LiftKit Marketing Podcast: Celebrating Great Marketing
The LiftKit Marketing Podcast: Introduction to John & Danielle
Building Culture, Creativity, and Connection: A Conversation with Stephen Pruitt
In this inaugural episode of the LiftKit Marketing podcast, hosts John Hoeft and Danielle Shermerhorn share their personal journeys in the marketing industry, discussing the challenges and triumphs they have faced. They emphasize the importance of celebrating the wins in marketing, the average tenure of marketers, and the need for a supportive community. The conversation also touches on the evolving landscape of marketing, the impact of AI, and the significance of sharing stories to empower fellow marketers.
Building Culture, Creativity, and Connection: A Conversation with Stephen Pruitt
Building Culture, Creativity, and Connection: A Conversation with Stephen Pruitt
Episode 9: Stephen Pruitt: Will AI Kill Creative Agencies? In this episode, we sit down with Stephen Pruitt, Principal at Mountain View Group, to explore the powerful intersection of creativity, strategy, and empathy in agency leadership. With roots in filmmaking and a career that spans award-winning work with global brands like Coca-Cola, UPS, and GE Healthcare, Stephen shares how he transitioned from directing television to running a thriving creative agency.
Heidi Hattendorf: How Marketers Can lead Profitably
Episode 8: Turning Marketing Into a Growth Engine with Heidi Hattendorf. In this episode, we’re joined by Heidi Hattendorf, fractional CMO, go-to-market strategist, and author of The Marketing Growth Formula. Heidi shares how to transform marketing from a cost center into a measurable driver of business growth. We dig into product marketing, positioning strategy, aligning teams, and how to scale with purpose. Whether you're a founder, marketer, or exec, this conversation is full of insights.
Carter Jensen: 5X Your Genius Zone
Carter Jensen: 5X Your Genius Zone
Episode 7: From General Mills to AI Startups with Carter Jensen. What does it take to walk away from a high-level role at a Fortune 500 company to help build something from the ground up. Carter shares why he made the leap from corporate stability to entrepreneurial uncertainty, what it means to find your zone of genius, and how thinking like a founder can help marketers and business leaders thrive in a rapidly changing landscape.
Michael McBride: Secrets E-Com Brands Need for AI
Carter Jensen: 5X Your Genius Zone
Michael McBride: Secrets E-Com Brands Need for AI
Episode 6: From Retail Floor to Digital Commerce Powerhouse. Michael McBride on Building Agencies, AI Readiness and Brand Innovation In this episode of the LiftKit Marketing Podcast, host John Hoeft sits down with Michael McBride, Founder and CEO of Atelier Commerce, for a wide-ranging conversation on the evolution of digital commerce, building a full-service agency from scratch, and preparing brands for the AI-driven future of marketing.
Callie Doschadis: Is The Funnel Dead?
Carter Jensen: 5X Your Genius Zone
Michael McBride: Secrets E-Com Brands Need for AI
Episode 5: Callie Doschadis, founder of AdHound Media, a fast-growing digital agency based in Nashville. Callie shares her no-BS journey from being unexpectedly fired to launching a fully booked agency in under a year. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketing manager, or just someone thinking about building your own agency, this episode is packed with lessons, energy, and practical insights.
Danielle Urban: HubSpot's INBOUND Recap
Danielle Urban: HubSpot's INBOUND Recap
Danielle Urban: HubSpot's INBOUND Recap
Episode 4: From Freelance to Founder: HubSpot Ops, Live Events & Scaling Smart In this episode of the LiftKit Marketing Podcast, John Hoeft and Danielle Schermerhorn sit down with Danielle Urban, co-founder of Cartographer Consulting, a marketing operations consultancy that helps SaaS and service-based companies make sense of messy systems, workflows, and disconnected tools. Danielle shares how she went from moonlighting freelance projects to launching a thriving ops-focused consultancy. You’ll hear how motherhood and the high cost of daycare nudged her toward entrepreneurship and how she’s now using her operations brain to help growing teams scale smarter.
Adrian Dahlin: Is SEO Dead?
Danielle Urban: HubSpot's INBOUND Recap
Danielle Urban: HubSpot's INBOUND Recap
Episode 3: SEO Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Evolving
Adrian Dahlin on Search, AI & Authority Is SEO really dead? Not according to Adrian Dahlin. In this episode, we sit down with the founder of Search to Sale to talk about the evolution of search, the rise of generative engine optimization (GEO), and how AI is changing the way brands get discovered online. Adrian shares his journey from data-driven nonprofit marketer to SEO expert and tech founder — and opens up about the challenges (and breakthroughs) of launching an agency just as AI tools like ChatGPT were exploding onto the scene.
Brooke Weller: From Barista to CMO
Danielle Urban: HubSpot's INBOUND Recap
Andrew Eklund: Dial-up to AI, 30 Years of Marketing Evolution
Episode 2: Brooke Weller, a marketing leader who’s done it all. From running a coffee stand to leading global media teams to launching her own agency. Brooke shares her unconventional path to marketing leadership, including: Why “filling the gaps” became her superpower in agency life and the value of ignoring the “stay in your lane” advice. Her approach to integrated marketing in a post-funnel world and the AI tools and platforms she’s testing and loving right now.
Andrew Eklund: Dial-up to AI, 30 Years of Marketing Evolution
Andrew Eklund: Dial-up to AI, 30 Years of Marketing Evolution
Andrew Eklund: Dial-up to AI, 30 Years of Marketing Evolution
Episode 1: In our debut episode of the LiftKit Marketing Podcast, we sit down with Andrew Eklund, founder of Ciceron, Minneapolis’ first digital agency and a true trailblazer in the world of marketing and technology. Andrew shares his 30-year journey through the digital revolution — from launching a CMS before WordPress even existed to building e-commerce sites before Amazon Prime was a thing. He opens up about the highs and lows of agency life, the challenges of burnout and reinvention, and why connection still matters more than ever in a tech-saturated world.
LiftKit Marketing Podcast
Celebrating Great Marketing & People
Every marketer has a story of exceptional work that never got the recognition it deserved. The LiftKit Marketing Podcast is dedicated to lifting up marketing professionals who consistently deliver outstanding results.
What We Do
We sit down with agency owners, marketing coordinators, CMOs, and everyone in between to celebrate their wins, share their strategies, and tell the stories behind campaigns that drove real results. From the marketer juggling four kids while crushing freelance projects to the team that tripled ROAS in a challenging market – we spotlight the achievements that make our industry thrive.
Why It Matters
In an industry where the average marketer tenure is just 1 year and 8 months, recognition matters. Too often, great marketing work gets attributed to "market conditions" or other factors, leaving the brilliant minds behind the success in the shadows. We're changing that narrative.
The Format
Each episode features a special guest with authentic conversations about real wins, the challenges overcome, and the tools and strategies that made success possible. No marketing guru promises or silver bullet solutions – just honest insights from professionals doing the work every day.
The Co-Hosts: John Hoeft & Danielle Schermerhorn
John Hoeft is a veteran digital marketing leader with over 25 years of experience helping agencies, SaaS companies, and B2B brands grow smarter and faster. As the founder of LiftKit Marketing and LiftKit Digital, he specializes in strategic partnerships, AI-driven content, lead generation, and agency operations.
John has held leadership roles at NP Digital, NinjaCat, Tru Measure, the Star Tribune, Patch (AOL), Novus Media and MediaNews Group. He now works directly with executives and marketing teams as a fractional resource and strategic advisor, delivering solutions that drive pipeline and increase efficiency.
Through LiftKit Marketing services, John builds custom GPTs, designs LinkedIn lead-gen systems, and leads content strategies that improve visibility and ROI. He’s a builder at heart, known for translating strategy into action and helping clients achieve measurable results.
Danielle Schermerhorn is a seasoned growth marketer and brand strategist with over a decade of experience leading marketing initiatives that deliver tangible business results. As a former agency founder, Danielle has a proven track record of building and leading high-performing teams, launching impactful go-to-market strategies, and driving millions in revenue across both B2B and B2C sectors.
Currently serving as the Director of Marketing and Client Success at Atelier Commerce, she specializes in helping brands scale through e-commerce and retention marketing, providing enterprise-grade omnichannel solutions. Her expertise encompasses digital marketing, e-commerce, and email marketing, all infused with a dedication to long-term client relationships.
Beyond her quantitative achievements, Danielle is deeply committed to lifting others up. She dedicates herself to mentoring marketers, building inclusive teams, and fostering honest conversations within the industry. Her diverse skill set includes Growth Marketing, Brand Building, Digital Marketing, SEO, Email Marketing, Strategic Planning, Leadership, and Project Management
John Hoeft & Danielle Schermerhorn