Response Drivers

About Response Drivers

Response Drivers is a marketing podcast about what drives customer response, growth, and sales, where we feature top marketing minds and dig into their inspiring stories. Hosted by Rick Rappe, Founder and CEO of RPM Direct Marketing, each episode highlights marketing leaders and industry experts discussing customer acquisition, marketing trends, direct response marketing, direct mail marketing, data-driven targeting, testing and optimization, and performance. Learn how these leaders think and find the big ideas to push your results to the next level.

Publisher

Rick Rappe

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Apr 2025

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

33 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   The Audience Comes First: Moving Beyond Traditional Targeting

   Bruce Meberg is the Founder and CEO of Inbound Insight, where he leads the development of advanced data-marketing strategies to help clients find and reach their ideal prospects. With over 30 years of experience spanning aerospace engineering, management consulting, marketing analytics, and data science, Bruce has established himself as a leading expert in leveraging data to drive better marketing results; under his leadership, Inbound Insight delivers cutting-edge solutions like predictive modeling and insight APIs to optimize campaign performance for businesses of all sizes. In this episode… Finding the right audience has always been central to successful marketing, but traditional demographics only tell part of the story. What if marketers could go beyond age, income, and location to identify not just who is most likely to buy, but when they're ready to take action? Bruce Meberg believes the key lies in combining predictive modeling with real-time intent signals and customer engagement data. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience in engineering, marketing, and data analytics, he explains how predictive models can uncover high-value prospects that traditional demographic targeting might overlook, while online browsing behavior reveals who's actively researching a purchase. By understanding both who their best prospects are and when they're most receptive, marketers can reduce wasted spending, improve response rates, and make every campaign more effective. In this episode of Response Drivers, Rick Rappe speaks with Bruce Meberg, Founder and CEO of Inbound Insight, to discuss smarter audience targeting beyond traditional demographics. Bruce explores how predictive modeling identifies high-value prospects, how intent signals reveal purchase readiness, and how website engagement data strengthens multichannel retargeting. Bruce also shares why structured testing is essential for continuously improving campaign performance.

2. 

   29 Sept 2026

   The Future of Marketing: Human Connection, AI, and Growth With Tony Rodriguez

   Tony Rodriguez is the Vice President of Digital Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Current Home, a company specializing in solar energy solutions and home improvement services. With more than 20 years of experience in marketing, Tony has built growth strategies, developed partnerships, and scaled teams from a dozen to more than 600 members while helping grow departments from $200K to nearly $300M in sales. He is also the co-host of the award-winning podcast Advice Unfiltered with Chris and Tony. Tony blends customer insights, field experience, data-driven marketing, and AI to drive growth. In this episode… Marketing continues to evolve as new technologies reshape how businesses connect with customers. The most effective strategies still rely on understanding people, their needs, and the experiences that influence their decisions. How can marketers combine emerging tools with the human insights that create stronger connections? The future of marketing comes from blending AI capabilities with a deep understanding of customers and their motivations. Tony Rodriguez, a seasoned marketing and business development leader, explains how listening to customers, learning from the sales process, and using data-driven insights can help create more effective strategies. Tony emphasizes that AI can improve efficiency and uncover opportunities, but marketers must continue applying creativity, empathy, and real-world experience to build meaningful customer relationships. In this episode of Response Drivers, Rick Rappe chats with Tony Rodriguez, Vice President of Digital Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Current Home, about the future of marketing through human connection, AI, and growth. Tony discusses customer-focused marketing strategies, leveraging AI to improve sales and marketing processes, and combining technology with firsthand customer insights. He also shares lessons on scaling teams, building partnerships, and adapting to a changing marketing landscape.

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Transforming Direct Mail Into a Modern Growth Engine With Matt Witter

   Matt Witter is the Vice President of Growth and Partnerships at RPM Direct Marketing, an agency that helps performance-driven organizations turn direct mail into a measurable growth channel. With more than 25 years of experience across B2C and B2B marketing, he specializes in acquisition, retention, testing, segmentation, and strategic partnerships. Matt has worked on programs for brands including AT&T, Cricket Wireless, DIRECTV, Hyatt, Netflix, and Microsoft, and brings both agency leadership and client-side experience at SAP Concur. In this episode… Direct mail has changed, but its ability to drive measurable growth has not. The strongest programs today combine smart targeting, disciplined testing, and a clear understanding of how mail works alongside digital channels. So what does it take to turn direct mail into a modern, scalable growth engine? For Matt Witter, a direct marketing strategist, the answer starts with segmentation, testing, and focusing on the audiences most likely to respond. Rather than treating direct mail as a creative exercise or brand extension, marketers should prioritize data, give campaigns enough time to perform, and evaluate results within the broader media mix. Matt also points to direct mail's ability to break through with hard-to-reach executives and support high-value B2B efforts such as event marketing. The takeaway is to approach direct mail as a measurable performance channel that gets stronger through testing, refinement, and integration. In this episode of Response Drivers, Rick Rappe talks with Matt Witter, Vice President of Growth and Partnerships at RPM Direct Marketing, about turning direct mail into a modern growth engine. Matt explains why segmentation and testing matter, how mail fits into an omnichannel strategy, and how B2B teams can use it to reach hard-to-engage decision-makers. He also touches on AI and faster campaign execution.

Who has been a guest on Response Drivers

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Mark Levy
• Scott Empringham
• Rob Levin
• Melissa Martin
• Renae Scott

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 46 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

92

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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