The Digital Marketing Podcast

Halloween Special: 5 Tenuously Spooky Digital Marketing Tools

Hosts: Daniel Rowles & Ciaran Rogers
Date: October 27, 2017

Episode Overview

In this lighthearted Halloween special, Daniel and Ciaran embrace the season’s spooky spirit by sharing five digital marketing tools with “tenuous” connections to the supernatural. Recorded on the road during their Highlands and Islands Enterprise tour in Scotland, the episode offers practical tool recommendations alongside witty banter and a healthy dose of Halloween puns. The focus is on tools that can improve marketing efficiency, productivity, and website performance—ideal for marketers seeking a practical edge, but delivered with tongue-in-cheek Halloween flair.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene (00:16–02:33)

• The hosts introduce the Halloween theme, admitting that their spooky connections are a stretch but promising genuinely useful digital marketing tools.
• Recording context: Episode recorded in a Skoda hire car in a Premier Inn car park, amidst the Scottish Highlands. The change of location is noted for its impact on audio quality and atmospheric “spookiness.”

Quote:
"Trying to find things with a spooky context, I've discovered new things I would never have found before just purely on Googling spooky names." – Ciaran (00:47)

2. Ghostery (03:13–06:53)

• What it is: Browser extension for analyzing trackers and marketing tech tags on your website and others.
• Halloween Link: “Ghost” in the name; uncovers the hidden/tracking “ghosts” haunting your site!
• Why it matters:
  • Reveals hidden scripts, trackers, and plugins, enables site speed and privacy audits.
  • Especially relevant with GDPR on the horizon (May 2018).
  • Users can block ad tech, improve anonymity, and visualize the loading order and lag introduced by different tags.

Quotes:

• "You do get this kind of tag soup that over years creeps up...there could be all sorts of tags...tucked away in some tag manager...you might not even be fully aware of." – Ciaran (04:08)
• "Tag bloat is something we’re really acutely aware of. It can cause privacy issues and slow your site down." – Daniel (05:50)

[00:43]: Introduction to Ghostery
[04:35]: Visualization of trackers and privacy implications

3. Ghost (Blogging Platform) (07:41–12:31)

• What it is: A content publishing platform designed for writers who want a clean, distraction-free blogging experience.
• Halloween Link: Another “ghostly” name.
• Why it matters:
  • Alternative to WordPress: Lightweight, fast, visually appealing.
  • Minimal interface encourages writing focus.
  • Uses simple HTML-based markup for formatting (less reliance on plugins).
  • Can be self-hosted or hosted by Ghost; the latter is easier but pricier.

Quotes:

• "The platform itself is aimed to be super, super fast and it's not bogged down with lots and lots of plugins." – Ciaran (08:51)
• "If you just want to write, then Ghost looks like a great alternative." – Daniel (08:57)

[07:41]: Introduction to Ghost
[10:38]: Ghost’s markup and lack of distractions

4. Neverware (CloudReady: Reanimating Old Laptops) (12:45–15:47)

• What it is: Neverware’s CloudReady provides a free Chromium OS replacement for old computers, effectively “raising them from the dead.”
• Halloween Link: The comparison to reanimating a “dead” laptop fits the Halloween “resurrection” theme.
• Why it matters:
  • Ideal for repurposing outdated hardware as lightweight, secure web terminals (via Chromium OS).
  • Great for businesses or individuals looking to extend device life for tasks like social monitoring or simple computing.

Quotes:

• "I'm going to show you how to bring your almost dead laptop back to life." – Ciaran (12:54)
• "If the hardware is knackered, this isn't going to change anything...But there may be something that's just too slow to use with the operating system that was supplied." – Ciaran (14:00)

[13:05]: Introduction to Neverware and explanation of use cases

5. Medium (Publishing Platform) (15:47–17:55)

• What it is: A popular publishing platform with community-driven content promotion features.
• Halloween Link: Reference to “Medium” as a person who talks to spirits—a “tenuously spooky” play on words.
• Why it matters:
  • High-quality readership (60 million monthly); opportunity for marketers to amplify thought leadership.
  • Upvoting and editorial curation surface good writing.
  • “Publications” allow collaboration and magazine-style publishing.

Quotes:

• "It's just a way lots of high quality content is published...And I found really interesting content really quickly, which is not necessarily an easy thing to do elsewhere." – Daniel (16:08)
• "Take a look at Publications. There are some really good ones. You're not just relying on what one particular writer has written." – Ciaran (17:20)

[15:53]: Introduction to Medium and description of “publications” feature

6. Drag (Gmail Productivity Add-on) (18:10–19:05)

• What it is: An add-on for Gmail that brings a Trello-like board (drag-and-drop card system) to your inbox.
• Halloween Link: “Dragged” (screaming) into the woods—very tenuous!
• Why it matters:
  • Organizes email workflow visually.
  • Useful for salespeople and anyone managing multiple projects/tasks via email.
  • Enables a post-it/planning-board approach within Gmail.

Quotes:

• "It's kind of like being dragged, screaming and kicking into the woods." – Ciaran (18:21)
• "You can treat emails like tasks and you can say they’re done, they’re to be done, you can prioritize them and things like that." – Daniel (18:45)

[18:26]: Introduction to Drag and its benefits

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Trying to find things with a spooky context, I've discovered new things I would never have found before just purely on like Googling spooky names.” – Ciaran (00:47)
• “We’re now sitting in a hotel car park in a Skoda… living the dream at the moment.” – Daniel (01:54)
• “Tag bloat is something we’re really acutely aware of. It can cause privacy issues and slow your site down.” – Daniel (05:50)
• “It's kind of that for Gmail. Perfect.” – Ciaran on Drag (18:55)
• “I promise we'll never do this again. I apologize… If [subscriber numbers] go down substantially, we're going to do something horrible to Kieran.” – Daniel (19:16)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:43 – Ghostery: what it is & how to use it
• 04:35 – Visual tracker mapping & GDPR impact
• 07:41 – Ghost (blog platform) intro
• 10:38 – Minimal interface and markup discussion
• 13:05 – Neverware: reviving old laptops
• 15:53 – Medium introduction and collaborative publishing
• 18:26 – Drag: Gmail Kanban system

Tone & Final Thoughts

With a blend of practical advice and comic Halloween self-awareness, Daniel and Ciaran keep the episode lively and personable. Listeners walk away with a diverse selection of digital tools—some mainstream, some niche—that can add efficiency and creativity to their marketing toolkit, plus the encouragement to always keep their platforms tidy and their workflows optimized, ghosts or no ghosts.