⚡️ Ask Columbus Marketing Leaders a Question: www.Columbusmarketing.org/ask

In this Q&A episode of Marketing by Design, Andy Milligan answers real questions from marketers, fractional CMOs, and agency owners about what's actually driving growth right now. He breaks down why warm email beats AI-generated cold outreach, which LinkedIn content turns into client conversations, and the underused growth plays he's testing, from strategic podcasting to small, repeatable in-person gatherings. You'll also get his take on partner referral programs, how to stretch a $3,000 software and events budget, and two unpopular opinions about the marketing job market and freelancing that most people won't say out loud.

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Cold Email vs. Warm Email

03:39 LinkedIn Content Strategy

06:14 Fringe Growth Strategies

08:54 Partner Referral Programs

11:51 Software and Events Budget

15:59 Controversial Marketing Takes

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ Join a community of high-performing marketers: https://columbusmarketing.org

🔵 Our Healthcare Web Agency: MMG Studio: https://www.mmg.studio

Put your hand over the logo on most healthcare websites and you can't tell one practice from another. Matt Lee, managing director and co-founder of Strategy Collective, works with more than 30 private equity-backed healthcare platforms, and he says that sameness is about to get expensive. He breaks down why healthcare brands play it so safe, how to measure marketing against the schedule instead of the ad platform, and why phone number matching only gets you part of the way to real attribution. He also shares how Strategy Collective grew from two partners managing freelancers to a 55-person in-house team, and how they use AI as the brain of the agency without replacing people.

CONNECT WITH MATT
🌐 Website: https://www.strategyco.com
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewtlee/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://www.mmg.studio
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:41 - From agency partner to CMO to founder
01:33 - The board member who opened the door to PE healthcare
05:09 - Why they started as a collective of freelancers
06:00 - Scaling a vet group from 75 to 1,000+ locations
07:57 - Getting burned, then building a 55-person team in-house
10:10 - "It's not saving us people"
12:48 - Building the brain of the agency with AI
16:46 - Be the conductor, not the instrument
18:07 - How AI changed the way he answers RFPs
20:07 - Why every healthcare brand looks the same
21:45 - Outcompeting the doctor across the street
24:46 - The hardest problem in healthcare attribution
25:55 - Why phone number matching fails
27:37 - Booked, showed, paid: staging attribution
32:45 - Measure the schedule, not the ad platform
34:00 - "Physician-led" isn't a differentiator anymore
34:25 - How to use humor in healthcare marketing

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Is SEO dead now that AI search has arrived? Sophie Brannon, co-founder of StudioHawk US, says no, and she explains why the "SEO is dead" crowd has it backwards. She breaks down how AI search builds on the same foundations as traditional SEO, why those inflated AI traffic stats are misleading, and the SOURCE framework her team uses to get brands cited in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and beyond. She also shares how she went from journalist to SEO leader to co-founder, and why StudioHawk only hires "wholesome nerds."

CONNECT WITH SOPHIE
🌐 Website: https://studiohawk.com
🎓 Hawk Academy (free SEO and AI search training): https://hawkacademy.co
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-brannon-081bb294/
𝕏 X: https://x.com/SophieBrannon

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
03:00 - From journalist to head of SEO
04:15 - She quit her job to live in a tent
06:35 - The phone call that made her a co-founder
08:23 - Why StudioHawk only hires "wholesome nerds"
13:37 - The biggest myth about AI search
14:55 - Ignore the 2000% AI traffic stats
15:40 - The SOURCE framework for getting cited by AI
19:37 - Voice search, featured snippets, and the shiny-object trap
28:11 - Why Americans buy SEO differently
32:32 - Why they'll never be a full-service agency

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/