is rarely specced out, or specced out with all things considered. It's really almost impossible for the buyer to do this as they cannot perceive of all the things that lie below the iceberg. You don't find out until the work begins all too often. This is no one person's fault and there really isn't a definitely guide on how to best go about the process. Buying Website Design and Development is typically one of the highest churn rates in marketing fulfillment right up their with agency retainers. This is because it's often approached as if it is a commodity. Considering I've scoped, spec'd and delivered hundreds of HubSpot website projects since 2012, should I write a guide to how best to approach it? If I write it should I give it out for free? Share it with the world? Turn it into subscription content? Make a course? Seems like I'd be revealing the 7 herbs and spices in my special sauce. What should I do?

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Conferences offer email templates to convince your boss to pay for them. I'm giving you 5 reasons to hire me - based on what other people say... 1️⃣ Dave possesses a knack for unearthing opportunities and simplifying complex challenges. He has an exceptional ability to identify opportunities that others may overlook and possesses a talent for simplifying intricate problems. This unique skillset could be instrumental in navigating the complexities of a competitive marketplace and discovering innovative solutions for your business. 2️⃣ Dave is deeply committed to customer satisfaction and solving business problems. Testimonials emphasise Dave's unwavering dedication to exceeding client expectations and his commitment to finding effective solutions for business challenges. This client-centric approach ensures that Dave's focus will remain on delivering tangible results for your business. 3️⃣ Dave excels at breaking down silos and facilitating collaboration. Jake highlights Dave's ability to bridge departmental gaps and foster a more collaborative work environment. In a competitive marketplace, this skill is crucial for driving innovation as it encourages the cross-pollination of ideas and perspectives from different areas of your business. 4️⃣ Dave is a highly effective communicator, capable of crafting engaging and persuasive messaging for diverse audiences, and creating compelling content across various platforms - from podcasts, to webinars, to blogs. This strength in communication can be a valuable asset when presenting your business's innovations to stakeholders, investors, or the wider market. 5️⃣ Dave is a visionary leader who inspires and motivates those around him, empowering teams to achieve their full potential. This leadership quality is essential for driving innovation within your business as it creates an environment where individuals feel encouraged to contribute their ideas and strive for excellence. Here are five roles perfectly suited to my skills: Innovation Consultant Customer Experience (CX) Strategist or Manager Learning and Development Specialist or Trainer Community Manager or Social Media Strategist Product Manager Ready for something different? Let's drive some huge business wins in 2025!

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Over the last 5 months, we've been experimenting with Meta. At this point, we see just under 2 million impressions a month across FB and Insta. This week we are rolling out over a dozen pieces of holiday content that I expect to do better than our typical "evergreen" content. We have 4 main types of content for this campaign: - General Holiday + Product Catalog promotion - Vendor sponsored content with 20+ groups - Thanksgiving week promos (Green Wed - Giving Tuesday) - Coupon promos for the holiday period A major shoutout to all of our vendor partners participating in our 2024 Holiday Campaign, your collaboration is going to allow us to reach more consumers than ever on social media. Most of them aren't on LI, but tagging those who are: Wyld, Mitten Extracts, 710 Labs, C3 Industries, Choice Laboratories, Common Citizen, LivWell Enlightened Health, Vapin Ape, Wana Brands, Wise Guys, Michigander Fire, Michigrown, Peninsula Gardens, Dabstract, Eastside Alchemy, Fresh Coast Extracts, Goodlyfe, Exotic Matter, Hy-R, Galactic, Bodega, Hytek, Cali Blaze, Chronicseur Farms, Amnesia, ProGro, Shampine, Tip Top Crop

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Next time someone asks what you do for a living, give it to ‘em straight. We are: ✅ People connectors and bridge builders ✅ Amplifiers of information and multipliers of impact ✅ Brand alchemists, ambassadors, and guardians ✅ Roll-up-our-sleeves-and-dig-in problem solvers ✅ Always-on storytellers ✅ Pioneers and partners with purpose And that’s on a slow day. ✨ #communications #strategiccommunications #PR #publicrelations

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Thrilled to announce the release of my new white paper, “Winning with Video: A 101 Production Guide for Candidates and Campaigns.” This guide is designed to empower on-the-ground teams of any experience to create impactful, story-driven video content that resonates with voters and drives engagement. In partnership with BattlegroundAI and rad human Maya Hutchinson, who just launched incredible new product updates and a creative store featuring proven, easy-to-use templates from leading firms like Adapt Digital, Uplift Campaigns, and Studio Mosaic, it's never been easier to build high-performing digital campaigns. So … what’s inside this white paper you ask? ✅ Practical tips for pre-shoot planning, filming on-the-go, and post-production essentials ✅ Gear recommendations for professional quality, even on an iPhone ✅ Best practices for creating organic and paid video ads ✅ Strategic insights to maximize connection and cultivate empathy Learn how to leverage the power of video storytelling to with the full guide. Checkout the white paper and create your free BattlegroundAI account here: https://lnkd.in/gKwyva7t

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While I don't post about every client I'm working with, I do want share that I've joined SendSquared as their Fractional CMO. Why? And why share this out? Because these days I'm choosing who I work with very thoughtfully. Working with leaders like Nicolas W. is a sincere pleasure. (You may have heard his crazy story recently on the Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals podcast.) Going through that type of life incident and launching a software company takes grit. I find what he has done admirable. His team is committed to overachieving, prioritizing their partners, and exceeding expectations -- not to mention operating with a high level of integrity. I'm excited to support them through my branding and marketing superpowers. This stage of brand growth is hard and I love a good challenge. :) So for all the other CRM brands in the vacation rental industry, I'm sorry I can't work with you at the moment because I don't work with two brands in the same space at the same time. Oh, wait. There aren't any others. :) #fractionalCMO #CRM #vacationrentals https://lnkd.in/enX7KBGX

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Check out Jason's #BigBoard" of roles; he takes the time to put it together to help others #everyMonday so show him some ❤️ ♻️ If you aren't #followinghim 𝐘𝐎𝐔 should be. It's a great array of different roles #ProductManagement #DataAnalytics #BusinessOpps #PeopleOperations #Marketing Several are #100%𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 the majority of the others in #NY #WestCoast #DC ❌So you are thinking yet another listing of #openroles with hundreds of applications---𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈! 🖥I checked a few on LI, and in some cases, 𝑵𝒐 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝑽𝑬𝑹𝒀 𝒇𝒆𝒘! ▶️Now, it's your turn; we can all #payitforward, 📌Take an action #Comment, #Repost, or #tagsomeone, and don't forget to thank Jason!

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You know what's *never* a fun topic? Crisis communications. But you know what's so, so much worse than talking about it? Getting blindsided by a crisis, and having to put together a strategy, team, and messaging alllllllll on the fly and under significant stress. Trust me: putting together a plan isn't as difficult of an exercise as you may think, and you'll come out the other side feeling SO much more confident about the future. Here are the major keys: 📕 PREPARATION: Every company should have a solid crisis communication plan. It’s not about if a crisis will happen; it’s about when. A clear, pre-approved communication strategy can make all the difference. 🔎 TRANSPARENCY: In a crisis, honesty builds trust. Employees, customers, and stakeholders need to know what’s happening, what you’re doing about it, and how they will be impacted. (Even if you don't have anything new to share, saying something is better than saying nothing at all.) In my experience, those who communicate effectively in a crisis not only manage the situation but also come out so much stronger on the other side. It's about guiding your team and your organization through the storm with clarity, empathy, and resilience. (Don't want to write a crisis communications plan from scratch? I'll send you our template & a completely filled-out example! ✅ ) #crisiscommunication #internalcommunication

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To the new-hire executive: Trashing your predecessor is a cheap win. You're under pressure to prove yourself. You’re surrounded by new colleagues giving you the dish on the person you replaced. Your new confidant drops that tasty bait - “They didn't do it right.” You want to pile on, “Of course it bombed. You can't do it that way. You do it THIS way.” Check yourself. Your predecessor is not in the room to speak for themselves. You don’t know the puzzle they were solving for. You weren’t there. Given the exact same circumstances, you might have made the exact same decisions. Here’s a true story from back in the day. My employee escalated on a peer from another team. He got the peer's VP and me on the phone, and started to unload. The VP bodyslammed us for not inviting the peer to the discussion to give their side of the story. That stuck with me. After a while I started a new job and heard a lot of spice about my predecessor “Sam.” Name changed, naturally. Sam apparently should have done a lot of things that weren't done, and shouldn’t have done a lot of the things that were. It reminded me of that VP's lesson. So, I reached out to Sam and asked if we could chat. Guess what. There were good reasons for everything Sam did. At my next job, I reached out to my new Sam. Now it’s part of my personal onboarding process. I meet some really smart people this way. There are people in a seat today that perhaps I once held. If you ever want to talk, I’m here for it. #AsAManager #Leadership

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Gratitude post. On the one hand, it's not strange at all to thank referral partners who have been a majority of our business over the past 8 years. Going through email traffic and looking at stats and repos and apps over that time has been quite the trip. On the other hand, it's not often you can draw the line of "Zapier is not my employer but because of them, I've been able to buy a house, have 3 kids, buy a minivan, and live relatively comfortably". I know, Zapier's goal is to make it super simple for partners to build to their platform directly without the need of an expert like us. It's _clearly_ worked. When we started, there were 200 apps on the platform. Now there are 7,000+. And I can comfortably say, we helped with but a small drop in that bucket. But even so, we found early on that some companies and product leaders recognize the value in tapping on an outside expert to do something their team would only ever do once and not again. And Zapier's early leaders, to their credit, also agreed. Internal team members and just the simple link in their docs to our site have been enough to drive sustainable business for years. To Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, Mike Knoop, Jason Kotenko, ⚡️Cody Jones and the few dozen others I've personally interacted with over the years- a big thank you to building a product and platform that maniacally focused on being a delight for users from day one. And a second big thank you for listening to feedback and trying to get the experience right for developers and companies to help. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take the company from here. I've got ideas if you need some! 😅 We'll be around :-) #gratitude #partnerlove

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Shhh....let it go. Let it go. 😅 What worked then may not work now. Users change. *People* change. Being a solid PMM includes knowing when and where to pivot. Whether it's being a little more flexible with how you define your primary target audience (S/O to Stanley 1913), or maybe shifting your product's positioning--it's worth a try. Keeping your KPIs front and center, look at which parts of your marketing strategy would benefit the most from a makeover. The results may surprise (and humble) you.

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