Winfluence with Jason Falls

Hosted by Jason Falls

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Your business doesn’t need more marketing noise. It needs people who trust it, recommend it, and choose it. Winfluence with Jason Falls helps small-business owners and lean marketing teams build lasting influence. Jason Falls brings practical advice, candid conversations, and the occasional well-earned rant about influence marketing, social listening, podcasting, and responsible AI. Learn how to understand your customers, make your expertise useful, reach the right people, and put better tools to work—without surrendering your judgment to the software. Every episode tackles a real business problem and leaves you with something worth doing. Hosted by Jason Falls, Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com.

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November 9, 202613 min

The 2027 Influence Imperative: Give Creators Another Job

Get the free report: The 2027 Influence Imperative . When someone asks an AI assistant which product to buy, whose explanation will it find? Jason Falls explains why creator partnerships should help people choose, alongside earning attention. In this episode: real buyer questions, useful creator demonstrations, credible outside sources, and a practical first program that connects influence marketing with answer engine optimization (AEO) and AI-assisted research. Put the ideas to work Collect twelve real questions customers ask before choosing. Start with about six credible voices, each answering three questions; adapt the scope to your business and budget. Name the exact product, answer directly, show experience, caption accurately and disclose paid partnerships. Measure accurate descriptions, citations, recommendations and business outcomes separately. The research discussed measures different things; it does not prove every creator program changes AI recommendations or sales. The brand examples illustrate proposed applications, not measured AI-search results. Watch the full episode on YouTube · Read the companion article Download the free report and ninety-day plan . Newsletter signup and a planning conversation are separate, optional choices. Need help with your strategy? Talk with Falls+Partners . Want a professional show for your business? Explore our podcast production services . Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

November 2, 202613 min

Declaring War on PHP2Shell: A Small Business Website Protection Plan

Your website loading normally does not prove its PHP software is protected. Jason Falls explains PHP2Shell, the WordPress/PHP distinction, hosting responsibility and a practical small business battle plan. COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR HOST Subject: Please confirm our website’s PHP2Shell protection Have you addressed both PHP2Shell vulnerabilities on the systems running my website? What fix is in place, when was it applied, and what action remains? Please confirm protection against CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, identifying the fixed PHP package or documented vendor security update. Please confirm the protected software is actually serving our website and any required restarts are complete. Please include our main website, subdomains, staging and test sites, old installations still online, and separately hosted tools. Identify anything outside your responsibility. Have you reviewed PHP’s October 23 follow-up advisory, and does our setup require additional action? If any protection is temporary, please explain what remains to be patched, who owns that work and when it will be completed. Please tell us whether you found signs of possible compromise, what checks you performed and whether investigation remains. Confirm who will test our forms, bookings, checkout and confirmation emails after the work. Please identify any action we need to take and who will verify completion. We need your response in plain language, in writing. DOWNLOAD THE FALLS+PARTNERS CHECKLIST (PDF) https://fallspartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Falls-Partners-PHP2Shell-Checklist-1.pdf WHAT RUNS YOUR WEBSITE? WHITEBOARD EXPLAINER https://fallspartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/what-runs-your-website-wordpress-php-whiteboard-1.png WordPress manages content; themes and HTML/CSS shape presentation; PHP runs back-end logic; the database stores content; hosting supplies the computer. NEED A STRAIGHT ANSWER? Contact Falls+Partners: https://fallspartners.com/contact/ Tell us: “I need a straight answer about my website.” CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to Winfluence 00:25 Declaring war on PHP2Shell 01:23 What is PHP2Shell? 03:07 How bad is the risk? 04:18 WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and hosting responsibility 06:31 What Shopify merchants should check 07:14 Your three-step battle plan 07:51 The message to send your host 08:37 Verify the fix and test your website 09:37 Older sites and suspected compromise 11:04 The Falls+Partners declaration and next steps SOURCE GUIDANCE https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php https://wordpress.com/support/php-security-update-october-2026-cve-2026-109618-and-cve-2026-109619-php2shell/ https://www.shopify.com/website/hosting Recorded in October 2026. Check current provider guidance; this episode does not diagnose your website or guarantee overall security. Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 26, 202615 min

What Does Business Podcast Production Cost—and What Are You Actually Buying?

Read the business podcast production cost guide · Watch the full Winfluence episode An editing quote tells you what happens to the recording. A production quote should tell you how the episode gets published. In this episode of Winfluence, Jason Falls explains how businesses can budget for a podcast and compare production proposals. We examine current published pricing examples, the differences between editing and managed production, the work that stays with your team, video decisions and what people still need to check when AI speeds up the process. You’ll learn: • How editing, managed production and show development differ. • Why raw recording length, speakers, cameras and revisions change a quote. • How to account for staff time alongside outside fees. • What to ask about clips, publishing and additional charges. • How to choose a publishing cadence your team can sustain. Published provider examples have different scopes and are not an industry average or a quality ranking. Prices can change. The internal-time calculation is hypothetical: six assumed hours at $75 per hour equals $450 per episode, or $1,800 for four episodes. Use your own costs; no savings or business results are guaranteed. Explore podcast production services and pricing: https://fallspartners.com/podcasts/#pricing Ask for a production plan: https://fallspartners.com/podcasts/#plan Contact Jason: jason@fallspartners.com Research: Falls+Partners pricing and scope: https://fallspartners.com/podcasts/ HiveCast pricing: https://hivecast.fm/hivecast-pricing/ Truth Work Media packages: https://truthworkmedia.com/pricing/ AIR 2025 Rate Guide: https://airmedia.org/tools/2025-rate-guide YouTube podcast audience announcement (February 2025; audience metric as of January 2025): https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/1-billion-monthly-podcast-users/ Chapters 00:00 — Welcome to Winfluence 00:25 — What does business podcast production cost? 01:46 — Starting prices and what they include 02:58 — Editing, managed production and show development 04:56 — How to compare published production prices 06:23 — What changes a production quote 08:10 — The hidden cost of your team’s time 09:49 — Does your business podcast need video? 11:11 — AI tools and production responsibility 12:30 — How to budget and compare providers 14:18 — Let’s price the job you need done Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 19, 202616 min

Your Website Isn’t Enough Evidence

SEO delivers links. AEO delivers answers. But who supplies the evidence behind those answers? In this episode of Winfluence, Jason Falls explains why a well-optimized website is only part of the case for your business. Useful public social content, credible creators, experts and customer conversations can help shape the information behind AI recommendations. We examine what the Sundogs video study actually measures, how the search journey is changing, three predictions for businesses that stand still and practical steps to improve the evidence around your brand. Keep the SEO foundations working. Then widen the assignment: answer real buying questions, demonstrate your expertise, work with credible voices and measure qualified business outcomes alongside visibility. Watch the full episode on YouTube . Reach out to Falls+Partners for help, or email jason@fallspartners.com. Research and referenced links Sundogs: The New Store Shelf Net Influencer: creator videos and AI recommendations Pew Research Center: clicks with Google AI summaries G2: 2026 AI Search Insight Report Google Search Central: optimizing for generative AI Jellyfish: Creator Intelligence research Ahrefs: brand visibility correlations Foundation × AirOps: AI citation research Studies cover different samples and categories. Correlations do not prove causation; citations do not guarantee recommendations or sales. Predictions are Jason’s analysis. Episode chapters 00:00 — Welcome to Winfluence 00:24 — Your website isn’t enough evidence 01:42 — What the Sundogs study actually measures 03:07 — SEO delivers links. AEO delivers answers. 05:03 — AI answers versus agent actions 05:38 — Social content has another job 08:38 — What makes product videos useful 09:52 — Creators and other points of influence 11:25 — Three predictions for businesses that stand still 13:16 — A practical starting point 15:04 — Let’s build the case for your business Source correction at 08:38: Sundogs reports reviews or physical demonstrations in 77% of the cited videos, rather than the 75% stated in the recording. Comparisons across brands: 71%. Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 12, 202615 min

Your Product Is Not a Production Budget

A creator with four hundred followers asks for two hundred dollars to make your brand a video. Is that unreasonable—or have you confused buying content with buying an audience? In this episode of Winfluence with Jason Falls, Jason makes the case that brands need to swallow the bitter pill: product-only payment is no longer a dependable foundation for a content program you expect to run on demand. Gifting still happens. And Collabstr’s 2026 marketplace report actually shows average UGC campaign costs falling. But a brand moving from product exchange to paid production faces a new cash requirement regardless of that trend. Jason breaks down what brands are buying, why follower count can be the wrong yardstick, and how to budget for creators, shipping, platform fees, rights, approvals and the people who move the work through. He also shares recent Entribe guidance from his own work: budget at least $150–$250 per engagement, which can include 1–2 videos. That is scope-specific guidance, not a universal rate. Chapters 00:00 Winfluence opening 00:25 Your product is not a production budget 01:51 Budget for the work 02:41 Buying production versus buying an audience 04:04 Where product seeding still fits 05:13 Why your costs can rise while UGC prices fall 06:28 What brands should budget for UGC 08:36 Calculate cost per usable video 09:49 Test hooks, angles and creators 10:30 Build a dependable creator program 12:28 Scale the budget and the approval process 13:08 What creators owe brands 13:41 Swallow the bitter pill Referenced resources Collabstr’s 2026 Influencer Marketing Report Insense product seeding Cohley’s product-seeding fit test JoinBrands pricing Insense pricing Cohley on quality versus volume in UGC Marketing Happy Hour: The 2026 Creator Playbook Entribe Send your experience or a business problem to jason@jasonfalls.com. Subscribe, rate the show and share this episode with the person who approves your content budget. Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 5, 20268 min

Winfluence Has a New Name, a New Home and a Bigger Tent

Your business doesn't need more marketing noise. It needs people who trust it, recommend it and choose it. That's influence, and it's what Winfluence has always been about. In this episode, Jason Falls explains the show's new direction. Winfluence is now officially Winfluence with Jason Falls, and episodes now live at FallsPartners.com. The topics are getting broader, but the mission isn't: helping small-business owners and lean marketing teams build lasting influence for their brand or business. Jason walks through the four ways the show will help you do that: Influence through influencers and creator partnerships (yes, the rants stay) Influence through your own thought leadership and content, podcasting included Influence in search, both traditional SEO and AI-powered agentic search Influence through social listening and understanding your audience Plus the thread that runs through all of it: putting AI to work responsibly, without surrendering your judgment to the software. Got a business problem you'd like solved on the show? Email jason@jasonfalls.com. Episode page and show notes: https://fallspartners.com/blog/winfluence-with-jason-falls-new-direction/ Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

January 5, 202613 min

Talent Managers are Killing the Creator Economy

Hello again friends. Thanks for listening to Winfluence, the Influence Marketing Podcast. It’s been a minute! For those keeping track, the last time I posted an episode of Winfluence was two years ago. I hope you haven’t missed me, but I also hope you’re excited to hear something new from my thoughts on influence marketing. And, as a measure of transparency, know that the only reason I stopped regular episodes of the show is … well … it worked. I’ve been blessed with a full roster of client work in that time and just didn’t have the bandwidth to keep up the pace. But that means I have two more years of experience dealing with the day to day of influence marketing strategy, campaign management, execution and measurement. I’ve also been teaching students an influence strategy course at the University of Louisville, so it’s not like I’m coming back to the podcast without new ideas or fresh perspective, so I hope you’ll appreciate that. And, to be realistic, I can’t promise I’m going to churn out a weekly episode from now on and be right back in the saddle. Let’s just say when I’ve got to something to share with you, I will. So your subscription is still worth holding onto. And I won’t be throwing countless episodes at you just to stay top of mind. For those of you who enjoy a good Jason Falls rant now and then, you’ll be delighted to hear that those moments are really the ones when I have something to say and share. So expect less interviews and more grumpy old man wishing the world would be better. When a new episode of Winfluence pops into your feed … It’ll be fun, for sure. What burr in my saddle has me champing at the bit to return to the podcast? Talent managers are killing the creator economy. I explain how and why on this episode of Winfluence. Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

January 2, 202437 min

What Digital Marketing Trainers Teach About Influence Marketing

As we enter 2024, I told you we were going to dial in our pursuit of changing the mindset in the influence marketing industry to help brands and agencies focus on influence, not just influencers. So we’re going to have a lot of conversations with a lot of different people along the way to make that happen. We’re going to kick off the year talking to one of my favorite people. Krista Neher has been a leading authority on digital marketing for as long as I can remember. She’s a six-time best-selling author and found of Bootcamp Digital , an education brand that offers digital marketing certification. Along the way, Krista has had to not only teach people about influence marketing, but dig in and practice the craft a bit as a consultant, too. But her wide range of expertise and ability, plus her focus on making digital marketing a practical and cost-efficient investment for her clients gives her that broad perspective I look for in someone to just chop up and chew through the conversations in the space. Today on Winfluence, I’ll dig into influence marketing with Krista. We’ll talk about how to build an influence plan, calculate the value of your influencer relationships and I’ll see if my assertions about influence marketing hold up to her scrutiny … it’s a perspective I certainly respect and know you’ll enjoy. This episode is presented by CIPIO.ai. Scale acquisition of user-generated content and flip those social videos into ad creative using powerful generative AI toolset. Sign up for a demo at https://jasonfalls.co/cipio Find this episode online at https://jasonfalls.co/kristaneher Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

December 19, 202318 min

What's Wrong With Influencer Marketing and What We Can Change in 2024

It’s been a minute. If you haven’t noticed, Winfluence has been on a bit of a holiday hiatus. Honestly, its a good thing for me … client work ramped up toward the end of the year and I simply didn’t have enough time to fit in the weekly interviews and production to give you an episode worth listening to. Instead of rushing to crank out something mediocre, I opted to step back, focus on the client work and reassess what Winfluence is and can be. For the last few weeks, I’ve thought long and hard about the show. I even entertained the notion that maybe it had run its course and wasn’t worth the energy to crank out more episodes in 2024. But then two things happened. First, I thought about the state of things. And to be quite honest, we’re not done. There’s a lot still to accomplish in influence marketing. A good portion of the industry is still falling over itself doing things poorly. The bigger the creator, the more likely you’re going to have to deal with talent managers. Every talent manager I talk to these days seems to be more and more out of touch with the reality brands face with budgets and return on their marketing dollar. Brand managers are still pushing influencers to just be advertising shills. And we are still thinking of influencers as the key to success, when the whole premise of this show and my approach to the craft is centered around the influence … not the influencer. It’s about to be 2024. And most of the people in the industry spending dollars on influence marketing are still functioning like it’s 2007. The other thing that informed my thinking, I want to save for later, so listen to the full episode for that. In this episode of Winfluence, I’m going to list some things that are still broken about our industry. I’m going to carve out a few ideas on what we can do to fix them. And I’ll recommit to you that this show is not only not going away, we’re just getting started. Watch or listen to the full episode at jasonfalls.co/2024reset Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

November 21, 202355 min

Differentiating Between Influencer Agencies, Consultants and Services

When someone says they run an influencer marketing agency, what comes to mind? I’ve asked a few brand-side folks I know that question in the last week or two and have received a number of different responses. Some people say they think of an ad agency only that only focuses on influencers. Others say a consultant or small shop that handles all that busy work for you. Another contact said they think of the team at the software company they use, like CIPIO.ai for instance, which does the cat herding as it were. The truth is none of those answers are wrong. The third party that handles some degree of influencer marketing for you is probably the right answer, regardless of which pieces of the puzzle are theirs. But in truth, there is a difference between a software company that has managed services and a strategic consultant. That’s different than an influencer marketing agency that focuses on influencer campaigns and one that does more media buying using influencer content. The “influencer marketing agency” is a big sea of muddy water. Brad Hoos runs an influencer marketing agency. It’s called The Outloud Group . They’re based in Detroit and they handle all aspects of influencer marketing from soup to nuts. They aren’t a software company … though they use software to help manage their work. They do more than just strategy. And they do more than just execution. Who better to break down not just the various facets of what a brand might need out of influencer marketing, but the ins and outs of influencer campaigns, choosing the right creators, negotiating with the big (and little) egos in the creator world and such than Brad? I asked him to pay a visit to the old Influence bar here on Winfluence and chat a bit about the state of things. The Outloud Group’s approach is a little different than some agencies and they’ve got some interesting clients and case studies of course. But it’s also an opportunity for me to bounce one of my rant-y ideas off someone who can push back and tell me I’m wrong if I am, so we’ll get into that a little bit, too. Hosted by Jason Falls , Winfluence is a production of Falls+Partners. Explore the ideas and get help putting them into practice at fallspartners.com . Winfluence is a proud member of MPN – The Marketing Podcast Network . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.