Target Snarket

We thought we’d close out our season with a light and breezy topic, but that didn’t feel authentic at all so instead we’re discussing the dark and stormy dynamics of multilevel marketing (MLM).Adding to our personal MLM experiences, we were honored to be joined by former Boss Babe Royal Topaz Queen herself, Emily Lynn Paulson, who is the author of “Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing". Together, we’ll examine the origins of the MLM business model, their shady recruitment tactics, and the promises of financial freedom that often lure individuals into these ventures. Furthermore, Emily shares the story of her exodus from the culture that she hopes will inspire others to break out and find freedom. Whether you’ve been involved with an MLM in the past or present, are a longtime skeptic, or are considering joining one, we hope Emily’s story will speak to you as much as it did to us. A big thanks to our friends, fans, and haters alike for a fantastic first season. We will, no doubt, be back in 2024 for more snark and hot takes from the digital marketing world and beyond!

This week, Abhainn and Danielle explore a topic that's central not only to their marketing strategy consultations but also to their personal lives: awareness. Whether it's for a social media awareness campaign or championing a meaningful cause, recent years have witnessed a significant shift in how we perceive and prioritize awareness. Tune in to hear Abhainn once again face some friendly scrutiny for their scripting, but, more importantly, join Danielle and Abhainn as they delve into the pros and cons of our society's intense focus on awareness. They discuss how the rise of social media has placed additional pressures on everyday people to be aware, have an opinion, and immediately express it in order to be considered good global citizens.

Beyond the familiar horrors of the workplace - bad bosses, annoying co-workers and demanding deadlines with no end in sight - some people have unsettling experiences in the office that cannot be explained by Earthly logic. Years later, even after they’ve left their jobs, they still remember the offices that haunted them during long, lonely shifts.This week, Kaleigh and Abhainn regale the spooky tales of haunted office buildings in the US as well as discuss their own disconcerting stories and hot takes on ghouls, goblins, witchcraft, and wizardry. Tune in just in time for Spooky Szn if you are intrigued by the supernatural and when it shows up where we least expect it. Special shoutout to the ghost that muted Abhainn while they were talking about her - please don’t be mad at us!

This week, your favorite trio of co-hosts embark on another journey into the strange and bewildering world of modern work culture, this time alongside the incomparable Dr. Han Ren (she/they). Dr. Ren is a licensed clinical and school psychologist, consultant, speaker and educator whose work is deeply rooted in liberation and anti-oppressive ideals, practicing from a justice-oriented, interpersonal, culturally-humble, and systems-informed framework.In this conversation, we dissect the elephant in the cubicle — burnout. We all know it, feel it, and do not love it, so we sat down to discuss some of the reasons why things feel so bad recently, and get some hot tips from Dr. Ren on how to escape the clutches of burnout without losing our last ounce of sanity. As a bonus, Abhainn gets clarity on what it means to be put “on the roof,” Danielle advocates for meditation before meetings, and Dr. Ren outs themself as someone who may or may not have watched some reality tv recently.

For years, Google has always stated it is the preferred search engine of users because they just provide a better service to users. Unfortunately for the tech behemoth, lawsuits varying from civil suits, class-action lawsuits, to a new case with the DOJ - is it just luck of a good product that has helped Google keep a global search engine market share was at 91.88%? This week on Target Snarket, Danielle and Kaleigh dive into Google’s most recent lawsuits and exposés to determine if “Don’t Be Evil” has been phased out in more ways than one as Google’s core value. Kaleigh highlights specifically what the Department of Justice is accusing Google of doing to manipulate the search market so their competitors couldn’t even come close to their results. In addition, Danielle has beef with Dax Shepard, Kaleigh’s retargeting ads are revealed, and we’ve come to a group decision that just because using “google” as a verb worked for this company, it may not work for *all* their competitors - but you can bing it for yourself.

This week, Abhainn and Danielle take a peek into the gig economy - corporations like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart - all of the major players that popped up over the last decade to make our lives easier and our pockets lighter. They chat about how these companies have historically been ethically ambiguous AND wholly unprofitable, begging the question - where is the gig economy heading, and how can we make sure that their innovation is combined with accountability?The news of Instacart going public is the star of the show, with Danielle and Abhainn dissecting the new CEO’s move to make Instacart an advertising platform. Will this move be the beginning of profitability for gig companies? Danielle also seizes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a metaphor universe for advertising platforms that (finally) all of us understand - you don’t want to miss it.

It’s time to think of the holidays, Charlie Brown! Yes, we’re aware of how early it is but this week Abhainn and Kaleigh are kicking off the holiday season by reminding business owners and marketing teams that it’s better to be prepped and blessed than rushed and stressed. We share our top tips to getting your business through the 2023 season whether you’re looking for sales for the holidays or reaching a community organically on an extremely competitive feed. Abhainn takes off their Grinch pants to share some highlights from the 2022 season and how shoppers reacted to inflation and the impending recession (hint: they still bought more!), while Kaleigh lists out how to utilize your next 6-7 weeks wisely during the countdown to Cyber Weekend. Additionally Abhainn shares their tips on creating a workback plan when there is such a defiant deadline and many potential blockers, Kaleigh shares when you SHOULDN’T be spending money, and how to keep the peace among your team during a stressful time of year. Music: We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Grand_Project

There was a lot of talk in the last few weeks about the climate’s cosmic retribution on the attendees of 2023 Burning Man. This story has everything - Diplo riding in dune buggies to escape the inches of mud and water that descended on the desert, a good dose of “I told ya so” from climate protesters, and commentary that went viral through the vast stretches of the internet, causing some deep (and sometimes uncomfortable) conversations around wealth, joy, and the state of our world. So is what happened at Burning Man the biblical sign of corporate greed that so many made it out to be? Or is there a more nuanced conversation to be had about organizations doing their best, but still being at the mercy of the Mother of All - Nature? This week, Kaleigh and Abhainn discuss the history of burning man, its slightly questionable tax status, and Abhainn swears that their wife saw actual combs going through the desert to pick up trash. As an added bonus, Kaleigh takes a major swing at Busch Gardens in Tampa.

You can’t open up LinkedIn without seeing a half dozen posts from folks who are truly down on their luck - they lost their job a few months back, unemployment insurance is about to run out, they don’t have healthcare, they may get removed from their homes. It’s enough to recall the gutting feelings surrounding the 2008 crash and the years of unemployment struggle that followed. But what have we learned since 2008? In a slump that isn’t quite a crash but isn’t just a bump in the road, what can candidates seeking employment take away from previous downturns, apply smarter and leverage the current environment in their favor, and avoid predatory hiring managers?This week the BROADs are joined by Rachel Kraska, an expert Talent Advisor and consultant in the recruiting space, who has worked with companies like Grindr, ShopRunner, and the Detroit Lions. We ask her thoughts on what has changed in the hiring process over the last decade, remote work, compelling resumes, and hear what it's like to filter through 400+ resumes for one position.

The way algorithms work is shrouded in secrecy as proprietary information, and is a veritable black box that may never see the cold light of day. But the algorithms wield immense influence, often holding the key to a brand or content creator’s reach and impact in the digital realm. The algorithms are far from static, perpetually adapting to maintain our interest. One of the most potent strategies they’ve historically employed involves tapping into one of our primal human responses: rage.In this episode, the BROADs are offering up their insider knowledge to help demystify the algorithms platform-to-platform, and they discuss the not-so-sunny history of how they’ve been used to weaponize our emotions to get us to spend more time on their platforms, spend more money with their advertisers, and even influence how we vote.