Little Talks

Hosted by Littlefield Agency

Business Marketing

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Episodes

218

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

Sam Littlefield and Steve Roop chat agency and client happenings as well as cover digital marketing trends and news every Wednesday, live from Littlefield Studios in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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60 recent

August 19, 202618 min

Your 2027 plan will change

Annual planning always looks great on paper. The budget makes sense. The priorities are clear. Everyone knows exactly what they're doing. And then the year actually starts. This week on Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about planning for 2027 and why a good marketing plan needs enough structure to keep everyone focused, but enough flexibility to change when something starts working (or really isn't). It starts with knowing your audience, connecting marketing goals to business goals, and choosing three to five priorities your team can actually move. From there, media, analytics, content, and creative should be working together to figure out what's driving results and where to adjust. Because ten priorities aren't priorities. And last fall's spreadsheet shouldn't dictate what you're doing next summer. Make the plan. Just don't be afraid to change it. See you next week for more Little Talks. Claudia, Sam, and Roop Tell us what you think!

August 13, 202624 min

WTF is LFG?

Most companies have values. The bigger question is whether anyone can actually remember them. This week on Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about how LFG became a big part of Littlefield culture and why, six years later, it’s still something we use every day. LFG came out of a pretty difficult time for the agency in 2020. As we rethought where Littlefield was headed, we also wanted values that actually sounded and felt like us. We landed on Littlefield Team First, Freaking Go to the Edge, and Gotta Adapt or Die. A little dramatic? Maybe. David Littlefield certainly had some questions when he first saw the stickers. But nobody forgets it. More importantly, we actually use it. LFG shows up in staff meetings, emails, client conversations, and even on our elevator button. Because company values shouldn't live in a forgotten PDF. They should show up in how your team works every day. See you next week for more Little Talks. — Claudia, Sam, and Roop Tell us what you think!

August 5, 202619 min

The internal marketing team is not lazy, they’re buried

"Can you knock this out by tomorrow?" On its own, it's usually not a big deal. But after the fifth "quick request" of the week, those little asks start adding up. This week on Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about the capacity problem facing in-house marketing teams. Between sales requests, trade shows, last-minute projects, and everything in between, it's easy for strategic work to get pushed aside by whatever feels most urgent. The conversation isn't about saying "no." It's about making the tradeoffs visible. Every new project takes time away from something else, and the best teams are intentional about what moves forward and what waits. Because marketing isn't just producing deliverables. It's helping drive growth, and that work deserves the time and focus to do it well. See you next week for more Little Talks! — Sam, Claudia, and Roop Tell us what you think!

July 29, 202625 min

The legal side of AI with Sharon Toerek

AI has made marketing faster. From writing and research to brainstorming and campaign planning, the tools keep getting better. But as Sharon Toerek, Owner and Founder of Legal+Creative | Toerek Law, explains on this week's Little Talks, moving faster also means being more thoughtful about how you use AI. Sharon joined Sam and Roop to discuss the legal side of AI, including intellectual property, data privacy, and why those conversations can't wait until something goes wrong. The takeaway wasn't that marketers should avoid AI. It was that every team should understand the tools they're using, establish clear policies, and make sure legal considerations keep pace with the technology. AI is changing the way marketers work. The companies that benefit most will be the ones that pair innovation with the right guardrails. See you next week for more Little Talks. — Claudia, Roop, Shannon, and Sam Tell us what you think!

July 22, 202624 min

How great teams stay on track

Planning isn't usually the problem. Most teams have goals. They have strategy sessions. They have whiteboards full of ideas and calendars full of kickoff meetings. The hard part is what happens after all of that. This week on Little Talks, Sam and Roop discuss Traction by Gino Wickman and why it's had such a big impact on the way Littlefield Agency operates. The system isn't flashy, and that's kind of the point. It creates a rhythm that helps teams stay focused, solve problems, and actually follow through on the things they said were important. The conversation covers everything from quarterly Rocks and Level 10 meetings to core values and issue lists, but it all comes back to one idea: growth doesn't happen because you planned well. It happens because you consistently execute. Whether you use Traction or another framework, the biggest takeaway is simple. Great teams don't just make plans. They build systems that help them keep those plans moving. See you next week for more Little Talks. — Claudia, Sam, and Roop Tell us what you think!

July 15, 202623 min

393%: The traffic shift brands can’t ignore

AI search isn't coming. It's already here. This week on Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about one stat that caught everyone's attention: AI referral traffic to U.S. retail sites is up 393% year over year. That's not just another marketing number. It's a sign that buyers are starting to search differently. Instead of scrolling through a page of links, they're asking AI tools questions, comparing options, and getting recommendations before they ever visit a website. In fact, AI-referred visitors are converting at a much higher rate because they're arriving with more context and confidence. So what does that mean for B2B brands? It means showing up in AI search is about more than SEO. Reviews, product pages, third-party mentions, Reddit conversations, and the overall trust you've built online all play a role in whether AI sees your company as a credible recommendation. The buying journey isn't going away. It's just changing. And if your brand isn't part of those AI conversations, you may never make it into the consideration set in the first place. See you next week for more Little Talks. — Roop, Claudia, and Sam Tell us what you think!

July 8, 202618 min

Trust is your best marketing channel

Trust is one of those things marketers talk about all the time, but it's hard to point to on a dashboard. This week, Sam and Roop discuss why that doesn't make it any less important. When you're selling equipment that costs six or seven figures, people aren't clicking an ad and making a purchase that afternoon. They're talking to coworkers. Reading reviews. Watching YouTube videos. Asking AI questions. Checking Reddit. They're figuring out whether your company is worth trusting long before they ever talk to sales. That's why trust is more than a brand metric. It's part of your marketing. The conversation covered everything from paid media and AI search to dealer relationships, customer reviews, and the small moments that shape a buyer's opinion over time. Because while you can't tell people to trust you, you can consistently give them reasons to. The brands that earn trust are usually the ones willing to educate, be transparent, and show up wherever customers are looking for answers. See you next week for more Little Talks! — Claudia, Sam, and Roop Tell us what you think!

July 1, 202613 min

Rental buyers think differently, marketing should too

Most equipment marketing is built for the buyer who is ready to own. That makes sense. Ownership is the big, shiny goal. But it also means rental buyers can get treated like a side audience, when in reality they may be the person with the most immediate need in the room. On this week’s Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about why rental buyers think differently and why the marketing should, too. These customers are not always dreaming about pride of ownership. Sometimes they have a machine down, a job to finish, or a three-week project that cannot wait for a long sales cycle to gracefully unfold. Romantic? No. Important? Very. That changes the message. Features still matter, but reliability, availability, and confidence matter more. It also changes the dealer conversation. If someone walks up to the rental counter frustrated with another machine, the person behind that counter has a real chance to steer them toward something better. That only works if your brand has done the work to make the story easy to tell. Rental can be a smart business strategy, not just a holding pattern before purchase. Get the right person on the right machine at the right moment, and you may be creating a future owner without trying to force the ownership message too early. That is the kind of marketing shift worth paying attention to. See you next week for more Little Talks! — Claudia, Roop, Chelsea, and Sam Tell us what you think!

June 23, 202626 min

Stupider people have done it

Friend of the podcast Jay Schwedelson is back on Little Talks this week, and as usual, he didn't disappoint! Jay joined Sam and Roop to talk about his new book, Stupider People Have Done It , and somewhere between marketing, AI, LinkedIn, TV, coffee, and life advice, we landed on a simple idea: people still trust people. AI can help you move faster. Social proof matters. Your LinkedIn page shouldn't look abandoned. But as Jay pointed out, "humanity is the algorithm." The brands and people that stand out are usually the ones willing to sound like actual humans. Also, if you haven't checked out the book yet , all proceeds go to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, which is a pretty great reason to pick up a copy. See you next week for more Little Talks. — Jay, Sam, Roop, and Claudia Tell us what you think!

June 17, 202621 min

If AI creates everything, what's left for the brand?

AI has made it incredibly easy to make more stuff. More blogs. More emails. More social posts. More everything. The problem? Nobody was sitting around wishing there was more content on the internet. This week on Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about what happens when everyone has access to the same tools and can create the same types of content. AI can absolutely help. It's great at research, first drafts, and speeding up the work. But the one thing it can't generate for you is trust. That’s where brands still have to do the hard part. The conversation covered everything from AI search and content creation to LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, and why your perspective may become more valuable than your publishing volume. The brands that stand out won't necessarily be the ones producing the most content. They'll be the ones with something worth saying. Ironically, if you want AI to cite your content, you may need to sound a little less like AI. See you next week for more Little Talks. — Sam, Claudia, and Roop Tell us what you think!