How do nonprofits compete for attention, donations, and impact in a noisy digital world?

In this episode of the Marketing Spark podcast, host Mark Evans speaks with Javan Van Gronigen, co-founder of Donate.ly, a fundraising platform that has helped nonprofits raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

Javan shares the story behind Donate.ly and how his experience working with nonprofits revealed a major gap in fundraising technology. Many organizations struggle with complex systems and tools that slow them down instead of helping them grow. Donate.ly was built to simplify fundraising while giving organizations the flexibility to scale.

During the conversation, Javan and Mark explore:

• Why many nonprofits struggle with fundraising technology
• How campaigns like the Barstool Fund raised tens of millions of dollars for small businesses
• The marketing strategies that helped Donate.ly grow in a competitive landscape
• Why education and content marketing are essential for reaching nonprofit leaders
• How AI is transforming marketing, automation, and fundraising strategy
• Why founders and marketers need to experiment with AI now or risk falling behind

Javan also shares his perspective on the future of fundraising technology and how AI-powered systems could soon automate large parts of marketing and donor engagement.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Mark Evans sits down with Caren Cioffi, co-founder and CEO of Agenda Hero, an AI-powered platform designed to eliminate manual calendar work and save billions of hours.

After more than a decade at Brightcove, where she helped scale the company from startup to global public enterprise, Caren made the leap into entrepreneurship to solve a problem she experienced firsthand: the hidden time cost of managing schedules. What began as personal frustration with juggling work, travel, and family logistics evolved into a startup tackling one of the most persistent workplace inefficiencies.

Caren explains how Agenda Hero uses AI to convert text, images, and PDFs into structured calendar events across Google, Outlook, Apple and more. She shares how the breakthrough came when AI made it possible to automate tedious form filling that calendars have required for decades.

The conversation also explores:

• How to validate product-market fit before scaling marketing
• Why building a product people genuinely love is the best early marketing strategy
• Lessons learned from pivoting within her own product
• How she approached raising venture funding for the first time
• The role of influencer and advocacy marketing in early-stage growth
• Why founders need conviction and the right believers around them

Many companies are rushing to adopt AI tools hoping to unlock new levels of productivity and innovation — and failing. Why? According to Sarah Jeannault, former FinTech founder and now VP Marketing at ProcedureFlow, it’s because they skipped a crucial step: building a strong operational and knowledge foundation. In this episode, Sarah dives into why AI initiatives fall flat, how to fix broken knowledge systems, and what a true AI-ready organization actually looks like. We also talk about marketing’s evolving tech stack, change management, and why AI must empower frontline teams — not just leadership.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Mark Evans sits down with Dan Sanchez, a former podcasting leader turned AI marketing consultant, to explore his incredible transition into the world of artificial intelligence. From feeling behind the curve with ChatGPT to becoming a trusted voice in AI for marketers, Dan shares the pivotal moments and painful lessons that led him to reinvent himself.

You’ll learn how chain prompting changes how we use AI tools, why top-of-funnel SEO is dying, how to build a personal brand that stands out in an AI-saturated world, and what marketers can do right now to catch up and stay ahead. Whether you're AI-curious or all-in, this episode delivers a roadmap for future-proofing your marketing strategy.

Topics We Cover:

• The AI wake-up call that changed Dan’s career path
• What most marketers still misunderstand about chain prompting
• The “30-30-30” framework for becoming a trusted voice in any niche
• How AI is reshaping SEO, blogging, and brand trust
• The 5 categories of essential AI tools every marketer should use
• How to stand out when everyone is using the same tools

As B2B SaaS sales become more challenging, demand gen can be an important way for companies to attract, educate, encourage, and nurture prospects.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Chris Roche talks about the benefits of demand gen and how companies can get started or ramp up their efforts.

We also talk about how B2B SaaS brands can leverage LinkedIn and experiment with TikTok.

Some companies aim to stand out from the crowd. They want to differentiate themselves from companies that walk, talk, and sound the same.

Some companies want to go a step further. They want to compete in a new category.

They embrace a concept called category design in which they define and lead a new market.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Josh Lowman offers insight into the definition of category design and how one of his clients embraced the concept.

LinkedIn has emerged as a powerful platform for personal branding and establishing new connections.

Powered by a steady stream of value-added content and relentless engagement with a growing network, Jason Vana has become one of the highest-profile marketers on LinkedIn.

In this conversation, Jason talks about how he approaches LinkedIn and why he sees it as an effective platform to drive leads and make money.

Every B2B company wants to capitalize on the power of SEO.

But there are fundamental mistakes at these companies make that undermine their marketing activities.

Dev Basu, chief experience officer with Powered by Search, said SEO delivers when companies create research-driven content that meets the needs of target audiences.