Networking with Ease with Deanna Seymour Artwork

Marketing Sucks

Marketing Sucks is the podcast for business owners who are looking for practical, fun, and strategic ways to get noticed online, and don’t want to sit through 30 minutes of filler to get to the good stuff.

Each week, Grind Social Media + Co founder Amanda Casinha sits down with the industry’s most interesting and unconventional ad experts, funnel developers, content creators, and changemakers to explore their off-the-beaten-path strategies and experiences in the world of marketing and business — and dig into real stories of failures, strategies, and how they got their jaw-dropping results.

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Marketing Sucks

Networking with Ease with Deanna Seymour

May 27, 2025 • Amanda Casinha-Ginther • Episode 61

Crappy networking sucks and we all know it. I hate it. You hate it. And we still push ourselves to do it. But here’s the thing: networking doesn’t have to be awful — and if you do it right, it can actually be a good time. In this episode of Marketing Sucks, I sit down with the lovely Deanna Seymour, queen of non-cringey networking. As the founder of vibrant online community The Playhouse, she’s created a welcoming space for service providers that gives members a TON of tools and opportunities to promote themselves without feeling salesy. Love it!

During our conversation, we get deep into the good, the bad, and the gross when it comes to networking, and how to make it feel GREAT. You’ll discover why we need to stop with all the damn elevator pitches already (and what to do instead), how to break the ice with a bold wardrobe choice, and the trick to writing podcast guest pitches that make you look like a pro.

Marketing sucks. Let’s learn together. Hit play to discover:‌ ‌

The secret introvert networking superpower (and why it’s SO effective)
How to get out of your own head and avoid giving weirdo pick-me energy at live events
Why so many online communities are anti-promo — and how The Playhouse does it better

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Guest bio: Deanna Seymour is the founder of The Playhouse, a community for service providers that actively encourages members to promote themselves without feeling salesy. Unlike other communities, it has built-in visibility opportunities for members to grow their audience. With a mix of humor, empathy, and real talk, Deanna helps the folks feel more comfortable in their own skin so they can have fun growing a sustainable and profitable business.

Timestamps:‌ ‌

00:11 Meet Deanna Seymour

03:32 Entrepreneurial journey

06:13 Podcast pitching

08:24 Bad v. good networking

13:23 Introvert superpower

18:32 What to do at in-person events

25:10 Elevator pitches

33:08 Nurturing connections

39:46 Human-first approach

43:40 “Share what ya got”

46:11 Outro