Inside Marketing with MarketSurge

In this episode of Inside Marketing with MarketSurge, host Reed Hansen sits down with David Feinman, Co-Founder and CEO of Viral Ideas, a productized video editing powerhouse trusted by brands like eBay, Johnson & Johnson, and McKesson.
From running zombie obstacle races in college to scaling a 7-figure global content agency, David has mastered the art of turning raw footage into revenue.
🎧 What You’ll Learn:
• How to make storytelling artful and repeatable
• Why “productized” services are the future of agencies
• How AI + humans = creative scale without burnout
• What makes content truly viral (and how to engineer it)
• The future of video content going into 2026
🔥 Key Highlights:
✅ The 3 elements of every great story: Hook, Retention, Payoff
✅ How Viral Ideas humanizes big-brand marketing
✅ Why the best agencies sell clarity, not complexity
✅ David’s Ironman mindset for creativity, discipline, and leadership
✅ What the next evolution of content creation will look like
🎁 Free Gift from David Feinman
DM David on Instagram with the word “MarketSurge” to get his Free Guide: How to Hire a Video Editor That Doesn’t Suck — built from hiring 200+ editors.
🌐 Connect with David Feinman & Viral Ideas:
👉 Website: http://viralideasmarketing.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-feinman-7a069255/

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViralIdeasMarketing/

🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Viral_Ideas

🎙️ Inside Marketing with MarketSurge
Your front-row seat to the boldest business insights, marketing breakthroughs, and entrepreneurial real talk — hosted by Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge.io
.
📈 Want automation that feels personal and performs like a team of 10?
🎯 Book your 15-minute Value or Free Coffee Call:
👉 https://link.marketsurge.io/widget/bookings/15minutevalueorfreecoffee

🔗 Stay Connected:
🌐 Website: https://marketsurge.io

🎙️ Podcast: https://marketsurge.transistor.fm/

📘 Facebook: MarketSurge

💼 LinkedIn: MarketSurge.io

🐦 X / Twitter: @marketsurging

Creators and Guests

Host
Reed Hansen
Reed Hansen is a seasoned digital marketing executive with a proven track record of driving business growth through innovative strategies. As the Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge, he focuses on leveraging AI-powered marketing tools to help businesses scale efficiently. Reed's expertise spans from leading startups to Fortune 500 companies, making him a recognized authority in the digital marketing space. His unique ability to combine data-driven insights with creative solutions has been instrumental in achieving remarkable sales growth for his clients. ​

What is Inside Marketing with MarketSurge?

Welcome to Inside Marketing with MarketSurge — your front-row seat to the boldest business insights, marketing breakthroughs, and entrepreneurial real talk.

Hosted by Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge and a digital marketing veteran who's helped scale everything from scrappy startups to Fortune 500 giants, this podcast dives deep into what’s really moving the needle in today’s marketing world. Find us at Marketsurge.io

Each week, we’ll break down the latest marketing and business news (minus the fluff), explore tech trends you actually need to know, and feature unfiltered conversations with the most interesting minds in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Whether you're a founder, a marketer, or just a curious hustler looking to level up, this is where growth happens—loudly, smartly, and with just the right amount of sass.

Subscribe, tune in, and let’s scale something legendary. 🚀

Speaker: Welcome to Inside
Marketing With Market Surge.

Your front row seat to the
boldest ideas and smartest

strategies in the marketing game.

Your host is Reed Hansen, chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello,
and welcome back to Inside

Marketing with Market Surge.

Today's guest knows exactly what
it takes to turn raw footage into

revenue, and he's done it for giants
like eBay and Johnson and Johnson.

I'm talking about David Feynman,
co-founder and CEO of viral ideas, a

productized video editing powerhouse
that's scaled storytelling.

from launching zombie obstacle
races in college to building a

seven figure content machine with a
global team and AI driven workflows.

David has cracked the code on
creativity that converts very fast.

He's also the host of the What It
Takes podcast, an agency advisor.

And apparently a six time
Ironman, which is really cool.

means he can outrun most
of us and outmarket us.

So if you're ready to learn how to
scale content without losing your

soul and how to build a creative
business that doesn't burn you out,

you're gonna love this episode.

David, welcome to the podcast.

Dave Feinman: Great.

Thanks so much for having me.

I'm so grateful to be here and
talk to the market search audience.

It's gonna be great.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Awesome.

so let's talk a little
bit about your approach.

found, a quote from you, you
said that great storytelling can

be both artful and repeatable.

what does that look like?

What's your storytelling process?

how do you draw that out of your
clients and create those great stories?

Dave Feinman: Yeah, I think one of
the number one challenges we get

when working with people is, what do
you say when a camera is in front of

you, and how do you tell your story
in a meaningful yet authentic way?

Reid, I have sort of
distilled this down into.

Figuring out what is your
container that you are going

to put your content in, right?

So if you're trying to tell a
story and you're trying to make it

interesting, to find a format that
works for you in the way that you

live your life and go about your day.

So.

You know, it might be like for me,
for example, I have a videographer

come to my house every other
week and record content with me.

And that's my way of creating.

'cause it helps me to co-create
with another person there.

I don't particularly love just
like talking into my phone, without

another person on the other end of it.

another way you could create
is like this with a podcast.

it allows you to talk to someone,
build content from there.

So, you know, how do you
create and tell a story?

Well, you need Certain special
ingredients, especially in this modern

age, you need something to hook people in.

You need something to
keep them interested.

You need some sort of payoff at the end.

So whenever you're structuring a
story, you wanna have those three

things in mind so that someone is
intrigued by your content and has

some sort of payoff at the end.

So really it's just about kind of going
about your day and figuring out ways

to create inside the containers that
you're able to build in your life.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
that's really interesting.

So now you've worked with a
lot of different companies, um,

you know, a couple that came
up eBay, Johnson and Johnson.

How do you help like a big company like
that tell a very authentic, genuine.

Story, you know, content that
actually connects and doesn't

seem like a big monolith.

how do you do that?

Dave Feinman: Okay, so
what, what's interesting is.

The larger companies get, sometimes
they lose a bit about what made them

special when they were smaller, and I
think every company wants to make sure

that their customers feel like they're
dealing with humans on the other side.

So what we've done really well,
especially with a lot of the brands

we've worked with, like eBay, Johnson,
Johnson, McKesson, especially what

we've done with them is really humanize.

Their, their marketing through video.

Because on the other side of the
screen, those videos are humans that

are connecting with other humans on
the screen that we've created for them.

And what we'll always try to do is
try to tell the stories of the people

that are involved in the companies.

We'll try to tell, you know, where
they came from, what are they doing

in the business, How does that
business impact the greater good?

and I think a lot of times when people
are given the opportunity and companies

are given the opportunity to share those
stories in a more meaningful way, it

creates connection with the end audience.

So even at the, the highest level of,
of, you know, fortune 500 business,

they are always trying to connect.

If you look at some of the best
Super Bowl commercials that everyone

remembers, like for example.

The Bud Light commercial
with the horse, right?

Everyone knows, everyone knows that.

And you're connecting with that animal.

You're connecting with the little
golden retriever running alongside

of it, you're forming that connection
and bond with a brand that, um,

that's just Budweiser, I think, right?

Not Bud.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Brothers.

Yeah, exactly.

Dave Feinman: yeah.

Budweiser brand is, has that
thing, and you're really connecting

with the brand, um, when you're
watching something like that.

So, you know, when we're
thinking about creating videos

that, you know, that need to.

Share a message.

It's really about just connecting with a
person on the other side of the screen.

It's not connecting with a demographic,
it's not connecting with a, you know,

with some numbers, an age group.

It's just connecting with another human
being on the other side of the screen.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.

So let's talk a little bit
about your agency, viral ideas.

Great name for an agency and, um, you
know, you've described yourself as

productized Now, uh, you know, in the
video world, in the creative world.

Um, what does productize mean?

What's your agency's general approach?

Um, you know, what, what
is working with you like?

Dave Feinman: So one of the main
reasons I built this business was I was

really frustrated with how confusing
it is to purchase agency services.

the way you do it, you have to reach out
for a proposal, and then it's a whole

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I,

Dave Feinman: forth for pricing.

My philosophy is you should just
treat it like it's an Amazon

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: hmm.

Dave Feinman: 'cause everyone
likes to buy off of Amazon.

We all do it probably once,
twice, 3, 5, 7 times a week.

And um, they make it so
frictionless and painless.

So what makes us different?

Is, you can go to our website, click a
button and get the exact service we want.

Now, I think the issue with
most agencies is they want to

be everything to you, right?

They want to, you know, give you a
little bit of this and a little bit

of that, a little bit of digital
marketing services, a little bit

of, traditional media services.

A little bit of paid, a little bit
of content, a little bit of SEO.

And most agencies cannot execute
all of that in a way that

is scalable and repeatable.

And what's important about being
scalable and repeatable is once you

have a process, you could perfect it.

Um, sort of like a manufacturer,
goes through a rigorous, six Sigma

process to improve their business.

Um, I believe agencies should
go through the same thing.

So we've developed effectively products
and skews on our website that are battle

tested in the way that we do them.

So if you go to our website, you buy a.

Short form video you buy
a 20 hour a week plan.

It's, a process and it's
a way of doing things.

you're not buying something that's
being put together in a custom package.

You're just buying something
that exists already that has been

battle tested over and over again.

Now we can mix a mac, what
we could do that's unique.

It's like we could build
your shopping cart.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Dave Feinman: product and pair it
with this product, you know, and

make you almost a unique package.

But the actual SKUs that we're offering
you were not individually unique.

Right.

They're, they're a product that
you're purchasing off our website.

The work is still custom, but it's almost
like, like buying something that, that

is simple and repeatable for the client
to understand and to know if it's gonna

fit in their budget in the first place.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: that's great.

I love it.

and I agree.

You know, I have an agency
myself and, it is confusing.

I've noticed a phase where it's kind
of like a get to know each other.

They buy one small engagement and
it's like, well, do, we have trust?

so we grow based on the trust that
we build, what a great idea to just

make it so productized like you do.

that's fantastic.

it sounds like you're
doing some great work.

we chit chatted a little bit
about ai, before we started.

Now, how do you blend AI into the mix
of what you're doing for your clients?

I know you have a lot of
human editors and creators.

what is the role of AI in
the creative work you do?

Dave Feinman: So my philosophy is AI
plus humans equals maximum results,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I.

Dave Feinman: ai, like any tool in
the modern age has given us a leverage

point to be able to work, right?

Like, so, you know, for example, if you
look at how people in the past used to

plow their fields, they did it by hand
with, little rakes and, you know, would

come into the fields and plow that way.

And then, you know, they put that
rake on the back of a donkey and had

the donkey pull the rake and then
they put that rake on a mower and

they plow it with a tractor, right.

Um, and now the tractor is robotic.

Right?

So, over time technology has
evolved to allow humans for

the same amount of time to.

more productive output AI is just the
next evolution of that productive output.

We're now able to get
out more because of ai.

we're looking at it at viral is
we're saying, okay, this year

our goal is to have 20% of the
editors tasks be done with ai.

so you know, whether that's administrative
work, whether that's, backend logistics,

whether that's actually editing.

Parts of their videos with ai, like
our goal is to do that next year.

It's 50%.

So not to say we're gonna replace the
editor, but the editor's now gonna be able

to do two times as many videos for the
same unit of time that they were before.

So I just look at it
as a force multiplier.

you still need humans though, because
you still need to add your little

sprinkle, you still need to add your
little 10% on top of it that, you know,

you need to add your taste in there.

So I think people sometimes
over rely on the tool and lose

a bit of that human touch.

So that's why it's humans
plus ai, not just ai.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah,
no, that makes a lot of sense.

Now I wanna talk about, you know, let's
go back to the name of your agency,

viral Ideas, and, um, you know, when
we're creating content of any kind,

whether it's B2C, B2B, you know, we'd
love it to go viral in a positive way,

you know, not for some flub or something.

But, um, do you believe that virality
is, uh, like an outcome, like a matter of

taking enough shots, or is it something
that can actually be engineered?

Dave Feinman: It's definitely something
that could be engineered for sure.

Um.

There is a formula for doing it.

Um, but there, there's also not
a guarantee for it happening.

Um, what I'll talk to a lot of
clients about is you wanna go viral

in the audience that you wanna go

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Dave Feinman: right?

You know?

So like, if you're running paid ads,
you wanna do an ad that resonates with

the audience of the client that you're
working with, you don't necessarily

need someone outside of that.

Um, but really what makes a good video, a
good video is something that people wanna

watch to its completion and the algorithm.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Dave Feinman: Is going to reward
you with more views if you

create something that rewards.

So something that allows
people to watch to completion.

So the best videos I've ever made
have been videos that have, you

know, to 70% play through rate.

And clients that I have that do the
best are the ones that really study the

retention graph and let us know, hey, you
know, the 20% mark of your video, like.

People dropped off and we
need to figure out why.

And we need to add something in there
and we need to go back to the formula of,

the beginning, you need a great hook that
scratches an itch in someone's brain that

creates some sort of curiosity that won't
be paid off till the end of the video.

And if you're able to do that,
You're able to get people to

watch for a longer period of time.

It's the same reason why people will binge
watch Netflix, is because there's always

a cliffhanger at the end of every episode
that leads into the next episode, right?

Or in the middle of the episode,
there's something that they pick

up a new plot line that doesn't get
scratched until the next episode.

That's why people are constantly binge
watching a series of, know, 10, 20

videos on a weekend, um, in Netflix
for hours and why someone might not

wanna watch your corporate video.

That's 35 seconds.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.

Yeah, no, that's um.

that's a good approach.

Uh, you know, I noted in the
introduction that you've done the

Ironman, several times, six times.

And, um, I've never done one of those.

I've done a few marathons, and so I
know from That process alone, that

that's a tremendous time investment.

How do you manage, you know, juggle all
this training with running a business?

I mean, are you just not sleeping at night
or, you know, a whiz with, time allotment?

how does that work?

Dave Feinman: Yeah, and I'm curious 'cause
marathon training is no joke either.

So like, I wanna talk to
you a little bit about that

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Sure,

Dave Feinman: once I get done

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: yeah.

Dave Feinman: Um, but, um, for,
for me, I slowly started to work

To buy back a lot of my time.

Um, you know, uh, I work with a coach.

My coach is Dan Martel.

Um, he wrote the book, buy Back Your Time.

Um, he's a really amazing, amazing guy,
and if you ever read the book, it's

basically a series in sequential sequence
at which you should take things off your

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Dave Feinman: from, from lowest
value tasks to highest value task.

So, um, I.

I've taken the approach of, you know,
in the beginning I paid my ignorance

tax in my business with dollars
and now I just pay it with dollars.

So, you know, if, if I need
something done, something as

simple as cleaning my house, I just
have someone come clean my house.

I don't do it myself.

If I, you know, my, my email,
I don't really answer my email.

I have an

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Dave Feinman: that answers most
of my emails because, you know.

not necessarily for me to do it.

She does it better than me.

So I've layered up and I've stacked stuff.

So I am working, spending my time on
the most high valued stuff and not

trying to take on everything myself.

Um, but, um, as far as Ironman
training, It's a big time commitment

and it's a big time suck for sure.

Um, so it's just about prioritizing your
day and making sure everything fits in,

but making sure the rest of your life
also gets taken care of at the same time.

Um, but I think sleep is not something
that should be sacrificed at all.

You know, a healthy six to
eight hours is really important.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Well, that's good.

How many hours exactly are you
training a week, um, for your iron?

Dave Feinman: right now, like
this year, I have only done sprint

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

Dave Feinman: so that's only
like an hour a day of training.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

Well.

Dave Feinman: but for Ironman trainings,
typically you're training between

10 to 18 hours a week at your peak.

Um, so you know, sometimes you're doing
two a days, sometimes you're doing

like long bike rides on the weekend.

So, um, and half distance are like.

Definitely take you up there.

Uh, how do you fit it all in
with, with, um, marathon training?

'cause I know that can
also be like, exhausting.

Like you're, like, by the end of
the weekend after doing like a 20

mile run and a 10 mile run, that's

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah,
well, in full transparency, I've kind

of picked up, uh, training again.

Uh, just this year I, after
like a 10 year gap, my last

marathon was in, uh, 20 20 14.

Um, you know, I've got like, pain in
my knees and, um, you know, I'm finding

that it's kind of hard to rebuild.

So right now I'm training
about, um, I'm doing about.

20 miles a week total.

And, um, you know, that's about
five runs a week and I mix in some

cross training with, um, I enjoy
boxing classes, but, um, Yeah.

And that, I mean, I'm not, I'm nowhere
near where I was when I was young,

I weighed like 130 pounds and, you
know, I could do it, but, uh, I'll,

just say, I weigh more than 130 pounds
today and that makes it so much harder.

Dave Feinman: the knees and everything.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: oh man.

Everything, yeah.

Back, knees, feet, all that.

Dave Feinman: Well, one thing that's
helped me particularly on the time side

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Dave Feinman: I have a coach
that trains me for Ironman.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay,

Dave Feinman: of like the top
Ironman guys in the country.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: awesome.

Dave Feinman: Um, and he
builds all my workouts for me.

So I think a lot of times, like
runners and Endurances athletes

spend a lot of time obsessing over
what the workout they're gonna do

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Sure.

Dave Feinman: like half of half

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Um.

Dave Feinman: time goes into like figuring
out what's my next workout When you

have a coach, they just put the workout
in an app and you just click play.

Like you have the hour and you just go,
okay, like, I'll wake up in the morning.

I'm like, okay, I know
I need to do a workout.

I just look at the workout,
see what it is, and go do it.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: That's awesome.

Dave Feinman: so that helps a lot.

Like having someone in your corner and
that can like program you correctly, make

sure that you're not over pushing or under
pushing, um, and like keep you dialed in.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Now,
you know, you've done a great job.

Um.

Managing your time, being productive
and, and, you know, doing so many things.

You're obviously a very high achiever.

Um, how do you, you know, with the
many things that you're doing and you

know, you've even got people, you've
outsourced a lot of the tasks, the low

value tasks in your life to others and.

I don't mean to say low value,
but like administrative tasks.

Um,

Dave Feinman: Sure.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
do you remain creative?

You know, I often picture creative as
having a lot of unstructured time, you

know, where you um, you know, like,
you know, take some time to, to think

and, um, you know, connect thoughts.

how do you stay creative?

Like how do you keep that creative
muscle toned, so to speak?

Dave Feinman: it's a great question.

Um, I do it a lot, almost
every day for clients.

I keep that creative muscle
up a lot for clients.

so as part of my day, like I'm
creating on behalf of them, but also.

A lot of my thinking work
comes in, I'll stack it with

something else that I'm doing.

So if I'm running or I'm lifting
weights or I'm biking, that's

my time to think and reflect.

And if I come up with an idea, I'll
just like pull out my phone real quick,

give myself a voice note and you know.

have my notes from that.

Um, and I recently started like
every, every evening I leave

my phone outside my bedroom

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hm.

Dave Feinman: and I spend some time
like reading, um, and meditating

every night, uh, before I go to bed.

And that gives me some time to think.

So, you know, at least the way I've
sort of trained myself is I have.

Time to create, um, in the pockets that
I've given myself to create, right?

and that's my time.

And it becomes the forcing function of it.

Versus, like, if I had an unstructured
day, I don't know if I would be productive

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Dave Feinman: that I'm doing.

it, you know, it, it is a different,
it is a different muscle, but I found

positivity in putting it in like, almost
like a container, almost like, Hey,

this is where I'm gonna create, this
is where I'm gonna spend time thinking.

And it gives me the head space
to actually like, sit down

and work on a deeper project.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
that's interesting.

I don't consider myself a
particularly creative person, and

so I'm always fascinated by people
that are, and how they do it.

each person seems to
be a little bit unique.

in their approach.

I guess that's why it's original
and different, so last question.

when we're talking about video
content, which I know is your,

field of expertise, what do you
think are some changes we could look

forward to in the next few years?

ai, is going to be more and
more powerful and effective.

there are changes on these platforms,
social media and search engines.

what do you see down the pipeline?

Dave Feinman: Biggest thing
with content kind of moving

into 2026 is going to be volume.

So we used to, back when we started
our business, we used to make one

or two videos year for clients.

There would be a big
video for the website.

It would be a commercial.

It would be something that they
would run for the entire year.

These days because of the velocity
of production and the capabilities

and how things have changed
for some clients, we're making

several hundred of them a week.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh wow.

Dave Feinman: it is a huge change
in velocity and volume in what is

necessary to move the needle forward.

content is become like a
disposable plate, right?

like you could only really
use it once or twice.

Not to say that it doesn't
live forever, because it does.

Right?

Like you,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Dave Feinman: the good thing about
content is it's a very leverageable thing.

So if you do put it up, people
have the opportunity to watch

it over and over and over again.

But people need so much more of
it because there's so much more

to share and there's also so much
more competition and share a voice.

So, you know, the platforms are
sucking it up like it's oxygen.

So, you know, I think that's
what you're gonna see going into

the next couple years is just.

Higher velocity of content and
video content being used in all

areas of marketing and business.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Well, that's
definitely something to think about.

Um, I think you're right and that
does sound daunting, based on

what it takes to build a video so
that, obviously we're gonna be,

generating quite a bit in the future.

Now, Dave, if somebody would
like to work with you or viral

ideas, where can they find you?

Where are the best platforms to reach you?

Dave Feinman: So the best place to
reach, me is on Instagram, I have.

handle at David Thyman.

Um, and actually if you, reach out
to me, I have a free gift for your

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh, great.

Dave Feinman: we've hired over a
couple hundred video editors, um,

and we built this huge guide, uh,
for how to hire a video editor.

That doesn't suck.

So if you're not ready to even
like work with an agency and

just wanna like try it on your

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah,

Dave Feinman: a little bit, um,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I

Dave Feinman: to like DM me Market Surge.

Um, so I know you came

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: awesome.

Dave Feinman: I will send
you over that free guide, uh,

as a gift to your audience.

Um, so it's literally like
we spent hundreds of hours

making this, so it's like.

a huge piece of value,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: That,

Dave Feinman: excited to share
that with any of your audience

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
that is so generous of you.

Thank you so much.

Um, Well, I'll make sure to include that
in the show notes and, you know, as well

as, uh, you know, link to your site.

And, um, this has been
really interesting for me.

I, I'm really grateful we connected
and have made this podcast.

Hopefully we can do this
again in the future.

Dave Feinman: Love that, Reid.

Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 2: Want to stay ahead of what's
actually working in marketing right now.

Head over to Market surge.io

and see how we're helping businesses
grow smarter, faster, and louder.

That's market surge.io

because your next breakthrough
shouldn't be a guess.