Your Email List Is Lying To You

Your Email List Is Lying To You

Author: Dorien Morin-van Dam July 30, 2026 Duration: 33:01

Your open rates aren't the problem you think they are. In this episode, we're getting under the hood of email marketing — the welcome sequences, the authentication settings, and the domain reputation scores most small business owners have never even heard of, let alone checked.

This conversation covers why a healthy open rate isn't what you think, what's actually happening when your emails start landing in spam, and why "open rates are dead" as a metric (Apple's already skewing yours). We also get into AI's role in writing and designing email content, what belongs above the fold, and a simple, repeatable process for cleaning a stale list without losing subscribers for good.

If you have an email list sitting untouched, or you're not sure whether your emails are even reaching the inbox, this episode gives you a clear checklist of what to look at next.

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Hank Hoffmeier is an author, speaker, and podcast host with a passion for all things digital and social. With more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing, he's been dubbed the Digital Marketing Infotainer because he makes marketing fun and successful.

'Strategy Talks: Content Strategy for Small Teams', Season 5, is where content marketing meets real business results. Hosted by hands-on content strategist Dorien Morin-van Dam, each episode delivers a focused conversation with a guest expert who shares a specific, repeatable play. You'll leave with a clear problem definition and a set of steps you can take this week.

No fluff. No theory. Just strategy you can use.

New episodes each week! We stream live on LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook.


Dorien Morin-van Dam knows what it's like to build a content engine without a massive budget or staff. In Strategy Talks: Content Strategy for Small Teams, she brings that practical, hands-on perspective to every conversation. This isn't about abstract theory; it's a direct line to operators who are in the trenches, sharing the specific, repeatable plays they use to turn thoughtful content into genuine business pipeline. Designed for founders, small teams, agencies, and solo consultants, each half-hour episode is tightly focused. You'll find discussions rooted in one of three critical areas: the fundamentals of content strategy and planning, the nuts and bolts of distribution and SEO, or the practical application of AI for content operations. The goal is always clarity-first, by defining a common problem many face, and then by unpacking a tangible solution. Listening to this podcast feels like having a seasoned strategist in your corner, cutting through the noise to deliver actionable insights you can apply almost immediately. If you're responsible for content but short on resources, these conversations provide the structured thinking and tactical advice to make your efforts more effective and less chaotic.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Strategy Talks: Content Strategy for Small Teams
Podcast Episodes
From Messy to Magnetic: A Simple Content Strategy for Small Teams [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:59
Wouldn’t it be nice if your entire content strategy fit on one page, and your whole team could actually follow it?Small teams keep borrowing strategies designed for someone else entirely: different budget, different head…
What Your Prospects Are Dying to Tell You [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:50
Is your marketing based on assumptions?You think you know why someone downloaded your lead magnet. You think you know what problem they have. You think you know if they are ready to buy.Well, you are probably wrong.In th…
How Visibility Systems Help Provide Consistency in Small Teams [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:45
Are you the bottleneck in your own business?If your team stalls when you step away, you may be missing something most founders never think to build. Yvonne Heimann, founder of Ask Yvi and author of Mastering the Basics o…
2026 LinkedIn Benchmarks: A LIVE Panel Discussion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:01
LinkedIn engagement is at an all-time high, and yet video views just crashed 36%. Audience growth is slowing. And the format nobody was talking about a year ago is now the top performer on the entire platform. So which L…
How to Build an Agency You Love Running (and One That Holds Value) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:32
If you can't take a two-week vacation without your agency falling apart, you don't own an agency. You ARE the agency.This week's guest Steve Guberman built one, sold one, and now coaches others to stop making that mistak…
Rebranding Won't Fix Your Pipeline. Repositioning Will [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:03
Rebranding feels productive, right? But it rarely fixes what’s broken.In this episode of Strategy Talks, Dorien Morin-van Dam hosts Beatrice Gutknecht as she breaks down why most companies don’t have a brand problem; the…