Smarter Marketer

James Lawrence

128 episodes listed below

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Practical marketing thinking for Australian marketers.

The gist

Smarter Marketer brings agency leaders, marketers, researchers, and business operators into focused conversations about what works in modern marketing. The tone is calm and useful, with regular attention to Australian and APAC market evidence rather than imported assumptions.

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About Smarter Marketer

Smarter Marketer is a measured, interview-led show about marketing strategy in the Australian business context. It is built for people who already work in the field and want sharper thinking rather than introductory explanation. Recent episodes cover creator marketing, B2B buyer behavior, AI in marketing workflows, agency models, brand building, creative effectiveness, and the changing media and events landscape. The show keeps returning to one question: what changes in practice? That gives the conversations a useful discipline. A discussion about influencer marketing becomes a conversation about briefs, authenticity, platform fit, negotiation, and the value of agency experience. A panel on digital marketing in 2026 moves through AI-assisted research, voice prompting, owned channels, CPC pressure, and the need to reduce dependency on paid media. An episode with Lisa Macqueen treats commercial cleaning as a serious brand problem, asking how a business can stand out when the category looks like a utility purchase. Stuart Jaffray brings the conversation into B2B buying groups, procurement behavior, AI search, and the gap between marketer preference and audience reality. Alex Hayes adds a media and communications lens, especially around the end of SXSW Sydney and the craft of marketing to marketers. Jules Hall gives creative work its due while insisting that businesses need the calculator as well as the idea. Robert Cialdini brings persuasion back to credibility, shared identity, and honest framing. Darren Woolley challenges easy assumptions about in-housing, agency productivity, cost, speed, quality, and client relationships. Across these episodes, the show favors examples over hype. It is not cold, though. The tone can be warm and lightly dry, especially when experienced guests are allowed to push back or sharpen a point. Its main value is editorial focus: ideas are allowed to be interesting, but they still have to survive contact with budgets, teams, buyers, and business pressure.

Made for: For Australian marketers, agency leaders, brand owners, and B2B teams who want commercially grounded conversations about strategy, channels, creative work, and buyer behavior.

What sets it apart: It stands apart through its repeated use of Australian and APAC market context, plus a steady habit of turning broad marketing claims into decisions a working team could actually make.

In their own words

Hosted by James Lawrence - Co-Founder of Rocket Agency and B&T Marketer of the Year finalist, each episode features candid conversations with marketers, leaders and innovators on what’s really working in today’s fast-changing landscape. This is the definitive podcast for Australian Marketers.

As heard by us

Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026

Smarter Marketer connects marketing ideas to budgets, team structures and commercial outcomes through pointed conversations with agency leaders and researchers.

Smarter Marketer keeps marketing tethered to business consequences. James Lawrence uses interviews and an occasional panel discussion to move from broad ideas about creativity, influence and emerging channels toward decisions about budgets, team design and measurable value.

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A redundancy bill enters the 'in-house is cheaper' conversation, and suddenly you want a calculator.

Press play if you want

to question agency versus in-house costs beyond the salary line
to defend a creative idea with a commercial outcome attached

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Australian marketing researchB2B buyer journeyscreator marketing and influencer briefsAI in marketing workflowsagency versus in-house modelscreative effectivenessowned channels and paid media pressurebrand building in practical categories

Talks about

Business & Finance Marketing

Best episodes of Smarter Marketer

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

107. What Australian Influencer Research Says About Creator Marketing in 2026 w. Impact Agency’s Trish McGeeApr 7, 2026

A practical look at how creator marketing is changing for Australian brands.

Australian influencer marketing takes center stage here, with Trish McGee and James asking a simple question: how do creators and brands work together better in 2026?

106. Digital Marketing in Australia in 2026 - Your Questions Answered w. Rocket Agency's Top ExpertsMar 24, 2026

A practical Q&A that argues for owned channels, sensible AI use, and less dependence on paid media.

Smarter Marketer frames a webinar-turned-podcast around practical digital marketing questions and a clear case for owning more than paid media.

102. Creativity That Pays Its Way: How to Link Ideas to Commercial Outcomes w. The Hallway's Jules HallJan 27, 2026

A grounded case for creativity that still has to justify itself commercially.

Jules Hall makes a steady case that creativity still sits at the center of marketing, but only when it is backed by the numbers that help businesses justify the spend.

From the Archives: Dr. Robert Cialdini on Persuasion and Influence in Modern MarketingJan 13, 2026

A grounded look at persuasion built around credibility, shared identity, and practical influence.

Robert Cialdini treats persuasion as more than a set of tactics. The discussion frames it as a way to understand credibility, identity, and why people say yes, while moving through the classic six principles of influence and his newer idea of unity.

99. Why “In-House vs Agency” Misses the Point w. TrinityP3's Darren WoolleyNov 4, 2025

A clear-eyed look at what in-housing costs, and how its value gets measured.

Darren Woolley turns the in-housing debate into a practical business question: what changes when the work moves inside, and which costs surface once the old assumptions fall away.

Podcasts like Smarter Marketer

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Colin and Samir break down creator-economy news, from OpenAI's TBPN deal to AI podcasts.
Marketing Against the GrainHubspot Media
AI-era marketing tactics from operators testing what works next.
The DigitalMarketer PodcastScalable Media Network
Mark DeGrasse interviews agency and marketing operators on the frameworks behind their case studies.
The B2B Revenue Executive ExperienceCory Cotten-Potter
Cory Cotten-Potter interviews B2B sales and marketing founders on AI's reshaping of pipeline generation.
The Content Strategy PodcastKristina Halvorson
Kristina Halvorson interviews content strategists about how the work actually gets done.

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About Smarter Marketer

In their own words

As heard by us

Why you'd press play

Talks about

Best episodes of Smarter Marketer

Podcasts like Smarter Marketer

Episodes

119. Why Marketing is About Behaviour Change w. Thinkerbell's Dan Monheit

118. LinkedIn Ads in 2026 - Targeting, Creative and How to Avoid Common Mistakes w. B2Linked's AJ Wilcox

117. Julian Cole's Blueprint for Strategy That Sticks

116. What High-Performing Marketers Do Differently w. Neon Ambition's Jordan Slover

115. How to Win in AI Search: Proven Tactics and Research Across ChatGPT, Gemini & Google AI w. Joe Alder

114. Marketing's Credibility Problem: What Attribution Gets Wrong and Incrementality Gets Right w. Analytic Partners’ Paul Sinkinson

113. James Hurman on Building Future Demand: Creativity, Brand and Escaping the ‘Performance Trap’

112. State of the Pitch 2026 - How To Find The Right Agency Partner w. TrinityP3’s Darren Woolley

111. LinkedIn B2B Institute’s Ty Heath on Why the Best B2B Marketing Is Contrarian

110. AI Search In Australia: Google, ChatGPT & The New Rules Of Visibility w. Rocket Agency's Joe Alder

109. Marketing Mix Modelling: What It Is, Why It Matters & Where AI Fits In w. Mutinex’s Henry Innis

108. How to Get the Most Out of Your Agency w. Neon Ambition’s Jordan Slover

107. What Australian Influencer Research Says About Creator Marketing in 2026 w. Impact Agency’s Trish McGee

106. Digital Marketing in Australia in 2026 - Your Questions Answered w. Rocket Agency's Top Experts

105. Building a Standout Brand in a “Boring” Category w. Cleancorp’s Lisa Macqueen

104. B2B Marketing in 2026: Changing Buyer Groups, AI Search, Digital-First Audiences and More w. Green Hat’s Stuart Jaffray

103. The End of SXSW, the Craft of Marketing to Marketers and What’s Changing in 2026 w. Clear Hayes' Alex Hayes

102. Creativity That Pays Its Way: How to Link Ideas to Commercial Outcomes w. The Hallway's Jules Hall

From the Archives: Dr. Robert Cialdini on Persuasion and Influence in Modern Marketing

From the Archives: Marketing Under Pressure: Managing Stress, Sleep and Decision-Making w. Dr. Jemma King

From the Archives: Persuasion, Manipulation and Behavioural Psychology: How Consumer Choice is Shaped w. Thinkerbell's Dan Monheit

101. Attribution Is Breaking: How Marketers Should Rethink Paid Media in 2026 w. Rocket Agency's Adrian Oguz

100. How Attention Is Rewriting the Rules of Advertising w. Amplified's Dr. Karen Nelson-Field

99. Why “In-House vs Agency” Misses the Point w. TrinityP3's Darren Woolley

98. The Growth of Outdoor Media in Australia w. oOH! Media’s Josh Gurgiel

97. Leadership in Marketing: How Today’s Marketing Leaders are Creating Impact w. Emma Logan

96. Buying Outcomes, Not Deliverables: Rethinking Client-Agency Partnerships w. Blair Enns

95. How to Rank in ChatGPT w. Joe Alder

94. Winning B2B Messaging: How to Build a Perspective That Cuts Through w. Alex James

93. Marketing for Turbulent Times - Kantar and the Australian Marketing Landscape

92. Current vs Future Demand: Why Mental Availability Matters w. Nick Palmer

91. The Secret to B2B Marketing: Owning a Perspective w. Alex James

90. Marketing to Gen Z and Gen Alpha w. Katy Richardson

89. Beyond the Hype: AI’s Real Impact on Australian Marketers in 2025 w. David Lawrence

88. Dr. Robert Cialdini on Persuasion and Influence in Modern Marketing

87. Is ChatGPT Killing Google? Optimising for LLMs, AIO, and the Truth About AI and SEO in 2025 w. Joe Alder

86. Why Client-Agency Relationships Fail - And How to Fix Them w. Drew McLellan

85. How to Build Desire in Luxury and Property Markets w. Giverny Reid

84. State of the Pitch 2025 w. Darren Woolley

83. Emails with Mailchimp: The Power of First-Party Data, AI, Great Creative and More w. Anthony Capano

82. Rethinking Search: Google vs ChatGPT, Attribution, Audiences and the Future w. Rand Fishkin

81. The Power of Account-Based Marketing w. Paola Piccinno

80. Marketing Under Pressure: Managing Stress, Sleep and Decision-Making w. Dr. Jemma King

79. Persuasion, Manipulation and Behavioural Psychology: How Consumer Choice is Shaped w. Dan Monheit

78. Answering Your Marketing Questions for 2025 w. Joe Alder, Sam Dodson and Mariano Di Lascio

From the Archives: How to Build Your Personal Brand as a Marketer w. Fleur Brown

From the Archives: Career Advice From a Global CMO w. Ryan Bonnici

77. LinkedIn Ads That Work: Expert Tactics w. AJ Wilcox

76. Marketing Metrics That Matter: A Conversation w. Taz Bareham

75. The Future of Experiential Marketing: Trends and Innovations w. Laura Roberts

74. How to Target Your Audience Online w. David Roberts

73. The Future of SEO: Why Google’s Here to Stay w. Joe Alder

72. PR in The Digital Age: From Newsrooms to Influencers w. Andy Scales

71. Signs Your Agency is the Right or Wrong Fit w. David Lawrence

70. Countdown to 2025: What Marketers Need to Kick-off w. Sachin Rajah

69. How Marketers Can Run Better Pitches w. Darren Woolley

68. Content Marketing in the Age of AI w. Marcus Sheridan

67. Building Brand Identity Through Sound w. Ralph van Dijk and Ramesh Sathiah

66. How To Fix A Failing Campaign w. Sachin Rajah

65. eCommerce Lifecycle Marketing in 2024 w. Joshua Chin

64. AI in Marketing: Hype vs. Reality w. David Lawrence

63. Project Management for Marketers w. Gavin Watson

62. Measuring the Impact of Your Marketing w. Paul Sinkinson

61. The Importance of First-Party Data w. David Lawrence

60. Rise of the Fractional CMO w. Taz Bareham & Danielle Stitt

59. Short-Form Video Secrets: Crack the Code on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts w. Edwin Smith

58. Marketing for Change: Smashing Stereotypes & Shaping Culture w. Cindy Gallop

57. Understanding Google Consent Mode & Facebook CAPI w. Sachin Rajah

56. Career Advice, AI and the Future of Marketing w. Hubspot's Kat Warboys

55. How to Find the Right Agency For Your Business w. Drew McLellan

54. Answering Your Marketing Questions for 2024 w. Kayley Melham