I Started Using a Pre-Production Checklist. Here's How It Changed Every Shoot

The difference between a professional photography shoot and an amateur one? It's not the camera. It's what happened in the week before. VIPs identified. Purpose confirmed. Headcount locked. Parking sorted. One pre-production meeting and a solid checklist cover all of it. Show up prepared or don't show up. 🎙️ Full episode, link in bio.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ixS-7PwdCEU

Watch for this red flag

Hot take: your marketing agency should be their own best client. If they can't generate leads for themselves, what makes you think they can do it for you? At Merged Media we run paid ads every single day. For ourselves. Because we actually believe in what we sell. That's the standard. Anything less is a red flag. 🚩

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/miLtuOKN4_0

We're not outsourcing our brains to AI. We're extending them.

We're not outsourcing our brains to AI. We're extending them. AI doesn't replace my thinking. It accelerates it. When I'm working through a client strategy, I use AI to iterate faster. Test different angles. Challenge my assumptions. Explore options I wouldn't have considered. It's like having a strategic partner who never gets tired of asking "but what if we tried this instead?" The thinking is still mine. The ideas are still mine. The strategy is still mine. AI just helps me get there faster and explore more possibilities. That's the difference: Outsourcing = "AI, write this for me" Extending = "AI, help me think through this differently" One makes you lazy. The other makes you sharper. Use AI to think more, not think less.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zia-wMfmvbQ

"AI is cool, let's use it."

AI in marketing isn't about saving time. It's about never doing the same low-value task twice so your team can spend 100% of their energy on the work that actually requires a human. There's a difference. Most agencies haven't figured it out yet. Clip from EP 246

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1GopIjRuAuo

AI in marketing isn't about saving time.

Everyone's talking about AI saving time. That's the wrong metric. The agencies winning right now aren't just moving faster; they're auditing where their team spends time, then building tools around those exact bottlenecks. Media plans that used to take days? Automated. Content approvals across 300 franchise locations? Custom portal, built in hours with vibe coding. AI isn't just a time saver. It's a complete rethink of what your team should actually be doing.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yEwRwElc6RE

Most agencies are still optimizing for impressions.

Most agencies are still optimizing for impressions. Ronnie Malewski (Managing Director, NP Digital Canada) has a different rule: if it doesn't tie to revenue, it's not marketing, it's activity. ◼️ Why AI agents are replacing the buyer journey entirely ◼️ 5 tactics to show up in AI search before your competitors do New episode of Drop The Mic out now 🎙️ EP 246 #Marketing #AI #DigitalMarketing #NPDigital #DropTheMic

source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVRPlwhb9mU

Stop Making These AI Prompting Mistakes! CRIT Method #shorts

Uncover powerful AI responses using CRIT: Context, Role, Interview, Task. Avoid common prompting pitfalls for better results. Learn the essentials. #AIPrompting #CRITMethod #ArtificialIntelligence #TechTips

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G-JXLQUWrQQ