What is your automaton tech-stack?

Marketers struggle to build effective AI automation stacks that actually drive results. Charlie Grinnell, Co-CEO of RightMetric, explains how external data transforms AI accuracy and marketing strategy. The conversation covers building custom agents for networking automation, developing video analysis tools that map viewer engagement frame-by-frame, and creating visual hooks that compete with brands like MrBeast and Red Bull. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  The Martech Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast? I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iHereEverything.com.

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  From advertising to software as a service to data, across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55% to 65% open rate.

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  Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising.

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  Typical life span of an article is about 24 to 36 hours.

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  If we're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action, then it's just a matter of timing.

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  Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world-class marketers that use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

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  I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me today is Charlie Grinnell, the co-CEO of Right Metric, which equips marketers with external data signals that AI needs for true accuracy. And today Charlie is going to explain what we are getting backwards when it comes to the relationship between marketers and AI. All right, let's move on to our next question.

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  Yep.

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  Again, a selfish one because I think you're a brilliant builder and we think about orchestration and automation the same way. Tell me, what's your automation tech stack?

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  Yeah, so I'm not a developer or a technical person. I got my job in video production, so this might be like very, very simple.

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  I'm a podcast host, preach.

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  Okay, so, so I use Things 3 as my task manager. I use reclaim.ai for my like smart calendar blocking. And then in terms of like how I stitch things together, it's literally like Zapier, Linde, Twilio. Like it's very, very simple things here. And so I think that, you know, to those listening who are going, oh, like here are these two nerds nerding out about AI, duh, duh, duh, duh. Like I do not know how to code, full stop.

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  Everybody knows how to code. You can code in English now.

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  So a lot of what I've built is, is kind of like duct taped together with these systems that work for me, both from a device perspective. So, you know, I've been really, really intentional about how can I set up these devices so that they're, the hardware and the software kind of works seamlessly for my workflow, whether that's keyboard shortcuts and having things talk to each other. So that's number one. But number two, I built them by duct tape for a reason because we're in the gold rush. And I'm not really in right now trying to pour concrete on anything because like tomorrow, you and I are going to be talking about something that would completely 10, is 10x better, faster, cheaper, whatever than what we are dealing with today. And so I think that, you know, it's a fool's errand to try and pull, pour concrete on a lot of this stuff. So my stack is like quite flexible and duct taped.

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  And I'm trying to get really clear on what are the things that I can transfer between them, which is the prompts, the context, all of that. I think the tools can actually absolutely change, but the way that you use them and the context and the inputs and outputs are something that you can take and transfer along.

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  I'm a nerd in the sense that I want to use like the best in class tools, the new cool thing. And maybe I'm just a sucker for good marketing. But when it came to my automation stack, I tried to make the transition from Zapier to N8N.

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  Yeah.

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  And technically it was so much more complex that I'm like, what am I doing? I'm going to burn all sorts of cycles and try to replicate what I've already done. When the user friendly platform, the, you know, tried and true Zapier, why would you use such an old platform? Make is better and all this other stuff. They all do the same thing. Why wouldn't I use the one that's the easiest? Maybe I'm despised.

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  No, no, I agree. And I think about it the same way. Like I, as soon as I heard N8M, I was like, that's too complex. Even the name, I was just like, nope.

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  Yeah. I get it that there's a bunch of stuff N8N can do that's more flexible than Zapier. I just, I'm creative enough to bend Zapier the way that I need it to go to not have to do things like looping and some of the other like steps that you need. And I'm sure there's a developer there that's pulling out his hair, being like, these two idiots are doing it the wrong way. And it's like,

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  For sure.

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  Yeah, but we're gonna rip it out next week anyway, when something new comes in. I do want to ask you, you mentioned Lindy a couple of times. What do you use that for as opposed to Zapier?

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  So Lindy is basically, I think about it like Zapier on steroids. So I know Zapier has, it's similar. Zapier has, it started with these kind of like workflow connectors, hooks, right? And then it's moved into Zapier has their own kind of like agent flow. Lindy just kind of like rolled that out in a way where I started playing with it and it kind of just worked for me. So like, they're probably interchangeable. I have some stuff, and this is my, my, my lack of personal data hygiene. I probably have some stuff running in Zapier. I could centralize probably between the two of those, but there's just so many workflows that have now been created that I just haven't gone back and cleaned it up because, again, I don't think that's a good use of time.

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  Yeah, doctors make the worst patients and marketers also make the worst marketers and don't follow their own advice. You said, get your data organized, young man, and you're using multiple different platforms. Shame on you.

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  Don't listen to what I say, watch what I do.

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  And that wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks to Charlie Grinnell, the CEO and co-founder of Rightmetric for joining us. If you'd like to contact Charlie, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile on our show notes, or visit martechpod.com. You can also visit his company's website, which is rightmetric.co. Charlie also has a weekly newsletter that tears down the external data world, giving the latest on what's working in marketing, content channels, audience, competitors, a whole bunch of great stuff. Rightmetric.co/newsletter. And if you haven't subscribed yet to this podcast and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed next week.

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  All right, that's it for today. But until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

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  Thanks for listening to the Martech Podcast, an I Hear Everything production. Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iHearEverything.com.