Ryan Alford talks with Devora Rogers, Chief Strategy Officer at Alter Agents, about how consumer decision-making has changed and why old marketing assumptions are not enough anymore. Devora explains “shopper promiscuity,” the growing challenge of brand loyalty, and why consumers now use more sources of information before making purchase decisions.
The episode explores the tension between brand building and performance marketing, including why brands can over-focus on bottom-of-funnel tactics while ignoring awareness, trust, and meaningful differentiation. Ryan and Devora also discuss brand narcissism, attribution myths, human research, podcasts, catalogs, and why marketers need to understand the full context behind a buying decision.
Devora shares lessons from her work with Google’s Zero Moment of Truth research and explains why real people still reveal insights that AI-generated or synthetic respondents cannot. This is a practical episode for marketers, founders, and business leaders who want to understand why customers switch, what still influences buying behavior, and how brands can earn attention in a fragmented market.
Topics Covered
What shopper promiscuity means for brands
Why brand loyalty is harder to earn today
Brand building vs. performance marketing
Why brand tracking can miss the bigger shopper story
Attribution, attention, and why marketers still cannot measure everything
Why real human research still matters
The surprising influence of podcasts and catalogs
Google’s Zero Moment of Truth and how buying behavior evolved
Ryan Alford and Devora Rogers on the future of shopper behavior and brand strategy
Links
Right About Now
https://www.ryanisright.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/right-about-now-legendary-business-advice/id1346054199
https://open.spotify.com/show/0gy9HkTiwpAAgu1DFyIW9h
Ryan Alford
https://www.ryanalford.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford/
Devora Rogers / Alter Agents
https://alteragents.com/
https://alteragents.com/who-we-are/devora-rogers-y/
https://alteragents.substack.com/
