Podcast Summary: Voices of Search

Episode: "One word that describes the relationship between customer data and marketing campaign success"

Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Jordan Cooney
Guest: Eddie Patch (Optimove)

Overview

This episode explores the evolving relationship between customer data and the success of marketing campaigns. Jordan Cooney (host) and guest Eddie Patch discuss how brands are prioritizing the integration of customer insights with marketing execution—ultimately describing the relationship as that of a “power couple.” The conversation dives into budgeting strategies, the differences between legacy and modern brands, and why leveraging customer data is crucial for innovation and sustained growth in content and search engine marketing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining the Relationship: "Power Couple" (00:51–01:20)

• Prompt: Jordan challenges Eddie to capture today’s connection between customer data and marketing campaign success in a single word.
• Eddie’s response: “Power couple. So power couple is our hyphen. I think it's one word. It's one word.” (00:51, Eddie Patch)
  • The concept conveys that winning growth teams are those treating customer data and marketing execution as equally critical—a unified, mutually reinforcing relationship.
  • Eddie emphasizes, “They're equally prioritizing and they're making it a single motion.”

2. The "Money" Conversation: Prioritizing Budgets (01:20–02:20)

• Jordan’s prompt: He raises the question of where brands are investing their marketing budgets—traditional channels versus initiatives driven by granular customer data.
  • Are brands allocating money by channel (SEO, paid search, TV) or by customer segments identified through data (e.g., buyers of long-haul flights vs. US local vacations)?
  • “Is it going more heavily in the actual marketing, campaigning and investing there, or is it coming in through the customer data and then making the decisions?” (01:31, Jordan Cooney)

3. Legacy vs. Cutting-Edge Brands: Data-driven Strategies (02:20–03:43)

• Eddie's insights:
  • Legacy brands are stuck in “batch and blast”—spending heavily across channels in hopes of a short-term return. It’s a “lifeline” strategy, unsustainable in the long run.
  • “Think about like an aging brick and mortar retailer...They're investing all of their money and just blasting their customer base as often as they can...The problem with that is it's all temporary and it could be gone in a second.” (02:21–02:38, Eddie Patch)
  • Forward-thinking brands invest in infrastructure, technology, and zero-party data to get smarter about their customer base.
    • “The ones that are doing it really well are also investing in just learning more about their customers...enrich their customer data and just being a little smarter with what's happening behind the scenes rather than just that batch and blast approach. It's just not working anymore.” (03:07–03:35, Eddie Patch)
• Takeaway: The key differentiator is building future-proof capabilities and using data for ongoing innovation.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Power couple. So power couple is our hyphen. I think it's one word. It's one word." — Eddie Patch (00:51)
• “They’re equally prioritizing and they're making it a single motion...power couple is more fun than...let's go with that.” — Eddie Patch (01:04)
• “Is it going more heavily in the actual marketing, campaigning and investing there, or is it coming in through the customer data and then making the decisions?” — Jordan Cooney (01:31)
• “They're putting a lot of money into every channel because they know that if I, if I put 4 million in this week, we're going to get back a certain amount of return. The problem with that is it's all temporary and it could be gone in a second.” — Eddie Patch (02:27–02:38)
• “It's just not working anymore.” — Eddie Patch (03:35)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:51 — Defining the relationship: “Power Couple”
• 01:20 — Money and budget allocation: Campaign vs. data-driven investment
• 02:20 — Legacy brands' approach versus future-focused strategies
• 03:07 — Investing in customer data enrichment and tech

Episode Tone & Style

The episode maintains a lively, conversational tone, marked by humor (the playful "power couple" debate) and grounded, practical advice. Eddie Patch’s commentary balances candid warnings about outdated tactics with forward-thinking prescriptions for marketing investment in today’s data-driven landscape.

Summary

This concise episode underscores the inseparable—and powerful—link between customer data and campaign success. Brands that treat data and marketing execution as a "power couple" and invest in building customer understanding and technological infrastructure are better positioned for sustained growth and innovation. Batch-and-blast legacy tactics are painted as obsolete, with data-driven strategies clearly leading the way forward.