SmartBug on Tap
Welcome to SmartBug on Tap—your go-to podcast for actionable marketing insights, thought leadership, and expert strategies to elevate your brand’s success. Hosted by the team at SmartBug Media, each episode features engaging conversations with industry leaders and SmartBug experts, tackling topics from creative alignment and strategic planning to leveraging tools like HubSpot for enterprise success.
Whether you’re a marketing leader, a strategist, or a HubSpot power user, this podcast delivers practical advice you can apply right away. Tune in for stories of innovation, best practices, and SmartBug’s unique approach to solving complex marketing challenges—served straight from the source.
All Episodes
Second Brain Systems: How to Set Up Custom GPTs and Gems for Your Marketing Team
We’re diving into the concept of second brain systems—how to use custom GPTs (in ChatGPT) and Gems (in Gemini) to scale your marketing team’s productivity, eliminate repetitive tasks, and streamline onboarding, content creation, paid media, and more. You’ll learn: ✅ What a second brain is (and why marketers need one) ✅ How to build your own custom GPT or Gem ✅ What to feed your second brain to get great outputs ✅ Real SmartBug use cases ✅ Tips for maintenance, security, and future-proofing your setup Whether you're new to AI or a seasoned power user, you'll walk away with actionable tips to make AI work for your team—without replacing the human magic that makes your marketing shine. ⏱️ Key Highlights: 00:00 – Intro: Why second brains are changing how marketers work 03:10 – What is a second brain in marketing and AI? 05:00 – ChatGPT vs. Gemini: What makes a “second brain” different from on-the-fly prompting 07:50 – Eliminating information silos and dusty data 10:55 – ⚠️ AI Safety Disclaimer 11:00 – Step-by-step: How to build a custom Gem (Gemini) 14:15 – How to program user experiences into your Gem 16:00 – What kinds of data to include in your second brain 18:55 – How technical do you need to be? (Spoiler: Not at all!) 20:25 – SmartBug example: SME interview prep GPT 22:40 – Fun side note: Naming your GPTs 24:30 – Where second brains save time and increase quality 29:30 – Use cases beyond content: Paid media, reporting, onboarding 30:30 – What not to offload to AI 31:15 – Best practices and maintenance tips 34:50 – Who should “own” a shared Gem or GPT on your team? 36:40 – Common mistakes to avoid 38:00 – What’s next for second brain systems 40:15 – Skills marketers should start building now 42:55 – Final thoughts: Adding human connection back in 🔗 Want to connect or build your own second brain system? Reach out to Julia (jbye@smartbugmedia.com) or Rebecca (rcorgan@smartbugmedia.com) to chat.
The Enterprise Attribution Problem: What’s Working, What’s Not, and What to Do About It
Welcome back to SmartBug on Tap, where we dig into smarter, more scalable HubSpot strategy for marketing, sales, and RevOps teams. In this episode, Casey Peddicord sits down with Sandy Moore, SmartBug’s Senior Director of Account Strategy, to unpack one of the most complex—and misunderstood—topics in enterprise marketing: attribution. Whether you’re battling siloed data, long sales cycles, or disconnected touchpoints, attribution reporting can feel impossible to get right. But it can work—and Sandy’s here to show you how. From model selection to executive dashboards to AI’s evolving impact on reporting, this is a must-listen for anyone working in enterprise RevOps or marketing operations. 🔍 We cover: Why attribution is so painful for enterprise orgs Which attribution models actually work in complex buying cycles How to simplify your reporting (without dumbing it down) The real impact of privacy changes and AI on multi-touch tracking Why “perfect attribution” doesn’t exist—and what to focus on instead 🔗 Connect with Sandy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandragallucci/ 📩 Questions for the show? Reach out to Casey at cpeddicord@smartbugmedia.com
AI Meets the Pen: How Writers Are Embracing AI Without Losing Their Voice
AI is changing the content game—but how do writers keep their creativity, voice, and humanity intact? In this episode of SmartBug on Tap, host Julia Bye chats with SmartBug copywriter Rebecca Corgan about how content creators can embrace AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini without compromising authenticity. From overcoming blank-page syndrome to building powerful second-brain workflows, Rebecca shares how she integrates AI into her writing process—without letting it take over. Learn where AI shines, where it falls short, and how to strike the right balance between efficiency and originality. Whether you're a writer, marketer, or ops leader curious about the future of AI-powered content, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss. 🎧 What You’ll Learn ✅ How writers use AI tools for ideation, drafting, and content scaling ✅ Why iteration is key to making AI outputs usable ✅ Where AI tends to fall short—and how to edit out the "AI-isms" ✅ How SmartBug is building responsible AI practices into workflows ✅ Tips to keep your voice and brand intact when using AI for content 🔗 Learn More Explore SmartBug’s AI insights and marketing strategies at https://www.smartbugmedia.com/ai-services 👋 Stay Connected Follow Rebecca Corgan on social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-corgan-34789a79/ Reach out to Julia: jbye@smartbugmedia.com Follow SmartBug Media on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartbug-media Reach out to SmartBug: https://www.smartbugmedia.com/contact-us
Enterprise-Grade Integrations: How to Make HubSpot Play Nice with Everything
Integrating HubSpot with your broader tech stack can either unlock operational gold—or become a chaotic mess. In this episode of SmartBug On Tap, host Casey Peddicord sits down with Justine Verrier, Technical Solutions Engineer at SmartBug Media, to demystify what it takes to build enterprise-grade integrations that actually scale. From NetSuite and Salesforce to custom-built systems, Justine shares insights from a decade in the HubSpot ecosystem, walking through what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid the most common integration pitfalls. They cover key concepts like data governance, source of truth, one-way vs. two-way syncs, and how AI is starting to enhance QA and planning phases. If you're facing integration complexity, this one’s for you.