From time to time, I get the distinct pleasure of speaking to my colleagues at conferences, training sessions, and workshops.
Below is a listing of my appearances and articles that I've written.
Video of my presentation at the 2022 ANA Content Marketing Conference in Orlando, FL. Here I draw the connection between audience segmentation and modeling, and content creation. I discuss how the Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic (KPMAS) team launched a content campaign that segments prospects by psychographic archetypes rather than demographics.
Matching each archetype to a defined care attribute, flexible, personalized, innovative, or proven excellence, our campaign used coordinated digital, social, and editorial assets to guide consumers through a curiosity-to-intent funnel. Early metrics show a 72% increase in positive perception among social-media viewers, a 1.5 % click-through rate on long-form articles, and a 64% agreement level that respondents have recently heard good things about the brand. Our approach is being evaluated for enterprise-wide rollout.
Knotch's Content Connect 2024: Outside of the Blog: Panel Discussion
My fellow panelists and I explored how content can evolve from a tactical blog-focused activity into a strategic, journey-spanning business capability.
The session reframed content from scattered blog posts into a strategic, journey-wide system that detects audience intent and orchestrates the right narratives—especially in the "Magic" Middle (a phrase I coined)—to build trust and measurable business impact. The “Magic Middle,” defines this funnel stage as the moment when prospects pay attention, actively seek information, and are open to a relationship yet aren’t ready to buy; by targeting Jungian archetypes instead of micro-segments, the Kaiser Permanente team serves a concise set of value-based story themes that move consumers through that middle funnel space, letting performance data guide optimization while preserving brand cohesion across local and national levels.
Knotch's Audience Centricity Strategies and Insights (Virtual Workshop): Panel Discussion
This workshop explored the essential difference between professing audience centricity and genuinely implementing it. The group shared practical frameworks, real-world experiences, and actionable strategies to prioritize the audience over the product in brand and content development.
I began by reframing the core debate, advocating a shift from product-focused messaging, such as "making your whites whiter," to audience-centered narratives like "making your whites whiter so you feel you're taking care of your family," positioning the product as a supporting element in the customer's emotional journey. In addressing the challenge of insight ownership, I illustrated how competitors can share human truths without conflict, using the banking sector as an example: Ally and Bank of America offer similar checking accounts but appeal to distinct psychographic segments through unique voices—the Sage versus the Caregiver—allowing self-selection. I also emphasized that insights must evolve with the customer journey, from awareness to purchase, and highlighted Kaiser Permanente's approach of mapping intent signals like email engagement and scroll depth to optimize full journeys rather than isolated conversions, including reorganizing site navigation around archetype-based value propositions to tailor information hierarchies for different audience needs.
Content Strategy and Strategic Storytelling Workshop for Duke University, Duke Health, Duke School of Medicine, and Duke School of Nursing: Durham, NC (2026)
Content Strategy Workshop for Howard University Office of Communications: Washington, DC (2022)
Psychographic Segmentation and Content Strategy presentation for Association of National Advertisers: Orlando (2022)
Story as Strategy presentation for Association of National Advertisers: New York, Kansas City, Washington, DC (2018, 2019, 2020)
Story as Strategy workshop for AQUENT Boot Camp: virtual (2020)
Story as Strategy presentation for 2020 DINFOS Social Media Forum (US Department of Defense Public Affairs & Communication Strategy Directorate) (2020)(Virtual)
Non-Profit Marketing Strategy: for Association of National Advertiser's Non-Profit Conference Washington, DC (2020)
A virtual podcast for The Medical Marketing Executive. Kurt Lefever and I discuss my approach to team leadership, how Kaiser Permanente competes in a PPO marketplace, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health care industry, the struggle with marketing attribution, and my belief in psychological safety as the cornerstone of high-performing teams.
A virtual podcast with Colter Hettich from IMPRINT, discussing an uncommon means of finding your business' purpose: write an obituary! Colter and I talk about the process and how small businesses can discover their true value to their customers by imagining how the world would be if their company didn't exist. And of course, I make a pitch of the power of Jungian archetypes.
In this October 2022 ClickZ podcast, I discuss with Benjamin Broomfield how storytelling, a potent tool in strategic marketing planning, bridges the gap between marketing actions and business objectives, effectively communicates these links to all involved, creates engaging narratives for stakeholders, and also acts as a diagnostic instrument to gauge the effectiveness of various initiatives.
Mass Personalization: A Strategy for Building Brand Equity in The Healthcare Sector
Journal of Brand Strategy, Volume 12, Number 1 (Fall, 2023)
I co-authored a peer-reviewed article in an esteemed international journal, illustrating my approach in marrying psychographic audience segments with demographic indicators. This methodology was instrumental in shaping the target audience models for various marketing campaigns undertaken by Kaiser Permanente in the Mid-Atlantic States.
VIEW ARTICLE
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The "Popcorn Garden" and How It Changed My Approach to Marketing
May 2023 (LinkedIn)
In this piece, I explore the "popcorn garden" concept and its impact on my marketing strategies. I draw parallels between a well-planned popcorn garden and effective marketing campaigns. I stress on quality content, multi-channel usage, regular content updates, and performance analysis. I share my experience with a brand equity campaign, highlighting the need for consistent new themes. The article encourages marketers to adopt this innovative concept for a transformative approach.
We Buy What We Remember: The Link Between Memory and Purchasing Behavior
April 2023 (LinkedIn)
In this article, I show how I implemented Carmen Simon's incredible work on memory and intent in the marketing space, and how content can create memories in our audiences that influences their purchasing behavior. Putting her principles to work, I lay out a case study of how creating content that taps into the motivations of my psychographic segments made my content more memorable and more effective at boosting affinity for Kaiser Permanente.
Your Brand Needs an Enemy
October 2022 (LinkedIn)
In my exploration of brand positioning, I underscore the necessity for a brand to have an 'enemy' to effectively demonstrate its value and foster emotional connections with consumers. I present examples from successful brands like Nike, Old Spice, and Dove, showcasing how they've utilized this strategy to differentiate themselves. Drawing on the Jungian archetype framework and brand competencies, I propose a method for identifying a brand's enemy, thereby strengthening its value proposition in the market.
In-group/out-group Dynamics in Marketing
August 2022 (LinkedIn)
In my study of group dynamics within marketing, I propose the significant influence 'in-groups' and 'out-groups' can have on consumer behavior. I demonstrate how marketers can utilize these dynamics to cultivate a sense of community and stimulate competition, employing strategies such as celebrity endorsements, social media engagement, and values-based messaging. Further, by concentrating on aspirational values and authoritative information sources, marketers can effectively shape and manage in-group/out-group perceptions, thus steering the consumer decision-making process.
Ten Reasons Why I Love Jungian Archetypes
August 2022 (LinkedIn)
I delve into the benefits of employing Jungian archetypes in marketing strategies. I demonstrate how these archetypes, deeply rooted in human behaviors and truths, offer a broader understanding of value drivers, facilitating more effective psychographic audience segmentation. I also highlight their timeless nature, cost-effectiveness, and versatility in both marketing and product development, reinforcing their significance in contemporary brand positioning and messaging.
Why Gardeners Make The Best Marketers
August 2022 (LinkedIn)
In my first LinkedIn piece, I've put together a fun comparison between gardening and marketing, showing how the success factors in gardening are surprisingly relevant to marketing. I talk about key elements like getting to know the environment, sticking with it, being creative, staying humble, respecting the consumer (kind of like nature), finding a balance, and never stopping learning. Plus, I dive into why we should see our missteps not as failures but as chances to grow and get better, just like gardeners do when their plants don't quite thrive.
Upper funnel personalization: Kaiser Permanente's path to positive recall
July 2022 (ClickZ)
Case study of leveraging Jungian archetypes to create psychographic audience segments and converting them to demographic data for precise targeting. The resultant campaign case study shows the power of message and media personalization to motivate audiences and build brand equity.