The Digital Marketing Mentor

122: 100 Real Followers > 10,000 Fake Ones: Bea Porter on Ditching Vanity Metrics

Bea Porter's first paying client was a realtor who paid her $250 a month for work she managed in the evenings around a full-time job and three kids. Nine years later

121: Trust as the Only Metric: Jonti Bolles on the Long Game of Search Marketing

Jonti Bolles has been in Danny's orbit for years, crossing paths at SearchHOU, AMA Houston, and a dozen other industry events long before this conversation finally c

120: Proof Over Praise: Why Agencies Should Chase Awards

Earlier this year, Optidge walked out of the 40th Annual AMA Houston Crystal Awards with five wins, breaking their previous record of three and marking seven consecutive

119: ODEO Alumni Journey Series: From 30 Years in Chinuch to Digital Marketing with Rachel Kugler

After nearly 30 years in education, Rachel Kugler made a leap most people at her stage of life are told not to make: she walked away from teaching, enrolled in ODEO Acade

118: Spend It Like It's Your Own Money: Aashna Makin on the Habit That Defines Great Media Buyers

The day Aashna Makin's employer offered her a promotion, she quit, a decision that has looked more strategic with every year since.  She's gone on to manage ov

117: From Concert Tickets to Client Contracts: Sophie Brannon's Path to StudioHawk US

This week’s guest, Sophie Brannon, details her first big move to London at 18 to chase a career in music journalism, landing concert tickets and festival passes as pay fo

116: From Hours to Minutes: Google Ads SQRs on Autopilot with Claude Cowork

In this solo episode, Danny Gavin reveals how he automated his Google Ads Search Query Report process using Claude Cowork and Windsor.ai, eliminating the 3-4 hours per ac

115: Saying Yes Before You're Ready: Content Systems, ICPs, & Leadership with Ashley Segura

One bold "yes" rerouted Ashley Segura's career from local journalism into digital marketing, eventually leading her to Search Lab after 15 years across agencies, in-

114: Office Hours | The Mid-Year Pivot: How Optidge Keeps Teams Aligned, Motivated, and Moving All Year Long with Kelly and Lauren

A lot of teams hit January with energy and end Q2 running on fumes. In this Office Hours episode, Danny opens the doors to Optidge's internal playbook with Operation

113: The Executive Content Playbook: Founder-Led Marketing in the Age of AI with Purna Virji

Purna Virji is back on the Digital Marketing Mentor for a second round, and this time she's talking about the intersection of AI strategy and executive content, two

112: Office Hours | From Pause to Profit: How FamilyTreeDNA Rebuilt Paid Search & Exceeded ROAS Goals with Sara Reinhold

A stalled ad account. A two-year pause. Then, a rebuild that turned careful testing into a record quarter.  In this episode, Optidge Paid Media Specialist Sara Reinhold

111: From Burnout to Breakthrough: The HubSpot CRM Behind Sesh Coworking with Maggie Segrich

This episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at what a CRM implementation actually costs and what it truly delivers, all from the client’s perspective.  Maggie Segr

110: Office Hours | Paid Media Budgeting, Forecasting & Goal-Setting with the Optidge Team

When ad costs spike and attribution gets messy, even the best marketing budgets can start to feel unreliable. In this episode, Optidge's own Joe Wolf and Alejandro T

109: Career Reinvention Isn't Reckless: Tamara Gestetner on Pivots, Burnout, and Finding Your Real Calling

What happens when someone tells you you're the worst therapist in the middle of a thriving practice? For Tamara Gestetner, it was the moment she realized burnout was

108: Office Hours | Call Tracking for SEO: Why Phone Calls Are the Missing Half of Your Conversion Data with Dorit Sasson

Phone calls can potentially represent more than 50% of a local business's total conversions, yet most SEO reporting completely misses them.  In this Office Hours ep

107: ODEO Alumni Journey Series: From Music Class to Meta Tags with Shiri Silkin

Sometimes the best career opportunities come from the most unexpected places. For Shiri Silkin, that meant an arranged date that didn't work out, but led to her firs

106: The Perfect Day to Start is Today: Sales Strategy that Actually Works with Menashe Friedman

Menashe Friedman’s career didn’t follow a straight line. From failing fast in an early sales role to decades later becoming the consultant companies call when their sales

105: Office Hours | Marketing Success in 2026: Mastering the Ebb and the Flow

Marketing has quietly shifted to the ends of your funnel stream, are you shifting your efforts? In this Office Hours episode, Danny breaks down three structural shifts t

104: No Playbook? Observation and Calculated Risk in Retail Marketing with David Gavin

When there's no handbook for building a career, you rely on tenacity, positivity, and education. David Gavin learned retail marketing the hard way: by watching, aski

103: Office Hours | Case Studies: Paid Media and CRM - Closing the Attribution Gap

What if every dollar spent on ads could be traced to a signed contract, a booked meeting, or a new client? The disconnect between ad spend and revenue isn’t a mystery bus