Transcription – [Fully Managed] Dan Salganik from Visual Fizz Ep. 84

Introduction

Daniella (D): Hello everybody. Welcome to the Fully Managed Podcast. This is the podcast where we discuss marketing tips, we discuss business tips, all to help assist you in your business journeys. I’m your host, Daniella, and I’m Penji’s partnership coordinator. Today I am joined here with a very special guest, Dan Salganik from Visual Fizz.

Guest Introduction

D: Hi Dan. How are you doing?

Dan Salganik (DS): Doing great. Thanks for having me on the show.

D: Did I butcher your last name at all?

DS: No, you actually did well. Without even trying. You’ve been great.

D: Oh, great. Yeah, I’ve butchered other people’s names, so I was worried. But I’m glad. It’s great to have you on the podcast today.

About Dan and Visual Fizz

D: To kind of break the ice and get the ball rolling, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do, about Visual Fizz and the whole shebang?

DS: I’ll start with myself. I’ve been in the marketing world basically my entire career. Started my first business back in college. Actually went part-time in school to start my first company and then went into the marketing space working in a number of agencies and launched Visual Fizz. I love to travel, love cocktails and coffee, starting businesses, and just living a fairly active lifestyle in general.

Visual Fizz is an 8-year-old agency as of right now. We are a full-service, predominantly B2B-focused agency. We verticalize in industrial manufacturing, construction, technology. We have experience in a range of industries from nonprofit to health, cannabis, universities, higher ed—you name it. One cool detail is that the average tenure of our team members is about 10 to 15+ years. Nearly everyone at Visual Fizz has at least a decade of experience.

Travel and Cultural Insight

D: That’s amazing. I want to ask you—where have you traveled? You mentioned you like traveling.

DS: Great question. I have a personal goal to travel 100 days a year. I’ve been to countries in Asia, 70% of the United States, Central America, most of the Caribbean, almost all of Europe, some countries in the Middle East. I’ve yet to explore Southern South America. I’ve even launched Visual Fizz while on a four-month trip to Asia.

D: That’s so interesting. I’ve traveled a lot too. I’m from El Salvador but moved to Asia at 18 for college, so I did a lot of traveling when I was young. Traveling really changes your perspective, and from a marketing angle, it shows how different yet similar people and strategies can be.

DS: Oh yeah, totally. You’re closed off in a bubble if you don’t move around. Even though cultures are different, how we live day-to-day has many similarities. That’s important for our global clients too. You have to understand differences in work style and communication.

Cross-Cultural Work Experience

D: I studied and worked in Taiwan, and I had to adjust a lot to the work culture there. One job didn’t hire me because I wasn’t from Spain—they wanted locals for each market. That taught me a lot about how marketing is often tied to lived experience.

DS: Definitely. A lot of our clients in Europe want to scale in the US. But the US is like five countries in one—marketing in New York is not the same as in California or Texas. You have to treat it regionally.

Building Visual Fizz

D: I also wanted to ask: how did your life experiences shape or inspire you into starting your own agency?

DS: I’ve always been entrepreneurial. My family is too. In college, I started a business, managed a team of 10. It closed eventually, but I worked at many agencies after that. My background is in ops and finance, not marketing, but I love running projects.

Eventually, I got let go from an agency—right before closing on my first condo. That was a turning point. I freelanced, saved money, and posted about finding a co-founder. We connected, aligned well, and decided to start the agency. I even told her, “By the way, I’m going to Asia for a few months.”

We went remote in 2016—way before it became popular. We started with no money, $50 on an ugly site and logo, and hired people with real experience. Eight years later, we have a full team.

Choosing a Niche: B2B Focus

D: You mentioned Visual Fizz now focuses on B2B marketing. What led to that decision?

DS: At first, we were different—we started as a globally distributed agency, then shifted to experiential marketing. It was hard to sell. Around five years ago, we got a big client in industrial manufacturing. That helped us grow. Over time, we realized B2B was our strength.

We rebranded recently—what you see on our homepage is just a week old. We now focus on established B2B companies with marketing budgets, often between $20M to $1B in revenue. Startups are tough unless they’re venture-backed or experienced founders. Our work fits better with established brands.

Navigating AI and Marketing Trends

D: How have you seen AI and social media affect marketing, especially B2B?

DS: Internally, AI helps us move faster. We use it to clean up writing, brainstorm ideas—it’s a tool, not a replacement. Externally, some clients think AI can do everything, but the quality isn’t there yet. Especially for high-level strategy or content that needs a human touch.

B2B has felt the shift too—just not as dramatically as B2C. Google’s also cracking down on low-quality content, so we focus on being a resource center, answering questions, and adding value. AI helps, but it’s no substitute for real human insight.

Final Thoughts and Promotion

D: That’s a great note to end on. Before we wrap up, is there anything you’d like to promote?

DS: Thanks! If anyone needs marketing support, Visual Fizz is a full-service agency with great case studies, happy clients, and deep expertise. Check out VisualFizz.com, shoot us a message—it’ll come to me—and let’s talk about how we can help.

D: Awesome. I’ll be adding the links in the show description so everyone can find you easily. Thanks again, Dan. It was so fun to have you on.

DS: Thank you, Daniella.

D: Alright guys, see you on the next episode. You’ve been listening to Fully Managed, brought to you by Penji. Check out the show notes to learn more about today’s guest and about Penji—your human-first creative subscription service at Penji.co. And if you’re still listening, it would mean the world if you shared this podcast with a friend. And of course, subscribe!