Duct Tape Marketing: Recent Episodes
John Jantsch
Interviews with authors, experts and thought leaders sharing business marketing tips, tactics and resources hosted by one America's leading small business marketing experts - John Jantsch
Marketing agencies must shift from deliverables to strategy as AI continues to commoditize execution, content production, reporting, and other traditional services. Drawing on research from hundreds of agency leaders and clients, Brian Gerstner explains why agencies remain highly relevant while facing growing pressure on fees, retention, positioning, and client relationships.
The strongest agencies are responding by developing clear authority, focusing their expertise, and providing the judgment and direction clients cannot get from tools alone. This is a practical look at how agency differentiation, strategic leadership, pricing power, and client expectations are changing in the age of AI.
00:00 Introduction 01:56 What Sets Confident Agencies Apart 05:14 How to Niche Without Losing Revenue 06:35 Why Agency Strategy Fails in the AI Era 08:20 Why Clients Value Agencies but Cut Spending 11:12 From Deliverables to Marketing Leadership 13:06 Why AI Alone Won't Differentiate Your Agency 15:13 How Strategy and Focus Protect Agency Pricing 18:44 Agency Survival and the New Talent Gap
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AI is reshaping the customer journey by changing how buyers find, evaluate, trust, and select businesses before making direct contact. John Jantsch and Sara Nay explain how small businesses can adapt the Marketing Hourglass for AI search, improve their visibility in tools such as ChatGPT, and identify gaps across the know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat, and refer stages.
We talk AI search optimization, customer reviews, thought leadership, homepage content, authentic brand stories, onboarding, retention, and referral systems. Discover how to map your current customer journey and create a stronger marketing experience that turns visibility into trust, sales, repeat business, and referrals.
00:00 Introduction 01:43 How AI Changes the Sales Conversation 03:33 How AI Rewired the Buyer Journey 06:12 Make Your Homepage AI-Ready 08:53 See How AI Describes Your Business 11:03 Why Human Proof Wins in the AI Era 12:43 How to Build Trust in the Age of AI 15:08 Why Referrals Are Your Best Leads 17:40 Find the Leaks in Your Customer Journey
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AI has made competent marketing easier to produce, but much harder to trust. As content, ads, and emails begin to sound the same, referrals become one of the few marketing channels that cannot be easily commoditized. John Jantsch explains how to build a systematic referral strategy, create stronger strategic partnerships, and use reviews, testimonials, and customer stories to influence both buyers and AI recommendations.
00:00 Introduction 03:20 Why Referrals Beat Paid Marketing 06:16 The 3 Rules of a Referral Engine 09:02 The Referral Source Most Businesses Miss 12:03 How AI Decides Who to Recommend 13:34 Build Your Referral System
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AI can generate more content than ever, but real thought leadership still depends on original ideas, clear positioning, and a system that moves those ideas beyond your personal reach. Peter Winick explains how experts can build authority, reach the right audience, and turn their knowledge into a scalable business asset. He also shares where AI genuinely helps, why activity is not the same as productivity, and how thought leadership can reduce commoditization, attract better clients, and support premium pricing.
00:00 Introduction
02:58 The Trap of the Thought Leader on the Run
04:16 Why Great Ideas Don't Spread on Their Own
09:13 Thought Leaders With Untapped Potential
11:21 How AI Is Changing Thought Leadership
16:06 The Impact Equation for Thought Leadership
19:44 Why Thought Leadership Commands a Premium
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Most agency owners think building a successful business means becoming the CEO, but many never escape the operator role. John talks with Jason Swenk about the five stages agency founders go through as they scale from overworked operators to true owners. They discuss founder dependency, leadership identity shifts, hiring the right people, building systems that remove bottlenecks, and why so many agencies struggle to let go of sales and daily operations. If you want to build an agency that can grow without relying on you for everything, this episode breaks down the mindset and structural changes that make it possible.
00:00 Introduction
02:12 The 5 Stages From Operator to Owner
05:26 Reinventing Agency CEOs
10:43 Scaling Beyond the Founder
15:41 Letting Go to Become a True Owner
18:48 The First Step to Escaping Operator Mode
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People don't buy because they love your product. They buy because they have a problem they can't ignore, and most businesses spend far too much time chasing prospects who were never going to become customers. Rob Snyder explains the "Pull Framework," why customer demand matters more than persuasion, and how identifying the right buyers can transform your marketing, sales, and client relationships. If you're tired of hearing "this looks great" without closing more business, this conversation will change how you think about finding customers.
00:00 Why Great Products Still Don't Sell
02:49 The 4 Conditions Behind Every Purchase
04:19 The Pull Framework Explained
07:19 Pain Points Don't Make People Buy
08:48 Stop Using Customer Personas
13:03 Qualify Leads in the First 5 Minutes
14:48 Why You Can't Convince People to Buy
18:39 The Best Sales Question to Ask First
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AI isn't just another software upgrade. It's changing how companies are built, how teams work, and what leadership looks like in the years ahead. Paul Roetzer explains why organizations that treat AI as a technology project are missing the bigger opportunity—and why lasting transformation starts with executives who understand the technology well enough to lead with it.
We also discuss AI literacy, the eight pillars of AI transformation, why most companies still aren't prepared for what's coming, and the challenge of developing future talent as AI reshapes entry-level work. From CEO responsibility to the future of apprenticeships, this is a practical look at what it takes to build an AI-forward business.
00:00 Introduction
02:03 Why AI Is Still Just Getting Started
04:25 Why AI Won't Become Invisible Yet
07:49 The Growing Backlash Against AI
09:59 Can AI Be Regulated?
13:08 The 8 Pillars of AI Transformation
15:30 Why AI Literacy Comes First
18:32 AI Is Breaking Career Development
23:18 The Future of AI Leadership
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Leadership isn't about having the best argument. It's about helping people believe in what's possible before asking them to embrace change. Owen Fitzpatrick explains why emotions shape beliefs, why identity matters more than logic, and how leaders can create genuine buy-in instead of simple compliance. From AI adoption and organizational change to marketing and influence, this framework explains why some ideas spread while others never take hold.
00:00 Introduction
01:33 The Question That Saved His Life
04:09 Why People Believe What They Believe
08:27 Influence vs. Manipulation
14:28 Why AI Change Fails at Work
17:58 The Psychology Behind Propaganda
23:03 Where to Learn More
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Business leaders have more information than ever, yet many are making worse decisions. The real challenge isn't access to data. It's seeing beyond your own assumptions. Leadership expert Cornelia Choe explains why perspective blindness is becoming one of the biggest risks for organizations, how AI is changing the value of judgment, and what leaders can do to make better decisions in a world of constant change.
00:00 Introduction
02:05 AI Is Weakening Leadership Judgment
07:34 Why Small Businesses Need Better Perspective
12:52 The GEM Framework for Better Leaders
16:46 Why Customers Expand Your Blind Spots
19:50 Fresh Perspectives Beat Autopilot
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Most businesses don't have a marketing problem—they have a strategy problem. In this episode, John explains why focusing on tactics without a clear marketing strategy leads to wasted time, inconsistent messaging, and stalled growth. Learn how defining your ideal customer, clarifying your positioning, and aligning your team around a shared strategy can transform your results. Discover how a focused, system-driven approach to marketing strategy can bring clarity, improve execution, and drive sustainable business growth.
00:00 Why Marketing Strategy Still Fails
02:30 Ideal Clients, Positioning, and Growth
04:21 Strategy First in a Day
09:33 Who It's For and How to Get Started
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Enterprise-level marketing insights used to require expensive consultants, research labs, and massive budgets. Today, AI has changed that. Roger Dooley explains how entrepreneurs and small businesses can use AI-powered behavioral science to better understand customer psychology, improve messaging, increase conversions, and communicate with more empathy. Along the way, he shares practical prompting strategies, common AI mistakes to avoid, and why the businesses that learn to work with AI—not simply write with it—will have a lasting competitive advantage.
00:00 Introduction
01:45 Why AI Is Reinventing Neuromarketing
06:52 Build Your AI Marketing Dream Team
08:43 AI Workflow for Better Marketing
11:31 Train AI to Match Your Brand Voice
16:41 Can AI Really Understand Human Emotion?
19:42 How to Run an AI Marketing Audit
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AI is changing how businesses communicate, but trust is still built by people. Doug Dibert shares how personalized video can strengthen customer relationships, improve sales, enhance onboarding, and make automated experiences feel more human. Learn practical ways to use video throughout the customer journey and why it's becoming one of the most valuable marketing tools in the age of AI.
00:00 Introduction
03:39 Why Video Builds Trust Faster
05:14 Humanize AI With Video
08:22 Turn Reviews Into Video Testimonials
12:38 Thank You Thursday Strategy
14:52 Beyond Loom: Better Business Video
18:56 The Easiest Way to Start With Video
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Most small businesses pour nearly all of their marketing budget into finding new customers while overlooking the people who already know, trust, and buy from them. John Jantsch explains why onboarding, repeat business, referrals, and customer reactivation often deliver the highest return on investment—and how a simple customer experience system can create sustainable growth.
Learn how to build a customer engine that increases retention, generates referrals, and turns happy customers into your most effective marketing asset. If growth has stalled, the opportunity may already be sitting in your customer database.
00:00 Introduction
01:16 The Half of Marketing You're Ignoring
03:06 The First 90 Days Make or Break Trust
07:43 Turn Customer Success Into New Business
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Most businesses think they have a healthy pipeline—until an algorithm changes, ad costs spike, or a platform disappears. This installment of the 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success explains the difference between rented and owned marketing channels, and why long-term growth depends on assets you control. Learn how email, referrals, strategic partnerships, and direct relationships create a more resilient lead generation system that keeps working no matter what happens to the platforms around you.
00:00 Own vs. Rented Marketing
04:42 Why Email Isn't Dead
09:08 Build a Referral Engine
10:52 The Most Underrated Lead Source
12:10 Double Down on Relationships
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Why More Content Is Making You Invisible | 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success - Episode 4
Creating more content should make your business easier to find. So why are so many brands becoming less visible? John breaks down the AI content trap, why generic marketing is getting ignored, and the simple framework smart businesses use to build authority instead. If your content feels busy but isn't driving trust, traffic, or customers, this shift changes everything.
00:00 Introduction
02:49 Why More Content Hurts Your Visibility
05:51 The 3 Content Pillars That Actually Work
07:24 Turn One Idea Into 100 Pieces of Content
09:01 Why Generic Content Gets Ignored
11:44 Build Content Customers Actually Notice
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Customers aren't finding businesses the way they did a few years ago, and many small business owners haven't caught up. AI search, topic authority, reviews, and credibility signals are reshaping how buying decisions happen online. Learn what makes a business findable today, why traditional SEO alone is no longer enough, and the practical changes that help customers choose you over competitors.
00:00 Introduction
04:32 How AI Search Is Changing Marketing
10:05 Your Website Should Sell, Not Explain
12:25 Build Content AI Will Recommend
15:40 Why Third-Party Mentions Matter More
17:23 See If AI Recommends Your Business
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Small business marketing fails when tactics come before strategy. John Jantsch explains how to stop random acts of marketing by defining your ideal client, clarifying your true difference, creating a core message, and mapping the customer journey through the Marketing Hourglass.
00:00 Introduction
01:26 Random Acts of Marketing Explained
03:44 How to Define Your Ideal Client
08:04 How to Differentiate Your Business
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Most marketing problems don't start with tactics. They start with clarity. John Jantsch shares why founders often become the hidden variable behind stalled growth, drifting strategy, and marketing that never seems to deliver. Through four difficult but revealing questions, he shows how business owners can uncover what's actually working, what needs to stop, where profit really comes from, and what they truly want their business to provide. This isn't about doing more marketing. It's about building a business strategy rooted in founder clarity so every decision, message, and growth effort moves in the right direction
00:00 Introduction
01:56 Why Clarity Comes Before Strategy
04:49 4 Questions Every Founder Should Ask
10:50 The Founder's Portrait Explained
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Most businesses spend too much time looking polished and not enough time building trust. As AI changes how customers discover and evaluate companies, generic messaging, safe branding, and surface-level credibility are becoming easier to ignore. Megan Hargroder explains why trust signals like reviews, personal stories, niche positioning, and real authority matter more than ever, and what small businesses can do now to stay visible, credible, and recommended.
00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:56 Why Playing It Safe Is Risky 00:04:22 Playing It Safe Hurts Law Firms 00:07:02 Trust Starts With the Client's Story 00:08:42 Reviews Are the New AI Trust Signal 00:13:02 How Law Firms Get Recommended by AI 00:14:52 Big Pivots Can Tank Your Search 00:17:14 Simple Trust Wins That Compound
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What does it take to build a business that thrives in the age of artificial intelligence? In this episode, John Jantsch talks with Derek Rydall about why the real competitive advantage in an AI-driven world isn't better tools—it's deeper humanity, authentic perspective, and lived experience. They explore how business owners can avoid outsourcing their thinking, strengthen creativity and communication skills, and rediscover the founder energy that makes brands irreplaceable. If you want to future-proof your business strategy in the AI era, this conversation offers a powerful roadmap.
00:00 Introduction
00:56 Discovering Emergent Potentia
05:31 Risks of Outsourcing Thinking to AI
12:56 Human Skills as the AI-Era Moat
15:22 How Founders Must Adapt for AI
19:41 Community, Humanity, and Authenticity
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Why do some entrepreneurs keep growing while others hit a wall? Jon Gordon says the difference often comes down to a handful of daily habits that shape mindset, resilience, and leadership over time. In this episode, we explore the routines that help business owners stay focused, lead stronger teams, avoid burnout, and keep growing even during stressful seasons. From building a positive mindset to creating habits that actually stick, this conversation is packed with practical strategies for entrepreneurs who want long-term business growth.
00:00 Introduction
01:06 Better Habits Build Better Leaders
04:43 Small Habits Create Big Results
06:18 Daily Habits Separate Great Leaders
10:36 Stress Destroys Healthy Habits
11:45 Simple Habits Create Big Results
13:43 Hidden Limits Keep Leaders Stuck
15:29 Strong Mornings Create Strong Days
16:53 Gratitude Changed Everything
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Most businesses do not fail because they scale too slowly. They fail because they grow before they are actually ready. Mark Roberge, former CRO of HubSpot and author of The Science of Scaling, explains how founders can stop relying on gut instinct and start using evidence to know when growth makes sense. From product-market fit and customer retention to hiring, revenue strategy, and scaling without chaos, this conversation offers a practical framework for building a business that can actually sustain growth.
00:00 Introduction
01:46 Why Startups Scale Too Fast
03:49 Earn the Right to Scale
06:42 What Scaling Really Means
09:40 The Risk of Scaling Wrong
11:01 Evidence Beats Founder Instinct
14:56 The Founder Trap That Kills Growth
19:44 Scaling, Mental Health, and AI
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Most businesses don't struggle because they lack talent or ideas. They struggle because leadership becomes too dependent on one person having all the answers. Jason Wilde explains why the future of innovation depends on building environments where teams can experiment, collaborate, and solve problems together instead of relying on lone-genius leadership. Learn how collective intelligence, psychological safety, and adaptive leadership help companies innovate faster, scale smarter, and create cultures built for constant change.
00:00 Introduction
01:46 Why Lone Genius Leadership Fails
06:17 The ABCs of Innovation Leadership
12:07 Building Trust Across Teams and Partners
14:25 Collective Genius Wins
17:14 Leadership Habits That Hurt Innovation
19:27 Human Skills in the AI Era
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Most agency owners think building a successful business means becoming the CEO, but many never escape the operator role. John talks with Jason Swenk about the five stages agency founders go through as they scale from overworked operators to true owners. They discuss founder dependency, leadership identity shifts, hiring the right people, building systems that remove bottlenecks, and why so many agencies struggle to let go of sales and daily operations. If you want to build an agency that can grow without relying on you for everything, this episode breaks down the mindset and structural changes that make it possible.
00:00 Introduction
02:12 The 5 Stages From Operator to Owner
05:26 Reinventing Agency CEOs
10:43 Scaling Beyond the Founder
15:41 Letting Go to Become a True Owner
18:48 The First Step to Escaping Operator Mode
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We explore why meaningful work and intentional leadership matter more than ever in today's AI-driven business landscape. In this episode, Tom Rath joins John Jantsch to discuss how entrepreneurs can avoid burnout, escape reactive busy work, and build purpose-driven businesses that create lasting impact. They dive into employee engagement, meaningful company culture, leadership habits, and why human creativity and contribution are becoming the ultimate competitive advantage. If you want to build a stronger business culture, improve leadership effectiveness, and create work that truly matters, this conversation delivers practical strategies for modern business owners.
00:00 Introduction
00:23 Why Business Owners Quietly Feel Stuck
03:51 Making Purpose Practical
06:24 AI and Meaningful Work
09:48 Purpose Drives Engagement
13:47 Habits for Meaningful Work
18:00 Why Younger Workers Demand Meaningful Work
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We explore how to turn talks into your most effective marketing tool and why public speaking remains one of the most underused growth strategies for small businesses. Learn how founders can use speaking engagements to build authority, generate leads, and create long-term client relationships. Discover practical speaking strategies that convert audiences into customers without relying on hard selling. If you're looking to use public speaking for marketing and business growth, this episode breaks down exactly how to do it.
00:00 Speaking as an Underrated Marketing Channel
01:45 Paid Speaking vs Client Acquisition
05:11 How Speaking Generates Clients
08:06 Status Speaking vs Real Value
11:24 Simple Framework for Better Talks
15:14 Imposter Syndrome in Speaking
17:23 Build and Refine Your Keynote
20:03 How to Start Speaking and Get Booked
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Most press releases never earn real coverage—but a small percentage consistently attract journalists and drive meaningful exposure. In this episode, John Jantsch talks with Mickie Kennedy about how small businesses can write press releases that generate real media coverage by focusing on story angles, contrarian insights, and strategic earned media opportunities. They explore how to use AI to structure stronger press releases, avoid syndication traps, and create newsworthy narratives journalists actually want. If you want a practical press release strategy for small business marketing that leads to visibility and credibility, this conversation shows you how to do it right.
00:00 Introduction
01:32 AI Press Releases and Earned Media
04:54 Pandemic PR Success Story
08:45 Enemy Narratives in PR
13:53 Smart Newswire Strategy
20:48 Free PR Masterclass and Resources
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What does it take to build a business that thrives in the age of artificial intelligence? In this episode, John Jantsch talks with Derek Rydall about why the real competitive advantage in an AI-driven world isn't better tools—it's deeper humanity, authentic perspective, and lived experience. They explore how business owners can avoid outsourcing their thinking, strengthen creativity and communication skills, and rediscover the founder energy that makes brands irreplaceable. If you want to future-proof your business strategy in the AI era, this conversation offers a powerful roadmap.
00:00 Introduction
01:31 Discovering Emergent Potentia
06:07 Risks of Outsourcing Thinking to AI
14:05 Human Skills as the AI-Era Moat
16:31 How Founders Must Adapt for AI
20:50 Community, Humanity, and Authenticity
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Why do so many businesses fail even when the product is strong? In this episode, Brian Will explains why founder sales skills—not funding, markets, or strategy—often determine whether a business survives. He shares practical sales conversation techniques, negotiation strategies, and simple ways entrepreneurs can close more deals by asking better questions and listening more. If you're a business owner who avoids selling or wants a clearer sales system that actually works, this episode shows how improving your approach to sales can unlock real business growth.
00:00 Introduction
02:42 Turning Talent Into a Sales System
04:16 Sales Mistakes and the Power of No
07:34 Why Negotiation Starts With No
10:49 Core Sales Principles That Close Deals
12:54 Ask Questions and Build Trust
15:15 Talking Price Without Losing Sales
18:51 Final Advice for Sales Success
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Aiko Bethea explains why your team's behavior often reflects the values you model as a leader—and how misalignment can quietly weaken trust, communication, and culture. She introduces her Anchored, Aligned, Accountable framework to help business owners strengthen self-leadership, create psychological safety at work, and lead with clarity and intention. You'll learn how scarcity thinking, avoidance of hard conversations, and unclear expectations can block honest feedback and team performance. If you want to build a culture where employees speak up, stay accountable, and align with your leadership values, this conversation offers practical insight you can apply immediately.
00:00 Aiko Bethea on Culture Gaps
02:09 Self-Validation and BS Barriers
04:20 Scarcity vs Abundance Mindset
05:43 Kindness Around Feedback
07:29 Shadow Sides of Leadership Values
10:29 Leadership Impact
13:10 Safe Spaces and Power Dynamics
15:03 Elevating Voices With Accountability
17:34 Diagnosing Relationship Misalignment
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What if the reason your business feels stuck isn't effort, but misdiagnosis? In this episode, John Jantsch talks with Kevin D. St. Clergy about blind blaming—the habit of fixing the wrong problems while real growth opportunities go unnoticed. They explore how cognitive bias in business decision making affects marketing results, leadership mindset, and team performance, and share practical ways to identify root causes instead of symptoms. Learn how shifting from transactional services to a trusted advisor approach can unlock better decisions and stronger business growth.
00:00 Blind Blaming Explained Through Baseball
03:03 Blind Blaming in Business Decisions
06:09 Time Blocking for Entrepreneurs
09:03 Cognitive Bias and Blind Blaming
12:29 From Vendor to Trusted Advisor
17:36 Transformational Growth Shift
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Stephanie McGirr explains how niching down helped her marketing agency grow faster and deliver stronger results for clients in the direct primary care space. She shares how building repeatable systems, choosing the right tools, and offering fractional CMO leadership can help agencies move from reactive work to strategic impact. The conversation also explores how membership-based healthcare practices require education-driven marketing and long-term relationship building. If you're looking to specialize your agency, strengthen your positioning, and adapt to AI-driven marketing changes, this episode offers practical direction grounded in real experience.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Choosing a Healthcare Marketing Niche
02:33 Amplify DPC Platform
06:00 Fractional CMO Strategy for DPC Practices
09:54 AI in Healthcare Marketing
13:00 The Patient Journey in DPC Marketing
15:22 Future Marketing and AI Trends
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AI is changing copywriting—but not in the way most people think. In this episode, John Jantsch talks with Jon Benson about how AI copywriting tools can strengthen persuasion, improve brand voice alignment, and help marketers test hundreds of campaign variations faster than ever before. They explore the legacy of the video sales letter (VSL), the risks of generic AI-generated content, and why ethical persuasion still matters in modern marketing strategy. Learn how to use AI for copywriting effectively while keeping your message human, authentic, and conversion-focused.
Today we discussed:
00:00 VSL Origins and Health Story
05:53 Why VSLs Still Work Today
08:31 AI and the Importance of your Voice
12:12 AI and the Human Element
14:30 Scaling AI Copy the Right Way
16:01 AI Guardrails and Brand Voice
17:40 Common AI Copy Mistakes
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What if the fastest way to grow your agency isn't more leads but better client relationships? In this episode, Taylor McMaster shares how strong client account management, structured onboarding, and proactive communication can dramatically improve agency client retention and unlock new revenue opportunities. Learn how agencies can scale without losing clients by aligning sales, delivery, and expectations from day one. If you want a smarter agency growth strategy built on retention, upselling, and client experience systems, this conversation shows where to start.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Client Retention Drives Growth
03:42 Upselling Through Account Management
06:32 Onboarding and Sales Alignment
08:34 Scaling Account Manager Roles
13:33 AI, Specialization, and Fractional Agencies
20:08 What Made Dot & Company Acquirable
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Strong client relationships are not built through aggressive selling. They grow through trust, authenticity, and strategic connection. In this episode, Deborah Farone shares how professionals can build a thriving practice using relationship-based business development, niche positioning strategy, and authentic marketing approaches that feel natural instead of forced. Learn practical ways consultants, lawyers, and agency leaders can strengthen professional networks, build visibility, and grow a professional services practice through referrals and trust.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Authentic Business Development
01:49 Relationship Building and Your BD Style
06:18 Authentic Growth and Trust Gaps
11:00 Authenticity, Niche, and Strategy First
13:57 Culture and Early Networking
16:36 Mentorship and Business Development Training
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Financial stress is not just about how much you earn. In this episode, Mike Michalowicz explains why building better money habits matters more than increasing income and how his Money Habit system helps individuals and entrepreneurs take control of their finances. He shares how behavioral finance, real-time budgeting with multiple bank accounts, and simple allocation strategies can reduce anxiety and improve financial stability. Learn how to apply practical personal finance habits inspired by Profit First to create clarity, confidence, and long-term financial independence.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why The Money Habit Exists
02:52 Financial Anxiety and Control
07:07 Behavioral Intercepts Explained
09:30 Real-Time Budgeting System
14:57 Healing Money Trauma
18:26 Safety Nets and Mentors
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What if play isn't a distraction from productivity—but a powerful driver of innovation, creativity, and stronger teams? In this episode, John Jantsch talks with Piera Gelardi, co-founder of Refinery29 and author of The Playful Way, about how a playful mindset helps leaders unlock better ideas, build resilient workplace culture, and encourage experimentation without fear of failure. Gelardi shares practical ways to integrate play into meetings, marketing, and everyday collaboration so teams think more creatively and adapt faster to change. Learn how workplace playfulness can improve team performance, strengthen engagement, and become a lasting advantage for modern organizations.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Piera Gelardi and The Playful Way
02:15 Science of Play at Work
03:59 Play Archetypes at Work
06:19 Playful Leadership Exercises
11:22 Building Refinery29 Through Play
12:43 Play in Company Culture
18:08 Reclaiming Play as Adults
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AI did not just disrupt consulting, it changed what it takes to survive. Steve Cunningham shares how AI nearly wiped out his business, forced a complete reinvention, and ultimately led him to become an AI native full stack consultant. The conversation explores why context, workflows, and AI ready deliverables now matter more than traditional expertise alone. If you are a consultant, agency owner, or service professional wondering how AI is reshaping your role, this episode makes the stakes clear and the path forward practical.
*This is a re-run of a previous DTM episode.
Today we discussed:
00:00 How AI Wiped Out Steve's Business
03:54 What an AI-Native Consultant Really Is
08:11 Giving AI the Right Context
11:53 Choosing AI Platforms Without Lock-In
14:54 Deliverables for Humans and AI
17:37 Guardrails for Safe AI Work
20:22 Steve and SimpleConsultants
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Most businesses don't have a marketing problem—they have a strategy problem. In this episode, John explains why focusing on tactics without a clear marketing strategy leads to wasted time, inconsistent messaging, and stalled growth. Learn how defining your ideal customer, clarifying your positioning, and aligning your team around a shared strategy can transform your results. Discover how a focused, system-driven approach to marketing strategy can bring clarity, improve execution, and drive sustainable business growth.
00:00 Why Marketing Strategy Still Fails
02:30 Ideal Clients, Positioning, and Growth
04:21 Strategy First in a Day
09:33 Who It's For and How to Get Started
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In this episode we break down why founder-led businesses hit a ceiling even with strong strategy in place. John Jantsch explains how leadership habits, delegation challenges, and unclear accountability can quietly limit growth. Learn how shifting the founder mindset and installing the right systems can unlock scalable, long-term success. Discover practical ways to overcome business growth bottlenecks and move your company to the next level.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why Founder-Led Businesses Hit a Ceiling
03:00 Founder Mindset Shift
07:34 Future-Proofing Your Business in 3 Days
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Most business owners unknowingly leave thousands of dollars in tax savings on the table every year. In this episode, John talks with tax strategist Peter Holtz about proactive tax planning, common deductions many entrepreneurs miss, and why year-round strategy matters more than last-minute filing. They discuss overlooked opportunities like the Augusta Rule, paying your kids through the business, home-office deductions, and smarter entity structures. If you want to legally reduce taxes, improve cash flow, and build a more profitable business, this conversation offers practical strategies every small business owner should understand.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Tax Deadlines and Planning
01:50 Proactive Tax Planning
03:35 Tax Code Complexity and AI Tools
06:26 Business Tax Deductions
09:11 Augusta Rule Tax Benefits
10:37 Tax vs Cash Flow Decisions
14:16 Profit Mindset
16:19 Implementing Profit First
18:31 Tax Advisors and Real Estate
21:17 IRS Delays and Filing Problems
22:49 Closing Remarks and Resources
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Marketing feels chaotic because most businesses are chasing tactics without a system to support them. In this episode, John Jantsch and Sara Nay explain why a marketing operating system brings clarity, accountability, and predictable growth. They walk through how strategy comes first, how campaigns turn strategy into action, and why systems create long-term business value. If marketing feels scattered or hard to measure, this conversation shows how to turn chaos into a repeatable system that actually works.
*This is a rerun of a previous DTM episode.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why Marketing Feels Chaotic in 2025
02:21 What a Marketing OS Is and Why It Matters
04:53 Strategy-First Marketing for Small Business
08:14 Turning Strategy Into Marketing Campaigns
09:25 SOPs and Workstream Engine for Marketing
12:54 How AI Fits Into Modern Marketing Systems
15:24 Scorecards, Metrics and Marketing Dashboards
17:57 Monthly Momentum Meetings for Marketing Teams
20:27 Quarterly Optimization for Better Results
22:33 Agency vs Fractional CMO Service Models
24:32 Book a Call
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John breaks down the 7 stages of a complete marketing operating system and why most businesses struggle without one. He explains how the marketing pyramid, business strategy, brand development, and customer experience all work together to create a repeatable, scalable system. You'll learn how to eliminate random tactics, integrate AI into your workflows, and build a structured approach that finally drives consistent results. If you've ever wondered how to build a marketing operating system for your business, this episode gives you the roadmap.
*This is a rerun of a previous episode
Today we discussed:
00:00 Introduction
01:09 The Marketing Operating System
02:00 Business Chaos and the Marketing Pyramid
04:30 Designing the Marketing Operating System
08:00 The Seven Stages
10:43 Implementation Phases and Next Steps
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The rules of hiring have changed—and many small business owners are still playing by an outdated talent playbook. In this episode, John Jantsch sits down with Rob Levin to explore how to upskill employees for AI, navigate the ongoing talent shift, and build a future-ready team for small and midsize businesses. They discuss why culture and KPIs matter more than ever, how to redesign workflows with an AI-first mindset, and what it really takes to manage AI instead of being replaced by it. If you want to create a resilient organization that thrives amid rapid technological change, this conversation is your roadmap.
Today we discussed:
00:00 The New Talent Playbook Explained
05:43 The Hidden Talent Crisis for SMBs
07:12 AI Upskilling for Small Business Teams
12:00 Building Culture in Remote Teams
14:56 Over-Communication and KPI Clarity
17:30 Using AI to Design Smarter KPIs
20:28 AI, Job Security, and Team Buy-In
22:00 Book, Resources, and Final Thoughts
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Voice agents are moving from novelty to true revenue infrastructure—and businesses that treat them like strategic roles instead of talking FAQs are pulling ahead. In this episode, John Jantsch sits down with Ryan Murha of Yodify to explore how purpose-built voice AI agents can qualify leads, guide buyers, facilitate conversations, and even create new revenue streams for creators and brands. They break down how multi-layered LLM orchestration, brand voice alignment, and AI guardrails reduce hallucinations and improve real-world performance. If you're curious about using voice AI for business development, customer experience automation, or scalable personalization, this conversation shows why voice AI is finally ready for prime time.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Voice AI Fundamentals
02:32 Prompt Strategy, Personas, and Sales Roles
05:17 Critically Thinking Voice Agents
08:33 Voice Agent Framework
10:02 AI Transparency, Ethics, and Trust
11:43 Building and Testing AI Agents
14:59 Guardrails, Gemini, and Limitations
16:41 Integration, Monetization, and Pilots
19:59 Closing Thoughts and Contact Info
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Building a Business People Can't Imagine Losing starts with a bold idea: love is the most powerful force in business. In this episode, Marcus Buckingham explains why experience intelligence drives customer loyalty, employee engagement, and sustainable business growth. You'll learn how to design experiences that move people from satisfaction to true advocacy using a five-step emotional blueprint. If you want to create emotional connection, strengthen brand loyalty, and build a company customers and employees can't imagine a world without, this conversation shows you how.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why Love Belongs in Business
03:25 Measuring Love and Experience Intelligence
07:22 Designing Consistent Experiences
11:57 Broken Experiences and Process Thinking
14:33 Designing Love Into Onboarding
18:22 Love as a Strategic Advantage
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Hiring ready-made talent is harder than ever, especially for small businesses competing in an AI-driven job market. In this episode, workplace futurist Alexandra Levit explains how work-based learning programs can help small businesses build a sustainable talent pipeline while addressing the youth employment crisis. Learn how apprenticeships, internships, and mentorship-driven workforce development strategies can close the skills gap, strengthen community ties, and improve employee retention. If you are looking for practical ways to recruit, train, and retain skilled workers without relying solely on traditional college degrees, this conversation offers a clear, actionable roadmap.
Today we discussed:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:23 Building a Talent Pipeline with WBL
00:00:56 What Is Work-Based Learning?
00:02:19 Youth Employment Crisis and Skills Gap
00:04:38 Trade Stigma and Shifting Labor Demand
00:07:08 GPS Education Partners Model
00:13:16 Starting Small: Employer Playbook
00:17:22 Certifications, AI Skills, and Metrics
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What if your biggest expense isn't your mortgage, but your income tax? In this episode, John Jantsch sits down with Jack Ojo, founder of Ojo Wealth Strategies and author of Two Smart to Be an Umpire, to break down how small business owners can legally reduce taxes and build real wealth. They cover how to reduce taxes as a small business owner, when to choose S corp vs LLC for tax savings, defined benefit pension plans for high income earners, Roth conversion strategies, and why maxing out your 401k still matters. If you're an entrepreneur looking for smarter tax planning strategies that protect against worst-case scenarios while accelerating long-term wealth, this episode delivers practical, actionable advice.
Today we discussed:
00:00 From Umpire to Wealth Advisor
03:07 Reinventing After a Career Setback
06:52 Biggest Tax Myths Business Owners Believe
10:30 What to Do After a Banner Revenue Year
12:57 Salary vs Distributions Explained
14:35 Multi-State Employees and Tax Strategy
16:36 Why 401k Plans Still Win
18:31 Paying Your Kids Through Your Business
21:07 How to Connect with Jack
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AI is moving fast but most organizations were never built for this kind of speed. John sits down with Stephen Wunker to explain why simply adding AI tools is not enough. They explore how to redesign business processes, identify golden workflows, and build an AI infused organization with strong governance and data foundations. You will learn how distributed intelligence, experimentation, and leadership alignment can unlock real productivity gains and smarter decisions across your company.
Today we discussed:
00:00 The Octopus AI Model
04:20 AI Risks and Data Guardrails
08:16 Golden Workflows
13:22 The Three Hearts of AI
15:31 Super Intelligent Firms
17:04 AI Marketing Agility
19:02 Rethinking Work With AI
21:04 Where to Learn More and Connect
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Businesses don't win by selling more features or even better experiences anymore. In this episode, Joe Pine explains why the real value today comes from selling outcomes and guiding customers toward meaningful transformation. We unpack the transformation economy, how it differs from the experience economy, and why charging for outcomes changes pricing, guarantees, and business models. You will learn how both B2B and B2C companies can productize transformation, align messaging with real results, and help customers become who they want to be.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why Transformation Matters Now
11:43 Productizing Transformation
14:00 Pricing and Outcome-Based Models
16:48 Messaging Around Who Customers Become
20:16 How to Start a Transformation Strategy
24:28 Connect With Joe
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AI did not just disrupt consulting, it changed what it takes to survive. Steve Cunningham shares how AI nearly wiped out his business, forced a complete reinvention, and ultimately led him to become an AI native full stack consultant. The conversation explores why context, workflows, and AI ready deliverables now matter more than traditional expertise alone. If you are a consultant, agency owner, or service professional wondering how AI is reshaping your role, this episode makes the stakes clear and the path forward practical.
Today we discussed:
00:00 How AI Wiped Out Steve's Business
03:54 What an AI-Native Consultant Really Is
08:11 Giving AI the Right Context
11:53 Choosing AI Platforms Without Lock-In
14:54 Deliverables for Humans and AI
17:37 Guardrails for Safe AI Work
20:22 Steve and SimpleConsultants
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Most goals do not fail because of a lack of motivation. They fail because people misunderstand the odds. Kyle Austin Young explains why goal setting breaks down, how hidden risks quietly derail progress, and how his probability hacking framework helps leaders and entrepreneurs intentionally improve their chances of success. The conversation explores decision making under uncertainty, resilience, and why thinking about what could go wrong is often the smartest path forward. If you want a more realistic, strategic way to achieve big goals, this episode reframes how success actually works.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why Goals Are About Odds, Not Motivation
03:22 Thinking Negative to Prevent Failure
04:06 Probability Hacking and the Success Diagram
07:39 How to Build a Success Diagram Step by Step
09:09 Why Averaging Odds Fails Your Goals
11:55 Failure, Repetition, and Multiple Attempts
15:38 Advantage, Persistence, and Playing the Odds
18:26 Edison, Experiments, and True Resilience
20:05 Why Reverse Engineering Success Is Risky
21:27 Where to Connect
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Marketing feels chaotic because most businesses are chasing tactics without a system to support them. In this episode, John Jantsch and Sara Nay explain why a marketing operating system brings clarity, accountability, and predictable growth. They walk through how strategy comes first, how campaigns turn strategy into action, and why systems create long-term business value. If marketing feels scattered or hard to measure, this conversation shows how to turn chaos into a repeatable system that actually works.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Why Marketing Feels Chaotic in 2025
02:21 What a Marketing OS Is and Why It Matters
04:53 Strategy-First Marketing for Small Business
08:14 Turning Strategy Into Marketing Campaigns
09:25 SOPs and Workstream Engine for Marketing
12:54 How AI Fits Into Modern Marketing Systems
15:24 Scorecards, Metrics and Marketing Dashboards
17:57 Monthly Momentum Meetings for Marketing Teams
20:27 Quarterly Optimization for Better Results
22:33 Agency vs Fractional CMO Service Models
24:32 Book a Call
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Curiosity is not a soft skill. It is one of the strongest predictors of leadership performance and team success. In this episode, John Jantsch talks with leadership strategist and researcher Debra Clary about why curious leaders build stronger, smarter teams and how asking better questions drives engagement, trust, and results. They explore how curiosity can be learned, measured, and practiced, especially in high pressure leadership environments. You will learn how bold questions can reshape culture, unlock performance, and help leaders move from giving answers to developing people.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Start
01:51 Improv, Stand-Up, and the Book Journey
03:18 Curiosity as a Superpower and Its Decline
04:40 Data Linking Curiosity to Performance
06:09 From Having Answers to Coaching Teams
09:28 Curiosity Myths and Key Traits
10:57 Measuring and Training Curiosity
12:00 Bold Questions and Team Engagement
13:18 Case Study: Defining the Real Problem
16:26 When Curiosity Is Missing at Work
18:55 Curiosity Habits Leaders Can Use
20:28 Where to Connect
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Content is about to become unlimited, cheap, and automated and that changes everything about marketing strategy. John Jantsch sits down with Peter Benei of AI Ready CMO to explore how AI is reshaping marketing teams, why production is no longer the advantage it once was, and what skills marketers must develop to stay relevant. They discuss the evolving role of the CMO, the limits of AI tools, and why judgment, taste, and strategic thinking remain human responsibilities. This episode offers a clear, practical look at what AI really means for the future of marketing.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Introduction
01:33 AI vs. Past Tools
03:58 Content Hype Reality
07:17 Automation & Quality
10:38 Human Judgment Matters
12:41 Jobs & Skills Outlook
17:31 Future of the CMO Role
19:29 Tool Landscape Predictions
24:36 Take Action
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You can't self-care your way out of a toxic workplace, and leadership consultant Amy Leneker explains why. In this episode, we unpack how workplace stress, toxic positivity, and broken trust quietly undermine teams, culture, and performance. Amy shares a practical framework leaders can use to identify stress, rebuild trust, and create healthier work environments without superficial fixes. If you lead a team and want real change, this conversation challenges everything you think you know about stress and joy at work.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Start
01:10 Meet Amy Leneker
01:56 Recovering Workaholic
03:45 Three-Step Stress Method
05:54 Team Stress Framework
08:42 Joy Strategy and Evolving Culture
13:04 HR's Role
14:25 Work-Life Harmony Part 1
16:40 Generational Differences
18:45 Work-Life Harmony Part 2
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John sits down with communication expert Carmine Gallo to break down how to capture attention without clickbait by using proven persuasion and storytelling principles. They explore the neuroscience of attention, why timeless story structure still works across platforms like TED Talks and TikTok, and how ethical hooks build trust instead of hype. The conversation also dives into using AI without losing authenticity, explaining why human meaning always outperforms optimized grammar. If you want to create content that stands out, earns trust, and keeps audiences listening, this episode delivers practical, science-backed insights.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Start
01:10 Meet Carmine Gallo
02:18 Audio Original Format
04:09 Contrast Power: JFK Quote vs AI Replacement Phrase
05:56 Evolution of Storytelling
08:31 Three-Act Structure
13:20 The Hook Explained
17:20 AI & Human Voice
20:43 Storytelling Insights
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What should businesses focus on as marketing evolves in 2026? In this solo episode, John Jantsch breaks down 6 marketing trends that will shape 2026, from the growing importance of local SEO and customer retention to the rise of trust-based micro-influencers and authentic content. You'll learn why "real" is replacing viral, how mischief can become a marketing strategy, and why being genuinely helpful is the future of search. This episode offers practical guidance for small businesses and marketers looking to stay relevant, visible, and trusted in a rapidly changing landscape.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Start
01:09 Intro
01:58 Local Advantage
04:45 Real is the New Viral
07:26 Mischief Marketing
08:43 Retention is the New Acquisition
10:30 Trust Brokers and Micro-Influencers
12:11 Be the Answer – Helpful Search Content
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John is joined by Lauren Esposito to explore why AI delivers the most value when treated as a digital teammate rather than just another tool. They unpack how businesses can build a true hybrid workforce by integrating digital workers alongside humans, reshaping roles, accountability, and leadership in the age of AI. You'll learn how managing AI like an employee unlocks better outcomes, trust, and long-term ROI, and why AI adoption can't live solely in IT. This conversation offers practical insight into the future of work, digital labor strategy, and what it takes to orchestrate AI for real business impact.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Start
01:10 Meet Lauren Esposito
02:19 The Hybrid Workforce
06:36 Organizational Shifts
10:21 Redefining Roles with AI
14:26 Trust in Digital Workers
17:20 Breaking Down Silos
20:49 Future Workforce Leadership
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Don Yaeger is a New York Times bestselling author, leadership expert, and sought-after speaker known for distilling the habits of world-class performers. In this episode, Don joins John Jantsch to discuss The Science of Momentum and reveal how leaders can intentionally create and sustain it. Drawing from insights across sports, business, and the military, Don shares a proven framework for transforming small moments into lasting success. Listeners will learn how to engineer momentum, build belief, and ignite winning team cultures.
00:00 Introduction 00:32 Meet Don Yaeger 01:10 Sports Clichés Welcome 01:27 Super Bowl Sparked This Book 02:56 Engineering Momentum 07:23 Momentum Killers 12:04 Measuring Momentum 16:16 Research Across Industries 17:57 Weekly Truth-Telling Habit
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Todd Sattersten, publishing veteran and CEO of Bard Press, joins John Jantsch to discuss his latest project, 100 Books for Work and Life. Todd has helped launch bestsellers like The One Thing and The Gift of Struggle, and brings decades of insight into what makes a book truly transformative. In this episode, he shares how the right book at the right time can shape careers, improve leadership, and create lasting success in both business and life.
Today we discussed:
00:00 Introduction 00:53 Meet Todd Satterson 01:35 How Todd Pick Books 03:42 Most Impactful Books 08:15 Todd's Research Process 10:28 Hidden Book Gems 12:04 Timeless Business Classics 13:52 Old Books, New Relevance 15:29 Reading with Purpose 19:16 Starting Fresh & Relationships 20:29 Summaries vs. Full Books 21:39 Top 3 for Young Entrepreneurs
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John breaks down why SEO is no longer just about rankings—it’s about visibility. In this solo episode, he shares the seven key steps of a complete visibility audit, from showing up in AI search and local map packs to building authority through media mentions and fresh reviews. You’ll learn how to strengthen trust, optimize content for AI, and ensure your calls to action convert visitors into customers.
00:00 Start 01:00 SEO in 2025 01:27 Rankings Are Dead 02:17 The Visibility Audit 02:47 Step 1: AI Overview Presence 03:30 Step 2: Local Pack Wins 04:13 Step 3: Review Strategy 05:04 Step 4: Media Mentions Matter 06:12 Step 5: Master EAT Principles 07:06 Step 6: AI-Ready Content 08:44 Step 7: CTAs That Convert
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Anthony Blatner, founder of Speedwork Social and host of LinkedIn Ads Radio, joins John Jantsch to uncover why so many businesses struggle with LinkedIn advertising. With years of experience helping B2B companies—from SaaS startups to Fortune 500s—Anthony explains the pitfalls of default campaign settings, the power of Thought Leader ads, and how to properly target the right professionals. Listeners will learn how to cut wasted spend, boost ROI, and finally make LinkedIn ads work.
00:00 Start 00:33 Meet Anthony Blatner 01:09 Why LinkedIn Ads Work 02:20 Best Industries for LinkedIn 03:20 Campaign Structure Secrets 06:04 Thought Leader Ads 08:26 Targeting Mistakes to Avoid 11:29 Budgeting for LinkedIn ROI 14:32 Retargeting & Lead Capture 16:14 Creative Best Practices 18:04 LinkedIn Culture Shift 18:31 AI Impact on LinkedIn
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Todd Sawicki, founder and CEO of Gumshoe AI, joins John Jantsch to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the future of search and marketing. With decades of experience in digital media, startups, and customer acquisition, Todd shares insights into the rise of AI-driven discovery and why marketers must adapt beyond traditional SEO. Discover how AI search is reshaping buyer behavior, driving higher conversions, and rewarding high-quality content like never before.
00:00 Introduction 00:53 Meet Todd Sawicki 01:58 AI Search Revolution 03:47 How AI Changes Search 05:49 AI Boosts Conversions 07:22 SEO to Product Marketing 08:18 Training AI Like Salespeople 09:47 Quality Content Wins 13:01 Future of AI Conversions 15:50 Birth of Gumshoe AI 17:01 What AI Says About You 18:18 AI Customer Personas 19:38 AI Competitive Edge 20:41 High-Intent Search Focus 22:58 How Gumshoe Works 25:20 Competitor Analysis Tools 26:38 Gumshoe for Marketers
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Globally recognized leadership and customer experience expert Neen James joins John Jantsch to explore the power of creating exceptional experiences in business. As a keynote speaker and author of Exceptional Experiences: Five Luxury Levers to Elevate Every Aspect of Your Business, Neen shares how attention, anticipation, personalization, generosity, and gratitude can transform ordinary interactions into extraordinary results. Listeners will learn practical strategies to stand out, build loyalty, and make every client feel valued.
00:00:00 Start 00:00:53 Meet Neen James 00:01:45 What Is Luxury? 00:03:42 Luxury as a Feeling 00:05:15 Experience Elevation Model 00:06:45 Luxury Lever: Attention 00:09:22 Luxury Lever: Anticipation 00:13:11 Experience Audits 00:14:58 Luxury as Ease 00:16:06 Engaging Five Senses 00:17:50 Human vs. Automation 00:19:56 Standing Out Strategy
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Gain Client’s Trust by ensuring Cybersecurity written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Zach KromkowskiIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Zach Kromkowski, co-founder of Sention, about the importance of cybersecurity for small businesses and marketing firms.
Zach’s cybersecurity journey began with a passion for problem-solving and a talent for turning ideas into reality. Blending intelligence, tenacity, and a love for community education, he simplifies cybersecurity through webinars, workshops, and consultations, helping MSPs and enterprises easily enhance their security.
We discuss best practices for system hardening, managing security in a distributed workforce, and the significance of password management and compliance standards. The conversation also touches on the risks AI poses in cybersecurity and the necessity of implementing two-factor authentication and VPNs. Zach emphasizes that adequate security doesn’t require a large budget and offers practical steps businesses can take to enhance their security posture.
Key Takeaways* Cybersecurity is crucial for marketing firms and small businesses. * System hardening can be done without a large budget. * Managing security in a distributed workforce requires clear policies. * Google Workspace users should regularly review linked accounts. * Password managers are essential for secure password storage. * Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a must for all software. * SOC 2 compliance is a common standard for businesses. * AI poses unique risks in cybersecurity that need to be addressed. * Adding layers of security can deter potential attacks. * Educating employees about security risks builds trust.
Chapters[00:00] Introduction to Cybersecurity and Marketing[02:00] Best Practices for Small Businesses[04:59] Managing Security in a Distributed Workforce[07:59] Enhancing Security with Google Workspace[10:58] Password Management Best Practices[13:58] The Role of VPNs in Security[16:59] Understanding Compliance Standards[18:10] AI Risks in Cybersecurity[21:52] Conclusion and ResourcesMore About Zach Kromkowski:* Add Zach Kromkowski on LinkedIn * Check out his Website * Subscribe to his YouTube channel
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by: Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made.
(00:16): What you just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM world slash scale. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Zach Kromkowski. I was so worried about the last name that I've messed up. You
Zack Kromkowski (01:15): Overthought the last name and you got the first name. No worries.
John Jantsch (01:19): Kromkowski. Here we go. He is a force in cybersecurity driven to make system hardening both effective and accessible. Co-founder of Ion, he and his team developed an innovative platform that automates hardening for workstation servers and browsers to CIS standards, streamlining compliance and security. So we're going to talk about security cybersecurity, I suppose more specifically. So this is a topic that is not necessarily marketing very related to what we do as marketers, very related to what we do as business owners. So Zach, welcome to the show.
Zack Kromkowski (01:54): Yeah, thank you for having me on. And I mean, you kicked off right there, John. Why is this relatable to marketing firms and owners? I mean, our little pre-session banter, it's like us marketing firms, and when we work with clients, they're telling us a lot of their ip. They're telling us their brand, their image. All of these details is how bad actors might be able to create a more targeted phishing email or a more targeted, more persuasive email that isn't real. So even though we're talking about security on a marketing podcast, it's all related. So I really appreciate the pre-show banter we had, John.
John Jantsch (02:30): Yeah, well, and not to mention, I mean, we have clients that their cousin's, ex-boyfriend set up all of their passwords on things and they just have 'em on a spreadsheet and they give 'em to us. And as a marketing agency, in some ways that makes life easier because I've got all the keys, right? But it's also should be very scary to anybody that is taking that data. So let's kind of back up and can you give us some best practices on the typical small business we can get into? The agency maybe is a little different, but the typical small business, what are some of the things they need to be doing as just routine practices? Not because the sky's falling, just but because lots of things happen, right? You've got bad actors, but you've also got disgruntled employees. Maybe you've got lots of things that can happen in the world because stuff happens. So let's kind of start there. What are the basics?
Zack Kromkowski (03:26): Yeah, I mean, there's risk to anything. Again, in that pre-show we talked about as Duct Tape Marketing, you have your own third party vendors. What can I do to protect myself? And you shared a little bit about that. So
(03:37): Talking to those basics, there's a misconception with security that you have to invest hundreds, thousands of dollars just to have security. And I'll be the first vendor to admit, you don't need to spend a ton of money on security. There are things you can do specifically called system hardening. So this is one of the first things, in my opinion, any business owner, any SMB can really focus on. This is a concept of understanding. Where are your assets? Where are your computers? Where is your server? Maybe you have one, maybe you don't. Where are your computers? And the next step of saying how are they configured? What software is installed on this computer? How can I configure that new software to be more secure? So talking about some of these easy examples, something every small business owner I talk to always and my parents, right? My family, for example, they want to save their passwords to the browser. This is universally just accepted. This is what everyone does. But the browser, the Google, the Microsoft Edge, these are not security first browser password storage methods. There are literally companies that dedicate their entire business model just to saving the password. So that's like bit warden LastPass.
John Jantsch (04:58): And
Zack Kromkowski (04:58): When I talk about hardening, you can't write a policy and say, Hey employees, I don't want any of you to save your password to the browser and expect them to do that. When I talk about hardening, we literally remove the ability to save a password to the browser. That way that policy is enforced and happens by nature. There's no way around it. So that's one aspect of hardening, John.
John Jantsch (05:22): Yeah. Awesome. So what about, I guess, outstanding on that same topic. What about the fact that in my particular case, there is no server, there is no central office. In a lot of cases, people are using their own devices to connect to many of the assets. So how does somebody who has a distributed workforce, is that going to be different or are we really just going to run a much higher risk?
Zack Kromkowski (05:50): So this is another good follow up. It's this concept of risk and being able to communicate this as a marketing or that owner is really important because if you can educate and talk towards your risk, it's going to build more trust. And this trust, if I'm outsourcing my marketing as cion, I have to trust the person that I want to work with. So let's say there is a distributor distributed network, BYOD devices. It's my personal computer and my work computer. What can we do? One of the things, and I'll stay on the topic of browsers, browser security, browser hardening is very important. You can write a policy to say, Hey, for work, you have to use the Google Chrome browser for personal use. The other one, the Edge, the Firefox. Or if you want to set up a Google workspace, if you have a little bit of budget to invest, you can create a Google Chrome profile and you configure the profile to have company standards and then the personal one they manage on their own. There is a level of risk to that decision because they still have access to the other profile. Worst case scenario, that profile is compromised and they find a way to get to the other one. But you at least have that segmentation to add an additional barrier to that bad actor. So when I talk about hardening, again, the key thing is here not to have default settings. If your settings are in defaults, a bad actor will know what the settings are before they get there.
(07:25): So if we can change some of those settings and create even the smallest barrier for that bad actor to have to invest 10 minutes instead of 30 seconds, they might just bypass you and go to the next target. They may not even try to hack you anymore.
John Jantsch (07:40): Yeah, a great example of that, not necessarily on a server, but many of our clients are on WordPress.
Zack Kromkowski (07:45): And
John Jantsch (07:47): Just a simple thing like changing the page name of the admin login does that same thing because they're out there knowing that 90% of the sites out there, it's admin, wpa, admin. And so if they're not going to find that in the one second bot search, they're probably going to move on. So
Zack Kromkowski (08:05): That is a really good example. And we talk about WordPress, but we can also talk about Microsoft in the same respect. So there's also an administrator account on the workstation, on the laptop itself, and that admin account, I mean, we could talk about Fortinet firewalls, right? The password and newsrooms, if we just take that five minutes to change these default choices, it adds an extra layer of effort. And this is by most intensive purposes, the most important takeaway from the show is by adding layers of difficulty, even just one layer makes you a target that they probably won't want to hit.
John Jantsch (08:42): Because you see a lot of these things are obviously being done by bots in a lot of cases. So the bots just told, ping this and so it'll move on.
Zack Kromkowski (08:51): Exactly. That's exactly right, John. That is a perfect way to say it.
John Jantsch (08:55): So what about many people? I don't know what the percentages are these days, but a lot of, especially virtual companies have turned to Google Workspace as really a lot of their internal storage, their email, their calendars. What are some best practices for that? I know super admins have some security things they can set up. So what are some best practices to make sure that even if it's not the most secure thing, you can make it more secure?
Zack Kromkowski (09:24): Absolutely. So this is going to go into more piss. You're a Google House, you want to use single sign on, you just want to click sign on with Google, that's great. But we do that so often. We're just signing up for this free trial of that. It builds up so much. So my recommendation here would be one, look at Google had a recent update. My CISO is extremely excited, but you can actually see now all of the accounts that are linked to your single sign-on,
John Jantsch (09:54): And
Zack Kromkowski (09:54): You can easily remove that from having access, because again, this is looking at the layers of security. If your single account is unfortunately compromised, now they have access to everything
John Jantsch (10:07): And
Zack Kromkowski (10:07): Even things you don't use or don't need anymore. So doing that asset inventory review allows you to reduce your tax surface and reduce the things that have access. And let's talk about the flip side of that. If that third party company, the one you did use single sign on to sign on with, and you don't even need it anymore, they get compromised now, they can leverage that to attack you because you still are authenticated. You still have the permissions because you never removed it. So that first most important best practice would be to review what you currently have available via that single sign on.
John Jantsch (10:44): It's my pleasure to welcome a new sponsor to the podcast. Our friends at ActiveCampaign. ActiveCampaign helps small teams power big businesses with the must have platform for intelligent marketing automation. We've been using ActiveCampaign for years here at Duct Tape Marketing to power our subscription forms, email newsletters and sales funnel drip campaigns. ActiveCampaign is that rare platform that's affordable, easy to use, and capable of handling even the most complex marketing automation needs. And they make it easy to switch. They provide every new customer with one-on-one personal training and free migrations from your current marketing automation or email marketing provider. You can try ActiveCampaign for free for 14 days and there's no credit card required. Just visit activecampaign.com/duct tape. That's right, duct Tape Marketing podcast listeners who sign up via that link. We'll also receive 15% off an annual plan if purchased by March 31st, 2024. That's activecampaign.com/duct tape. Now, this offer is limited to new active campaign customers only. So what are you waiting for? Fuel your growth, boost revenue and save precious time by upgrading to ActiveCampaign today. What about users? Are there policies that you should have all of your users adhering to?
Zack Kromkowski (12:05): This is a good one. So this goes towards disabled browser password manager. So that one example is the most relatable to everyone because everyone knows what a password is. Everyone knows how to save a password. I'll go high level on this, but there's an organization, it's a free nonprofit. It's called Center for Internet Security, CIS, and they have free downloadable PDFs on how to configure your Google Chrome, how to configure your Microsoft Edge. And that setting, I gave the example of with passwords, that's about one setting out of a hundred some different settings.
(12:41): So another example is when executing a download, you have to explicitly say, download it to this folder, right? It makes you do one extra click because for that fish, without that in place, that fish, you click automatically done with the extra layer. Now the user says, okay, I'm going to click this. Oh, now it wants to trigger a download. That's not behavior I expected. And it allows your employee, it allows your clients, it allows you to take an extra second to say, is this what I thought would happen? And maybe that extra second prevents the worst from happening.
John Jantsch (13:21): A little bit about password management as it relates to certainly to Google, but then you also mentioned some of the password managers out there. Are there best practices for password management in general?
Zack Kromkowski (13:31): Yeah, so this one's good. So two FA, I'll say this on every single episode I go on. For any field password managers are critical. Save your passwords there, but let's talk about getting into the password manager. This has to be the most unique password because you can't put it in their password manager. You can't, if you don't know this password, you can't sign into it to figure out what it is, right? So you need to know that password, and that is something you should treat like your social security number, whether you have it written down and put into a safe, or you just have it memorized, which memorizes, of course, the best practice. But making sure this has at least 20 different characters. And when I say characters, I'm referring to letters, numbers, and symbols. Those are the things that make a strong password. And because this is a password you use nowhere else, it's a single password. This is actually not something I would recommend to rotate or change. This is just your forever password
John Jantsch (14:29): Until
Zack Kromkowski (14:30): Your safe gets broken into, until you get an alert saying possible password compromise. You never have to rotate this password. This is your single source of truth to get into your password manager. And yeah, on top of that, I'll say it one more time. The two FA, every piece of software, everything that you have access to always go through and just see, Hey, in the setting section or the security and option section, do they have a two a option available? Do you want me to go a little bit deeper into why that's important, John?
John Jantsch (15:01): No, but I do want to explain, not everybody knows the acronym two FA. So two factor authentication. So we've all got some, all the financial folks have gone to almost forcing that. So you log in and then it says, all right, we're not sure this is you. We're going to text you a code, or you need to use an authenticator or something. So basically it's just a second hoop, if you will, to somebody could have your phone, they can have your password, so they could authenticate it, but it just adds an extra hoop for somebody that's out there in some far away island that's trying to hack into your stuff.
Zack Kromkowski (15:38): And I think that's a great point, and I'm glad you called me out for that. I do my best to speak all of my acronyms. It's alphabet soup in the security world. But
(15:48): This is a cool thing, and relating it again, back to the marketing departments and marketing teams and doing sales, right? If you were trying to sell ION or a security company, Hey, I want to do your marketing. I need all of this brand information, I need all of your value props, I need whatever, to build the perfect messaging. If one question I would probably ask, Hey, how are you storing this? Right? So marketing departments may want to take half a step into enabling their sales team to say, Hey, if it ever makes sense, feel free to let the prospect know, Hey, we secure our data this way. We have managed browsers, we do use two FA. If a marketing firm said that to me and leaned into MySpace as a security vendor, I'd be impressed. I'd be like, Hey, maybe they're not experts, but they took that half a step to at least try to appeal to what I care about, and that would mean a lot to me.
John Jantsch (16:42): So here's my other topic. I'm going to throw this one in here. This might just mix up the soup a little bit, but where do you stand on VPNs? So again, since we're all over the world and all doing, we're all logging into Google to do X, should we all be using virtual private networks that mask our ips?
Zack Kromkowski (17:01): Yeah, I mean, this again, goes towards that BYOD. If you are an enterprise who can only access certain things via the on-premise domain, you have to be connected. You have to be onsite in order to obtain certain information, you're going to be inherently required to have A VPN. Now, the debate kind of comes in, okay, we can only access the data onsite. We have no one remote. Do we really need a VPN? In that case, you probably don't. I mean, more is always better, but in that case, it's probably overkill. If everyone is already working on site, the computers never leave the business, everything has to be done there. There's not a lot of value because the data's never leaving that secure built environment. Now, to your point, a lot of people are B-O-I-O-D. We're all remote nowadays. So yeah, they really do become that backbone to say, if I don't lock out some of that business data and require A VPN in order to reach it, anyone can reach it,
John Jantsch (18:08): Right?
Zack Kromkowski (18:09): So it's going to depend on your business model, your business setup. But yeah, VPNs are critical for those remote environments. But if you are on site, probably not necessary.
John Jantsch (18:21): So you talked about if somebody was wanting to do your marketing, if I went to a company and they were asking, in fact, we've had this happen before where people have an IT company that they work with and they're like, Hey, here's our checklist of security standards. Do you meet them? So is there kind of a, I wouldn't call it the gold standard, but maybe even a minimum standard that if I went to them and just said, oh yeah, we are BXYC compliant. Is there one sort of compliance level that say a small business should strive towards?
Zack Kromkowski (18:54): So there's an easy answer that comes to mind here, and that's going to be SOC two compliance, which is maybe what you're leaning towards.
John Jantsch (19:00): And
Zack Kromkowski (19:00): It's definitely one of the most common and most understood compliances to me. And it would mean something to me. It would definitely say, well, they at least did that. That means they care about it To some extent, the follow-up question. And if you do take the approach of getting a SOC two, which yes, that's a good approach. ION has one, right? We're doing all this, but be able to say, not only do we have one, this is what we got it for. So that's the very unique thing with SOC two. I can get a SOC two on the ION website, but the ION solution itself has no security certification. So if you intend to take the approach of leading or injecting at some point during the sales conversation as a marketing firm, hey, we have our SOC two, be sure to be ready for that follow-up question and say, what's your SOC two for?
John Jantsch (19:52): Because
Zack Kromkowski (19:52): That is something that we would ask if anyone ever said that to us.
John Jantsch (19:56): And I believe that's SOC two, right? It is,
Zack Kromkowski (19:59): Yep. And I think it's the Roman numerals two is usually how it's, yep.
John Jantsch (20:03): Alright, if people want to look that up. We're 18 minutes and 38 seconds into this recording. Let's talk about ai. Oh boy. So does ai, where are the risks, I suppose, posed by AI that we need to at least be thinking about?
Zack Kromkowski (20:19): So risk especially in the relation to marketing and the business field that you cater to. John, you are a goldmine to a bad actor. Why? We talked about this a little bit at the start, but you have multiple companies, brand multiple companies, points of context, multiple companies, just image if an ai, if you were to be compromised, and I already heard you have your layers of security, so kudos to you on being able to talk towards that very good conversation. But let's talk about if worst case scenario you were compromised that AI can now ingest hundreds of companies, unique branding, colors, branding, verbiage, branding, everything, and it takes that data and then can target the next business your customer. You have a similar risk profile to a managed service provider. So a managed service provider will typically manage the IT and security and has more access. So they can be a direct point of breach, they can take advantage of things, but you're the next layer. You're the layer still hugely valuable to an ai because that AI now is tailoring, its messaging, becoming you talking to that end client. And it's going to be hard to tell the difference, John. I mean, that's the end of the day. Our AI are becoming so trained and so tailored. If we inject it with the appropriate information, which marketing firms already have, how are your clients going to know the difference?
John Jantsch (21:51): I actually saw somebody post, and again, there are definitely a lot of people out there trying to lead with the fear factor, but some of it's real. And they were suggesting that if you got a phone call from somebody and your boss, your spouse, and they were asking you for something that you thought was a little odd, but it sure sounded like them, that level of fake is going to be out there and that people were actually talking about having your own sort of password with each other.
Zack Kromkowski (22:22): I love the stories. So when we call partners and sometimes they don't always have our number saved, and a lot of, I mean just you guys, we're all in marketing here, right? We've done the cold calls, we've done the customer calls, and they may not recognize the number. Some security companies will take an edgier take to this and have a little AI recording or AI interface to almost annoy the person on the other line. They simply pretend to be a real person, but you're actually talking to a computer the whole time, and that's just one piece of ai. Now, you take that kind of a comedy scenario that satire like, oh, it was just used for goofy, but you actually allow it to now make outgoing calls, make those outgoing fakes. Having that key password phrase makes a difference. I think my biggest point here is, Hey, can you remind me what, so-and-so's story was right? Doing something personal that an AI probably doesn't know. And I'm going to be honest, I've had to do that. Hey, this conversation has been going for 45 seconds. I haven't felt anything real out of it. I'm going to put a very personal question here to see how it responds, and sure enough, it couldn't, it just went back to the replay loop.
John Jantsch (23:37): Yeah. Wow. So Zach, I appreciate you taking a few moments to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. We obviously a wide range of topics. It probably just stirred up more questions than answers. Happy to come back, but you want to invite people where they might want to connect with you and maybe find out more about some of the things we talked about if they have some concerns.
Zack Kromkowski (23:58): Yeah. So my name again, Zach Kowski. I'm very active on LinkedIn. You can find that at security, Zach as the profile name. But the big thing I want to shout out here is you don't need a security budget to do security activities. The things I talked about today is knowing what software you have, knowing what hardware you have, and then changing settings. If you're overwhelmed and don't know what these settings do, we have free documentation across YouTube and our resource hub to say, this setting does that. This setting does that. And you can take advantage of this a hundred percent free offering to do some of these steps without paying anything. Now, if you do want to do this at a mass scale, ion automates all of this. That's the plug. But there's a lot of free steps you can do without even investing a dollar.
John Jantsch (24:46): Awesome. Well, again, I appreciate you stopping by and hopefully we run into you one of these days out there on the road.
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Picture This! Marketing in [just] three Elements written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John JantschIn this episode, I discuss my framework for creating a one-page marketing strategy called the Duct Tape Marketing Snapshot. The framework is divided into 3 core elements: brand strategy, growth strategy, and customer strategy. Within each component, I ADRE, such as mission, vision, values, ideal client definition, unique value proposition, marketing channels, lead capture, lead nurture, trust-building, lead conversion, customer onboarding, customer experience, customer retention, customer expansion, customer referrals, and partner referrals.
Key Takeaways* The Duct Tape Marketing Snapshot is a one-page framework for creating a marketing strategy. * The framework is divided into three core elements: brand strategy, growth strategy, and customer strategy. * Each element has several components that must be addressed to create a comprehensive marketing strategy. * The framework helps businesses simplify and organize their marketing strategy.
Chapters[00:00] Introduction to the Duct Tape Marketing Snapshot
[02:24] The Three Core Elements of a Marketing Strategy
[03:15] Addressing the Key Components of Brand Strategy
[05:36] Building a Growth Strategy: From Awareness to Lead Conversion
[09:48] Mapping the Customer Journey in the Customer Strategy
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by:Nobody does data better than Oracle. Train your AI models at twice the speed and less than half of the cost of other clouds. If you want to do more and spend less, take a free test drive at Oracle.
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabTestimonial (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made.
John Jantsch (00:16): What you just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM world slash scale. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John janz and no guest today. I'm doing a solo show. I want to talk about something that I've been working on maybe for 15 years, but I finally got around to actually creating a framework that I would call as my version of taking marketing strategy and putting it onto one page.
(01:25): One page that really gives you the ability to capture all the essential elements of your marketing strategy. So certainly to use as an internal document, but I think it's a great tool to also use as a creative brief or as a way to explain to somebody your business that you're maybe trying to get to do some marketing work for you. Now, there's a lot of research that goes into the various elements of this, but a lot of times we do marketing strategy and we spend days, months, weeks developing it, putting it into a document, and then that document goes into a drawer somewhere because it's 40 pages or something. And so what I wanted to do was create something that could be something that you would come back and it would be the overview, if you will, that one-on-one page that you could share with people.
(02:12): You could print out, you could hang up, you could do lots of things with, I call it the Duct Tape Marketing Snapshot. And I want to go over the various elements in that. And I'll also invite you, if you would like us to do this with you, go through an exercise with you. If you'd like to just see a copy of it, you can always reach me, reach out to me at john@ducttapemarketing.com and just put in the subject line marketing snapshot and I'll send it out or we'll discuss how this might apply to your business. But essentially what the snapshot does is it is broken up into, and those of you that are watching the video version of this in places like YouTube, we'll see a graphic right now, which is the actual form itself that we created called the Marketing Snapshot. Those of you that I said will actually have it there if you want to go to the show notes as well, those of you that are just listening, otherwise, I will do my best to describe it as visually as possible.
(03:07): So essentially it's broken up into three core elements, which are really the three core elements that I think a marketing strategy has to address. And that is your brand strategy, your growth strategy, and then your customer strategy. And this is really following the customer journey, if you will. It's how people become aware of your brand. It's certainly how you grow and turn them into customers and then what you do after they become customers. So it is a way for us to really address all the key areas and make sure that we're not leaving something out. And I think that's one of the things that's the hardest about talking about marketing strategy to folks, is that it's very confusing what it is. So I've tried to simplify it. I think marketers make marketing overly complex. So I've tried to simplify marketing strategy into those three buckets.
(03:53): Brand strategy, growth strategy and customer strategy. Alright. And then within those, there's a total of 16 elements that we want to address. And these are things that they're not going to be new to you necessarily, but I think that organizing them, I should say in this fashion, hopefully will give new light to how they apply to your business. So under the brand strategy, I mean we're going to make considerations like mission, vision, values there. What's the brand personality? I mean, how do you want to be perceived by your ideal clients by the market? What are some ways that you're going to ensure consistency and messaging and visuals and customer interactions really across all the channels? Those are things that have to be part of your brand strategy, but clearly defining who your ideal client is. Certainly a component of it, and not just the demographics, but really what they believe, what they fear, the value that they're looking for, how they like to buy, where they find their information.
(04:50): Those are all parts of that definition. I lean very heavily on this concept of core message. That is another key component of this idea and that is not the message that says who you are or what you do, but the message that clearly defines your unique value proposition, the promise to solve your ideal client's greatest, greatest problem. That's what we want to see in a core message. It is certainly useful to write down your mission, your why, really defining the underlying purpose of the values that are driving your business. I think that belongs in brand strategy certainly, and that belongs in something that any tool that you're going to use to communicate your business and what it stands for. Certainly being able to share that publicly is great. And then the last piece I put in brand strategy is a consideration of what are the primary marketing channels that we are going to use to reach our ideal client?
(05:47): And I believe that this belongs in brand strategy because a lot of our reaching there is going to be just to create awareness, is going to be to build trust, and we want to make sure that we're at least making a consideration about what are the most important channels for us to pursue and by comparison, what are the ones we should be leaving out of the mix? And I think that's just having that consideration can be very helpful. Alright, now we move to the next category or the next big row or section in this, and that's growth strategy. This is essentially how you plan to scale and grow your business. We've got the brand locked down. We know who we're targeting. We know the message that we're going to use to attract them and where we're going to use that message. So now we need to say, okay, how do we create awareness for the brand?
(06:38): How do we attract new prospects? How do we get people to know about us? You'll see in this tool that I heavily sprinkle in our concept of the customer journey called the marketing Hourglass. And its seven stages of know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat and refer. Awareness is all about quite often getting people to know you and consequently, hopefully to what you're doing or what they see. And then ultimately to get them to trust you enough to want to go deep enough to find out if you can actually solve their specific problems and challenges. So after awareness plan, we have lead captures. So once somebody finds out about you and they start coming and visiting and maybe you've invited them through your social channels to work with you or to get some new, to get a checklist or to get an ebook or to get some content, then what's your lead capture plan?
(07:30): How are we going to actually start capturing those leads so that we can continue to market to them or maybe a better way continue to build trust so that they want to go deeper. We have something on there called the brand love plan, and this is really just an admission that we need to intentionally think in how we're going to foster a deep connection between our brand and our customers. I mean, what are some of the things that we can do to create advocates to create exceptional value, to create exceptional experiences? Having a thought about, wow, how are we going to wow people when they start to come in and surprise them and delight them? AI might be the most important new computer technology ever. It's storming every industry and literally billions of dollars are being invested. So buckle up. The problem is that AI needs a lot of speed and processing power.
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(09:21): So let's consider that for ourselves. The lead nurture plan is the next element on here under brand love and that's really what are we going to do to build trust and relationships really with the leads until they're ready to buy. I mean, it is a journey. A lot of times people talk about how much marketing has changed and granted it's changed a lot, but the thing that's really changed the most is how people can buy now, how they choose the options they have available to them. And so a great deal of building trust enough to charge a premium to be seen as the obvious go-to is a lot about what you do in nurturing. Then we intentionally have, I think for a lot of businesses, trust is probably the most important element. It's often not looked at as an intentional one, but what are we going to do to establish even the credibility and trust with an audience enough for somebody who is now looking at us deeply to say, okay, I'm going to exchange my money with you.
(10:20): And to me, the trust category to a lot of points, a lot of businesses that actually charge a premium that if you've ever paid more to get something because you trusted the result would be there, you trusted the brand was going to be there. Many of us have done that. Many of us have paid more and are willing to pay more when we trust that we will get the result from who we're working with. So what are the ways that we're going to build trust? Testimonials, case studies guarantees, transparent business practices, even who we associate with social proof. I mean, those are all things that are part of really the overarching marketing plan. That's why they show up here on the snapshot. So the last two pieces in, or the last piece I should say in the growth plan is then your lead conversion plan.
(11:06): I mean, how are we going to convert those nurtured leads into paying customers? We need to have an actual process that can be taught that's certainly aligned with what the customer needs, but then also aligns with the core message that we're communicating that creates the buying experience itself is often where referrals and repeat business happen because even if we get a result for somebody, but the experience of getting there was not that great, we're going to lose a lot of trust. And so what is our lead conversion plan that not only results in us converting a higher number of leads, but it's also something we can scale, that we can start teaching to others. I think that's where a lot of businesses really struggle is when the founder has been really good at selling and they end up being trapped because they're the only ones who can sell because they're really not even sure how they do it or why they do it and why they're so successful at it.
(12:01): So when it comes time to hiring a sales team, they really flounder because there is no real process. So great to have at least a process. It doesn't have to be the most perfect one. You're always going to be refining it, trying to make it better. But if you don't start with at least here is our process or our plan for lead conversion, you're going to struggle. Alright, now we're going to go to the third stage, which is the customer strategy. So this is where we're going to map out the journey of everything that's going to happen or that we hope happen once somebody becomes a customer. So we're going to start with new customer onboarding plan. What's the way that we're going to create the most positive first experience for a new customer? So these are onboarding orientation. It's amazing how often people don't give this some thought and every new customer is brought in, has different expectations, a different experience, and it really dilutes the brand.
(12:59): So we're going to map out what's going to happen when somebody says yes when they become a new customer. It's obviously going to be different for every business, but having a plan allows you to again, delegate and scale because everybody learns the plan and how to deliver the same experience, but it also really creates consistency in working with your business. And I think that a lot of times customers really crave that consistency and that's part of the experience. Knowing what to expect and having it delivered as promised is really a great part of the experience. Speaking of experience, that's the next one. What is going to be our overarching customer experience plan? So how are we going to ensure a consistently positive experience throughout the journey? So really mapping out everything we want to do. But this is also the place where getting feedback from existing customers to look for ways to continuously approve, having SOPs as part of the experience.
(13:56): We talked about the new customer, but certainly the ongoing fulfillment as well. The next two components of really are kind of the repeat bucket and that is your customer retention plan. What are we going to do to keep customers engaged, keep them coming back, retain them, sell them more. Maybe sell them other products, maybe sell them on another tier or layer of products and services. So really having tactics in place that are going to focus on, certainly measure, but focus on customer retention and things like loyalty programs and check-ins and just ongoing continuing education. That should be part of your plan. Don't just wait for customers to call you and say, I need something. You should have a way that keeps you top of mind, keeps them coming back, keeps you in front of them in a way that allows you to introduce how you discover frankly, and then introduce how you can do more with them.
(14:51): And then what's your customer expansion plan? How can you take your existing customers and increase the lifetime value, increase what you're doing for them? One of the things I've discovered over the years is that about 20% of my customers would, and I'm not saying I've nailed this, about 20% of my customers would do five, 10 times the business they're currently doing with me. If I intentionally take the time to discover what else they need, discover how else I can add value, discover how else I can solve more problems, bigger problems for them, there won't be your entire customer base, but we all know that it is much easier to do more business with somebody you've already established trust with than it is to really jump or make people jump through all the hoops to become a new customer. Alright, the last two elements, your customer referral plan.
(15:45): I wrote an entire book called the referral Engine on this topic. It's one that I'm very passionate about turning satisfied customers into brand advocates. You essentially through a referral are borrowing trust. How many times you've done this yourself? Somebody you said, boy, I need to find somebody to do X. Somebody says, Hey, don't look any further. They solved this problem for me, or here's how they did it. They're awesome. The end of the sales journey, we stop. We call 'em up and say, when can you start? So that borrowed trust, that removal of risk is what makes referrals such a potent, we all know this, right? You all know it is such a potent channel. So having a plan to intentionally generate referrals from customers is how you really amplify your referability. You're not going to get referrals unless you deserve them, but certainly once you deserve them, you have to really amplify that.
(16:41): And then the last piece of this is, it's another element of referrals, but what I call the partner referral plan. So these are strategic partners. These are non-competing businesses that also serve your ideal client, that you could actually add value to their client base, add value to their business, to their offerings by working together in some fashion. That really gives them an incentive to put you in front of their audience. The right customer might have two or three referrals that they could give you, which is awesome, but the right strategic partner might actually fill your pipeline because they've got hundreds of potential folks that they could put you in front of. All right, so that's it. That is the marketing snapshot. You can find it in the show notes. Or if you want to just reach out to me at john@ducttapemarketing.com, I'm happy to talk to you about how we could do that for your business as part of the strategy first process.
(17:38): Or if you just want to see a copy of the Marketing snapshot yourself, we're happy to make it available to you in one way, shape, or form or another. So that's it. Thanks for tuning in today. We love those reviews. If you give 'em it to Spotify or Apple or Google or wherever it is you get your podcasts, I'd love to hear from you. So if you just want to say hi, it's also just John at Duct Tape Marketing. All right, take care, and hopefully we'll see you one of these days soon out there on the road.
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Weekend Favs September 21st written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- INK – AI-powered tool that combines SEO optimization with content creation, helping marketers improve organic search rankings while generating high-quality copy.
- Hotjar – A behavior analytics tool that uses AI to analyze user interactions on websites, offering insights into customer experience and conversion optimization.
- Predis.ai – A content creation tool that generates social media posts, hashtags, and content plans based on marketing goals.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Master the Family Business Dynamic: Proven Strategies for Growth and Harmony written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Michael MirauIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Michael Mirau, a seasoned business coach and consultant specializing in family business coaching and business growth for middle-market companies and nonprofits. Mike shared insights from his newly released book, The Family Business Manifesto: A Roadmap to Peace in the Family and Prosperity in the Business.
During this conversation, Michael dives deep into the critical challenges that family businesses face, such as balancing personal relationships with professional responsibilities. He offers actionable strategies to ensure leadership transitions are smooth and provide a roadmap for long-term business growth.
Key Takeaways* Family dynamics add complexity to business operations, requiring clear boundaries between personal and professional roles. * Leadership transitions in family businesses need careful planning to avoid resentment and conflict. * Successful family businesses set clear expectations and treat family members equally to foster respect and accountability. * Healthy relationships are crucial for long-term success and business growth in family-owned enterprises. * Mike’s strategies focus on creating sustainable systems that promote both family harmony and business prosperity.
Chapters[00:00] Who is Michael Mirau and what are Family Business Dynamics
[02:59] Challenges Unique to Family Businesses
[05:57] The Importance of Healthy Relationships especially for family business
[09:00] Navigating Leadership Transitions
[ 12:01 ] Example of How to Compete as a Service Business
[14:30] Intentional Succession Planning
[18:50] How to connect with Moreau and resources for family businesses
More About Michael Mirau: Add Michael Mirau on LinkedIn and X * Check out Michael Mirau’s Website * Grab a copy of his book, The Family Business Manifesto: A Roadmap to Peace in the Family and Prosperity in the Business.*
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by: Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:01.128)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Mike Mirau. He is a business coach and consultant specializing in middle market companies and nonprofits. Through his proactive strategic excellence process, he has helped organizations become healthy, scalable, and focused on growth. Today we're going to talk about Mike's new book, The Family Business Manifesto, A Roadmap to Peace.
in the family and prosperity in the business. It's just been released and you're going to be able to get it wherever you buy your books. So Mike, welcome to the show.
Michael Mirau (00:36.13)
Great, thank you John, it's pleasure to be here.
John Jantsch (00:38.888)
So are there a category of differences between a family business and, I don't know, let's call it a regular business? I mean, are there certain things that are inherently different about a family business?
Michael Mirau (00:50.68)
There are actually, and what's really interesting is when we started our research, we actually started researching for this book about four years ago. And through a series of interviews with family business owners, we identified some very clear differences between a normal business and a family business. And, you know, some of them are kind of, yeah, right. Duh. Yeah. They're, definitely different, but the, the,
dynamics of a business dramatically change when you have family involved. And so what we found when we did the research was that they, they experienced the same challenges that a normal business has. Like, how do we grow? How do we be more efficient? How do we be more effective? How do we hire and retain top tier talent? All of those, all those issues are the same, but when you add a family member,
You add a relationship dynamic. I mean, literally John, I just got an email from a client whose husband is a husband and wife that working in this company and the husband just resigned because he and the wife could work together. That's it. That's it. And, it's so, it's so interesting. And he was a key member of the leadership team.
John Jantsch (02:05.972)
I'm either going to resign or we're going to get a divorce, right?
Michael Mirau (02:17.132)
You know, he carried a lot of the administrative responsibility of the organization and you know, we're sitting here trying to schedule our next meeting and he doesn't want to participate. And I'm like, okay, he declined the meeting. And then I get the email saying he's resigned from the leadership team. And I'm like, my gosh, what's going on over there? So that's an example of the kind of stuff that you encounter when you have the family dynamic. You said it well, do we work together or do we get a divorce?
You know, so sometimes people in families, the, the, the relationship carries into the business and it has an impact and you're, you've got a family business. You, know, exactly what I'm talking about.
John Jantsch (02:59.806)
Yeah. I do. I do. do. don't think I started it as such. You know, a lot of people really do. mean, my, my daughter essentially runs our company, but, you know, it was a surprise to me, that she even had any interest. You know, I didn't, I didn't kind of lay awake thinking, you know, my legacy is through, you know, another generation. but I absolutely love having her in the business.
Michael Mirau (03:17.281)
Right.
Michael Mirau (03:25.494)
Yeah. Well, I own a small printing company, that is a specialty printing company has a very distinct niche. And we talk a little bit about this in the book, my daughter and son -in -law run that company. Okay. I am very much on the peripheral. help when I, when I need to, but it's their business, so to speak, but yet I'm still actively involved. And, and so.
John Jantsch (03:44.691)
Yeah.
John Jantsch (03:48.116)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Michael Mirau (03:53.506)
There are certain things you can talk about with family and you don't talk about with family. And what's really funny is when we get together with my daughter and son -in -law, the very first thing my wife says is don't talk business. You know, let's, let's talk about family stuff, not business stuff. And that's the challenge that you run into is, is everything kind of the whole universe kind of evolves around the business. And that's one of the challenges that we found in our research is, is.
John Jantsch (04:06.184)
Yeah, right, right, right, right, yeah.
John Jantsch (04:12.104)
Yeah.
John Jantsch (04:21.618)
Yeah, there's no off.
Michael Mirau (04:22.802)
It's hard to turn the business off and deal with the family stuff. So it's really interesting, the dynamics and there's all kinds of stories in the book about situations that don't go well and situations that do go well. So it's not a doom, doom book. You know, if you've got a family business, you're, you're in trouble. It's actually, it should give people confidence that if you can figure out how to navigate some of those dynamics.
John Jantsch (04:25.384)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
John Jantsch (04:37.736)
Mm -hmm.
John Jantsch (04:42.844)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Michael Mirau (04:52.78)
You can have the peace and the family that we talk about.
John Jantsch (04:55.762)
Yeah. I wonder how important, and I suppose every relationship's different, but I wonder how important, know, people that, that, you know, sometimes people don't have the healthiest relationships, as a family. but yet, you know, it's like, no, you're going to work here and whether you want to or not, you know, maybe in some cases. So I wonder how important it is. Like, like my daughter and I have a great relationship outside or at least I like to think so outside of the business. and so I feel like we work together.
Well, inside the business, but do you think that that's crucial?
Michael Mirau (05:29.1)
I think it is. and, you know, it all comes down to trust and how much we ascribe motive to what people do. And what's really interesting family, just family dynamics. I tell people this all the time. If you looked up the term dysfunctional, you could put my family tree and my wife's family tree right there. And you would see dysfunction all the way through on both sides.
John Jantsch (05:30.707)
Yes.
Michael Mirau (05:57.73)
And, and so we've had to deal with that. You know, both of our parents divorced, some of our siblings have divorced and we've seen the dynamics and the impact of that on the kids, on the extended family and things like that. And when you bring in dysfunction that already exists in a family, gets multiplied in the business. It's almost like it's shines a spotlight on it and says,
John Jantsch (06:24.264)
Yeah, yeah.
Michael Mirau (06:27.704)
Let's blow this up. And it plays out in behavior. You see that. so it all comes back to the relationship. I think you said it right. And what are we doing to nurture and develop that relationship? And we try to put some, in the book, we try to put some boundaries around that and say, you know, one of the very first keys, we talk about five keys to having a successful family business. Key number one is you check the relationship at the door.
John Jantsch (06:29.448)
Yeah. Yeah.
John Jantsch (06:58.152)
Right. Right. Right.
Michael Mirau (06:58.186)
Okay. When we're at work, it's not father daughter. It's not father son or husband wife. It's who's in charge and who's doing what. Okay. You do your job. I'll do my job. And if I'm the boss, if I'm in charge, then you have to respect me as the boss. Okay. And you know, having a daughter, I don't know about your daughter, but my daughter went through this period of time where
John Jantsch (07:08.68)
Right. Yeah.
Michael Mirau (07:26.028)
You know, dad was just an old guy, didn't know anything. And then, then all of a sudden she realized, Hey, I'm maybe do know a little bit about some things. And she was more open to some of the conversations we were having, but every once in a while that, kind of rebellious daughter kicks in, dad, that won't work here. We can't do that. Well, we, rarely ever have to play the authority card, but sometimes you have to.
John Jantsch (07:51.218)
Yeah. It's interesting you say that because I mean, I think probably one of the mistakes people make is that they don't do your best practices that you do in any kind of business. Right. mean, just like you said, leadership is leadership and you know, delegation is delegation and reporting and accountability are, you know, parts, right. And, and to actually just say, no, I know them, I trust them. They'll get the work done, but everybody else is held to, you know, a report card. So, so really that's probably one of the big mistakes, isn't
Michael Mirau (08:01.175)
Yeah.
Michael Mirau (08:10.051)
Yeah.
Michael Mirau (08:14.958)
Sure.
Michael Mirau (08:20.888)
Assumptions are one of the biggest challenges that we find is that, I just assumed they would come in and work hard for the family business. Yeah. Good luck. Good luck with that. we, mean, there, and there's some stories in there about, and you know, the thing is, especially when you're a parent and your, your child, comes into the business, you know, we love our kids and there's nothing we wouldn't do for our children.
John Jantsch (08:28.404)
Right,
Michael Mirau (08:50.344)
And, sometimes when we play parent at work, we let them get away with stuff that other employees would not get away with. that's, but I guarantee you, and it just, we talk about this in the book, you know, the, the, the five keys are check the relationship of the door, have clear roles and responsibilities. Third one is treat everyone the same.
John Jantsch (09:00.44)
But they're seeing, but they're watching.
Michael Mirau (09:17.762)
You can't have them coming in late and leaving early and skipping days work. Everybody else thinks, I can do that too. And they lose respect for the family member and that, that causes it. does, it does has a huge impact on the culture.
John Jantsch (09:25.374)
Yeah, yeah.
John Jantsch (09:29.904)
And kind of destroys the culture too, doesn't it? Yeah. What about transitioning to leadership? I know that that's, know, lot of times a family member will come in and, they'll come in as the intern maybe even, as, as, you know, whatever role, but you know, probably there's some hope that they're going to rise up and learn to business and want to stay. is there, you know, I think for a lot of leaders actually transitioning out of the leadership, you know, is hard.
Michael Mirau (09:57.368)
Mm
John Jantsch (09:57.524)
Is it harder in a family business or are there certain things that you need to do to really make that a smoother transition?
Michael Mirau (10:05.432)
Yeah, first of all, starts with, they have a desire to do that? We can't say, boy, it'd be good for you to take this over. Honestly, that's where we've seen the success in the research was those families where the kids saw their future as part of the business as opposed to feeling like they have to work in the family business. Now I grew up in a family business.
John Jantsch (10:09.138)
Right, right, right, right, right.
John Jantsch (10:29.864)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Mirau (10:31.982)
Okay. My father, we ran a service station in farmersville, Texas. And so at the age of 12, dad said, get up, you're going to work.
John Jantsch (10:40.724)
I'm envisioning the two pump station on the corner of a dusty dirt road, right?
Michael Mirau (10:46.254)
Texaco. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was a highway, but, it was, it was plenty dusty, no doubt. And, and it was, we had, we were a full service gas station. So we pumped gas, cleaned the windows, checked the oil, aired up the tires. mean, we did everything and it was really funny. One of the great lessons I learned from my father was number one, the work ethic. Okay. I got to watch how he worked.
And, and he was a brilliant man. mean, he could create anything out of, mean, he was MacGyver before MacGyver existed. I mean, he could come up with ways to do things, create tools, things along those lines, but it was really interesting. I saw one of the key lessons I learned from my dad was how to compete with other, other folks. was a Texaco station about three miles up the road from where we were.
And this was a time when full service stations were converting to self -service gas. Okay. And it hasn't always been self -service. You know, the, the, generations, they're, they're not used to somebody coming out and pumping their gas and Oregon, Oregon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
John Jantsch (12:01.672)
think there's still a couple of states that do that though. it's, yeah, Oregon and I want to say New Jersey maybe even that it's actually mandatory. Yeah.
Michael Mirau (12:09.324)
Yeah, I got in trouble in Oregon at the airport because I was pumping my own gas and got come out. What are you doing? I'm putting gas in the car. But what happened was this station up the road decided to go self -service. My dad said, you know what? We're going to lower our gas price to equal theirs, but we're going to still deliver full service. We got all the gas business and all the mechanic business because of that. See, he figured out a way for us.
because we didn't make money on gas. Gas is low margin, but where we made money was in putting tires and fixing flats and front end alignments and brake jobs and all that. And we got all of that because they were buying gas from us. And so it was really an interesting lesson of how can you position yourself and deliver more value so that you can beat the competition. That was one of the lessons I learned. And that's one of the great things about
John Jantsch (12:40.147)
Yeah, the
John Jantsch (12:45.961)
Mm
John Jantsch (12:51.07)
Yeah.
Michael Mirau (13:07.395)
family members coming into the business is there's no better way to learn how a business functions than from somebody who's been doing it their whole life, who are the, as Michael Gerber calls in the E -myth, great technicians. Okay. And, and so they can have an opportunity to come in, but they got to want to do it. I mean, there was a HVAC company that I worked with where the dad and mom basically worked in the business.
John Jantsch (13:18.643)
Thanks
John Jantsch (13:22.121)
Right.
Michael Mirau (13:35.842)
They had eight technicians and one of the conversations we were having was about succession. He wanted to retire and we're like, okay, were you, you plan to sell the business? What do you, what, what are you going to do? And he says, well, I want my son to take it over. I said, does your son want to take it over? The son was a baseball coach. He was a baseball coach at a high school, very successful.
And they called him one day and says, we want you to stop being a baseball coach and come work for the business. You know, and of course, being a faithful son, great relationship with his father. He fully trusted that his father had his best interests in heart. This guy knew nothing about the air conditioning business. And so bring brought him in, put him in charge of the cruise. Well, immediately the crew didn't respect it because he didn't know anything.
John Jantsch (14:26.964)
Yes. Right.
Michael Mirau (14:28.298)
And, and he was, he was set up to fail from day one. And honestly, his heart was never in it. He never felt like this is what he wanted to do. And so what eventually happened and it's, it's kind of a tragic story within about a year after that happening, dad dropped dead of a heart attack. Just fell over dead one day. And so mom called me and says, I don't know what to do. I said, well, is, is Joe going to.
John Jantsch (14:47.7)
Mmm.
Mm.
Michael Mirau (14:57.25)
going to stay with the business. She goes, he hates this business. And so we talked through our options. Eventually they made the decision to sell the business. And so even though, the, the father's desire was for the son to take it over and perpetuate and turn it into, and it was a very profitable, very lucrative business. They were doing very well, but the son just didn't have the desire. And so you've got to get their buy -in to going that route.
John Jantsch (15:00.861)
Mm.
John Jantsch (15:21.694)
Yeah.
Michael Mirau (15:25.196)
That's the beginning. Cause if they, have this, this, feeling of, I don't have a choice or, I'm made to do this. There's always some hidden dissension in their, in their process. And that plays out into behavior.
John Jantsch (15:42.59)
You know, one of the things, you know, sadly still in this country at least, you know, business leadership is male dominated. However, family business is a tremendous opportunity, I think in many cases, or at least a unique opportunity for a woman to really, you know, easily move into a leadership role. Yeah.
Michael Mirau (16:01.262)
Totally agree. Totally agree. And that's one of the plus sides we talk about in the book is that, that a family business is one of the greatest ways to accumulate and perpetuate wealth in a family, whether it's sons or daughters. Some of the most successful family businesses I've been a part of have women leaders where the women are the, the, the CEOs and, and they have, and this one, I was just talking to you about.
The wife is the CEO. Okay. The husband was the C O O and, so that creates some unique dynamics when, know, in the home, the husband is typically recognized as the head of the house, but at work, the wife is the head of the business. And, and so you've got some, some natural conflict there, but the, the perpetuating the business that the kids got to want to do it.
And, you know, we, we, we share this example in the book for the, 15 years of my corporate career. worked for a family business, very large, multi -billion dollar corporation. And it, you know, and then because there's really a big family business, you know, like seven of the top 20 fortune 500 companies are family businesses. Walmart exactly. Yeah.
John Jantsch (17:19.38)
the
John Jantsch (17:24.884)
Yeah, Walmart, BMW, BMW, mean family businesses.
Michael Mirau (17:29.41)
Yeah. Walmart, the richest, some of the richest people in the world are the family of the Walmart kids. Okay. And so the, but what, happened at, at, it was interstate batteries and what norm did, and I thought this was brilliant. His son wanted to be in the business, but he really didn't have that, that background. Okay.
John Jantsch (17:34.824)
Yes, yes, yes.
Michael Mirau (17:56.226)
So he wasn't ready to step in and take over. That would have been a disaster if that had happened when he first came into the business. So what Norm did was he asked Scott to work in every department in the business for a period of time. He actually worked, I was in the IT department and he worked in our group for a while and then he went to marketing and then he went to accounting. This guy probably had a better knowledge of all the inner workings of the organization, but it was by design.
It wasn't accidental. was to get Scott ready to take over. And he did. And what happened was when, when Norm stepped out and became chairman, and they had had a, a CEO in between, that helped grow the company and had done good stuff, but the guy had had kind of damaged some relationships, with the distributor base.
John Jantsch (18:49.961)
Mm.
Michael Mirau (18:50.638)
Eventually, no one felt like he needed to make a change in order to, get those relationships back. So Scott comes in, rebuilds those relationships and they have the greatest period of success in the history of the company. And Scott did an amazing job for 10 years as the CEO. And just recently, like in the last couple of years, Scott has stepped down and they've got a new CEO. That's not a family member, but it's really interesting when I went to work for them.
The first day I was there everybody in the office asked me, are you related to? I'm not related to anybody. Well, how'd you get the job? It's like everybody in the company was related to somebody. But it's a great example of how that succession worked out and it's being intentional about it.
John Jantsch (19:25.15)
You
John Jantsch (19:29.486)
That's right.
John Jantsch (19:38.878)
Mm
Well, Mike, I appreciate you stopping by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Where can people find out more about your work and the family business manifesto?
Michael Mirau (19:49.038)
Well, it's available on Amazon. and I'll, I'll be happy to send you the link to that. The, and right now we've got the, the, Kindle version is available for like 99 cents. So this is a good time to, to, get a copy. The, the other thing is, we're, starting a, a new coaching program and it's called family CEOs. And they could go to family CEOs .com.
John Jantsch (19:54.932)
Mm -hmm.
John Jantsch (20:02.164)
Okay. Yeah.
Michael Mirau (20:16.546)
and find out about what we're doing there. And there's also a link there to the book and, and that's where they can get in touch with me if they have some questions or, or want to talk about their business.
John Jantsch (20:28.709)
Well, again, I appreciate you taking a few moments to stop by. Hopefully we'll run into you soon one of these days out there on the road,
Michael Mirau (20:34.592)
you bet john it's pleasure man
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Simplify Your Marketing: How the Marketing Snapshot Can Transform Your Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing is a word that can stir up a lot of emotions for business owners. For some, it’s excitement – the thrill of attracting new customers and watching your business grow.
But for many, it’s more like frustration, confusion, and even dread. Why?
Because marketing today can feel incredibly complex. There are countless channels to manage, strategies to execute, and metrics to track. It’s no wonder so many business owners feel overwhelmed.
But what if I told you that marketing doesn’t have to be complicated?
What if there was a way to cut through the noise and focus on what really matters?
That’s exactly what I’m going to show you today with the Marketing Snapshot – a simple, yet powerful tool that can transform your approach to marketing and set your business up for success.
Table of Contents1The Problem: Marketing Has Become Too Complex2The Solution: A Simple, Systematic Approach3Breaking Down the Marketing Snapshot4Why the Marketing Snapshot Works5How to Get Started with the Marketing Snapshot
The Problem: Marketing Has Become Too ComplexLet’s start with a harsh truth: most businesses overcomplicate their marketing. It’s not your fault – the marketing world is filled with shiny objects, new trends, and endless tools that promise to deliver incredible results. The problem is that chasing these trends often leads to fragmented efforts, wasted time, and frustration. Instead of clarity, you get confusion. Instead of results, you get noise.
Here’s what I’ve learned after years of working with small business owners: the best marketing is simple. Simple because it’s focused. Simple because it’s consistent. Simple because it’s based on a system.
Marketing Snapshot Training With John JantschTired of feeling overwhelmed by marketing?
In this hands-on training, I’ll guide you through creating a clear, actionable one-page Marketing Snapshot that cuts through the noise and sets you on a path to success. Learn the key elements of a winning strategy, and leave with a personalized plan you can put into action right away.
Let's simplify your marketing and get results.
* Name* First Last
- Email*
- You are looking to...*Please select an option from the drop downInstall a marketing system in your businessLicense a marketing system for your agency Δ
The Solution: A Simple, Systematic ApproachWhat if you could distill your entire marketing strategy onto one page? What if you had a clear, concise plan that guided every marketing decision you made? That’s the idea behind the Marketing Snapshot.
The Marketing Snapshot is a one-page tool designed to capture the essential elements of your marketing strategy. It’s not about cramming everything you do onto a single page – it’s about focusing on what really matters. It helps you identify your ideal client, craft a compelling core message, and choose the right channels to reach your audience. It’s a simple, systematic approach that brings clarity and direction to your marketing efforts.
Breaking Down the Marketing SnapshotSo, what exactly does the Marketing Snapshot include? Let’s walk through each section.
-
Ideal ClientThis is where it all begins. You can’t create an effective marketing strategy if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach. The Ideal Client section helps you define exactly who your best customers are – not just in terms of demographics, but also their needs, challenges, and behaviors. By understanding your ideal client, you can tailor your marketing efforts to attract more people like them.
-
Core MessageYour core message is the heart of your marketing. It’s the promise you make to your customers – the reason they should choose you over your competitors. In this section, you’ll craft a message that resonates with your ideal client, speaks to their pain points, and clearly communicates the value you offer.
-
Core ChannelsWith your ideal client and core message defined, the next step is to figure out where to reach them. The Core Channels section helps you identify the most effective marketing channels for your business. Whether it’s social media, email, content marketing, or something else, this section ensures that your efforts are focused where they’ll have the biggest impact.
-
Brand StrategyYour brand is more than just a logo or tagline – it’s the perception people have of your business. In this section, you’ll define your brand’s mission, vision, and values, and ensure that everything you do aligns with your brand identity. A strong brand strategy helps you build trust and loyalty with your customers.
-
Growth StrategyThis section is all about scaling your business. Whether it’s through new product lines, expanding into new markets, or increasing customer lifetime value, your Growth Strategy will outline the steps you need to take to achieve your business goals.
-
Customer StrategyYour marketing doesn’t end once someone becomes a customer. The Customer Strategy section maps out the entire customer journey – from awareness to advocacy. It ensures that you’re not only attracting customers but also nurturing them into loyal, repeat buyers who refer others to your business.
Why the Marketing Snapshot WorksYou might be wondering, “Can something this simple really make a difference?” The answer is a resounding yes.
The Marketing Snapshot works because it forces you to focus on the most important aspects of your marketing strategy. It eliminates the distractions and helps you see the big picture.
Here’s why it’s so effective:
- Clarity: With everything distilled onto one page, you gain a clear understanding of what you need to do and why. No more second-guessing or getting lost in the weeds.
- Focus: The Marketing Snapshot helps you prioritize your efforts. Instead of spreading yourself thin across dozens of tactics, you focus on the strategies that will have the biggest impact.
- Consistency: Marketing success doesn’t happen overnight. The Snapshot keeps you consistent by providing a roadmap to follow, ensuring that your efforts are aligned and working together.
- Simplicity: There's beauty in simplicity. The Snapshot cuts through the complexity of modern marketing and brings you back to the basics- the things that really matter. How to Get Started with the Marketing SnapshotHow can you start using the Marketing Snapshot in your business?
The first step is to take a step back and assess your current marketing efforts. Are they aligned with your business goals? Are you targeting the right audience? Is your message clear and compelling?
Once you’ve answered these questions, it’s time to fill out your own Marketing Snapshot. If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry – I’m here to help.
I’m offering a free training where I’ll walk you through the process of creating your own Marketing Snapshot. By the end of the session, you’ll have a clear, concise plan that you can put into action right away.
Marketing Snapshot Training With John JantschTired of feeling overwhelmed by marketing?
In this hands-on training, I’ll guide you through creating a clear, actionable one-page Marketing Snapshot that cuts through the noise and sets you on a path to success. Learn the key elements of a winning strategy, and leave with a personalized plan you can put into action right away.
Let's simplify your marketing and get results.
* Name* First Last
- Email*
- You are looking to...*Please select an option from the drop downInstall a marketing system in your businessLicense a marketing system for your agency Δ
Start Transforming Your Marketing with the Marketing SnapshotMarketing doesn’t have to be a headache. It doesn’t have to be complicated. With the Marketing Snapshot, you can simplify your approach, gain clarity, and start seeing real results. It’s time to stop chasing trends and start focusing on what really works.
If you’re ready to transform your marketing and grow your business, I invite you to join me for this free training. Let’s make marketing simple, effective, and fun again.
The Senior Living Marketing Boom and How to Get Smart(er) with Your Strategy written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Debbie HowardIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Debbie Howard. Howard is the co-founder and CEO of Senior Living SMART, a full-service marketing agency serving the senior housing industry. She and her partner, Andréa Catizone, have successfully grown the agency from a startup to a team of 40 employees over the past 12 years and recently celebrated by publishing her book Smarter(er) Marketing for Senior Living Communities.
During our conversation, we explored the essential strategies that senior living communities need to thrive in an increasingly competitive market. We discussed the importance of using smart marketing automation, effective strategies for attracting the right prospects, and why your website is the most important asset for lead conversion.
Whether you’re involved in senior living marketing or looking to optimize your overall strategy with quality automation and a robust online presence, this episode is packed with actionable insights.
Key Takeaways The senior living industry is booming: With the aging population driving demand, senior living marketers must differentiate themselves from the crowded market. A strategic approach that combines automation, personalization, and a strong online presence is key to standing out and capitalizing on this growth. * Debbie’s SMART Marketing framework: Strategy, Marketing Automation, Analytics, Resources, and Technology. * Strategy is the foundation of successful senior living marketing – Understanding the specific needs of your audience is critical to crafting messages that attract ideal prospects. In senior living, that means targeting not just potential residents but their families too. * Marketing automation enhances efficiency* – By automating processes like lead nurturing, senior living marketers can save time while providing personalized experiences. This allows sales teams to focus on higher-intent prospects. * Your website is your most important marketing asset – With 90% of potential residents and their families visiting websites during their decision-making process, having a mobile-first, user-friendly site is crucial for lead generation and conversions. * Not all leads are created equal** – Senior living marketing needs to focus on generating the right leads. Automation helps qualify leads over time, ensuring that sales teams engage only with prospects ready to move forward.
Chapters[00:00] Introduction to Senior Living Marketing
[02:42] Understanding the SMART Marketing Framework
[05:16] The Role of Strategy in Senior Living Marketing
[08:35] Differentiation in a Competitive Market
[12:49] Aligning Marketing and Sales Strategies
[16:59] The Critical Role of Websites in Sales
[19:56] Introducing Smarter Marketing Certification
More About Debbie Howard:* Add Debbie Howard on LinkedIn * Check out Debbie Howard’s Website * Grab a copy of her book, Smarter(er) Marketing for Senior Living Communities
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by:Nobody does data better than Oracle. Train your AI models at twice the speed and less than half of the cost of other clouds. If you want to do more and spend less, take a free test drive at Oracle.
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:01.01)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jance. My guest today is Debbie Howard. She is the co -founder and CEO of Senior Living Smart, a full -service marketing agency serving the seniors housing industry. She and her partner, Andre Catazon, have grown the agency from startup to 40 employees and are celebrating their 12th anniversary by publishing the first book that we're going to talk about today, Smart Err, that errs in parentheses.
Debbie Howard (00:26.058)
you
John Jantsch (00:30.384)
Marketing for senior living communities, how to work smarter, not harder. Debbie's also, by the way, a member of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. So we've known each other a long time. Welcome to the show, Deb.
Debbie Howard (00:42.912)
Thanks, John. Great to be on and be chatting with you today.
John Jantsch (00:46.694)
So there have been, over the years, a number of folks in the network have published books. Actually, there's another one that I'm interviewing tomorrow that has book also coming out. What would you say, I mean, goals, or I should say books are a great tool for a lot of reasons. What would you say are your goals for publishing a book?
Debbie Howard (01:08.096)
Yeah, I would say number one, it's because there's been such a pivot in the really in the prospect, if you will, for senior living. we just the industry in general is just really hitting that leading age of boomers coming in. And there's just a recognition that, you know, the way that our industry has marketed in the past is not going to be effective and is not going to work moving forward with this new generation of buyers that has very different expectations.
John Jantsch (01:19.42)
Mm.
Debbie Howard (01:36.066)
So really wanting to get ahead of that. We can only serve a certain number of clients in the senior living industry. There's more need than there's our ability to really serve them from a partnership level. So it gives us a greater reach to help more people. frankly, not everybody can afford a full service marketing agency of record. And so we hope it kind of levels the playing field. Maybe serve.
for some folks that are doing marketing on their own or using a marketing agency that doesn't have senior living expertise. And then I think just selfishly, I do think that a book is also great for being able to get those keynote speakers and get on the conference stage and we'll be developing a course as well with the option to either do it as just self -paced learning or really to do it from a certification standpoint with submitting to our
John Jantsch (02:10.599)
Yes.
Peace.
John Jantsch (02:18.46)
Mm -hmm.
Debbie Howard (02:33.61)
team of experts as they work through the course in order to kind of pass to that next level and achieve an actual certification.
John Jantsch (02:42.074)
You have, as the book...
denotes smart or marketing. have a smart, maybe your business as well, living smart, smart marketing framework. Is there a way to kind of break that quickly down what that is?
Debbie Howard (02:59.136)
Yeah, I think so. So SMART is an acronym. We've used it in our business since day one, but as it applies to the book, the S is strategy, the is marketing automation, the A is for analytics, R is for resources. That really encompasses content. And then the T is for technology. And in this case, it's really more about that more tech stack and getting the right technology and then getting everything connected.
John Jantsch (03:14.14)
Hmm.
John Jantsch (03:24.779)
Right. So let's start with strategy. One of my favorite topics, the S word, as you've called it. Why is that the, mean, this is a stupid question for me to be asking you because you and I have had lot of conversations about that. But for those out there listening, why do you, why do you call strategy the foundation of all effective?
Debbie Howard (03:49.794)
mean, especially for our industry, I think people have to focus on the strategy to attract their right and ideal prospect. You know, I think the industry is really fortunate that we don't have to create any demand for ourselves. There is plenty of demand that's created just by an aging population, right? We're not out there having to, you know, really create that. But what we do have to create is a way to attract the right residents for each of our brands.
John Jantsch (04:04.594)
Hmm. Right.
Debbie Howard (04:19.008)
And I think in general, in the past, we've been able to just be better than a nursing home. And that was OK. The next generation of buyers wants a lot more than that. And so we really just can't serve up the same messaging to attract the kind of prospect that's going to be ideal in this next generation. So super easy to turn on lead generation.
John Jantsch (04:26.044)
Mm. Yeah.
Debbie Howard (04:46.722)
just open up the floodgates and you can just be inundated with leads. We have clients that have over 200 leads a month. They can't possibly work the number of leads that they have, but it's really about getting the right leads that are going to be right for your brand, that are going to engage, that are going to advance and turn into residents. And that's really the part of the strategy that I think the industry has been lacking because everyone's pretty much serving up vanilla ice cream with different color sprinkles.
John Jantsch (04:56.018)
Hmm.
John Jantsch (05:00.347)
Right.
John Jantsch (05:16.535)
Well, and not to mention, because you talked about demand, demand is actually growing, right? That demographic is growing, you know, at least for the immediate period of time. And so a lot of competition has jumped into it, right? A lot of people saw dollars and, you know, private equity as, you know, playing a big role in it now. So a big part of strategy, I'm guessing for you is helping people differentiate, you know, because there are now so many players in every market.
Debbie Howard (05:45.12)
Yeah, there are a lot of people coming in because they're looking at the demographics and the age wave and saying, I want to get in on this, but they have no experience in the industry. you know, it's very difficult industry to actually operate in. So a lot of it is helping people to find, you know, their brand voice and their differentiator. What's your better and different story? You always talk about not just listing your services and amenities, but really what is the problem that you're solving?
John Jantsch (05:51.964)
Right.
Debbie Howard (06:13.534)
And not everybody is right for every operator. Some people really want a small, cozy environment that's more home -like. Some people want the chandeliers and the brand new communities that have all the bright and shiny technologies. And so it's really about drilling down to understand what's the story that you have that nobody else has out there. Because everyone has the dining and the transportation and the care, and everyone says it's the best.
John Jantsch (06:23.922)
Mm
Debbie Howard (06:40.634)
But at the end of the day, they don't have your story, your residence, your culture, your mission, your values. And so that's what we really focus on to attract more people who look like the same people who chose that brand historically. So we do a lot with, you know, persona interviews and focus groups and all of that to really get to their special sauce.
John Jantsch (07:02.896)
understand what they do that's unique. There's a great listeners are probably getting tired of me using this quote because I use it all the time. But you know, when it comes to that kind of brand and differentiation, there's a Dolly Parton quote that she said, just discover who you are and go be it. And I think that that's a lot of there's a lot of truth in that. mean, everybody has a brand. It's just whether or not it's intentionally communicated or developed. It's you it you know, you
You can't say, you know, we want to be this or be that. You are that, right?
Debbie Howard (07:36.93)
And as being okay with being that, right? So if you are a 25 year old building, you're experienced, right? You've been serving the neighbors for decades. You probably have larger apartments, because guess what? 25 years ago, they built bigger apartments and suites, right? You probably have the A market, because now all the A locations are taken. So the new construction has to come in on a busy road or in a more industrial area, because they don't have that.
John Jantsch (07:39.258)
Yeah, yeah.
John Jantsch (07:47.514)
Right.
Debbie Howard (08:06.178)
If you're new, you're only going to be new for a short period of time. So, you know, use that. But I do think that there's always that resistance of having marketing help us pretend to be something that we're not. And that's, think, for brands, really, they just get in trouble. know, people who say to me, know, Deb, we want, we want the younger, older people in here, the people that are 50. We want you. I had a client who said, you know, I was relating that I had
John Jantsch (08:19.546)
Right, right, right, right.
John Jantsch (08:31.527)
Yeah.
Debbie Howard (08:35.648)
gone through this experience with my mother and finding a community. And they said, well, you know, no disrespect, but we don't want your mother. We want you. And I was like, okay, so if you want me, I work full time. You know, do you have, you know, a workspace for me? You do you have a shared office space? Do you have a conference room? You know, I like to do pottery. Do you have a craft studio? Can I, do you have a kiln? Like, do I like play pickleball? Do you have any, you know, pickleball courts? And they're like, no, we don't have any of those things. I'm like, well, then how do you think you're going to get me?
John Jantsch (09:05.07)
Yeah. Right. Right. Right. So the next two letters were marketing automation. it's kind of a double edged sword or can be certainly, for, for folks because we can use it as a way to, not have to actually talk to anybody, for example. So how do you balance the fact that I'm guessing, the buyer in your particular case really wants to talk to something. They want to know who's going to be, you know, helping mom, right? so how do you balance kind of that marketing automation with the need for so much human interaction?
in this type of environment.
Debbie Howard (09:37.858)
Yeah, great question. Because I think especially this leading edge of the boomers, they want to remain anonymous and autonomous for as long as possible. So it's really up to marketing. think marketing gets the sale 70 % closed. They expect a lot of transparency. They want to go download guides and ebooks, and they want to watch videos and virtual tours. And it's a very long journey. it's
John Jantsch (09:46.247)
Right.
Debbie Howard (10:02.402)
you know, depending on which level of care, if it's active adult and independent living, it's over a year. If it's assisted living, you know, it can be more than six months, 22 to 28 touch points along that journey. And the sales team cannot possibly do 22 to 28 touch points for every single prospect that they have in their pipeline. So we look at marketing automation as being a compliment and nurturing the not yet sales ready leads, those marketing qualified leads.
John Jantsch (10:14.034)
Mm.
Debbie Howard (10:32.018)
They're not opting in to schedule a tour or clicking to call. But if we let them download a brochure or a funding guide, a family decision toolkit, they will opt in and then we nurture them. And there should really be no dead ends to the prospect journey because it is so long. But you're right, when that prospect is ready to talk to sales, they expect to talk to sales immediately.
John Jantsch (10:58.639)
Yeah
Debbie Howard (10:59.99)
So it takes a long time to get somebody to pick up that phone and to make that advance from a marketing qualified lead to a sales qualified lead. But I think that's what marketing automation does so well. And we look at reverse engineering the move -ins and where did they come from? What was the original attribution source? But also how many of them entered in with an intent to talk to sales? So we're able to take that subset of people who've gone all the way through the journey, become a resident in that community, and we're able to look at every single touch point.
John Jantsch (11:21.394)
Hmm.
Debbie Howard (11:29.826)
the way. And what's interesting is about for most of our clients, about 35 to 45 percent of the move -ins, the actual residents did not start out having intent to talk to sales. They progressed all by themselves with marketing automation without the sales team having to do anything.
John Jantsch (11:50.982)
Yeah. And I think that's a part of lot of people underestimate too, is how much of that is going on without our knowledge, right? I mean, and that we can actually lose the sale before we had ever had the opportunity to make the sale, you know, without really understanding that people need, people want to go on parts of that journey on their own, you know, because nobody really wants a sales presentation, right? They quite often want to know how something's going to work and be reassured that, you know, what you promised is going to happen.
But that happens very late in the journey a lot of times. how do you, and you and I have talked about this before, so I know a little bit, how do you align then that marketing approach with sales? Because a lot of times sales, my mother and father and mother -in -law father -in -law were in assisted living facilities and sales pretty much looked like whoever was walking by the phone when it rang.
So how do you get that, you alive?
Debbie Howard (12:53.642)
It's actually a friction point that we always have to work through with every client because salespeople think if they have every call and every lead, they're going to do better. But the reality is not everyone is ready for a sales interaction. And if you force it, you will lose them and they will go somewhere else. So it's really a matter of respecting the prospect and allowing them to decide how they want to engage with you.
John Jantsch (12:56.081)
Yeah.
Debbie Howard (13:20.06)
and allowing them to raise their hand when they're ready for that sales interaction. So how it usually goes is when we're kind of talking to a new client, we're talking about how marketing automation is a compliment. It does a lot of the rote and repetitive administrative work that the sales team doesn't have to do. Somebody can go on and schedule a tour. They can pick a date and time. Marketing automation is gonna confirm their appointment, thank them for scheduling, remind them that they're coming tomorrow.
And then after the visit's over, maybe ask them for a review. And so we want to get the salespeople the right leads at the right time. They can only manage so many. So we want them to have those high intent, ready to advance prospects, but we can't lose the pipeline. So at first the sales team likes that, right? That sounds really good. I'm gonna get the high intent, ready to convert leads. I'm gonna get fewer leads to work.
can spend more time with them and do what I do best, building relationships and report. It sounds great until 70 % of their leads disappear.
And then it's like, well, where's my leads? I want more leads. Well, these are all the leads that you threw away. These are the leads that you moved to loss. These are the leads that you moved, that you tried to reach twice and then moved to cold. But there's a little bit of a panic that sets in until they start seeing that the pipeline is advancing. Marketing automation is delivering them month over month. These sales qualified leads. And what's interesting is when you look at the length of stay,
John Jantsch (14:28.144)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.
Debbie Howard (14:55.298)
for somebody who comes in as a sales qualified lead with lots of urgency, like I got to move in today, mom's getting out of rehab, we need something immediately. Their length of stay is far shorter, which means your revenue is far less and they're higher acuity, it's more stress on the team. The people that actually have the longest sales site nurturing cycle and start as marketing qualified leads end up having almost double the length of stay.
John Jantsch (15:02.364)
Mm, right.
Debbie Howard (15:23.2)
So double your revenue, they stay longer, they have a better experience and it's not a crisis situation.
John Jantsch (15:30.108)
That's an interesting observation that could probably apply to a lot of industries. I sometimes talk about almost making people jump through hoops, making them consume certain content, making sure that when they do show up, they're educated as much as like why we're a good fit. I know some people push back on that. like, no, I just want the phone to ring. you really do, there's a qualification process that goes through that. I know that's not exactly what you were describing, but
But I think that's interesting.
Debbie Howard (16:00.61)
think it is because I think that the assumption is, and we get a lot of people who say, I just want sales qualified leads, like just give me phone calls and tours. Sales qualified means they have an intent to speak to sales. It doesn't mean they're financially qualified or they're going to be a good fit. And so there's always has to be that additional, you know, qualification that happens in sales.
John Jantsch (16:07.246)
Right, right.
John Jantsch (16:17.808)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Debbie Howard (16:26.934)
for those people that have that urgency. But I think sometimes people have a very warped definition of what a sales qualified lead is. They think you're handing them somebody who's gonna tour today and move in tomorrow. And when they find out, know, they're not a fit either from a health perspective or a financial perspective, it's like, what has marketing done for us? Well.
John Jantsch (16:35.729)
Yeah.
John Jantsch (16:39.483)
Yeah.
John Jantsch (16:48.498)
Yeah. Yeah. And, and another element I'm sure that they have to deal with a lot is the 50 year old oldest daughter of the family has never bought this product before. Right. Really.
Debbie Howard (16:59.008)
and probably never wanted to and hopefully wouldn't have to. And it's disruptive and it's expensive and it's emotional and all of those things.
John Jantsch (17:05.586)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I know we fight with a lot of folks over websites. was one I was just looking at today. They were like, we need you to improve our website. was like, your website's a complete takedown. You know, it is basically a brochure from 20 years ago. well, how do you explain to people the role, that their website plays in the sales process?
Debbie Howard (17:27.474)
We just tell them it's their most important marketing asset. end of story, hard stop. And so if they haven't done anything in three years, they need to do something. Now, they don't want to hear that. And they want to talk about a refresh. Will it cost us more to refresh a bad website than it does for us to stand up a brand new, contemporary, mobile first, responsive type of a website?
John Jantsch (17:30.374)
Yeah.
Debbie Howard (17:54.434)
You know, every marketing channel in our industry drives people to the website. That's where the conversion happens. That's where the attribution happens. And that's where the nurturing begins. So, you know, 90 % of people looking for a senior living community will visit the website during their journey. So we feel like it's the number one most important investment.
John Jantsch (18:14.266)
Yeah. Well, and I think what a lot of people underestimate too, is like what you just said, that's quite often where they start. Because again, you got to start somewhere. That's the easiest thing. We sit down at a desk and we do a little research and that's where we'll start. But what I think a lot of people underestimate is as I get more involved in the journey, I'll come back, but I have different objectives now. I'm there for a different reason now. Right. And so I think a lot of people underestimate that is just like, no, it just needs to have our phone number on there. Tell them what we do. But you know, no, I've got different
questions and objectives my third for time there.
Debbie Howard (18:47.394)
100%, it completely changes. We look at the three stages, the weather, the stage, the where stage and the when stage. And people in the weather stage are just trying to figure out, know, whether it's now or, you know, the new year, whether I can afford it, whether dad's going to get the veterans benefit. There's all those weather questions. And then there's where questions that are about, you know, the brand and then the when is about the urgency, but you need content, content, content to, for every single stage, every question.
John Jantsch (18:59.079)
Yeah.
John Jantsch (19:06.097)
Yeah.
John Jantsch (19:15.76)
Yeah. You, are, mentioned the course, but you were actually going as far as a smarter marketing certification. want to talk about that and maybe why, why you decided to go down that route.
Debbie Howard (19:28.298)
Yeah, well, you we think that there's so much opportunity for education. We don't have an industry certification in marketing. You know, we do have other things like a certified senior advisor. There are certain things, but we just felt like there's a real opportunity in the industry to create some good standards and benchmarks. And really, for me, it's always about how do we make this a better experience for the prospect?
John Jantsch (19:37.116)
Hmm.
John Jantsch (19:56.668)
Yes, yes.
Debbie Howard (19:57.694)
And if we can help people deliver a better experience, it's gonna be a better reflection on the industry because to a large degree for people that are serving the assisted living and memory care part of seniors housing, they are selling a product that nobody wants, hopes they don't need, have never bought, don't know how to do it. And it's challenging and it's a heavy lift. So we feel like we can deliver a lot.
John Jantsch (20:15.122)
Mm -hmm.
Debbie Howard (20:25.514)
a lot of value to the industry. And we allow people, if they just want to take the course just for learning, just to do a better job internally or maybe holding another agency accountable, they can do that without the certification. But people that are really serious, each of our subject matter experts will be doing the videos, teaching their part of the course, and then they will review the work. So for instance, if somebody's doing a class on persona development, right, they're gonna have to submit.
their focus groups and their interviews and their outcomes and their persona documentation. And someone on our team will review it and then pass them or give it back to them for some more work.
John Jantsch (20:54.642)
Mm -hmm.
John Jantsch (21:08.71)
Yeah. And I think I've always believed the more education you can do, even with somebody who turns around and becomes a client, they're a better client, right? Because they understand why you're doing what you're doing or why you're asking them to do what, what you need to do. That's always been my, my point of view. Yeah. Well, Debbie, it was great getting to some time with you. you want to tell people where they might connect with you, obviously find out about the certification and pick up a copy of smarter marketing for senior living communities.
Debbie Howard (21:23.746)
Yeah, absolutely.
Debbie Howard (21:37.184)
Yeah, thank you, John. I'm on LinkedIn, very active on LinkedIn, so you can definitely find me there. Senior Living Smart is the website. The book will be published on Amazon, so available on September 17th, which is next week.
John Jantsch (21:53.298)
Yep. Yep. Depend upon when you're listening to this September 17th, 2024. bet you believe it or not, Debbie, people come back and listen to these years later. So I always like to get the date sort of out of their relative at least, but anyway, well, congratulations. And again, hopefully we'll run into you soon out there on the road.
Debbie Howard (22:10.486)
Thanks, John.
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How ‘Company Culture’ Became Overused written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Brian GottliebIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Brian Gottlieb, founder of Tundraland Home Improvements and author of ‘Beyond the Hammer.’
He transformed a $3,000 investment into a multi-state enterprise with nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales. Gottlieb, an inspirational business leader, and Harvard Business School executive education alumnus, champions a leadership philosophy centered on strategy, empowerment, and consistent execution while founding charitable initiatives like “Windows for a Cause” and “Baths for the Brave.”
We discuss Brian’s journey in building a successful business from the ground up, emphasizing the importance of belief in leadership, creating a positive company culture, and the impact of community initiatives. Brian shares insights on effective feedback techniques, the significance of employee engagement, and how to align a team around a common mission. The conversation highlights the role of training and development in fostering a motivated workforce and the importance of understanding employee perspectives through “stay” interviews instead of waiting for an exit interview.
Key Takeaways Starting a business with limited resources can lead to innovative solutions. * Belief in people is crucial for leadership and team success. * Aligning a team around a joint mission enhances performance. * Creating a positive employee experience is essential for retention. * Feedback should be constructive and encouraging to foster growth. * “Stay” interviews provide valuable insights into employee satisfaction. * Company culture is shaped by the behaviors tolerated within the organization. * Community initiatives can enhance employee engagement and brand reputation. * Recruitment should focus on finding individuals who align with the company’s mission. * Training and development are vital to building a skilled workforce. Chapters:[00:00]* Introduction and Background[03:10] Belief as the Foundation of Leadership[10:11] The ‘Center and Sphere’ Approach to Feedback[16:27] Engaging Employees Through Mission-Driven Initiatives[19:20] Creating a Positive Employee Experience and Attracting Top TalentMore About Brian Gottlieb:*** Check out Brian’s website * Follow Brian on Linkedin * Grab a copy of Beyond the Hammer: A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High Performance Teams
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by ActiveCampaign
Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabBrian Gottlieb (00:00): Back in the early days. I think the only rule of business is simply to stay in business. Sometimes it's the rules that we create in our own mind that limit us. It's my belief. If you're a business owner, one thing's for sure. If people love what they do, they tend to do it a whole lot better.
John Jantsch (00:14): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Brian Gottlieb. He is the founder of Tundra Land Home Improvements and author of the upcoming book we're going to talk about today Beyond the Hammer, a Fresh Approach to Leadership, culture and Building High Performance Team. So Brian, welcome to the show.
Brian Gottlieb (00:35): John. Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Let's have a good chat today.
John Jantsch (00:39): Yeah. So is there Tundra Land? Is there some story behind the name there? I find myself tripping over it every time. I want to say Thunder Land or something like that.
Brian Gottlieb (00:47): Yeah, people did mistake it for that at that time. First of all, I wanted to find a name that didn't exist on from a URL standpoint. So the business was Wisconsin based, which is the frozen tundra. So I thought, why not Tundra Land? And it seemed to work real well. And then of course I dialed one 800 Tundra Land to see who would answer in some plumbing company, somewhere answered. And I said, Hey, can I buy your phone number? And they said, sure. So I had the domain and I had the one 800 number. So he was a happy guy.
John Jantsch (01:16): They probably didn't even know what you were buying, right? I mean, they weren't using it for that. It just happened to add up.
Brian Gottlieb (01:21): Right, right.
John Jantsch (01:22): So in the bio, I didn't read this part, but to you talk about starting your business with $3,000. So I'm not going to ask you what challenges you face because it's obvious, right? But talk a little bit about the early days and really was there a pivotal moment, because you've obviously grown it to quite an enterprise now.
Brian Gottlieb (01:43): Yeah, right. 2009 in the back of a friend's warehouse on a plastic folding table with $3,000 in cash. I thought it was a great time to start a business. So look, there were a lot of people that in 2007 and eight lost their jobs, which also meant there was an opportunity there, some great talent out there, and it was to me, a great time to start a business. But sure, in the early days, everything was a challenge. I mean, everything was a challenge. $3,000 doesn't go very far. So this is Duct Tape Marketing. You have to go out and you have to make a lead, and you have to make a lead, and you have to sell a lead, and you have to install a lead, and you have to do all those things just to stay in business another day. Back in the early days, I think the only rule of business is simply to stay in business. But over time, we started to grow and grow. And when I sold all the businesses that original business, tand spawned into a couple of other businesses that covered multiple states in the United States. We had 600 employees and doing about 150 million in revenue when I finally sold all the businesses a couple of years ago. It was quite a fun ride. A lot of learning along the way though.
John Jantsch (02:47): Well, your book is essentially a, I dunno, would you call it a leader? Yeah, you'd call it a leadership book, I suppose. And I think somebody who's at some level managed 600 employees can actually call themselves a leader. A lot of your book is pegged to the word belief and this idea that it really starts with that. And I'm a fan of the idea of the power of the universe delivering if you have beliefs. So unpack kind of that idea and what it means to this entire book, or really even to your entire thinking about leading.
Brian Gottlieb (03:22): Yeah, so what it all really came from is that when you think about back in 2009 when I started the business, if you've asked me what my business was, I would've said, well, we're a construction company.
Testimonial (03:31): Maybe
Brian Gottlieb (03:31): Fast forward six years later, when I had 30, 40, 50 employees, I might've said, well, we're a sales and marketing company that happens to be in home improvements. But what really allowed us to grow was when we said, what are we really? Well, we're a training organization. Let's just be a training and development company, and what does that mean? And part of that process is believing in people and helping and getting people to believe in themselves. And the more people believe in themselves, the more they're willing to grow. Sometimes it's the rules that we create in our own mind that limit us. So can a leader change that perspective? And how do you influence the mindset of people on your team? John, when I first started the business, the success of the business depended upon how well I personally executed. But as you start hiring people and building a team, now the business' success depends on how well teams execute. And by the way, that's both in the leader's presence and in their absence. So getting people to believe in themselves, but also getting them aligned around a certain set of beliefs around a mission and a vision and things that really matter. And these are all the necessary ingredients to build an aligned team and aligned teams perform well in any market regardless of competition.
John Jantsch (04:42): So how do you get, you're in one of those industries where, I mean, there are a lot of businesses that knowledge workers are brought in and they're told the mission and we got to believe and we're all on the same team. And sometimes you feel like, I could be wrong, I am wrong. But sometimes the feeling is that, well, those people naturally get it, but okay, you hire a carpenter and they just want to go out and build the mantle on the job that they're working on and not really think of themselves as a training company. How do you kind of deal with that mindset? Or did you,
Brian Gottlieb (05:11): Yeah, that's a great question, John. So first of all, it's true. There are a lot of mission statements that are either, in some cases they're businesses, and other times it's just maybe a poster on the wall somewhere.
(05:22): And the question is, how do you bring it to life? How do you weave it into the fabric of your organization? And how do you make it so that everybody, whether they're swinging a hammer out in the field, just a carpenter or somebody that's working in the mall trying to schedule an appointment for a bathroom model, how do they understand what is their role in the mission and vision? How do you bring it to life? I'll give you an example of one way we did that if I could. So we would install replacement windows in people's homes. Well, when you put new windows in people's homes, you typically take the old windows out and you throw 'em in the trash, which normally that's okay, but our mission statement was to do well and do good. And what that meant for us is the purpose of business is to make a decent profit decently.
(06:03): So we always looked for opportunities where we could do just that and how can we involve others in the organization In doing so, one way was with these old windows. We would take these old windows out of people's homes, and instead of throwing 'em away, we would turn them into really cool art pieces by giving these sashes to local artists and community members and the high schools, and they would turn these windows into art pieces. And then once a year, all these windows would get auctioned off and the money raised would go to make a positive impact. Then the life of another individual. If the installer wasn't careful taking those windows out, we wouldn't have windows to auction. If the marketer didn't set an appointment, we wouldn't have windows to auction. So that's just one example of how you can take a mission statement and just really weave it into the business. And people then feel like their job is more than just a job. It feels like they have purpose, and that's really important. They also understand that their work is impactful.
John Jantsch (06:58): And there's countless, especially when we were going through after the pandemic and there was this quiet quitting and all whatever terms people wanted to call it. Really the bottom line came down to people saying, I, I'm not tired of working. I'm just tired of working here. I'm just tired of working for you. I want to work somewhere
Brian Gottlieb (07:15): Where I feel valued. I write about that in my book that there was a study upwards of 60% of people in the United States have left a job simply by the way, just to get away from a manager. So there are a lot of reasons why you write people quite quit after the pandemic, but then still there are a lot of unhappy people. And that's such a shame because look, it's my belief, if you're a business owner, one thing's for sure, if people love what they do, they tend to do it a whole lot better. So how do we get people just to love what they do? Because the customer journey really starts with the employee journey
John Jantsch (07:46): A hundred percent. I mean, I've said it a hundred times any way, shape and form that your business comes into contact with a customer, that person is performing a marketing function regardless of what their job title
Brian Gottlieb (07:57): Is. It certainly is. And it's interesting because when you think about scripting inside of an organization, it's quite common in the home improvement business where maybe the sales reps are scripted, but really the installers need to be also taught how to communicate with a customer. How do you ask for check? How do you make sure the customer is happy and all these sort of things? Because you're right. The thing about the home improvement industry, unlike many businesses, is 99.9% of every employee is customer facing, whether it's over the phone or face to face. And you're right, and everything represents your brand, and you just want to make sure that you're aware of that.
John Jantsch (08:34): Well look no further than the reviews, the five star reviews in the home service industry, and they don't often mention the company. They mention Rusty who fixed my boiler.
Brian Gottlieb (08:44): That's right. We had a couple of our installers. What they would do is while they were in the home doing whether a bath project or window project, they kept some nine volt batteries in their toolkit and they would say, Hey, Mrs. Jones, when's the last time you changed your smoke detector batteries? I'm here. I'm happy to do it for you. I'll tell you what, look, we always installed a great shower and a great window for people, but customers love that little 2% shift. It was a big deal for them.
John Jantsch (09:09): Well, a lot of it's because they're not getting that in a lot of places in their life. And so I think that it, I don't want to say it's easy, but it kind of lowers the bar, doesn't it?
Brian Gottlieb (09:18): Well, people deserve, customers deserve to have a great experience, especially when they're investing their money in something. Likewise, employees deserve to have a great experience. They're giving up a portion of their life inside of an organization. They should be happy doing so it shouldn't be a miserable experience. It doesn't. There might be some other
John Jantsch (09:38): Stuff they'd rather do. So let's get down to some brass tacks here, some in the weeds stuff. You introduce an approach to feedback that you call the center and sphere. You want to break that down.
Brian Gottlieb (09:51): So what happens when you tend to give feedback to people, even when it's just a little bit constructive, they tend to kind of shut down and people tend to remember the negative more than the positive. So when we give feedback to people, we want to transfer belief whenever possible, and we do that through the center of the sphere. We explained to them that A, we believe in them and we believe in them because, John, I believe in you because I've seen you do X, Y, and Z before, and I know you can continue to do well at that. What I'd like you to work on is fill in the blank, some sort of actionable feedback, but then you surrounded again with the sphere of encouragement because remember, the purpose of a one-on-one conversation when you're coaching isn't necessarily to terminate somebody. It's to coach them up. And to be a great coach, you have to be effective. And how do you be effective? Well, you have to connect with people and get people to really want it. Take advantage of whatever advice you're giving them and not look like they, you're beating up on them either.
John Jantsch (10:48): It's my pleasure to welcome a new sponsor to the podcast. Our friends at ActiveCampaign. ActiveCampaign helps small teams power big businesses with the must have platform for intelligent marketing automation. We've been using ActiveCampaign for years here at Duct Tape Marketing to power our subscription forms, email newsletters and sales funnel drip campaigns. ActiveCampaign is that rare platform that's affordable, easy to use, and capable of handling even the most complex marketing automation needs, and they make it easy to switch. They provide every new customer with one-on-one personal training and free migrations from your current marketing automation or email marketing provider. You can try ActiveCampaign for free for 14 days and there's no credit card required. Just visit activecampaign.com/duct tape. That's right. Duct Tape Marketing podcast listeners who sign up via that link. We'll also receive 15% off an annual plan. That's activecampaign.com/duct tape. Now, this offer is limited to new active campaign customers only. So what are you waiting for? Fuel your growth, boost revenue and save precious time by upgrading to active campaign today. Yeah, and it's tough. I know as a business leader myself, a lot of times people are doing good work. It's like it's really easy to take it for granted. Well, that's their job. They get paid to do that, but there's no question that pointing out when people are doing good is a really powerful tool, isn't it?
Brian Gottlieb (12:18): Yeah. What's interesting is some of the best processes came from employees that weren't necessarily satisfied, by the way, this whole thing that when an employee leaves, you're supposed to do an exit survey and an exit survey. Well, okay, that's great. It's an autopsy is what, let's call it an autopsy. Okay, but you mine so much valuable information. We started to do something called stay interviews. Instead of waiting for somebody to leave, let's interview them while they're actually working with us. Let's ask them four questions. The first question is, what makes you want to come to work every day? The second question is, what would one day make you want to leave? The third question is, what is one thing the company is doing wrong today? And the fourth question is, what is something you're not getting out of your leader that you really need? Mining for those things really tells us where we need to take the organization, because what happens is when a business grows, and with 600 people, you could imagine the org chart is growing and I'm getting further and further away from the customer and really away from the customer facing people.
(13:20): So stay interviews really connects the leader of the business to what the mindset of the team is, the true culture of the organization, how are people thinking? Because how they think affects how they act and how they act is how they behave, which is how the organization performs
John Jantsch (13:37): Well. And those are some pretty tough questions, and I think that somebody who has asked those questions is going to feel heard. It's like, oh, you care what I think?
Brian Gottlieb (13:45): And isn't that what people want? But we all want to feel heard, valued, and appreciated. More so than a paycheck, by the way.
John Jantsch (13:52): Yeah, yeah. No, it shows up all the time when people are surveyed. So how much of this, the word culture has certainly been pretty popular the last 10 years. How much of this really, the problem I have with the word culture is a lot of times people, this is what it should be. This is what it ought to be, as opposed to, this is what it is, because that's really what culture is. I mean, there's things you can do intentionally. So how much of this would you say is culture and how much of it is just figuring out who you are and being it?
Brian Gottlieb (14:19): Well, I think, look, let's talk about what culture is right there. I think the word is overused. Every business has a culture, whether you want it or not, you've got a culture. Now we can talk about what that culture is, but I believe culture is what do people think about the organization? What do they think about their, how do they think and feel about the business itself, and how does that affect organizational performance? We had a saying in our business that if you wanted to copy our performance, you first had to copy our culture, which means you had to copy what goes on inside of our people's heads. And that's a lot to me. If you have the right culture, and you can always inspect your culture, look at any organization. I visited plenty of companies. I know you have too, John, and if you look at how a company hires, how they terminate people, what does that process look like? How they promote, how they reward and compensate. That'll tell you a lot about the culture because it'll tell you what the priorities are inside of the organization, which also tells you how people think and feel about the business.
John Jantsch (15:22): So there's a line, I think it's directly from the book. Company culture is shaped by the lowest level of acceptable behavior in an, that's a pretty bold statement, Mr. Gotlieb.
Brian Gottlieb (15:35): Yeah. Well, what happens? It's a very important statement. It's easy. It's the manager that creates a toxic environment, shapes the culture of the organization, the high performer, low culture fit, the person that really gets results, but they're not good around the rest of the team that you try to isolate shapes the culture of the organization, the low performer, high culture fit, the person you in sales, it's like the person you love, but they can't even close a car door, but you keep them around because you love them. All of these things shape the culture of an organization. This is why it can't be ignored. One of the pillars in the book is that leaders are aware of the echo of their voice, and the idea is that you can't ignore these sort of things because you're right. The culture is shaped by the lowest level of acceptable behavior.
John Jantsch (16:22): I mean, it really kind of disempowers the people that say, Hey, I'm doing this and doing that, and look what they're getting away with. I guess they don't care.
Brian Gottlieb (16:31): It sends a wild ripple effect through the entire organization.
John Jantsch (16:35): Yeah, yeah. So you briefly mentioned Windows for a cause. You had another one, baths for the Brave or for the Brave. Talk a little bit about, you started talking about where they came from. What impact did they have really on your business to the point where you probably sought out my next business, we're going to do X, right?
Brian Gottlieb (16:54): Yeah, yeah. It's interesting because the thing about Windows for cause is as it makes an employee, a co-producer in the mission statement, it also makes the customer a co-producer. And that's really powerful when you can create a co-producing customer. IKEA does that really well. If you buy anything from ikea, everything comes in a little skinny box and you got to put it together. You know that going into ikea, but IKEA customers are co-producers. Keeping the costs of Ikea down Bath for the Brave was another example. It's so sad. The thing about the Bath business is it's very joyful, but there's a lot of sadness too. There are people that have, there are a lot of veterans, in fact, that have served our country proudly, but they have a shower because of mobility issues that they're petrified of. They can't step over their bathtub safely. They can't take a shower safely in their own home, and they don't necessarily have the financial means to do anything about it.
(17:45): Bath For the Brave was an initiative that we started where we surprised free veterans. We surprised veterans with free showers just in time for Veterans Day. And in fact, it wasn't just myself. It became a movement with 30 40 other home improvement companies across the country, all surprising veterans with free shower projects. When you talk about how do you involve an installer in your mission, I will share with you, John, the installers would fight with each other. They wanted to be the one to install the free shower for the veteran that served our country. And again, we can't do free showers for veterans if customers don't first buy showers from us. I think a tangible mission that creates a co-producing customer and involves your team in the process is really something
John Jantsch (18:32): Special. And that's why I love, from a marketing standpoint, and the home improvement business was probably as bad as any, it got really tough to find skilled labor there for a long time, especially as demand was skyrocketing. And I found that companies that did a great job with their employees and were actually able to promote how happy their employees were and what a great place this was to work. That became a tremendous brand, didn't it?
Brian Gottlieb (18:56): Yeah, that's right. That's right. Because word does get around, doesn't it? Word does get around. It's interesting. When I sold one of my businesses in 2022, and again, it was coming off of there's no labor shortage. We received 9,000 job applications the last year I had my business 9,000 applications that people that wanted to come. And by the way, this isn't Wisconsin where there are more cows than people, just to be clear. So that's a lot of applications, but people want be part of something really cool. And again, because really when you think about even recruitment is marketing as well. It's all marketing, isn't it?
John Jantsch (19:34): Yeah. A lot of people just think it's lead generation or something. It's like you run an ad and people show up, and it's really, if we're talking about all the things being true, people want to work a place with purpose. I guarantee you some percentage of a performers that you want, they're looking for that first.
Brian Gottlieb (19:52): That's right. And then if an organization can also create upward mobility, because as long as I've been in this industry, there's been a labor shortage, and so let's not even worry about that. Let's just be a training organization where we can take people right out of high school that didn't want to go to college, and let's teach them a skill where they can do quite well and have a wonderful life with great benefits and raise a family, and all those things that are really cool in life. But you have to believe in people to do that,
John Jantsch (20:21): Get good at their craft. Did you start apprentice programs? Was that part of your
Brian Gottlieb (20:25): We did, yeah. We were able to bring anybody in and just if they were willing, if they had the right mindset, if they were hungry and trainable and all those sort of things, yeah, we can put 'em on a path of success and didn't mean just because we hired them for this role, that's where they ended up. Sometimes we move 'em into another role inside of the business. Again, it really does come down to just taking a moment and trying to find the best fit for somebody and not just kicking 'em to the curb in the role they're in. It's not working out.
John Jantsch (20:51): Yeah. Awesome. Well, Brian, I appreciate you taking a few moments to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. You want to tell people where they might connect with you and find more about Beyond the Hammer?
Brian Gottlieb (21:02): Yeah. You can always connect with me on my website, which is brian gottlieb.com and beyond. The Hammers available on Amazon, the audio version, Kindle, and of course the hardcover book. It's a great read. I think you really enjoyed it. It's a fun story. It's a parable, and it's also actionable, so you can plug it into your business very quickly.
John Jantsch (21:20): Awesome. Well, again, I appreciate you stopping by, and hopefully we'll run into you one of these days out there on the road.
Testimonial (21:36): I was like this. Found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made.
John Jantsch (21:52): What you just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit dtm.world/scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash Scale.
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Weekend Favs September 14th written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Crate – AI content curation tool that suggests relevant content for social media sharing based on user preferences.
- Supermetrics – AI marketing data reporting tool that pulls data from multiple sources into dashboards.
- Brand24 – AI-powered tool for tracking brand mentions, sentiment analysis, and competitor research.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
The Power of Expert Feedback to Improve Writing Skills written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Tim Grahl
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Tim Grahl, CEO and publisher of Story Grid. He discusses the process of writing and publishing books, emphasizing the importance of developing writing skills and receiving expert feedback. He also highlights the power of storytelling and the impact that books can have on readers.
Tim Grahl dedicates himself to helping authors craft better narratives and bring their work to readers. His expertise lies in applying the Story Grid methodology to fiction and nonfiction, guiding writers through creating compelling, well-structured stories. Under Tim’s leadership, Story Grid has become a valuable resource for authors seeking to refine their craft and successfully navigate the publishing landscape. His book, “The Shithead: A Novel in Fifty Songs” is set to be released on September 19th!
Key Takeaways* Writing is a skill that requires deliberate practice and expert feedback. * Start by writing short scenes before attempting to write an entire novel. * Books have the power to leave a legacy and impact readers. * Expert feedback is crucial for improving writing skills.
Chapters[00:00] Introduction to Tim Grahl and Story Grid[03:20] The Process of Writing and Publishing Books[08:52] The Power of Books and Leaving a Legacy[12:10] Starting with Short Scenes: The Path to Writing a Novel[16:36] The Importance of Expert Feedback in Writing[20:12] The Role of Workshops and Expert Feedback[23:14] Favorite Authors: Anne Tyler and Carlos Ruiz ZafonMore About Tim Grahl:* Add Tim Grahl on LinkedIn * Check out his Website * Grab a copy of The Shithead: A Novel in Fifty Songs
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by:OracleNobody does data better than Oracle. Train your AI models at twice the speed and less than half of the cost of other clouds. If you want to do more and spend less, take a free test drive at Oracle.
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabTim Grahl (00:00): Books go places you can't go by yourself. And so they have a way of going out into the world and touching people that you could never get to on your own.
John Jantsch (00:10): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Tim Grahl. He is the CEO and publisher of Story Grid where he oversees marketing and operations for the story grid universe and story grid publishing. Under Tim's leadership Story Grid has become a valuable resource for authors seeking to refine their craft and successfully navigate the publishing landscape. We are going to talk about a number of books, first thousand copies, book Launch Blueprint, but Tim's also got a new book, a novel called The Shithead, a novel for N 50 songs, which depend upon when you're listening to this comes out in September of 2024. There. I just ruined my G rating. Dang it, Tim.
Tim Grahl (00:53): Yeah, I've already had a couple people say the book had a lot of language in it. I'm like, if you did
John Jantsch (01:00): You the Bible, my first book, duct Tape Marketing was published by Thomas Nelson. They were just getting into business publishing, but they had to date it had been a Christian publisher. They still give the imprints still around. They sold the business part to Harper. But Thomas Nelson is the biggest publisher of Bibles.
Testimonial (01:17): And
John Jantsch (01:17): So in my manuscript, when I turned it in, the only word they made me take out was crap, the word crap. So we've come a long way, haven't we? Yeah.
Tim Grahl (01:27): Now we're just putting it on the cover.
John Jantsch (01:29): So explain what Story Grid is for those who haven't discovered it.
Tim Grahl (01:35): Yeah, so my partner, Sean Coyne, has been in publishing since 1991, mainly as an editor, but also as a writer and story researcher. And he wanted to develop a way to analyze books to find out what's wrong and fix them. And so he came up with what is now called the Story Grid, which is so we can give really clear, specific feedback on people's writing from the sentence all the way up to the full novel or full book. And it's a really systematic approach that's based on feedback and a rubric that we can actually help people become a better writer in a very short period of time. And so I came on, we started the podcast nine years ago, and I was the Guinea pig. And so I would write in public and share it on the podcast, and he would give me feedback and just rip it apart live on the podcast. And now I'm the CEO. So I run all the marketing and operations and everything, and I'm kind of the main Guinea pig still. So that's why my book's coming out, and it's a proof of concept of what we can do at Story Grid.
John Jantsch (02:37): So it is funny that you talk about it having a rubric and being very systematic. I remember one of my first editors read through the first kind of chunk of the book that I gave them, and he said one of his notes on the paper, I felt like it was an eighth grade English teacher wrote on the paper and said, you do a lot of throat clearing here. And that was one of my favorite pieces of feedback. Get to the point. Damn it.
Tim Grahl (03:00): Yeah. So that's what we focus on is helping writers level up their craft so they can write a book that they're proud of that leaves a
John Jantsch (03:07): Legacy. Do you find that one genre, it works better than another? I mean, obviously business books or nonfiction books are much different than fiction. Does it not matter
Tim Grahl (03:18): As far as the writing or the marketing side,
John Jantsch (03:20): Or No, really, as far as the story grid approach?
Tim Grahl (03:23): Oh yeah. So we're on fiction and anything narrative driven. So we do memoir, we like a lot of Malcolm Gladwell books. I write nonfiction and I write business books. But it's a different approach than a narrative driven book.
John Jantsch (03:41): Yeah, yeah. Okay. So talk a little bit about, you mentioned the, I think we were on, I think we're here, we're recording. I've been doing too many interviews today. Sorry. But the idea of doing interviews for this, so in fact, you at some point did 600 one-on-one calls with your audience. First off, that sounds incredibly painful, but you clearly learned something from the nature of it.
Tim Grahl (04:07): Yeah, so almost two years ago, back in November, 2022, the business kind of hit a wall. And I realized through just things when it's just this gut feeling of things are not working well, and this is not going to grow, I don't know what's going on, something's wrong. And so a friend of mine, she was like, Hey, she started asking me questions about our audience, and I couldn't answer them. And she's like, you need to get to know your audience better. She's like, you need to start doing just phone calls with your audience. And what she didn't know about me at the time is I'm like a fucking train. So you tell me to do something and I just start doing it and I don't stop. And so I started doing calls in January, 2023, and now I've done probably now 650 one-on-one calls with people, and I'm now scaling back from that. But it's one of those macro level, it was painful, but it's calls with people that are trying to be writers. Most of them are pretty
John Jantsch (05:11): Fun.
Tim Grahl (05:12): I like those people. But now I know my audience really well. I know why they write. I know how old they are. I know when they began writing, I just know them so deeply and well and changed the whole approach to marketing, and we figured out what we should be doing in the company in the process. So about a year ago, I had a really big breakthrough again, after I'd done probably the first two or 300, and now we're up 29.2% in the business this year, over in the previous three years, we had been flat for three years. And so we figured it out and now we're going to grow. But it was just really, I just needed to get to know my people. And so I started talking to 'em one at a time.
John Jantsch (05:59): So it's funny, for years we have developed marketing strategy for clients, and a lot of how we develop messaging is by interviewing their clients because their clients talk about the problems that they get solved by that company. And quite often it has nothing to do with the actual product. It's stuff they're not getting in other parts of their life even. It's pretty crazy. And some of the verbatim statements that people have said, I was like, well, there's your core message.
Tim Grahl (06:24): Yeah, it was for too much of, well, one of the things I realized was we kept talking about writing a book that'll sell well and writing your bestseller.
(06:33): After I'd done the first almost a hundred calls, I went back through all my notes and just read through. Not one person talked to me about wanting to write a bestselling book. They want to leave a legacy. They want to leave something behind for their family to read. They want their kids, their grandkids to be proud of them. And I'm like, oh gosh, I just pulled all of that stuff out of our marketing, and it's all about legacy, being proud of doing the thing you've wanted to do since you were 14 years old. And I didn't know that it made sense after the fact, but I didn't know before I just talked to everybody.
John Jantsch (07:09): Writing is weird, isn't it? A lot of people, even if they say, I'm a terrible writer, I would never do that, or I'm certainly not going to make the time to do that secretly, doesn't everybody want to write a book?
Tim Grahl (07:18): As far as I can tell, I mean, I hang out with a lot of writers, but I think what it is, we all want to leave something behind that takes everything we've learned. We've all been through really shitty stuff. We've all learned really hard lessons, and we want to leave it behind for other people. And the seemingly most accessible way to do that is to write a book. It's hard to make a movie you can paint. I don't think that gets the point across. So a book seems to be the way to do that, and it does it really well. And I actually think fiction is a better form than nonfiction because if I start telling you, John, this is what you need to do and here's what you need to think, it's like I start arguing with you or thinking, but if you just tell me a story, it changes my mind without much effort. So that's what I've really dedicated myself to is being somebody that can write something great. The shithead is the outcome of that. The early reviews of it have been really good. People love it, and it's having the kind of people are emailing me saying, I'm going to therapy after reading your book. So it's
John Jantsch (08:31): Pretty gratifying, isn't it? I mean, to realize that you can have that impact and you won't hear from a lot of people. But I mean, wrote Duct Tape Marketing 17, 18 years ago, and it just floors me that people today are like, I built my business on that. I was really trying to came out, I was just trying to feed my family. I had no idea.
Tim Grahl (08:56): Yeah, I mean, I read it when it first came out. I remember buying it at my Barnes and Noble when I lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, and I was trying to get my business off the ground, and I was like, this guy knows what he's talking about. It was like the first time I felt like I read something that was something I could do. It wasn't some high-minded way of doing it. Oh yeah, for sure. So writing and books go places. You can't go by
John Jantsch (09:22): Yourself.
Tim Grahl (09:23): And so they have a way of going out into the world and touching people that you could never get to on your own.
John Jantsch (09:30): So I'll start basic and start peeling into the actual stuff. But when somebody comes to you and says, oh, Tim, I really want to write a book, what should I do?
Tim Grahl (09:39): Yeah, I mean, the first thing I try to do is talk 'em out of it. It's cliche at this point, but it's like writing book. And it depends on how you're approaching it. Writing a nonfiction like a business book, and again, I've written a few of these, so I love them. That's a different thing than trying to write fiction. Fiction is really hard to do Well,
John Jantsch (10:05): And
Tim Grahl (10:06): I have, yeah. So anyway, if somebody wants to learn how to write, the first thing they need to do is just start writing short pieces. We're a big fan on the fiction side or the memoir side of writing one scene. Can you write one scene that gets somebody excited to read the next scene? If you can't do that, you shouldn't be trying to write an entire book because it's setting out for a road trip from LA to New York, and you don't even know how to drive a car. You're going to put it in the ditch before you get out of the neighborhood. And so with business books, I find that they're easier because you're usually talking in your own voice, especially if it's from your expertise. So you're used to consulting, you're used to coaching, so writing in your own voice is a little easier. But the biggest thing is, can you write a blog post that people want to read? If you write a white paper and you send it to 10 people, do they interact with it? Do they email you back? Do they like it? Was it helpful? And sitting down to write a book first can be really daunting. And if you don't have a good guide walking you through it and you've never done it before, it'll probably not be very good.
John Jantsch (11:16): AI might be the most important new computer technology ever. It's storming every industry and literally billions of dollars are being invested. So buckle up. The problem is that AI needs a lot of speed and processing power. So how do you compete without cost spiraling out of control? It's time to upgrade to the next generation of the cloud. Oracle Cloud infrastructure or O-C-I-O-C-I is a single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs. OCI has four to eight times the bandwidth of other clouds offers one consistent price instead of a variable regional pricing. And of course, nobody does data better than Oracle. So now you can train your AI models at twice the speed and less than half of the cost of other clouds. If you want to do more and spend less like Uber eight by eight and Databricks Mosaic, take a free test drive@ociatoracle.com slash duct tape. That's oracle.com/duct tape oracle.com/duct tape. So I know in my books and in nonfiction books, I mean, do have a, here's the through line, here's the order of stuff. A lot of really good fiction books actually work because stuff's out of order, because it has a narrative that you come back and go, oh, now I know Y when they crashed the car, they didn't do X or something. You know what I mean?
(12:43): And that to me is what I always find is that you take the note cards and you rearrange 'em all, or how do you do that?
Tim Grahl (12:51): Yeah, it depends on how you go about it, but the way that we've found works the best is you start with your theme, which is how you want the reader to change as a result of reading your book. Right? Right.
John Jantsch (13:04): That's totally true of any good book, right?
Tim Grahl (13:05): Yeah. So it's like what's the one if one change they make? So for my book, the Shithead, it was like, I want to move people from feeling like they're broken pieces of shit to they're perfect and have everything they need. I really truly believe that about people. I believe that if that one change could happen across the globe, it would solve 95% of our problems.
Testimonial (13:28): And
Tim Grahl (13:28): So I believe that. So then it's like, okay, now I start crafting a story that will, you can watch somebody descend into hell of believing they're a piece of shit and then come out of it at the end, right?
(13:41): And so it really is about, the hardest thing is when you're writing a business book, you just put on the page the truth. Here, do this. And there you go with the fiction title. You have to just tell the story and trust the reader to get the message that you're trying to give them. And it's all about you being able to write a story that infers everything to the reader. So that's the hard part. But when you're at a restaurant and you're people watching and you see that couple across and you're like, oh my God, they're fighting
John Jantsch (14:16): And
Tim Grahl (14:17): You didn't hear anything. You didn't hear them fighting, but you can just see in the way they're interacting. So with writing a fiction book, you have to just show what I can observe and let the reader pick up on the fact that they're fighting. I don't want to tell the reader they're fighting. So if I'm a good writer, I should be able to describe it in such a way where they know what's going on. That's one of the harder things about writing fiction, is you have to just tell the story. You have to have the theme clearly locked in your head, but you don't put the theme on the page. You just let the reader figure it out.
John Jantsch (14:52): I wonder, I often wonder that it's like an actor in a play. I mean, they become obsessed with the character. When you're writing a book like this, does every conversation, everything you see the couple of next, they become characters or fodder, at least for characters.
Tim Grahl (15:07): Well, again, I think this is different depending on the writer. So this book was, I took what happened to me and some stuff that happened to me, and I built a novel around it. So it was a very personal story. So it's definitely not a true story. Some pretty rough stuff in there that didn't happen to me. But it's more about, it's almost like looking back, so you're like, all right, I need something like this, or I need a character that did this. And you just start pulling stuff from other movies, other books, stuff that's happened to you,
(15:46): Just different things of, but you have to be like, all right, I'm building this story and I need something like this here. I need a character. So I get really firmly planted, and I'm usually pulling from my life, so I'm like, oh, I'm, this character is that person, so I'm going to write that person into the book and just try to make them bigger than life. So it's a little bit of both, but I try to shut it off because it's not good if I'm out to dinner with my wife and I'm thinking about writing. Yeah,
John Jantsch (16:17): Yeah. Well, I suspect that's a great place for people to start, especially for a first book because they have a lot of firsthand knowledge. And you become James Patterson. You can go start hiring people to research stuff for you. But that first book, I'm sure. So do you have any tips for I, one of the things most people that are writing, many people that are writing fiction, it is not their day job. It is something that they're doing kind of on the side to try to finish. So do you have any tips for like, okay, it's going to be 58,000 words. How do I get that done?
Tim Grahl (16:53): Well, so the one thing I try to get people not to do is try to write a novel at the beginning, because novels are really hard to put together, and there's too many things happening. And this is one of the things I have a stack of soapbox, and this is one of 'em, right? So people don't understand that writing is a skill just like any other complex skill. So if I have never played the guitar before, you play the guitar, right?
John Jantsch (17:21): I do.
Tim Grahl (17:22): So if I've never played the guitar before and you said, Hey, Tim, just sit down and play Led Zeppelin, man, come on. And I'm like, no, I can't know how.
John Jantsch (17:32): So
Tim Grahl (17:32): When people say, I'm going to sit down and write a novel, it's like you don't know how. Just because how to type words doesn't mean you know how to tell a story. And there's basic skills. Just like if I want to learn to play the guitar, I got to learn my scales. I got to learn how to play chords. I got to learn how to learn how to even tune the guitar, and I have to learn all of these skills. And then I learn how to put 'em all together, and now I can go perform, see, again, guitar, you separate practice and performance. Same thing with woodworking. I practice cutting cheap pieces of pine before I cut the $80 piece of oak and writing. We just smush 'em together and we're like, I'm going to learn how to write while writing something I want to publish. That doesn't make any sense. And the way that you get better at something is deliberate practice, which includes short feedback loops. Well, you can't short feedback loop an 80,000 word novel.
(18:26): So the biggest thing I want people to do is focus on one scene. Can you write 1000 word scene that is really good? And when you send it to 10 people, they write back and say, Hey, what happens next? Probably not. So let's focus on writing scenes first. And then once you're consistently writing great scenes, then we start building up from there. And so that is the number one mistake writers make. And I made that mistake for over a decade of just like, oh, this novel didn't work. Let me try another one. Let try another one. Let me try. And it was that, again, like I said earlier, it's setting out for a road trip and I don't even know how to drive. And so I want people to separate practice and performance, understand their skill development first. And then once you have the skills, you can go write whatever you want.
(19:17): Just like once I'm really good at playing the guitar, I can go play whatever song I want, and now I can get good at playing those songs. But every fucking guitarist, whether they're playing rock or they're playing country or whatever, got to learn the acorn and got to learn how to strum. They all have to learn the same basic skills and then they can start going in a direction they want to go. And so I wish more writers understood it is a skill development process, and if you just focus on the skills first, it makes everything so much easier in the long run. Yeah.
John Jantsch (19:52): So where do you come down on and disclaimer, you guys offer workshops, so where do you come down on that kind of public writers' groups, workshops as a way to get that feedback, but it also could be a little soul crushing, right?
Tim Grahl (20:08): Yeah. Well, okay. Yeah. This was my big breakthrough as the CEO of the company is about a year ago I started looking around. I'm like, we are running seminars and trainings and all these kind of things, and I'm like, nobody's actually getting better. What is going on?
John Jantsch (20:24): And
Tim Grahl (20:24): I'm like, oh, they're getting better here in this one program we're running. And then I got better. What do those have in common? I'm like, it's the expert feedback. So even in Masters of Creative Writing programs, your feedback comes from your peers, which is the stupidest fucking thing I can imagine. If you don't know what you're talking about, I don't you giving me advice on my writing, and I don't want to give you advice on yours. I don't know what I'm talking about either. And so expert feedback, and it's like, well, that's why we run the workshops. It's so hard to get expert feedback that's objective and not subjective. And it's like, well, I also have a coach I pay in jujitsu and a coach I pay in CrossFit and everything else because it's like to get better at something, I need to try it. Have a coach look at me, tell me what I did right and wrong, and then go try again. And so I think this is what holds writers back for literally decades,
John Jantsch (21:24): Is
Tim Grahl (21:25): They're in an echo chamber of their own head or other peers that don't know what they're talking about. And that's why nobody's getting better. And that's what held me back for years and years too. I'm 43, but I've been trying to write fiction since I was in my early twenties, and it's not until the last five years that I was able to quickly get better because I was getting that expert feedback.
John Jantsch (21:49): Alright, last question. Who's your favorite author,
Tim Grahl (21:52): Right? The last, well, okay, I'm going to give two you. I'm going to cheat. So Ann Tyler is one of my favorite. I think she's a master of making boring things. Really interesting, right?
John Jantsch (22:04): Yeah.
Tim Grahl (22:05): Her books are not thrillers, they're about just married couples and stuff.
John Jantsch (22:08): They're
Tim Grahl (22:08): Just so good.
John Jantsch (22:10): The
Tim Grahl (22:10): Other one that nobody So accidental Taurus is my favorite one of hers. And then this guy named Carlos Ruez, Fon, Z-A-F-O-N, wrote a book called The Shadow of the Wind, and it is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. It's so good. It's like a mystery and a coming of age and a love story all wrapped in one. And that book, I have more highlights on my Kindle than any other book I've ever read. It's just so beautifully written. And he has a whole series of books called The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, something like that. But the first one, the Shadow of the Wind is just wonderful.
John Jantsch (22:48): Yeah. Alright, well, do I get to share? You want to know? Yeah, of
Tim Grahl (22:52): Course.
John Jantsch (22:53): So Cormick McCarthy, I just absolutely love. The Road has probably become his most famous because of the movie, but the whole border trilogy, I mean, he just gets inside of people's head. The inner dialogue is unbelievable. And then Tom Robbins Still Life with Woodpecker. That's kind of an old one, but the whole story is so absurd, but he just makes it believable.
Tim Grahl (23:12): Tom Robbins?
John Jantsch (23:13): Yeah, he's written a handful of books, but that's my favorite one of his. Awesome. Well, Tim, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Tell people where they can find out about the workshops that you do and Story Grid in general, and obviously find a copy of the
Tim Grahl (23:26): Shithead. Yeah, so story grid.com. But really, if you want to know what we do, go to just look up Story Grid on YouTube. I've got about a hundred videos on there, and that's the best way to really dig into who we are and what we do. We run the workshops every month. I highly recommend those. And then shitheads available@storygrid.com, Amazon, all the places you buy books.
John Jantsch (23:48): Awesome. Again, appreciate you stopping by and hopefully we'll run into you soon. One of these days out there on the road, Tim,
Testimonial (24:03): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients, it's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever
John Jantsch (24:19): Made. What you just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash Scale.
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Weekend Favs September 7th written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Doodle helps schedule meetings by allowing participants to choose from suggested time slots without the hassle of back-and-forth emails.
- NightCafe Creator is an AI-powered tool that generates art from text prompts and allows users to explore and create stunning digital artwork.
- Spark Mail is an email client that prioritizes important emails, enables team collaboration, and helps manage inbox overload efficiently.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Weekend Favs August 17th written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Adsby: A platform offering AI-driven marketing tools to create targeted advertising campaigns and content.
- Group Collector: A tool that helps Facebook group admins collect email addresses and automatically add them to an email marketing service when new members join.
- Candy Icons: A resource providing a wide variety of icons and illustrations for enhancing visual content in marketing materials and digital products.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Weekend Favs August 3rd written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- FlowChat: a tool for managing social media conversations and leads, automating outreach, and enhancing engagement across platforms.
- Muraena: an AI-driven B2B lead generation platform that automates the process of finding and engaging potential clients to improve sales.
- UpMyInfluence: a B2B sales consulting agency that helps businesses build authority and generate high-ticket sales through personalized sales strategies and relationship-building.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Weekend Favs June 15 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- DocXter– A powerful tool for extracting valuable insights from any document. Simply upload your document, ask questions, simplify the language, and more!
- Electroneek– Get unlimited efficiency for your repetitive business processes with AI-powered Robotic Process Automation and Intelligent Document Processing Platform.
- Logic Sheet-A tool for Google Sheets, that helps you save time, boost productivity, and streamline workflows with easy-to-use triggers, actions, and integrations.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Weekend Favs May 18 written by Jordan E read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Coursebox- Coursebox is an AI-based training platform that automates course creation, tutoring, and assessment to enhance e-learning experiences and streamline training processes for businesses.
- Tome: Tome is an AI-native research and presentation platform designed to streamline sales and marketing efforts by automating research, personalizing decks, and leveraging company data for high-performance go-to-market teams.
- Gamma– Gamma is a revolutionary platform that leverages AI to transform how ideas are presented, enabling users to quickly generate documents, decks, and webpages, and offering a highly customizable, efficient, and visually engaging alternative to traditional presentation methods.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
How to Make Money From Your Passion: Tailored Solutions for Creative Minds written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John JantschIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Christian Brim. Through his extensive experience as a certified public accountant and certified management accountant, Christian Brim has gained profound insights into the intersection of creativity and profitability for entrepreneurs. In this episode, we cover the unique challenges faced by creative entrepreneurs and explore tailored solutions to help them thrive in their businesses without having to sacrifice passion for financial success.
Key TakeawaysWith over 25 years of working with small businesses to grow their businesses profitably Christian Brim is experienced in the unique mindset of creative entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of embracing profitability as not just essential to creative endeavors but also, honorable. Through the Three-Pronged Decision concept, he highlights the necessity of aligning market needs, profitability, and personal passion for success. Christian guides creative minds in implementing the Profit First framework to prioritize profitability while ensuring financial stability. He also underscores the significance of value pricing as a strategy to maximize earnings. By integrating these insights, creative entrepreneurs can overcome financial challenges, unlock their full potential, and thrive in their unique ventures.
Questions I ask Christian Brim:[00:54] Seeing as Mike Michalowicz created ‘Profit First’ what new insights do you bring to the concept?
[02:26] How are creatives a unique group with specific challenges in the business world?
[06:38] Can you explain further with a specific example from your career?
[05:13] Explain the 3 pronged decision every creative makes?
[12:36] After the profit assessment, explain the process of the profit first framework
[15:42] Talk more about the pricing dilemma in making profit
[17:34] How did your oil field experience in Oklahoma influence your career?
[20:00] Is there some place that you would invite people to find about your work, connect with you and pick up a copy of profit first for creatives?
More About Christian Brim:* Connect with Christian Brim on LinkedIn * Visit his Website * For follow up questions and a special offer
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn (00:08): Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Christian Brim. He's a certified public accountant, certified management accountant with over 25 years of working with small businesses to grow their business profitably, heavily influenced by a family riches to rags experience. In his formative years, Christian has dedicated his life to work, helping his life's work, to helping entrepreneurs have their business work for them. He's also the author of a book we're going to talk about today, profit First for Creatives, redefining the Creativity slash Money Paradigm. So Christian, welcome to the show.
Christain (00:51): Thank you very much for having me, John.
John (00:53): So first thing, Mike Albo has been on this show, a creator of Prophet First wrote the original book, prophet First. So let's just start with an overview. What does Christian bring to the prophet First world
Christain (01:05): That's interesting? Yeah, so when I decided to write this book last year, my original intent was to use it to gain traction in the space with our target market, which we'd recently defined creative industries such as videography, marketing agencies, interior design. But a funny thing happened along the way. I started to realize the challenges that I had faced, even though I wasn't in a creative industry and my experience working with other creatives. What came to the surface was there are some things about creative entrepreneurs that posed some challenges in implementing Profit First. So the profit first component of the book is, you can read Mike's book, my book, any of the Derivatives. They're all very similar, but the big difference in my book is the mindset application in creative spaces.
John (02:13): So maybe let's talk a little bit about how are creatives different from a mindset standpoint, particularly when it comes to running a business, making money, selling all those kinds of things that are part of the entrepreneurial world. Is there a unique subset of folks that have challenges?
Christain (02:30): Yeah, so let me define this first. When I say creative entrepreneur, I don't necessarily mean someone that's in a creative industry. The distinction there is, as Perry Marshall explained it to me, and I go through this in the book, is the difference between entrepreneurs, either being builders or artists and builders are ones that see opportunities in the marketplace to find a way to make money, and that's what drives their entrepreneurial journey. Artists or creatives are driven by passion. So they may see an opportunity in the marketplace, but they have no interest in it, and so they pass on it. In other words, if the entrepreneurial endeavor does not strike their passion, they have no interest in doing it. And so in a lot of ways, Mike was a creative, he probably had never thought of himself that way, but he was passion driven. And one of the problems when you are driven by passion is that you run into work that you don't want to do.
(03:43): It doesn't interest you. There's this false paradigm among a bunch of people in the creative space where you have to do what you don't love doing to pay the bills, or you can do what drives your passion, but you are precluded from making money at it. But that is a false paradigm because as I postulate in the book, profit derives from creativity and every entrepreneurial endeavor, it's something novel that you bring to the equation that drives the profit. And so the mindset is really about embracing that paradigm rather than running away from it or thinking that there's a false paradigm that I can't have both. Yeah,
John (04:35): Let's get really down in the weeds of the mechanics of this. When I first started my business, I was good at selling. That was about it. And so I hustled work. I came to the end of the year and I was like, oh, you got to pay all these taxes. I thought I just got to keep the money. And so got a real big wake up for sure. So I said, I've got an idea. I'm just going to make myself a W2 employee of the corporation that'll force me to pay the taxes. It'll basically pay me a wage that hopefully I can make payroll. And so to me, even the thought of profit was kind of odd because I was an S corp, but I was like, I don't want to make any profit. So talk about I'm setting myself up as something, probably an example you run into,
Christain (05:18): Well, yeah, now you'd be, well, maybe you wouldn't be surprised. So creative entrepreneurs tend to just ignore it for the most part. But there's a large percentage of entrepreneurs in the broader sense that have that mindset of I don't want to make a profit. I don't want to pay taxes, and I can't even really get my brain around that because if you're not in business to make a profit, then what are you doing it for?
John (05:47): Right. It's a job.
Christain (05:49): Exactly,
John (05:50): Exactly.
Christain (05:51): I think creatives also struggle with this idea that profit is honorable, allowable. It sounds kind of like a dirty word.
John (06:04): You sell your soul or you don't make money. Right.
Christain (06:08): And the reality is that if the business doesn't make a profit, you're exactly right. You nailed it. You have a job. And there are a lot of people that I've come across in my experience that they would make more money, have less headaches, have fewer headaches, and just be more happy in general if they would go work for someone else. Right,
John (06:30): Right, right. Just go to the mailbox and get that check. Exactly. No kidding. So there is a concept in the book that you call the Where is it? Three-Pronged Decision of Creatives. I would love it if you could unpack that and give us some really the meat of the work.
Christain (06:48): So every business has to answer two questions. One is, can they fulfill the need in the market with their good or service or product? And the second is, can they make a profit at it? That's what every entrepreneur has to solve. They have to solve that equation. The creative adds this third aspect, which is, do I want to do it? Does it further my passion? And that is something that a lot of people wrestle with because again, I go back to, I think most of it is they don't set themselves into that false paradigm. They've closed the system, so to speak, so that the alternative of being able to make a profit and do what they love is possible. But in interviewing several clients and going through their stories, it's really about reapplying their creativity. It's using their creativity in a different way. It is not like there aren't going to be things that you love to do that don't have a economic or monetary impact or value, purely artistic or purely creative for creativity's sake. Those absolutely are. We call those hobbies. How can I apply that creativity in my business to make a profit?
John (08:22): And that word passion is one that I think is so confusing to people too, because a lot of people that advice do what you're passionate about. Well, I had no idea what I'm passionate about until I did it, until I got good at it. And then I was really passionate about it. But it's because blogging, writing, I didn't particularly say that's something I'm passionate about. I just started doing it, started getting good at it, people started paying me for it, and I was like, I love this. And I think a lot of people really underestimate that idea is we get passionate sometimes about stuff we get good at by practice.
Christain (08:58): And I'd even go a step further that your passion is deeply rooted in something. And for me, in my case, it was this richest rag story. And although I had an awareness of it from an early age, truly understanding the root causes and feelings about my passion didn't manifest itself for a couple of decades. I mean, really coming to terms with understanding what my passion is. And now that I have an understanding of that passion, it's opened up opportunities that I had pretty much ignored the book being the first one, but I'm already onto my second. That is probably going to be a podcast format. But the point of that is that until you have a true understanding of your passion, what motivates you, it may manifest itself in ways like blogging or in my case, helping people with their finances. But once I understood the true impact of my passion, it opened so many more doors. And that's really kind of a parallel of the creativity in your business. Once you start looking at it from that lens, you start to see other opportunities open up to express it.
Speaker 3 (10:21): Duct Tape Marketing really helped me to shave at least six to eight months off of work that I was dreading after leaving the corporate world. Even before I participated in the agency intensive training, I had already landed my first customer. This is in essence, more than paid for my investment in Duct Tape Marketing.
John (10:39): What you just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash scale. Yeah, that's a really great point because for me, I don't often kid that it's nine siblings, and so I think I spent a lot of time trying to get noticed, and I think if you were really to take that idea and go back and say, well know a lot of the things in my business. I like to speak, I like to write, I liked that people liked my writing. I, so I think that's what you're talking about. There is yes. And I sort of unlocked that maybe early on you'd realize why these things that are kind of hard and maybe not that fruitful you stick with.
Christain (11:48): Yes. And Todd Henry, when I interviewed him for the book, he told me, he said, well, you know what the Greek word for passion is? And I said, no. And he said, I don't know how to pronounce it, but it's basically the Greek word means suffering. And he said that in order to really fulfill your passion, you have to be willing to suffer for it. You not necessarily will suffer for it, but it has to have that depth of emotion for you. And so if you use the word suffering instead of passion, it kind of changes the conversation,
John (12:27): Right? Nobody's so interested in that.
Christain (12:29): Right?
John (12:30): So alright, all this touchy feely stuff, let's leave it behind. Now somebody comes to you and I think the first step is they do a profit assessment. I know that's part of the book. And then they say, okay, Kristen, what do I need to do? How does the process work? I mean obviously I know everybody's different, but from a high level, what's the process of working through the Profit First framework?
Christain (12:53): Sure. So the profit assessment basically takes your historical financial information and boils it down to some percentages of what's your profitability, what's your compensation is. And I use the analogy of weight loss. It's your weigh in. It's like this is where you are and there's no judgment. It's just a number. But then I think that the harder part is to think about where you want to be and that we can bring in information around industry standards to say, well, this is what on average your peers are making. But I think the first step for every business owner is to fund their lifestyle. And that is, I'm going to take out X amount of dollars to do what I want to do personally support my family. And that's your first goal. I mean, you need to be able to fund your lifestyle. And so assuming that you have not done that, you're not there yet.
(13:58): The process is to say, okay, you're at a 10% profit and you need to be at 20% profit is laying that out in a quarterly implementation plan where we make incremental changes each quarter to arrive at that goal maybe a year, maybe 18 months, maybe 24 months in the future depending upon how big the change is, and then help guide you through to get there. I think one of the things people realize when they implement Profit First is that the initial gains are easy, right? When you're changing 1%, you're adding 1% to your profit, they're easy because you can go back through and say, okay, well I don't really need to spend this or I can change this behavior or habit. Where it gets more difficult is after you've cut all the expenses you can, how do you keep moving towards profit? And I devote a whole chapter into the book on value pricing, and the real lever to increase your profit is with your top line. And in that instance, I'm not talking about just selling more to sell more, but to increase your prices so that your margins are better, and that's where you really see your profit go through the roof.
John (15:21): Yeah. I mean, theoretically, if you're getting 10% more for something and not paying any more expenses, that drops to the bottom, doesn't it? I was going to ask you, you kind of answered the question already, but I'll ask it in a different way. Profit is a math problem. How much revenue, how much expense so you can lower expenses, raise profit or raise revenue, or both as you talked about, how often do you see pricing not charging enough is a problem as opposed to spending too much?
Christain (15:50): I'd say a hundred percent of the time. I think owners of businesses, all of us have this fear of raising prices, and I have rarely met a business owner that was charging the most that they could. And value pricing really forces you to think about how you price your services or goods in terms of the value perceived as opposed to your time and costs. And when you shift your mindset to looking at it that way, you realize that you're leaving a lot of money on the table because you're delivering a lot of value. You just haven't figured out how to capture it.
John (16:35): This is the point in the show where I should mention that Christian is actually a client of Duct Tape Marketing, and we are going to go back to the drawing board and reassess, raise my piece. Exactly. Yes. Hundred percent.
Christain (16:47): Well, no, I will tell you this. I did a speaking engagement last week with a group of marketers and kind of walked through my company as a test case, as an example on value pricing. And then one of the persons afterwards came up and asked me and said, well, you mentioned you hired a new marketing agency. What did they do for you? And I told them and they said, well, if you don't mind, how much do they charge you? And I told them, and they're like, really? That's a really good deal. And I'm like, I know.
John (17:19): Okay, you heard it here. Christian has agreed to a new, so I want to end with one last thing I said in your sort of comical way on the intro, a riches to rags story. So how did that experience, I think you were in the oil field business service business. How did that experience as you were coming up, I suppose as they would've said in the oil field days in Oklahoma, was it
Christain (17:45): Yes. Yeah.
John (17:46): How did that kind of influence your career, your mindset?
Christain (17:50): Yeah, so the whole richest rag story of going from riding in limousines and private aircraft to living in a rent house and driving shitty cars, as I described, it happened when I was 16 and 17. And it shook me, not because of the change in lifestyle, but the impact that it had on the family before we were close and did a lot of things together. And then afterwards, everybody scattered to find employment, and that family unit disintegrated. And that was what really impacted me. And even in my early twenties when I started out on my career, I knew I wanted to help business owners because I knew that what I had experienced, it didn't have to be that way, and that was my calling.
John (18:51): Yeah, it is interesting starting a business. A lot of people do it to make more money, to have more freedom. And if you don't get, and ultimately maybe to have impact on the world, but if you don't get, it's like the hierarchy thing. If you're not even paying the bills, then the idea of freedom or certainly the idea of impact is kind of a pipe dream, isn't it?
Christain (19:14): Oh, a hundred percent. It is Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? I mean, you got to cover that lifestyle nut first. And I see so many business owners that struggle with that and live hand to mouth and worry when they don't have work and worry when they do have work to see how they can get it all done. And it's like hearing our clients' stories around, well, now I get a paycheck and I don't have to worry about it, and if we don't sell something this month, I'm not stressed out and that allows me to be creative. I'm like, that's a money shot for me. That's why we're doing it.
John (19:57): Yeah, absolutely. Well, Christian, I appreciate you stopping by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Is there someplace that you would invite people to find about your work, connect with you, and then obviously pick up a copy of Profit First for creatives?
Christain (20:10): Yes. We've got a URL just for URL's, listeners to go and be able to buy the book and contact me if you have follow-up questions. I don't know it off the top of my head, so I'm hoping you're going to put it in the program notes.
John (20:24): We are going to put it in the program notes, but here it is Core group us.com. Is that right? Sound right? Yes. Core group us.com/dtm-podcast.
Christain (20:36): There it is. But
John (20:37): We'll also have it in the show notes as well. But I'm glad your team shared that with me so that I could save us both.
Christain (20:43): Save my day. Thank you.
John (20:46): Alright, well Christian, it was great having you spend a little time with us and hopefully we'll see you soon, one of these days out there on the road.
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Weekend Favs May 11 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Adorilabs- Adorilabs offers an AI-powered platform to convert blogs and audio content into engaging videos, providing end-to-end podcast publishing.
- Podstash– Podstash is an AI-powered service that converts articles, newsletters, and YouTube videos into podcast episodes, offering multi-language support, intelligent summaries, and customization options to cater to both personal use and content creators.
- Cover Design AI– Cover Design AI is an AI-powered tool that provides authors and publishers with bespoke book cover designs by taking specific book information and generating design ideas and mid-journey prompts for creative exploration.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
How to Master the Science of Learning: From Tetris to Teaching written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John JantschIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Scott Young. Through his extensive research and exploration into the science of learning, Scott Young has uncovered fascinating insights into how individuals can master the art of acquiring new skills effectively. In this episode we cover the core principles of learning and how they can be applied in various contexts, from mastering video games like Tetris in navigating paths to mastery.
Key TakeawaysScott Young sheds light on the science of learning, emphasizing the importance of optimizing cognitive load, embracing the value of copying, leveraging teaching as a tool for deepening understanding, drawing parallels between retro gaming and the learning processes of today to access best practices, By incorporating these insights into your learning journey, you can unlock your full potential and achieve mastery in your business or any domain they choose to pursue.
Questions I ask Scott Young:[02:11] Explain the 12 maxims of learning
[03:28] Talk a little bit about your research methodology in uncovering the science of learning?
[06:38] How does gaming intersect with the science of learning, specifically Tetris?
[09:26] Explain how copying is part of the creative process?
[12:25] What is cognitive load theory?
[14:21] How does teaching improve learning?
[19:36] Where can people connect with you and grab a copy of “Get Better at Anything” ?
More About Scott Young:* Connect with Scott Young on X * Visit his Website
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Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabSpeaker 1 (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made. What
John (00:17): You just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash scale.
(01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Scott Young. He's a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the book Ultra Learning, and he's got a new book out called Get Better At Anything, 12 Maxims four Mastery. His work has been featured in the New York Times Pocket and Business Insider on the BBC and at TEDx among others. He doesn't promise to have all the answers, just a place to start. And he lives in rainy, sunny Vancouver. I'm not sure which it is. Rainy, sunny Vancouver, Canada is what I was going to say there. So welcome back, Scott.
Scott (01:41): Oh, thanks so much for having me back.
John (01:43): So get better at anything. Pretty bold promise you and I were talking before I hit record and you let me know. You have two young children, so talk about a new thing to get better at. Yeah, yeah,
Scott (02:00): It's definitely a crash course when you have your first one and then the second one realizes that actually each kid is unique, so you have to do it again over with a new one.
John (02:09): Absolutely. So 12 maxims. So there obviously are 12 ideas in here, but you've kind of broken them up into, I don't know, types of learning. So you want to start there?
Scott (02:22): Well, yeah. So I mean, the idea of the book was to try to find what are the fundamental principles for getting better for improvement for skill acquisition that we've learned from cognitive science. And so I broke it into three parts, and I think you need all three to really get better. The first is C, which is learning from other people. And one of the things that came up repeatedly in the research is that the easier time we have learning from others, the faster we'll make progress. And often when we get stuck, it's because something in our environment is making it harder for us to learn from the people who are the best. The second factor is do, which is obviously practice is super important for learning, but not just every kind of practice works equally well. So again, there's also this sort of myth that if you just do something enough, you'll become really great at it. But the research actually shows that often we stall often we don't make progress. And so figuring out what kind of practice matters, and then finally feedback, which is obviously important. You need to get this corrective information from the environment about how to adjust what you're doing. And so the entire book is a deep dive into the many ways that this goes right and wrong, and how you can engineer those in your own efforts at getting better at things.
John (03:28): So talk a little bit about your research methodology. I mean, this is one of those, if you're going to teach somebody how to get better at stuff here, you're going to do a lot of experimenting yourself, I'm guessing you're going to talk to a lot of people. How do you break yours down?
Scott (03:44): Well, I mean, I kind of have a weird background. So as we talked about in my previous book, ultra Learning, which when we had the interview probably about five years ago, my starting point for a lot of this interest in learning was taking on these aggressive, what I call ultra learning projects. So learning MIT's, computer science, curriculum, learning multiple languages, portrait drawing, quantum mechanics, a bunch of skills. And that was the starting point. But I think once you learn a lot of things, you get very interested in how does it actually work? What are the mechanisms? What are the principles? And so for this book, I wanted to do a much deeper dive in the science of learning. And that's a bit of a daunting process because it's not just like there's one book you can read and it'll tell you everything. I mean, learning spans, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, it spans practical and theoretical. You've got people working on artificial intelligence models, and then you've got the embodied wisdom of teachers who have taught for decades. And so the research project was sprawling, and I read hundreds of books, probably about six, 700 papers. And so this book I try to do is to try to distill what are the broad patterns? What are the things that are not like, here's a quirky study, but here's a broad truth that applies to many different fields, many different ways of getting better at things.
John (05:02): This sounds like a canned question, but I think based on the research way you did it, were there any giant surprises, like you were blown away by something that you learned?
Scott (05:12): Oh, I mean, yeah, writing this book was also an attempt to me to write down the things that surprised me. So I mean, one of the things that surprised me right off the bat was John Schweller's work that I talk about in it's the second chapter of the book and this research, he found that through these careful experiments that you can get people to solve problems and they don't learn how to solve the problem, which sounds like almost like a contradiction in terms how do you solve a problem without learning how you solve it? You
John (05:38): Drink a lot, drink a lot of beer, maybe, or I don't know. No,
Scott (05:41): I mean, these are people who these find some method to solve it. But then if you ask them, well, what is the method that you're using to solve it? They can't articulate it, they can't remember it. And that has big implications for applying that method to new ones. And so I think that was one of the things that really surprised me. I found Dean Simon's work on basically creative success being very closely coupled to creative quantity or the amount that you actually produce and publish to also be interesting and full of fascinating implications that don't get mentioned that often as well. So I mean, the book is just full of my own surprises and my own things that I thought were worth sharing.
John (06:16): I've never been a big video game person, frankly. I just feel like it's not a very good use of my time, especially if you read these studies that people are playing Fortnite for nine hours a day or something like that. But the one game that I kind of got attached to was Tetris because I just felt like there was something different about it. You talk a lot about Tetris, so what do we have to learn from Tetris?
Scott (06:42): I mean, Tetris, this was always a risky gamble, putting it in a book, because there's people like yourself, I don't play video games. And then you open with a story about video games and it's like, am I going to lose some people here? But I think it was a story that when I first heard it, this, I heard this from John Green, he was the YouTuber. He started talking about this, and that's what triggered me to do all this research about Tetris that I wouldn't have otherwise done. And the thing that was fascinating about it is that it's kind of a microcosm everything we need to really know about how learning and improvement works. And it's the fact that it's in a domain that most people don't even think about, I think makes it all the more rewarding. So the basic idea is that Tetris comes out in the early nineties.
(07:21): It's a phenomenal hit. People are obsessed with it. They're hallucinating falling blocks, and it's like a cultural obsession. But if you look at the world record performance, the best people at Tetris, these are the people who are truly obsessed. They're playing it nonstop. They're actually not that good at it. And the reason we know they're not that good at it is that now there's 12 and 13-year-old kids that are unfathomably better at the game. It's difficult to put into words how much better they are at the game than they were two decades, three decades ago. So what's the difference? Why are we suddenly much better at playing Tetris than we used to be? And the answer turns out has a lot to do with how learning works. The environment that people play these video games has transformed radically with the invention of the internet. The way you used to play video games when you were in the early 1990s is like maybe your brother, your brother's friend, he knows a trick or a strategy, and you hear from him.
(08:11): Or maybe you read something in a magazine, and now it's online. Now you can watch people play the video game. You can see how their hands move. You can learn the techniques that are at the best frontier of play much more easily. And this has huge implications for learning workplace skills, learning hobbies, learning, all sorts of things that maybe matter more to you than Tetris, which is how do you get access to the best practices, the best techniques, which are often hidden and really do make a big difference in not just your individual performance, but how is a field you're moving forward and innovating.
John (08:45): Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. I see entire YouTube channels dedicated to just people talking about how they played the game. So yeah, it's crazy. One at chapter two really got my attention because I've been a long believer in this idea that creativity begins with copying. And I think a lot of people have this idea that I'm not creative or I'm not a creator even. But really almost in every field, certainly all of my work has been informed by math or architecture or something else. I read that I was like, oh, I know how I can apply that to what I'm trying to do. So talk a little bit about that idea that copying is actually part of the creative process.
Scott (09:29): I mean, this was a chapter that I'd been wanting to write for years, even before ultra learning had come out, because when I got the chance to spend some longer time in China, one of the things that I found fascinating is how the culture differed from the west. In West, we tend to make creativity and originality as being these polar opposites that either you're a plagiarist or you're an original. And we all want to be originals. We don't want to be people who copy things. And the thing that I really appreciated from the Chinese context is the appreciation of precedent, the appreciation of learning from the masters and the examples that come before. And as I dig in, and I dig into the research here, that this is how we used to teach a lot of things that we now expect people to just be creative and inspiring off the bat that the artistic training, especially I cover the apprenticeship period during the Renaissance, but also in the academy system that came after it.
(10:24): There really was a fairly structured approach to starting with simple examples, copying from masterworks, basically learning the patterns for how to do something successfully, building up this technique so that when you do want to express an idea, when you do want to do something creative, you have all these tools at your disposal. And I think that whether it's artistic instruction, whether it's math instruction, whether it's any kind of field, like this sort of idea that creativity is built off of copying, of understanding examples, of understanding precedent is something that I hate to say is kind of unappreciated in our current culture, which focuses on genius that comes out of nowhere.
John (11:06): There was a book a few years ago, I had Austin on the show called Steal Like an Artist. I don't know if you're familiar with that book and the whole book's about that. It's a small little book about that whole idea. And I think you're absolutely right that people really don't understand that concept. I remember hearing a musician one time say, we're all using the same eight notes. Nobody's making up new notes. It's really just so we're all borrowing from that kind of reservoir of stuff, and we're just having new ideas about it.
Scott (11:37): Yeah, I mean, there was a quote from one of the jazz musicians that I covered in a later chapter where we're talking about variable practice, and he says, I didn't know how could people do these jazz improvisations just pull something out of thin air? And he's like, I had no idea the amount of study and knowledge of knowing what had been played before and understanding what had been played before. So people like Quentin Tarantino, for instance, are very do this very nakedly where they're doing pastiche and doing things that call back to things they like. But pretty much any great artist, that's what they're doing. They're kind of like, I like these three things and I'm going to do them. And it's just because they have all this knowledge, they have this ability to do it. I mean, it's so important and it's something that I think is not stressed enough.
John (12:22): So this isn't really a question, I just want to hear you talk about cognitive load theory. Yeah,
Scott (12:30): Yeah. Cognitive load theory. Well, I mean it sounds really complicated, but the idea is very central, very central to learning. And it's again, one of those things that I think if you understand it, it makes sense of a lot of stuff. But the basic idea is that the way our brain works is we have this central bottleneck called working memory. And working memory is kind of think of it as your consciousness, what things you can hold in mind right now at this moment, not things you're remembering, not things you've written down, things that are in your head at that moment. And it's very narrow. You can only hold a very small amount of information at a time. But to learn things, it has to go through that bottleneck. You have to go through that sort of narrow window of attention. But there's a little bit of a trick.
(13:11): Once we gain experience in a field, we gain ways to sort of bypass this bottleneck or make it more efficient. So the classic example is if you are learning letters, for instance, if you give someone a sequence of random letters, people will probably be able to remember between five and nine, and then they're going to have it drop off. But if you reorganize those letters into acronyms that people understand, I think in the book I use N-H-L-F-B-I-M-B-A or something like that, then those nine letters, all of a sudden you can remember it because you're within that bottleneck. And so this idea that as we learn meaningful patterns from a domain we can handle more information means that so much of getting better is about figuring out not just what is the best method to learn or what's the best technique, but how do you deal with the fact that when you're starting out, you can contain deal with a lot less information than you can when you end up. And so this sort of progressive aspect to it of tuning whatever you're doing to where you're at in terms of your own cognitive load ability, it's huge. It underpins so much of learning, and I think it's again, another underrated factor and improvement.
John (14:20): So tell me where teaching fits into this. Again, you read a book, you maybe try some things, but then you turn around and try to teach somebody else how to do it. Where does that fit into the continuum of getting better?
Scott (14:37): I mean, I think teaching is often very helpful, especially for when you realize, when you're teaching something, you realize that you often don't understand something very well, or you can't articulate that understanding. I have a whole chapter talking about how as you gain experience in something, part of the way we avoid this working memory bottleneck is that components of the skill, mental steps get automated. They become something that we do unconsciously. So we just skip over things and we just get the right answer. And that can make it very hard when you have to communicate to someone because it's like, well, you went from step one to step nine. What's two through seven or two through eight? I don't get it. And it can be hard for you to articulate that. And so this tacit knowledge is often a barrier when you're teaching something for the first time, you realize, oh, wait, how do I break this down?
(15:22): How do I explain it to someone? But then I think as well, teaching something is also a chance to refine. It's a chance to make explicit against some of these ideas. When you're teaching something, you're often looking for simplifications, you're looking for ways that you can explain an idea in a way that maybe is not the difficult way that you learned it, but an easier way to make sense of it. And so, I dunno, I think teaching is a very important part of getting a real conceptual understanding or a real explanatory framework for an idea.
John (15:53): Yeah, it's so funny. As you were describing that, my wife asked me how to do, she's not a computer person. She asked me how to do stuff all the time. And I'm like, well, I don't know. I just do it. It's like, oh, okay, yeah, I guess I'd do that. And then that. But you're so right about that.
Scott (16:11): Oh yeah.
John (16:12): So alright, there's a lot of amazing ideas in this book and concepts in this book. How does somebody take the entire book and make it very practical in terms of getting better at something? I mean, is there a framework for take it step one, step two, or is it really more a matter of you've got to plug in where you are?
Scott (16:38): Well, I mean, in the last chapter, I give some sort of practical advice for applying it. But in each chapter at the end, I kind of end with, here's some ways you can apply these ideas. And the way I like to think about it is that if you were to fix a car, for instance, let's say you have a car that's broken down on the side of the road, having a mental model of how a car works is going to be really helpful. You're going to be able to say, oh, okay, the problem here is we have a flat tire, or the problem here is that we're out of oil. Or the problem here is there's something rattling around in here. I got to fix something that's loose. And so in a similar way, I think the main value of a book like this is having that mental model of learning so that you can kind of self-diagnose in some senses, what is the problem?
(17:17): I'm coming out here is the problem that I don't understand what the best practice is. Is it like a problem of seeing and do I need to join those groups, find those mentors, find those teachers, find that community to get to that best practice. So I'm not figuring it out on my own is the problem practice is the problem that I am wasting a lot of effort doing things that are not moving my skill forward is the problem feedback that I'm not getting enough information about what I'm doing right and wrong. And so if you have these sort of mental models from the book, if you have these ideas, you can kind of steer toward designing techniques that will suit your situation. Because I do think learning is, despite the fact that we just do it instinctively, there's a lot of complicated stuff going on. And so figuring out what it is you're doing wrong or figuring out what you're doing when it's working well is the first step to making progress into getting yourself unstuck.
John (18:03): I remember when, back in the day when you'd buy a piece of software off the shelf and it would come with a 400 page manual. And I remember literally, I use this example all the time where you could read the whole book and not know how to do anything really. But then you'd go in and start trying to make it do what you wanted it to do and get stuck, and then you could go back and reference the book, or you could go watch a YouTube video on how to do it. And I think a little bit. So in some ways what you're saying is there's almost a combination of all of those kinds of things, isn't there?
Scott (18:36): Yeah. Well, I'm hoping that the kind of person who reads this book is going to be someone who says, you know what? I want to be a better marketer. I want to be a better public speaker. I want to be a better painter, programmer or skier or something like that. They're going to read the book and they're going to notice things about what they're doing. They're going to notice kind of like, oh, my problem seems to be here. And then they can find techniques that are tailored to that. And so the book does cover a lot of different ideas, but I think that's just also because there are so many different kinds of troubleshooting steps you could get into. It would be nice if things just, there's one thing you have to do and you have work all the time, but it is a little bit more like a car breaking down. And you have to be like, okay, what do I need to fix? And so I think that's why I tried to write the book and tried to cover the ground that I covered to give people the best possible chance of fixing it. Well,
John (19:21): That's also great advice. I mean, read the book within the context of what you're trying to get better at, right?
Scott (19:27): Yeah, of course. I mean, it's always easier when you approach a book like this with some particular concrete goal in mind.
John (19:34): Awesome. Scott, it was great catching up with you for a few minutes. Is there some place you'd invite people to connect with you and obviously pick up a copy of Get Better at anything?
Scott (19:42): Yeah, I mean, everyone can visit my website, scott h young.com. I have a podcast, YouTube channel, a newsletter there all free if you are interested in those things. And then of course, the book is available, Amazon, audible, wherever you get your books, if you're interested in diving deeper into the science of learning.
John (19:59): Awesome. Well, next time we talk, I want you to have one of your kids come on and I can ask them if you've gotten better at being a dad. Okay,
Scott (20:07): Well, we'll find out. We'll find
John (20:08): Out. All right. Awesome. Great seeing you again. Hopefully we'll run into you one of these days again, out there on the road.
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Weekend Favs May 4 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Suno – Suno transforms your ideas into songs, making music creation accessible to everyone, regardless of musical skill.
- IIElevenLabs – Elevenlabs offers an AI Voice Changer that revolutionizes audio content creation such as podcasts and voiceovers, with a broad range of customizable voices, voice cloning features, and regular updates to enhance your projects.
- Quizgecko– Quizgecko is an AI-powered tool that automates the creation of quizzes and tests from various types of content, including text and videos, which can be shared, exported, and embedded for educational or business purposes.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
How To Tell Data-Driven Stories: Crafting Compelling Narratives from Original Research written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John JantschIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Michele Lin. Michele is the founder of Mantis Research, where she helps marketers conduct and publish compelling original research. With her expertise in leveraging data to drive impactful narratives, Michelle shares valuable insights on how to craft compelling stories from original research.
Key TakeawaysLearn all about the the transformative power of original research in content marketing, with an emphasis on its role in establishing credibility and trust. I and Michele highlight the process of crafting data-driven stories, from defining research objectives to repurposing findings across various channels for maximum impact. By leveraging original research, marketers can optimize search engine visibility, attract backlinks, and position themselves as authoritative voices in their industries, driving deeper engagement and meaningful impact through their content.
Questions I ask Michele Linn:[01:49] What is original research?
[03:11] How do you transform survey and data into a compelling story?
[04:35] Do you believe that sharing data builds thought leadership?
[06:00] Tell us about using data to validate a story
[07:28] How do you probe for data-manipulators?
[09:16] How do you draw conclusions from graphs, charts and data altogether?
[13:15] Is there a benchmark number of responses that can make a given data valid?
[15:06] Do interacting industries bring new thought to data collection?
[16:47] What are some of the great social media platforms for sharing data?
[20:04] What are your thoughts on search engines and how they view data?
[21:12] Is there some place you’d invite people to connect with you and find out more about the work you’re doing?
More About Michele Linn:* Connect with Michele Linn on LinkedIn * Visit her Website
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Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Porkbun
Go to http://porkbun.com/DuctTapeMarketing24 to get a .BIO domain name for your link in bio page for less than $3 at Porkbun today.
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabSpeaker 1 (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made. What
John (00:16): You just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash scale.
(01:02): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Michelle Lin. She's the founder of Mantis Research where she helps marketers conduct and publish compelling original research. Prior to Mantis, Michelle was the head of editorial at the Content Marketing Institute where she led the company's editorial strategy. She'd often been cited as a content marketing influencer and was named as one of Folio's Top Women in media. So Michelle, welcome to the show.
Michele (01:35): Thanks so much for having me, John.
John (01:37): So you mentioned it in your bio, but also part of my interest was you had written about this idea of using original research in content production. So this may sound silly, but let's start with what is original research?
Michele (01:52): That is not a silly question at all. I feel like there's a lot of people here research, and it means a lot of different things to people. So when I talk about original research, I'm talking about that type of research that you take and you publish out for thought leadership, content marketing and so forth. So it's very different. I have some people contact me and they want to learn more about their audience and so forth. That's very valuable. But if it's not published, it doesn't really fit in the context of our conversation here.
John (02:22): So maybe give me an example of some that you've worked with that would be pretty concrete, that type of business, and here's the research they did and then we can get into how they used it.
Michele (02:31): Yeah, absolutely. So there's a lot of different original research that you can do. You can do anecdotal, you can do first party interviews, you can do first party data analysis. The kind that I do specifically is survey-based research. So for instance, like you mentioned, I used to work for CMI for many years, content Marketing Institute, and one of the things that we did there every single year is we conducted a survey of marketers to understand if and how they were using content marketing. So we took everything that we learned, we asked questions that we were asked and we're wondering about. We took all of those insights and then we published those out to help other marketers do their jobs better with content marketing.
John (03:11): So surveys and data are lovely. How do you turn them into a compelling story, particularly one that maybe age your cause of getting more customers?
Michele (03:21): So I think it's a really interesting question. I think a lot of people, I think some people want to do research as a way to prove the value of what they are selling. I'm personally not a fan of that so much. I look at as more I look at original research as a way to show your customers that you know them that will hopefully generate like and trust with you. So I always tell people think about what are those unanswered questions in the industry that you can answer with data? Or I tell people, what are those things that you see and how can you help people do their jobs better? How can we ask questions to uncover those or how can we uncover what their pain points are so you can help them? So I look at it as a way to be relentlessly helpful to your audience. And when you do that, it's not always a direct correlation to sales. Although I have had many people tell me that they do get direct correlations to revenue and sales and so forth, but for many, it's just a great way to do thought leadership.
John (04:18): Many years ago, PR was about getting media mentions, and we used to do some of this kind of original research just because a lot of people would be writing a story about something and they wanted research to validate their story. And so it was a really good way to get quoted. Do you find that sharing this kind of research is a way to also build your thought leadership, your mentions out there in the world?
Michele (04:46): Yeah, I mean, I have this graphic that I often share. I talk about the value of original research. So yeah, it helps people get mentioned. It helps people get interviews for podcasts. It helps people. They base speaking presentations off of their research. It helps with leads, it helps with sales, it helps sales have better conversations. They have something new and interesting to reach out about so it doesn't feel so salesy. And I think it even helps marketers just find joy. So many marketers get excited to do something new and meaningful and different, and I love just seeing people get energized about the work that they do. And then too, we're talking about today when you do a study, well, you can take it and you can repurpose it. So every single client that I work with, one of their goals is always we want to create this editorial engine based on this Swiss one research study. So it works on so many different levels.
John (05:37): One more question related to that and then we can maybe start breaking down. How are the ways that you would repurpose this, but what about creating industry benchmarks as a way as somewhat of a lead generator? I see a lot of people do that to say you're spending X on ads, for example, but in the industry, this is what's going on and here's why you're spending too much or not spending enough or talk a little bit about using data to validate a story.
Michele (06:07): Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think there's a lot of value, like you said, in using data to validate what people believe or using data. Like you said, if you could find that benchmark, which you can get via survey data or you can get via first party data analysis depending on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to analyze the behavior, sometimes first party data analysis is better. But anyway, if you find that benchmark and you can validate what someone believes to be true or they want to validate where they actually need to be, and then you can give them other data to help them get there, I think that's a really powerful thing to do. I once worked with this client and we had this whole model and we knew there was four stages. I can't remember what they were, but from beginner to advanced, and we wouldn't call them those four things, but you could see the beginners do this, the next stage, they do this and so on. So no matter where you were, there was very concrete data-driven evidence. If you're here do X, Y, Z things to get better. So I think that validation and those ideas of what to do, those insights are really helpful.
John (07:10): Well, and in some cases, just even telling somebody, Hey, your peers do this and you're not doing it, is also a way to get somebody's attention perhaps as well. So if you're listening and you are a true data scientist, cover your ears right now for what I'm going to say. There's a lot of people that can make data say anything they want it to say to support and validate any case they're trying to make. How do you sometimes look for like, let's probe for this because that'll give us the greatest opportunity to make something to tell a great story, or they're kind of proven things that you should be looking for to what you might even do research on.
Michele (07:49): Yes, absolutely. And to your point, John, I think people are smart and I think if your research neatly points or neatly proves, Hey, by the way, this proves that you actually need to buy X, Y, Z product or work with us, people see right through that. And I don't think that research is very credible, which goes back to really trying to be relentlessly helpful. So what I always tell clients to do is to think about things like, for instance, what are some things that you think people in your industry aren't doing but should be? What are those missed opportunities? How can we poke at that or how can we find disconnects? So for instance, I once did a survey with marketing profs and we asked a question to understand what would you like your B marketing? Which elements does your B2B marketing training have and what would you like it to have? We found these huge gaps in disconnects. People wanted examples and frameworks and so forth. So it's not a big fan of surveying for pain or to survey to, you need to do this, but really figure out, like I said, gaps, disconnects, missed opportunities and so forth. And then coincidentally, those are also great jumping off places to then share your thoughts and really use that for repurposing and so forth. So does that
John (09:02): Help? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely the gaps. I think you might develop products and surfaces based out of that kind research, let alone this kind of editorial approach. But let's turn to the editorial part. A bunch of graphs and charts are lovely, but how do you make then say, what's our angle? What's our story?
Michele (09:24): So I start that thinking process at the beginning during the planning and the strategy phase. And as we're thinking, I always think about what topic can we talk about? What topic can we really dig into that says something new that's relevant to our audience and that aligns with our brand. And so once you have that topic nailed down, it then comes to, okay, well what are those headlines you want? What are those I call 'em big picture questions that you want to answer? What are those big broad stories you want to tell? We always figured that out at the starting place, like figuring out how can you be most helpful and then taking those questions and then answering them with the survey data so that by the time you get to the data analysis, you're then answering those questions and your themes and your stories are much more likely to rise to the surface because you've done the thinking work from the beginning.
John (10:17): So I mean, are you suggesting we have a hypothesis story almost and then hopefully the data validates that? Or are we going to just go with the story that the data tells us?
Michele (10:29): I think you can certainly can have an hypothesis. Sometimes the data shows it to be correct, sometimes it doesn't. But I think if you thinking to yourself again, what are those questions that my audience has or what are those things that I want my audience to think differently about? How can we structure questions to poke at those particular things and answer those questions? So it's almost figuring out what big broad questions you want answered knowing that the data's going to be what the data's going to be. Oftentimes it's not that surprising, but sometimes we hear things that aren't expected what we expected. So a hypothesis is great, but I wouldn't lean too heavily on that. I would lean more onto what would be relentlessly helpful to answer for our audience,
John (11:15): Your website, your domain, I mean, that's real estate that you want to own. If you're an influencer, online creator, blogger, or really anyone who cares about their personal brand, then you need a unique domain. And now you can get your name, do bio, right, John Jantz, do bio, right, create a bio page to house all your various interests. It's short, simple, easy to remember. Put all your links in one place instead of a laundry list of locations you want to send people in a profile, you can reserve your own link for around three bucks right now at pork bun.com/duct tape marketing 24, that's right around $3 right now. Pork bun.com/duct tape marketing 24. Do you have an example of how you've taken maybe numbers and charts and really created or Yeah, an example would be helpful, but if nothing else, just your approach too. The most impact comes if you can make the data tell a really great story and use even storytelling techniques. So do you have an approach to getting there or even a great example where you've used data to really enhance some storytelling?
Michele (12:35): Yeah, absolutely. So in that example I mentioned with marketing profs, they were studying how B2B marketing teams were approaching training. And so one of the things that we did is we dug, we decided we want to understand what is the culture of training in the organization. We had a four C model. I'm trying to remember all of the Cs. What is the personal commitment to actually training? What is the composition of training look like? Does it include the examples and so forth? So it's really nice sometimes just to base your story around some kind of model or some kind of framework. I think it makes it really easy to tell that story at the end if you kind of ask questions around that particular model.
John (13:15): One more sort of technical question. Is 10 responses valid enough? Do we need 200? I mean is mean obviously people that do this kind of true research for a living would say you need X and there's a margin of error and all that kind of good stuff. But I mean, a lot of ways we're almost just looking for themes and things, right? So talk a little bit about the validity part, I guess.
Michele (13:39): Yeah, that's a great question. It's something people ask all the time. I'm also a very big proponent of not doing survey-based research if it's not going to work for your case. And one of those reasons, like you said, if you thought you could only reach 10 people, don't do survey-based research instead, interview those 10 people, get into more nuance, pull out those themes that way. That's very valid and useful. I tell people in general, if you're doing a niche B2B audience survey, at least 125 people at the bare minimum, anytime you can survey more than that is even better. Because one of the great values of doing research is that you can start to compare segments. What are those who are more effective doing differently, or what do different industries do and so forth. And obviously if you have a smaller sample size, you're not able to slice and dice the data. And because those segments all become so very small, so long answer is more is always better. At least 1 25 for B two, B two 50 is even better. And then for consumer based studies, I mean typically I would say 1000 people is a good benchmark.
John (14:45): So one of the types of surveys I guess I've had the most fun with is when you have both sides of a market. So the sellers of something and the buyers of something and to find out how off they are. So a great one might be home buyers and real estate agents, how their opinions about what the market wants or what they want are so vastly different. I think there's a lot of opportunities, and I think there's a lot of industries that have that kind of approach they could bring in, don't they?
Michele (15:12): Without question. So I've done a lot of those studies and I actually am fielding a couple of studies right now that we're looking at two different audiences and we can find stories within that audience. But our bigger story is going to be to show the gap and the differences between those two audiences that work together. There's slightly more complicated because you need to survey two audiences, but they are so interesting and the stories you can tell I feel are exponentially more interesting, exponentially more. So that's a great way to do it, John. Yeah,
John (15:40): So we recently did surveyed fractional CMOs and buyers of fractional CMO services, and one of the things that just immediately jumped out was we asked them what was the most important in, we asked the fractional CMO, what did you think was the most important aspect of why they were hiring you? And then we asked the business owner, and the business owner was very interested in, they have deep experience in our industry. And the fractional CMO was like, no, that's almost bottom of the list. Like a vast, it's this multiple industries that we work with, and really we can dive into what it means necessarily. But I think it showed a real disconnect between the two as far as what they thought was valuable. And those kinds of things to me are also great in messaging for just even our sales materials and things because it's like that's an objection almost that we have to bat down in our initial messaging.
Michele (16:39): Yes, that's a great example. And they're great conversation starters on social media. Why do you think this is?
John (16:46): Yeah, so let's talk about channels and format and how do we get the most out of this stuff editorially, I know you come up with a whole plan for week one, week two, week three kind of thing. So talk a little bit about the basic plan and the channels.
Michele (17:02): So what I like to do, and I'm just going to back up for one quick second because one thing I think is helpful. I think so many people here reuse research and they don't even know what that means. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to talk about that really quickly, then I think that that flows into really well into how to use those things. But when I talk about repurposing research, I look at it, I have a model called the five R is of repurposing research, but the first R is all around reuse. So just taking that chart and putting it on social media or in your blog post, it's very easy, but there's nothing that you really change. The next one is repackaged. So taking that and taking your key findings and turning those into a webinar or something like that where you really make it fit the actual channel.
(17:41): The third thing, and these last I think are far more interesting, the third way to repurpose research is to reflect on it in public, just like we just talked about. Have a conversation, share your thoughts, get other ideas and perspectives. It makes the data really meaningful. It's my favorite way to use research. I think it brings joy to people, but you could also take your research and you could use to reveal solutions. So what are those missed opportunities and then pain points and how would you solve them? And then the last way is to reimagine it. So what is all of those different segments that you can compare? How can you look at data that you haven't already published and then take that to the market to give people a different insight? So I think it's just helpful to help people think it's not just taking charts and placing them in different things. It's really taking that one study and trying to think what are all of the stories that I can tell from it holistically, and how can I tell them in a way that's going to be really meaningful to my audience?
John (18:38): And obviously every channel's got a different format that the data seems to work better in, or the story seems to work better in, right. LinkedIn and YouTube are completely different in how you would package the content, right?
Michele (18:50): Absolutely. Like you said, YouTube and LinkedIn are very different. And I have this, I've worked through this, but you can use LinkedIn in 10 different ways to actually share your research. So there's a lot of different ways, no matter what channel you're on, you can think about using your research in a lot of different ways.
John (19:08): One we haven't really touched on because I think when you talk about repurposing content, people immediately jump to a blog post or LinkedIn posts, but what about presenting it live? You talk about speaking and webinars and maybe even doing pure round tables. Could you see those as channels for doing this as well?
Michele (19:27): I 1000% see those as channels for this. I think especially webinars. And the other thing I think about too is what is the goal with your research? If your goal is to get leads, do stuff like webinars. I talk to so many clients and their webinar is their best lead generating thing that they're actually doing. But if your goal is brand awareness, speak at those events or be on other people's podcasts. So really try to think of what are your goals and what are the channels to help you get there? And that's how I would prioritize all of the opportunity that you have in front of you.
John (20:01): Okay. One last question on the content itself and using it, do you have an opinion on how search engines view this type of data and research and backing as opposed to theory and opinion?
Michele (20:15): So I will say I feel like I had a better sense of it a couple years ago, and my searches has changed so significantly, so I'm not going to say I have the end all be all answer. That said, that's a really great question. You're posing that said, I know so many people who are doing research and you look in tools like consumer or tools that track links, their research is their best source of getting back links because if you're answering those unanswered questions, then people link to you as the source. So I don't know if that's changed recently, but I know historically research has been wonderful if you're trying to get back links, build your domain authority and so forth.
John (20:53): Yeah, I mean, I have hundreds of speakers that go out there and they make presentations and they always have somebody's research or somebody's statistic to validate their point, and they probably just went and did a search and grabbed it. So I'm certain that a lot of, well, I know for a fact backlinks are coming that way. Well, Michelle, I appreciate
Michele (21:09): A hundred percent. It works well.
John (21:10): Taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, is there someplace you'd invite people to connect with you and find out more about the work you're doing?
Michele (21:17): Yeah, I would recommend connecting me with me on LinkedIn at Michelle Lynn. I'm also in the process of updating my website, so it's a little, but you're welcome to visit my website too, mantis research.com.
John (21:28): Awesome. Again, I appreciate you taking a moment. I think, well, I see you in Boston in the fall at B2B or at Marketing profs.
Michele (21:35): I don't have plans yet, but I'm still kind of getting my whole schedule together. Okay.
John (21:39): I think you've spoken there before, have you not?
Michele (21:42): I have. Yeah. It's a great event for anyone who's thinking about going go without hesitation. That's fantastic.
John (21:47): It is. It's a lot of fun. Alright, take care. And hopefully we'll run into you one of these days out there on the road.
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How to Be an Entrepreneur in 2024: 15 Tactics Revealed written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John JantschIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Paul Cheek, a serial tech-preneur, educator, and software engineer. Paul Cheek is also a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the MIT Sloan School of Management and the co-founder of Oceanworks. Our discussion covers the intricacies of entrepreneurship, focusing on the 15 tactics outlined in his latest book, “Disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics.”
Key TakeawaysIn this episode you’ll learn:
- The importance of structured goal setting
- a disciplined approach to business for today’s entrepenurs
- Market testing for product validation
- Effective marketing and sales tactics, and strategies for overcoming fear and uncertainty. By implementing these tactics, aspiring entrepreneurs can navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship with confidence and drive their ventures toward success. Questions I ask Paul Cheek:[01:47] What is disciplined entrepreneurship
[04:02] Do the tactics of disciplined entrepreneurship begin with vision?
[06:30] How do you ensure the vision is shared organization-wide?
[07:50] How do you tie OKRs to shared vision and goals?
[09:59] How are OKRs, visions and goals applied in OceanWorks?
[12:00] How do the illustrations in the book augment the entire message?
[14:39] Do you have a favorite tactic?
[18:52] Talk about the easter eggs laid across the book for reader to discover?
[22:53] Is there some place you’d invite people to connect with you, and grab a copy of Discipline Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics
More About Paul Cheek:* Connect with Paul Cheek on LinkedIn * Visit his Website
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn
This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by ActiveCampaign
Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabSpeaker 1 (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made. What
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John (01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsh. My guest today is Paul Cheek. He's a serial tech entrepreneur, entrepreneurship educator and software engineer. He is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the MIT Sloan School of Management, the executive director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and the co-founder of Today we're going to talk about his new book, disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics, 15 Tactics to Turn Your Business Plan into a Business. Paul, welcome to the show,
Paul (01:42): John. Thanks for having me.
John (01:44): Alright, so first let's define what is disciplined entrepreneurship as opposed to, what's a good answer now? Unruly entrepreneurship?
Paul (01:54): Yeah, yeah, it's a good question, right? And you think about it, it's not what people would usually jump to when they think of entrepreneurship, this idea, and I think even before we do that, John, we've got to define what is entrepreneurship. Well, that's true, and this is first couple sentences of the book, right? Entrepreneurship is about more than just startups. It's about more than just going and building new companies. It's about doing more than is probably reasonable with however much time, however much money you have control of. And that might be in a startup, it might be as a founder of a startup, it might be as an early employee, as a startup. It might also be in Big Co. It might be in a big large company. It could be in a nonprofit, it could be anywhere. And so what is discipline entrepreneurship? It's taking a structured systematic approach to having an outsized impact, whatever your goal or your vision might be.
(02:45): And so when we think about that systematic structured approach, we're thinking about this engineering approach to entrepreneurship. A lot of people think, and this is one of what I believe to be one of the most common misconceptions in entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, they wake up in the morning and they do whatever they want all day long. They spend their time however, they so choose whatever they're going to be most interested in. And I believe that's wildly misguided. The best entrepreneurs build structure into their lives, into their business to help them work towards that ultimate vision. And so discipline, entrepreneurship thinks about what's the most structured approach we can take that's going to increase our odds of success. And startup tactics is a continuation of the original discipline. Entrepreneurship, looking at not just what do we do to go and to start a new venture, whether that's a new startup or within a larger organization. Startup tactics looks at how do you actually do it right? A lot of people know that they want to go start a company and they know generally what to do. The question is how do you take those first steps? How do you make sure you're being as efficient with your resources as possible?
John (03:49): So a lot of times when people hear tactics, they start jumping to, oh, we need Facebook campaigns or whatever tactics you start, of course, and this is the right place to start. But I think a lot of people probably jump right over this with the idea of vision. You mentioned already, I mean, before we decide any kind of tactics, doesn't it start there?
Paul (04:09): Yeah, absolutely. Right. It's like, Hey, why are we doing this? And discipline entrepreneurship looks at this idea of personal detri or a reason for existence. We've got to know what's our vision, where are we going? And the first tactic that entrepreneurs need is a really strong approach to setting goals. Like I said earlier, this idea that entrepreneurs wake up in the morning, they do whatever they want know. It's like entrepreneurs have goals. They know what they're working towards. Oftentimes what I see happen is entrepreneurs may have an amazing vision. They may have some goals, but then if you look at their daily to-do list, right? If we pull out the to-do list, there's a bunch of things on there that don't actually work towards that next milestone, that next goal. So we start with goals. We don't have goals. We're going to wind up doing a lot of things using our most precious resources to go and to achieve something, but that something doesn't move us towards the end goal.
(04:58): And when I think about it, it's something that everybody thinks they're good at, everybody thinks they're really good at setting goals, but when the rubber meets the road, when we actually look at those goals, we analyze 'em like, are those really good goals? We got to take a step back and revise. And the more we can build this skillset of setting goals, the better those goals are going to be on a recurring basis. Whenever we go and we begin that next stage of growth, whenever we think about what's happening with our resource pool, are we getting, are we fundraising? Have we raised money? Do we have more people on the team? Have we lost a couple people? Were those people part-time? Were they full-time? Are we losing or gaining time or money? If we are, then our goals should evolve. They should change in an instant because if we have more time, we have more people on the team where we have more money, our goals should be more ambitious than they were prior. Likewise, if we lose somebody from the team, we've got less time and we need to reset on our goals. We've got to set realistic goals for our team.
John (05:56): So goals, vision, I think are really easy, especially sometimes in the startups. It's like, this is why we're doing this. This is what I'm passionate about. And then chaos hits and diversity hits and more people come onto the team. How do you take that vision and make sure that you're aligning it and that it's shared and that it's the right one still?
Paul (06:13): Yeah, it, it's a good question. Is it the right one still? That one that's so context specific, that's hard to really dig into the details of, but is it a shared vision? That's a good question. And that has to be evaluated with every single person who comes onto the team. The thing that I do with companies in the earliest stages, we do this in our class at MIT, we will sit the founders down next to each other and we'll say, why don't you each grab a pen, grab a piece of paper, write down your vision of the future state of the world, what does the world look like with your innovation, with your business, once it's been wildly successful, what is that future state of the world that you are working towards? And nobody's allowed to talk during that exercise. And then we'll say, all right, put your pens down.
(06:58): Let's see what you came up with. Does it match what the other co-founders wrote down? And if it doesn't, then we need to reevaluate as a team, because if one co-founder has one vision and another co-founder has another vision, even if they're slightly different, they're going in different trajectories. And over the course of time, they'll move further and further apart. And the same thing is true of goal setting. Making sure that as we, and this is covered in the book, it's like as we write down a goal, how clear is it? Is it open to interpretation? Are we going to come back if we're doing quarterly goals and come back and in a few months and then look at them and say, yes, I think we achieved it, and somebody else says, no, we obviously didn't achieve that. How open to interpretation are these goals? The clarity is super important.
John (07:38): Yeah. Yeah. So there's a concept in the book that I was introduced to it. I want to give credit to Google or folks at Google, but called OKRs that shows up in this book as well. How do you tie OKRs to shared vision and goals and the fact that the founder has maybe different goals, I mean shared vision, but different specific goals than maybe team leaders?
Paul (08:03): Yeah, absolutely. Well, OKRs is introduced as one wait to set. Well, people say, oh, do we have to use ok? It's like what goal setting methodology you choose. It doesn't matter to me. What I care about is that somebody actually sat down and thought about these goals and we know why we're doing what we're doing. Our daily activities mapped to those goals and those goals mapped to our vision. When I think about it, it's in the early stages of that entire co-founding team needs to be aligned on what these goals are and the fact that they do actually work toward that vision. As the team grows, as we add additional people, you're going to have different goals for each team, and those teams are going to be responsible for having achieved their objectives. When I think about it, it's, it's got to trickle down, but in the early stages, when there is that chaos that you described, John, we've got to make sure that while none of these goals are open to interpretation, we have flexibility in them because things might change, our segment might change.
(08:56): We might run an experiment. We say, alright, we actually, we need to pivot that market segment a little bit. We're going to have to revise the goals that are associated with it. And so just allowing for that flexibility and really just the constant communication around these goals. It's not like we set them today and we come back to them in a few months. We could be constantly talking about these, and if those lines of communication are open, people are going to fall out of line Just in terms of where we're going as an overall organization. But one of the things that we connect, a lot of these tactics are all interrelated. When we get to, for example, the tactic on building a product roadmap that has to directly tie to the organization level goals. So in the early days, everybody's doing everything, but once you have a product team, making sure that the elements of the product roadmap tie back to the organization level goals is just so important. The same thing could be true with the marketing team and the sales team. Finding that alignment between each team's goals with the overall organization level goals, to the point we try to drive home.
John (09:53): I love examples. People learn from examples, and we had a case of an example business called Ocean Works. How does Ocean work vision and goals and OKRs, and as you've kind of grown folks there, how are you applying this or how have you seen it applied at Ocean Works?
Paul (10:09): Yeah, I mean, for Ocean Works, you set goals, and as the business evolves, those goals change, right? The timescale for those goals has changed over the course of time. The goals themselves have become more refined. The team has gotten more familiar with the goal setting methodology, how to set them and to make sure that everybody is on the same page. So a lot of the stuff we're talking about is absolutely manifested at Ocean Works in the first years of building the business and of course beyond as well.
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John (11:50): So the book is beautifully illustrated. Obviously we don't have all the pictures here to show, but I'm curious. That was probably an investment decision that you made. How do you feel like that? What do you feel like that adds to the book, particularly when it comes to the specific tactics?
Paul (12:06): These illustrations are so important, John, so important and all credit on the illustrations that you see here, Maria, Versace, fabulous, just fabulous. Those illustrations are really important to this book. Why? Because entrepreneurship and the pursuit of building a new business, that seems like something only entrepreneurs can do. Not everybody thinks of themselves immediately as an entrepreneur. So the illustrations are designed to make the book approachable. They're designed to give it a little bit of life. You can go through and we can look at all these experiments and define variables and hypotheses, and then looking at database outcomes. That's not as approachable as something that has some visual elements to it, but the illustrations are also designed to communicate. One of the elements of entrepreneurial math that we talk about, PDOs, John PDOs, you may know PDOs for solving equations. We look at it at MIT as an order of operations, not of parentheses and then exponents, et cetera.
(13:10): We look at it as what is the order of operations that we need to follow in terms of our actions to take that business plan and turn it into a real business? For us, that looks like starting with setting goals, those foundations. From there, it says, let's go test the market before we've ever built product. Once we've got that line of customers waiting down the street to use this product, we think they want, but we haven't built yet, let's go build it. Right? Let's go start that product development process. And then once we've got customers and we have products, we know what we need to continue to grow and scale this business, the time, the money, the team, and then we look at resource acquisition. It's the order of operations through these different stages of the tactics that the illustrations help to convey. When we look at it, John, you go through this and the big thing that I really wanted to communicate is this idea that you're starting down here in the jungle, in the foundations at the bottom, you're working your way towards the big city in the background, but these tactics, it's not like once you do them, you're all done.
(14:12): You see the floor of the jungle in the beginning. It carries all the way through to the end. You see the green stripe going in the distance, and that's because these tactics always carry on for you. You can learn them sequentially, but they're executed in harmony, and I think that's something that's really important for entrepreneurs to understand. You can learn these as you go, and that's a really important thing to do, but you can't just say, oh, well, we set our goals now we're done. Every time you take an action, those goals are revised.
John (14:39): So we've hit on a couple of the early stage tactics. I always love to ask authors this, especially when they have a number in their title. Is there one that's like a favorite of yours or one we haven't talked about that? Think I don't want to talk about that one?
Paul (14:53): Yeah. I think for me, John, when I look at the different tactics in this book, there's no silver bullet in entrepreneurship, right? Everybody. That's important for entrepreneurs to understand, right? It's not like the thing that I would call out in this process. It's not one of the 15 tactics I would call out the market testing stage in particular. Everybody thinks, oh, I'm going to go build a product and then I'll sell it. It's like, well, what if you build it? You waste all the time and money that you have available to you and you go to try to sell it and nobody wants it. We've got to validate that there are customers who are going to buy our product before we've ever built the product. So when I look at market testing, it goes through four tactics. First and very importantly is market research. Market research specifically.
(15:33): Primary market research is one of the most important tactics that entrepreneurs can gain because that's our process of learning. When we are a new business, we don't have a whole historical data set like a big company hacks. We need to build up our own unique dataset of who are our customers in our new market that we are creating? What do they care about? We need to get to know them as well as we know some of our best friends, we use the information, we learn from them about the problems that they face. We're going to try and communicate that out to the world. The problem is you hear a lot of startup pitches and they go on and on. They have so much to say about a new complex innovation that they're developing. As a new startup though, you don't have people who are going to pay attention to you forever.
(16:09): And so for that reason, entrepreneurs need to figure out how do we use the assets tactic? The second in the market testing stage, how do we communicate the value that we're creating and how we create it in 10 seconds or less? How do we use an animation or a video or something that's going to show our end users the value that we can create before we built a product in a very short period of time? While we can hold their attention, we use those assets in the two tactics within market testing that help us to actually talk to real customers and market to them and sell to them. That's marketing and sales. Marketing. It's like you think about corporate market. We could go take a class in marketing when you're in the early stages of building a new business or when you're in the early stages of building a new product at an existing organization is so different.
(16:54): Why? Because we need to be thinking about what is the fastest, cheapest, most data rich approach we can take to running a marketing experiment? It's all rooted in kind of a scientific method, the marketing and the sales. It's we have a hypothesis about what people want, who wants it, who those customers are. We've got to define our variables, run the experiment, come back with real data, and so specifically the market testing and marketing tactic looks at how do we leverage this mousetrap model, the mousetrap model of saying, we think this customer segment wants this value prop. Let's put this value prop in front of that customer segment and see do they react? Not will they pay us, right? Not can we drive revenue? Can we drive conversions? It's can we get them to give us the smallest form of currency that they have available to them?
(17:39): Things like an email address. Will they give me the email address to stay updated on the progress of this product? Will they join the newsletter? Maybe will they pre-order? If we can get them to give us just a little bit to validate and we come back with data and say, yes, a very large segment of the people who we've targeted with these demographic psychographics want what we think they do, that gives us the competence and conviction to move forward. It gives us data to say, yeah, we should go and invest and build this new product, this new innovative product. And the sales tactic looks at things like, how do we run that first outbound sales campaign? We don't want to reach out to anyone and everyone. Let's build a really targeted lead list of our core end user group. Let's craft some messaging towards them with that value prop we want to test.
(18:22): Let's start sending it out and watching this really closely, just like we would watch a science experiment and see what happens. What are the results? Do they come back to us? Do they click links? Things like that that give us the data. We need that unique data set to keep moving, and when nothing works, I think that's a wonderful thing, right? Because we haven't wasted a lot of time and money. We didn't buy a billboard, we didn't name a stadium. We ran a sub hundred dollars marketing experiment to see do people want what we really think they do?
John (18:51): So great deal of more to cover in this book, but I want to focus on the Easter Egg hidden in the book.
Paul (18:58): Which one's that?
John (18:59): Well, I didn't necessarily, the folks that Wiley, I think told us that there was several instances where you did some things in the book that you wanted people to discover.
Paul (19:10): There are a few things. I mean, the biggest one, the most exciting one to me is that within the book, you are going to find me in one of the illustrations and you can find one instance in the disciplined entrepreneurship, expanded and updated version, and one version in the startup tactics version. So that's the biggest Easter egg there could possibly be. When I first saw it, I was so excited. On a more serious note, as you go through these books, there's a couple Easter eggs. Most of those are right within the case examples. Every tactic has a case example that shows you not just, alright, here's what to do, how to do it. Here's an example of somebody who actually did that, and there's two, I'm going to give you two because they're tightly aligned. We think about how these tactics can be used in the course of building a brand new business, something that's brand new to the world.
(20:01): We haven't raised any money, we don't have a team. We're just trying to figure it all out, and there's an amazing story. Within that references two students, co-founders, their names are Anisha and Madeline, and they started a business using this market testing and this marketing tactic that we just talked about, their company's called Livy, matches up women who moved to new cities to make friends in small groups. Instead of one-on-one, and they didn't build their product. They decided that they were coming through one of our classes at MIT. They said, look, we've got an amazing business plan and they do fabulous business plan. They said, let's go see if we can get some people who really resonate with this value proposition. They took a very structured approach to testing different value propositions with their target core customer segment. What they did, the example, the detailed analysis that they did of the data that came back is hugely valuable to entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial marketers, folks who want to test value props because they came back with a list of 1500 women.
(21:03): It was actually 1800 women who wanted this value prop before they'd ever built any product. So that sure number, the volume of people who wanted what they could build provides confidence and conviction to go to build it. Definitely go check out their business too. Livy app is the website, and it's one of those things, you just see this data come back. It's so compelling. That's a new business. The other Easter egg example I'd give you is a gentleman named Camilo Foco, a PhD student in the MIT computer science and artificial intelligence lab. Camilo amazing. He was kind of off of the race and he'd already raised millions of dollars, had a team of at least 20 people, if not more, when he sat down and used these tactics for the first time. There's a wonderful example of how he conveyed his extremely complex artificial intelligence advertising software and all that it can do for a brand running advertisements to improve the effectiveness of those advertisements in sub 10 seconds. Extremely complex technology, huge value prop, a number of different functionalities to convey their animation, which there's a link in the book for people to go check out the live animation. It's one of the best examples of how to leverage that tactic, and Camillo and his team did a lot of other things leveraging different tactics, but I just think that example is gold. It's something that entrepreneurs, that innovators can leverage to go and test, much like with the Libby example, test the value prop before they go much further to minimize investment in any new idea.
John (22:37): Don't want to be out there solving problems that people don't know they have. Right?
Paul (22:41): That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
John (22:43): Awesome. Well, Paula, it's a pleasure having you on the show for a few minutes today. Is there some place you'd invite people to connect with you or certainly learn where they can pick up copies of discipline, entrepreneurship, startup tactics?
Paul (22:55): Oh, absolutely. Come find me on LinkedIn. Visit the books website, it's startup tactics.net, and of course, grab a copy of the book and leverage all the tactics within to take that idea and turn it into a reality. Amazon, Barnes and noble bookshop.org available everywhere, and my big goal is to get this in the hands of more and more entrepreneurs. So if you know somebody who's going to start a business or somebody who's going to build a new venture within a large organization, get them a copy of the, let's get this in the hands of everybody who can put it to good use.
John (23:28): Awesome. Well again, appreciate you stopping by and hopefully we'll run into you on these days after on the road.
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Weekend Favs April 27 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Pika Labs AI – Pika Labs AI, is a free AI video generator that can turn your text or image prompts into short, engaging videos. With a simple interface and easy-to-use features, Pika Labs AI is the perfect tool for content creators looking to add some visual flair to their online presence.
- Runway – Runway is a new suite of creative tools designed to turn the ideas in your head into reality. All made possible with AI models that can understand and generate worlds.
- Midjourney – Midjourney is an independent research lab exploring new thought mediums and expanding human imaginative powers. Focus on design, human infrastructure, and AI.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In today's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, we're joined by Honorée Corder, an accomplished author, publishing consultant, and the founder of Indy Author University. With over 50 books to her name and a passion for turning aspiring nonfiction authors into best-selling and best-earning authors, Honoree brings an unparalleled perspective to the table. We discuss her recent book, Write Your First Nonfiction: A Primer for Aspiring Authors, and delve into the intricacies of authorship, focusing on the business benefits of publishing your own book.
More About Honoree Corder: https://honoreecorder.com/
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Weekend Favs September 9 written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Navigating the Performance Paradox written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Eduardo Briceño In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Eduardo Briceño. He is a global keynote speaker and facilitator who guides many of the world’s leading companies in developing cultures of learning and high performance. Earlier in his career, he was the co-founder and CEO of Mindset Works, the […]
Weekend Favs September 2 written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kirstin Ferguson. She is Australia’s most prominent leadership expert and a highly experienced business leader in her own right. Her upcoming best-seller book: HEAD & HEART: The Art of Modern Leadership is a practical guide for every modern leader. Kirstin explains how leadership is simply a series of moments and therefore, every moment offers us the opportunity to leave a positive impact on those we lead.
More About Kirstin Ferguson:
Get your copy of HEAD & HEART: The Art of Modern Leadership
Head & Heart Leader Scale
Kirstin's website.
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Fractional CMOs As Strategy Architects written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Angelo Ponzi In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Angelo Ponzi. He is a marketing and branding strategist who works with small to middle-market companies as their Fractional CMO. His company, Craft, focuses on three strategic pillars for success: Insights, Brand, and Plan to develop effective and efficient […]
Weekend Favs August 26 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How To Get Back Your Entrepreneurial Freedom written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Dr. Sabrina Starling In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. Sabrina Starling. She is the Business Psychologist and is the international bestselling author of How to Hire the Best and The 4 Week Vacation: The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Taking Your Life Back from Your Business. […]
The Impact of Community written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Lloyed Lobo In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Lloyed Lobo. He is an entrepreneur, podcast host, and community builder. He is the co-founder of Boast.ai, where he leveraged the Community-Led Growth model to bootstrap the company. He is also the co-founder […]
Four Actionable Goal-Setting Tips to Stop the Overwhelm and Guide Growth written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Have you ever felt as though managing a business is a perpetual climb, constantly battling with overwhelm? If you answered yes, rest assured, you are not alone. The entrepreneurial journey often feels like juggling a sea of ever-increasing tasks - from managing customer expectations to dealing with staff, finances, and more. In the midst of […]
Weekend Favs August 19 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The Power Of Mattering written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jennifer Wallace In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jennifer Wallace. She is a freelance print and television journalist who began her career at 60 Minutes. She’s a frequent contributor to the WSJ and the Washington Post. Her upcoming book Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-and What […]
How Fractional CMOs Are Reshaping Business Strategy written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mike Volkin In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Volkin. He is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, marketing consultant, fractional Chief Marketing Officer, Army veteran, and author of 7 books. In addition, he has built and sold 6 of his own companies. As a marketing leader, he specializes […]
Charting Profits: How a Clear Vision can Amplify Your Marketing Results written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
A company's vision is its roadmap for the future. It encompasses the organization's long-term goals and aspirations and lays out its desired destination. Experience tells me that a successful vision is more than just an aspirational concept. It's a practical, actionable plan that should guide every decision and action within your business, including your marketing […]
Weekend Favs August 12 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Wealth and Ownership Amid A Shifting Global Financial Order written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Carol Roth In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Carol Roth. She is a “recovering” investment banker; entrepreneur; speaker; economic, business, and financial commentator; content developer; and a New York Times bestselling author. Her latest book You Will Own Nothing: Your War with a New Financial World Order, is […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa. He is a professor at Columbia Business School and Founder of the Mentora Institute. He has coached dozens of Fortune 100 C-suite executives and taught 10,000+ MBAs and Executives.
His upcoming book: Inner Mastery, Outer Impact: How Your Five Core Energies Hold the Key to Success, explains the 5 Core Energies (Purpose, Wisdom, Growth, Love, and Self-Realization) and expressing them through actions that bring out the best in yourself and others. Dr. Hitendra shares the key principles for how to pursue success by letting your true self shine through in everything you do.
More About Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa: * Get your copy of: Inner Mastery, Outer Impact: How Your Five Core Energies Hold the Key to Success * Dr. Hitendra's website. * Mentora Institute
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
Weekend Favs August 5 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Russ Perry. Russ, the founder and CEO of Design Pickle, is a seasoned creative leader, entrepreneur, author, and thought leader. As a former agency owner, Perry intimately understands the challenges associated with all aspects of creative work and has transformed the creative process through Design Pickle.
More About Russ Perry: * Design Pickle * Connect with Russ on LinkedIn
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
Maximizing Your Marketing Impact With Fractional CMOs written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with JP Maroney In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview JP Maroney. He is a seasoned business strategist and Fractional CMO with over three decades of entrepreneurial experience. He is known for his strategic prowess, serving powerhouse clients like Wells Fargo and Century21, as well as growing companies, often as […]
Weekend Favs July 29 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ben Young. He is the founder of Nudge, an analytics company, that was a commercialized product from his agency. Nudge helps you measure the performance of your digital properties through the lens of what people are paying attention to.
Ben explains why agency owners should consider investing a portion of their own capital into other businesses as a way of personal development and to gain valuable insights from different industries. By investing in other companies, they can learn from other founders, gain exposure to new sectors, and understand emerging trends.
More About Ben Young: * Follow Ben on Twitter. * Nudge website. * Check out Ben's blog.
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
A Comprehensive Marketing Gap Analysis for Effective Strategies written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show, and I’m gonna talk about a new tool that we’ve created, the marketing gap analysis. This guide will help you understand the complex world of marketing and create a roadmap for success by improving your marketing […]
Weekend Favs July 22 written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Building An Event Strategy That Connects With Your Community written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Isaac Watson In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Isaac Watson. He is an event strategist and entrepreneur who founded Kickass Conferences in 2016. He has produced over 50 conferences and gatherings worldwide, specializing in event strategy and design for communities. Isaac is also the co-host of the Make […]
Rethinking The Words You Should Lose For Those to Use written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Sam Horn In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sam Horn. She is the Founder and CEO of the Intrigue Agency. She’s been a speaker for 3 TEDx talks and the author of 10 books, including Tongue Fu, POP!, SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week. Her […]
Weekend Favs July 15 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How Virtual Assistants Are Reshaping The Business Landscape written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Joe Rare In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Joe Rare. He is an “underground” serial entrepreneur, investor, and outsourcing expert. Joe focuses on helping small- to medium-sized businesses and currently owns and manages a number of digital companies that are fully run by virtual assistants, including: Level […]
The 7 Deadly Marketing Mistakes written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show, and I’m gonna talk about 7 martketing mistakes that business owner usually make and I give you some tips on how to avoid them. Key Takeaway: Businesses often make seven deadly marketing mistakes: lacking a clear […]
Weekend Favs July 8 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The 4 Commitments To Grow Your Reach Online written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Becky Robinson In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Becky Robinson. She is the Founder and CEO of Weaving Influence. This full-service marketing agency specializes in digital and integrated marketing services and public relations for book authors, including business leaders, coaches, trainers, speakers, and thought leaders. In April […]
How To Write A Business Book That Matters written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Josh Bernoff In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Josh Bernoff. He is the bestselling author or ghostwriter of eight business books and contributed to 50 book projects that have generated over $20 million for their authors. Josh was formerly Senior Vice President, Idea Development at Forrester, where he […]
Weekend Favs July 1 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Unveiling The Future Of AI written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Kenneth Wenger In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kenneth Wenger. He is an author, a research scholar at Toronto Metropolitan University, and CTO of Squint AI Inc. His research interests lie at the intersection of humans and machines, ensuring that we build a future based on the […]
Embracing Your Entrepreneurial Superpower Being Unemployable written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Alysia Silberg In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Alysia Silberg. She is a leading venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, where she mentors tech startups and helps them go public. She is the CEO & General Partner of the investment firm Street Global. Her online radio show: Global […]
10 Signs You Need A Marketing Strategy and How To Get Back On Track written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
As a marketing consultant, I meet numerous business owners who are all set to take their companies to new heights. But, I’ve also noticed a consistent pattern of confusion about what a marketing strategy truly entails. It's a detailed plan designed by businesses to promote their product or service through different channels and tactics, in […]
Weekend Favs June 24 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Siri Lindley. She is a two-time world champion triathlete and winner of twelve ITU World Cup races. She’s the top female triathlon coach in the world, she’s guided Olympic medalists and Ironman champions to not only become better athletes but also better people. Siri is also a life coach, keynote speaker, and the Founder of two non-profit organizations.
Her upcoming book Finding a Way: Taking the Impossible and Making it Possible, gives you the tools, inspiration, and strategies you need to find a way through the struggles in your life and leads you to triumph. She explains how failure becomes an opportunity for learning and growth, while gratitude, support, and living with purpose and love are essential in everyone's journey.
More About Siri Lindley: * Get your copy of Finding a Way: Taking the Impossible and Making it Possible. For every book sold, $2 is donated to Feeding America and the rest of the profits go to Siri's non-profit Believe Ranch and Rescue. * Get a free chapter of Finding a Way by texting "GOFIRST" to 66866.
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rodney Zemmel. He is co-leader of the McKinsey Digital Practice, and a member of McKinsey’s Shareholders Council, the firm’s board of directors. He serves clients across a range of industries on growth strategy, performance improvement, and value creation by harnessing the power of data and analytics, digital culture and capabilities, and modernized core technology.
He is the co-author of Rewired: the McKinsey’s Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI. This book shares the lessons McKinsey has learned helping companies deliver successful digital and AI transformations into a detailed “how to” manual explaining how organizations need to rewire their processes and operations, leveraging new technologies to achieve value.
More About Rodney Zemmel: * More about Rewired: the McKinsey’s Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI * Get in contact with Rodney
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs June 17 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How To Retain Top Talent While Prioritizing Their Quality Of Life written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Joe Mull In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Joe Mull. He is the founder of the BossBetter Leadership Academy and hosts the popular BossBetter Now Podcast, which was recently named by SHRM as a “can’t miss show for leaders” along with podcasts from Brené Brown and Harvard […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dave Dodson. He is on the faculty of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he guides students in tactical execution. He was a McKinsey & Company consultant and left to become a serial entrepreneur operating several companies as CEO or Executive Chairman.
His newest book The Manager's Handbook: Five Simple Steps to Build a Team, Stay Focused, Make Better Decisions, and Crush Your Competition; will help managers, executives, and other business leaders interested in dramatically improving their ability to lead people and inspire loyalty.
More About Dave Dodson: * Pre-Order your copy of The Manager's Handbook: Five Simple Steps to Build a Team, Stay Focused, Make Better Decisions, and Crush Your Competition * Reach out to Dave
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification:
- Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
The Top 5 Actions to Successfully Scale Your Small Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The journey of growing your small business can be an exciting one, but also full of challenges. To make the process smoother, here are my top 5 critical actions I believe every small business needs to take to grow strategically. These simple but effective steps can help you create a solid growth strategy, keep your […]
Weekend Favs June 10 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, Tiffani Bova. She is the global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce and a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.
Her new book The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth, explores the relationship between employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) in businesses and how companies should adopt a mindset that strengthens both EX and CX simultaneously.
More About Tiffani Bova: * Get your copy of The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth * Connect with Tiffani * Follow Tiffani
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification:
- Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs June 3 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Castmagic – This AI tool turns podcast audio into ready-to-use content. Instantly generate transcripts, guest bios, timestamps, key takeaways, blog posts, social media content & more.
- UpViral – This referral marketing platform is designed to run effective and profitable viral marketing campaigns and help businesses of all sizes generate more site traffic, increase their customer base, and boost sales with its leads and templates.
- Power Pages -This software by Microsoft allows you to quickly create and host secure, low-code business websites to get out to the market at a low cost.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Strategies For Successful Product Launches written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mary Sheehan In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mary Sheehan. She is an accomplished product marketing leader who has held marketing leadership roles at Adobe, Google, and many startups. Mary is also the co-creator of a new course with Reforge and hosts the popular Women In Product […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kate Volman. She is the CEO of Floyd Coaching. With over twenty years of experience in developing and leading life-changing programs for entrepreneurs and leaders, she has a passion for helping people grow.
Her new book Do What You Love: A Guide to Living Your Creative Life Without Leaving Your Job shares the seven myths stopping people from exploring their passions and dreams.
More About Kate Volman:
- Website: katevolman.com
- Get your copy of Do What You Love: A Guide to Living Your Creative Life Without Leaving Your Job
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
The 7 Myths To Follow Your Creative Pursuits written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Kate Volman
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kate Volman. She is the CEO of Floyd Coaching. With over twenty years of experience in developing and leading life-changing programs for entrepreneurs and leaders, she has a passion for helping people grow.
Her new book Do What You Love: A Guide to Living Your Creative Life Without Leaving Your Job shares the seven myths stopping people from exploring their passions and dreams.
Key Takeaway:Pursuing your creative passions and incorporating them into your life can greatly enhance your overall engagement and fulfillment. It doesn’t require quitting your job or making it your career; you can still be creative while working full-time. Many people hesitate to pursue their passions because they feel they need permission or are waiting for the perfect moment. However, true growth and success come when we give ourselves permission to start creating, even if it’s not perfect.
It’s important to challenge the myths that suggest it’s not possible, that you’re not good enough, or that you need a specific reason to pursue your creativity. Your creative pursuits are inside of you for a reason and they’re not going anywhere, It’s up to each one to feed them to improve.
Questions I ask Kate Volman:* [01:42] Why you built that caveat into this book? * [05:50] Do you think that as a team leader, you should be trying to find out what are the passions of other team members? Is that crossing the line or is that something that you think would be a healthy business relationship? * [08:10] The book is set up around seven myths that you must hear from time to time when you encourage people to follow their dream. So when people have a job, and think it’s impossible to follow their dreams, how do you bat that myth down? * [09:22] Can you explain the second myth: You’re not good enough? * [15:25] On the fourth myth, do you think we probably assign the need for permission to all of the responsibilities that we have? * [17:00] What do you tell people when they say they don’t have time to follow their creative passions? * [19:24] Some people may not want to develop their creative pursuits because they may think that what they’re doing is not perfect, what do you think of that? * [22:48] Talking about the passion loop, there’s a part missing out and not doing the things you want. So, it’s like a vicious cycle, isn’t it?
More About Kate Volman: Website: katevolman.com * Get your copy of Do What You Love: A Guide to Living Your Creative Life Without Leaving Your Job*
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Nudge, hosted by Phil Agnew, and it's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. You ever noticed how the smallest changes can make the biggest impact on Nudge you learned simple evidence, back tips to help you kick bat habits, get a raise, and grow your business. In a recent episode, Phil tested a thousand dollars on some marketing principles, some work, some don't. Uh, guest Nancy Har Hut, who's been a guest of the show as well. And Phil put these principles to test in a set of real life experiments. You'll learn what works and what doesn't. Listen to Nudge wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:52): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Kate Volman. She's the CEO of Floyd Coaching. With over 20 years of experience in developing and leading life-changing programs for entrepreneurs and leaders, she has a passion for helping people grow. And today we're gonna talk about her new book Do What You Love: A Guide to Living Your Creative Life Without Leaving Your Job. So Kate, welcome to the show.
Kate Volman (01:22): Thank you so much for having me, John. Such a pleasure to be here.
John Jantsch (01:26): So I wanna start with what I see as a bit of a twist. I think the Do What You Love mantra has certainly been out there for quite some time, but this idea of l without leaving your job, you know, I think most books are like, no, go for it. Like , you know, you can do this. And so, so talk to me a little bit about why you built that caveat, if you will, into this book.
Kate Volman (01:48): Yeah, so it's so funny that is your first question because I spent so much time thinking about this book and how is it different than all these other books that are basically saying, go out and live your dreams and do your thing . And what I've discovered over the many years that I've had in coaching so many people, and obviously in the work that I get to do at Floyd Coaching, so many of the clients that we have, they have a full-time role. And when we are coaching them, I un what we get, what uncover what is uncovered is they are unsatisfied for a number of different reasons. They think it's work. They think that they need to kind of cha change their entire life and go do something completely different. When really when we dig deep, it's like they've given up playing the guitar, they used to sing, they love to dance, they wanna create videos, maybe they wanna start a blog or a side hustle, and they feel as though they, it is all or nothing. They, they either have to leave their job and figure it out, or they have to stay there and be miserable. No, you get to live your creative life and do, and pursue your creative passions and stay in a role if should you choose to.
John Jantsch (02:56): You know, it's interesting, I could see a lot, I could see a, of employers, I think this mindset's changing, but certainly a lot of employers that would say, no, I want, you know, I want, I want you all in, you know, to your job that this is like, this is your, you know, everything, your growth, all of your extra reading, everything should be , you know, focused here. And you could make a case for saying, I, I would guess if somebody, you know, for a lot of people jobs, I got bills to pay and I, you know, I'm trying to, you know, raise my children and send them to college. So having actually that creative outlet in some ways I would suggest to employers might actually make for a better employee if they actually encouraged it. Absolutely.
Kate Volman (03:34): Right. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, that's so much of what I talk about in the book is when we, if we're, if that's all we're focused on is busy, yeah. And we're sometimes the best ideas come from when we're out in the garden or we're taking a walk. There's so much data and research that shows we have to get out of our work environment sometimes. And it's those things that bring you so much joy. And what's so beautiful is when you start to pursue your creativity and some of those passion projects, all of you become more engaged. You become more engaged in your personal life, which then in turn you become more engaged in your professional life. So you automatically not only are becoming a better team member, you're becoming a better parent and spouse, significant other friend, coworker, teammate, all of these things simply because you're getting so much energy out of those creative pursuits. And it's just a beautiful thing to watch. I mean, Matthew Kelly wrote the Dream Manager, and that's the basic concept of the book. Your organization can only be the best version of itself to the extent that your people are becoming better versions of themselves. And when we are encouraging our team members to explore their creative passions, all of that stuff is gonna be infused into the other areas of their lives, including their business. Yeah.
John Jantsch (04:48): And I think sometimes personal development is missing in a lot of, you know, certainly in job descriptions, but in actually a lot of workplaces. You know, one of the things that I think is great about being an entrepreneur, owning your own business, I think it's probably the greatest personal development program ever created . I mean, because you have to evolve as a person or you're gonna die, you know, as an entrepreneur. And that's not necessarily true. You know, when here's your paycheck, you know, show up nine to five. So I think a lot of people that are in careers, you know, their personal development sometimes suffers unless they're in a workplace with a culture that really develops it.
Kate Volman (05:22): Yeah, I think it's important as leaders, I mean, as leaders, our number one role is to help our people grow. And how do you do that? Of course, you want them to get better in their role, and you wanna provide that kind of development and training so that they get better in the role that they're in and the tasks they need to do, but then also encouraging them to explore those other passions, those other things that really light them up and really bring joy to their life. Yeah.
John Jantsch (05:45): We, I didn't want to, I wasn't gonna spend this much time on this, but I think it's a fascinating conversation. I mean, do you think that actually as a leader of a team or of an organization that you really should be trying to like find out what are those passions and, you know, is there a way that we could actually participate in you, you know, realizing some of those, I mean, is that crossing the line or is that something that you think would be a healthy, you know, business relationship?
Kate Volman (06:08): Oh my gosh, absolutely. Oh yes. Those are conversations that should be had all the time. So one of the things that I think is so beautiful, so I run, uh, Floyd Coaching, which was founded by Matthew Kelly, who again wrote the Dream Manager. And in that, in that the whole idea of asking your team members about their dreams, right? Right. Like, what are the dreams that you have for your life? And you start to see them become more engaged. And then what's so great is, as a leader, when you know what their dreams are, you're getting to know them a little bit more. You get to know their mindset, and you get to encourage them to pursue those dreams. And when they do that, think about the relationship that you're building with that person, right? Oh, John cares about me as a human being, not just that I come into work and do this job.
(06:50): And in the book he shares the 12 areas of dreams. We have dreams in all areas, professional, phy, physical material, psychological character, and we have creative dreams, and we lose sight of those. It's kind of easy in business, right? We have professional dreams, we wanna get promoted, and we have financial dreams, and we all know about those. And so those are ones that we think about our material dreams. Those are ones kind of in our face all the time. But when we think about these other areas, like our character dreams, your legacy dreams, your creative dreams, and the creative one, I have to say, most of our clients have such a hard time putting the, those, filling that box up, because we've stopped feeling like we can be creative. And I believe that we are all artists, like you are the artist of your life. And so, yes, as a leader, we need to know what our people care about. When we know what our people care about, we can lead them better. We can coach them better. We know what drives them, we know what's motivated, what's motivating them, and we can build better relationships with not only that person, but within the entire team.
John Jantsch (07:53): Yeah. I, I suspect part of what holds people back is the very narrow definition of creativity. Meaning I have to have a paintbrush in my hand, you know? Yes. Or I'm not, you know, creating art. I mean, I think most people, if they really reflect on what their day looks like, they are creatively making decisions all day long. , you know, and I think that's expanding that, you know, I think helps people. The book is essentially outlined or set up around seven myths that you must hear from time to time when you encourage people to, you know, to follow this dream. And so let's just kind of, we don't have to cover 'em all, maybe we will see how far we get, but obviously by the book, you get the full display of the myth. But let's just, I'll just kind of tee it up and you kind of talk about how this shows up in some of the folks that you work with. So the first one is people just feel like, I got a job, I got, you know, that's crazy. It's not possible . So, you know, how do you bat that myth down?
Kate Volman (08:46): Yeah, I mean, myth number one is not possible. I mean, we think about, we go through life, and especially as we get older and things get a little more challenging, we have things that get thrown in our direction, right? We, it used to be more carefree living, and now we have kids and bills and all the things that we need to do. And so we actually have this mindset sometimes of it's not possible. Like, it's not possible for me to make money and go to and have a job and do these things and also pursue my creativity. Like, it just, it's not possible. If we don't believe it's possible, then we're not gonna be encouraged to take any steps towards making it happen.
John Jantsch (09:22): All right. Number two, I'm gonna debate a little bit. You're not good enough, , your dream. My dream is to be a left-handed major league pitcher. And first off, I'm not left-handed. And secondly, you know, my fast ball is very hittable, so I just don't know. But again, I'll tee that one up. You're not good enough,
Kate Volman (09:41): , okay? So you're not good enough. Now, this is in the sense of pursuing your passions, right? So maybe you're not good enough to become the NBA player that you want to become, but you are good enough to play basketball to go out with your friends, to go hang out, to get in the league, to, you know, to, and that if you really love something so much, you're doing it for fun, you're doing it for the joy of it, right? Yeah. So, so that myth is really around, I see so many people stop themselves from starting the podcast or writing the book because they think, oh, my ideas don't matter, I'm not good enough yet, they're waiting for the right, they're waiting for the time where they're feeling like, yep, here I am, I have everything in place, and I am enough. When really you're enough exactly as you are right now, and whatever those creative pursuits are that you're interested in going after, hey, go for it. You're not gonna be like, you're not gonna have a John Jan podcast where it's, you know, he's done so many and he is, and he's at a very different level. But you're good enough to start your own podcast right now.
John Jantsch (10:45): Yeah, I mean, there's a whole lot of teachings mo mostly Eastern teachings, about how valuable it is to actually be a beginner at something and to, you know, to experience the fact that you're not good at something is because you will eventually get there. Cuz you know, this whole talk about do what you love and the money will follow, you know, all of that. I think that there's a little bit of misleading information in that sometimes there has to be a demand for what you love and there, you know, things like that. But I also think that when people get good at stuff, like, there's things that I didn't love in the beginning that I love now, because I'm kind of good at 'em. And, you know, had I just said, oh, I'm not gonna be a writer, or I'm not gonna be a speaker, you know, because I'm not good at 'em, you, you know, or because I don't really think I love it, you know, now, and obviously those have been, you know, huge parts of my business and my growth.
Kate Volman (11:34): Yeah, I mean, I, and look, the, the, it's part of what the myth is, right? I mean, one of the, well, myth number four is you need a reason. We're kind of skipping, we skipped over myth number three, but you need a reason. And one of the reasons why I put this one in there is because of what you just said, which is, oh, do what you love and the money will follow. So that's not the book's about, we're not talking about like making this your career. We're talking about you. You don't need a reason to pursue your creativity. If you love to write, I love, I started writing and or writing poetry. I never was really into poetry. Do I wanna be a poet for a living? No, but you never know if I start writing poetry now, what's, what is my poetry gonna look like 10 years from now if I practice it every day simply for the joy of it?
(12:19): Now, how does it make me a better leader? Makes me a better leader? Because poetry is so interesting. You have to find things that are fascinating to put ideas together and make something work. And that's what you do in business. It also helps in my writing, this helped me write the book studying poetry and what that was like. And I wanted it to feel like a very good flow moving book, which is a lot of what poetry is. And so this is why it's not about the money. Now, obviously, if somebody wants to start a podcast and make money, for sure, be more strategic about it. But we're talking about two different things. Yep. This is why I have that caveat of, without leaving your job, do you, if you want to one day leave your job, the myths in this book will still help you with that goal down the line. But you know, it's really giving people permission to explore their creativity a little bit more than they are used to.
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(14:59): Well, and I wonder how many people that started like that, oh, I'm not gonna be a poet, or I'm not gonna write music, or, you know, whatever it is. And then all of a sudden, like three years later, th they're rocking it. It is like that's what they decided they were meant to do. And now they've actually, you know, instead of putting it off because they needed a reason, , they just did it. And who knows? It turned into something that there wasn't the intention, but it turned into something. So we did skip over. You need permission. And I think that that's an interesting one because there's a lot of people we think need, we need permission from. I mean, you think about all of our roles and responsibilities in life and a lot of, you know, right or wrong, we probably assign the need for permission to all of those responsibilities that we have.
Kate Volman (15:47): Yeah. We feel like it's almost like we, we wanna get picked, right? Like we want somebody to reach out to us and say, Hey, you should start a podcast, or you should go pursue that creative project. Or you should go try out for the play when no, you, we need to give ourselves permission cause nobody else is gonna do that for us, right? Like, we have to give ourselves permission to start creating. And then what you just said is when you start putting yourself out there and when you start giving yourself that permission, that's when other people might find you. They might wanna collaborate with you, they might find your content and really find it interesting and want to do something with you. But when we're waiting for permission, we're gonna be waiting a long time. If we're waiting for somebody to call us up and say, Hey here, do the thing you keep saying you want to do
John Jantsch (16:34): Well. And sadly, you know, as part of the human condition, there are people out there that maybe don't want us to grow that way or to That's right. Succeed that way. And so, you know, sometimes you've gotta just like bust through that too. There's not enough time. I mean, I'm sure that one probably oughta be number one, probably to tell you true because I'm sure a lot of people would say that now a lot of those same people fill their lives up with time wasting. But, and I'm sure that's part of your myth busting, but what do you tell people when they say, I got this and I got that. I don't have time.
Kate Volman (17:04): Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. It's, I used to run this workshop of called Inspired Action and uh, it was a group, it was a mastermind group, it was specifically for women, eight to 10 women. And this one was so fun cuz we, this section, we, we would always have a good laugh because what did we do? I had them do this exercise where they had time wasters and time enhancers, right? Like we both know both of those different things in our lives. And those time wasters are the things that have just over the years gotten even harder to get over, which cuz of social media, we scroll on social media, we do online shopping for things we don't need. We do all of these things that waste so much of our time when really we should be investing in our time differently.
(17:47): And so I always find it so fascinating how we all say we need more time. Yet when something is truly important to you, you figure out how to make it work. You figure out how you're gonna squeeze in five minutes here, 10 minutes there. And that's another piece is I think that oftentimes people say people, especially when they talk about writing a book, they think, oh, I need 10 hours a day I need, or four hours or two hours a day. Yeah, no, you can literally, Hey, if you have 10 minutes, great. If you have 30 minutes, great. And what usually happens is when you give yourself that tiny little block of time to start writing or pursuing something, you'll notice you'll stay there a little bit longer. Yeah. When, because you're realizing that, oh my gosh, I actually really do enjoy this. I actually am now excited to finish writing the book or the article or whatever it is. And so we have to really identify what are those time wasters and what are those time enhancers? And then figure out how do you limit or get rid of some of those time wass because hey, we all do them. We've all spent a little too much time scrolling on social media when we could be doing something else that we would feel much better about at the end of whatever amount, length of time that is.
John Jantsch (18:54): Well, and I think, you know, there's a name for this theory, but just that, you know, we're gonna fill up the space that we have and we're either gonna fill it up with doing something we love or we're gonna fill it up doing something stupid , you know? But you know, I, a few years ago I just decided to stop doing much on Fridays from a work standpoint. And I'm, every bit is productive, you know, it's like, wait a minute, whole, like one out of five days, I'm no longer working or taking your appointments and I'm still getting as much done. What happened? You know, , I mean
Kate Volman (19:22): Exactly. .
John Jantsch (19:24): So Exactly. It has to be perfect. This is a great one because I'm an am an amateur woodworker, and I, you know, I wa I try to build furniture and I watch what other people do and I, you know, I always tell my wife, oh, I couldn't get this part right, she's not perfect. And she's like, is that why you built it? And she's like, no, . But there is a little bit of that, right? It's like, I can't, I don't want to be no good .
Kate Volman (19:50): I know. Yeah. We don't, we, I mean me because mediocre work is not the end result, right? We don't want to be mediocre at anything, but everyone has to start somewhere and Right. Like, I love why I love when somebody has somebody online who I've followed for years and years. I'm like, oh my gosh, they've accomplished so many things. And we look up to those people and then we go back to maybe their first blog or their first podcast or YouTube video, you're like, oh, they were really not that great. Right? But after so many repetitions of doing it. And so it has to be perfect. We all, I, for a lot of, especially very driven type A individuals, we have this like perfectionism complex and we can te we know that perfect doesn't exist, right? We can say that and have that conversation, yet we're still striving for it.
(20:38): We're like, no, we could get it perfect. And this is a challenge for us and it stops us from actually starting. And so in the book, I actually talk about the passion loop. So we have this passion loop where we have this idea of this passion or creative pursuit that we have, and then we say, I wanna do that. Like I, I actually wanna do that. And then we make these excuses, right? Like we immediately think I wanna do that. And then we make excuses and then we don't do anything about it. And one of those excuses is like, I'm not ready, I've, it's, I'm not a, there's not enough time. It has to be perfect. All those things. And then what happens like a week later, a month later, we have that same idea again. Like, Ooh, I wanna start that podcast, I'm gonna do it.
(21:21): Excuses. And we're stuck in this passion loop, huh? When really how to get out of the passion loop. The simplest way to get out of the passion loop is take the first step. Like that is all you have to do is take one step, even when you're scared, even when you d don't think, you know, you take that one next step to towards that patching project. And what's so awesome is that when you're, when you do that, all of these things br when you're breaking through that passion loop, you start to uncover new opportunities, new passions, new relationships, new skills, confidence, all of this stuff. And so unless we're doing the work and showing up every day, we're never gonna get better. We're never gonna go be able to, I mean we'll never attain perfect, right? Yeah. But we're never gonna even get better. And so this idea of, hey, it's okay to be mediocre, it's okay to have, you know, my first podcast isn't gonna be stellar if you love it and you're putting all, every single bit of energy and passion that you have and you know it's the best that it can be right now.
(22:21): Yeah, that's amazing. Put it out into the world. I've never met an author that said my, I would never change anything from the books that I've written. They've all said to me, when your book is out into the world, you read it and you're like, oh, why did I say that? I should have done this. I could have done that. It's the same thing with all of our work. Yeah.
John Jantsch (22:38): Plus's, the feedback you get, you know, people actually do tell you how to make it better. kids. Yes. . So y you know what's what, as I listen to you talk about that loop, you know, there's a part missing out of that is then regret starts dropping. You know, because like, uh, I've told myself a hundred times I'm gonna do this and on 99 times I haven't done it. And so then you're like, well see I'm a loser . You know? So it's like a vicious cycle, isn't it?
Kate Volman (23:05): Yeah. . Yeah. And it's like, that's the thing, that's why we gotta break out of that passion loop as whenever we're dealing with these myths. It's just, yeah. Hey, we gotta go for it.
John Jantsch (23:15): So inspirational strike is the seventh myth, and I'll just let you tee that one out.
Kate Volman (23:22): Okay. So what's so funny about this myth is this is, I was so excited to write this chapter and it was probably the hardest one to write cuz I was like, there's so many things about this inspiration will strike. Because I think so many of us, we feel as though we're gonna have this epiphany moment of, and I talk about muses in the book and I'm like, oh, I love this idea of muses and we think they're gonna come fluttering down from the sky and pour magic pixie dust on us. And all of a sudden we're gonna feel like writing or we're gonna feel like recording something, or we're gonna feel like getting up and playing guitar even though we love guitar. When really when we get home from the office or a long day, sometimes we just, you know, we think I just wanna veja on the couch, right?
(24:04): But what's so interesting is that, so inspiration doesn't just strike out of the blue. Yeah. It strikes when you actually start doing the thing. So when you start playing the guitar or when you start writing, like, I know so many writers, so especially when I started writing the book, I studied so many incredible writers like Anne Lamont and Stephen King, and I was reading and Margaret Atwood and I was so fascinated by the creative process and how they talk about writing and how so many writers actually don't love to write like they say, I love to have written. And it's like you have to sit down and write. So when you sit down and do the work and you start that project, that's when inspiration comes. Like, on the days I didn't feel like writing, I gave myself this goal of writing at least 250 words every day, right?
(24:51): So I sat behind my computer at least 250 words and some days it was 250 and I was like, I'm done. But most days it was 250 words and I was like, oh, well now I'm into it. Now I'm excited to like play around with this. And so inspiration came after I did the work, like after we started working. And so that's what this chapter is all about. And I share this one story about Stephen King cuz his book on writing, I love it. He talks about how the muse, he's like, yeah, there is a muse. He's, and he describes him as he's a basement kind of guy and he, and you have to go down into the basement and he's there and he's kind of waiting for you to show, he waits for you to show up and do the work. And only by going down into that basement and being with that muse and he's just sitting over there smoking his cigar and looking at his bowling trophies, he said, you gotta do the work. And then all of a sudden the muse will show up. And so the muse sh finds you when you are working. So the inspiration won't just come to you. No one's gonna grab you off the couch and tell you to go after your dreams. You have to start. And when you start you'll uncover, oh my gosh, I am now excited about this. And that's when the inspiration comes from doing the work.
John Jantsch (25:58): You mentioned Anne Lamont, her chapter, shitty First drafts, you know, is a similar idea there of many times. I was the same way. It's like, if I don't get this, whatever is blocking me out on a page, you know, I'm never gonna get going. And that's true for me. It even playing the guitar, which I happen to do as well, getting started is always, I don't ever feel like doing it. And then once I pick it up, you know, I, well I might keep doing this for a while. So it is getting the getting started. So I think that is, if you're gonna give anybody practical advice, you know, the getting started is the most important thing because then it, you know, then it'll roll from there. But the most doubt and fear and pressure that you'll feel is the moment, you know, when you're thinking about, you know, starting.
Kate Volman (26:44): Yeah, absolutely. And you know, one other thing that I talk about in the book is creative friends and the importance of having creative friends. And I look at creative friends as people that not only do they support you in your work, but they are also creating, they are out there, they are trying, they are dealing with these same myths because we need those people in our lives to help support us as we grow. I mean, look, I look at John as one of my creative friends. You're out there, you're doing all this stuff, you're never gonna put me down for creating, even if what I do is not perfect. Cause you're like, Hey, at least you're doing it right. Like you're doing it. You're out there, you're gonna get better. And so we all need that. And I think so many times we are, when we're surrounded by others that aren't pursuing their dreams and their passions, we can get stuck in into some of these myths.
(27:32): Especially number one, it's not possible. So when we're building our network of creative friends that are out there, they're in the trenches, they're putting stuff out, they're being vulnerable, they're putting in the work. Even when it's hard, they show up every single day, even when they don't feel like it. This is, we need more of those people in our lives. So it encourages us to keep going and it encourages us to keep creating, keep sharing, and just keep pursuing the things that we know are meant for us. Like your creative pursuits are inside of you for a reason. They're not going anywhere like they're there to stay. And so it's up to us to feed them.
John Jantsch (28:07): Yeah, absolutely. Well, Kate, we are out of time, but thank you so much for stopping by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. You want to, where would you invite people to connect with you, find out more about to coaching and obviously the book, do What you love?
Kate Volman (28:19): Yeah, the quickest, easiest way is just go to katevolman.com. You can find all my social channels on there and would love to hear from any of you about the book and what you have going on. And of course you are creative, so go create something.
John Jantsch (28:33): Awesome. Well thanks for taking a moment out. Hopefully we'll run into you one of these days soon out there on the road again, Kate.
Kate Volman (28:39): I hope so. Thanks so much, John. Hey,
John Jantsch (28:41): And one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co, not.com, dot co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketing assessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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Weekend Favs May 27 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Glimpse Extension – Enhances Google Trends by enabling users to discover, track, and receive alerts about new or growing online trends and keywords. It also enriches data and provides insights on any topic of interest.
- AudioPen – This tool transcribes and summarizes unstructured voice notes into texts that are easy to read and ready to share. You can use them to write messages, emails, blog posts, and more, in a short time.
- Twinr – An easy-to-use platform designed to help entrepreneurs create ready-to-use apps, eliminating all technicalities in the process. No coding experience is needed, and it supports app development for both iOS and Android.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Lenox. He is the Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He has served on the faculty at Duke and NYU and as a visiting professor at Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.
His new book Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation, explains how digital technologies enable the creation of innovative services and products.
More About Mike Lenox: * Connect with Mike * Get your copy of Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Andrew Barlos. He is the Head of Marketing at Loomly, a leading social media management platform. He has a history of success in the B2B SaaS, software, healthcare, fintech, human resources, consulting, and employee benefits technology industries.
Andrew emphasizes how it's important for small businesses to invest in building a dedicated social media team that focuses on a select few platforms where their target audience is most active. Furthermore, building trust and establishing an organic presence is essential in social media marketing.
More About Andrew Barlos: * Start your free trial of Loomly * Connect with Andrew
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Russell Heneberry. He is a renowned digital marketing expert, digital marketing consultant, speaker, and co-author of Digital Marketing for Dummies. He’s the Founder of theCLIKK, an email newsletter about digital marketing.
Russel talks about how newsletters have made a comeback by combining email marketing with content marketing and direct response promotion. By building trust, providing education, and offering entertainment, newsletters have the power to nurture subscribers and connect with them by creating engaging content, and effective calls to action.
More About Russell Henneberry: * Subscribe to theCLIKK * Connect with Russell
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Garrett Brown and Colin Coggins. They are longtime sales leaders, practitioners, and professors of Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.
Their new bestselling book The Unsold Mindset: Redefining What It Means to Sell challenges common misconceptions about sales and explores a different approach to selling and life. The greatest salespeople are often the opposite of what people expect them to be; They challenge societal expectations and prioritize their authenticity, vulnerability, and curiosity. By cultivating genuine care for their customers, asking impactful questions, and showing empathy, they are able to establish meaningful connections with them.
More About Garrett & Colin: * Website: www.colinandgarrett.com * Connect with Garrett & Colin * Follow Garrett & Colin
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mark Shekter. He is a Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker, and original thinker. He pioneered a new system of creative thinking that empowers Start-Ups to Fortune 500 clients to build robust and sustainable enterprises while reshaping corporate cultures for unlimited innovation and growth.
In his new book: Think8: 8 Steps to Ignite Your Creative Genius in Business, Career, & Life, Mark shares his proven method previously only available to his global Think8 clients. Mark shares that when individuals focus on their purpose and passion, they can unlock their creative energy and achieve remarkable results in various domains of life. Creativity is not limited to artistic endeavors but can be applied in business contexts as well. The Think8 methodology has 8 steps: purpose, message, tone, character, content, structure, style, and impact, when followed in sequence, leads to optimal results.
More About Mark Shekter: * Think8 Global Institute * Pre-order Think8
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Diana Kander. She is a keynote speaker on curiosity and innovation and a New York Times bestselling author. A serial entrepreneur who entered the United States as a refugee at the age of eight, she has launched and sold millions of dollars of products and services.
Diana's new book with Tucker Trotter: Go Big or Go Home Book: 5 Ways to Create a Customer Experience That Will Close the Deal, teaches how to turn pitches into an emotional experience to attract your customer's attention and bring home the win. Innovating how we sell our products and services, using elements like surprise or unexpected physical objects is a perfect way to engage and create a memorable impact and a better connection with our customers. Diana highlights the need to prioritize understanding the customer's needs before talking about oneself or what our company does.
More About Diana Kander: * Contact Diana to get a digital copy of her book for free!
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs May 06 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Vadoo.tv – A video hosting and marketing platform for businesses, brands, and creators to help them host, create and manage video content to grow their audience.
- Typogram – A design tool that enables small business owners and start-up founders to design logos and brand kits in an easy and fast way with no prior design experience.
- Podsqueeze – This tool allows you to generate content for your podcast such as show notes, timestamps, newsletters and more using AI.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mark Mears. He's a Best Selling author, keynote speaker, and consultant. Serves as Chief Growth Officer for LEAF Growth Ventures, LLC; a consulting firm inspiring individuals, teams, and organizations to find purposeful growth for business success while making a positive, lasting difference in the world.
Mark's new book The Purposeful Growth Revolution: 4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder, explains the importance of growing into one's purpose and fulfilling that purpose over time. Mark explains that a living legacy is someone who makes a difference in people’s lives and inspires them to want to do likewise. Meanwhile, purposeful growth can be aligned with profitability and philanthropy and should be the central focus for businesses as it leads to engaged and motivated team members, happier customers, and stronger communities.
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Enhancing Marketing Strategies with AI Assistance written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show, and I’m talking about how AI tools could be used as research assistants to enhance their work, generate ideas, and create more powerful marketing strategies for our clients.
Key Takeaway:AI prompts can help marketers generate new concepts, research thoroughly, and develop effective marketing strategies for their clients. The prompts cover topics like analyzing a client’s online presence, identifying the ideal client, discovering trends that can become opportunities, and even analyzing their competition. Also, by focusing on the emotional and personal aspects of the ideal clients, marketers can create targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience. While AI tools can enhance work, it’s important to test and retest output for accuracy and not just copy and paste the information and data given.
Topics I Cover:* [01:12] AI tools as a research and idea generator assistant rather than a replacement. * [02:36] AI prompts to create more potent marketing strategies. * [05:50] Identifying competition. * [06:41] Core messages as strategic promises. * [10:02] AI prompts to identify industry trends, threats, and opportunities. * [12:42] Content hubs as a way to produce content. * [14:07] AI prompts for social media content and information. * [16:22] Prompts for strategic initiatives.
Get Our Free AI Prompts For Developing A Marketing Strategy:* AI Prompts
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Nudge, hosted by Phil Agnew, and it's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. You ever noticed how the smallest changes can make the biggest impact on Nudge you learned simple evidence back tips to help you kick bat habits, get a raise, and grow your business. In a recent episode, Phil tested a thousand dollars on some marketing principles, some work, some don't. Uh, guest Nancy Har Hut, who's been a guest of the show as well, and Phil put these principles to test in a set of real life experiments. You'll learn what works and what doesn't. Listen to Nudge wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:52): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, and I'm going to do a solo show. That's right, no guests. Today I'm just going to rant and rave about a topic near and dear to my heart. That is strategy marketing strategy. Now, don't tune out if you think you've heard it all before from me. As you know, we have also been working using the AI tool ChatGPT to enhance our work. I do not, it is not a replacement tool. It is a research assistant. It is informed automation. It is an idea generator, so it really supplements the work that we would do by hand, but it just makes it faster. It makes us smarter, it helps us, uh, think of things that we perhaps, uh, forgot. So what I thought I would do is, I mean, you're probably getting bombarded.
(01:46): It in fact is probably the 10th time today you've heard somebody talk about ai. I tend to take a much more practical view of these things. And so I am gonna talk today very specifically about the ways in which we are using, uh, AI tools to help us create, uh, more potent marketing strategies for clients in, in some cases more developed, more richly enhanced with research. But again, it's just a tool to help us do that. So I thought I would go through what I did is, and I'm gonna give away for free at the end of this, I'll share a link. There will be a link also on the show notes for this. That gives you a group of about 50 prompts. You know, prompts for those of you that aren't using AI are, is really kind of how you get output. You tell it to do something that's called a prompt.
(02:39): It then outputs what it thinks you want based on that prompt. So one of the keys to really getting good output in AI is good prompts. And so we spend a lot of time testing and retesting prompts. And so I've created what I think is a, you know, very potent page of prompts that I'm going to share with you and give away that, that really kind of break down the whole process of how we develop strategy. So by following these prompts, by seeing how we've broken up the prompts into certain pillars, brand industry leads, CX customer experience, it, it really gives you a, a very good feel for how we view strategy in general. So if you're somebody who is working on strategy, if you for your own business, if you are someone who does strategy for clients, as you know, we have the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network.
(03:40): We'd love to certify you, uh, in our fractional CMO process. And this will give you a real taste of how we view strategy, how we've, how we develop strategy. Obviously, this isn't the entire instruction manual , but I think that it'll give you an idea of how comprehensive we think about it. So the very first section of prompts that you'll reach, we typically do, we do study the online presence of a client that we are working with. Some of these tools make it actually very easy to get an assessment of a website keyword research for an industry. So it gives us a, a head start at looking at content and reputation and social media and just even SEO under the hood. And so that's something that we do in every strategy. We want to get a sense, you know, our online presence today is businesses is a, it's a very significant aspect of how we are seen by the market.
(04:34): And so we certainly wanna start there. The next thing we do in strategy is help people narrow the focus of who their ideal client is. Uh, let's face this, as cliche as it sounds, you know, the 80 20 principle is alive in business. Typically, what we find is that some 20% of of a customer's clients produce close to 80% of their business. Repeat business referrals, profit in many cases. And so, and yet, you know, we're all nervous about narrowing focus because we're thinking, oh, we're gonna exclude these other people. But you know, my contention all along is if we focus more attention on that top 20%, we focus on finding more of them, really everything is going to be better off. So we have a couple prompts that really get into, you know, empathy mapping process around buyer personas, but also concerns, you know, that we can write a prompt in a way that will give us, say, a list of the top 20 things that make people who are our ideal clients, you know, lie awake at night, , and we could ask the, the tool to actually give it in first person and make it emotional.
(05:45): I mean, it's the kind of stuff that, it's the voice of customer. It's the stuff that people are saying out there. So that's certainly one area competition. You can actually use these tools to do a pretty good job of assessing what to be strengths and weaknesses of a handful of competitors. So, makes it very easy to do this kind of research. This is probably a good place for me to note. It could all be wrong, it could all be inaccurate in these AI tools because that's just where we are right now. So use this as a tool, but test read. Don't just don't copy and paste anything here because there's certainly a long way to go, but it's a great assistant. It'd be like, if you gave some of this work to a, you know, a, a low paid virtual assistant that you found online, you certainly wouldn't just take it as gospel.
(06:32): You would hopefully give the assignment and you would get work back and you'd hope it was good, but you'd certainly test and you'd, you'd learn what it does. Big part of what we do is develop what we call core messages. A core message is not a tagline, something pretty to put on a business card. Maybe it goes there , but essentially it is your strategic promise. It's your brand promise. It's, here's the problem we promise to solve for you ideal client, here's a problem that matters to you that we're going to solve. So what we want to do with that now is start testing it. So one of the great things that we have today, I mean, we do still do, uh, one-on-one interviews. That's a great way to certainly get across this idea of, you know, understanding the problem that you solved for an actual client.
(07:18): But today, Google Business profile reviews is also a great resource because people turn there and they typically talk about what a great experience they had or the problem they had or what they're not getting, you know, from other people. So we can actually ask the tool to scan all through the reviews and give us some sentiment, like, what are some themes that are coming up? Uh, what are some things that that, you know, seem to really be addressing problems that we solve? So, pretty easy to get a headstart there. We can then play around with the creativity in the tool and ask it for some core marketing messages. Maybe even parrot down to seven to 10 word kind of tagline, maybe some marketing headlines for promotional materials. Again, based on going all the way through the reviews, we're simply saying in the voice of the customer, you know, what are some ways we should be saying some things?
(08:05): It's not gospel , it's not cut and past, uh, but it's certainly, uh, very helpful.
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(09:12): Hey, marketing agency owners, you know, I can teach you the keys to doubling your business in just 90 days or your money back. Sound interesting. All you have to do is license our three step process that's gonna allow you to make your competitors irrelevant, charge a premium for your services and scale perhaps without adding overhead. And here's the best part. You can license this entire system for your agency by simply participating in an upcoming agency certification intensive. Look, why create the wheel? Use a set of tools that took us over 20 years to create. And you can have 'em today, check it out at dtm.world/certification. That's DTM world slash certification.
(10:02): Another couple little kind of throw in, uh, opportunities is you may not, especially if you're a consultant, you may not know that much about a particular industry of a client that you're working with, but you can certainly use it to ask it to give you industry trends, threats, opportunities, you know, for businesses in that industry.
(10:20): It could be really eye-opening to, if nothing else, to hear it in the language of your client. That's another thing that I think it really does a good job of is picking up the vernacular of a particular industry so that you're saying things, you know, even in your, uh, presentations, you, you are, you're putting 'em in the words that make sense to the industry or to the client. We have a very, as many of you longtime listeners would know, we have a very specific approach to developing a customer journey. It's something that trademarked IP that I call the marketing hourglass. The marketing hourglass relies on essentially guiding seven behaviors, seven stages, no, like trust, try by repeat and refer. And a lot of what we try to do in that hourglass is try to understand, you know, what would, what are tactics or processes or campaigns that we need to be intentionally, you know, putting at each stage, regardless of what industry we're in, obviously the industry may dictate many of the tactics of, you know, how somebody comes to know about you.
(11:21): You know, what they would, what would mean trust to them in order to buy. We can use the tool to just brainstorm, uh, a list of those, uh, stages in the customer journey. One of the things that AI does or has the ability to do, because it is essentially been taught, um, the, the, the everything that's put into it is, um, if there are processes out there, if there are frameworks out there, like the marketing hourglass that people have written a lot about, um, it, it will actually be able to access that, uh, content. It will know what the marketing hourglass is, for example. So you can pick any framework that you're familiar with out there, and there are many consultants who've produced frameworks. You can actually put it, you can actually identify companies or identify, uh, brands or identify individual, uh, say experts on topics.
(12:13): Um, and you can actually ask it to access, you know, their bank of knowledge and put it into a certain way that you wanna see it. Content is essentially a tactic, but it shows up in our strategy approach because we quite often are asking people to rethink the way they viewed content, to really look at it as a strategic element to look at it as something that is going to be a useful resource rather than just another challenge. Marketing challenge. We produce something called content hubs. And these content hubs are a completely different way to view, um, producing content. We still use blog or content management system technology, but we don't use it in the, in the sort of fa linear, chronological fashion that people come to think about blogs on. So I have written, um, probably talked, um, in a previous show about that idea.
(13:06): Uh, we're able to quickly put together outlines. I will say that, uh, ChatGPT wallet is not great at writing actual content. Meaning like, give me a thousand word blog post. It is very good at outlining things. If you give it a topic, a kind of big broad topic and say, you know, create an outline for the ultimate guide to X, it's actually very good at that. It will also take, and this is pretty clunky, but you know, you can tell it to give you a 90 day editorial plan and say, include social posts, include newsletter topics, include blog posts. And again, it will give you a bit of a plan. Then you can start diving into, uh, very specific, uh, platforms like video. And you can take maybe post content you've already written and say, give me topics, that would make great videos.
(13:53): You can follow that up and say, okay, I like this topic. Write a two minute script on this topic. And if you've already got the topic written, it's saying a blog post or an a webpage or something, it'll draw from that and turn it into a video script. It's pretty cool. We certainly, you know, for a lot of industries or folks that come to us, you know, webinars and LinkedIn and Facebook groups are important, uh, places for them to access. So we often will use it in the same way to outline, certainly to create webinar topics, but then to outline those webinar topics as well. I would never cut and post these, but you can actually tell it to give you some detailed LinkedIn posts, for example, for your industry. You certainly can give it continued guidance. So you don't want these to be promotional, so you tell it, make them primarily educational.
(14:39): Highlight the firm's expertise. Those quite often can be, you know, a lot of times when we're working with somebody, they don't know what to write on their LinkedIn profile, so we can give them 10 idea starters. For example, sometimes Facebook groups are a great place, uh, to hang out, for example. Well, sometimes it's a lot of work to go find those groups , but, uh, the AI tools can actually, you could tell it, give me 30 Facebook groups in this industry with contact details and you're gonna get 30 Facebook groups. Now it's still up to you to go check 'em out. Does it seem like a, a group I wanna be a part of or a group that I wanna participate in to share my expertise, but it's a headstart. Same with podcasts. If you are a business that needs to be on podcasts, and frankly, I can make a case for many people to be podcast guests, we put it in most of our marketing strategies.
(15:26): Again, the research to find the top 30 podcasts related to your industry with contact details can be some work. Put your, your informed automation assistant, ChatGPT to work for you. We go into, in this, uh, sheet that I'm sharing the prompts, I'm sharing lead generation and lead conversion. These will be basic tactics. But again, it's a great place to start. If somebody's thinking, well, I, I'm, I'm doing these two things, what else could I do? Uh, great, you know, channel recommendations, specific tactics for each customer experience, again, for a particular type of firm, you put in the, the name of the industry of the firm, and then you, or I'm sorry, the name of the industry that the firm you're working with or your firm. And then, you know, you tell it to act as a marketing consultant. Create, you know, onboarding, retention plans, employee recruiting plans, you know, all again, won't be rocket science, but it'll be a headstart.
(16:19): And then finally we end up this particular group of prompts that, uh, overarching strategic initiatives. Like if we want to, you know, act as a marketing consultant, create a list of more than, or no more than five key strategic initiatives that would give blank industry firm wishing to grow a competitive advantage. You know, questions like that or prompts like that will get you started on some ideas, on some projects, on maybe some campaigns. Maybe it'll tap into some trends that they see as opportunities. You never really know sometimes till you play with it. But I invite you to get our AI prompts for developing marketing strategy. There are a lot of people out there that are producing all these, you've seen them 2000 prompts to do blah, blah, blah, and they, you know, the prompt says, write a blog post , or, it's just random stuff.
(17:04): What I've tried to do with this gift, if you will, is to make it very focused on you're trying to accomplish a set result really with these prompts. And they're not just kind of random one off things that you might use. Some of you might not use others. So hopefully this approach, uh, you know, is very, if nothing else, is very eye-opening to, you know, some of the ways that you might use prompt. But I think, uh, prompts. But I think additionally, I think that this is a tool that could be very useful in developing marketing strategy or could give you some insight into how we develop marketing strategy. We'd love to work with you if that's something you need for your business. And I'd also invite you to of course, check out the fact that we license our methodology for building really what is a fractional CMO practice using, uh, this kind of tool, our strategy first approach.
(17:53): So that's it for now. Thanks so much.
(18:18): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co, not.com, dot co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketing assessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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Weekend Favs April 29 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Proformis – Offers advanced AI that enables writing more effective, structured performance reviews that increase productivity and retention.
- Alli AI – A platform that helps SEO agencies and teams: scale, automate their campaigns, and manage their content using AI while saving time and money. It has increased the SEO ROI of around 10,000 businesses.
- Double – A tool that automates data entry tasks to clean, enrich and qualify leads using AI. The tool uses GPT to automatically research leads on the internet and provide answers to questions.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Steve McKee. He is the co-founder of McKee Wallwork, a nationally recognized marketing advisory firm that made the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America in its first year of eligibility and has twice won the prestigious Effie Award for marketing effectiveness from the American Marketing Association.
Steve's new book TURNS: Where Business Is Won and Lost talks about how every decision and turn made in business whether it is big or small, can change the direction of our business, and is crucial to reflect on past turns/decisions and learn from them. Steve emphasizes that recognizing and embracing the turns is essential for success in business.
More About Steve McKee: * McKee Wallwork * Get a copy of TURNS: Where Business Is Won and Lost
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Tough Titties: Living Life on Your Own Terms written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Laura Belgray
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Laura Belgray. She is the founder of Talking Shrimp and co-creator of The Copy Cure. Laura is a copywriting expert who helps entrepreneurs find the perfect words to express and sell what they do in a way that gets them paid to be themselves. Her first upcoming book Tough Titties: On Living Your Best Life When You’re the F-ing Worst is a collection of her growing-up stories and saying “tough titties” to the supposed to’s in life such as: driving a car, being on time, handing in your paperwork, learning to roast a chicken, and having kids.
Key Takeaway:Laura mentions how initially, she intended to simply make a book sharing her personal stories, but her editor challenged her to infuse them with meaning and life lessons and so she did. She mentions different stories from her life and how the outcomes led her to where she is today. This is a book that speaks to anyone who had ever felt behind in their life or career and didn’t conform to the “supposed tos” of life. The title, “Tough Titties,” is a way of saying sorry not sorry for not doing things the way others expect, and is an invitation for the readers to be unapologetically themselves.
Questions I ask Laura Belgray: [03:48] Why’d you write this book? * [05:51] So, the book is mostly autobiographical. However, you are trying to teach big life lessons too, aren’t you? * [08:57] One of the copywriter’s key tools is vulnerability. So, was that part hard for you? * [10:30] You talked numerous times about being a late bloomer. So, where does that come from? Is that because you were saying I didn’t do what people expected? * [13:56] Let’s dive into a couple of chapters. Tell me about How I met my husband. * [15:47] Now please tell me more about the chapter titled The Most Driven Person. * [17:15] You also talk about laziness, the good and the bad kind. I firmly agree with you that there is some awesome bad laziness. I think sometimes you need to be lazy to let things move forward. * [20:03] I wanna do one more chapter H*ow to be popular.
More About Laura Belgray:* Talking Shrimp * Pre-order Though Titties * Follow Laura on Instagram
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast was brought to you by the MarTech Podcast, hosted by my friend Ben Shapiro, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with episodes you can listen to in under 30 minutes. The MarTech Podcast share stories from world-class marketers who use technology to generate growth and achieve business and career success. And you can listen to it all on your lunch break. Recent episode featured Max Novak, the founder of Nova Cast, where he talked all about how podcast booking campaigns create value for listeners and for brands. You know, I'm a huge fan of being guests on podcasts, so listen, check out the MarTech podcast wherever you get your podcast.
(00:57): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, and my guest today is Laura Belgray. She's the founder of Talking Shrimp, a co-creator of The Copy Cure and is a copywriting expert who helps entrepreneurs find their perfect words to express and sell what they do in a way that gets them paid to be themselves through her work with hundreds of clients, including online biggies like Marie Forlio and Amy Porterfield. She's seen firsthand that putting you into your copy and all through your business is pure magic for getting people to love you up and share your ideas and happily click your buy button. It's like a copywriter wrote this thing, I don't know,
John Jantsch (01:38): Her book. We're gonna, her book we're gonna talk about today is not necessarily about copywriting. It's called Tough Titties: On Living Your Best Life When You're F-ing, when You Are The F-ing Worst. So, Laura, welcome back to the show we were just talking about, it's been a few years,
Laura Belgray (01:56): It has been a few years. Thank you so much for having me back, especially to talk about this not necessarily copywriting book, Tough Titties.
John Jantsch (02:05): You, you know, in fact, I don't know if it was you or publicist, but some, somebody kinda said, gosh, does John really want me back on this show? Because this isn't a business book necessarily, but frankly what you talk about in this book, every entrepreneur goes through , you know, at some point. So it's, I think it is an awesome entrepreneur book. It's obviously a people book in general, but I think it's an awesome entrepreneur book. Viewers can't, listeners can't see this, but, well, you can if you visit the show notes, but the cover, it's got like a seventies wallpaper vibe. What were you trying to do there?
Laura Belgray (02:36): ? It's actually more what I was aiming for is a t-shirt vibe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Seventies, eighties. So it's really a coming of age, not strictly in eighties, nineties, New York. It also gets into the two thousands and up to today. But there is for sure a retro vibe to it, especially to the early chapters. And I feel like I, I'm just really drawn viscerally to that, to nostalgia for, to the ephemera of that time of my growing up, of our, of my middle school years and my twenties. And I put together a Pinterest board for the cover, which I feel like they nailed the, it's like a whole mood board of things like the Bubble Yum logo, right. And Pepsi Light and all the logos from that time. And I feel like they really nailed it with the Tough Titties logo just captured that like t-shirt iron on. Look,
John Jantsch (03:32): I was gonna say it kind of, it de it definitely reeks of pop culture that that's how I kind of kind of see the, the cover. So again, I'm sorry Li listeners, , if you're driving down the highway and you don't know what we're talking about, let me just, this is a stupid question, but I think it's valid here. Why'd you write this book
Laura Belgray (03:50): ? It's not a stupid question, it's just a big one. I mean, I truly, I always wanted to write a book and I wanted to tell my stories. Like I, I do love telling stories in my emails and throughout all my copy and, but they never get to be the full story. I mean, you can't write the whole thing. You can't write a whole chapter in an email. And so there are many things, I always wanted to write a book and I probably announced many times over the course of the last 30 years or so that I was writing a book, I'm writing a novel, I'm writing a memoir, et cetera, and never followed through. And I was just thinking about this. I, it's, I haven't talked about it that much, but in around 2016 I met up with this online writer, a copywriter named Alex Franzen, and she came to a dance class with me.
(04:39): She was in the city and she, we were sitting on the floor stretching and she said to me, so, so tell me, do you have like a body of work? And I was like, well, I have my, I've got blog posts, , I don't know, I've got my emails. I guess kind of that's really hit me in that moment. Like I've gotta write my book. And I have always thought about it that way as my book, like the book that needs to be written. And so I finally really got writing on it in earnest in around 2019 after many stops and starts. And a as for like, why should it exist? I think it's gonna, I, I feel like it has an audience with anyone who's ever felt behind in their life or career or like they're not very good with the supposed tos in life. The title Tough Titties is I see it as sort of the ultimate, sorry, not sorry for not doing life the way you all want me to. Like I've never, you know, learned to, I, I don't drive a car. I never learned to roast a chicken and I never had kids and my career trajectory has been very windy as opposed to a straight hockey stick that it's supposed to be.
John Jantsch (05:51): So it's largely autobiographical. However, you know, you are trying to teach big life lessons too, aren't you?
Laura Belgray (05:59): I am. I honestly, I thought I was gonna get to just slap together a bunch of stories that I like to tell, but I discovered through the process and from my editor who told me in not super careful delicate terms that it did, most of the stories didn't have a point. The voice was all over the place and she basically said, what are you trying to say here? And I realized then that just like I tell everyone to do with their emails, like every story you tell has to have some sort of point, especially if it's in a book it can't end with like, and it was really funny, the end , you know, anyway, it was so embarrassing. Next chapter, it has to arc to some meaning. And my editor reminded me a few times cuz I was resistant to this. I was like, I'm not, this isn't the how-to, it's not a self-help book. I'm not doing takeaways, spoonfed takeaways. She's like, but you know, people still want some wisdom there. They do want some life lessons. What did you learn from this? So it took some work to infuse it with those, but I'm satisfied with, she did come out a way better book because of that. I mean, people do wanna know, why are you telling me this story and what should I learn from it?
John Jantsch (07:14): Frankly, thank God you had that editor because there are a lot of editors that would've phone phoned that in and said, you know, send it on to line copy and you know, frankly that's the editor's job. You know, I had an editor on one of my first books that used to always say, you're doing too much throat clearing here, . Which was basically his way of saying get to the point. Yeah. And I think that's what a good editor actually can do. I mean, you know, you can find somebody to put the semicolons where they belong . So, so that's awesome. You know what's interesting is I listen, you talk about your struggle with that. You were defiantly I was gonna say self-reliant, but you know, you definitely are yourself. You wanna go your own path in some ways. Did that make you recoil against what you saw as the structure for a book?
Laura Belgray (07:59): Yes, it did. I mean, first of all, as I said, I set out, determined not to write the kind of book that I was supposed to write in the space, in the online space. Coming from a business background. I was supposed to write a copywriting book, a marketing book, a self-help book, something with bullet points at the end of each chapter or cyber or your next steps. And I was like, I am not doing that. I refuse. I want this to be, I was a little snobby about it. I was like, I want this to be a literary book. And yeah. So, and I kind of felt like the structure of a literary book is whatever I wanna make it, which is not true at all. So yes, but I was, I was defiant about structuring it the way you are supposed to. And I am glad that I had that, you know, this editor that I have who yeah told me you're, you know, this needs to have str this needs to have wisdom to it, it needs to arc to some sort of meaning. And yeah,
John Jantsch (08:57): So, so one of the copywriters key tools is vulnerability. Mm-hmm. , some of the stories in this book would make me blush, were I to write them. So was that part hard?
Laura Belgray (09:09): No, that part was actually pretty easy. And it, you know, it could be because my, my father died in 2018 and I have a feeling that timing had something to do with me finally moving ahead on this book. There's a lot in there that I would not want him to read a lot that confirms his suspicions back when I was in my twenties and living at home and staying out till four or all night. Like what? I we're
John Jantsch (09:37): Not going, we're not going into that chapter by the way.
Laura Belgray (09:39): , no. Chapter nine. So when I warned my mom not to read and she did , but it, yeah, so, so there was a little block around that for a while. He was alive. And I do, I didn't think about it consciously until recently. I was like, yeah, that might've freed me up. And I do tend to, uh, I, I am drawn to Tmmi. I like sharing too much information. I am not private about a lot. There are a few things that I'm private about and my current life and there are things I wouldn't reveal about my current life or my private life with my husband or anything like that. But revealing things about my past, I feel a little in a sense disembodied from that me, so that it's almost like I'm writing about somebody else. Cuz it was a different person. Yeah. Different time, different person.
John Jantsch (10:29): Yeah. You talked numerous times about being a late bloomer, you know, from a career standpoint, I think that anybody who would look at your current body of work would say that you're quite accomplished. So, you know, where's the late bloomer come from? Is that just because you were saying I didn't do what people expected?
Laura Belgray (10:51): I think that is part of it. I mean if, you know, if you read the book you might say, oh, like Laura was handed opportunities from early on, like just a year outta college, got this job and then that job and then that job. But I always felt like I was on a delay. Everybody was moving faster than me. Sure. My first year out of college everybody was out getting jobs, getting internships, getting, you know, working as paralegals making money. And I just, I didn't want any of it. And I was waiting around to find a job that I really liked. And that's been most of my career is saying like, no, I don't wanna do that. I can't do that because I don't want to. I'm not very good at doing things I don't want to . So jobs that, I mean, I, I think part of it is my resistance to corporate culture. I've never been that person who gets promoted every time they walk into a room. And it lasted all of six months in my one, nine to five job. And so I've never been that person who moves up and up in my career. I it very windy, a very windy path and we're sideways and, um, looking for things that I actually want to do. And it takes a while to find that.
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(13:46): Yeah, I think the adventure path is the way to go, which mm-hmm , you know, is not for everybody, but I think when you, many people looking back on their lives would say, yeah, that was the way to go. Let's dive into a couple chapters to give people a flavor of what they're going to find. As I already said, we're gonna stay away from chapter nine, . I mean, you've already gotten me in trouble with the title of the book to begin with. So just cuz I'm such a goofy guy, how I met my husband.
Laura Belgray (14:13): How I met my husband. Well that's a story of how I met my husband. But I
John Jantsch (14:19): Know now
Laura Belgray (14:19): I
John Jantsch (14:20): Wanna hear it. No, nothing gets named a chapter title without it being a significant story
Laura Belgray (14:26): . Exactly. Well I think I wrote about that because the way I met my husband defies all the common dating advice and wisdom of how you are supposed to meet the one. And I met him, like our relationship overlapped for both of us with terrible relationships that we shouldn't have been in. And I think the common advice would be make room, you know, people talk about Marie coning your love life, getting rid of what doesn't spark joy. Making room for the love to come in and getting rid of the clutter, which would be bad relationships with people who don't serve you. Right. And yet I would say that it is Bec absolutely because I was in a terrible relationship that obsessed me. You know, a person who was married and cheating, cheating in all different ways and and a bit of a narcissist and a liar and all those things because I was so obsessed with him. I was not a clingy monster When I met this new person who I liked so much, I was actually able to be the aloof, not caring. Sure, write me back anytime. Sure you can cancel tonight. Uh, kind of person that I always wanted to be
John Jantsch (15:46): you also have a title chapter or chapter titled The Most Driven Person, you know, so that obviously speaks to your level of ambition somewhat
Laura Belgray (15:59): . Yes. It's because I'm absolutely the most ambitious person, you know? No, it's, it is the opposite of that. It is an intentional mislead. It is about two things. It is a, I am literally the most driven person, you know, because I don't drive and so I'm the one who's driven around and really driving is a metaphor for so many things. You know, be the, take the driver's seat in your own life, take the wheel, be in charge, you do the steering. And I've always been content to lean back and nap in the passenger seat. And I'm a terrible driver and I'm also, I also just don't come out in any of those personality tests as the driver. You know, there was a personality test that was going around at work and my boss took it and she's like, I'm a double driver. I'm in the upper right of the upper right quadrant, which means that I'm a driver in every way. And I was like, I don't know what, where I fall in that test, but I know it's not double driver . I'm not a, I don't consider myself a leader, I never wanted to manage a team of people. I don't even like seating people at a dinner party telling anyone what to do. So that's the essence of that chapter.
John Jantsch (17:15): You also talk about laziness the good, like the good kind and the bad kind. And I firmly agree with you. I think there are some awesome bad laziness. Yes, I do. Some people look at it as procrastination, you know, as a form of bad laz. And I actually think sometimes what you're doing is letting things brew.
Laura Belgray (17:35): I agree. So yeah, I think that just like with cholesterol, there's good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, good fat and bad fats like guacamole, you know, avocado is good fat. I think there's good lazy and bad
John Jantsch (17:46): This week. This week they'll,
Laura Belgray (17:48): It'll be better. Yeah. This way. Yes, exactly. after I just consumed three bowls of it yesterday. . So I, I think that I would say that I have both an equal measure. I, I identify as an unapologetically lazy person and a lot of people say, oh you're not lazy. Look at, you know, you accomplished things, you wrote a book and you did this, you did that. And I'd say that for one, the good kind of lazy is yeah, being able to relax. I don't measure my self worth or locate my self worth in how hard I work. Yeah. In fact, for me it's a little bit of a badge of shame maybe cuz I brand myself as lazy, but to be working too hard to be overworked, I am very comfortable lying around and doing nothing. And that's my natural state. And also if my husband comes around with a vacuum, I'm like hard pressed to even lift my feet .
(18:39): And to me that's good lazy because a lot of people, especially women, have a hard time not doing anything. They have a really hard time with blank space on our calendar, which is something I relish to the like, I love it when there's nothing on my calendar. My favorite kind of day is blank. Yes. And so that's the, that I think is the good lazy because people struggle with it. They struggle to like relax and be okay not doing something every moment. And then the bad lazy is I would say is what I call fear dressed in pajamas. It is resistance. Resistance to doing what you know you need to do. The fear of not doing a good enough job. That's where the like the bad procrastinating comes from. Yeah. It's like putting it off because you're so afraid that you're not gonna do it right or knock it out of the park and yeah, that stops, that has stopped me a lot in my life,
John Jantsch (19:33): You know, and that's the kind that puts a lot of stress on you that you don't realize. I think a lot of times, you know, there's a line from the Scarlet letter when the protagonist, you know, is finally kind of released from all the guilt and shame that had been put on her and is she did not, she did not know the weight until she felt the freedom. And I think that's the way a lot of that does that to us. It's like we don't realize how much this stuff is weighing us down until we're like, oh yeah, you know, free of it and then you're like, holy crap, that was, I'm much lighter. That was, you know, that was definitely weighing me down. Yes. So I wanna do one, one more chapter, how to be popular.
Laura Belgray (20:09): How to be popular. That was about the year that I switched schools. And this wasn't the typical from, you know, public school to a posh private boarding school or something like that where it was that kind of obvious culture shock. It was from one private school to another private school. There was a culture shock. There were totally different places. And my, you know, old, my former private school that I was in for 11 years was like laid back progressive school where you could say, you know, where if you are handed back your test papers, you could just go around the room, say, what'd you get, what'd you get? You get, and then the new school was an all girls school and very traditional and a little up and competitive. Competitive. And you know, if you said, what'd you get? Person would like move their paper away from you and fold down the corner and cover it with their arm and be like, that's none of your business.
(21:06): But it, so that chapter is mostly about me trying to fit in there and the contradictions of, you know, you're supposed to look effortless and have the right shoes that are scuffed from years of, you know, salt air, corrosion on daddy's yacht and be really chill. And it was a certain kind of preppy old money aesthetic there. And you know, that contradiction with, you know, you've gotta work hard and you're not supposed to be seen working hard, which is just like in our current, you know, online business culture. You're not, you're supposed to be the picture of ease. And yet we still have people yelling at us to hustle. And there's such a confusion between grinding and anti, anti cult, anti hussle culture and hustle culture and being in our, in my new school it was called Being a Grind. And you are not supposed to be a grind, but you were supposed to get good grades.
(22:06): But the, you know, the uh, punchline of that chapter is basically that I tried to, I really wanted to have shoes like everybody else. I knew I needed this right. Kind of beat up, broken in leather boat shoes. And I, my mom, I begged my mom to buy me a pair and she bought me a pair of Docksiders or Topsiders, I forget what brand. Yes. But they were yes berry and they were glaringly virginal fresh. So shiny leather , so shiny unblemished. And so I bought a wood file and scuffed them, hand scuffed them myself one afternoon after school. And then the result was that they looked insane. , in no way did I look like a preppy kid who, whose daddy had a boat
John Jantsch (22:56): . It looked like you'd just into the factory maybe.
Laura Belgray (22:59): Yes. I and, and then attacked by a Tiger
John Jantsch (23:03): . Well Laura, it was so great catching up with you again and having you stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. She wouldn't tell people where they can connect with you and perhaps take, pick up a copy of Tough Titties.
Laura Belgray (23:15): Yes, please. Well you can connect with me @talkingshrimp.com. That's my digital home and I'm mostly on Instagram as at Laura Belgray. So please do connect with me in either of those places. But you wanna get a copy of Tough Titties or several copies and then you will unlock more bonuses. I'm gonna actually have writing trainings and things like that to go with it, even though it's not a copywriting book that is @toughtittiesbook.com and all the book sellers are represented there, all the ones that matter. So please come by and score a copy or several, they're great as the set tough titties, you know, gotta get at least get two and fill in the form and you will get your bonuses.
John Jantsch (23:59): Awesome. Well, again, as I said, I appreciate you taking a few moments to stop by the show and hopefully we'll run into you again one of these days out there on the road.
Laura Belgray (24:07): I would love that. Thank you so much for having me on.
John Jantsch (24:10): Hey, marketing agency owners, you know, I can teach you the keys to doubling your business in just 90 days or your money back. Sound interesting. All you have to do is license our three step process. It. It's going to allow you to make your competitors irrelevant, charge a premium for your services and scale perhaps without adding overhead. And here's the best part. You could license this entire system for your agency by simply participating in an upcoming agency certification intensive look, why create the wheel? Use a set of tools that took us over 20 years to create. And you can have 'em today. Check it out at dtm.world/certification. That's DTM world slash certification.
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Fractional CMO Benefits: Transform Your Business Marketing Strategy written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Discover How Fractional CMOs Are Transforming Marketing Strategies for Businesses and Why It's Time to Jump on BoardThe idea of the fractional CMO has been gaining traction recently, and it's easy to see why. A fractional CMO is an experienced marketing executive who offers expertise to multiple clients on a part-time basis. Instead of hiring a full-time CMO, you get the strategic guidance and management of a seasoned marketing pro at a fraction of the cost.
While the concept of the fractional CMO might seem like a relatively new idea, it's actually a service I've been offering for quite some time. It's just that now, this approach is being thought of and packaged differently to better cater to the evolving needs of businesses.
Many CEOs or business owners say they just want customers from their marketing relationships, but I think a lot of them are starting to realize that there's a bit more to the equation. You know, little things like clarity around messaging or identifying an ideal customer, the confidence to know which marketing idea to pursue, some level of control over what's working and what's not, and then, of course, some actual customers.
The CMO vs. The Fractional CMOThis shift in mindset has made the positioning of the fractional CMO increasingly important. In a traditional business, a CMO would handle strategic planning, brand management, marketing campaigns, data analysis, and budget management. They'd also manage the team responsible for implementing these strategies. Yet most traditional marketing agencies often focus solely on marketing campaigns, leaving many of the crucial CMO duties untouched.
This is where the hybrid approach or a fractional CMOs plus implementation team comes in, offering a more flexible, cost-effective solution that combines the strategic guidance of a CMO with the hands-on expertise of an implementation team. Ultimately providing businesses with the marketing strategy and support they need without the hefty price tag of a full-time CMO.
The Financial Advantages of Fractional CMOsFractional CMOs make sense financially as well, especially for small business owners. In contrast to hiring a full-time CMO and a team to implement marketing strategies, the fractional CMO model allows businesses to bring in experts on demand.
According to salary.com, the average CMO salary ranges from $208,000 to $375,000, which does not include implementation costs. In contrast, the fractional CMO model costs around $60,000 a year, and implementation costs can be managed according to demand. This approach allows businesses to control their implementation costs and only pay for the expertise they need.
For providers such as agencies and consultants, the average retainer for a fractional CMO is around $5,000 a month. While some may charge more, this provides a general idea of the cost of hiring a fractional CMO. Ultimately, the financial benefits of the fractional CMO model make it an attractive option for many businesses looking to streamline their marketing efforts and an attractive income source for agency owners who want to sell strategy.
How to Scale Your Agency or Practice Without Adding Overhead In 7 StepsTaking the time to invest in scaling your business can feel overwhelming. This workbook will break it all down for you in 7 easy steps that have helped our Duct Tape Marketing Certified Agencies grow and scale their business to 7, 8, 9 figures and beyond.
Get the StepsThe Scaling ChallengeThe role of a fractional CMO can be quite lucrative, requiring only a small number of clients to earn a salary comparable to that of a full-time CMO. However, the challenge lies in scaling the business.
Typically, fractional CMOs sell their time, dividing it among their clients' needs, such as attending meetings and strategic planning sessions. Unfortunately, this model lacks scalability. As they sell more and more blocks of time, they quickly reach their limit and become drained. While fractional CMOs may make a decent living, the lack of scalability can be a significant drawback. Our unique approach allows fractional CMOs who use our system to adjust for the issue of scalability, giving them more freedom and time to actually run their business and long-term viability.
Our Fractional CMO System: The SolutionBy offering a clearly defined scope of work, our model allows for better scalability and more sustainable growth. We also start every new client engagement with our Strategy First service offering. On average, agencies that license our system charge a monthly retainer of about $5,000. They typically have 15-18 clients at any given time, and these clients have an average retention of about 19 months.
The fractional CMO model is a game-changer for both businesses and marketing agencies. If you're interested in learning more about how our repeatable, scalable system can help your business or marketing agency thrive, it's time to start a conversation with us. Let's discuss how embracing the fractional CMO trend can transform your marketing strategy and drive success for your company.
Find out more about Duct Tape Marketing and the people who work here.
Weekend Favs April 22 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- FLG – An easy-to-use online CRM for small to medium-sized B2C businesses that helps them manage 100,000s of leads and automate customer touchpoints without changing their sales process.
- Whois Visiting – An engine that identifies website visitors for simple & effective lead generation, nurtures prospects and personalizes every customer experience from sale to a lifelong customer.
- TOCA – CRM application designed to maximize the effectiveness of updating client information. Users have access to all the necessary customer management tools that are needed for day-to-day operations.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Charles Conn. He is co-founder of Monograph Capital, a life sciences venture firm in London and San Francisco, and was previously CEO of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford. He is the Board Chair of Patagonia and sits on The Nature Conservancy European Council. He co-authored the bestselling book Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything and The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times.
Charles mentions how imperfection is a powerful tool for problem-solving in a rapidly changing world. Instead of striving for perfection and following traditional industry structures, it's important to be curious, gather diverse perspectives, and embrace uncertainty to find solutions from unexpected sources.
More About Charles Conn: * The Imperfectionists * Get a copy of The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rob Levin. He is the co-founder and chairman of Work Better Now, a virtual assistant company providing talented remote professionals from Latin America for US and Canadian-based small and mid-sized businesses. He is also the managing member of the Oasis Strategy Group and CEO of RSL Media.
Rob mentions that having an assistant is important for all business owners because it allows them to focus on strategy and high-level work instead of admin work. Additionally, having a virtual assistant turns out to be an amazing return on investment for the company because it saves time and money since the business owner can delegate tasks they don't enjoy or aren't good at.
More About Rob Levin: * Work Better Now * Connect with Rob
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network and The HOTH.
Weekend Favs April 15 written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- MakerBox Bundle – A collection of marketing resources for Solopreneurs to improve positioning, marketing funnels, and operations. It includes 5 resources: A workbook with 100 marketing ideas, a library of 50 marketing frameworks, a video course to improve positioning, a database of Newsletters ready to use, and a list of 650 useful tools.
- SocialPilot – An easy-to-use social media marketing tool that helps professionals, teams, and growing businesses automate their social media management and analyze their performance; more economical compared to other tools.
- DataQ – Provides data-driven insights and predictive analytics that are essential to understanding customer behavior insights that drive business campaigns to consistently outperform.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amanda Holmes. Amanda is the CEO of Chet Holmes International (CHI) which has worked with over 250,000 businesses worldwide. At age 24, she inherited her father’s multi-million dollar enterprise, which specializes in helping companies double their sales. Amanda shares more about her journey as CEO and the challenges of implementing change in a long-standing organization. She dives into the process her father developed years ago that has helped large companies quickly double their sales and how she has helped that process evolve over the years.
She's the author of a book — Based on The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies.
More About Amanda Holmes: * UltimateSalesMachine.com * Get a copy of her book on Amazon — Based on The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies. * Connect with Amanda on Instagram — @amanditaholmes
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Joe Polish. He is the Founder of Genius Network, one of the highest-level groups in the world for entrepreneurs. Joe has helped build thousands of businesses and generated hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He's the author of a book — 9 Genius Networking Principles to Get What You Want By Helping Others Get What They Want.
Joe talks about the many challenges he has overcome in his life to get him to where he is today and how relationship-building and building a network play an essential role in achieving success.
More About Joe Polish: * WhatsInItForThem.com
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network and The HOTH.
Weekend Favs April 8 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Leanplum – A marketing platform, which is available to enhance customer engagement. It helps businesses understand customer needs and simplifies multi-channel campaigns to optimize all customer touchpoints for new and existing customers.
- BeAmbassador – A platform that allows you to strengthen your strategies of employing brand, social selling, and employee branding with the promotion of employees through a network of brand ambassadors.
- SocialBee – Helps you manage social media accounts by content creating with AI, scheduling, publishing, and analyzing all your platforms from one place.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Humanizing the Workplace: Building Strong Employee Relationships written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Joey Coleman
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Joey Coleman. He helps companies keep their customers. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Never Lose a Customer Again, an award-winning speaker, and works with organizations around the world ranging from small startups to major brands. His First 100 Days methodology fuels the remarkable experiences his clients deliver and dramatically improves their profits.
His new book, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention, offers a proven framework for increasing employees retention, engagement, and in the process, profits.
Key Takeaway:Shockingly, almost half of the new employees quit before the 100-day anniversary, which is devastating to businesses, operationally, economically, and also emotionally. To make the experience remarkable, companies should focus on the employee journey from the first day on the job. A new employee’s first-day experience should be welcoming and inclusive, and companies should assign someone to be responsible for the entire journey from the first time the employee hears about the business until they’re up and running a hundred days later. By doing so, retention numbers can significantly improve.
It’s important to create meaningful relationships with the people of our organization to connect with them and understand that their personal lives are as important as their professional lives and may have an impact on the way they develop at the workplace. The main takeaway is to know that we have humans who work at our company and celebrate them for their humanity, not their product.
Questions I ask Joey Coleman:* [02:42] what’s the real cost of employee turnover? * [04:04] People talk about this crazy buyer’s and seller’s market. We are kind of in an employee’s market right now, aren’t we? * [05:47] How have you structured the employee journey throughout this book? * [11:05] What are some fun things we’re gonna encounter as actual intentional actions that companies could take? * [11:56] Where do you fall on the need for kinda long-term advertising and short-term advertising? * [16:11] After the first 100 days, how do you put more fun in to retain people? * [17:53] I can hear some listeners out there going, well, that’s none of my business to know about your employee’s lives after they leave the office, what can you say about that? * [20:39] How do you take that you’ve got this great culture that you’ve built, and make sure that people who are your customers are experiencing that?
More About Joey Coleman:* Website: joeycoleman.com * Get your copy of Never Lose an Employee Again
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast was brought to you by the MarTech Podcast, hosted by my friend Ben Shapiro, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with episodes you can listen to in under 30 minutes. The MarTech Podcast share stories from world-class marketers who use technology to generate growth and achieve business and career success. And you can listen to it all on your lunch break. Recent, an episode featured Max Novak, the founder of Nova Cast, where he talked all about how podcast booking campaigns create value. For listeners and for brands. You know, I'm a huge fan of being guests on podcasts, so listen, check out the MarTech podcast wherever you get your podcast.
(00:57): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Joey Coleman. Joey helps companies keep their customers and we're gonna talk about employees as well. Today. He's a Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Never Lose a Customer Again, an award-winning speaker and works with organizations around the world, from small startups to major brands. His first 100 days Methodology fuels the remarkable experiences as clients deliver and dramatically improves their profits. Today we're gonna talk about Never Lose An Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention. So Joey, welcome back to the show.
Joey Coleman (01:36): John, thank you so much for having me back. Big fan of the show, longtime listener, excited when I can be a guest. So, so appreciate that. And thanks to everybody who's listening in as well, looking forward to dive into the conversation.
John Jantsch (01:47): So I'm tempted to actually suggest that you could have just turned in the same manuscript and changed the title because really employees are probably our first customers, right
Joey Coleman (01:58): John? It's so true. And in fact this is maybe a reveal that I shouldn't be making publicly, but when I went to put together the first draft, I took the manuscript from my first book, I did a find and replace for every time I said customer, I changed it to employee. I'm not kidding you. Yeah, yeah. And that was the first draft of the book in the sense of do all the principles and all the concepts align. And to your point, they absolutely did. Now, after that, I erased the case studies from the first book and replaced them with new case studies that were more employee focused. But yes, you're absolutely right. It's the same story in a different direction.
John Jantsch (02:32): So, so let's start a little bit with the stats, because I know that you're a researcher when you write, everybody knows this, but let's just make the pain real for them. You know, what's the real cost of turnover? Employee turnover?
Joey Coleman (02:46): You know, it's staggering, John, and it really depends on whether you look at the cost of what it takes to rehire someone, the cost of what it takes to get them up to speed, the cost of loss, productivity. But when you factor in all different ways that someone might measure the cost of losing an employee and having to find a new one, all the research combined shows that it's somewhere between two and four x the annual salary of the employee you're trying to replace. So if you're looking for a hundred thousand dollars more senior member of your team, imagine three to $400,000 in loss. While you're going through that process of the turnover. It's also important to recognize that for more entry level members of your team or maybe frontline members of your team, you're not only losing the economic cost, but there you have an even more significant morale cost. Yes. When you have four or five salespeople on the team and you lose one of 'em, the other remaining four turn around and say, well, what did that person know that I don't know, why are they leaving?
John Jantsch (03:51): What's wrong with me? What's
Joey Coleman (03:52): Wrong with me? Why am I saying here? So there's this whole, you know, non-monetary aspect of loss that occurs with employee turnover too.
John Jantsch (04:01): So, so you know, when people talk about like, we've gone through this crazy buying and selling homes, you know, it's like a buyer's market, a seller's market. I mean, we're kind of in an employee's market right now, aren't we?
Joey Coleman (04:13): We really are. And John, I would posit that we're gonna be in that market for the foreseeable future. And here's why. There were a lot of tragic and a lot of fascinating and a lot of interesting things that came out of Covid. But I think the biggest thing in the employer context that came outta Covid is employers globally learned that they could have their people work from home cuz they had to, and the employees globally learned that they could work from home because they had to. Yeah. What this did is it created an environment where maybe 40 years ago, 50 years ago, chances were better than not, your employer had their headquarters somewhere within 30 miles of your house. Now it's the case that if your employer is within 30 miles of your house, I know two things about you. Number one, you probably have a very specific job.
(05:06): E i e, you have a job that requires manual involvement with the responsibilities you have. Mm-hmm. , or you and your employer have not realized that there are markets beyond 30 miles from here that might be willing to pay you more, do other things with you, give you more opportunities, et cetera. The last thing I'll say on this, it's the number of phone calls I have fielded in the last six months from clients saying to me, Joey, our best talent is being poached by companies outside the United States who are hiring employees. To get a beachhead or get a footprint right in the US has been staggering. And I think that's only gonna increase in the future.
John Jantsch (05:47): So let's talk, you know, a lot of marketers talk about this idea of the customer journey. I've, I talk a lot about the customer journey and the last year or two years people have been saying, can you actually change that a little bit to talk about the employee journey? And I think that, you know, when I look at it, my customer journey is no like trust, try, buy, repeat and refer. And I'm just like, yeah, no, like trust, try, hire, retain, , you know, and refer, I mean it's like, it kind of works. So absolutely what I see is a lot of companies, you know, freaking out saying, we gotta find new talent, we gotta find new talent, right? And it's like, marketers, we gotta run an ad so we can sell more. And really this whole idea of having a great customer or employee experience so that they certainly stay but also become, you know, loyalists to, to bring in other folks. H how have you kind of structure, I know you talk about the journey as well. How have you structured that thinking throughout this book?
Joey Coleman (06:40): Yeah, John, I'm a big fan of the, the duct tape path, if you will, of the customer. And I have a slightly similar, slightly different path that I outlined in my first book about the customer journey. I think of the employee journey as follows. It's eight key phases and I'll go through them real quick and give you an overview. The first phase is the assess phase. This is when a prospective employee is deciding whether or not they wanna work for you. So they're checking out your job listings, they're on your website, they might be talking to employees that you have to see what it's like to work there. They're going through your interview and hiring process. We then come to the accept phase. The accept phase has two key components. We make an offer of employment and the prospective employee accepts our offer. We then go to the third phase, the affirm phase.
(07:28): Now I imagine everyone listening has heard of the phrase buyer's remorse, . I've coined a phrase, new hires, remorse. Because every new hire begins to doubt the decision they just made to accept your job offer. And what are we doing to address that? We then come to the activate phase, phase four, this is the first day on the job. What does that first day look like? What are we doing to really energize it to make it a memorable moment in their career journey? We then come to the acclimate phase. The acclimate phase is when this new hire is getting used to your way of doing business. This can last weeks, maybe even months. As they get up to speed, they learn the job, they figure out your roles, your ways you're figuring out as the employer about them. We then come to phase six, the accomplish phase when the employee achieves the goal they had when they originally decided to do business with you.
(08:16): Every employee who accepts a job offer has a vision of what their future at their organization's gonna be. Whether that's an increase in title, an increase in salary, a promotion, something like that. So what have they accomplished? We then come to phase seven, the adopt phase where they become loyal to you and only you, they're committed. They're not gonna answer the other recruiter or head hunter calls. And last but not least, the advocate phase where they become a raving fan for your organization. This includes writing reviews on Glassdoor and sites like that, as well as recruiting people to fill other open positions you have in your organization. So if we do it right, it's very similar to a customer journey going through these emotional phases of the employee rollercoaster.
John Jantsch (08:58): Well, and as in a good customer journey, there are intentional actions taken by, you know, the organization to move people through those stages.
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(11:05): So your 100 days framework shows up again of course in in this book. So talk a little bit about some of those intentional actions that companies can or should take to make like that first day, you know, you don't just show up and go Yeah, you know, just follow this person around and you know. Right. , so, so what are some of your kind of fun things we're gonna encounter as actual intentional actions?
Joey Coleman (11:29): Well, two thoughts to that, John. Number one, you mentioned kind of this first a hundred days methodology. All the research shows that the first a hundred days of the employee journey are the most important time period in the entire relationship. This is where the foundation is laid. This is where we really get things off to a good start. And what was staggering to me is that on average, across all industries, about 40%, 40 to 45% of new quit before the 100 day anniversary. Yeah. So stop and think about all this time and effort we made recruiting and interviewing and making an offer and negotiating. Almost half the people are leaving before they've been there three months. This is devastating not only to businesses operationally, but in terms of emotionally in their morale. So what can we do to make that experience remarkable? Well, to your point, and you hit it right on the head that day one experience, their first day on the job is really important.
(12:23): What happens in most organizations is that it's an afterthought. Oh, we're not exactly sure when they're showing up. Oh, we need to do some HR stuff, fill out some paperwork. Oh, you better watch this training video from the seventies about sexual harassment and discrimination. Not to say those aren't important things, but we're not, we're opening from a place of negative, we're opening from a place of scarcity. As opposed to saying, what would it be like if we thought about what's actually gonna happen at the end of the day, at the end of the first day on the job, your new employee is gonna get in their vehicle or they're gonna get on public transportation, or they're gonna start walking home if they have roommates when they get home. Whether that's a spouse, children, a significant other, whoever it may be. The first thing that somebody asks when they walk in the door is, how is the first day on the chops ?
(13:13): That's gonna be the first que, because they already know it's the first day on the job and if they live by themself, they're probably calling mom and dad or a friend or to tell them about the first day on the job. If nothing else, everybody who's listening, I would ask you this. How is a new employee gonna answer that question based on what your typical first day looks like? Are they gonna be raving about how welcome they felt? Or are they gonna be raving about what a great experience they had, the new people they met, the work they got to do? Or are they gonna say, well, you know, I actually spent the first half of the day in a boardroom watching old videos and filling out paperwork. And then I went to lunch with somebody who had, seemed like they didn't really even know they were gonna take me to lunch, but was excited to be able to put it on the company expense account. Then it came back in the afternoon to find out that I actually don't have a desk with a computer set up cuz it wasn't ready. I don't really have my phone. I was supposed to have business cards. They said, I'll have those in three weeks. And I basically got told to just look through some of our marketing materials and I'd meet with my actual manager tomorrow.
John Jantsch (14:10): , you know what, you just,
Joey Coleman (14:13): There's a reason why that hypothetical works. It's because we've lived it. Yeah. We've lived
John Jantsch (14:17): It. Yeah. So, so you know, well, as I heard you describing that, one of the things I encountered is that the problem with is it's no one's job, right? It's like this person came along and they're actually kind of like a nuisance because I've like already got a full plate . Right? And I think that's really it, isn't it,
Joey Coleman (14:37): John? A hundred percent. Two thoughts on that. Number one, in many organizations there's someone who has the job of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring, making the offer, whether that's a head of HR or a talent development person, et cetera. Then invariably we have someone who eventually that person is gonna report to a manager, a boss, a direct rep report, you know, a director of that kind of thing. The gap we have is in the middle. Yeah. The gap we have is the handoff from the recruiter to the manager. And most managers, I read that some fascinating research about a week ago. Most managers, the first time they get any type of managerial training happens at the age of 46
John Jantsch (15:20): .
Joey Coleman (15:21): Now stop and think about how many managers there are under the age of 46. Right? Do we have to wait a decade, a month, you know, years to get to any type of training. So I agree with you, the, if there was one thing that people took away from my book, it would be my hope that they find someone in their organization to be responsible for taking a new employee from the first time they hear about the business until they're up and running a hundred days later. If there was one person that was responsible for that whole journey, our retention numbers would go through the roof.
John Jantsch (15:54): Yeah. And it's not com it's not a compliance act is it? ? No,
Joey Coleman (15:58): Exactly. No, it's an emotional connection. How do we create personal relationships with the people that we're bringing into our organization?
John Jantsch (16:06): Well, and it's kind of like the restaurant, you know, when you go in there and somebody's birthday and like they show up and instead of just your server, like every, all the servers come over and sing Happy Birthday. And it's like that's, you know, making that kind of party is, it just has become part of the culture. And so since I used the C word, but , you know, how do organizations who read this book go, yeah, we're gonna retain our people now by, you know, changing everything. Well, the first a hundred days were a long time ago. You know, and it's like how, you know, how do you put more fun in, put the experience in? I mean, how do you do that after the ship's kind of already sailed?
Joey Coleman (16:47): Yeah. I think it's never too late. Right. To make the experiences you're creating better. And I totally appreciate and empathize with the fact, John, that many of the people that might be thinking, oh, this is something we need to pay attention to, already have team members that are well past the a hundred days. Exactly. So what can you do? I think you can do a couple things. Number one, I think you can acknowledge the positive and the negative aspects of your existing culture. What's great about your culture, what does everybody know needs improvement. There isn't an organization on the planet that couldn't enhance their culture, couldn't improve it in some way. So I think there's always possibilities to do that. Number two, how can we connect with our people on a more personal and emotional level? If there was one question that I would hope people would ponder, it's this, what would it take for us to care as much about what happens between 5:00 PM and 9:00 AM as we do about what happens between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Yeah. What's going on in your employee's lives after they leave the office, after they log off?
John Jantsch (17:53): Let me push back just a little bit. I, one a hundred percent agree with you, but I can also hear some listeners out there going, well that's none of my business. You know, , I don't want 'em to, you know, care about. That's when they go home.
Joey Coleman (18:07): Totally. Well, here's the thing, John, if I made the phrase you used is, well that's none of my business
John Jantsch (18:13): .
Joey Coleman (18:14): I get it . But it is their business and it is their life. And that's the point I'm trying to make. Yeah. When we recognize that we have human beings that work for us who have lives outside of the office, outside of the work they do for us, we're better able to show up with empathy. We're better able to show up emotionally to connect to them. Now, I'm not saying that you wanna say to all of your employees, Hey, make sure you send me an email and tell me everything you're gonna do tonight between 10:00 PM and midnight. No, that is not at all what I'm talking about. But what I am talking about is the opportunity that so many employers miss to recognize that we expect the very best version of our employees during the workday without taking into any consideration what's going on outside of the workday for them.
(18:58): Do they have a child that's sick or are they struggling with childcare? Do they have a parent that's aging that they're trying to navigate? Do they have something going on in their personal life? I'm not saying you wanna pry into those things. Yep. But you do wanna create the space in your culture for those type of conversations to happen. And there's a whole aspect of the book where we talk about, you know, how do we recognize milestones like births, marriages, deaths, divorces, all the things that are going on in our employees personal lives that very well we know impact their professional lives. But if we pretend like they're not happening, that doesn't build any type of rapport with our team.
John Jantsch (19:35): Well, and I think, you know, some would suggest that work for many is just a, you know, a means to an end. Right? And that that, you know, they're, if we can activate the other things they're passionate about, then the work becomes more important to achieving what they're trying to achieve.
Joey Coleman (19:51): 100%. And I think you and I, John have both been around the block enough to know that if you've got employees where work is a means to an end, the work isn't gonna be that great.
John Jantsch (20:01): Yeah.
Joey Coleman (20:02): , it just is. And that's not a criticism against somebody who is like, Hey, I'm just there to earn my paycheck, but you're not gonna be attracting the kind of talent and producing the kind of results then if you had an employee who was bought into your mission, bought into your vision, bought into your culture and what you're trying to accomplish.
John Jantsch (20:20): So the term employer branding is kind of bantered around quite a bit in marketing circles these days with the idea of not only creating this great culture, this great place to work, but that becomes a huge aspect of your messaging, of your positioning that you know, who would wanna buy from a company that was a great place to work? , right? So Exactly. You know how, but obviously people can pay lip service to stuff like that too. So, you know, how do you, how do you take that got this great culture that you've built, this great experience and make sure that people are, people who are your customers are experiencing that.
Joey Coleman (20:55): You know, it's interesting, John, one of my favorite things to do when I'm trying to evaluate what a company's gonna be like to do business with or maybe to work at or anything like that is I go to the About Us page on their website, and I know you do a lot of research around websites and I'm sure familiar with the same stats I am. That the About Us page as a general rule is the most visited page of any organization's website. It's usually number two right on, on their site. But it's in the top two regard. Sometimes some organizations, it's number one, it's always in the top two. What I always like to do, John, is when I go to the About Us page for a company, can I see a photograph of every employee they have? Can I see a bio in a description on every employee? Not only what they do for their work, but what their interests are, their passions? Do they have a pet? Where do they live? Those type of things. To me, that's how you take aspects of the uniqueness of your organization, your people, and showcase it to the world. Now, because I can also imagine the pushback of some employees saying, well, I don't want my dog's name on the website, , have you ever met a dog owner? Most dog owners wanna talk about their dog all day long.
John Jantsch (22:03): Okay. So the practical reality is most of them will be pictured with their dog.
Joey Coleman (22:07): Exactly. And we'll love to do that. And if you've got somebody who doesn't want their picture on the website, that's fine. Maybe we can do a caricature, maybe we can include the logo. Maybe we can at least include two or three things, their favorite book, their favorite movie, something that lets the outside world know we have humans that work at our company and we celebrate them for their humanity, not their productivity.
John Jantsch (22:31): Yeah. So Joey, we've run Outta time. I appreciate you coming by the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. I, you know, listeners out there, if you have anything to do with having speakers come talk about this topic, Joey on, on top of writing Incredible books is an amazing, entertaining and you know, wonderful speaker as well. So, you know, keep that in mind. Joey. Where would you invite people to, I know the book will be available everywhere, but uh, to connect with you.
Joey Coleman (22:56): Oh, John, thanks so much, first of all, for those kind words about the speaking, I appreciate it. I do love it. The best place to find information about this, the book is called Never Lose an Employee Again, as you mentioned, it's available wherever books are sold, both as a hardcover, an ebook, and an audiobook that I narrate. So whatever version you like to consume content, it's available. Best place to find me is at my website, joeycoleman.com. That's j o e y, like a baby kangaroo or a five-year-old, you know, Coleman, c o l e m a n, like the Camping Equipment, but no relation, joeycoleman.com. You'll find information about the book, you'll find extra resources. One cool thing we did for the book, John, is there's an opportunity to access the vault and in the vault are videos and templates and all kinds of information to help people take the ideas and the tactics and the techniques in the book and actually apply them as part of their business. And you can access that all at the website, joeycoleman.com.
John Jantsch (23:49): Awesome. Well, Joey, again, thanks for taking a few moments to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Hopefully we'll see you soon, one of these days out there on the road.
Joey Coleman (23:56): That sounds good. Thanks John, appreciate it. And thanks to everybody for listening in.
John Jantsch (24:00): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co not.com. Co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketing assessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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powered byThis episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
HubSpot Podcast Network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Joey Coleman. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Never Lose a Customer Again, an award-winning speaker, and works with organizations around the world ranging from small startups to major brands. His new book, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention, offers a proven framework for increasing employees retention, engagement, and in the process, profits.
Joey explains how companies should focus on the employee journey from the first day on the job. A new employee's first-day experience should be welcoming and inclusive, and companies should assign someone to be responsible for the entire journey from the first time the employee hears about the business until they're up and running a hundred days later. By doing so, retention numbers can significantly improve. It’s important to understand that we have humans who work at our company and celebrate them for their humanity, not only of their product.
More About Joey Coleman: * Website: joeycoleman.com * Get your copy of Never Lose an Employee Again
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Rhodes. With over two decades in the digital marketing industry, he established his award-winning Melbourne-based digital agency WebSavvy back in 2006, to help small businesses grow. Mike also runs AgencySavvy, training hundreds of agency owners how to 'do' Google Ads better and scale their agencies. He co-authored The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads, now in its sixth edition, which is the world’s best-selling book on Google Ads, with over 130,000 copies sold.
More About Mike Rhodes: * Website: websavvy.com.au * Take one of Mike's courses: agencysavvy.com
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs April 1 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Mangools – An SEO platform that allows you to do keyword research with low SEO difficulty and high search volume. It provides SEO support from specialists and allows competitors, SERP, and backlink analysis using key data from their tools.
- Quintly – A platform designed for small and large businesses that help them monitor and analyze their social media through unrivaled quality, customization, and flexibility. The platform also allows users to view and analyze their competitor’s strategies to gain insights to drive real impact faster.
- Verbolia – A platform that helps businesses find and create SEO-optimized product landing pages at scale to help boost their e-commerce traffic. It allows monitoring and increases the performance of SEO and SEA.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kristi Herold. She is the founder and CEO of JAM a multi-million dollar global business that has connected millions of people through play since its inception as one of the largest adult recreational sports leagues in the world.
The JAM team has produced and delivered over 3500 playful corporate events, in over 30 countries since the summer of 2020. It has been awarded “Canada's Most Admired Culture Award “ in 2022, certified as “Great Places to Work - Canada” and named the “Best Remote Startups to work for”.
Kristi is the author of the best-selling book It Pays to PLAY - How Play Improves Business Culture, a resource to implement play at work and improve the productivity and culture of companies.
More About Kristi Herold: * Get a copy of Kristi's PLAYbook pdf with a top 10 list of ideas on how to integrate play at work and receive 25% off a JAM corporate team experience: here * kristiherold.com * JAM
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
How To Take Back Control Of Technology written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Gaia Bernstein
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Gaia Bernstein. She is a law professor, Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection, and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute for Law Science and Technology at the Seton Hall University School of Law. She writes, teaches, and lectures at the intersection of law, technology, health, and privacy.
Her forthcoming book, Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies shatters the illusion that we can control how much time we spend on our screens by resorting to self-help measures.
Key Takeaway:Our society has a technology problem because of how addictive it is, causing mental health issues for its users, especially children and young adults. The tech industry is manipulating us to spend much more time connected than we intended, while they are making money by harvesting our data and our time. Gaia compares the tobacco industry and tech companies, and how they use similar strategies and addictive measures to keep their customers engaged. She suggests that regulations should be applied to regain control, protect users and prevent addiction.
Questions I ask Gaia Bernstein:* [00:52] There are many books talking about how we need to be unwired, what are you kind of hoping to add to that collection of warning books? * [02:48] The book’s first part is about the idea of taking back control. Do we first have to understand that before applying any kind of measures? * [04:48] Is there something evil going on here? * [05:45] Is it intentional manipulation? * [06:40] So there are some suggestions that some of the current state of mental health in certain countries, the state of political environments, and the state of cultural and social changes can be linked to these new norms. Would you suggest that there’s something to that? * [08:25] People aren’t aware of some of the addictive behaviors around online gaming, I think particularly it would be pretty alarming, wouldn’t it? * [11:56] You make some parallels to the tobacco industry, which was found to do everything they could to make their product more addictive and this brought some regulations. Are you suggesting that that’s where we’re headed here? * [16:50] Are there other countries that have embraced these changes or measures and are really running down the track pretty quickly on reigning this in? * [19:18] At what point does private enterprise get overregulated? * [20:34] Who is in charge of making this changes happen?
More About Gaia Bernstein:* gaiabernstein.com * Get your copy of Unwired
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Creative Elements hosted by Jay Klaus. It's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals creative elements goes behind the scenes with today's top creators. Through narrative interviews, Jay Klaus explores how creators like Tim Urban James Clear, Tory Dunlap and Cody Sanchez are building their audiences today. By learning how these creators make a living with their art and creativity, creative elements helps you gain the tools and confidence to do the same. In a recent episode, they talked with Kevin Perry about how he goes viral on every single platform. Listen to creative elements wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:52): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, and my guest today is Gaia Bernstein. She is a law professor, co-director of the Institute for Privacy Protection and co-director of the Gibbons Institute for Law, Science and Technology at the Seton Hall University School of Law. She writes, teaches and lectures at the intersection of law, technology, health, and privacy. Her forthcoming book, Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies shatters the illusion that we can control how much time we spend on our screens by resorting to self-help measures. So, Gaia, that was a mouthful, but welcome to the show.
Gaia Bernstein (01:35): Thank you for having me.
John Jantsch (01:37): So let's get right into the, there. There are some very interesting, scary, ominous things in this book, but there have been a number of books recently. I've had a couple of folks on my show over the last couple years that have written books essentially talking about how, you know, we need to untether and we need to, you know, not be so, you know, wired. I mean, what are you kind of hoping to add to that collection of warning books, I suppose we can call them.
Gaia Bernstein (02:06): Yeah, that's a great question. Most of the books, I think practically all books written so far were written by psychologists or right marketing experts and people who were looking at a problem, and many of them agreed that there was an issue, but they were looking at self-help measures. How can we help ourselves? In the extreme case, they would talk about therapy, but I'm coming from a different direction. I'm look saying basically we have been trying this for years. We try our screen time. She just keeps going up. Yeah. And we are blaming ourselves instead of looking at other solutions.
John Jantsch (02:48): So yeah, so as an example, I remember one of the books was talking about like removing all the apps from your phone and you know, things like that. Right. So it was just kind of doing all these measures to take back control. But I think the whole first part of the book is about this idea of it's an illusion, this control. So do we first have to understand that before any kind of measures makes sense?
Gaia Bernstein (03:12): Yes, definitely. I basically, we now know we spent tons of time online. That's no surprise to anybody at this point, but when we got into this, we did not realize that we are going to end up spending more. So much time. We thought we were just adopt, adopting, you know, an app or we're going to start texting on the go. So it was small decisions. We didn't realize that once we start using them, tech industry is manipulating us to spend much more time than we intended. So we were under the illusion, we were making all the choices. One fact we were not, and by the time we got it, it was a bit too late because our life was completely entangled in screens.
John Jantsch (03:54): Yeah. I wonder, I know somewhere in the book, and there's obviously lots of research on this, in fact, there's apps to track this, how much time we actually spend, say, on mobile devices and things. And I would bet money that most people greatly underestimate how much time they actually are on the devices.
Gaia Bernstein (04:12): I think people do underestimate, I still underestimate myself. I'm shocked every week to find out how much time I spend on my phone. The, although I think that the problem is that these apps are part of the illusion here. Yeah. Because we get notifications of how much time we spend on our phone, and the idea is that now if we know we're going to do better , but these apps and other self-help tools are not really getting at the addictive elements of tech, it just doesn't make us believer in con in control.
John Jantsch (04:46): So let's just start with this premise. Is there something evil going on here?
Gaia Bernstein (04:52): I think we, for the last few years, we've gotten a lot of information from the tech industry, from whistleblowers. People like Tristan Harris. Francis Hogan basically showed that companies like Facebook and other online companies, and they basically know that there are addicting users to spend more time online. They're hired psychologists to do that. And when they realize how it's affects kids, for example, how Instagram affects especially girls and how, and they still decided they're just going to ignore it because the whole business model is based on having users spend more time on screen.
John Jantsch (05:31): Right, right. Yeah. It's amazing the notices you get now, it's like, so and so just posted. I was like, I don't even know who that person is, , you know, but there's this like, here's the message we want to, it's been, you know, 12 minutes since you've been on our app, so you we want to get you back in there. It's pretty, pretty crazy. How, how manipulative, I guess it really is. I mean, is that, I know you used the word liberally in in the book. I mean, is that what we're talking about is intentional manipulation?
Gaia Bernstein (05:58): It's definitely intentional manipulation. It's basically you, we get most of our products for free. Yeah. And we get Gmail for free. We get Facebook for free. These companies, the, this business model has been in effect for, since the beginning of the internet. Basically they make money by harvesting our data and our time. And there's not been enough attention to the time part of this much more attention to the privacy issue. But basically we have to stay on line for as long as possible so they can collect more data on us and then so they can target more advertising in us. So they basically, they create designs to make sure that their business model works.
John Jantsch (06:40): Yeah. So, so there have been some, I was gonna say hints, but they're far more overt than that suggestions that, that some of the current state of mental health in certain countries, the state of political environments, the state of, you know, cultural and social norms or the changes, you know, can really be linked to this sort of, these sort of new norms. Would you suggest that there's something to that?
Gaia Bernstein (07:08): I think for the last two and three years, we've had a lot of data coming out. If we're talking about kids, I think it's pretty clear there's a public health crisis of kids mental health issues related to addiction impact and cognitive development. And there's also a lot of research about adults, how it affects their wellbeing. Mm-hmm. about how these algorithms that are supposed to keep us, us online for longer create hate. And we've basically been in this science wars for a decade, but the evidence now is so, so far. And it, I think that there are very few people who don't think there's something very serious going on here.
John Jantsch (07:50): So you mentioned kids, um, in, in particular, and I never really got into the online gaming thing, just, it just never appealed to me. And so I'm really not as aware of that. But I've read some articles recently that, that talk about the addiction of, particularly of online gaming. I mean 10, 12 hour days, you know, spent , you know, in inside of the games. I mean, it, I think that goes far beyond say, you know, somebody who checks Facebook 25 times a day or something. I mean, so, so I know you cover that pretty extensively. And I think that there probably, if people aren't aware of, you know, some of the addictive behaviors around online gaming, I think particularly it would be pretty alarming, wouldn't it?
Gaia Bernstein (08:33): I think with online gaming, we see, I would say, but the studies vary, but one to 9% of the gamers are concerned to be clinically addicted. Mm-hmm. that is like, they're not, they're spending so much time online, they're neglecting other areas of life, like school, their work, and, but there are lots of gamers who just play a lot. And I think this overuse of spending so much time on screen when your whole social life is on screen for the games, is very similar to what's happening with social media. With social media. We just see more girls doing it with games. We see more boys doing it. But the amount of time and the impact and the fact and the features, the design features, which I use in games, are very similar to the features which are used in social media.
John Jantsch (09:19): Yeah. So, so is it, are we talking about something that will be, you know, it will not, the true sort of ends will not reveal themselves for 20 years and at that point will have societal crisis?
Gaia Bernstein (09:33): I think the what's happening is already revealing itself. I basically, I believe teachers are noticing what the kids are different than they used to be. Especially after spending the pandemic in front of screens. They have trouble paying attention. We can see kids are behaving differently. They're looking at screens, they're not talking to each other. The data shows are staying at home more. They're not going to parties, they're not meeting up with each other. So, and then you have all the data about mental health, the mm-hmm , the uptick in the suicide rate, anxiety and depression start in 2010. At first it was clear if there were other factors, but I think the enough studies showing now there's a correlation between smartphones and social media and the climb and kids mental health, especially girls,
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(11:56): So you make some parallels that, you know, at first I was like, why are we talking about cigarettes? But you kind of draw some parallels to the tobacco industry, which was, was found to, you know, do everything they could to make these things that they sell more addictive. And consequently, a lot of litigation, a lot of, you know, things happen that I don't really know what the state of that industry is, but certainly some regulation, pretty heavy regulation came. Are you suggesting that that's where we're headed here? I mean that at some point somebody's gonna be able to sue one of these online gaming companies because they are making the games too addictive.
Gaia Bernstein (12:36): So basically it's already happening. Part of what I show in the book, I draw the parallels because I think there's a very similar strategy going on of basically cigarette companies blamed people for smoking saying it's not responsible. Our responsibility, you're choosing to smoke, right? Same thing is happening with tech. And the same strategies, legal strategies are taking place. So we already have a lot of parents suing games. There's a very famous loss going on Quebec now suing Fortnite for being addictive as cocaine. They're, for the last year, there have been multiple parents actually youth class actions suing social networks for addicting kids and affecting their mental health. And I think most interesting, a very interesting parallel to the cigarette companies, we're now seeing school systems suing social networks for addicting kids because they have to pay for the cost of the kids mental health. That's exactly what happened with the cigarette companies when states started suing cigarette companies because they had to pay for the health cost of smokers.
John Jantsch (13:43): So while people are maybe taking that tack, do you see that is really gonna, will that end up being able to influence? Yes. So they get fined, they pay a lot of money, they're still selling cigarettes. Right? So will the same thing happen to Facebook? They get fined, they have some regulations, but they, but it doesn't really change anything.
Gaia Bernstein (14:04): So first of all, I think things have changed with smoking. I think far, of course we have e-cigarettes, which is a different story, but smoking has gone down significantly since the first studies came up in the 1950s and regulations started sixties, 1970s and lawsuits. So, but the thing is, it's not as no magic pill. It's not as though, you know, there's gonna be one Supreme court case. There's going to change all of this. Right. This is not going to happen. Yeah. So basically what we are going to see is what happened with cigarettes. There were multiple actions, class actions, legislations, advertising warnings, all of this happened and things changed over time. This is, we're already seeing this happening now. And that's, I predict what we are going to see here. We also have like, I would say the Achiles heel of the personal responsibility argument and kids are so affected and we saw basically where kids are concerned, it's much easier to regulate because it's hard. It's harder to argue that kids are making choices, that they're responsible. Right. So I think regulation to protect children is where things are going to start shifting for all of us, not just for children.
John Jantsch (15:14): So, so you'll have to prove that you are over 18 or something before you can log into a game or it will come with a warning that says this could cause cancer. I mean, are we talking about similar, similar types of measures?
Gaia Bernstein (15:28): So one of the things I am recommending in the book, I think for example, parents bought their kids Minecraft as an educational game and it's been declared as one of their most addictive games in all times. I'm sure these parents would've loved to know before they downloaded the game, what's the level of addictiveness. I think if you had some kind of warning, then this would prevent parents from downloading what also might affect game companies to think before they put these addictive measures in there. So I think that's definitely one thing that, that we are likely to see the issue of age. Well I think there are all kinds of bills trying to restrict if in Utah something's just passed to restrict the age of kids. This has been happening in other countries as well. But, so it's complicated because you need to be able to au authenticate the age and Right, right, right. You and kids are very smart technologically. It's not, I'm not saying it's easy, but we might see that having kids cannot buy cigarettes until they're 21. Now, when I was a kid I could just walk, get my parents cigarettes. Nobody said a word.
John Jantsch (16:31): Well, remember we had the machines, you know, right. That, that nobody was checking. Is this some, do you find that, you know, Americans are notoriously whether we actually are free or not or notorious, like I'm gonna make my own choices. You know, I don't want people telling me I can't drink, you know, sugar drinks and I can't drink, or I can't eat X food. Are there other countries that have embraced this and are really running down the track pretty quickly on, on reigning this in?
Gaia Bernstein (16:58): So there are southeast countries in Southeast Asia have been worried about gaming for over a decade and now more about social and networks. So there's, of course China, China is a bit of a difficult example because it's China. So the totalitarian regime, we don't think that we should be copying their laws. They've experimented with lots of systems. One system they're experimenting with is not actually, they've implemented it already. It's a sh basically restricts how much time kids can spend on social networks. 40 minutes a day on the Chinese TikTok equivalent. And there's also a limit to how much time they can play games per week. Now it's interesting because now basically TikTok is trying to restrict kids' time in the US They've already been doing it in China for a while. So we are seeing this, but it's not just China. I think Japan is doing the same thing. And other countries like Thailand, South Korea have experimented with different methods. So I think it's important to look there and see what their experience was, what worked, what didn't work. They've tried some methods they decided not work well. Yeah, they used to like, like, you know, getting kids off games at midnight. It was, kids were going crazy when they had to get off at midnight. So I think we should look at the whole spectrum of options and learn because we've not been thinking about it for long enough.
John Jantsch (18:18): So as somebody who spends a little time on privacy issues, you know, where does it fall in that line? I mean if, let's just call it the government. is shutting my computer off at midnight. Are there privacy concerns about that sort of heavy handedness?
Gaia Bernstein (18:36): So there are concern of some privacy advocates who are concerned about the idea of getting people's age and the identification part of it. So there are issues. The thing is where I, as somebody who writes about privacy as well, I think there's a strong privacy ad argument for that because the whole business model is based on data and time, as I said. Mm-hmm . So basically the hope is that this business model will be replaced by a different business model, which is not based on our time and our privacy. So I think anything that takes place, which sort of stabilizes this business model is good for privacy as well.
John Jantsch (19:13): Maybe I'm asking the same question, but again, you know, at what point does private enterprise, you know, get overregulated because you know, because the, you know, the ends justify the means.
Gaia Bernstein (19:33): So the question is, I think the big question is how harmful you think a product is, right? Because when we think something is very harmful, we do not have a problem regulating it. Right? So the, but the thing is, even with cigarettes, which we know are vial, we know they cause lung cancer death, it took, the first studies came out in the fifties, only in 1964. The certain general announced it was harmful and then people started slowly to regulate. So the thing is, the big thing is to end the science war and to decide how harmful we think it is. I think for kids it's definitely very harmful for adults. It's not doing, it's not so great either. So if you think something's harmful, you regulate to protect people. It's a bit like the seat belt when you think about it. Mm-hmm. , I mean people were so excited when they had to put their seat belts on, right? . But obviously seat belts save lives. They don't think people would argue about that.
John Jantsch (20:31): Yeah. Yes. We don't even think about it anymore. You get in the car and put it on. So, so who's in charge of making this happen? Is it, you know, legislators? Is it medical communities? , I mean, you know, who takes the lead?
Gaia Bernstein (20:45): I think it's a move. First of all, it's a movement. It's already taking place. So I think it has different parts and part of it is legislatures, part of it is lawyers. I think parents are taking an important role here. Mm-hmm. , they are suing for class actions. But I think they have a big role of changing how schools use technology because schools are, have this policy of the more technology. It's not just the schools, it's the federal guidelines actually. Sure, sure. The more technology in schools, the better I think. Right. Parents can take a big part here. And the medical authorities basically, when do these science wars and from the, if we look at the food wars, tobacco wars, they end when you have an important professional organization like the American Cancer Association with cigarettes. Right. You know, make declarations or governmental authority that this thing is harmful. And we don't have that. We have very partial recommendations from the American Pediatric Association or the World Health Organizations about screen time for kids and mostly for young, very young kids. So, so that's, so I would say the movement has, there's lawyers, there's medical professors, the medical organizations, and there's all of us who can also influence the norm. The people who have businesses, they can think about what business model they want to adopt. Yes. Do they want a business model based on time
John Jantsch (22:09): It's funny, when my kids were little, it was the warning from the pediatrician was don't let 'em watch too much TV. But now nobody watches TV anymore. Right. .
Gaia Bernstein (22:18): I beg my kids to watch tv.
John Jantsch (22:20): . Well, guy, it was great having you stop by the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. You wanna tell people where they can find more about Unwired and maybe more about the movement you're suggesting and connect with you.
Gaia Bernstein (22:32): So gaiabernstein.com is my website and they could also find a book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, anywhere they buy the books.
John Jantsch (22:40): Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Well, again, thank you for taking the time and hopefully we'll run into you one of these days out there on the road.
Gaia Bernstein (22:45): Thank you so much for having me.
John Jantsch (22:47): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co not.com. Co. check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketing assessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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Weekend Favs March 25 written by Felipe Orrego read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Emitto – A solution that helps businesses send personalized messaging marketing campaigns to their segmented audience across various channels such as SMS, Viber, Messenger, etc. with no coding needed.
- Sotrender – A social media marketing solution that helps businesses enhance their social media and communication strategies by generating social media and ad reports, monitoring campaign goals, analyzing content performance, and discovering insights; using AI and machine learning technology.
- Aimtell – A customer experience solution, which lets businesses enhance visitor engagement by sending automated push notifications that are hyper-targeted. This allows customer segmentation, custom branding, retaining customers, and data management.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
Exploring The Art Of Messaging written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Henry Adaso
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Henry Adaso. Henry Adaso is an award-winning marketing leader with over 15 years of experience. A former music journalist, he is a natural storyteller and an innovative marketer. He is currently head of marketing for CEMEX USA and the author of three books, including his latest The Art of Messaging: 7 Principles of Remarkable Messages (Or How to Stand out in a Noisy World): a practical guide that helps marketers and entrepreneurs clarify their message and captivate their audience.
Key Takeaway:Messaging is a strategic element of marketing, which can be elevated to the level of art. To create effective messaging, businesses should understand the essence of their product, service, or their brand and what makes them different from others in their industry. It should focus on the customer, not the company, and should show how the customer will be transformed and helped by the product or service through storytelling that connects with them.
Questions I ask Henry Adaso: [01:40] What’s been your entrepreneurial journey that kind of brought you to this point? * [02:43] Why you chose to call it the art of messaging? Why do you feel it is elevated to the level of art? * [03:54] Where do you first send somebody to look for like “where is your message”? You know, something that’s gonna really makes a difference? * [05:33] How important is it to understand the problems you’re solving for your customers? * [07:15] How do you turn something kind of sexy that people don’t think it is? Let’s say cement for example. * [09:29] So you have a framework called: BEST, can you explain it? * [13:50] How do you know you’ve nailed it with the ideal client when you’re trying to impact? * [15:15] How important is it for an organization to have a central message or a core message? * [16:54] So you have a couple of exercises that business owners or organizations can use. Can you explain The Messaging Tower*?
More About Henry Adaso:* henryadaso.com * Connect on LinkedIn * Follow Henry on Instagram
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Creative Elements hosted by Jay Klaus. It's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals creative elements goes behind the scenes with today's top creators. Through narrative interviews, Jay Klaus explores how creators like Tim Urban James Clear, Tory Dunlap and Cody Sanchez are building their audiences today. By learning how these creators make a living with their art and creativity, creative elements helps you gain the tools and confidence to do the same. In a recent episode, they talked with Kevin Perry about how he goes viral on every single platform. Listen to creative elements wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:52): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Henry Adaso, fueled by Coffee and Hip Hop. Henry is an award-winning marketing leader with over 15 years of experience, a former music journalist. He's a natural storyteller and innovative marketer. He's currently the head of marketing for CMEX USA and the author of three books, including his latest that we're gonna talk about today, The Art of Messaging - Seven Principles of Remarkable Messages (Or How to Stand Out in a Noisy World). So, Henry, welcome to the show.
Henry Adaso (01:30): Thank you for having me, John.
John Jantsch (01:31): So going through your background, I feel like you have a very colorful journey to how you got to hear . You want to give us a little kind of what's been your entrepreneurial journey? It kind of brought you to this point. I'd love to hear a little more about it.
Henry Adaso (01:46): Yeah, John, absolutely. Colorful is the right word. I call myself an accidental marketer because I didn't know that I was going to end up in marketing when I was a young boy in high school. I was the kid who used to annoy all of his friends by making my own kind of handwritten newsletter and then forcing my friends to endure my newsletter. So I, I always thought I was going to become a publisher, but to somewhere along the line, I noticed that they were kicking publishers out of the building because of this thing called the internet. And so I pivoted to digital marketing, and what I quickly realized was that a lot of the same skills that I had developed writing my own book when I was a kid and writing newsletters translated to marketing because it's ultimately about storytelling. And so today I work as a marketer and I love it.
John Jantsch (02:34): So, so, you know, messaging obviously is a key part, strategic element of marketing. I, I'm, I agree with you, but I'd love to hear your take on why you chose to call it the art of messaging. Why do you feel it it is elevated to the level of art?
Henry Adaso (02:52): That's a great question. I think that people are intimidated by messaging it. It's something that is often thought as a reserved for a select few copywriters, marketing gurus, great communicators. But it's really an art. It's an art in the science, but it's primarily an art. And it can be taught, it can be learned. And what I realized looking at a lot of different brand messages is that they tend to have certain things in common. They have certain attributes in common. There's a pattern that occurs. And if you study that pattern and try your best to recreate that in your product or service, if it works, it has to work. It's not about something that doesn't work. If you have a product that truly solves a problem, you can learn from the best brands on how to message in a way that truly resonates with your audience.
John Jantsch (03:45): Where, you know, if somebody comes to you and says, oh, we've got this company and we've got, you know, we've been around for X amount of years, and we just feel like we're copying what everybody else in our industry does, I mean, where do you first send somebody to look for, like, where is your message? You know, like where is it hiding? You know, the secret sauce that's gonna really make a difference.
Henry Adaso (04:04): There's a great quote by Michelangelo that says, every block of stone has a sculpture in it, and it's the job of the sculptor to find it. So every brand, no matter the industry, whether you're B2B or B2C, there's something that is interesting about your brand. And sometimes you may have to dig a little bit deeper, maybe do some research, talk to people who've been there a little bit longer. But you really have to try to understand the essence of your product or service or your brand. And that's where I would begin. So for example, there's a sock company called Bombas, and they sell socks, which, you know, could be consider the commodity, but they're very successful because their product is tied to this idea that the, one of the most essential pieces of clothing that, that you really need is something that keeps you warm. So like socks, right? So every time you buy a pear, they gift one to, uh, somebody in need. So that's a story, and that's something that's interesting that makes them, it kind of takes them beyond the idea of just being a soft company to now something bigger than that. And that's really where you start. What is the essence of your brand? What is the thing that really makes you a little bit different from the others?
John Jantsch (05:17): You know, one of the things that I find is I think there are a lot of companies out there that they are unique. They are doing something different. Their customers, you know, stay with them because they are doing something different, but they still tend to talk about what they sell. How important is it to understand the problems? You're, so you really solve for your customers, even if they're the little things. I mean, I think that's sometimes where people get caught up. They think of this messaging being this grand thing that's gonna make us sound, you know, really important and amazing when their customers will say, well, yeah, but it's, this is what you actually do for us. I mean, how important is it to understand the problems you're solving?
Henry Adaso (05:58): I'm a marketer and I'll be the first to admit, we love talking about ourselves. , we love talking about how great we are, how great the product is. It's a very, it's a comfortable space to be in to talk about how great the product is, but the customer is really interested in one thing. And that is, what can you do for me? So what we have to do is shift our messaging from a We Messages, which is focused on how many awards we've won, how great the company is, and shift it to a you messages, which is how do we talk about the customer? Every opportunity that we have, we need to be saying, let's talk about you. What problems do you need solved? And the thing that resonates the most is if we can show the customer that there is a transformation on the other side of that conversation, on the other side of that interaction, we're more likely to engage them and we're more likely to be effective with our messaging.
John Jantsch (06:50): Yeah. And obviously with a Title seven principles, you know, we're gonna break down a little bit of, of framework, but I'll tell you a question I get all the time, and I'm sure you do as well when you talk about this topic, is the company that says you, you used bombass, you know, sells socks, which is a commodity. But you know, what if I sell just a really boring product, I don't know, let's say cement for example, know anybody who does any messaging for, you know, a product like that. I mean, how do you turn something kind of sexy maybe that just people don't think is?
Henry Adaso (07:22): So I happen to know a thing or two about selling some given that's primarily what we sell. And it, and I have to tell you, it's one of the, just on, on the surface, it's one of the most boring products. It's literally just a gray powder, right? in, substitute the bags and it'll look the same. So how do you make that interesting? A couple years ago we started this tradition, I'll tell you a quick story. And we, at the end of the year, we would create a holiday newsletter and we would send out a holiday newsletter to our customers just as a, as an an expression of our gratitude for their business. Over the course of the year. The first time we did this, it was a very standard holiday newsletter. There was nothing special about it. It simply said, you know, happy holidays, it was beautifully designed, content was great, but we didn't get much of a response.
(08:07): So we switched it up a little bit. And the next year what we did was we gathered all of our sales folks and we created this theme around football, and we had them hold up props. So footballs, helmets, trophies. And we also wrote in the newsletter, little fun facts about them. So this helped personalize our sales folks. And this newsletter had trading cards that you can tear out . And so if you're a customer, you received this, it was, it's not your usual cement newsletter, right? And then now you have something else to help you connect with that salesperson because they're a person, right? That got a lot of great feedback from customers. The following year we did a similar theme, but this time with superheroes. And the same thing, dozens of customers wrote us asking for additional copies of our holiday newsletter, which is a marketing material, right? So, so here we are in a world where there's so much noise and most customers are saying, I just get outta my inbox. I don't wanna hear from you, but we have the reverse where they were saying, can you send me more copies of your marketing materials? All we did differently was tell a story. Mm-hmm. . And a story is something that always resonates. So I would say for something, someone who may be thinking, I have a boring product, I mean a niche space, just try to tell a story.
John Jantsch (09:28): Yeah. Yeah. So you, I have a framework that I think you probably refer to it as "best" because that's what it's spells, B E S T. So you wanna kinda unpack that. These are like the kind of some of the key elements. The good message has. You want to kind of go through that framework.
Henry Adaso (09:44): So I looked at about six years ago when I was working on the agency side, I looked at a, a lot of brands and they had, that had great me. And I started to study them to understand what they had in common, because I wanted to replicate that for my team. We had lots of clients that needed messaging. And what I realized was that all of them had these four attributes in common. They, it just kept coming up over. And the attributes are, they're bold, remarkable, messaging is empathic, it's specific, and it's transformative. And so those four attributes spell out the word best, which makes it easier to remember. Mm-hmm. . And so a bold message is something that makes you stop and look. It's something that earns your attention. It's something that is engaging. And that's the first question we have to ask is, in a noisy world, how do we make people stop and pay attention?
(10:42): An empathic message is simply something that incorporates a core human need in the messaging. So what is the emotional need that we're solving for? Is it peace? Is it joy? Is it relief from pain? Is it I'll help you make more money, spend more time with your family? What is that emotional driver? And then specificity is about understanding that nothing is for everyone. And we need to be clear about who the product is for and what it is as well. Because sometimes you'll be driving and you see a billboard and you're wondering what are they selling? Right? , at that point, you could have earned attention. So we have to be clear about what's on offer and who it's for. And then the last attribute transformation is really showing what the outcomes would be for the person. People don't buy features and benefits. They buy the transformation. And so if you are, if you have something that helps people make more money, well the transformation is not that they'll make more money, that might be a benefit. It's what the money brings them. Mm-hmm. , it's time with your family, it's, Hey, maybe I'll be able to pay off grandma's mortgage or travel more. That is more likely to connect us.
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(13:30): So, you know, I'm imagining a group of folks sitting around saying, okay, yeah, this, that's a really bold message. And we're talking about like the transformation and you know, we spelled out exactly what we do, but then you take it out to the market and it's like, I don't get it. Right? I mean, how do you kind of test to the point where you're like, yeah, this is, you know, how do you know? How do you know you've nailed it with, you know, the ideal client you're trying to impact?
Henry Adaso (13:56): I encourage all marketers to take testing very seriously because the market knows best. And sometimes we will have, you may have a hunch or maybe you have some best practices based on experience, but when you test it, you might discover something different. So think testing is the first place I would go. And one easy way to test is through email marketing. So you could maybe test your headline and the way this works, most email platforms allow you to do this. You would have two different subject clients and then you would break your audience into two and send one subject line to one audience and the other to the other group. And you'll study this over the course of two to four hours to see which subject line yields more opens. That's how you pick a winner. So that's one relatively affordable way to test. Uh, another one would be to run ads if you have, if you're already running some ads, try different headlines and see which ones are generating more clicks.
John Jantsch (14:56): Yeah. Yeah. And increasingly, you know, some of these tools, particularly the tools that are trying to sell your ads, you know, will actually, you know, show you a winner. It'll, you know, it'll produce the winner for you because that's the one that's making them the most money. So consequently it's the one they want to want you to land on.
Henry Adaso (15:13): Yes, yes, yes.
John Jantsch (15:15): How important is it for an organization to have kind of a central message or a core message? You know, something that really delivers the brand promise first. Obviously there's messages for campaigns, for products, for divisions, for different types of clients, but how essential is it to have something that brings together, like, this is what we stand for?
Henry Adaso (15:35): Consistency is credibility. So it's very important to be consistent with your messaging across all of your customer touchpoints within the organization. If you have sales and marketing and customer experience delivering different messages to the marketplace, that is a perfect recipe for market confusion, right? So we wanna mitigate that by creating a source of cohesion for our messaging. And this could be something as simple as having a value proposition matrix that is available to all of your touchpoints. What I propose in the book is a messaging menu. And so your messaging menu has different servings of your messaging, starting with the starters, which could be something like an elevator pitch or your smaller plates, which could be something like your social media posts or entrees as I call them, which are longer messages when you have a presentation, what is your messaging? But they're all part of the same core message. They're all part of your value proposition. And so over time, if you deliver the same message consistently, then it becomes clear what you stand for and what your brand is all about. And then when people are ready to make a purchasing decision, they know exactly to turn to you.
John Jantsch (16:54): So you have a couple, um, exercises, I guess you called it. Somebody could actually, again, as an organization, you know, go through the one, I might have this wrong, but the, is it messaging tower or is that how you refer to it?
Henry Adaso (17:05): Messaging tower. So the messaging tower. Tower, yes. So that that, that is a tool that allows you to extract the most effective messaging points, the most important attributes of your product or service. And the messaging tower essentially is saying that there is a hierarchy when it comes to messaging. So at the base of your messaging is going to be your features, and these are things like descriptive elements of your part. Mm-hmm. the service. So if we take a headphone for example, maybe it's lightweight or the color or the base production, those are all features and they're descriptive and features appeal to a technical audience. Then at in the middle of the tower, you have your benefits, which is what can it do for me? So for this sticking with the headphone example, it may be something like, hey, it's portable or it has noise cancellation. So it allows me to have peace of mind when I'm on airplane. At the very top of your messaging tower is the transformation. And the transformation is the powerful why behind your product or service. It answers the question you,
John Jantsch (18:12): You're just gonna look damn good. Right? Exactly. . So by talking about this in a hierarchy, I mean you're kind of suggesting that like all these things, if you gotta have, you gotta understand the features and what, how those translate to benefit before you're gonna get to correct. What may be the most important part, the transformation is that right?
Henry Adaso (18:32): Absolutely. Really the cream of the crop is the transformation. If you can get to the transformation, you have a better chance of connecting with your audience. The example that I always think about is Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. So I noticed that their messaging was, hear music the way your favorite artists hear music. Mm-hmm. . And that is a transformation because at the time there, there were no premium headphones that could do what Beats could do, so, so the messaging there was about you having that proxy experience to the celebrities that you like and look up to, right? Versus they didn't talk about the features, they didn't talk about the benefits, they simply went for the top of the messaging tower, which is a transformation. There are lots of brands that do this effectively and cite several examples in the book as well. But when you start, once you see this messaging tower, you start to see it all over the place. You see billboards that are doing this. You see commercials that are doing the same thing. That is the most powerful type of messaging, the messaging that says, Hey, here's how your situation will be different after you buy this product or service. Great.
John Jantsch (19:41): Well, Henry, I wanna appre, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. You want to tell people where they can find your work, your book, uh, connect with you in any way that you'd invite them to do?
Henry Adaso (19:51): Absolutely. You can find me on my website, henryadaso.com or on LinkedIn. It's going to be Henry Adaso or Instagram at @henryadaso as well. John, thank you so much for having
John Jantsch (20:02): Me. You bet. No, I'm, again, I appreciate you taking the time and hopefully we'll run into you one of these days out there on the road.
Henry Adaso (20:09): Look forward to meeting you in person. Thank you so much.
John Jantsch (20:12): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co, not.com, dot co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketing assessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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Redefining Strength: How Anxiety Can Be a Leadership Asset written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Morra Aarons-Mele
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Morra Aarons-Mele. She is the host of The Anxious Achiever, a top-10 management podcast that helps people rethink the relationship between their mental health and their leadership. Morra founded Women Online and The Mission List, an award-winning digital-consulting firm and influencer marketing company dedicated to social change in 2010.
Her upcoming book is called The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower where the mission is to normalize anxiety and leadership in today’s workplace.
Key Takeaway:In today’s workplace, anxiety is a constant challenge that can hinder the potential for high performance, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There should be no separation between mental health and leadership, and mental health should be normalized in the workplace. Morra shows that anxiety is a part of life, in fact, it is fundamental to leadership, and with the right tools, you can take advantage of its power and turn it into a strength instead of a weakness.
Questions I ask Morra Aarons-Mele:* [01:29] So leadership and mental health in the same sentence, can you explain this idea that you’re putting those two topics together? * [03:29] What are you bringing to the conversation, that’s gonna help people see anxiety as a strength? * [04:43] Do you feel like there is more anxiety today, and if so, what’s causing it? Or are people just more freely talking about it? * [06:14] You talk about transforming anxiety from a weakness to a strength. So what’s the process that somebody might go through? * [12:06] I once read that if you’re not feeling a little stress, you know, you’re just not trying or you’re not pushing yourself enough. Is there any of that thought in the anxious achiever? * [12:53] What physical manifestations are people experiencing because they are not managing the anxiety or the stress? * [14:17] Do you think a true leader now should be coaching around mental health? Obviously not providing therapy, but somehow coaching or at least giving people opportunities to be coached? * [15:20] Many people in managerial positions who are like me age-wise, are managing much younger people. Is there a real challenge cross-generationally? * [18:00] Do you do any work inside organizations? Where would you go to help an organization that’s trying to maybe change its culture?
More About Morra Aarons-Mele: https://morraam.com/ * Listen to The Anxious Achiever* * Connect on LinkedIn
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Creative Elements hosted by Jay Klaus. It's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals creative elements goes behind the scenes with today's top creators. Through narrative interviews, Jay Klaus explores how creators like Tim Urban James Clear, Tori Dunlap and Cody Sanchez are building their audiences today. By learning how these creators make a living with their art and creativity, creative elements helps you gain the tools and confidence to do the same. In a recent episode, they talked with Kevin Perry about how he goes viral on every single platform. Listen to creative elements wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:54): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Morra Aarons-Mele. She's a host of The Anxious Achiever, a top-10 management podcast that helps people rethink the relationship between their mental health and their leadership. You might recall she was on this show for one of the best titles ever Hiding in the Bathroom . But she's back with another book we're gonna talk about today, The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears Into Your Leadership Superpower. So, Morra, welcome back.
Morra Aarons-Mele (01:28): Thanks, John. It's good
John Jantsch (01:29): To be back. So leadership and mental health, uh, in the same sentence, I mean, is juxtaposed even, are we talking about a bit of an oxymoron here?
Morra Aarons-Mele (01:38): No, we're talking about,
John Jantsch (01:41): I mean, people don't typically think about those two things I know is the whole point of what your, what your work is about. But, so help me kind of work this idea that, that you're putting those two type topics together, you know, intentionally.
Morra Aarons-Mele (01:55): Yeah. I don't think that there should be any false separation between the discussion of leadership and mental health or to that matter, mental illness. Yeah. You know, it's a part of life at anyone's part of life. They will probably experience mental ill health and hopefully mental wellness. Right. It's, it's exists along the spectrum and we all go through it, and it's part of our leadership and how we show up. Sure.
John Jantsch (02:18): I don't disagree at all, but the fact that you're having to talk about normalizing this in the workplace, there's a lot of really built up angst about it, isn't there? I mean, just the, you know, go back a generation and you never talked about mental health issues, right. It's like that was, you know, that was taboo. And so a lot of people are dealing with that baggage, right?
Morra Aarons-Mele (02:39): I, I think so. Even today, you know, we, um, we conflate mental illness or ANGs or depression with weakness, right? We, we conflate it with characteristics that seem to go against what we want our leaders to be and stand for mm-hmm. . And so of course there's no incentive for leaders to talk about their mental health because everyone is afraid that they'll be judged. Right,
John Jantsch (03:00): Right, right.
Morra Aarons-Mele (03:02): And that's the kind of stigmas they're trying to break.
John Jantsch (03:04): Yeah. And I think when we use the term mental health, you know, obviously people go a lot of places with that, you're narrowed in on this idea of anxiousness, you know, which mm-hmm. again, you talked about a spectrum could be in this, not a little of nothing. And the point that you're making is that this is like, this can be a strength, right? I mean that this idea that you're an achiever doing this, so, you know, it hasn't always been seen as a good thing. So how, what, what are you bringing to the conversation? You know, that's gonna help people see that as No, that's a strength of yours.
Morra Aarons-Mele (03:36): I hope people understand that leadership and anxiety go together because , when you're leading, you're going into the uncertain. Yeah. And a lot of anxiety is about facing the uncertain and the uncomfortable, even scary feelings that we have around that. You know, what leader is an anxious Yeah. And indeed, when we think of our, our greatest leaders before battle, when we read history, we understand that they were full of fears and deep, deep insecurities before battle. The key is moving through it and being able to go into battle.
John Jantsch (04:09): Don't you think though, a lot of those leaders that you mentioned, you know, this insecurity came like after the fact, or at least admission of the insecurity came after the fact, but they felt like, no, I've gotta put on the, I've gotta put on the face, you know, and don't you think a lot of leaders take that? Like, I, you know, even though I'm dying inside, you know, I can't let that show .
Morra Aarons-Mele (04:28): Some do, some don't. I mean, when you read histories, for example, of Abraham Lincoln, he walked around with great melancholy and anxiety, and he didn't hide it. In fact, he built a team around him of people who could take care of him even in his lowest hours.
John Jantsch (04:44): Do you feel like there is more anxiety today? Maybe this is just a guess , but more anxiety today? And if so, what's causing it? Or are people just more freely talking about it in it appears that there's more?
Morra Aarons-Mele (04:59): It's, I mean, it's hard for me to know. I'm not a right, I'm not a data scientist, but I do think that when you look statistically, the numbers of people reporting anxiety and depression in this country are overwhelming. And certainly among our young people, we've been through a period which has been really damaging to our mental health. Yeah. And I don't see much that is making our mental health shore up right now. Certainly on a global scale. And even just from a macroeconomic perspective, things are very, very uncertain and scary. And that's when we get
John Jantsch (05:31): Anxious. I mean, and, and we talked about like what we've gone through, but even now, as we continue home, I mean, is that actually making the issue, uh, worse or sustaining the issue? Uh,
Morra Aarons-Mele (05:40): It's hard to know, right? I mean, I think the, the jury definitely is not out there. I think for a lot of people working from home makes their anxiety feel better because they may have less social anxiety. Yeah. Right. There may be fewer instances. On the other hand, anxiety loves a communications vacuum. And when we're all, and we're communicating on slack and strictly in audio, we may have more anxiety because we're not clear on what our counterpart wants. We may feel the need to control and we're micromanaging more. So it's hard to know, but I think there are pros and cons. Yeah.
John Jantsch (06:14): So obviously you spend a great deal of time in the book, not just explaining the people have these anxieties, but transforming them, you know, to being from a, from a what was maybe at one time a weakness, uh, to a strength. So what's, what's the process that somebody might, uh, go through? Because I, you know, I've spent 10 years, uh, meditating just to get rid of stress and anxiety. Uh, and now you're telling me, bring it on.
Morra Aarons-Mele (06:37): No, look, I'm not telling you bring it on. I mean, if, if, if you found a way to dissipate it, amazing. Good for you. Um, you probably have a lot to teach
John Jantsch (06:46):
Morra Aarons-Mele (06:47): Because ultimately what you're doing when you're meditating is you're sitting with thoughts and you're just sitting with them. You're observing them, you're noticing them, but you're not holding onto them.
John Jantsch (06:59): Right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Morra Aarons-Mele (07:02): And what has that process taught you?
John Jantsch (07:04): Uh, that reality is far less scary than than, than, uh, the, the assumed, uh, reality, which I feel like is the creation of a lot of anxiety.
Morra Aarons-Mele (07:16): That's right. Anxiety is all about the assumed reality , right. Anxiety is our brain's threat appraisal system going into high gear. On the other hand, our brain may sense a real threat or it may not. Right. And so many of us, myself included, spend so much time anticipating threats Yeah. That we almost forget how to calm down. Right. And then along the way that anxiety becomes our activating energy, it becomes our oxygen. Yeah. It pushes us forward. And we can't separate what's anxiety and what is our true drive for excellence. And it can really, really have intense consequences. And so in the book, I do a lot of what you probably do as a meditator, noticing when your anxiety pops up in what circumstance, how your body feels.
John Jantsch (08:04): Yeah. It probably gets a bit habituated Right. Too. Like we stop mm-hmm. noticing it becomes of when X happens, Y is going to occur in my body or in my head, . Um, and, and so you're right. I, the first step probably is actually witnessing it to some extent, right?
Morra Aarons-Mele (08:20): Yes. And anxiety's tricky. I spoke with someone the other day and, and he said, you know, my anxiety shows up as vertigo, huh. And I was like, wow, that's unexpected. You know, there's a detective work process that you have to go through sometimes because we think that we know an anxiety hits and it's that classic sort of fight or flight and our heart starts racing. Right. But always like that. Right. And, um, the thing that's interesting about work is it gives us a lack. We can pick up a lot of patterns for our anxiety going off mm-hmm. if we pay attention
John Jantsch (08:49): Mm-hmm. . So do you have a framework, if we wanna call it that, to to, to that you're actually can coach you through, you know, here's, I didn't know every individual's front, but do you have, at least for how somebody might go through this transformation to turn it into, as you said, a I think a I think even superpower somewhere,
Morra Aarons-Mele (09:07): , I mean, in this book, I'm not a, I'm not a clinician or psychologist, but I draw on many different schools of psychology and research and you know, I mean, I think that the general consensus, like you said, is that when you feel like your anxiety is getting in the way, the first step is to notice it. Yeah. Really understand how it's showing up, what it's feeling like in your body, naming it, I'm anxious, I'm really anxious before this negotiation, what's going on? And then doing the work to understand it, right? I mean, that is the work that we all do, but it can be really, really illustrative. And in the book, we look at everything from your childhood hurts mm-hmm. , those patterns that mo may go very, very deep to recent job experiences to, again, habits that you get stuck in. You know, so many of us get stuck in what I call thought traps. Mm-hmm. , right? Those negative instant thoughts. When we feel anxious specifically about something that we feel might shame us, our brain goes to a place of, I'm not worth it, I'm stupid, I'm gonna fail. Right? And that becomes a comfortable habit. Perfectionism is the same thing. And so it's really about understanding and playing detective, and then trying to figure out what's motivating the anxiety.
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(11:56): There was a book a few years ago, and I don't remember if it was really even very good , but the title got my attention was called Stress for Success. And the main point that the author made was that if you're not feeling a little stress, you know, you're just not trying or you're not pushing yourself enough. Um, I mean, is there any of that, um, thought, uh, process, uh, in anxious achiever?
Morra Aarons-Mele (12:21): Yeah. I mean, the neuroscience will will show that, right? I mean, we need anxiety. It keeps us alive. So if you are, um, faced with something that you really care about, that you feel might be a test, um, that you feel you really want to take a leap forward mm-hmm. , and there's a risk of failure, of course you're gonna feel anxious. You need to feel anxious.
John Jantsch (12:42): So what, what is the right word? But the, again, a lot of scientific research is really going in body connection. You know, what physical manifestations, you know, are, you know, are people experiencing because they are not managing the anxiety or the stress?
Morra Aarons-Mele (13:03): Well, we like to get into habits, right? Mm-hmm. . And, um, our brain creates habits as a way of hoping to dissipate the anxiety. So a lot of us, when we're anxious, we may go into familiar behaviors, right? A lot of us may reach for a drink, we may reach for Netflix, we may reach for TikTok mm-hmm. , right? Mm-hmm. , we may exercise. Some of our coping mechanisms are what's called adaptive. Mm-hmm. , they help us and some are maladaptive mm-hmm. at work. We also have anxiety habits. We may get into micromanaging. When you're anxious, you feel out of control. It feels really good to try to reassert some control. And that could mean calling your team and bothering them . Right. It could be overwork. And so the important thing is to see how you're reacting to the anxiety and ask yourself, is this really, is this serving me? And that's where the mindfulness comes in again.
John Jantsch (13:56): Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yeah. Is
Morra Aarons-Mele (13:57): This serving me? And sometimes you might say, yes, I am anxious right now. This is serving me.
John Jantsch (14:03): Yeah. So when it comes to, you talk about leadership and obviously typical leader, you know, manages people. So in some cases, teams or multiple teams. Are we at a point where, you know, a true leader now should be coaching around mental health, even though, you know, obviously not providing, you know, therapy, but somehow coaching or at least giving people opportunities to be coached around it.
Morra Aarons-Mele (14:30): I mean, this is a pretty controversial topic as you can imagine. Yeah. And it's new, it's really evolving, you know, in the field of workplace mental health. I, I say that, um, n no manager or colleague should ever feel like they need to be someone's therapist. You know, that is not your job. There are a lot of programs that are helping, especially managers become conversant Yeah. In talking about mental health. Right. So that you can at least there. But you know, in part of the research for the book, and in my podcast I've interviewed many HR leaders and you know, their general consensus is your job as a manager is to listen and facilitate. So you wanna be someone who's safe to listen to. You don't need to solve an employee who's having a mental health challenge. Right. That's not your job. You can facilitate where they need to go next. Yeah. And I think that that is sort of maybe can help managers relax a little bit. It's not your job to be the therapist.
John Jantsch (15:20): Many people in managerial positions are, you know, look a lot like me age-wise, um, and, uh, they are managing people who look a lot like my kids. Is there a a real challenge, you know, cross generationally? It's
Morra Aarons-Mele (15:35): So funny, every time I say yes, I get people writing into me saying, no, it is not about generation. , you know, I think it's really, really individual. Yeah. There are many people of certain ages who've been through a tremendous amount of therapy and their own healing journeys. Yeah. And another thing that's interesting that I have heard anecdotally is that people who are, who have power tend to be more open and more willing to talk about things like mental health. Mm. And people in the start of their careers as well. It's the people in the middle. Yeah. The people who are just holding on for dear life. Right.
John Jantsch (16:12): And this is just like another black marker possibly. Right. Well,
Morra Aarons-Mele (16:15): This is just something they just, they just feel overwhelmed by because they're in the climbing phase of their career. They probably have a very busy home life.
John Jantsch (16:22): Yeah. Yeah. I have just anecdotally maybe millennials, maybe Gen Z, you know, tend to just be much more open about it. I mean, so the stigma appears to be gone of saying, you know, on, on Facebook, you know, my therapist said, you know, which Oh yeah. 20 years ago, you know, would've been somewhat, you know, it would've been with your girlfriend and a couple glasses of wine maybe. But that's about it. Right. Um, so is that, is that just a social change or is that, you know, a positive change for, for good in, in the entire issue?
Morra Aarons-Mele (16:55): I think it's hugely positive. I mean, I wish everyone could have a therapist. I think it's a truly remarkable experience. And obviously there are a lot of barriers to getting good mental healthcare in this country. Yeah. Um, but I love, I love when people are open to talking about the road to self-awareness the same way they would as developing any other skill. Because what this comes down to is self-awareness as a leader. Yeah. And self-awareness is one of the most sought after an elusive leadership characteristics. Yeah.
John Jantsch (17:25): I've often said, I think it's the, it's the, you know, super powerful leadership. I think, you know, because that, you know, where people really, when when people struggle with that, you know, then they give people answers and they , you know, they try to hold on to power themselves and you know, not, you know, not give it out. I mean, the most self-aware leaders wanna rise everybody up and they want, you know, they wanna share, you know, with the team, which are all I think very positive, you know, types of things.
Morra Aarons-Mele (17:52): Yeah, yeah. For sure. So
John Jantsch (17:55): If, if, if somebody reads this book and they're a leader and they say Morra, we'd love to work with you. Do you do any work inside of organizations? Um, because this is, this might be hr, has certainly might be leadership, it's definitely culture side of organizations. So where would you go to help an organization that's trying to maybe change the culture, not just an individual leader who's trying to get better?
Morra Aarons-Mele (18:22): I mean, this is really about culture change, you know, and I think the good news is as leaders change, culture changes, I don't think that this kind of reduction of stigma around mental health in the, in the workplace should be seen as a perk or a nice to have or something we're doing for the Gen Zs to keep them happy.
John Jantsch (18:38): It's an AppRight or something, right? . It
Morra Aarons-Mele (18:41): Is actually foundationally about working better mentally healthy workplaces Sure. Work better. Absolutely. Where people, you know, have boundaries and treat each other kindly and can have open communications. I mean, it's kind of the, the shangrila that we're all looking for. So all of this stuff is actually foundational to anything you'd learn in a basic leadership or seminar. Right.
John Jantsch (19:02): But as you just pointed out, particularly when it comes to culture, that's not something that you put on a plaque. I mean that, you know, that's gotta be, you know, that's gotta be lived and it's gotta be lived a lot and it's gotta be repeated and um, you know, before people believe it. Especially if you're trying to make a change. You know, I mean, I think that's the hardest part. You know, you've grown to 200 people and you know, they have accepted the organizations a certain way. Um, you know, changing that, you know, is really difficult, isn't it?
Morra Aarons-Mele (19:32): It's absolutely. I mean, that's the thing we're all working on. That's why podcasts like ours exist. Yeah. Yeah. . But, you know, I'm not, I'm not saying that change has to start with a single person because we all live in systems, but I do think if you're feeling anxious at work and it's getting in your way it's worth looking at. It will lead you to a path of discovery.
John Jantsch (19:51): Yeah. If nothing else, you'll be happier. Right? ,
Morra Aarons-Mele (19:54): That's, well, there you go. .
John Jantsch (19:56): Well, Morra, it was great having you back on the show. You wanna invite people where they can find, I know the book will be available everywhere, but, uh, where they might connect with you as well.
Morra Aarons-Mele (20:04): Absolutely. I'd love it if you listen to my podcast, The Anxious Achiever, wherever you get your podcast. And, um, if you have a question for me, reach out on LinkedIn and I'll write back. Just send me a message.
John Jantsch (20:14): Awesome. Well, again, thanks for taking a few moments to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, and hopefully we'll see you one of these days soon out there on the road.
(20:19): Thanks.
(20:20): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy strategy before Tex? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co, not.com, dot co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketing assessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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powered byThis episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
HubSpot Podcast Network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Morra Aarons-Mele. She is the host of The Anxious Achiever, a top-10 management podcast that helps people rethink the relationship between their mental health and their leadership. Morra founded Women Online and The Mission List, an award-winning digital-consulting firm and influencer marketing company dedicated to social change in 2010.
Her upcoming book is called The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower where the mission is to normalize anxiety and leadership in today’s workplace. Morra shows that anxiety, with the right tools, can turn into a strength instead of a weakness.
More About Morra Aarons-Mele: * https://morraam.com/ * Listen to The Anxious Achiever * Connect on LinkedIn
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Louis Gudema. Louis is a fractional CMO for B2B companies, and mentors startups at MIT. Previously he founded and grew a marketing agency, and pivoted it into a SaaS company, growing it into one of the top three or four companies in its national market before a successful exit. The first edition of Bullseye Marketing was named One of the Best Marketing Plan Books of All Time by Book Authority. He also has a side hustle as a ghostwriter of business and marketing books.
His upcoming book is a second edition of Bullseye Marketing where he teaches how to develop, launch, and scale a successful marketing strategy for B2B companies.
More About Louis Gudema: * https://louisgudema.com/ * Connect on LinkedIn * Follow on Twitter * Contact Louis
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Christina Inge. She has two decades of experience leading digital strategy and managing complex marketing technology projects. She specializes in articulating effective, efficient digital strategies for organizations using the latest channels to drive results. She is the founder of Sleek Marketing, which offers hands-on education on digital marketing in the Boston area.
Her book Marketing Metrics: Leverage Analytics and Data to Optimize Marketing Strategies, is a practical guide to creating efficient future-focused marketing strategies powered by data-driven techniques that can develop stronger brands and products.
More About Christina Inge: * https://thoughtlight.net * Get your copy: Marketing Metrics: Leverage Analytics and Data to Optimize Marketing Strategies
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs March 11 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Pulse – A cloud-based marketing analytics platform designed to help businesses gain competitive insights and analyze industry benchmarks through data collection from different sources.
- Leadfox – A marketing automation software designed for small and medium-sized businesses to help them generate leads and increase sales. Its features include landing pages, email marketing, social media management, and analytics.
- Vero Cloud – A marketing platform created to automate decisions and send multi-channel personalized messages in real time. Vero Cloud offers the tools needed for audience-building and driving results.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
IIn this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview David Newman. He's the founder of the Do It! MBA mentoring program and the host of The Selling Show, a top-rated business podcast. He is the author of the business bestseller Do It! Marketing, and his new book, Do It! Selling, where David helps professional services sellers land better clients, bigger deals, and higher fees.
More About David Newman: * https://doitmarketing.com * Pre-order: Do It! Selling
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jonah Berger. Jonah is a Wharton School professor and internationally bestselling author of Contagious, Invisible Influence, and The Catalyst. He has a new book we're going to talk about — Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way.
More About Jonah Berger: * JonahBerger.com * Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Washington Post Best Selling Author and Motivational Keynote Speaker, Laura Gassner Otting. A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily. Laura’s 30-year experience is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps.
Her forthcoming book, Wonderhell, reimagines the stories we tell ourselves about success bringing you happiness, and shows how mixed emotions like fear, uncertainty, and stress accompany success.
More About Laura Gassner Otting: * lauragassnerotting.com * Social Networks: @heylgo * Pre-order Wonderhell: https://www.wonderhellbook.com
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs March 4 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Selligent – An AI-powered marketing automation platform designed to help businesses create and manage marketing campaigns via email, text messages, social networks, websites, and through customer channels.
- Narrato – Project management software that allows you to have all your content workflow in one place, easy collaboration between team members, and with the support of an AI content assistant to create high-performance content.
- Site123 – This website creation builder is easy to use with several ready-made templates and layouts. Site123 offers a straightforward, step-by-step process for creating a website, with no coding skills required.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show, and I’m gonna talk about how Fractional CMOs are becoming increasingly popular among business owners and marketing agencies.
Resources I mention: * Duct Tape Marketing
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
A New Generation of AI: ChatGPT written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show, and I’m gonna talk about a trend that has gotten so high in the past few months, ChatGPT.
Key Takeaway:Nowadays, we look for tools that let us be more productive and help us save an immense amount of time. AI is a really hot trend now and accessible to make some of our tasks easier. The newest trend in AI is ChatGPT, a tool that will change how we work and become smarter in how we collect useful information and data for our businesses in order to create smarter strategies. In this episode, I teach you how ChatGPT will be shaking up the way we do things and gain knowledge.
Topics I Cover:* [01:51] What is ChatGPT? * [03:38] Why use this tool? * [04:32] The process of using AI * [06:49] How to use AI to create Hubpages for your business * [08:43] Discover what your ideal customer needs or wants * [11:51] How to use ChatGPT to create online content
Resources I mention:* Send John an email
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training:* Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment:* Marketingassessment.co
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Outbound Squad, hosted by Jason Bay, and brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals host Jason Bay, dives in with leading sales experts and top performing reps to share actionable tips and strategies to help you land more meetings with your ideal clients. In a recent episode called Quick Hacks to Personalize Your Outreach, he speaks with Ethan Parker about how to personalize your outreach in a more repeatable way. Something every single one of us has to do it. Listen to Outbound Squad, wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:49): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch and I'm gonna do another solo show. If you listen to my last show, I started off by saying I wanna talk about a trend. I guess today I'm gonna talk about a really hot trend . It's one that you're hearing a ton about and so much so that I've been talking about it for a couple years, but the hype level on this trend has gotten so high that I wanna come in and do what hopefully you appreciate from me. Dear listener, , I wanna calm down some of the hype and talk about the real ways in which you can use this. You've probably guessed by now I'm talking about ai, artificial intelligence, this new set of tools, it's been around for quite a while. In fact, I would suggest that whether you know it or not, you're using AI every day.
(01:34): If you ever use Google Maps and it gets you to around traffic jams and gets you to where you're going at the fastest route possible at that given time, that is a pretty common use of AI in our everyday life. Frankly, you know, the series and those kind of tools that are that, that have been around on iPhones are using ai, but a new generation of AI has jumped to the forefront. Something called GPT, which was essentially just a way to programmatically, systematically teach some AI tools, everything , all the content that's out there, consuming it on certain topics, you know, up to a certain date. That's the easy, simple way, probably to, and so what has happened is these tools have gotten smarter because they have, they're basically just processing lots of language, lots of data. They can take that now and say, oh, okay, here's how to write something based on that.
(02:27): Data tools have gotten better. Let's face it. There's no question. I think that while there are some tools like Jasper and Write, Sonic Market Muse that have been around for a while, I think the real game changer came when OpenAI ChatGPT, I'm sure you've, if you're not using it, I'm sure you've heard people talk about it because it has really opened up the white hot topic of ai and it's, you know, when that type of thing happens, you get so much chatter out there that it's really hard to kind of cut through. I remember, this is going way back, so hang on cuz I'm gonna do a grandpa thing, almost internet grandpa. Anyway, you know when Twitter came around finally, I don't know what year it was, 2008, 2009, it is. It's like, if you're not on Twitter, you know, you're just like not cool.
(03:19): And I think that's kind of where we are with AI to some degree, but let me just tell you, it is an amazing tool, not because it, well, if you're a student out there, maybe it's writing your essays, but as marketers, you're not u going to use this tool today to create all of your content. You're gonna use this today as a tool to get smarter about your customers, to get smarter about the industry, to get smarter about your competition, to create plans, content, no question. And to do a lot of mundane tasks, to get ideas, to get research. So that's the way that, that, I'm not saying that we won't get there one day where you just push a button and it's writing, you know, your webpages for you. But what it's doing right now, think of it right now as a a, a time saving efficiency tool that's gonna save you some brain cells , quite frankly, because there are things that maybe if you sat around for a while, you'd brainstorm and you'd come up with a list of, you know, FAQs or something in your industry, but this is just gonna give you 20 of 'em.
(04:20): You're gonna go, oh yeah, five of those are good. I didn't have to use any brain power to get to those. So that's how I tell people to really start thinking about it. Now, I wanna spend a little time talking about the process of using ai. So if you use a tool, the, you know, the, probably the reason ChatGPT has become so popular is because the interface is so easy to understand. If you use a tool, you know, essentially what you're doing is you're putting in what's called a prompt. You're telling it to create something based on something that you give it. Now you can give it a simple keyword phrase and it won't really know what to do with that, but it'll probably still spit something out. Or you can give, you can go as detail and deep as you want to tell exactly the tone that you want to write it in.
(05:07): First person to use statistics. I mean, those are all basically part of your prompts. So like many things, garbage in, garbage out. So if you put in a great prompt, if you keep refining your prompt to get to what you want, you're probably going to get a lot better output. I'm gonna talk before we're done today about what I would say is the top 10 ways you ought to be using these tools pretty much every single days, just from a use standpoint. Again, a lot of times I will start with kind of global ideas. You know, I wanna, I wanna start brainstorming a big idea. I'll let it drill down to subcategories. You know, when I'm working with a client for, to create ideas, we definitely wanna plug in what are their strengths. You know, for example, I work with remodeling contractors. Well, you know, one, a very big remodeling contractor we work with is specializes in design build or design remodeler, because they have the designers and architect on staff.
(06:02): So we wanna play to their strengths. So that's gonna, we're gonna definitely use that as a way to create a differentiator inside of tools like ChatGPT. All right, let me just spend the rest of our time together today giving you a list. I said 10, I'm, I'll probably go more than that. I'm just going to throw out a list of the types of output that you should be getting out of ChatGPT or whatever tool you use. Again, shout out to Jasper is another great tool. Shout out to write Sonic, like the word write Sonic is a great tool, but you know, whatever tool you use, these are the types of things that, that you can do. It's not just writing content. For example, something that we have specialized in the last decade or so is, you know, with our clients, we create something that are called HubPages.
(06:51): Blogs are totally out. Stop calling it a blog, stop putting blog in your, in your, uh, main navigation. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to read a blog. We want got good content, but we want it structured in a way we could find it. And frankly, the way most people see blogs is it's kind of chronological content. You, you put in a blog post to today and you put in another one tomorrow and when you wrote yesterday is gone. And so what we do is we take all that great content and we structure it around the outline of a big hub topic. So again, for example, I use the remodeling contractor. If they remodel construction or uh, kitchens, you know, we might create the ultimate guide to remodeling your kitchen in whatever city that you're in. That would be the starting point. And then we would actually use, you could use a tool.
(07:37): In fact, you could type that exact prompt in to ChatGPT and it will give you a outline. Here are all the major chunks. It's, you know, planning, it's budgeting, it's design, it's construction, it's, you know, it's choosing appliances. I mean, basically all the kind of subcategories that go into a kitchen, major kitchen remodel, and it creates the outline for you. It even suggests steps all the way down to, yeah, that would actually be a good blog post. Why remodel Your kitchen probably would come up in that outline. , you know, the benefits of it would probably come up in that outline and, and that would make a great blog topic. So what it does is it kind of gives you like, hey, here's, you know, in instead of just like, what should we write on Monday? It gives you kind of the whole outline for like, Hey, we ought to be doing something in each of these categories for the next six months and we'll create this page that, that will really be a great resource.
(08:30): Instead of just telling somebody, go read our blog and maybe you'll find something I can, I, in fact, I've probably done shows on that topic. But if not just Google HubPages Duct Tape Marketing, you'll get a very thorough description of what I'm talking about there. Another kind of fun use for this tool is wouldn't it be great to know what your ideal customer lays awake in bed at night worrying about when it comes to making a purchase of whatever it is you sell ? Well, you can actually tell these tools something along the lines of, you know, create a list of the top 20 concerns that a homeowner might have when it comes to remodeling their kitchen. Use first person and be very dramatic in your answers. Oh, and as a bonus, go ahead and write the responses that a marketing company for this remodeling contractor might write.
(09:24): So that sounds like a lot that can all go in one prompt. And then you are going to get a, a list of course of not just concerns, but actually sad in the way that a homeowner might say, you know, to deal with noise and budget and on time and you know all the things that you should be then addressing in your marketing. Hey, marketing agency owners, you know, I can teach you the keys to doubling your business in just 90 days or your money back. Sound interesting. All you have to do is license our three step process that's gonna allow you to make your competitors irrelevant, charge a premium for your services and scale perhaps without adding overhead. And here's the best part. You can license this entire system for your agency by simply participating in an upcoming agency certification intensive look, why create the wheel?
(10:23): Use a set of tools that took us over 20 years to create. And you can have 'em today, check it out at dtm.world/certification. That's dtm.world/certification. So you can use these tools not just to produce content, but to actually produce strategy. In fact, another strategic use. Take all of your Google reviews, you can just copy 'em, paste them in there, and tell the tool to actually go through the above reviews that you just pasted in and create a sentiment analysis, which is just another way of saying what are some of the key themes, , that keep coming up positive and negative? We can take core messages right out of those themes now. All right, let's go to another step. Once it gives you that output and says, here are the three themes that keep coming up the most, here are the three problems people keep mentioning the most.
(11:20): You could take those in a continuation, put those in and say, okay, create a core marketing message addressing these themes that keep coming up. And so all of a sudden now it's gonna get creative with you. So think in terms of research for strategy to do things much, much faster. Maybe to give some insights that you don't have today. You could take three of your competitors and put them in there. And the same thing. What are people say about them that's positive? What did they say about them that's negative? You can create how-to, cause it certainly shines at that. Tell it to write a 1000 word article describing the five benefits of doing X, Y, and Z, and it will produce something that's not bad. I, in fact, I kind of use the sole, the formula of, you know, 20 60, 20, like you give it 20% of the great ideas, let it spit out 60% of the content, and then you actually polish it the final 20%.
(12:18): And you might actually get some decent content written that way. You can take that content that it writes and say, okay, now give me a two minute YouTube video script based on this content. Franka. You can do that with actually any content you've written. Let's see, you have some amazing content on your website already that was professionally handwritten, bespoke, just for you. You could take it to these tools and say, give me 25 uh, tweets based on this content. Give me a two minute video script based on this content. Repurpose this content for a LinkedIn article. And you are gonna get all those things that you could probably create all on your own. In fact, you could do a great job creating those on your own, but you've now saved yourself, I don't know, five hours maybe to actually have it. And there are things that, that, that don't require brain power.
(13:10): In fact, they just require somebody who understands how to do it. And these tools understand how I how to do it. Great example of that, writing metadata. So, you know, the titles and descriptions, you've probably heard every SEO person in the world talk about how important that is as an on page ranking factor. But it's also, if you've got 10 blog posts, it's also a bit mind numbing to create these tools. Not only create it, they create it in the way that Google wants to see it. They create it certainly SEO optimized. So even if you know how to do that, if you don't really know how to do that, this is a great aid. But even if you know how to create something like that, this is a tool that will just save you an immense amount of time. I, I can tell you that, you know, companies that produce articles today, and this won't be 100%, but a lot of companies that produce articles today, a lot of companies that do SEO work, a lot of people that do podcast transcripts, I mean those are all going to be produced by AI if they're not mostly being produced by AI today.
(14:09): Google loves question and answers. FAQs have always been great content. There are certain types of people that they just want to go and find the one question they have and get it answered. So every single one of your service pages, if you offer different services or you offer different products or solutions, should, should have a list of FAQs, not just for the company in general. Yeah, maybe you have one of those that talks about how you work or about your process. But every one of your products and services should have cues. But you know, they take time, like everything they take brain power to, to produce. You can use these tools to get a head start on an, on what questions people are asking and the answers that obviously you're gonna want to sprinkle your own magic on those, those answers, but it just allows you to do things much more efficiently. Do things that you're probably not getting to today either because of cost or because of just time and you actually get it done quickly and rolled out. In fact, you know, just the very start of of keyword research, you know, just putting in a couple terms and letting a tool, an AI tool give you, I mean there are tools out there that do this, but the AI tool, since you're using it can give you a list of, you know, the keyword word phrases that people are searching for companies or businesses like yours.
(15:25): You can tell the, you know, I already mentioned the idea of social posts. It's great at writing four specific Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. I mean, one of the things that's sort of banding about social media is has a way to differentiate themselves. Each platform now has their own way they wanna see content and what kind of content and what style of content works and what shape the images are. And so using a tool like this to actually write for specific platforms, just take some of the work out of that. You can actually, let's say you, you wanna make sure that you've got a marketing assistant that's writing content for email newsletter every month for social posts, every month for blog posts every month. You can tell these tools, you can give it the key themes and say create a monthly editorial calendar. If you're an agency, you can certainly do that for a client and it, and you may not execute on the thing for 12 months.
(16:16): But if you're an agency or a coach or a consultant and you're able to show in a proposal to a client, here's what 12 months would look like, a typical sort of proposed 12 months editorial would look like. It's a great sales tool. You know, again, like do you execute on every single thing that's on there, you know, nine months from now, maybe not, but it actually is a great differentiator and is very efficient to produce. Speaking of efficiency, one of the things I've learned about advertising or ads, digital ads is you can sit around in a room and guess all you want and some people are probably better at it than others. Which ad, which headline, which picture, which uh, description, which call to action is actually going to be the best. But experience tells me that the only real data that you can rely on is data that you test.
(17:06): So testing your headlines, testing hundreds of variations for ads is how you really get to the winners. Obviously you've gotta track and you've gotta analyze and you've gotta have, you know, your audience variables, right? I mean, there's lots of variables, but I do know that when it comes to creating lots of variations that you can test, these tools are super fast at doing that. And sometimes you just have to have a lot of volume in order to start testing. So let me ask you this. If you've listened to this far, ping me, just send me a note, john@ducttapemarketing.com. Say, I would love it if you would actually demo kind of a working session on, you know, a ChatGPT type of tool. Be happy to do that. So just write that, send me a note, leave me a review. We always love those.
(17:53): Tell other people to subscribe. , what else can I ask you to do? All right, lots to learn. Lots more to come on this. This is actually going to evolve immensely. There will be so many ways that people find to use these tools, but there are very many practical ways that you should be using them today and hopefully this helped sort some of those out for you. All right, take care and hopefully we'll run into you listener one of these days out there on the road.
(18:21): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co, not.com, dot co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketingassessment.co I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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Weekend Favs February 25 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Upfluence – An all-in-one affiliate and influencer marketing platform that allows you to discover influencers depending on your niche, manage influencer relationships, create automated campaigns, track sales, measure ROI, etc.
- Sendinblue – Empowers businesses to build and grow their customer relationships through end-to-end digital marketing campaigns, transactional messaging, and marketing automation.
- Brand24 – This is a social listening platform that gathers and analyzes all publicly available mentions of your keywords on the Internet. PR professionals can monitor their brand on the web and stay on top of industry news.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Stu Heinecke. Stu is a bestselling business author, marketer, and Wall Street Journal cartoonist. His first book, How to Get a Meeting with Anyone, introduced the concept of Contact Marketing and was named one of the top 64 sales books of all time. His latest release, How to Grow Your Business Like a Weed, lays out a complete model for explosive business growth, based on the strategies, attributes, and tools weeds use to grow, expand, dominate, and defend their turf. He is a twice-nominated hall of fame marketer, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center author-in-residence, and was named the “Father of Contact Marketing” by the American Marketing Association. He lives on a beautiful island in Puget Sound, Washington.
More About Stu Heinecke: * His book — How to Grow Your Business Like a Weed: A Complete Strategy for Unstoppable Growth * StuHeinecke.com
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jonah Berger. Jonah is a Wharton School professor and internationally bestselling author of Contagious, Invisible Influence, and The Catalyst. He has a new book we're going to talk about — Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way.
More About Jonah Berger: * JonahBerger.com * Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview David Barnett. David is an Author, Speaker, Educator, Consultant, and Business Buy/Sell Process Coach who works with people to help them prepare and sell their businesses privately or buy a business privately or via a business broker.
More About David Barnett: * DavidBarnett.com * Subscribe to David's YouTube channel
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Russ Perry. Russ the founder and CEO of Design Pickle, is a seasoned creative leader, entrepreneur, author, and thought leader. As a former agency owner, Perry intimately understands the challenges associated with all aspects of creative work and has transformed the creative process through Design Pickle.
More About Russ Perry: * Design Pickle * Connect with Russ on LinkedIn
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dan Martell. Dan is an entrepreneur, and angel investor and became a highly sought-after coach in the SaaS industry and founder of SaaS academy after exiting three technology companies within a ten-year period. He’s also an Ironman athlete, philanthropist, husband, and father of two incredible boys. He's the author of the book – Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire.
More About Dan Martell: * Get a copy of his book — Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire.
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Oscar Trimboli. Oscar is the author of How to Listen: Discover the Hidden Key to Better Communication - the most comprehensive book about listening in the workplace.
More About Oscar Trimboli: * Take the Listening Quiz
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs February 4 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- AI Text Classifier by OpenAI– You can test your text to see if it is written by AI with OpenAI’s text classifier. It is provided as a tool to encourage conversation about AI awareness.
- LingvaNEX– This voice-to-text transcription service can transcribe up to 92 languages with unlimited volume capability at a lower cost with more audio transcribed. It requires specific hardware and can be integrated into any business system for unlimited user access.
- Excel Formula Bot– Finally, an AI-powered tool that turns text instructions into Excel formulas quickly and for free. It is available for both Excel and Google Sheets and has various features, such as generating formulas quickly and explaining what a formula means in seconds.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mark Schaefer. Mark is a globally-recognized keynote speaker, college educator, marketing consultant, and author of books such as Marketing Rebellion – Cumulative Advantage, and Belonging To The Brand: Why Community Is The Last Great Marketing Strategy.
More About Mark Schaefer: * BusinessesGrow.com
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Camden Francis. Camden is the Founder and CEO of the Nonprofit Organization, Beyond the Crisis, the food-distribution charity, which has distributed over 100,000 dollars of food items to housing communities and homeless shelters across Massachusetts.
More About Camden Francis: * Beyondthecrisis.org * Connect with Camden on LinkedIn
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Russ Ruffino. Russ is the Founder of Clients on Demand, an Inc. 500 company that helps coaches, experts, and service providers attract the right clients at the right price, anytime they want.
More About Russ Ruffino: * Clients on Demand * Russ Ruffino
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Matt Briel. Matt is an entrepreneur and the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Lulu.com, as well as a self-diagnosed collaboration junkie. After more than 15 years leading Sales and Marketing teams in the Media & Publishing spaces, he’s developed a unique passion for helping creators become more successful by leveraging books as a catalyst for opportunities and sustainable revenue.
Learn More About Matt Briel and Lulu: * Lulu.com * Publishforgrowth.com
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network and Lulu.
Weekend Favs January 21 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- HelloScribe – Effortlessly generate big ideas with HelloScribe’s AI-powered writing and brainstorming tools for PR and Marketing professionals. Their cutting-edge writing and brainstorming tools simplify the creative process, allowing you to generate big ideas with ease and efficiency.
- Originality.ai – Ensure the originality of your content with Originality.AI, a plagiarism checker and AI detector for serious publishers. Protect your reputation and save time with their advanced technology.
- Boei – Is a new-age chatbot platform that automates customer support and lets you easy connect with your leads wherever they like to communicate best. It also provides features for training, analyzing and integrating the chatbot with other tools.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba. They both are award-winning authors and entrepreneurs. Despite not going to university, Ash became a serial tech founder and the first marketing director of a unicorn startup – Just Eat). Hasan built a successful startup from his bedroom with nothing more than an online course and a yearning to escape the ‘rat race’. They are now international bestselling authors, coaches, and keynote speakers. Their latest book is – The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed.
More About Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba: * Follow Hasan on Twitter: @startuphasan * Follow Ash on Twitter: @ash_ali * Learn more about the book: The Unfair Academy
Learn More About The Agency Certification Intensive: * Learn More
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview James Ellis. James is the principal of Employer Brand Labs in Chicago and is a born employer branding nerd whose mission is to create a million employer brand thinkers. He is an author, keynote speaker, practitioner, and podcaster with a wealth of experience across multiple industries for almost a decade.
More About James Ellis: * EmployerBrandLabs.com * Subscribe to James's free newsletter – Employer Brand Headlines
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Robert Glazer. Robert is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Acceleration Partners, a global partner marketing agency, and the recipient of numerous industry and company culture awards, including Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards two years in a row. He is the author of the inspirational newsletter Friday Forward, the #1 Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the internationally bestselling author of five books: Elevate and Friday Forward. His latest book is – Elevate Your Team: Empower Your Team To Reach Their Full Potential and Build A Business That Builds Leaders.
More About Robert Glazer: * RobertGlazer.com
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
How To Build A Business That Builds Leaders written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Robert Glazer
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Robert Glazer. Robert is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Acceleration Partners, a global partner marketing agency, and the recipient of numerous industry and company culture awards, including Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards two years in a row. He is the author of the inspirational newsletter Friday Forward, the #1 Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the international bestselling author of five books: Elevate and Friday Forward. His latest book is – Elevate Your Team: Empower Your Team To Reach Their Full Potential and Build A Business That Builds Leaders.
Key Takeaway:Leadership has gone through a dramatic shift and we’re missing out on the opportunity to use businesses as a way to grow human beings as leaders. Robert Glazer joins me in this episode to talk about how leaders can help develop their people as well as the organization for long-term success — all while keeping everyone fulfilled in both work and life.
Questions I ask Robert Glazer:* [1:45] Would you characterize this as the new generation of leadership? * [2:35] People are leaving jobs left and right because they aren’t fulfilled. Do you see this as a trend moving forward? * [4:51] How essential is building trust when it comes to leadership? * [6:16] How important is it to check your egos to gain a level of self-awareness before you can even start down this path? * [7:35] Would you say that the things you talk about, your ideas, this approach, this mentality, this mindset is something that you found inherently in you or that came naturally to you as a way to build this business? * [10:33] You have for many years now written a newsletter you call Friday Forward. How much of how you think about elevating your team came from what you learned writing that? * [13:18] Do you think everybody in an organization needs to be looked at as a leader? * [18:03] If you have everyone on your team reaching or at least feeling like they’re moving toward their full potential, what kind of marketing or brand impact do you suppose that has for an organization? * [20:29] Want to tell people where they might connect with you, learn more about your work, but obviously also pick up a copy of the book?
More About Robert Glazer:* RobertGlazer.com
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification:* Learn more Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
Duct Tape TranscriptEmailDownloadNew TabJohn Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Nudge, hosted by Phil Agnew. It's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. You can learn the science behind great marketing with bite size 20 minute episodes packed with practical advice from world-class marketers and behavioral scientists. And it's not always about marketing. Great episode. Recently you learned the surprising truths about and tips for beating, stress and anxiety. Sounds like a great program, doesn't it? Listen to Nudge wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:47): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Robert Glazer. He is the founder and chairman of the Board of Acceleration Partners, a global partner marketing agency, and the recipient of numerous industry and company culture awards, including Glassdoor's Employees Choice Awards two years in a row. He's the author of the Inspirational Newsletter Friday Forward and the number one Wall Street Journal, USA Today and international bestselling author, five books I think you've been on for Elevate for Friday forward. We're gonna talk about his latest book, elevate Your Team, empower Your Team to reach their full potential and build a business that builds leaders. So Robert, welcome back to the show.
Robert Glazer (01:33): Thanks John. I see you again and
John Jantsch (01:35): The dog barked on cue. Yeah,
Robert Glazer (01:37): That's perfect. Right, right, right, right on cue. Yeah,
John Jantsch (01:39): , the dog is happy to the, you're back on as
Robert Glazer (01:42): Well, . And he didn't even hear you say it whole lot . You saw the mailman.
John Jantsch (01:47): Absolutely. So, so would you characterize this as sort of the new generation of leadership, you know, books or new, you know, leadership training? I mean that it's kind of out with the old sort of hierarchical leadership?
Robert Glazer (02:00): Yeah, yeah. I think I talked a little bit about a new leadership playbook. I think this transition has been happening for some time. I think it's been masked the last couple years with sort of high growth, low interest rate, you know, super stimulus kind of company unicorn, but command and control died in the military, uh, a long time ago. And now with a societal level of burnout that we're seeing. I just don't see how the old playbook is going to work for building an organization that that requires constantly swapping people out, going forward.
John Jantsch (02:35): Well, and I mean a couple dynamics of course that make the news every day, people are struggling to find people, period. People are leaving jobs that are not fulfilling because the last couple years haven't been very fulfilling in some cases. And so, I mean, do changes like that in the workplace that are happening right now? I mean, is that something that you see as a trend going forward or is that really this little bubble that we're in for a few years?
Robert Glazer (03:01): We've had a lot of ups and downs, you know, power dynamic between employer and plan. And it depends on what industry you're in, right? If you're in hospitality or travel or whatever, you have all the power in the world. If you're in digital marketing and e-commerce right now, it's not pretty. Yeah. So you probably don't want to quiet quit, but I just think we're missing, I think we're missing the opportunity to use businesses as a way to grow human beings, grow them as leaders and you know, talk about this concept of capacity building, but you know, work on things that help poop improve people both in the business outside the business. And I, you know, I'm very sort of, I, there, there's camps, right? There's the oh results and then people like I, I'm in the middle. Like I, I think you should really try to take care of and grow your people, but also you need results.
(03:45): You need performance and you can't look, you know, the other way at those things. And a lot of those cases, that's someone who's just doing something that they shouldn't be doing or is doing the wrong thing and you're not helping them either. So I think that with work from home and all these changes, I just don't, I don't, I've always said like, I don't think you, like imagine the person who wakes up at home and is super groggy and tired and bad with money and sucks at per prioritization and they just kind of show up as a different person at work five minutes later. I don't think that's the case. So I think it's like you're gonna, if you wanna work on , if you wanna have people be better at prioritization and time management and their health and kind of have energy and doing a lot of these things, like, that actually kind of needs to be a holistic approach
John Jantsch (04:29): When you start talking about a holistic, I was gonna ask you about remote, because obviously that's changed, you know, everybody's leadership, you know, it's like I don't ever see my team now, right? Yeah. You know, how do I lead them? But how, how central is the idea of building trust? First? I'm gonna envision somebody reading your book and going, this is what we're gonna do. But we've never been that , you know, before. I mean, so how essential if I'm gonna actually like go to Robert and say, I'm gonna help you achieve all of your dreams both in work and out outside of work and you know, it's like what Yeah. You know, how essential is it to build trust first?
Robert Glazer (05:04): I like it. I talk about this a lot. I see way too many leaders managed to the exception . Yeah. They, you know, if something's gonna happen 99 out of a hundred times, like harping on the one that it went in one direction, it's actually a terrible thing to do. Like Right. Don't make something goes a certain way 90% of the time. Like make that decision all the time and don't worry about the 10%. So I'm a big believer in you give trust first, but like one, once trust is broken, it cannot be repaired. Mm-hmm. . So, so I think a lot of people point out to the one person who abused something or otherwise, but if that's your default approach is not to trust all of your people because of one person that acted in a way, like it kind of is a really bad assumption. But I, so, so I think it's better to set a threshold, particularly in a remote or otherwise that like, look, we trust you and we expect you act like an adult, but you know, when we find out you were working two jobs or you find out you abused that trust, it's hard to, to get that back.
John Jantsch (05:57): Yeah. I know the answer to this, but I want to hear how you answer this , you know, how key, cuz one of the underpinnings of this is that we're gonna help others succeed. Like we're gonna lift them up. Whereas a lot of people are like, these people are here to help me succeed. So, you know, how important is it to check that ego is to gain a level of self-awareness that you're doing that, you know, before you can even start down this path?
Robert Glazer (06:26): Yeah, I think peop people look at these things incongruously and they're not, for example, like the 80 20 rule has never been overcome, you know, that I've ever seen. Yeah. And you got a lot of leaders getting a lot of people spinning wheels and working on stuff on crazy hours that just doesn't matter and isn't getting results. So it, I'm not sure that's good for the company, it's good for the leader, it's good for the employee versus if you could, you know, I have a whole chapter on getting more outcome oriented, you know, with the business and the results. What are we trying to get to? What does good look like? Like we're not gonna focus on a million things. We're gonna focus on those things and there's the accountability and their performance piece. And that also maybe makes it so that people don't need to work a hundred hours a week or aren't getting emails at, you know, 11:00 PM at night. So a lot of these things really, truly are, I wish there was a better word, but they are vicarious or win-win in that what's good for the business is good for the employee. I, I mean, the 80 20 rule would tell you that, you know, most organizations today tw 80% of what they're doing is only getting 20% of the right outcomes.
John Jantsch (07:35): W would you say that the things you talk about this approach, this mentality, this mindset is something that you find in, inherent in you that it came natural to you as a way to build this business? Or was this sort of hard one, you know, because you went out and said, well here's how everybody else builds a business and I guess that's how you do it.
Robert Glazer (07:53): Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I looked at a lot of the things that were going on out there and they didn't make sense. And I wanted to build a type of business that I was excited to, to work in. And I've done my core values, I've done the y work, like I my is very much around finding a better way and share it. So it's like, how do we make people better? How do we make the business better? How do we grow that? So, so and, and then we just really saw that worked. Now again, we are high accountability, high performance of growning, 30% a year for almost a decade. Right? It's not, I think sometimes when people talk about businesses that help people and care about people and all, you know, that there's this kumbaya family thing. Yeah. And you haven't grown revenue in a decade.
(08:30): I mean, we've been, we've grown 4000% in, in, in 10 years. So I, I just didn't wanna build a growth business that required constantly changing the people. So the question was how do we grow the people and have that be the impetus for growing the business, not artificially grow the business and then drag people along. And most of our leaders have, and look, I, this was a decision five years ago, I said, if, if you were trying to do this now, if you were trying to just grow by telling people to grind it out in 89 hours a week, they're so burned out that I just don't think you'll have any employees. And in this whole world, you're either gonna have the freelance mercenary for rent people or you're gonna have one of people that want to be at your company. And there's something about being at your company that, and particularly if they're working from home, that it ties together and it helps them, you know, get what they're looking for in some ways. But none of these things are, you know, helping people like meet their personal goals should directly correlate to helping the organization reach its goals. Yeah. Some of them should be exclusive of each other.
John Jantsch (09:32): Are you an agency owner, consultant or coach that works with business owners? Then I want to talk to you about adding a new revenue stream to your business that will completely change how you work with clients. For the first time ever, you can license and use the Duct Tape Marketing system and methodology in your business through an upcoming three day virtual workshop. Give us three days and you'll walk away with a complete system that changes how you think about your agency's growth. The Duct Tape Marketing System is a turnkey set of processes for installing a marketing system that starts with strategy and moves to long-term retainer implementation engagements. We've developed a system by successfully working with thousands of businesses. Now you can bring it to your agency and benefit from all the tools, templates, systems and processes we've developed to find out when our next workshop is being held. Visit dtm.world/workshop. That's dtm.world/workshop. You have for many years now written a newsletter you call Friday Forward. It came out on Fridays. You sent it across, typically it was a, almost an internal comms piece, and then eventually grew to following, grew to a book. How much of what you, how you think about elevating your team came from
Robert Glazer (10:54): What
John Jantsch (10:55): You learned writing that
Robert Glazer (10:58): A a lot of it, I'm like a framework person. And so I realized, and when I originally wrote the book, I went to write a compilation book and agent was like, no one likes a compilation book. Like what is it? What have you done? What are the stories? I went back and looked at all the pattern analysis and the categories and that's where I came up with this whole capacity building construct. That was the premise of both Elevate and elevate your team. And I was like, huh, this is the theme. This is what we've, this is what I've been doing personally. This is what we've been doing around training. We've been helping people with spiritual capacity, intellectual, physical, and emotional. Yeah. Like it just sort of, the pattern started to reveal itself. And when I was able to kind of lay out the framework, then I could more say, Hey look, this is, you know, if I went through the the checklist, it's like that's how we were training and developing people. Yeah.
John Jantsch (11:43): It's, it was really encouraging to hear you talk about, you went back and discovered, you know, that you had this framework because I, the reason I asked the question, the way I asked is because I think a lot, lot of people underestimate how much having a regular writing practice, how much you learn from ha about yourself, about, you know Yeah. The world. Because you have to pay attention to put that out there. And I think just doing that is actually, and, and again, people should subscribe to Friday forward because you're gonna see it's a different kind of newsletter. But I think that it, you know, that's one of the essential elements, right? Is, I mean, because consistently writing about those things, you know, at some point people had to say, I guess he means it.
Robert Glazer (12:25): Yeah. And look, the, I think there's a, you probably feel this way. I know a lot. I think there's probably a misperception that when I write something, like I had it all figured out, it's actually the topic. It's like, huh, I've been thinking about this topic for a while and now I'm gonna have to spend two hours and like Right. Come up with an opinion on it. So sometimes it really provides that clarification. Like I said, I like frameworks, so yeah. My writing is sort of about how do you put a concept or idea and a framework that then you can do something with it. You know, when you, like we read a book, you know, and you're like, oh, I've known about this for a while, but just the way that John put it together, like, now I get it and it clicks and I know how to do something with it.
John Jantsch (13:01): Well I, I often, you know, somebody on my team will say, you know, I'd like to learn more about Google ads. And I said, oh great, two weeks from today you're gonna teach a class on it.
Robert Glazer (13:08): Yeah. .
John Jantsch (13:09): And you know, they immediately learn a whole lot more than it had. I like shared, you know, what I knew about it. So I, I just think there's a lot to that. Does everybody, does everybody need in an organization, do you view everybody as now you have a professional organization, you have very high level, you have leadership folks naturally. Yeah. You know, titled leadership folks. Do you think everybody in an org organization needs to be looked at as a leader?
Robert Glazer (13:34): No. In fact, you know, there is a whole section on this. I think one of the, you know, the premise first is look, give everyone the best chance to be successful in their organization. Yeah. But then you also need to be objective about what the organization needs and what people skillsets are and what they're good at. And a lot of people, you know, with this word, a lot of people frankly want to be good individual contributors. Right. I think the biggest mistake historically an organization makes, right? They promote the sales person into a sales manager when they just wanna sell and the commission or the engineer into an engineering manager. Generally, I, some people aren't really interested in managing and leading. They wanna produce and they wanna deliver and you shouldn't cap their upside. But they are, you know, they get their good feelings from, you know, whatever they did.
(14:19): Personally, a leader, when you come a leader, you need to switch your reward center from what it is that you did. But first what that your team did. And some people just aren't interested in that and Yeah. Because we want 'em to move up the arch chart and pay more money. Like, like we, you know, put them in charge of teams and frankly, if you've got a man or a woman that can sell 10 million a year, like don't crack their commission. Like let them keep selling. Don't make 'em managed salespeople. If that's not what they want to do. They, if they wanna be a rainmaker, let 'em be a rainmaker. Yeah.
John Jantsch (14:52): And, and I think the real key you're saying is work as hard as you can to get people in the right spot. Right spot for them. Right. Doing the right things because they'll thrive.
Robert Glazer (15:02): Yeah. But look, help them build their capacity, help them learn all this stuff. Yeah. One of the things they may learn is that they don't do some pre leadership stuff that I don't like leadership. I like selling, delivering. You know, I like getting all the credit myself. Like I think if people then can be honest with themselves, if you can have that dialogue and the organization can be honest with them, you know, we had someone years ago who just, you know, was in a leadership role and we reversed them out of that leadership role and put 'em in a contributor role. Cause we're like, look, you don't like your leading your team. They don't like having you as a leader. You like to just do stuff and get credit for it. Like we, here's a contributor role that you could be good at. Yeah.
John Jantsch (15:42): Well and the key there too is that, you know, every organization needs somebody who geeks out on Google Analytics, right. Or whatever it is. I mean you need those tools. It wants
Robert Glazer (15:51): To be the best analytics person, the best engineer, the best salesperson, right? The there there's not a manager of Google Analytics. I think that's fine. So I think for that reason too, I think you need to, you, you might have training, you might, you know, for young up and coming leaders, but you also need to give 'em an escape, you know, route too. If they start down that process and realize it's not the right thing,
John Jantsch (16:13): It's become very trendy to talk about leaders needing to be coaches and coaching their teams. You know, where do you fall on that idea?
Robert Glazer (16:21): Yeah, look, I, a leader's job is to make I think the sum of the parts greater than the whole, right? And so they should be talking to their team increasingly not telling what to do, but finding out where their blockers are, what they need, discussing problems with them, not solving the problems, but discussing the problems, talking about resources. So yeah, I think the coach mentor, you know, is the, I mean that to me that's the difference between a leader and a manager. A manager just takes the sum of the parts and tells people what to do and moves the chips on the board. Like, you know, a leader is trying to get something that is more than the sum of the parts. And so I think that is the modern analogy of, you know, people talk about my friend Jamon McCormick, you know, wrote a book like Modern Leadership, but the modern leaders on the bottom of the org chart, like, Hey, I work for my team and how do I make you better get outta your way? Remove obstacles. Again, that true leader who sees their success as how well their team does, not how well they do. And by the way, this is a huge thing that most organizations miss. I would say 80 to 90% of organizations do not rate their managers as managers. , they rate them based on their contribution. So they're totally rewarding the wrong thing. If you have a leader, someone who manages two, three, or four, five people, the number one thing that you need to be rating them on is how good of a leader they are. .
(17:42): If you rate them on their production, then you're then, you know, if their teams, if it's a sales leader and the team is all meeting their goals, but they, they all hate 'em or heard and they're, you know, they're all looking for a job and one person's way ahead of their quota and isn't getting promoted and one's under their quota is not getting fired. But they're all like, again, the results mask. That person is not doing their job as a leader. Yeah.
John Jantsch (18:04): So we started talking about this before I hit record and I want to loop back to it, you know, part of the subtitle Empower your Team to reach their full potential if you have one on your team reaching or at least feeling like they're moving towards their full potential. What kind of marketing or brand impact do you suppose that has for an organization?
Robert Glazer (18:21): Yeah, look, I think they're fundamentally three types of organizations. I talk about this in the book. The first is a star sniffling and I worked at one of these outside of school, like this is where like me, you know, te you know, mediocrity just tried to stay in place and like good talent left as fast as they could. It was like, you know, there was a whole group of people who just were protecting their job and knew the politics and otherwise. So like while that organization is bankrupt, like everyone I worked with is doing an amazing thing. Like it was one of my first jobs out of college. So the second is catch and release, right? I think these are the organizations that develop people and when they don't have an opportunity or there's two people going for one job, they're actually happy to help that person.
(19:00): And you know, like seeing them go somewhere else and be successful. Patty McCord used to say, we love to see people go be from Netflix. And I think that's really powerful, the brand and pretty awesome. The hardest one and the one that I think you can't be all the time is sort of a true meritocracy. An organization that is willing to put the best person on the field, you know, at any time. And you know, my historical example from this in the book is that in 2001, right, the, the Patriots had just signed Drew Bledso for $103 million. I think Bill Belichick is the best example historically of this. It doesn't matter what you're paid, where you're drafted, otherwise whoever is performing best will get the role. And Bledso got hurt. And when he, you know, the sixth round quarterback skinny kid that, you know, no one knew Belichick left him in there.
(19:46): And when the quarterback came back he said, he's playing really well. I'm not gonna take him out. I mean you're talking about he doesn't make that decision and Tom Brady's not the best player of all time. Very few managers I think are willing to make that decision or take someone and say, look, this person is objectively higher achieving and better than other, we are going to push them forward. So I think we're all organizations actually are all flavors of those at time to time. But if you want to build a great brand as an organization, one where people can move up on their own merit or the organization supports them to go take better roles elsewhere, like I think that those are places that people wanna work.
John Jantsch (20:24): Speaking with Robert Glazer, he is the author of Elevate Your Team. So Robert, you want to invite people where they might connect with you, learn more about your work, but obviously also pick up a copy of the book.
Robert Glazer (20:35): Yeah, it's all@robertglazer.com. You can find my podcast there. Book and Friday Ford and would love to, to have everyone join. Awesome.
John Jantsch (20:44): Well thanks again for stopping by the Duct Tape Marketing podcast and hopefully we'll run into you again soon. One of these days out there on the road. Thanks John. Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It's called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @ marketingassessment.co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That's just marketingassessment.co. I'd love to chat with you about the results that you get.
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powered byThis episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
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In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Matt Higgins. Matt is a self-made entrepreneur who went from poverty to the top of five industries and now serves as a guest Shark on ABC’s hit series Shark Tank. He will soon star in a new spinoff Business Hunters also executive produced by Mark Burnett. Matt is also the author of Burn The Boat: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential.
More About Matt Higgins: * His book – BurnTheBoatBook.com
Learn More About The Agency Intensive Certification: * Learn more
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Take the Assessment
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Weekend Favs January 7 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Ecosia – Ecosia is a search engine that uses its profits to plant trees around the world. The company aims to offset carbon emissions and combat climate change through reforestation efforts and similar partnerships. There is a free and easy-to-use chrome extension you can download.
- Motion – This company helps businesses build better online experiences for their customers. They do this through various services, including website design, branding, and marketing strategy.
- Zoom Apps – The Essential App Bundle from Zoom is a package that includes the core Zoom apps for video conferencing, webinars, and chat. The bundle also includes Kahoot!, Coda, Sesh, Twine, and many more.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Marcel Petitpas. Marcel is the CEO & Co-Founder of Parakeeto, a company dedicated to helping agencies measure and improve their profitability by streamlining their operations and reporting systems. Marcel is also the fractional COO at Gold Front and a speaker, podcast host, and consultant, specializing in Agency Profitability Optimization.
More About Marcel Petitpas: * His business — Parakeeto * His podcast — The Agency Profit Podcast
Learn More About The Agency Certification Intensive: * Learn more here
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In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amanda Holmes. Amanda is the CEO of Chet Holmes International (CHI) which has worked with over 250,000 businesses worldwide. At age 24, she inherited her father’s multi-million dollar enterprise, which specializes in helping companies double their sales. She's the author of a book — Based on The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies.
More About Amanda Holmes: * UltimateSalesMachine.com * Get a copy of her book on Amazon — Based on The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies. * Connect with Amanda on Instagram — @amanditaholmes
More about the Agency Certification Intensive:
- Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Andrew Warden. Andrew is the CMO of Semrush - an online visibility management SaaS platform that has been used by millions of marketers worldwide including this one.
More About Andrew Warden: * Semrush
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
Take The Marketing Assessment: * + Take the Assessment
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n this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show and discussing something I've been talking about lately called the Customer Success Track.
Resources I Mention: * Get the Kindle version of The Ultimate Marketing Engine * Learn more about my book The Ultimate Marketing Engine
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Steve Miller. Meetings & Conventions Magazine calls Steve Miller the Idea Man for his unconventional, edgy, no-spin approach to marketing and branding. He is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller, "UNCOPYABLE: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition." Steve’s speaking and consulting clients have ranged from entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 corporations, including Proctor & Gamble, Greystar Real Estate, Caterpillar, Boeing Airplane, Starbucks, Philips Electronics, and the prestigious TED Conference. We're talking about his latest book — Stealing Genuis: The Seven Levels of Adaptive Innovation.
More About Steve Miller: * Get a copy of his book — Stealing Genuis: The Seven Levels of Adaptive Innovation
Learn More About The Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the Certification Intensive Training
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs December 31 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Beams – Beams helps you stay focused and reduce distractions during your day. You can see your daily schedule, join calls and take breaks with one click from your Menu Bar. Work smarter, not harder with Beams.
- Whereby – Join a meeting in just one click with easy-to-remember and use links. Or embed a video conference directly on your website, platform, or app with Whereby’s Embedded Video API.
- Noty.ai – Noty.ai is an AI-powered meeting assistant that can transform your meetings into transcripts, action items, summaries, and follow-ups in seconds. With Noty.ai, you can also collaborate with your team members on a shared transcript and seamlessly delegate follow-up tasks in real time.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Laura Nelson. Laura has marketed, sold to, and collaborated with local businesses for over 10 years of her career as a marketer and business manager. She is currently VP of Marketing at Signpost, following roles with Broadly, Reputation.com, and Patch. Laura earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BFA at Carnegie Mellon University.
More About Laura Nelson: * Signpost.com
More About The Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the Certification Intensive Training here
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Laura Bull. Laura is a bestselling author and brand strategist who specializes in transforming people into competitive and sustainable business brands. Her latest book is — From Individual to Empire: A Guide to Building an Authentic and Powerful Brand.
More About Laura Bull: * Her latest book is — From Individual to Empire: A Guide to Building an Authentic and Powerful Brand.
Learn More About The Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the certification training here
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dan Franks. Dan is the Co-founder and president of Podcast Movement, the world's largest conference and trade show for the podcast industry. He is a CPA and was formerly the Business Manager and Director of Live Events for Midroll Media.
More About Dan Franks: * PodcastMovement.com
More About Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the training
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jeffrey Shaw. Jeffrey is an experienced speaker and small-business consultant. He helps self-employed and small-business owners gain control of their businesses in what otherwise seems like uncontrollable circumstances. He’s also the author of a book called: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success.
More About Jeffrey Shaw: * His book: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success * The Self-Employed Summit * The Self-Employed Assessment
More About Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the training
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this Duct Tape Marketing Podcast episode, I interview Jacqueline Lieberman. Jacqueline is the former Managing Partner, the Head of Strategy Story Worldwide, and the current founder of BrandCrudo.
More About Jacqueline Lieberman: * Learn more about Jacqueline’s company: BrandCrudo * Jacqueline’s podcast: Uncooked
More About The Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the training
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show. Nowadays, we have the ability now to start businesses without really adding much overhead. You don't need an office - all you really need is a computer. But in order to scale, there are a few things you have to get right, and we've created a system to do just that.
Resources I Mention: * Send me an email
More About Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the training
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jenn Herman. Jenn is a social media consultant, speaker, and globally recognized Instagram expert. She is a sought-after international speaker providing tips, resources, and training for organizations of all sizes that need to structure their social media strategies. She is the co-author of Instagram for Dummies 2.0 (2022) Edition.
More About Jenn Herman: * JennsTrends.com * Follow Jenn on Instagram
More About Certification Intensive Training: * Learn more about the training
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This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs December 17 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.
- Thnks – No more waiting until you meet someone in person to say Thnks! Thnks makes it easy to send a carefully chosen thank-you gift instantly via text or email. They have a library of exclusive “thank you” items that can be delivered for any occasion, no matter how you know them, including prospects, customers and employees.
- Blaze – Blaze is the next-generation tool that helps you understand, engage and manage your users. We’re talking Discord analytics, user management and powerful reporting all in one place.
- ClickMinded – ClickMinded is the Marketing Operating System for your business. It’s a library of digital marketing SOPs and online courses that help you grow new customers and revenue through a repeatable process.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Liz Lathan. Liz is the Co-founder of Community Factory, a community design strategist, a community enablement architect, and the Creator of Return on Emotion™.
More About Liz Lathan: * The Community Factory * Connect with Liz on LinkedIn
More About Strategy First: * Find out how we can help you grow
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. Mindy Weinstein. Mindy is a leading expert in digital marketing and has been named as one of the top women in the industry globally. She is the founder of the digital marketing firm Market MindShift.
More About Dr. Mindy Weinstein: * Powerofscarcity.com
More About Strategy First: * Find out how we can help you grow
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode is brought to you by the Hubspot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tom Peters. Tom is coauthor of In Search of Excellence—the book that changed the way the world does business and is often tagged as the best business book ever. Twenty books and forty years later, Tom is still at the forefront of the “management guru industry” he single-handedly invented. He’s out with yet another co-authored book with Nancye Green called — Tom Peters' Compact Guide to Excellence.
More About Tom Peters * TomPeters.com
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode is brought to you by the Hubspot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Melanie Deziel. Melanie is a keynote speaker, award-winning branded content creator, and the author of both “The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas” and “Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust." Melanie is also the Co-Founder of The Convoy and GroupUps, B2B marketplaces that help small businesses save money so they can invest more in themselves and their communities.
More About Melanie Deziel: * Her books: + Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust + The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas * Storyfuel.co * TheConvoy.com
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs December 3 written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- Xtiles – Allows you to organize all of your ideas, projects, and to-do’s visually and in one place. Finally a single source of truth for both work and personal tasks.
- Heyday – Heyday is an AI-powered memory assistant that helps you recall things you’ve seen online, so you won’t forget any of it. The program allows you to remember more with no extra effort on your part.
- Mindstamp – Increase viewer engagement and conversions on your videos with Mindstamp. This software allows you to create fully interactive videos with clickable graphics and buttons right in your videos. You can also create workflows, quizzes, polls, questions and much more right.
These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ann Handley. Ann is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author focused on helping businesses worldwide escape marketing mediocrity to ignite tangible results. Her work has appeared in Entrepreneur, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Chicago Public Radio, and the Financial Times. She's the Principal at MarketingProfs and the author of Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content 2nd Edition.
More About Ann Handley: * AnnHandley.com * MarketingProfs.com
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode is brought to you by the Hubspot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Martha McSally. Martha is a compelling example of overcoming adversity and fear to achieve extraordinary feats. Losing her dad at the age of 12 and surviving sexual abuse and assault, she persevered to become the 1st woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat. Martha deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan, flying 325 combat hours in the A-10 attack plane, earning the Bronze Star and six air medals. She's the author of the book — Dare to Fly: Simple Lessons in Never Giving Up.
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Nancy Harhut. Nancy is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing. A frequent conference speaker and author of Using Behavioral Science in Marketing: Drive Customer Action and Loyalty by Prompting Instinctive Responses.
More About Nancy Harhut: * Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn * Connect with Nancy on Twitter * HBT Marketing * Get a copy of her book — Using Behavioral Science in Marketing: Drive Customer Action and Loyalty by Prompting Instinctive Responses
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jason Feifer. Jason is the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine and the author of the book — Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career.
More About Jason Feifer: * JasonFeifer.com * Connect with Jason on LinkedIn * Connect with Jason on Instagram
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Debbie Howard. Debbie is the co-founder and CEO of Senior Living SMART, a full-service marketing agency focused exclusively on the senior housing and care industry. Debbie is also a proud member of the DTM network for the last 3 years.
More About Debbie Howard: * SeniorLivingSMART.com * Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn
More About The Agency Workshop: * Apply for the Agency Workshop
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode is brought to you by the Hubspot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Becky Blades. Becky is an entrepreneur, writer, artist, and philosopher of creative, adventurous living. Since selling her first company, an award-winning public relations firm, Becky has studied what she has coined “stARTistry,” the art of creative initiative. She's the author of the book — Start More Than You Can Finish: A Creative Permission Slip to Unleash Your Best Ideas.
More About Becky Blades: * BeckyBlades.com * Get a copy of her book — Start More Than You Can Finish: A Creative Permission Slip to Unleash Your Best Ideas
Learn More About Strategy First: * DTM.world/grow
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
Why Email Marketing Is (Still) Important In 2022 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Laura Goldberg In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Laura Goldberg. Laura is the Chief Marketing Officer at Constant Contact. Before Constant Contact, she served as a Chief Revenue Officer for Cabbage, a leading cash flow management and data platform for small businesses acquired by American Express. Prior […]
The Secret Sauce For Smarter Marketing Execution written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Clare Price In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Clare Price. Clare is the President and CEO of Octain Growth Systems, the systems, process, and tools company that helps you take control of your marketing through smart execution. She’s also the author of a book — Smart Marketing Execution: […]
Weekend Favs November 5 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. Streak – is a CRM Platform Built directly inside Gmail that allows you to manage any workflow from your inbox. From sending personalized emails and keeping track of leads to accessing information about pipelines, […]
Helping Entrepreneurs Get To Where They Want To Go Faster written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Carolyn Rodz In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Carolyn Rodz. Carolyn serves as the co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. Hello Alice is a free, data-driven, and multichannel platform helping small business owners on their entrepreneurial journey by providing access to relevant funding networks and technical assistance […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Carolyn Rodz. Carolyn serves as the co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. Hello Alice is a free, data-driven, and multichannel platform helping small business owners on their entrepreneurial journey by providing access to relevant funding networks and technical assistance tools while increasing owner success rates. Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn launched Hello Alice with the goal of helping entrepreneurs thrive with access to funding, resources, mentorship, and more.
More About Carolyn Rodz: * HelloAlice.com * Follow @HelloAlice on Twitter * Follow Carolyn on Twitter
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network and Air.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Paul Magnone. Paul is Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Google where he is developing a growing ecosystem of partners that will unlock the next generation of business value via the cloud and related technologies. He's also the co-author of — Decisions Over Decimals: Striking the Balance between Intuition and Information.
More About Paul Magnone: * Dodthebook.com * Connect with Paul on LinkedIn
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Using Data, Experience, And Intuition To Drive Your Decisions written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Paul Magnone In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Paul Magnone. Paul is Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Google where he is developing a growing ecosystem of partners that will unlock the next generation of business value via the cloud and related technologies. He’s also the co-author […]
Weekend Favs October 29 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Carmine Gallo. Carmine is the bestselling author of Talk Like TED and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. He is a Harvard instructor, CEO communication coach, and keynote speaker known for transforming leaders. He's the author of a new book we're talking about called – The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman.
More About Carmine Gallo: * CarmineGallo.com * Connect with Carmine on LinkedIn
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ben Congleton. Ben is the Chief Executive Olarker (CEO) and co-founder of Olark Live Chat. For the last 13 years, he's helped thousands of organizations communicate with visitors on their websites, including many small businesses.
More About Ben Congleton: * Olark * Connect with Ben on LinkedIn * Follow Ben on Twitter: @jaminben
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Joe Polish. Joe is the Founder of Genius Network, one of the highest-level groups in the world for entrepreneurs. Joe has helped build thousands of businesses and generated hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He's the author of a book — 9 Genius Networking Principles to Get What You Want By Helping Others Get What They Want.
More About Joe Polish: * WhatsInItForThem.com
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amanda Holmes. Amanda is the CEO of Chet Holmes International (CHI) which has worked with over 250,000 businesses worldwide. At age 24, she inherited her father’s multi-million dollar enterprise, which specializes in helping companies double their sales. She's the author of a book — Based on The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies.
More About Amanda Holmes: * UltimateSalesMachine.com * Get a copy of her book on Amazon — Based on The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies. * Connect with Amanda on Instagram — @amanditaholmes
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketing Assessment
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network and Air.
Weekend Favs October 15 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Aligning Your Life To Manifest The Joy And Success You Deserve written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jean Hanson In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jean Hanson. Jean is a Certified Higher Guidance Life Coach, energy healer, and co-owner of Realign Your Life Wellness Center in Mesa, Arizona. Prior to this, Jean and her husband Steve owned two successful companies that helped thousands of […]
Satisfying Your Customers Need for Speed Today written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Brett Martin In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jay Baer. Jay is a customer experience and digital marketing pioneer, expert, advisor, researcher, and analyst. Jay has written 6 best-selling books and founded 5, multi-million dollar companies. His very popular twice-monthly newsletter is at TheBaerFacts.com. Key Takeaway: How […]
Weekend Favs October 8 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Why Virtual Offices Are The Future Of Remote Working written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Brett Martin In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brett Martin. Brett is a co-founder of Kumospace, the virtual HQ for remote teams, and Charge Ventures, a pre/seed VC based in Brooklyn, NY. He also serves as Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, where he teaches data analytics. […]
How To Use Immersion To Create Amazing Experiences written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Dr. Paul J. Zak In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. Paul J. Zak. Dr. Zak is a Professor at Claremont Graduate University. A four-time tech entrepreneur, his most recent company Immersion Neuroscience is a software platform that allows anyone to measure what the brain loves in […]
Weekend Favs October 1 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How Typeform Stands Out In A Crowded Market written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Karrie Sanderson In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Karrie Sanderson. Karrie is Chief Marketing Officer at Typeform, leading brand strategy, advertising, PR, internal communications, and DEI efforts as well as overseeing the internal creative studio. Questions I ask Karrie Sanderson: [1:12] How did diversity, equality, and inclusion […]
A Startup Journey With GrubHub Founder Mike Evans written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mike Evans In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Evans. Mike founded GrubHub in his spare bedroom and grew it into the multi-billion-dollar online food delivery colossus that is a household name. Since leaving GrubHub, he founded Fixer.com, an on-demand handyperson service focused on social impact. He […]
Speed Up Your Business Growth Through Experimentation written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Andrew Warden In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Andrew Warden. Andrew is the CMO of SEMRush – an online visibility management SaaS platform that has been used by millions of marketers worldwide including this one. Questions I ask Andrew Warden: [1:40] Setting the record straight on how […]
How To Use Marketing Automation To Your Advantage written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Chase Buckner In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Chase Buckner. Chase is the Director of Marketing at HighLevel, the all-in-one, white-label sales & marketing platform for agencies. Prior to joining the team at HighLevel, Chase and a partner built a full-service agency from scratch that grew to […]
Weekend Favs September 17 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
A Simple Guide To Sparking Your Creative Energy Every Day written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Todd Henry In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Todd Henry. Todd teaches leaders and organizations how to establish practices that lead to everyday brilliance. He is the author of five books (The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Louder Than Words, Herding Tigers, The Motivation Code, Daily Creative) which […]
Weekend Favs September 10 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Building An Effective Board For Your Startup written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Brad Feld In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brad Feld. Brad has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and is also a co-founder of Techstars. He’s also an author of a number of books including — […]
How To Build A Successful Business Around A Thriving Life written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
How To Win Friends And Manage Remotely written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with McKenna Sweazey In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview McKenna Sweazey. Mckenna’s global marketing career has spanned the spectrum of start-ups to corporations. McKenna’s own management experience, leading teams around the world, has provided the foundation for her speaking and coaching, around a structured approach to this new […]
Weekend Favs September 3 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How Leaders Are Using Systems And Processes To Grow Their Business The Right Way written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jamie Jay In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jamie Jay. Jamie is the founder and managing director of Bottleneck Distant Assistants. Founded in 2016, Bottleneck is an outsourcing agency that helps businesses identify, hire, and cultivate their workforce through a carefully designed systematic approach to growth. He’s […]
Never Miss An Opportunity Again With Automated Communication written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show. I’m talking about the many forms and channels of customer communication that exist and the strategies I believe is critical for small businesses to implement today. I share a little bit about a solution I’m working on […]
Weekend Favs August 27 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Committing To Your Niche And Owning Your Market written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Brent Weaver In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brent Weaver. Brent is on a mission to help 10,000 digital agency owners achieve freedom in business and life by helping them own their market. Brent is the founder and CEO of uGurus, a business training, and education company […]
How To Turn Your Customers Into Lustomers™ written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs August 20 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online […]
How To Create A Culture Of Learning And Growth written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Whitney Johnson In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Whitney Johnson. Whitney is CEO of the tech-enabled talent development company Disruption Advisors. She is one of the top ten business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50. Whitney is an expert in smart growth leadership, and she […]
How SEO Has Evolved Over The Years written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Dale Bertrand In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dale Bertrand. Dale has been an SEO specialist for fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups around the world for two decades. He speaks at industry conferences, leads, corporate training events, and serves as entrepreneur in residence at the Harvard […]
The Most Common Pricing Mistakes & What To Do Instead written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs August 13 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
5 Keys To Transforming Your Business And Living The Life You Want written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs August 6 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The Value Of Design And Why To Sell It written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
10 Essential Website Elements Every Homepage Needs To Have written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show on the 10 essential website elements every homepage needs to have. Key Takeaway: What’s the purpose of a website today? Your website has many jobs to do—and that’s part of what makes it so challenging to […]
Weekend Favs July 30 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The Anti-Time Management Strategy That Actually Gives You Your Time Back written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Richie Norton In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Richie Norton. Richie is an award-winning author and serial entrepreneur. An executive coach to CEOs, he is featured in Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inc., Entrepreneur, and Huffington Post. Pacific Business News recognized Richie as one of the Top Forty Under […]
How To Have Your Most Productive Day Ever written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
The Power Of Regret written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Daniel Pink In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Daniel Pink. Daniel is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, published in February. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and […]
Weekend Favs July 23 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The Rising Importance Of Images In Google Search written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mike Blumenthal In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Blumenthal. Mike is the Co-founder and Analyst at Near Media where he researches and reports on reputation, reviews, and local search. Today, he also provides Local consulting to a range of businesses, big and small, across the SMB […]
A Guide To The Future Of Virtual Meetings And Events written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mark Kilens In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mark Kilens. Mark is the CMO of Airmeet, a leading virtual and hybrid event platform. He oversees Airmeet’s global marketing team responsible for brand, demand, lifecycle, and product marketing. Key Takeaway: Although virtual events and meetings were a product […]
Top 10 Insights & Advice For Women Just Starting Out written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs July 16 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
Automating Your Webinars The Engaging And Delightful Way written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Melissa Kwan In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Melissa Kwan. Melissa is the CEO and Co-founder of Webinar. She has spent twelve years in startups and built three successful companies without venture capital backing. Her previous startup, a real estate tech company, was acquired in 2019. As […]
The 4 Corners of Digital Marketing written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the Spark Lab Consulting website here. About this episode: In this episode […]
Weekend Favs July 9 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The Way To Raise Your Prices Without Losing Customers written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jeb Blount In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jeb Blount. Jeb is the CEO of Sales Gravy and the author of 14 books including Fanatical Prospecting, Sales EQ, Objections, Virtual Selling, and his brand new book — Selling the Price Increase: The Ultimate B2B Field Guide for […]
10 Key Areas That May Be Holding Your Business Back written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing a solo show. I’m going to break down the 10 key areas that may be holding your business back. Key Takeaway: If you’re a long-time listener, you know that my point of view is strategy before tactics. In this episode, […]
The Hidden Dangers of Complacency written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting page here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs July 2 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
2 Out-Of-The-Box Ways To Generate Referrals written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m doing the final part of a five-episode solo show series where I’m covering one of my favorite topics: referrals. You can catch the first episode, second episode, third episode, and fourth episode of the Referral Generation series here. Key Takeaway: In this episode, I’m wrapping up […]
What It Means To Humanize A Brand (And How To Do It Well) written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jacqueline Lieberman In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jacqueline Lieberman. Jacqueline is the former Managing Partner and the Head of Strategy Story Worldwide and the current founder of BrandCrudo. Key Takeaway: Brands are people’s introduction to businesses and their way to interact with companies. The more human […]
7 Magic Words To Stop Scope Creep written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs June 25 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
The Strategy Behind Building A Thriving Online Community For Your Brand written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jenny Weigle In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jenny Weigle. Jenny has been creating, executing, and reviewing strategies for online communities for more than 10 years. She’s worked with more than 100 brands on various aspects of their community strategy and implementations, including launch, migration, programming, and […]
How To Make Your Clients Successful So They Never Want To Leave written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
The Key To Writing A Must-Read written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with AJ Harper In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview AJ Harper. AJ is an editor and publishing strategist who helps authors write foundational books that enable them to build readership, grow their brand and make a significant impact on the world. As ghostwriter and as developmental editor, she […]
Weekend Favs June 18 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How To Grow Your Business Like A Weed written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Stu Heinecke In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Stu Heinecke. Stu is a bestselling business author, marketer, and Wall Street Journal cartoonist. His first book, How to Get a Meeting with Anyone, introduced the concept of Contact Marketing and was named one of the top 64 sales […]
Why Strategy Before Tactics Is So Important written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
Weekend Favs June 11 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
How To Harness Your Unfair Advantage written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba. They both are award-winning authors and entrepreneurs. Despite not going to university, Ash became a serial tech founder and the first marketing director of a unicorn startup – Just Eat). Hasan built […]
Top Trends For Marketing Agencies To Pay Attention To written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
About the show: The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here! About this episode: In this […]
How Leveraging A Virtual Assistant Will Change Your Life written by Kyndall Ramirez read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Tricia Sciortino In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tricia Sciortino. Tricia is the CEO and Board Member at BELAY, Co-Host of the One Next Step Podcast, and Author of Rise Up & Lead Well: How Leveraging An Assistant Will Change Your Life & Maximize Your Time. Key […]
Rethinking the Recruiting Journey written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Small businesses need to rethink the way they are recruiting employees today. In good times, companies thrive by being in the right place at the right time. But in tough times, organizations grow by being important in the lives of their customers. The same is true for recruitment, retention, and the hiring journey. Recruiting as a […]
Weekend Favs June 4 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rich Cohen. Rich is the New York Times-bestselling author of several books of Tough Jews, Monsters, Sweet and Low. He is the co-creator of the HBO series Vinyl, and a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. Rich has a new book called – The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World's Greatest Negotiator. More About Rich Cohen: * His new book — The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World's Greatest Negotiator * Connect on Twitter
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode is brought to you by the Hubspot Podcast Network and Drip.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Xenia Muntean. Xenia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Planable, a content review and marketing collaboration platform used by over 5,000 teams behind brands such as Hyundai, Christian Louboutin, Viber, and United Nations. Prior to launching Planable, at 20 years old she built a digital marketing agency and led social for clients such as Coca-Cola.
Xenia has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and she spoke on the Innovation Stage at Cannes Lions in 2018. Xenia graduated from Tim Draper's startup academy in Silicon Valley and took Planable through the Techstars London accelerator in 2017. She has also published a book – The Manifesto on Content Marketing Teams and has launched her own podcast – People of Marketing.
More About Xenia Muntean: * The People of Marketing Podcast * Get 50% off two months of Planable using code 'DUCTTAPE50' at check out
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode is brought to you Planable and the Hubspot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs May 28 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Steve Miller. Meetings & Conventions Magazine calls Steve Miller the Idea Man for his unconventional, edgy, no-spin approach to marketing and branding. He is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller, "UNCOPYABLE: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition." Steve’s speaking and consulting clients have ranged from entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 corporations, including Proctor & Gamble, Greystar Real Estate, Caterpillar, Boeing Airplane, Starbucks, Philips Electronics, and the prestigious TED Conference. We're talking about his latest book — Stealing Genuis: The Seven Levels of Adaptive Innovation. More About Jack McGuinness: * Get a copy of his book — Stealing Genuis: The Seven Levels of Adaptive Innovation
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Paul Roetzer. Paul is the founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute, and the founder of PR 20/20, HubSpot’s first partner agency. He is the author of The Marketing Performance Blueprint (Wiley, 2014) and The Marketing Agency Blueprint (Wiley, 2012); and the creator of the Marketing AI Conference (MAICON). As a speaker, Roetzer is focused on making AI approachable and actionable for marketers and business leaders. He's also the co-author of a new book launching in June 2022 — Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business. More About Paul Roetzer: * Marketing AI Institute * Connect on LinkedIn * Connect on Twitter
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode is sponsored by Drip and the Hubspot Podcast Network.
Weekend Favs May 21 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jack McGuinness. Jack is a management consultant with over 35 years of experience. After serving with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, he helped build a successful boutique management consulting firm where he served as COO for 13 years. In 2009, he co-founded a new firm, Relationship Impact, a consulting firm focused on working with CEOs to unleash the potential of their leadership teams. He has a new book called — Building Great Leadership Teams: A Practical Approach to Unleashing the Full Potential of your Teams. More About Jack McGuinness: * Relationship Impact * More about his book — Building Great Leadership Teams
Take The Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
This episode is brought to you by BELAY.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Edward Sullivan. Edward has been coaching and advising start-up founders, Fortune 10 executives, and heads of state for over 15 years. His clients include executives from Google, Salesforce, Slack, and dozens of other fast-growth companies. He holds an MBA from Wharton and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. Edward is CEO & President of the renowned executive coaching consultancy Velocity. He also has a new book launching on June 21, 2022, called — Leading With Heart: 5 Conversations That Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results. Links to resources:
- Leadingwithheartbook.com
Take the Marketing Assessment: * Marketingassessment.co
Weekend Favs May 14 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brennan Dunn. Brennan is the Co-founder of RightMessage, writes weekly at Create & Sell, and is wrapping up a new book on personalized marketing. Links to Resources:
- RightMessage
- Createandsell.co — Sign up for weekly, in-depth email marketing advice for creators
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Todd and Laure Fisher. Husband and wife co-founders, Todd and Laure Fisher founded CallTrackingMetrics in 2011 in their basement and together have grown it into an Inc. 500-rated, top-ranked conversation analytics software serving over 30,000 businesses around the world. Links to Resources:
- Learn more about CallTrackingMetrics
7 Steps to Tame the Marketing Chaos written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing
How to Tame the Marketing Chaos...What's wrong with small business marketing today?I've spent years in the business world, and these are some of the most common statements I hear from struggling business owners and entrepreneurs trying to build successful marketing and operations system for their business; I've spent most of my marketing budget on a […]
Weekend Favs May 7 written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sara Nay. Sara is the COO at Duct Tape Marketing, Co-Founder at Spark Lab Consulting, and host of the Agency Spark Podcast.
Resources Mentioned:
- The Spark Lab Assessment
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Cameron Herold. Cameron is the founder of the COO Alliance, the World's Leading Network for Seconds in Command. He’s the host of the Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief podcast, where he interviews COOs and other seconds to share their insights with his listeners. He's also the author of 5 books, a top-rated international speaker, and has spoken on all 7 continents.
More About Cameron Herold: * The COO Alliance * The Second in Command Podcast
Take The Marketing Assessment: * www.marketingassessment.co
Weekend Favs April 30 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source […]
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show where I'm covering a topic that is very high on a lot of business owners' minds and that's the idea of recruitment and retention of your internal customers — your employees. Links to resources:
Marketing Assessment
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview John Cantarella. John is the VP of Community & Impact Partnerships at Facebook. Prior to joining Facebook, he was the president of Digital, News, Business, and Sports Properties at Time Inc. where he oversaw TIME.com, CNNMoney.com, Fortune.com, SI.com, and Golf.com. John also spent several years at The New York Times Company at NYTimes.com running strategy, marketing, and operations. He was part of the management team that was instrumental in launching NYTimes.com’s first digital paid product and the acquisition of About.com.
Weekend Favs April 23 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- Robinize – This one is great for content writers. This tool will help you save a lot of time on keyword research by revealing the terms and phrases that bring the most traffic to your competition.
- Close – Close is a CRM software that is offering a FREE lead generation course for small to medium-sized businesses. The course is six hours long and covers topics such as; prospecting, ideal customer profiles, referrals and more.
- Reflect – This integrated note-taking software helps you access all your thoughts and ideas in one place. It can sync with multiple devices, your browser, calendar, and kindle.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Laura Nelson. Laura has marketed, sold to, and collaborated with local businesses for over 10 years of her career as a marketer and business manager. She is currently VP of Marketing at Signpost, following roles with Broadly, Reputation.com, and Patch. Laura earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BFA at Carnegie Mellon University.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Donna Cutting. Donna is the Founder and CEO of Red-Carpet Learning Worldwide and works with mission-driven leaders to help them create cultures of happy, engaged people who deliver exceptional customer service. She’s the author of three books including: The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red-Carpet Customer Service and her new book Employees First! Inspire, Engage, and Focus on the HEART of Your Organization.
Weekend Favs April 16 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- CloudApp – Allows you to save time and skip the long meetings with its quick record and share software and easy screenshot annotation capabilities.
- Very Good Table – Is a performance and task management platform that has an intuitive and designable interface with customizable automations to save you and your team valuable time.
- Summari – This software summarizes text in seconds so you can get the most important points from an online article or source and get back a few minutes of your day.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Bob Glazer. Bob is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Acceleration Partners, a global partner marketing agency. He is also the Co-founder and Chairman of BrandCycle. He has a new book out called — Moving to Outcomes: Why Partnerships are the Future of Marketing.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Vanessa Edwards. Vanessa is the Lead Investigator at Science of People. She is the bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, translated into 16 languages. More than 50 million people watch her engaging YouTube tutorials and TEDx Talk. She also has a new book — Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication.
Referral Programs: A Guide for Small Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Running a business is hardBut with a good referral program it doesn't have to beAs a small business owner you are probably thinking about helping your current customer or trying to figure out how to increase sales. But you've also got to think about increasing leads, and that is where referral programs come in.
As a business owner myself, I know you just want your customers to be happy with their purchases. But wouldn't they be even happier if they could get something more? One of the best ways to accomplish this is by having good referrals program in place.
In a recent survey of 2,000 business owners by Texas Tech, 83% of the respondents claimed that they have a business that they love so much that they'd recommend it to others, yet 29% do so.
There is a lot of potential and profit in closing that 54% gap, but where do you start? You start by building referral programs. Read on to learn more
Why are referrals programs a thing?I am willing to bet that you have made referrals to other people and you have had a time in your life when you needed a referral.
This symbiotic relationship leads to a level of understanding. A type of survival mechanism that comes from referral reciprocity. Referrals are also seen as a type of social currency. There are people that crave the social currency of being the go-to person, that connector.
Buy the workbook
Most importantly, referrals remove risk. Referrals help us solve a problem. They reduce the amount of work we have to do to find the right solution to our problem, and they come prepackaged with answers to common questions: Will they work? Will they know? Can I trust them?
That is the best way to think about referrals, as the ultimate way to lend and borrow trust.
Why do referrals programs matter so much?###### Easily attract your ideal customer.
Frankly, most of the people that get referred to me are much closer to my ideal customer because my ideal customer is the one referring them. They understand our business and they know who would make a good fit for us.
Shorten the sales cycle
A strong referral program can significantly shorten the sales cycle. Referred leads were likely sent to you from someone you trust, so you can skip the know, like, and trust stages and jump straight to the try stage.
Increase your premium pricing
Referrals also allow you to diversify your pricing portfolio and charge a premium for your product or service. Customers that are familiar with your brand and have a positive perception of you are willing to pay more.
Magnify Lifetime Value
Referral programs increase the lifetime value of your current customers. A real estate agent might receive 12 to 15 new referrals from just three initial leads if he or she creates an exceptional experience for those first three leads. Therefore, your customers' lifetime value can be multiplied to a great extent if you focus on referrals.
Referrals are invaluable to any business. By ignoring customer referrals or not incorporating customer referral program ideas into your marketing strategy, you're missing out on a valuable source of revenue.
7 Types of Referral ProgramsHow can you start building referral programs that actually work and what do they look like? That is what I am going to share with you in this post;
- Client Referral Programs
- Champion Referral Programs
- Ecosystem Balancing
- Internal Referrals
- Partner Network Referrals
- Expert Networking Referral Clubs
- Masterminds for Referrals Get started with referrals for only $17
Every Client Referral ProgramsEvery business should have everyday referral offers that work for any type of customer. So what do these referrals look like? How can you make them successful? And what elements should they consist of?
I like to group client referrals into four main types; direct, implied, tangible and community. For more explanation on these referral types see my post, How to Make Your Business More Referable. Every client referral programs are probably the ones you are most familiar with, a gift certificate, refer-a-friend model, donation matching offers, etc.
Each of these types of referrals offer something different, but they all need the same elements to be successful.
Client Referral Keys to SuccessFirst, everybody needs to win or feel like they have won. The person giving the referral should not be the only one rewarded. If that referral turns around and does business with you, they should be rewarded too.
Next, there should always be a strong tie back to your brand. A referral program with a strong connection to your brand should also have a strong connection to your most loyal customers.
The last key is consistency in your approach. You need to be consistently nurturing and developing these programs. Referral programs are not set it and forget and they are not a one time play. These programs need to be scheduled regularly. They should be weekly, monthly and quarterly depending on the program type.
Client Referral Elements###### Create easily shareable content
If you want to increase the likelihood that you will be referred then you must make it easy. Build content for your referral programs that are clear and concise so your customers can easily find what they need. This can be done through special referral program landing pages or posts. You can also offer pre-written emails or social content for your referral clients to seamlessly share with their followings.
Have a special process for referral leads
Not all referral leads will be ready to buy right away but they are definitely at a different stage in the sales funnel than your regular leads. They have a far more intimate relationship with your business through direct recommendations and should be treated as such with a special funnel built for them.
Recognition is important to everyone, especially those who go the extra mile
Your referral clients should receive a special thank you note. You can also publicly thank them through your newsletter or on social media. These thank-you notes can also include special offers for just your referral clients.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing; It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. - VoltaireFind Your Referrals ChampionsCustomers and clients who are already referring business to you are what I call 'Referral Champions'. They are a great customer, they are a returning customer, and they have had a good experience with you. In a lot of ways they are your ideal customers and they know how to connect with someone like themselves.
Types of Champion Referral Programs###### Offer Lunch
Get a handful of your best customers together for a free lunch. The lunches and get-togethers are offered as a thank-you, but the networking that occurs can be mutually beneficial to you, your business, and your referral champions as well.
Peer-2-peer Teaching
Gathering all of your champion referrers to meet creates an opportunity for them to build a peer-2-peer teaching relationship. This could have further positive impact for everyone involved.
Exclusive Events & Offers
Create exclusive events or offers just for your high value clients that have continually supported your brand. Track who these people are and target them with something that is more lucrative or enticing than your Every Client Referrals. Highly exclusive offers are more than $10 of your next purchase. These are offers for premium products at cut-rate prices.
Exclusive Content or Advisory Board
You can create exclusive content or an advisory board of your champion customers. For example, the advisory board could facilitate a quarterly meeting to brainstorm ideas on topics such as expand your target market or unique ways to broaden your customer reach. There could even be incentives involved such as product discounts for ideas that win.
Keys to Champion Program Success###### Have a specific ask
There needs to be a very specific ‘ask’ for champion referral programs. The more specific you can when describing exactly the kind of customer you are seeking, the better your chance of success.
A client of mine used to take his champion referrals to lunch and show them a list of people he wanted to meet in this client's church or club. This approach was very direct and as a result, the customer had an easy time connecting my client to the names on his list.
Make it easy and reward them
With any champion referral program, you should make your champion referrers' job as simple as possible, and you should definitely acknowledge them and publicly thank them for referring your business.
If you prefer to learn at your own pace -check out the Marketing Action Plan Course
Ecosystem BalancingEcosystem balancing is the idea that you should take your existing clients and think of everyone else who serves them and find ways to form relationships with those people in order to add even more value.
The benefits for B2B companies
If you work with clients that also work with other professionals or have a B2B model, ecosystem balancing is a great option for you, but not only for referrals. Knowing the individuals in your mutual client’s ecosystem can help you understand what they do for your customer and help you to better serve your customer.
Speaking from experience
A past client of mine, who is an author, wanted to expand her brand. When we were developing her marketing strategy she told us that she employed an executive coach and an accounting professional. So after we built her brand plan, with her permission, I reached out to the executive coach and the accountant and had a quick session with each of them explaining the newly created plan. Afterward, they had a better understanding of our mutual clients business than ever before and were able to better serve her.
They were both so blown away by this process that those two individuals actually became referral sources. They wanted to introduce me to their clients because they realized their other clients needed that level of innovation and collaboration.
Understand the client ecosystem
If you work with any clients that also work with management consultants or executive coaches or accounting professionals, or even have advisory board members, think in terms of how you could actually add value to the relationship that they have with your mutual clients by holding strategy sessions or giving presentations.
By doing this you will have a better understanding of who the other players are in that person's ecosystem, because there is real value in meeting those other professionals. For the right business, the ecosystem balancing approach could be really potent. If you want a deeper understanding, I talk more about ecosystem balancing in my book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine.
Internal ReferralsOne of the most valuable referral systems you can build comes from within your organization. When given the right information, incentives, and tools, your internal team can be a great referral source.
Teach your team marketing strategy
Teach them about the core message, explain who your ideal customer is and what makes your business unique. By doing this, they will feel more involved and have a better understanding of the business. Ultimately leading to a better understanding of your ideal customer and improved internal referral generation.
Make it easy for them to share good news about the business
You can do this by developing simple ways for your employees to share business news and offer their feedback or opinions. For example, you could produce easily shareable content for you internal team to re-post on their social media platforms.
Create buzz
Keep things exciting by offering rewards or contests for referrals. This adds an element of fun to the work and can create a positive and productive internal culture for your business.
Customers and Hiring
Use your referral system for hiring. Some of your best candidate recruitment people are the ones that already work for you and love what they do. Use them as a resource and leverage their insight.
Buy the workbook
Your Referral Partner NetworkCreate a strategic partner network by building a best-in-class team that offers services your customers might need.
Start by identifying key players and recruiting them for your partner network. You can find them by polling your best clients and seeing who else they work with, who else helps them, and who else solves their problems for them.
After you have identified six or seven potential strategic partners it is time to begin the conversation. Start by writing, what I call, the perfect introduction in reverse. Which is a process that lets a potential partner tell you exactly how to refer your customers to their business.
ExampleThe Perfect Introduction, In Reverse"Hello,
We have customers that we believe could benefit from your services. And we'd love it if you would take a moment and tell us the best way to refer you to our clients. In order to make it easy for you to tell us how to spot your ideal client and refer your services to them we have included a form with this note. We have also included a completed example for your reference.
Regards,"
After you have built the relationship, establish how you can continue to work together to build up each other's referral business.
Some examples are; create content together, create special offers for each other's clients, create co-marketing opportunities, interview each other, host webinars for each other's audiences, hold events together, etc.
I built a great deal of my following by going to organizations that I knew had small business owners as part of their universe and offering to do educational webinars for their audience or offering free eBooks that could be co-branded. These deals helped me gain exposure to new referrals and helped them win with their audience.
Below are some examples of partner network ideas
Notice how they all are unique to the industries involved, provide value to clients, and both businesses involved win.
- A partnership between wedding caterers and florists. This could include a third party, a wedding planner, and they all offer each other's services to their clients that are getting married.
- Service technicians and painting contractors. Upon completion of services the technician can offer 10% off of the painting contractor services, increasing exposure for both parties.
- This one is creative; a financial planner and massage business. Once a year around tax season the financial planner can bring in a masseuse for a 15-minute shoulder massage while the customers are waiting to speak to their accountant. The masseuse could hand out their business cards and give samples of their services. In the mean time the accountant is getting more business because all of their clients will be talking about their unique practice.
Start Your Very Own Expert ClubCreate a program for your ideal customer by starting an expert marketing club. You can host a monthly breakfast or webinar for your audience and bring in additional experts to speak.
Best Practices
There's an example in my latest book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine, where I worked with a real estate agent who moved to a new town. She was having trouble establishing her business so we brainstormed how she could start reaching out to the local community.
The result; she started her own networking club for business owners where she talked about social media and marketing because she was also experienced in that field. In these meetings she didn’t sell her business as a realtor at all, but guess who the members thought of when it was time to buy or sell a home? She built her entire massive real estate business by hosting these monthly networking clubs.
Another great example is Derek and Melanie Coburn in Washington DC. They have an organization called Cadre. Derek was a financial planner who wanted a better way to network. He brought a group of folks together and they started curating content for their businesses. This small group turned into a 300-person networking organization. Eventually he sold his financial planning business and now he and his wife run the networking organization full-time.
Referral MastermindLastly, you can create a mastermind group for referrals. This option is very beneficial to B2B industries. If you're a coach, consultant, or marketer it is a no brainer. The referral mastermind approach is similar to the partner network approach, but you work directly with your own clients instead.
How to get startedStart by setting up monthly training for your clients around a specific topic. You can charge money, but my gut feeling is that it would generate so many referrals for you that it would be worth it if you made it complimentary.
Once you build a reliable audience for these smaller training sessions you can start to offer them the mastermind concept. You wouldn’t even need to teach anything necessarily, just facilitate everyone coming together to learn from each other.
Offer even more valueIf you wanted to add another layer to your referral mastermind you could offer to run one for your client in exchange for referrals. In this system you would bring their clients together to help them make their business more successful, but it would benefit both parties in the long run.
Example monthly meeting agenda
Through the mastermind process you are naturally sharing referrals with each other. And that is where the magic really happens. When you start working together and build up each other's businesses, leading back to that everybody wins mentality.
Now it’s time to implement some of these referral program ideas and best practices to generate your best customers yet. Don’t wait, get started today!
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Weekend Favs April 9 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
This week is all about video and audio…
- Bungee – An adaptive and easy to use video hosting service that makes it simple to add CTAs to your videos and collect leads. All the coding done for you!
- PodPros – A software for podcasters that matches ideal podcast guests with hosts and helps podcasters grow their shows through reviews and community building.
- RINGR – A long-distance, interview recording software that delivers great sound quality for a smooth post-production process.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Marcel Petitpas. Marcel is the CEO & Co-Founder of Parakeeto, a company dedicated to helping agencies measure and improve their profitability by streamlining their operations and reporting systems. Marcel is also the fractional COO at Gold Front and a speaker, podcast host, and consultant, specializing in Agency Profitability Optimization.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Steve Hoffman, also known as Captain Hoff. Steve is the CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators with over 50 partners in 22 countries. Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines. Steve is also the author of Surviving a Startup: Practical Strategies for Starting a Business, Overcoming Obstacles, and Coming Out on Top.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Alex Sanfilippo. Alex is the host of the top-rated podcast called Podcasting Made Simple. He is also the founder of PodPros.com, a software company focused specifically on the podcasting industry. Alex and his team have created popular services like PodMatch, a service that matches podcast guests and hosts together for interviews, and PodcastSOP, a project management tool that helps podcasters keep up with their episode releases.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dale Bertrand. Dale has been an SEO specialist for fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups around the world for two decades. He speaks at industry conferences, leads, corporate training events, and serves as entrepreneur in residence at the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Organization.
Weekend Favs March 26 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- Doodle – A great meeting and scheduling tool. This is a great resource for managing group meetings and events both in and outside of your organization.
- Zendesk – This easy to use customer service software has AI-powered automations and dynamic workspaces that are perfect for small teams.
- LinkedIn Newsletters – LinkedIn introduced a new feature, newsletters. This feature has potential to help drive reach and community for your brand.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Whitney Johnson. Whitney is CEO of the tech-enabled talent development company Disruption Advisors. She is one of the top ten business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50. Whitney is an expert at smart growth leadership, and she co-founded the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard Business School’s late Clayton Christensen. She's also the author of a book — Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview David Novak. David is the Founder and CEO of David Novak Leadership, the parent organization to five nonprofits dedicated to developing leaders at every stage of life, from ages 5 to 65. He's the host of the top-ranked business podcast: How Leaders Lead with David Novak. David is also the co-author of a new book: Take Charge of You: How Self Coaching Can Transform Your Life and Career. And lastly, he was a co-founder, chairman, and CEO of one of the world's largest restaurant companies: Yum! Brands.
Weekend Favs March 19 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
This week is all about organization and analytics;
- Google Analytics 4 – The next generation of Google Analytics is Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Google offers several courses through Google Skills Shop to help users better understand how to use and apply this next generation of analytics.
- Whimsical – Helps you layout and visualize your processes with easy-to-use, drag and drop flow charts, docs, mind maps, and more.
- Notion – Project management and note-taking software with a simplistic design and the ability to expand to your needs. Great for personal use or for collaboration on larger group projects.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Laura Bull. Laura is a bestselling author and brand strategist who specializes in transforming people into competitive and sustainable business brands. Her latest book is — From Individual to Empire: A Guide to Building an Authentic and Powerful Brand.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rune Hauge. Rune is the co-founder and CEO of Mentorcam, a marketplace where people can access high-profile mentors for 1:1 advice.
Weekend Favs March 12 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- Klaviyo – SMS and email marketing automation platform that stores customer data and lets you build experiences across email and owned channels. Measured in revenue, not just opens or clicks.
- Streamyard – A browser-based live streaming studio that lets you do interviews and brand your broadcast as a multistream to several channels at once (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).
- Missinglettr – Publish content that grows your brand automatically. Missinglettr can turn one piece of content into several engaging social media posts and help you find influential individuals in your niche.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Terri Broussard Williams. Terri is an executive with 20 years of experience specializing in government relations, social impact strategy, corporate social responsibility, public affairs, and innovative business operations to further the organizational mission. She's also the author of a book: Find Your Fire: Stories and Strategies to Inspire the Changemaker in You.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Michael Liebowitz. Michael is the CEO of Magnetic Mind Studio. Magnetic Mind Studio is a laboratory for clear messaging and deeply felt value articulation founded from Michael’s passion for understanding how the human mind works to drive our decisions.
4 Steps To Create A Perfect Marketing Strategy written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
The 4-step marketing strategy - How to stand out from your competition in the minds of your ideal customer With the current obsession around marketing tactics, it has become increasingly harder to figure out the best marketing strategy for your business.
From hacks and quick fixes to the next big idea and new trending platforms. It is harder than ever to decide the right direction for your marketing.
In order to help alleviate some of the marketing confusion, I’ve created a definitive outline for you in this post, 4 concrete steps to the perfect marketing strategy. You can use this article to help you create a clear marketing message, direction, and plan.
The 4 steps needed to create a perfect marketing strategy in 2022; Narrow your customer focus * Take the problem solver approach * Create an end-to-end customer journey * Make content the voice of strategy Want to get all the worksheets you need to complete your perfect strategy?*
Order Your Workbook Now!
Customer FocusFirst, you need to narrow your focus to somewhere around the top 20% of your clients. This doesn't necessarily mean that you chuck the other 80%, but experience tells me that if you are working with customers and clients today, some percentage of them are not profitable for your business.
The majority of your customers are actually detractors from your business because they didn't have the right problem or they didn't have the right business situation for your product to solve.
Think about your client base today and rank them into groups by profitability with your most profitable customers at the top. You want to think in terms of profitability because profitability is linked to an ideal client fit.
Typically a client is a profitable client because they received value, they had a great experience, their problem was solved, and they referred your product to others. If you understand who your profitable clients are you can start to do two things;
First, you can generate more business from that top 20% of customers because that top 20% want to do more business with you. It is far easier and less costly to continue to do business with people who already trust you vs trying to gain a new person's trust. If you focus your efforts on creating an amazing experience for those clients who already trust, get value, and are referring you to others. You could actually build our business around serving and attracting them and no one else.
Second, if you know who they are and what brought them to you, you can begin to build the ideal customer persona for your business based on historical data and profitability. Then you can design your marketing around that customer persona and attract more of the ideal customer, more of the top 20%.
When building your customer persona you want to organize your customer base into three customer groups; must-have, nice-to-have, and ideal.
For example, a remodeling contractor must-have customers who own a home that they want to remodel. Imagine that same remodeling contractor works with his wife who is an interior designer. Now customers who are looking to remodel and redesign their home go in their nice-to-have bucket. Next, that husband and wife decide they want to focus the business on high-quality materials and modern home design. Now their ideal customer owns a home they want to remodel and redesign with a modern theme and is in the top 10% income bracket.
Ask yourself, what are those ideal customers for you? Who are your must-haves, nice-to-have, and ideal customers? My ideal customer workbook contains the same tools and worksheets Duct Tape Marketing uses to create our ideal customers.
Ideal Customer Behavior worksheet from "How To Create The Ultimate Marketing Strategy" workbook
Solve the problemNow that you know who your ideal customer is, the next step in creating the perfect marketing strategy is to figure out what problem you are actually solving for your customers.
The truth is, nobody wants what you sell. They just want their problem solved. So instead of just selling a product, communicate to them that you understand and that you get their problem. Help them see that your product or service is the solution to their problem. That is when they will start to listen to you and begin to trust you.
So how do you do this? - You create a core message that promises to solve that problem. For example, public universities have a problem. In many cases, their funding is dictated by their graduation rates. How many students graduate is directly correlated to the funding that universities receive and therefore what they must charge for tuition. They are constantly looking for ways to curb tuition rates. So we have a client that provides scheduling software for universities. We went and talked to the universities that used this company's software. They confirmed that the software worked well, but what they really loved was the great data and analytics the software provided. It allowed for more efficient scheduling and ultimately made tuition more affordable. We discovered that this software company makes great software, but they also make tuition more affordable. Tuition cost was the differentiator, the problem that they were solving.
Now, you are probably asking yourself, how do I do this for my company? How do I know the problem I am solving? What you need to do is get on the phone or in-person and talk to your ideal clients and ask them; how did you find us in the first place, what made you hire us, why did you stick with us?
Those are some questions you can start with, but be sure to go deeper in your line of questioning. Have your customers go into detail with their answers. Don’t just ask, “Were you happy with my service?” Instead ask, “Can you tell me a specific time when we provided good service and what we did to make it such a positive experience?”
After enough of these informational interviews, you are going to start hearing themes that are addressing the real problems that you solve.
Another great resource is Google reviews. But instead of just paying attention to five-star reviews, read the actual reviews line by line. When people voluntarily turn to a third party like Google and leave a glowing review it is an indicator that they have been thoroughly impressed. You have exceeded their expectations. You have solved their problem.
What is the real problem that you are solving? That is what you need to uncover. And once you know it needs to be what you lead with for all of your messaging, it is your core message.
Order Your Workbook Now!
Create an end-to-end customer journeyA lot of people talk about the customer journey like it's a funnel. As if we create demand through this funnel. We shove them through this funnel process, they pop them out the other side, and voila that's the end of the journey. Well, that is not at all true, at least not anymore.
In just the last five years, marketing has undergone many changes. The thing that has changed the most about marketing is how people choose to become customers. That marketing funnel and that linear path no longer exist. The customer journey today is holistic and nonlinear. You no longer see an advertisement for a product, visit the store, and purchase that product. The steps between awareness and purchase are diverse and varied and oftentimes intertwined. People make decisions about the products and the services that they buy out of our direct control. Marketing today is less about demand and more about organizing behavior.
This obsession with funnels and funnel hacking and tactics is really driving a lot of challenges for small businesses. First and foremost, we have to understand how to guide people on the journey that they want to go on.
I know it is hard to keep up when it seems like there's some new thing that we have to do as marketers every single week. There is so much we have to do across so many platforms just to stay relevant, look at the data.
61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact the local business if they have a mobile-friendly website. So we've gotta really look at our websites and all these different devices.
87% of potential customers won't consider a business with low ratings. Now there are all these sites where people are able to go and leave reviews about our brand. And we have no control over that narrative.
64% of consumers say watching a video on Facebook has influenced a purchase decision. So not only do we have to be on all of these channels. Now we have to mold all of our content to the exact same way or to the specifications and algorithms of the platform of the month.
92% of consumers will visit a brand's website for the first time, for reasons other than making a purchase. Our website is not there to just take orders. It provides a service as well.
So I get the obsession with tactics and channels, but with this constantly changing landscape how can you possibly stay up to date? The answer lies in rethinking the customer journey.
86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience and 83% of business owners claim their main source of new business is referrals. These stats prove that the customer journey does not end at the point of sale. There is profitability in focusing on what happens after somebody becomes a customer.
This leads me to the third and linchpin element of the perfect marketing strategy; the marketing hourglass.
If you think about the hourglass shape the top of the hourglass borrows from the traditional sales funnel idea. After all, you have to get some percentage of the market out there to know about you and an even smaller percentage to realize that they are an ideal client for your business.
For so many businesses, that's where it stops right at the throat of the hourglass. But with the marketing hourglass, the excitement really needs to happen again, after the sale.
The marketing hourglass consists of seven stages or behaviors. The seven stages are; know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat and refer.
The Marketing Hourglass - Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer
The first three stages are where you create the relationship. By guiding people through these stages, showing up, educating them, and building trust. That's how you attract your ideal customer and show people why they should pay a premium to do business with you.
KnowIf we have a problem we want to know who's out there. What are the answers? What are the solutions?
We run advertising and we show up. When somebody goes out and searches we have our content out there. We are participating in social media and building communities.
And then once we land on somebody, what do we do? We immediately go to their website and investigate. We assess if the site looks out of date or tacky. It might load really slowly or the forms might not work. All of those small moments contribute to our larger assessment of whether we like the company or not. And we ask ourselves, is this a company that can solve my problem? Do I think they have the answer? All of these are things we take into account when moving people past that first impression threshold.
TrustNext comes trust. We start looking for visual cues. We start asking ourselves, who else trusts them? Who else have they delivered results to? We start to look for familiar logos and referrals from companies we know. Do I see people who are really smart and reputable? Do I see the company being featured in publications? Is there social proof? Are there reviews? Are they working with people that I know? And most importantly, are they working with people like me, people that have the same problem as me?
The next two stages, try and buy, build the bridge for long-term success. Scaling and growing a business with your ideal customers does not happen after you get the customer, it happens at these two stages.
TryThe try stage does not just include a 30-day free trial offer. It is much bigger than that. Every time a potential customer picks up the phone and calls your business they are given a trial run of what it might be like to work with you. So what does this stage look like for your business? What is your inbound caller process and what trials do you offer? Do you offer a free quote, free evaluation, or introduction call? Do you provide forms or worksheets for them to try? What are you giving them that allows them to try before they buy? If you can offer value in your free or low-cost options people will be more likely to invest their money in you because they have seen what you can deliver already.
BuyNext is buy or how the transaction happens. Most of us have been let down at some point when we've bought. Buyer's remorse is a real thing. We want the buying experience to be just as great as all the other experiences leading up to it.
So you have to think about how you deliver your product? Do you have onboarding? Do you have an orientation? Can you communicate how you're going to communicate? What is the actual content?
Content is not just created to get an order or customer. In fact, one of the best uses of content is after the sale to teach people what they purchased, show them how to get more value, show them what else you sell.
The final two stages of the marketing hourglass lead to scalability. Learn to scale with your clients, as opposed to constantly relying on going out and getting more clients.
RetentionWhat does your retention process look like? Are you continuing to educate? Do you have special offers for existing clients? Are you cross-promoting? If you focus on discovering what else they need and consistently delivering value even after the sale those customers will stick with you.
ReferTexas Tech just surveyed 2,000 consumers and 86% of them said they had a business they loved so much that they would happily refer. But only 29% said that they actually made that referral. So maybe there's some money in closing that over 50% gap of those customers of ours that love us, but never tell anybody about us.
What are you doing to stay top of mind with your clients? What are you doing to nurture those champion clients? There is a huge amount of business in co-marketing and developing strategic partners outside of your client base.
These all have to be intentional processes that you build into your overall marketing plan. Marketing doesn't stop after running a couple of Facebook ads and delivering some free content. It is the entire process. It is the entire end-to-end customer journey. If you really want to build momentum, if you really wanna scale your business, then marketing doesn't end until someone else is telling other people about your business.
Content The last stage in creating the perfect marketing strategy for your business is content. Are you tired of constantly creating and delivering new content? What if I told you that you did not have to.
So many people, like myself, stood up on stages 10 years ago and said, content is king and everybody believed it. The content was like air, you needed it to survive. You could not play in the marketing game without a fair amount of content or a real focus on content.
People started to try to create so much content, so quickly that there was just a content dump without any real strategic goals. Content is not a tactic. It is the voice of strategy.
Content is not just blog posts. Your emails, videos, case studies, referral events, what you do and say when networking; it is all content. And content needs to be focused on guiding people through each of the stages of your marketing hourglass. Content is a tremendous lever to help you guide people through the stages.
Landing pages, blog posts, core web pages, free tools. These are the types of content that people are going to consume when they're doing initial research and getting to know your business.
Next, when they go to your website what happens? Are there tip sheets or how-to videos? With this type of content, they will decide if they like you and if you know what you are talking about.
Then in the trust category, the content is a little more segmented. Your customer is starting to ask themselves if you understand what their needs are? The content strategy here is case studies, webinars, comparison guides, and engagement.
The next question they will ask is, is there something I can try? Do you offer communities to join, free assessments, or samples as part of your content strategy?
At the buying stage do you have content created for demos, audits, FAQs?
When it comes to producing content for the repeat stage, how do you go about it? What do your social media content, cross-promotion, and user roadmaps look like?
Last but not least, your referral content includes reviews, referral training, strategic partnerships, and co-marketing among others. Ask yourselves where are you leading your customers after they purchase?
Each one of these stages has a need for a specific type of content. As a marketer, you need to consider every piece of your content that you're thinking about producing and make sure it focuses on a stage of your end-to-end customer journey. Your content will become the voice of your strategy. Your content will be useful instead of just another tactic.
Duct Tape Marketing is a big part of my firm's success! First it was the books, then an assessment and then a long-term coaching relationship. I would not be where I am today without their insights and focused counsel. Most importantly they are just a pleasure to work with and I wouldn't hesitate engaging them.
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Weekend Favs March 5 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
The theme for this week’s tools is creativity!
- Canva– This creative tool can make anyone a graphic designer. It is super easy to use and has tons of templates and a pretty robust free version as well.
- Pitch– Like Canva but for presentations. This software enables modern teams to create, collaborate, and distribute attractive presentations more effectively.
- Lucidpress – The platform has a lot of relevant and creative templates for a variety of business purposes like SWOT analysis, business cards, Facebook ads, and more. It is a great option for any small business entrepreneur with no graphic design background.
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jhana Li. Jhana has over 4 years of experience as a COO and Operations Consultant for digital entrepreneurs. She specializes in executing scalable teams, systems infrastructure, and harnessing the true power of operations as a lever for compound growth.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jonathan Brill. Jonathan is a speaker and advisor managing director of Resilient Growth Partners and a board member at Frost & Sullivan. He's also the author of Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Michael DeLon. Michael is a Credibility Marketing Expert who helps business owners publish a book that positions them as an expert in their field. He's also the author of On Marketing: The Definitive Guide for Small Business Owners.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dan Franks. Dan is the Co-founder and president of Podcast Movement, the world's largest conference and trade show for the podcast industry. He's a CPA and was formerly the Business Manager and Director of Live Events for Midroll Media.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brent Weaver. Brent is on a mission to help 10,000 digital agency owners achieve freedom in business and life by helping them own their market. Brent is the founder and CEO of UGURUS, a business training, and education company dedicated to this mission. He also hosts one of the leading podcasts in the business niche—The Digital Agency Show and is the author of Get Rich in the Deep End: Commit to Your Niche, Own Your Market, and Audaciously Scale Your Agency.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Marc Mawhinney. Marc is a lifelong entrepreneur who helps coaches get more clients without paid advertising. He achieves this with his coaching programs, his podcast Natural Born Coaches, his Facebook group The Coaching Jungle, and his exclusive print newsletter – Secret Coach Club.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jason Blumer. Jason is a Co-founder of Thriveal, a firm that helps entrepreneurial CPA firms connect, learn and grow. He's also the CEO of Blumer CPAs where they serve as an advisory firm for the design, marketing, and creative agency services niches.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Adam Markel. Adam is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and resilience researcher. He inspires leaders to master the challenges of massive disruption in his upcoming book, Change Proof: Leveraging the Power of Uncertainty to Build Long-Term Resilience.
How To Truly Embrace Change And Build Long-Term Resilience written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Adam Markel
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Adam Markel. Adam is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and resilience researcher. He inspires leaders to master the challenges of massive disruption in his upcoming book, Change Proof: Leveraging the Power of Uncertainty to Build Long-Term Resilience.
Key Takeaway: When we think of resilience, we think of being able to “roll with the punches” and “bounce back” after uncertainty or change. But resiliency expert and bestselling author Adam Markel encourages you to aim higher. This kind of resilience—thriving versus surviving—is a skill you can cultivate, both personally and professionally. In this episode, we discuss how to truly, actually embrace change—to find the creative opportunity in uncertainty, as opposed to simply riding it out or reacting to it.
Questions I ask Adam Markel: * [1:33] How would you define resilience? * [2:36] Is resilience often confused with perseverance? * [5:40] What does “Change Proof” mean in the title of your upcoming book? * [8:23] Are you suggesting that stress needs to be a part of our daily practice in some way? * [13:39] How do you embrace hope when you’ve been mentally drained from the last couple of years? * [19:42] You talk a lot about how you can’t think big without having your basic needs met and one of the tools you talk about is gratitude for helping people – would you dive into more of what you mean by that? * [24:16] Where can more people find out about your work and pick up a copy of your book?
More About Adam Markel: * Adam’s Book: Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service. * Resilience Rank Assessment
More About The Certified Marketing Manager Program Powered By Duct Tape Marketing: * Check it out here.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
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Weekend Favs February 5 written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- HubSpot Tools Website Grader – Free website grading tool with recommendations and optimizations to improve your site
- Btw – Product-led marketing platform that compares over 10,000 marketing tools and software by category
- AlsoAsked– Aggregates data from online searches for SEO, PPC, copywriting, or content research
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amanda Dixon. Amanda is the Co-founder at Barney – an M & A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space. She's also a Forbes 40 Under 40 award recipient.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rob Meyerson. Rob is a namer, brand consultant, and principal and founder of Heirloom, an independent brand strategy, and identity firm. He also has a new book called: Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kimberly Brown. Kimberly is a career and leadership development expert a speaker and podcast host whose mission is to empower women and people of color in the workplace. Her personal and professional development company, Manifest Yourself, provides in-person and virtual workshops, training, and coaching to professionals looking to lead a dynamic career and life.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show on creating your core messaging, and I walk through how to create your core story script.
Weekend Favs January 22 written by Karen Cutler read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
- Loom – quickly record and share videos for team communication or product support
- Wistia – video and podcast hosting tool
- Typeform – create engaging forms, quizzes and survey
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Michalowicz. Mike is a speaker and bestselling author, the creator of Profit First – which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. And we're talking about his latest book called – Get Different: Marketing That Can't Be Ignored!
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show where I'm going to introduce one of my favorite strategy topics around content. Strategy is the most important element when it comes to building a long-term, sustainable marketing system – and content is the voice of your marketing strategy.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jeffrey Shaw. Jeffrey is an experienced speaker and small-business consultant. He helps self-employed and small-business owners gain control of their business in what otherwise seems like uncontrollable circumstances. He's also the author of a book called: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kindra Hall. Kindra is President and Chief Storytelling Officer at Steller Collective, a consulting firm focused on the strategic application of storytelling to today’s communication challenges. Her Wall Street Journal best-selling book, Stories That Stick, was released by Harper Leadership in the fall of 2019, which Forbes said: “may be the most valuable business book you read”. Today, we're talking about her most recent book: Choose Your Story, Change Your Life: Silence Your Inner Critic and Rewrite Your Life from the Inside Out.
I chatted with some incredible guests in 2021. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show on the top podcast episodes from this past year.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show to start the year off. I'm talking about small business marketing trends to look out for 2022.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sophia Godkin. She's a Health Psychologist, Happyologist, and Happiness, Relationship & Transformational Coach. She's also the author of The 5-Minute Gratitude Journal: Give Thanks, Practice Positivity, Find Joy.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jacqueline Lieberman. Jacqueline is the former Managing Partner and the Head of Strategy Story Worldwide and current founder of BrandCrudo.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ryan Englin. Ryan is the CEO of Core Fit Hiring which helps blue-collar companies fill frontlines with quality technicians and craftworkers.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Oliver Burkeman. Oliver is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. For many years, he wrote a popular column on psychology for the Guardian newspaper. He also has a new book called Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tripp Lanier. Tripp is a professional coach, author of This Book Will Make You Dangerous, and host of The New Man Podcast: Beyond the Macho Jerk and the New Age Wimp which — for over a decade — has been downloaded millions of times. We're discussing his book called This Book Will Make You Dangerous – a guide for the rare, few men who refuse to sleepwalk through life.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Clare Kumar. Clare helps busy professionals optimize their performance. She's a media contributor on productivity, organization, and work-life integration.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing the final part of a five-episode solo show series where I'm covering one of my favorite topics: referrals. You can catch the first episode, second episode, third episode, and fourth episode of the Referral Generation series here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part four of a solo show series where I'm covering one of my favorite topics: referrals. You can catch the first episode, second episode, and third episode of the Referral Generation series here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Roland Frasier. Roland is an investor, business mentor, Co-founder, and/or Principal of five different Inc. Magazine's fastest-growing companies, and names like DigitalMarketer, Traffic and Conversion, Scribe Publishing, and Real Estate World.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ivan Estrada. Ivan is a business leader and real estate broker with extensive experience in the industries of real estate and finance. He is a sought-after public speaker on topics of branding and marketing, personal development, and real estate. He's also the author of Brand With Purpose: Find Your Passion, Stay True to Your Story, and Accelerate Your Career.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. James Richardson. James is the founder of Premium Growth Solutions, a strategic planning consultancy for early-stage consumer packaged goods brands. As a professionally trained cultural anthropologist turned business strategist, he has helped nearly 100 CPG brands with their strategic planning. He is the author of Ramping Your Brand: How to Ride the Killer CPG Growth Curve. He also hosts his podcast – Startup Confidential and routinely appears in trade magazines serving the CPG industry.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Gino Wickman. Gino is the founder of EOS Worldwide, an organization that helps tens of thousands of businesses implement EOS – the entrepreneurial operating system with the aid of an international team of professionals and certified EOS implementers. He's also the author of the award-winning best-selling book – Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business which has sold now over a million copies. He has a new book we're talking about called The EOS Life: How to Live Your Ideal Entrepreneurial Life.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview April Rinne. April is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and ranked one of the “50 Leading Female Futurists” in the world by Forbes. She helps individuals and organizations rethink and reshape their relationship with change, uncertainty, and a world in flux. She released a new book this year called – Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part three of a solo show series on where I'm covering one of my favorite topics: referrals. You can catch the first episode and second episode of the Referral Generation series here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part two of a solo show series on where I'm going to be covering one of my favorite topics: referrals. You can catch the first episode of the referral generation series here.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jeffrey Davis. Jeffrey is an author, team culture consultant, educator, and CEO of Tracking Wonder Consultancy. For over 25 years, he's inspired thousands of change-makers, leaders, and creatives to unlock their best ideas through the pursuit of curiosity, innovation, and wonder. He's also the author of a new book launching Nov. 16, 2021 – Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part one of a solo show series on where I'm going to be covering one of my favorite topics: referrals.
In a recent Texas Tech Survey, out of 2000 consumers, 89% of them claimed they had a business that they loved enough that they would gladly recommend — only 29% of them actually did it. Why is there such a gap? One of the main reasons is that they just aren't being asked to.
In this series, I'm presenting what I'm calling the seven grades of referral fuel. I'm unpacking the first of seven specific tactics or approaches that are sure to help you generate more referrals for your business.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Barry McCarthy. Barry was named President and CEO of Deluxe Corporation in November 2018 and is a member of its board of directors. He's also the author of Small Business Revolution: How Owners and Entrepreneurs Can Succeed.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dan Gingiss. Dan is an international keynote speaker and coach who believes that a remarkable customer experience is your best sales and marketing strategy. His 20-year professional career included leadership positions at McDonald’s, Discover, and Humana. He's also the author of – The Experience Maker: How to Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait to Share.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tom Stanfill. Tom is CEO and co-founder of ASLAN Training, a global sales enablement company appearing nine consecutive years in the Selling Power Top 20. Since 1996, ASLAN has worked with many Fortune 500 companies, training more than 100,000 sellers and leaders in over 35 countries. Tom is also the author of a book called unReceptive: A Better Way to Lead, Sell & Influence – launching in November 2021.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tim Brown. Tim owns Hook Agency, a boutique digital agency out of Minneapolis. He specializes in combining visual design and SEO for construction companies.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jess Ekstrom. Jess is on a mission to help women tell and sell stories through writing and speaking. She's the creator of an organization called Headbands of Hope. Jess has also written a book called — Chasing the Bright Side: Embrace Optimism, Activate Your Purpose, and Write Your Own Story.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Pamela Slim. Pam is an author, community builder, consultant, and former corporate director of training and development at Barclays Global Investors. Pam is best known for her book Escape from Cubicle Nation, and she recently wrote a new book called – The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You – launching in November 2021.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brian Clark. Brian is a writer, traveler, and serial digital entrepreneur. He’s the founder of the pioneering content marketing website Copyblogger, the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, and Unemployable, an educational community that provides smart strategies for freelancers and entrepreneurs. He’s also co-founder of Digital Commerce Partners, a content marketing and SEO agency for digital business owners.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jon Ferrara. Jon is a serial entrepreneur and noted speaker about social, sales, and marketing. He's the Founder of Nimble - The Simple CRM for Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace. Jon is best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software Corp, one of the early pioneers in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). He has been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Social CEOs, Top 10 Social Salespeople In The World, and Top 100 Marketing Influencers.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Michalowicz. Mike is a speaker and bestselling author, the creator of Profit First – which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. And he has a new book called – Get Different: Marketing That Can't Be Ignored!
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Aaron Weiche. Aaron is the CEO and Co-founder of Leadferno, a business and text messaging platform to close more leads faster. Aaron is a digital marketing veteran of over 20 years founding and growing both digital marketing agencies and marketing software products.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part three of a three-part series talking about my new book launching Sept. 21, 2021 — The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. I’m diving into step three – narrowing your focus and identifying your ideal customer.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part two of a three-part series talking about my new book launching Sept. 21, 2021 — The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. I’m diving into step two – finding the real problem your business solves.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing part one of a three-part series talking about my new book launching Sept. 21, 2021 — The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. I'm diving into step one – taking your customers where they want to go.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, we're doing things a little differently. Douglas Burdett takes on the role of guest host and interviews me about my new book launching Sept. 21, 2021 — The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. Douglas is the host of the Marketing Book Podcast where each week he interviews authors of best-selling marketing and sales books.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Michael Port and Andrew Davis. Andrew Davis is a best-selling author and keynote speaker. He's also worked with the Muppets. I'm also joined by Michael Port his co-author of a book called Referable Speaker: Your Guide to Building a Sustainable Speaking Career—No Fame Required,and founder of Heroic Public Speaking.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Michael Port and Andrew Davis. Andrew Davis is a best-selling author and keynote speaker. He's also worked with the Muppets. I'm also joined by Michael Port his co-author of a book called Referable Speaker: Your Guide to Building a Sustainable Speaking Career—No Fame Required,and founder of Heroic Public Speaking.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kate Cooper. Kate is the content strategist at Homeward, a new kind of home finance company. She is a plain language advocate who believes in a less-is-almost-always more approach to content. She started writing for a living in college and joined Homeward in 2020. In the space between, she was a magazine editor, a content consultant for a tech consultancy, and started her own content agency, Language Arts.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jen Limm. Jen is the CEO of Delivering Happiness (DH), a company she and Tony Hsieh (the late CEO of Zappos.com) co-founded to create happier company cultures for a more profitable and sustainable approach to business. She's also the author of Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People for Growth and Impact.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dorie Clark. Dorie is a Duke & Columbia University Business Professor, and she's ranked one of the top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers 50. She's also the author of Reinventing You, Stand Out, and a new book called The Long Game.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show. I'm talking about a topic from my upcoming book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. The fifth step in the book is all about referral generation — and that's what I'm talking about today.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tim Washer. Tim spent 20 years at IBM, Cisco, and Accenture, mostly feigning interest on conference calls. Moonlighting as a comedy writer/actor on SNL, Conan and The Late Show equipped him to use humor to humanize some of the world’s most boring brands. He uses laughter to help corporations capture attention, show empathy, build rapport and make a persuasive case with B2B technology audiences on topics such as the Internet of Things and mainframe computers, where the comedy writes itself.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jonathan Fields. Jonathan is an award-winning author, executive producer, and host of one of the top-ranked podcasts in the world, Good Life Project®. He's also the author of a new book – Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Shep Hyken. Shep is ais a customer service and experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author. He recently wrote a book called I’ll Be Back – How to Get Customers to Come Back Again & Again.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Oliver Burkeman. Oliver is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. For many years, he wrote a popular column on psychology for the Guardian newspaper. He also has a new book called Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Augie Johnston. Augie is a 35-year-old ex-YouTuber, former professional basketball player, turned entrepreneur. He is currently making waves in the video editing industry with a start-up called Vidchops.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Raúl Galera. Raúl is the Chief Advocate at ReferralCandy – an app that allows ecommerce brands to set up and run customer referral programs.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Emeric Ernoult. Emeric is the Founder and CEO of AgoraPulse – an easy-to-use all-in-one social media management software.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brandi Starr. Brandi is the Chief Operating Officer at Tegrita, a marketing consultancy specializing in marketing automation and strategy, and co-author of CMO to CRO: The Revenue Takeover by the Next Generation Executive.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sarah Stein Greenberg. Sarah is the Executive Director of Stanford’s d.School & Author of Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show where I'm talking about some of the concepts in my newest book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Janine Kurnoff. Janine is the co-founder of The Presentation Co and co-author of Everyday Business Storytelling: Create, Simplify, and Adapt A Visual Narrative for Any Audience 1st Edition.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Itai Sadan. Itai Sadan is the Co-founder and CEO of Duda – a website development platform used by thousands of agencies around the world to build sites for their customers.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm doing a solo show covering some ideas that are from my upcoming book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Michael Clinton. Michael Clinton is the former president and publishing director of Hearst Magazines and currently serves as special media advisor to the CEO of the Hearst Corporation. He's also the author of a new book: ROAR into the Second Half of Your Life - Before It’s Too Late.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Catie Harris. Catie Harris, Ph.D., MBA, and Registered Nurse is the NursePreneur Mentor who has empowered thousands of nurses to monetize their knowledge and skills in business while inspiring them to change the way healthcare is perceived and delivered.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Josh Neimark. Josh is the Founder and Creative Director at Fix8 Media. Fix8 Media is a full-service branding, web design, SEO, and digital marketing agency that helps build your businesses.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kelly Lewis. Kelly is the founder of Damesly, a boutique women’s tour company, and creator of Go! GirlGuides, the world’s first series of travel guidebooks designed specifically for women. She's also the author of a book called Tell Her She Can't: Inspiring Stories of Unstoppable Women.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ryan Englin. Ryan is the CEO of Core Fit Hiring which helps blue-collar companies fill frontlines with quality technicians and craftworkers.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview David Wood. David is a former consulting actuary to Fortune 100 companies. He built the world’s largest coaching business, becoming #1 on Google for life coaching and coaching thousands of hours in 12 countries around the globe.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Zach Lezberg. Zach is the Founder & CEO of The Show Producers, Small Business Expo, eComCon, ShowBiz Expo, and Small Business University.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm going to be talking about the final part of a three-part solo show Marketing Hourglass series I'm doing I'm doing. In part one, I talked about the customer journey and the marketing hourglass. In part two, I discussed creating content that powers each stage of the customer journey. Then in part three, I'm wrapping up the series with what I'm calling a content planning workshop.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm going to be talking about part two of a three-part solo show series I'm on the Marketing Hourglass. In part one, I talked about guiding the perfect customer journey and the marketing hourglass. In part two, I'm going to be talking about planning your content by the customer journey stage. Then in part three, I'm going to wrap up the series with what I'm calling a content planning workshop.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm going to be talking about part one of a three-part solo show series I'm doing. In part one, I'm talking about the customer journey and the marketing hourglass. In part two, I'm going to be talking about planning your content by the customer journey stage. Then in part three, I'm going to wrap up the series with what I'm calling a content planning workshop.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview James Chapman. James is the Founder & CEO of Plain Sight, a localized, social networking platform that connects people with the type of people you’re looking for both online and in physical spaces.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Carla Johnson. Carla is a world-renowned storyteller, speaker, and author of a new book called RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Viveka Von Rosen. Viveka is the cofounder and CVO (Chief Visibility Officer) of Vengreso. She is known internationally as the “LinkedIn Expert” and is the author of the best-selling LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day and LinkedIn: 101 Ways to Rock Your Personal Brand.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tamsen Webster. Tamsen is a message strategist storyteller who helps people find and build stories, partners, investors, clients, and customers will tell themselves. She's also the author of a new book called: Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview John Ruhlin. John is the founder of The Ruhlin Group, a gift logistics company. He's also the author of Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Client Retention.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Patrick Samy. Patrick is the CEO and Co-Founder of Span Health, a platform and coaching program for data-driven health.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Agnes Kozera. Agnes is the Co-Founder of Podcorn (Acquired by Audacy) and the previously Co-Founder of FameBit (Acquired by Google).
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kathryn and Michael K. Redman. They're the co-founders of Half a Bubble Out, a marketing and business consulting firm. They're also the co-authors of a book called: Fulfilled: The Passion & Provision Strategy for Building a Business with Profit, Purpose & Legacy.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Erica Dhawan. Erica is a globally recognized leadership expert and keynote speaker who helps organizations and leaders innovate faster and further together. She's also the author of a new book: Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Leslie Ehm. Leslie Ehm has spent decades traveling the globe with her award-winning company Combustion, working with executives and teams from top organizations like Google, Disney, Pepsico, TD Bank, Uber, and more. Fuelled by her unrelenting passion to unleash human potential, Leslie is now a speaker and author of a new book — Swagger: Unleash Everything You Are and Become Everything You Want.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ryan Deiss. Ryan is an entrepreneur, author, and investor. His company, DigitalMarketer, is the leading provider of digital marketing training and certifications. Its community has over 15,000 paid members and over half a million subscribers. Ryan is also the founder and host of the Traffic & Conversion Summit, the largest digital marketing conversion conference in North America. Ryan is also a best-selling author and a sought-after speaker.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Chandler Bolt. Chandler Bolt is an investor, advisor, the CEO of Self-Publishing School & SelfPublishing.com, and the author of 6 bestselling books. Self Publishing School is an INC 5000 company for the last 3 years in a row as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the US. Chandler is also the host of the 7 Figure Principles Podcast and the Self Publishing School Podcast.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mark Schaefer. Mark is a globally recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and author of books such as KNOWN, Marketing Rebellion, and his newest book — Cumulative Advantage: How to Build Momentum for your Ideas, Business, and Life Against All Odds.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amy Rosenberg. Amy learned PR in the trenches — working her way up from intern to management at two marketing agencies before starting her own PR firm, Veracity.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Robb Hiller. Robb is the CEO of Performance SolutionsMN. He is nationally known for his expertise in talent selection, executive coaching, team development, sales, and leadership building.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Margaret Jones. She's a former journalist and currently head of content at Airable, an organization that builds itself as a low code work management platform.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Chris Dreyer. Chris is the CEO of Rankings.io which is an SEO agency that helps elite personal injury law firms dominate first page rankings.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Josh Linkner. Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million, and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Erica Maurer. Erica is an Event Producer, Event Coach, and partner at EMRG Media. She also owns a couple of events and puts on a few events around the Event Planner Expo, the Women's Insider Network.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jeffrey Shaw. Jeffrey is an experienced speaker and small-business consultant. He helps self-employed and small-business owners gain control of their business in what otherwise seems like uncontrollable circumstances.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dre Baldwin. Dre (or "Dre all day" as he's referred to as) for the past 15 years has changed the lives of over 75 million entrepreneurs, athletes, and business professionals.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Phil Simon. Phil is a keynote speaker and technology authority • An award-winning author of eleven business books and counting, most recently Reimagining Collaboration: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and the Post-COVID World of Work.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Marc A. Pitman. Marc is the founder of Concord Leadership Group, where he's been leading organizations and teams for decades. He holds a master's in organizational leadership and is a certified FranklinCovey coach and the author of a book we're talking about called The Surprising Gift of Doubt: Use Uncertainty to Become the Exceptional Leader You Are Meant to Be.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview John Lee Dumas. John is the founder and host of the award-winning podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire. He's the creator of The Freedom Journal: Accomplish Your #1 Goal in 100 Days, and he has his first upcoming book launching called The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jordan Babineaux. Jordan transitioned from nearly a decade playing in the NFL to become a sports broadcaster, serial entrepreneur, and business executive. He's also the author of Pivot to Win: Make The Big Plays In Life, Sports & Business.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Shani Godwin. Shani is the founder of Communique USA. She has created a new program called JOY Economics which is a coaching program that teaches entrepreneurs how to turn their personal stories into powerful brand content.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Andrew Davis. Andrew is a bestselling author & keynote speaker. He's built and sold a digital marketing agency, produced for NBC, and worked for The Muppets.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. Sophia Godkin. She's a Health Psychologist, Happyologist, and Happiness, Relationship & Transformational Coach. She's also the author of The 5-Minute Gratitude Journal: Give Thanks, Practice Positivity, Find Joy.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Erica Keswin. Erica is an expert in the business of working human. She helps top-of-the-class businesses, organizations, and individuals improve their performance by honoring relationships in every context.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jacqueline Lieberman. Jacqueline is the former Managing Partner and the Head of Strategy Story Worldwide and current founder of BrandCrudo.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sherry Bonelli. Sherry is the owner of Early Bird Digital Marketing – she writes on all things SEO for Search Engine Land, MOZ, Search Engine Journal, SEMrush, BrightLocal, SCORE, and others.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ben Oliver. Ben is a co-founder and executive producer of Storyboard Media, a B2B marketing, and video production firm in North Carolina.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jen Marr. Jen is the Founder of Inspiring Comfort, LLC. She is passionate about furthering the science of human care through the skill of comfort. She's also the author of a book called Paws to Comfort: An Everyday Guide to Learning How You Can Help Mend Our Disconnected World.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Lisa Manyon. Lisa is the President of Write On ~ Creative Writing Services, LLC. She's known as “The Business Marketing Architect”, and she’s a content and copywriting strategist for mission-driven entrepreneurs.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jeff Coyle. He's a co-founder and chief product officer at market muse, which is tool that uses AI to accelerate content planning and creation and optimization.
n this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Martin Lindstrom. He's the founder and chairman of Lindstrom company. The world's leading brand and culture transformation group operating across five continents and more than 30 countries. He's also the author of a new book we're going to talk about today, called the The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate Bullshit.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Matthew Pollard. He's a consultant speaker blogger and serial entrepreneur. He's currently the founder and CEO of Rapid Growth LLC. He's also the author of a book we're going to talk about today, called: The Introvert's Edge to Networking: Work the room. Leverage social media. Develop powerful connections.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sarah Santacroce. She's setting out to change the marketing paradigm. For 12 years, she was running a successful LinkedIn consulting business, which inspired a great deal of the work that goes then into the gentle marketing revolution. We're talking about her new book: The Gentle Marketing Revolution.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Bryan Clayton. He’s the CEO and co-founder of GreenPal. An online marketplace that connects homeowners with local lawn care professionals.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Dr. Jason Selk. He's a performance coach who works with business executives and athletes as a director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals.
He played an important role in the team's first world series victory in more than 20 years in 2006 in their second, in 2011. He holds a doctorate in counseling and sports psychology. He's the author of a book called Executive Toughness, but we're going to talk today about his new book called Relentless Solution Focus: Train Your Mind to Conquer Stress, Pressure, and Underperformance.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tripp Lanier. Tripp is a professional coach, author of This Book Will Make You Dangerous, and host of The New Man Podcast: Beyond the Macho Jerk and the New Age Wimp which — for over a decade — has been downloaded millions of times.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tripp Lanier. Tripp is a professional coach, author of This Book Will Make You Dangerous, and host of The New Man Podcast: Beyond the Macho Jerk and the New Age Wimp which — for over a decade — has been downloaded millions of times.
I interview John Warrillow, Founder of the Value Builder System which is a simple software for improving the value of company. He's also the author of: Built to Sell and The Automatic Customer.
I interview David Burkus in this episode. He's the best selling author of five books about business and leadership. We talk about his latest book called Leading From Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Clare Kumar, she helps busy professionals optimize their performance.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brandon Miller, CEO of 34 Strong, an organization that helps leaders and leadership teams build stronger workplaces.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Park Howell a 30+ year veteran of the advertising industry who has guided hundreds of purpose-driven brands and thousands of people who support them to substantial growth.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I do my annual wrap up of 2020 in a way that predicts what is coming next year for marketing consultants.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Fred Dust the former senior partner for the design firm IDEO founder of Making Conversation, a designer, author, educator, consultant, trustee, and advisor to social and business leaders.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I do my annual wrap up of 2020 in a way that predicts what is coming next year!
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Michael F Schein the founder and president of MicroFame Media
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Nate Guggia, content creator and brand marketer at Job Portraits.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Stephen Denny, author, speaker and consultant helping emerging and well-established brands define (or re-define) their competitive positioning.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tate Stock who is the founder and CEO of Chirp and Ship Stud.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jonathan Goldhill, adviser, coach, consultant, trainer, facilitator, and business therapist with 30 years of experience in his craft.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview David Jay, who is the founder and CEO behind Warm Welcome.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Allan Dib serial entrepreneur, rebellious marketer and #1 bestselling author.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I discuss page speed or website speed. How long does it take your site to load?
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rory Vaden, a New York Times bestselling author.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I'm talking about a new book I'm working on.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Seth Godin, an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Kara Goldin, the founder, and CEO of Hint Water, a flavored water brand founded in 2005.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Reeves Wiedeman, contributing editor at New York magazine, who has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper's, and other publications.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Shaina Weisinger, CEO of Repurpose House.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jon Schram, founder of The Purple Guys Stress Free IT for small business.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Clem Huffman, owner at South City Print and Alexa Arciero, marketing manager at South City Print.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jon Hall, former founder of Grade.us and current founder and CEO of Switchbird.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Brant Menswar, one of the country's top motivational speakers, a critically acclaimed author, award-winning musician, podcast host, and the CEO.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Farzad Rashidi Co-founder of Respona, the all-in-one digital PR and link building software that combines personalization with productivity.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Todd Henry, author, international speaker, consultant, and advisor.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jason Dorsey a generational expert, consultant, and co-author of Zconomy.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Robert Rosenburg an American businessman, professor, and author. He was the chief executive officer of Dunkin' Donuts for thirty-five years from 1963 to 1998 and also served on the board of directors of Sonic Corp and Domino's Pizza.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Robert Rosenburg an American businessman, professor, and author. He was the chief executive officer of Dunkin' Donuts for thirty-five years from 1963 to 1998 and also served on the board of directors of Sonic Corp and Domino's Pizza.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ricky Kalmon an American stage hypnotist, motivational speaker, TV personality and author of self-improvement audio programs.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Tommy Mello, the founder of A1 Garage Doors, a $50M home service business.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Donata Kalnenaite, the President of Termageddon.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Sharon Vinderine the founder of Parent Tested Parent Approved.
Online reviews are more than just stars. Use the actual words in reviews to find ideal clients and update your marketing messages.
An interview with Alison Levine leadership expert, polar explorer and mountaineer who is no stranger to extreme environments.
An interview with Nils De Moor, CTO of Woorank about page speed and other elements that improve user experience on your site.
Laura Schmidt started notes to self, llcto put her belief in the power of positive thinking into action (and on people’s feet!). Listen in on this podcast to see how she markets this business successfully.
John Talks about using Google Analytics for your small business and certain things he feels should be used and focused on.
Sydni Craig-Hart joins John to talk about her business, Smart Simple Marketing, and she shares what its like being a 4th generation entrepreneur who works side-by-side with her husband. Listen to here more about client challenges and what she's telling people who reach out asking, "What should I be doing?"
Gino Wickman is the creator of Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and is here to share his new book, Entrepreneurial Leap.hear about tools to use and what other things can help you succeed in being an entrepreneur.
Nathan Hirsch is the cofounder of OutSourceSchool and he shares how outsourcing can really help you get things off your plate.
John Jantsch interviews Ramon Ray, founder and CEO of Smart Hustle Media and author of The Celebrity CEO.
Kim Beasley shares her book, Creative Introverted Entrepreneur, with Duct Tape Marketing.
Join John as he talks with Jake Thompson about Compete Every Day, the business and the book.
Spencer Sheinin joins us on Duct Tape Marketing Podcast to talk about his book Entreprenumbers: The Surprisingly Simple Path to Financial Clarity.
Join John as he talks to David Walter about his new book, The Million Dollar Rebuttal: Cold Calling is Not a Numbers Game!
Today we have Matt McWilliams on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast to share his expertise on affiliates and strategic partners.
Last week John shared 7 Reasons Why a Podcast Can Help You Grow Your Business.Today is part two, learn about guest podcasting and ways to be successful with it.
The CEO of Consulting Success, Michael Zipursky, shares his new book, Act Now: How Successful Consultants Thrive During Chaos and Uncertainty.
John interviews Laura Gassner Otting as we continue to talk about growth in your entrepreneurship journey.
Mike Fraidenburg comes to talk with us about his new book that came out in the new year, Mastering Online Meetings.
John wants to share with you the benefits of doing referrals for your business and ways to make it work for you.
Today on Duct Tape Marketing Podcast John interviews Dr. Nancy Trimboli who has a new book coming out, Stealth Health.
Today's podcast on Duct Tape Marketing is with Liam Austin, cofounder of Entrepreneurs HQ and Virtual Summit Academy.
In today's podcast John interviews Emily Heyward who has a new book coming out June 9th, Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Danny Iny, founder, and CEO of Mirasee and author of his latest book Teach Your Gift: How Coaches, Consultants, Authors, Speakers, and Experts Create Online Courses Business Success in 2020 and Beyond.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, John Jantsch Discusses the art of serving your best clients better.
John Jantsch interviews Minter Dial on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast about his book Heartifical Empathy: Putting heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence.
On this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, John Jantsch interviews Payman Taei, founder of Hindsight Interactive and Visme.
John Jantsch interviews Mark Sanborn on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast about his book The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into Extrordinary.
Duct Tape Marketing's John Jantsch interviews Keith Ferrazzi and discusses his book, Leading without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation can Breakdown Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration.
Alex Kantrowitz joins us on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast to discuss his new book 'Day One'. At Amazon, 'Day One' is code for inventing like a startup with little regard for legacy. Day Two is, in Jeff Bezos's own words, is 'stasis, followed by irrelevance, followed by excruciating, painful decline, followed by death.' Most companies today are set up for Day Two. They build advantages and defend them fiercely rather than invent the future. But Amazon and fellow tech titans Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are operating in Day One: they prioritize reinvention over tradition and collaboration over ownership.
Entrepreneur Steve Bousquet took his college job mowing lawns and transformed it into a successful business with thousands of customers. He stops by to talk about the learning curve that comes with founding your own company. As he shifted from technician to owner, he learned a lot of lessons about leadership, finance, culture-building, and more. He shares some of these lessons and talks about the importance of investing in you and your team's growth in order to build a company your customers love.
Business theorist, author, and speaker Alex Osterwalder discusses his two newest books, Testing Business Ideas and the upcoming The Invincible Company. Both books are part of a series focused on helping leaders undertake business modeling and testing within their organizations. Great business testing leads to true innovation, but most leaders don't understand how to apply the scientific method in their businesses. Osterwalder shares what any owner or entrepreneur can do to build their innovation muscle.
Ben Shapiro is a marketing strategy consultant and the producer of several popular podcasts. Marketing is always changing, but with change comes possibility. Ben discusses his own career journey and provides advice for others who are trying to navigate and discover opportunities in today's marketing world.
Entrepreneur, speaker, and author Mike Michalowicz sits down to discuss his latest book Fix This Next: Make the Vital Change that Will Level Up Your Business. All too often, Michalowicz sees businesses that are putting out fires or taking on the wrong challenges. He's developed a system for assessing a business's real needs that can help leaders and entrepreneurs hone in on the most pressing issues that, once fixed, free you up to create growth in your company.
Michael Bungay Stanier returns to the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast to discuss his latest book The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever. So many leaders feel great pressure to have all the answers. But in reality, when leaders embrace curiosity and pause before giving advice, they build much happier, healthier, more effective teams. Bungay Stanier shares why that is, and what leaders can do to cultivate their curiosity.
Mathew Sweezey, Principal of Marketing Insights at Salesforce, stops by the show to talk about the concept of context marketing. Mathew contends that the old, messaged-focused way of marketing has gone the way of the dodo. We've now entered the era of context marketing. He explains what exactly that means and provides tips to help small business owners and marketers succeed in this new environment.
Mark Graham and Bobby Lehew of commonsku, a company that creates software for the promotional products industry, are today's guests on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Promotional products are sometimes brushed aside as frivolous, but Graham and Lehew contend that when products are designed with intent and creativity, they can add tremendous value for a brand. Tune in to learn more about the power of a great promotional product and to hear stories of some great products in action.
Leadership expert, speaker, and author Mike Robbins has spent his career studying company culture and what goes in to building a successful organization. Robbins has identified the pillars that allow any team to grow trust and work together, and he shares them in his latest book We're All in This Together. On this episode, Robbins walks us through these pillars and shares some simple steps any leader can take to begin to craft a stronger company culture.
Rock Thomas is a motivational speaker, best-selling author, and podcaster. After achieving his own financial success, he looked around and noticed that many others who did well in business struggled in their personal lives. Realizing that financial success was only part of the picture, Thomas set out to motivate people to uncover ways to access their whole-life wealth - financial, physical, emotional, and spiritual. He stops by the podcast to share some inspiration for those of us who are looking to reframe the way we think about ourselves in order to achieve new levels of success.
Virtual tools to help facilitate remote work have suddenly become a major focus for many business owners. I've been using some great work-from-home-friendly tools for years, and I wanted to share my go-tos for everything from video recording to collaboration to file sharing. These tools can help you stay in touch in the immediate future, and you may find that you like them so much, you decide to keep them around even when business returns to normal.
Many small business owners struggle with copywriting. How do you create a message that resonates with your audience but doesn't come off as too salesy? Author, speaker, and marketing expert Anik Singal has helped hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. Today on the podcast, he shares his foolproof, 5-step process for writing copy that builds connection and gets you to the sale.
Stephen M. R. Covey, Global Practice Leader at the Global Speed of Trust Practice, visits the podcast to discuss his father's timeless book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The book was published decades ago but remains an incredible guide for individuals of all ages and backgrounds who want to learn how to achieve their goals by building connection and becoming more compassionate, thoughtful members of society.
Jayne Warrilow, global speaker and founder of two businesses, stops by the podcast to discuss her latest venture: Sacred Changemakers. Last year, Warrilow realized she had a higher calling and purpose beyond the bounds of her previous work. She founded Sacred Changemakers to help other leaders to find their purpose and use their platforms to serve a greater societal good.
Are you curious about partner marketing and how to make it work? Robert Glazer, founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, stops by the podcast to talk about the ins and outs of partner marketing. From what it is to how to make it work to the latest technology that's shaping the landscape, Glazer tells you all you need to know to create and run your own partner marketing program.
Grant Baldwin made a name for himself as a successful keynote speaker before deciding to share his tips and tricks with others. He now runs The Speaker Lab, where he teaches business leaders and entrepreneurs who are looking to make speaking a part of their business - or their full-time gig - how to find and book clients and create speeches that resonate with audiences. He stops by to discuss his latest book The Successful Speaker, and impart some of his vast knowledge about the world of public speaking to listeners.
Justin Brady is a communications and PR expert, writer, and podcast host. He stops by the podcast for what John Jantsch terms a " smorgasbord show" - where they talk about PR, communications, and related topics. If you're looking for tips to help get your business's name out there and win favorable press mentions, Brady has great advice.
There are a lot of reasons you might want to change someone's mind in business. Maybe you're a salesperson trying to convince someone to buy your product. Perhaps you're a boss, trying to persuade your team to accept your new business strategy. Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, has spent time studying the science behind changing people's minds. He visits the podcast to talk about his latest book The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind and to share actionable advice for marketers, salespeople, and business leaders looking to convince others to change their minds about something.
Karen Kerrigan is the president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. She also chairs the newly-formed Small Business Roundtable, a coalition of leading small business and entrepreneurship organizations dedicated to advancing policy. She stops by to talk about all of the work her organizations are doing to advocate for small businesses in the political sphere. They work to shape policy in order to remove the barriers that often come along with starting and scaling a business, so that our vibrant community of American entrepreneurs can continue to grow and thrive.
Micah Solomon is a best-selling author and keynote speaker on the topic of bottom-line growth through customer service. The good news is, more brands today are offering better customer service than ever before. The bad news is, customer's expectations are higher than ever, too. How can your brand create an experience that helps you keep customers around? Solomon shares how to hire the right customer service team, how to train them once they're on board, and talks about even more from his latest book, Ignore Your Customers (and They'll Go Away).
Bryan Wish, founder of BW Missions, visits the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast to talk about building community. Wish's business helps entrepreneurs, authors, and thought leaders to develop their voice and point of view as a way to create a global community around what they believe in. Wish shares tips for anyone looking to build an authentic, engaged community centered on their brand and mission.
Lance Cummins, President of the growth content company Nectafy, visits the podcast to talk about content. It's a word we hear all the time in marketing circles, but do we really know what great content looks like? Cummins outlines the steps business owners must take to identify the kind of content that will resonate best with their audience. Plus, he shares how to craft content that's meaningful to your audience and produces real, measurable results for your business.
Justin Ferriman is co-founder and CEO of the learning management system LearnDash. Lots of businesses today are creating courses online. Whether they're using them as a lead generation tool or are selling the course to generate revenue, businesses are eager to get into the online learning space. As the space has become more crowded, though, it takes more effort to create courses that stand out. Ferriman shares how to build courses that provide real value to learners and generate positive results for the businesses who create them.
Chris Schembra is a keynote speaker, Broadway producer, dinner host, and entrepreneurial advisor whose passion is to facilitate human connection in an increasingly disconnected world. After experiencing a difficult time in his own life, Schembra began hosting dinner parties for friends. As the dinners grew, he realized that bringing people together over food and asking them to reflect on things they're grateful for is actually a powerful way to build connections and community. He's developed a foolproof method for hosting your own networking dinner parties, which he shares in his upcoming book, Gratitude and Pasta, and on this episode of the podcast.
Michael Margolis is the founder and CEO of Storied and author of Story 10X. While lots of people are talking about storytelling in a business and marketing context, Margolis has decided to focus in on storytelling as it relates specifically to disruption and innovation. How do you tell stories about change without causing your audience to panic, feel judged, or grow distrustful? Telling stories about change is a tricky balancing act, but Margolis shares practical tips for helping leaders to craft stories about disruption that inspire rather than intimidate.
Jack McGuinness is a co-founder and managing partner of Relationship Impact, a consulting firm focused on helping great leaders build great leadership teams. On this episode, McGuinness discusses his entrepreneurial journey, and he shares what he's learned about entrepreneurship and leadership, both from his personal experiences and his years helping other business leaders succeed.
Melanie Deziel, founder of StoryFuel and author of The Content Fuel Framework stops by the podcast to talk about storytelling. It's one of the hottest terms out there in marketing today, but so many brands struggle to create content that speaks to their audience in a way that's engaging and shareable. Deziel has crafted a framework to help you find the right focus and format for your content, and she shares that with us on this episode.
Steve Gordon, founder and CEO of The Unstoppable CEO, is a firm believer in the power of podcasting as an incredible prospecting tool. He's taught countless business owners how to create their own podcast as a way to generate leads, start conversations with ideal customers, and build a reputation as a thought leader in an industry. Today on our podcast, Gordon shares his tips for podcasting as prospecting with our audience.
Rita McGrath is a globally-recognized expert on business strategy, innovation, and growth. She stops by the podcast to discuss her book Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen. Disruption is a tricky thing; if you're not ready for it, it can ruin you. But if you see it coming, you can get ahead of the curve and push innovative strategies to thrive in this new reality. McGrath shares stories of businesses who have successfully identified inflection points, and provides advice for leaders looking to spot potential disruption in their own industries.
Bruce Daisley, author and podcaster, stops by to talk about his upcoming book Eat Sleep Work Repeat. While serving as a senior executive at Twitter and Google, Daisley became fascinated with how we create happiness at work. He noticed there was a lot of science around it, but that the research wasn't making its way down to the people who commuted into offices each and every day. So he left the corporate world and started his podcast (which later inspired the book) as a way to help workers discover the ingredients that go into building a happy, fulfilling work environment.
Jamie Lieberman left her corporate law job to found Hashtag Legal, where she and her team help influencers, solopreneurs, and small business owners maneuver their way through the sometimes-complicated legal waters of the digital age. From how to craft an appropriate contract as a freelancer or service provider to maintaining compliance with privacy laws, Lieberman covers some of the biggest legal questions that small business owners face.
Dr. John Demartini is a world-renowned specialist in human behavior, researcher, author, and global educator. He stops by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast to discuss his book The Values Factor. How do we determine our true values? And how does doing so change the way we approach work and life? Dr. Demartini answers these questions and more in this episode.
Author, speaker, vlogger, and entrepreneur Amy Landino stops by the podcast to talk about her latest book Good Morning, Good Life. Her passion is helping everyone find a way to go after the life they want, and a morning routine is a great place to start. She shares five simple habits from her book that can help you get your day off on the right foot, so you can achieve everything that matters to you throughout the rest of your day.
Today's guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Greg Meade, co-founder of the business and new sport called Crossnet. Meade, his brother, and their childhood friend decided that rather than follow a traditional career path, they wanted to branch out and build something new. They put their heads together and created Crossnet, a brand new sport that's a cross between four square and volleyball. Meade walks us through the process of building a new business and growing a following for a new game on this episode.
Today's guest is speaker, author, podcaster, and leadership expert Ryan Hawk. With a background in both professional sports and sales, Hawk realized that to learn more about becoming a great leader, he wanted to go straight to the source and talk to those people whose leadership skills he most admired. That's what set him on the path to creating The Learning Leader Show and writing his book, Welcome to Management, both of which he discusses on this episode.
Guy Kawasaki, author, speaker, podcaster, and Chief Evangelist for Canva, stops by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. He and host John Jantsch cover a lot of ground in their chat, from how Canva managed to outpace the competition and become a leader in online graphic design tools to why Guy started his own podcast, what he thinks about the podcasting landscape, and how he believes the channel can be harnessed to become a powerful marketing tool.
Ethan Beute, Chief Evangelist of BombBomb and co-author of the book Rehumanize Your Business, stops by the podcast to chat about the power of video marketing. BombBomb believes that we are all better in person, and they enable you to build a deeper connection with your prospects and customers by putting a face to your name over digital communications with the use of personalized video. Beute talks about why he's passionate about personalized video, shares use cases for the technology, and talks about how he sees personalized video changing the landscape of sales and marketing.
Dr. Melanie Katzman is a clinical psychologist and business consultant, and over the years she's noticed a lot of overlap between the hurdles her clients face in both areas of focus. People feel devalued and dispirited in their work, and a lot of that comes from issues in communication. She's brought all her advice together in a new book, Connect First, to help people everywhere find meaning and a sense of accomplishment in the work that they do. On this episode, she shares some of the 52 action steps from her book.
Today's guest on the podcast is Mike Stelzner, founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner and the producer of the Social Media Marketing World conference. Stelzner has been immersed in the world of social media for years, so he has his finger on the pulse of the biggest trends that small business owners need to be paying attention to. If your business is on social media, you don't want to miss these insights!
Joel Goldberg, public speaker on leadership and culture and longtime Kansas City Royals broadcaster, stops by the podcast to discuss the intersection of sports and business. Sure, you've heard people draw parallels between sports and business before, but when, like Goldberg, you've had a front-row seat to the world of professional sports for over 25 years, you gain some deep insights that others might miss.
Kate Bradley Chernis is the co-founder and CEO of Lately, an AI-powered social media writing tool. In today's marketing landscape, you can't stand out without creating a lot of content. But the trick is that it can't be junky content; it still needs to provide value for your followers. That's where a tool like Lately comes in. By using AI to analyze your existing long-form content, Lately is able to craft tons of high-quality short-form social media posts. Bradley Chernis shares more about how the tool works, why it's effective, and how you can start creating more meaningful content for your business.
John Livesay is a sales keynote speaker and author - he's also known as the Pitch Whisperer. He's here on the show to talk about his book Better Selling Through Storytelling, where he shares tips for applying the four essential elements of great storytelling to the art of selling. Today's businesses can't simply rely on a list of past accomplishments to sell to prospects; instead, they need to craft a compelling story to win business. Livesay demonstrates how to do just that.
Rohit Bhargava is an innovation and marketing expert and the founder of the Non-Obvious Company. The company has spawned a series of books under the Non-Obvious banner, including his latest Non-Obvious Megatrends. Bhargava discusses his process for identifying the biggest trends shaping business, shares what disruptive trends business owners need to be on the lookout for, and provides insight into how anyone can learn to spot megatrends in their industry.
How do you create content that stands out online and inspires folks to share your message with their friends? On this episode, John sits down with Tim Staples, CEO of Shareability and author of "Break Through the Noise." Staples' firm is behind the creation of numerous viral campaigns and videos, so he knows what it takes to capture attention online. In this episode he discusses how small business owners can create highly shareable content.
John sits down with Drew McLellan, who owns and runs Agency Management Institute (AMI). Most agency owners feel like they're on an island, doing the hard work of running a business without someone to guide them. AMI serves as a resource for these entrepreneurs, and in this episode, McLellan shares tons of advice for owners - from his insights on the latest marketing trends to how to manage hiring within your agency.
When it comes to marketing your business, it's not really about the tactics, like social media or email marketing. At the end of the day, it's building a fandom that helps you win the day. Marketing expert and author David Meerman Scott stops by to discuss his latest book, "Fanocracy," and shares how any business can build a fanocracy that will keep customers coming back again and again.
John Jantsch closes out the year by sharing his insights on where to focus your attention with your 2020 marketing strategy. What approaches will actually move the needle and win you new customers (or help you keep old ones) in the new year? John's got answers for you.
Lukas Haensch, former Google UX manager and founder of Pathmonk, stops by the podcast to discuss the importance of page speed. A slow-loading website might not be at the top of your list of issues to address, but it should be. Haensch discusses the potential damage a slow site can cause, and he shares how to quickly evaluate your website and eliminate any issues with load time.
Early Twitter employee and digital media expert Claire Diaz-Ortiz stops by the podcast to discuss her latest book, Social Media Success for Every Brand. Diaz-Ortiz dives into the StoryBrand pillars and the complementary SHARE model to help business owners craft social media plans that actually boost engagement (and, ultimately, sales).
Mike Yan, CEO of chat marketing platform ManyChat, sits down with John to discuss all things chat. Yan sees chat becoming an even more integral part of every business's marketing efforts in the next handful of years, so he has helpful tips to help anyone get started with a chat marketing program.
Deanna Singh is a speaker, author, and the founder and Chief Change Agent at Flying Elephant. Singh defines her purpose in life as shifting power to marginalized communities, and she's dedicated to doing that through all of her work, including her latest book, Purposeful Hustle.In this episode, she shares why it's important to discover your purpose, how you can find yours, and what to do once you've uncovered it.
Alisa Meredith, visual marketing expert, content marketing manager at Tailwind, and self-proclaimed "Pinterest nerd," stops by the podcast to talk about social media in general and Pinterest in particular. Pinterest is often overlooked by content marketers, but Meredith contends that, if you know how to use it, Pinterest can become an integral part in helping you meet business objectives.
Tom Cronin, the co-creator of The Portal movie and the leader of a global movement to get one billion people to meditate daily, stopped by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Cronin began meditating more than two decades ago, when the stresses of a job in the fast-paced world of finance started causing problems in his life. Now, he's a passionate advocate for the powerful good that can come from meditation, and he shares with us why it can not only transform your life, but humanity at large.
John sits down with Yaniv Masjedi, chief marketing officer at Nextiva. Masjedi has been with the company since its founding, and has played a part in its expansion from a cloud phone service to a unified and integrated platform for communications. He talks about the journey the company's taken over the years, and what the team has done to stay true to the essence of their core business as they grow their teams and provide new products and services.
Ron Tite, founder and CEO of the advertising agency Church + State and author of Think Do Say, sits down with John Jantsch to discuss the secrets to standing out in a crowded marketing world. Hint: it's not about leaning into the latest gimmick, it's about being authentic in what you think, do, and say.
Dr. Sabrina Starling, author of How to Hire the Best and the founder of Tap the Potential, stops by the podcast to share the secrets to effective hiring for small businesses. When you can attract top-level talent, you're able to build a happy team that enjoys work/life balance while still growing a great company.
John chats with Chad Peterson, business broker and founder of Peterson Acquisitions. Peterson walks small business owners through everything they need to consider when thinking about selling their business - from reviewing financials and assessing value through to closing the deal.
John sits down with Amanda Brinkman, Chief Brand and Communications Officer at Deluxe, and the co-host and producer of Small Business Revolution. Brinkman discusses the importance of investing in local businesses, and shares tips for small business owners who may be struggling with their marketing or finances.
Speaker, author, and diversity and inclusion expert Jennifer Brown stops by the podcast to discuss her latest book, How to Be an Inclusive Leader. She shares why inclusiveness has become a focus for many businesses, and provides leaders with a step-by-step guide to creating a workplace that embraces differences and empowers all of your employees to feel safe and do their best work.
John's guest on the podcast today is business coach, speaker, and author Bill Cates. Cates stops by to discuss his latest book, Radical Relevance, and he shares what organizations can do to personalize their messaging and reach more of their ideal clients.
John Jantsch sits down with Josh Slone, product marketer for Gist. Gist is an all-in-one marketing software platform that helps you manage everything from marketing automation to live chat to event tracking - everything you need to run a modern marketing operation. Slone shares why things like automation are important for today's small businesses and provides advice to those who are just beginning to integrate these tools into their existing marketing efforts.
Nir Eyal, expert on the intersection of technology, psychology, and business, sits down to discuss his latest book, Indistractable. We often blame technology - with its dings, pings, and rings - for our distracted modern lives, but is that really the root cause? Eyal asks us to look at the true cause of distraction, and shows how finding that can help us create more focused and meaningful lives.
Kim Spalding, product leader and general manager of Ads for Small Business and Emerging Markets at Google, stops by the podcast to share her many insights into the Google Ads universe. As a former entrepreneur herself, Spalding knows how difficult it can be to find the time to master the many pieces of small business marketing. That's why she and the team at Google aim to make it as simple as possible to get your business's name out there. Here, she shares some of the best tips for getting the most out of the Google Ads platform.
Marketer, author, and cartoonist Stu Heinecke stops by to discuss his latest book, Get the Meeting! An Illustrative Contact Marketing Playbook. Heinecke has written the book (well, two books, actually!) on contact marketing, and in this episode he details what it is, why it works, and how you can start your own contact marketing campaign.
Jill Soley, author and product and marketing executive, stops by to discuss her book, Beyond Product. Soley has launched and grown software products for nearly 20 years, and she's sharing all of the lessons she's learned throughout her career in this book. On this episode, she and John discuss what product-focused entrepreneurs need to know about marketing to ensure that their companies succeed.
John Jantsch shares an excerpt from his newly-released book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur. Organized as 366 daily meditations, the book is designed to help entrepreneurs build a better self in order to build a better business. Today's reading is from the October 24 entry.
John Jantsch interviews author, speaker, and marketing expert Scott McKain. McKain shares lessons from his book Iconic: How Organizations and Leaders Attain, Sustain, and Regain The Ultimate Level of Distinction.Whether yours is a small, local business or a nationally-known brand, there are steps any business can take to build a brand with loyal customers who become fans, refer you to others, and return again and again.
John Jantsch sits down with real estate expert, author, and speaker Michael J. Maher. Maher discusses his book, The Seven Levels of Communication: Go From Relationships to Referrals, where he shares how any business can thrive by focusing their efforts on referrals rather than the traditional sales cycle.
John Jantsch reads a selection from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, due out on October 22, 2019. This selection features a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson and reflections on how to create your business's history as part of your entrepreneurial journey.
John interviews Chris Martinez, co-founder and CEO of DUDEagency.io, an outsourced web development firm. Martinez knows all the ins and outs of website design, from site layout and development to how to integrate tactical and strategic elements like landing pages, funnels, and SEO. Martinez shares his expertise and gives advice that's useful to all business owners, no matter what field or industry you're in.
John speaks with author, speaker, and business coach Steve Farber. Farber is the founder and CEO of the Extreme Leadership Institute and the author of several books, including Love is Just Damn Good Business: Do What You Love in the Service of People Who Love What You Do. In this episode, Farber talks about why making love a discipline and practice in your business matters and shares how to do it.
John Jantsch reads an excerpt from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, structured as a daily devotional with 366 meditations to help entrepreneurs reach their full potential.
John interviews business coach and bestselling author David Finkel. Finkel discusses his latest book, The Freedom Formula, in which he advocates for a move away from the time and effort economy and towards the value economy.
John sits down with Ryan Holiday, writer, media strategist, and leading expert on the ancient philosophy of Stoicism. Holiday talks about his latest book, Stillness is the Key, and shares how applying lessons from this ancient philosophy can help improve our modern lives.
John Jantsch shares another excerpt from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur. Today's reading is from the October 2 entry, featuring a letter from Herman Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne.
John chats with Jeremy Miller, founder of Sticky Branding and author of Brand New Name. He is a brand strategist, and here he shares why selecting the right brand name matters, plus the step-by-step process for finding the name that fits best with your business, product, or service.
Dan Gershenson and Ian Cantle are marketing experts and part of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. On this episode, they discuss the book that they've co-authored with three other marketing consultants, Content Marketing for Local Search. In the book, they share what business owners can do to create content that captures the attention of prospects and customers throughout their journey, while also ranking well on Google.
John Jantsch shares another excerpt from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, due out in October 2019. Each page contains a reading from a Transcendentalist author and John's thoughts on the reading as it relates to leading a purposeful entrepreneurial life.
Photographer, director, entrepreneur, and author Chase Jarvis stops by the podcast to discuss his book, Creative Calling. He believes that everyone is inherently creative, and when we develop a practice to nurture those creative impulses, we can tap into a whole new side of ourselves.
John reads an excerpt from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, due out in October 2019. The book is organized into 366 daily meditations for entrepreneurs; today's reading is from the September 18 entry.
John sits down with Jason Harris, CEO of creative agency Mekanism and author of The Soulful Art of Persuasion. They discuss the 11 habits Harris outlines in the book that can help anyone to become a master influencer.
John Jantsch reads an excerpt from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, due out in October 2019. Following the passage, he shares additional thoughts and comments on the reading.
John Warrillow, founder of The Value Builder System and author of Built to Sell shares what business owners must do to create a company that is appealing to investors and has the potential to thrive without them at the helm.
Community and collaboration strategy consultant Jono Bacon discusses his upcoming book, People Powered. He talks about the role of communities in building your business, and shares advice for starting a community around your brand.
John Jantsch reads an excerpt from his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, due out in October 2019. He shares a passage from the book, then provides his commentary on the reading.
Keynote speaker, musician, and author Brant Menswar stops by to discuss how to choose your purpose. His strategy for identifying your core values helps individuals and organizations hone in on their non-negotiables and begin to engage with the world in a purpose-driven way.
John Jantsch does a solo show on the importance of content in marketing. It's more than just a tactic, it's risen to the strategic level. And you need a solid content foundation before you can begin amassing content like blogs and podcasts. He walks you through how to create a core message and strong website that serve as the base of it all.
John speaks with Matt Cooper, CEO of the online learning community Skillshare. They discuss how online learning has changed over the years and why it's so important for everyone--whether they're employees or entrepreneurs--to continue to grow and learn new skills.
Jeff Fromm, partner at Barkley ad agency and president of FutureCast, stops by to discuss his new book, The Purpose Advantage. He shares why purpose matters for companies, and how to truly become a purpose-driven brand.
Lindsay Pedersen, brand strategist, leadership coach, and author of Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader's Guide, shares the nine criteria that define a successful brand and some tips for creating one.
Tania Katan, author of Creative Trespassing, talks about the beauty of welcoming the messiness of creativity into your professional and personal life. She also shares exercises for tapping into your creativity.
Melissa Smith, founder and CEO of the Association of Virtual Assistants, discusses all of the value that a VA can provide for an entrepreneur or business owner. She also walks us through the process of searching for, screening, and hiring a VA.
Scott Ayres of AgoraPulse's Social Media Lab stops by to talk about the work he does in challenging social media marketing conventions.
Jeanne Bliss, who pioneered the role of Chief Customer Officer and authored Would You Do That to Your Mother?, shares why business leaders should make every customer service decision with compassion and care (and how to do it).
Scott Young discusses his book, Ultralearning, and shares the principles that empower anyone to learn any skill via aggressive, self-directed learning.
John Jantsch shares five SEO techniques that go beyond the basics. For consultants or marketing agencies who are looking to get results for their clients, these approaches can take their SEO to the next level.
Jeb Blount, sales acceleration specialist and author of 10 books on sales and leadership, stops by to discuss how to move past objections and get to a yes in sales discussions.
John interviews Aaron Weiche, CEO of GatherUp, a review and customer feedback platform. Weiche shares everything small business owners need to know about reviews, customer experience, and managing their online reputation.
John Jantsch discusses the concept of finding a niche for your business. While some advocate for settling on a niche right away, John suggests a different approach.
Rand Fishkin, founder and former CEO of Moz and current CEO of SparkToro, stops by to share what he's learned along his entrepreneurial journey with others who may be starting their own businesses.
John Jantsch walks small business owners through the value of claiming their Google My Business profile. Plus, he shares the latest updates to the tool that users can and should take advantage of.
John chats with Laura Vanderkam, author of several time-management and productivity books, including her latest, Juliet's School of Possibilities. Here, she shares learnings and takeaways from the book.
John sits down with Rachel Parker, CEO of Resonance Content Marketing and author of The Content Marketing Coach. They discuss best strategies and tactics involved in producing high-quality content.
John speaks with Grant Baldwin: speaker, author, blogger, podcaster, and founder of The Speaker Lab. Grant shares his in-depth knowledge about all that it takes to get into speaking and how to turn it into a source of revenue (or even a full-time career).
Andrew Warner stops by the podcast to chat with John about his latest initiative, Bot Academy, and to share why he's so excited about what chat bot technology can do for your business.
John sits down with Jeanna Pool, marketing expert and creator of the coaching program Clients in BULK. They discuss the offline marketing approaches that can help you win new business in droves.
John shares his three step system for establishing a consistent flow of leads, developing a repeatable process for serving your clients, and engaging trusted partners - all to keep clients coming back year after year.
John speaks with Jim Kukral, marketing expert and the author of Your Journey to Becoming Unskippable. They discuss what it means to be unskippable, how it can help you win customers for life, and what you must do to become unskippable.
John sits down with Zvi Band, co-founder and CEO of the CRM platform Contactually and author of Success Is in Your Sphere. Band shares all he's learned about relationship building and networking.
John chats with Jason Vandeboom, founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign, about how CRM, relationship building, email marketing, and marketing automation have changed for the better.
Rich Brooks, founder and creator of The Agents of Change digital marketing conference, stops by the podcast to talk about the elements that go into building a business event that establishes you as an industry leader.
John sits down with Diana Kander, keynote speaker, innovation coach, and co-author of The Curiosity Muscle.They discuss the four questions any leader should ask to get curious about their business and improve their bottom line.
John interviews best-selling author Mark Manson about his latest book, Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope. They discuss how to cultivate happiness and optimism in today's world.
John speaks with Brad Sugars, founder of ActionCOACH and co-author of Pulling Profits Out of a Hat. Sugars shares how a focus on five fundamental disciplines of business can empower any leader to grow their company exponentially.
John chats with marketing expert and entrepreneur Neil Patel. They discuss Patel's book, Hustle. He talks about the process of discovering your true passion and the hard work that goes into finding and pursuing it.
John speaks with Laura Belgray, founder of Talking Shrimp and co-creator of The Copy Cure. A copywriting expert, Laura shares her secrets to writing killer copy.
John speaks with business strategist and author Jenny Blake. She is the author of the book Pivot, and speaks about how to handle plateaus in life. She shares how you decide what your next move is and how to make the pivots to get yourself there.
John speaks with Brian Dean, SEO expert and founder of Backlinko. Dean shares the latest SEO tips, discusses the SEO approaches that work best for B2B and local businesses, and debunks some common SEO myths.
John sits down with Allison Shapira, founder and CEO of Global Public Speaking. They discuss her book, Speak With Impact, and she shares insights into how to give a powerful, compelling presentation.
John chats with Sandy Rogers, co-author of Leading Loyalty, about the actionable steps businesses can take to create deeply loyal customers.
John sits down with Ian Altman, B2B strategic consultant and author of Same Side Selling. They discuss why a major shift in the standard sales mentality is needed to better serve prospects and customers, and how to make that change within your business.
John visits with Cal Newport, computer scientist and author of Digital Minimalism. They discuss our collective tech obsession, and what we can do to find a healthier balance between our phone usage and high-quality leisure activities.
John sits down with Dan Janal, author of Write Your Book in a Flash, to discuss the benefits to any business owner of writing a book and the process for doing it.
John speaks with Michael Port, founder and CEO of Heroic Public Speaking, about the keys to giving an effective speech that builds trust and generates leads for your business.
John sits down with John Lee Dumas, host of the popular podcast EOFire, to talk about how he got his start in podcasting and how business owners can create their own show.
John sits down with Roger Dooley to discuss his new book, Friction. They discuss the concepts of friction and organizational drag in business, and how to find and address issues of friction, even in an organization that's resistant to change.
John speaks with Jules Pieri, founder and CEO of the Grommet, about how makers differ from other entrepreneurs and what they must do to create a business around their product idea.
John visits with Tom Martin, author, speaker, and founder of the digital strategy agency Converse Media. Martin understands how difficult sales prospecting can be, and today he shares his secrets for making the process less intimidating.
John speaks with Donna Cutting, CSP, founder and CEO of Red Carpet Learning Systems about how to give your customers the star treatment.
John speaks with Kyle Gray, founder of The Story Engine, about what works (and what doesn't) when you're crafting a story about your brand.
John chats with Sam Ashdown, a successful entrepreneur with three real estate businesses, about how she founded her companies and her commitment to teaching other local business owners important marketing strategy and skills.
John chats with David Burkus, author of Friend of a Friend, about how and why to engage with your existing, meaningful contacts when networking, rather than trying to cultivate a whole new network.
John introduces his upcoming book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, and shares a reading from the project.
John chats with Michael Bungay Stanier, founder and CEO of Box of Crayons and author of The Coaching Habit. They talk about how leaders can establish the kind of relationship that will get the best work out of their team.
John talks about the importance of establishing a strategy first approach to marketing, rather than just focusing on a jumble of marketing tactics to get the job done.
John chats with Laura Gassner Otting, author of Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life about how to use the framework of consonance to find and define your own purpose.
John discusses the third stage of establishing a fully realized marketing strategy. In this stage, you go deeper into existing channels and add the final three channels to your marketing model.
John discusses the second phase of a fully realized marketing model. Once you have your foundation in place, you can begin to add more to those channels and incorporate other layers to your strategy.
John discusses the first stage of establishing a fully realized marketing strategy. Building up a solid foundation of online assets will allow you to grow and ignite your marketing efforts as your strategy begins to mature.
John speaks with Dan Breeden, a senior manager of strategic alliances at Yahoo Small Business, about what it takes for a small business to stand out online.
John chats with Danny Iny, founder and CEO of Mirasee and author of the book Leveraged Learning: How the Disruption of Education Helps Lifelong Learners and Experts with Something to Teach. They discuss the changing landscape of online education and what it means for those who want to acquire or share knowledge.
John chats with Arnie Kuenn, founder and CEO of Vertical Measures, about his latest book The Customer Journey. They discuss the customer journey and the role that effective content marketing plays in guiding buyers through the journey.
John chats with Jay Acunzo, author of Break the Wheel, about why it's time to do away with best practices in order to create truly innovative solutions to your business problems.
John speaks with Mark Schaefer, marketing expert and author of Marketing Rebellion, about how the customer journey has fundamentally changed over the past few years, and how marketers can thrive in this new environment.
John talks about why it's so important to include video on your website and shares tips for easy video creation, editing, and publication.
John speaks with Neil Crist, VP of Product and Engineering at Moz, about the latest changes in the local SEO landscape, and what small business owners need to know to succeed at SEO.
John breaks down the technical topic of HTTPS. He shares why your site must migrate from HTTP and how to make that happen.
John interviews Alan Stein, Jr., who uses the lessons he learned as a basketball performance coach to inform his current work as a business coach, speaker, and author. They discuss what business leaders can learn from the world of sports about managing their team and company.
John discusses the 10 most important elements and approaches to think about as you look to update and optimize your website this year.
John speaks with Melissa Agnes, a crisis management strategist and author of the book Crisis Ready. They talk about the importance of crisis preparedness, and how being ready for any eventuality can help you identify new opportunities for your business.
John sits down with James Fell, a health expert and author of The Holy Sh!t Moment, to discuss how to become more attuned to the feeling of awakening so that you can make space for a moment of epiphany in your own life.
John speaks with Abdo Riani, founder of Startup Circle, about his entrepreneurial journey and his experience in building a network to serve other entrepreneurs.
John speaks with Neen James, author of "Attention Pays: How to Drive Productivity, Profitability, and Accountability," about how being intentional in how we give our attention can improve our professional and personal lives.
John interviews Ben Robertson, owner of Menadena and a member of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. They discuss the importance of installing a marketing system to measure ROI and generate greater results.
John chats with Pamela Wilson, founder of BIG Brand System and author of Master Content Strategy, about how to create content that enhances your bottom line and works effectively over the lifetime of your business.
John Jantsch discusses the three major elements that go into creating an effective total online presence for a modern small business: website, SEO, and content.
John talks with Jill Nelson, founder and CEO of Ruby Receptionists, about her entrepreneurial journey and the secrets to creating a successful company with a happy team.
This week, John sits down with Mike Brown, founder of The Brainzooming Group and author of Idea Magnets, to discuss the secrets to finding the next big idea for your business.
John interviews Todd Henry, author of Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need, about how to get the most out of the creative teams you manage.
This week, John discusses what he sees as the four biggest areas of focus for small business marketing in 2019. If you are a small business owner or marketing consultant working with small businesses, you can't afford to ignore these trends.
John speaks with Paul Jarvis, author of Company of One, about why scaling is not always the ultimate goal for an entrepreneur, and how to instead focus on building a business for yourself that is sustainable and aligned with your purpose.
John sits down with Matt Scanlon, owner of The Hill KC. What started as a CrossFit gym is now morphing into a place that Scanlon hopes will help change the way the U.S. approaches preventative healthcare. He talks about how he's navigating his business through this shift.
John sits down with Jason Kander, a former Army Captain and bestselling author of Outside the Wire: Ten Lessons I've Learned in Everyday Courage. Kander shares lessons about leadership that can be applied to any sector or industry.
Dan Schawbel stops by to discuss his latest book, Back to Human: How Great Leaders Create Connection in the Age of Isolation. He and John talk about the downsides to remote work and how to overcome them and build community.
This week, Seth Godin stops by to discuss the precepts in his latest book This Is Marketing,and why good marketing is about the long game and taking an empathetic view in addressing your customers' needs.
Dr. Nick Morgan discusses the pitfalls of virtual communication, which tends to remove the emotional connection we would experience in face-to-face conversations. He shares findings from his latest book, Can You Hear Me?, on what we can do to foster more meaningful, thoughtful connections in a digital world.
John speaks with Vince Molinaro, author of The Leadership Contract, about how to foster accountable leadership in your organization and the positive effect that can have on your business's success.
John chats with Louis Gudema about his book Bullseye Marketing, and how to take advantage of the customers and assets you already have in order to grow your business.
John discusses the recent changes to Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) and how they affect the marketing approach for small business owners.
Guest Chris Bailey, author of Hyperfocus, discusses what drives us to distraction in our tech-saturated world, and what we can do to combat those forces and gain greater focus.
John talks with Pam Didner about her forthcoming book, Effective Sales Enablement, and why integrating your sales and marketing efforts can help both teams achieve greater success.
Duct Tape Marketing's core belief is that marketing is not a set of tactics, it's a system. On this episode, John takes a closer look at the seven steps to building a successful marketing system that will generate great results for your business.
On this week's episode, John chats with Jay Baer about his latest book, Talk Triggers, and he shares how business owners can create operational strategies to generate incredible word-of-mouth for their brands.
The Secrets to Scaling Your Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mandy McEwen
Podcast Transcript
My guest this week on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Mandy McEwen. She is the founder and CEO of Mod Girl Marketing and is an expert in helping companies and digital agencies scale. Having founded her company back in 2010, McEwen shares what she’s learned from her experience, in both growing her own business and helping thousands of marketing entrepreneurs over the years.
Mod Girl Marketing has been recognized as a Top 8 SEO Expert by Search Engine Journal and as a content marketing influencer by BuzzSumo.
McEwen has been featured in a number of publications, including the Huffington Post, Inc., and Search Engine Journal.
Questions I ask Mandy McEwen: * How do you define scaling? * What holds people back from scaling in the traditional sense? * How do business owners identify what tasks to outsource first?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * Why getting clear about your own needs, wants, and goals for your business is an essential first step to scaling successfully * How sharing your company’s vision can help you find the best employees, either freelance or full-time * Why having a set process and system for hiring and on-boarding is critical
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Mandy McEwen: * Learn more about Mod Girl Marketing * Join the Mod Agency Insiders Facebook group * Follow on Twitter * Connect on LinkedIn * Follow on Instagram
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
How to Create a Morning Routine That Breeds Success written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Benjamin Spall
Podcast Transcript
This week on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I chat with Benjamin Spall. Spall is co-author of the book My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired and co-founder of the website by the same name.
For their website and book, Spall and his co-founder and co-author, Michael Xander, have interviewed nearly 300 successful leaders in arenas as diverse as business, sports, the arts, and government. On today’s episode, we talk about what we can learn from the morning routines of successful people when creating our own set of rituals to start the day.
Spall has contributed to various other publications, including Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and the Huffington Post.
Questions I ask Benjamin Spall: * What are some of the known benefits of having a morning routine? * How do you create a shutdown ritual? * Did you discover any patterns, or things that everybody does, in the morning?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * How sticking to your morning routine can make you more productive all day long * Why you can’t forget about your evening routine to set you up for success the next day * How to use “habit stacking” to make your routine easier to follow
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Benjamin Spall: * Learn more about Benjamin Spall * Read routines on the website * Order My Morning Routine * Follow on Twitter * Follow on Instagram
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
How to Edge Out Your Competition by Being Uncopyable written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Steve A. Miller
Podcast Transcript
This week’s guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Steve A. Miller. Miller is a consultant, speaker, and author. His most recent book, Uncopyable: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition, is about how small business owners can create an uncopyable relationship with their clients to keep them coming back time and again, and it’s what we discuss here on the podcast.
Miller founded The Adventure LLC over thirty years ago, and has served as a consultant for many global brands, including Proctor & Gamble, Nordstrom, and Coca-Cola.
He has spoken at over 1,500 conferences and workshops, and has contributed to numerous publications including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week.
Questions I ask Steve A. Miller: * What is the uncopyable mindset? * How do you innovate to create a better experience for your customers? * How can owning a word help you define your brand?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * How to make your customers stop caring about price * The difference between loyalty and attachment * Why competition doesn’t breed innovation, it breeds conformity
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Steve A. Miller: * Learn more about Steve A. Miller * Order Uncopyable * Get Steve’s white paper for Duct Tape Marketing Podcast listeners * Follow on Twitter * Connect on LinkedIn
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
Using Convenience to Disrupt the Competition written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Shep Hyken
Podcast Transcript
This week on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I chat with Shep Hyken. He is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations and the author of the upcoming book The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience That Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty.
Hyken’s previous books have been New York Times and Washington Post bestsellers. He is also a prolific speaker, having been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession.
Hyken works with companies to revolutionize their approach to customer service and to help them build loyalty and longstanding relationships with their clients. In this episode, Hyken details the ways in which becoming the company that is most convenient to do business with can help you stand out from the competition and create lifelong customers.
Questions I ask Shep Hyken: * Why convenience as a revolution? Hasn’t convenience always been a good idea? * How can a small business owner apply the friction reduction principles used by a giant company, like Amazon, to strengthen their company? * Where can small business owners begin to look for places to unearth the potential for innovation?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * Why you’re now expected to compete with the best customer service a client’s ever received from anyone, rather than just your direct competitors * How to use what your competitors are doing as a benchmark, not a goal * Why looking outside your industry can help you find inspiration for innovation
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Shep Hyken: * Learn more about Shep Hyken * Pre-order The Convenience Revolution * Follow on Facebook * Follow on Twitter * Connect on LinkedIn * Subscribe on YouTube
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
Fighting Unconscious Bias in Your Organization written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Dolly Chugh
Podcast Transcript
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Dolly Chugh. Chugh is a psychologist and associate professor of management and organizations at the Stern School of Business at NYU. She’s also the author of the forthcoming book The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias.
Chugh writes a monthly column for Forbes.com on gender, race, diversity, inclusion and bias, and has contributed to more than 20 academic and managerial publications including the Harvard Business Review, Psychological Science, Social Justice Research, and The American Economic Review. Her research has also been featured on numerous media outlets including National Public Radio, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Economist.
In this episode, we unpack the ways in which unconscious bias may get in the way of good people living their lives and running their businesses as fairly and equitably as they’d like.
Questions I ask Dolly Chugh: * What do you mean when you say “being the person you mean to be”? * How can I, as the leader of a company, make fighting bias and promoting diversity a priority? * How much does a lack of exposure to diversity contribute to unconscious bias?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * How you can be a vulnerable leader and be willing to admit that you’re learning and working to correct your own unconscious bias * How running better meetings can help you combat bias within your organization * How you can be an activist, with a little “a,” in your everyday life
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Dolly Chugh: * Learn more about Dolly Chugh * Pre-order The Person You Mean to Be * Follow on Facebook * Follow on Twitter * Connect on LinkedIn
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
How to Transform Your Company Into an Inbound Organization written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Todd Hockenberry
Podcast Transcript
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Todd Hockenberry. He is the founder of Top Line Results, a management consulting firm, and the co-author of the book Inbound Organization: How to Build and Strengthen Your Company’s Future Using Inbound Principles, which we discuss today.
Founded nearly 10 years ago, Top Line Results guides B2B companies who are struggling to adapt to the changes in buying behavior. Using online tools, they help clients stay ahead of the latest tech-driven changes.
Todd writes regularly about industry and technology trends, and has been published in trade magazines such as The Fabricator, Industrial Laser Solutions, Modern Metals, Modern Application News, and others. He also co-hosts the podcast Inbound2Grow with Dan Tyre.
Questions I ask Todd Hockenberry: * What’s new that you are bringing to the subject of inbound? * What is the “inbound organization”? * How do you encourage your employees across all departments to embrace the inbound culture shift?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * How the idea of “inbound” goes far beyond the reaches of marketing * Why you need to stay focused on the customer throughout their entire interaction with your company * How to shift your perspective from business owner to prospective client
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Todd Hockenberry: * Learn more about Top Line Results. * Listen to the Inbound2Grow podcast. * Read Inbound Organization. * Follow on Twitter. * Connect on LinkedIn. * Follow Top Line Results on YouTube.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
Honest Startup Advice From Somebody Who’s Been Through It written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Rand Fishkin
Podcast Transcript
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Rand Fishkin. He is the founder and former CEO of Moz and currently has a new venture called SparkToro, a software and data company focused on helping people understand how and where to reach their target audiences. He and I discuss his new book, Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World.
Fishkin is a frequent keynote speaker on marketing and entrepreneurship topics around the world. In his spare time, he likes to hang out with his wife and eat pasta.
Questions I ask Rand Fishkin: * Where does SEO sit today? * Why include the painfully honest advice in your book? * What is some common advice you give people?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * Why you need to discover your unique value * How Fishkin’s business point of view has changed over the years * What’s coming next in the marketing world
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Rand Fishkin: * Read Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World. * Learn more about SparkToro. * Learn more about Moz. * Follow on Facebook. * Follow on Twitter. * Connect on LinkedIn.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
How to Feel Less Busy and Get More Done written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Laura Vanderkam
Podcast Transcript
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Laura Vanderkam. She is the author of several time-management and productivity books, including the one we discuss in this interview, Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done.
Vanderkam is the author of several other time-management and productivity books, including I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours.
Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She is also the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the podcast Best of Both Worlds.
Questions I ask Laura Vanderkam: * What are some of the biggest time-drain patterns? * Is there a place for procrastination? * How much does multitasking cost us?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * Why there is so much stress around getting a lot done * Why people are more productive during some times of the day compared to others * Whether or not you should track your time
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Laura Vanderkam: * Learn more about Laura Vanderkam. * Listen to the Best of Both Worlds podcast. * Read Off the Clock. * Follow on Facebook. * Follow on Twitter. * Connect on LinkedIn. * Follow on Instagram.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
How Chat Bots Can Help You Grow Your Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Andrew Warner
Podcast Transcript
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Andrew Warner, founder of Mixergy, a program that interviews experts to help you grow your business. He and I discuss his new initiative, Bot Academy, and what your business needs to know about bots today.
Warner was one of the pioneers of the internet startup scene — starting online in 1997 and growing his business into a multi-million dollar venture.
After he and his brother achieved their first success, a $30 million per year Internet business, he wanted to share the gift of inspiration and knowledge with budding entrepreneurs, and with that, Mixergy was born. To achieve this end, he started Mixergy, where he invites proven Entrepreneurs to teach how they built their startups. Recently, Warner has been an angel investor in two of the early chat messaging platform companies (ManyChat & Assist) which eventually led him to build Bot Academy.
Questions I ask Andrew Warner: * Why should people be paying attention to chat bots? * What are some business use cases for chat bots? * How will chat bots evolve?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * Why people should pay attention to chat bots * How chat bots can help your customer service * How email and chat bots can work hand-in-hand
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Kyle Gray: * To see the chat bot intro, visit botacademy.com/ducttapemarketing. * Learn more about Bot Academy. * Learn more about Mixergy. * Follow on Twitter. * Connect on LinkedIn.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Gusto! Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for modern small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.
To help support the show, Gusto is offering our listeners an exclusive, limited-time deal. Sign up today, and you’ll get 3 months free once you run your first payroll. Just go to Gusto.com/TAPE.
Local SEO for Lead Generation written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Justin Sturges
Podcast Transcript
SEO tools and strategies are constantly changing. All the while, it’s never been more important that you get found online when people go out there searching – particularly if you’re a local business.
Your website is the foundation for how you get ranked and found locally. It’s important to have a well put together website with unique content that is tailored specifically to the search results you want to show up in.
It is very difficult to rank for your most desired keyword phrases without great content.
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Justin Sturges. He is a local SEO, website building & lead generation expert, Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, and co-author of the award-winning book The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Local Lead Generation. We discuss SEO, website design and the keys to getting your business to rank.
Being immersed daily in SEO, Sturges knows what works (and doesn’t work) to help small businesses rank locally.
Questions I ask Justin: * What are common SEO mistakes that businesses often make? * What role do reviews play in your ranking factor? * What are some good resources for local SEO?
What you’ll learn if you give a listen: * The driving factors in organic placement * Key aggregators often missed in citations * How using the right extensions can increase your click-throughs
Key takeaways from the episode and more about Justin Sturges: * To learn more about Justin Sturges, visit his website here. * Click here to find out more about Justin’s book The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Local Lead Generation. * Connect on LinkedIn.
Interested in joining Justin as a Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant? Find out more about the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network and attend a Discovery Call here.
A Guide to Content Strategy and Brand Storytelling written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Kyle Gray Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Kyle Gray, founder of The Story Engine. He and I discuss insights from his book, The Story Engine: A Busy Entrepreneur’s Guide to Content Strategy and Brand Storytelling Without Spending All Day Writing. Gray has […]
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Stop Networking and Start Focusing on Relationships That Matter written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
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Marketing Podcast with Morra Aarons-Mele Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Morra Aarons-Mele, founder of Women Online and the mission list. She is also the author of Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You’d Rather Stay Home), and host of a podcast of […]
Invisible Influences that Surround Us written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jonah Berger Most of us believe we are in charge of the decisions we make throughout each day. To some extent we certainly are, but many of the decisions we make – what to wear, what to eat, what to buy, what to say – are driven by forces at the subconscious […]
How to Turn Marketing Costs Into Profit written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose Podcast Transcript Most of the success stories in business marketing circles these days involve product and service companies thinking and acting like media companies. My guests for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast are Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute, and Robert Rose, […]
Unlocking the Power of 80/20 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Perry Marshall Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Perry Marshall. He is an online marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and author of numerous books including Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising (Entrepreneur Press), Evolution 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock Between Darwin and Design(BenBella) and Industrial Ethernet (ISA). He and I discuss the […]
Creating Memorable Moments for Your Customers written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Chip Heath Podcast Transcript Moments, the things that stick out and make one business more remarkable than another, can be planned and orchestrated to some degree. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Chip Heath. He is a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching courses […]
The Evolving Significance of SEO in Marketing Today written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is sponsored by ahrefs – one of my go-to SEO tools – enter to win a full year of ahrefs service ($2,000 value) by subscribing to the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast Marketing Podcast with Dan Shure Podcast Transcript I’ve said it a number times over the last few years – SEO is […]
Be a Better Marketer by Finding Out What People Actually Want written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is sponsored by ahrefs – one of my go-to SEO tools – enter to win a full year of ahrefs service ($2,000 value) by subscribing to the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast Marketing Podcast with Ryan Levesque Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Ryan […]
Traditional PR is Still a Fabulous Way to Stand Out written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is sponsored by ahrefs – one of my go-to SEO tools – enter to win a full year of ahrefs service ($2,000 value) by subscribing to the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast Marketing Podcast with Christina Nicholson Podcast Transcript Back in the day, you know ten years ago, I built some form of […]
Webinar Best Practices Throughout the Customer Journey written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is sponsored by ahrefs – one of my go-to SEO tools – enter to win a full year of ahrefs service ($2,000 value) by subscribing to the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast Marketing Podcast with Omar Zenhom Podcast Transcript I’ve been doing webinars for about a decade now and […]
Increase Profits Through Specialization written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Philip Morgan Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Philip Morgan. He is a consultant at Philip Morgan Consulting who focuses on specialization and helping people find their niche. He and I discuss how to position your business to drive profit and how to become known as the expert […]
Monetize Your Expertise and Thrive written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Dorie Clark Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Dorie Clark. She is a marketing and strategy consultant as well as a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, and Forbes. She and I discuss her new book, Entrepreneurial You: Monetize Your Expertise, Create Multiple […]
Winning Your Dream Clients written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jake Jorgovan Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jake Jorgovan. He is the founder of Outbound Creative as well as the company Lead Cookie. He and I discuss how to find your ideal clients. Prior to starting Outbound Creative, Jorgovan ran business development […]
How to Cut Through the Noise and Clutter in Marketing Today written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Alison Stratten Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Alison Stratten. She and her husband, Scott, are co-authors of 4 best-selling business books, co-owners of UnMarketing Inc and co-hosts of The UnPodcast. She and I discuss their newest book, UnBranding. Their site, show, and books […]
Enhance Your Life With a Side Hustle written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Chris Guillebeau Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Chris Guillebeau. He is an author, blogger, and speaker and is known for books such as The Art of Non-Conformity and The $100 Startup. He is also the founder of the annual World Domination Summit. He and I discuss […]
Tackling the Sales Aspect of Being an Entrepreneur written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jim Brown Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jim Brown, founder and host of SalesTuners. He and I discuss sales training and techniques. Brown has spent the last 10 years helping lead two companies from $1M to more than $10M and one from […]
Insights on Engagement written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Karen Steele Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Karen Steele, GVP of Corporate Marketing for Marketo. She and I discuss the findings from The State of Engagement, insights on engagement from over 2,000 global consumers and marketers. The Engagement Economy—the reality that we […]
Secrets to Finishing What You Start written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jon Acuff Podcast Transcript Turns out that the secret to finishing what you start is a lot about how you actually start. What your goals are, why you set an objective, how you design your habit changes are the keys to crossing the finish line. My guest for this week’s episode of […]
The Hidden Personality Types That Drive Everything We Do written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Gretchen Rubin Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Gretchen Rubin, she writes on habits and happiness. She is the author of a number of New York Times Bestselling books including The Happiness Project and a new book, The Four Tendencies. She and I […]
Sonic Branding and the New Rules of Marketing and PR written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with David Meerman Scott Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is David Meerman Scott, one of the pioneers of inbound marketing and author of many books including the 6th edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR. The New Rules of Marketing & PR has been translated […]
Be More Productive By Working Simply written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Carson Tate Routine, process, to-do and task lists – that’s how we get stuff done right? Turns out the most productive individuals all have one thing in common and that’s a system. In search for that one, perfect system people use GTD, Franklin-Covey, Note pad, Evernote and a variety of hybrid tricks […]
How to Get the Right Mindset for Prospecting and Sales written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Marylou Tyler Podcast Transcript Inbound, inbound, inbound – that’s marketing rally cry for that last few years. But a funny thing happened on the way to all this inbound marketing activity – outbound marketing – done right, has never been more effective. In fact, great outbound marketing can draw even greater interest […]
The Myth of the Starving Artist written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jeff Goins Podcast Transcript There are very few – maybe no – original ideas left, so stop beating yourself up looking for that one amazing new idea. The best and most profitable innovations are often created when someone blends two or three existing ideas in entirely new ways. It’s okay to be […]
Why Leaders Eat Last with Simon Sinek written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Simon Sinek Podcast Transcript For this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, we’ll revisit my conversation with Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why and the most recent Leaders Eat Last. First off, if you’ve not read either of these books, I suggest you get both. In Start With Why […]
How to Create Ridiculously Good Content written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Ann Handley Podcast Transcript The simple answer to the promise in today’s title is this – get Ann Handley’s lbook – Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. Handley is my guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast and she knows a thing or two […]
An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Success written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Landon Ray Podcast Transcript I’ve known this week’s guest for about a decade and in that time I’ve watched him grow from tiny start-up to thriving Inc500 stand out. It’s really fun to see this kind of success and these stories are out there and everywhere if you look – no, they […]
Improve Your Business by Getting the Most Out of Your Data written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Jeff Sauer Podcast Transcript My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jeff Sauer. He is a digital marketing speaker, professor, and Google Analytics consultant. He and I discuss how businesses that track and use data to get better, succeed. Sauer is a born problem solver who has […]
Create and Market Work That Lasts written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Ryan Holiday Podcast Transcript For a creative work to last it must be the right work – but it must also be promoted in the right way. Few people have figured this fine art out like my guest today. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Ryan […]
Why We’re All Still Talking About Social Media written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Rebekah Radice Podcast Transcript Social media didn’t go away – it just moved. It moved to become another strategic element of marketing where it belongs. The fact is, if you plan to benefit from social behavior, you must alter your thinking around the proper use of social media for each stage of the […]
Is Podcasting for You? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Rob Greenlee Podcast Transcript Every now and then I have to get pretty meta on my podcast and use it to talk about podcasting. Podcasting, both appearing on them and producing your own, is a solid small business marketing tactic and I’ve been trying to spread that word for many years. My guest […]
How to Free Up More Time In Your Work Week written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Mandi Ellefson Podcast Transcript What’s your biggest problem? Is it time? Focus? Delegation? Those are the problems I hear about all the time and are seemingly the most difficult to solve. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Mandi Ellefson, a scalable freedom strategist and founder […]
The Power of Little Ideas written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with David Robertson Podcast Transcript “Innovate or die.” That’s what Peter Drucker said, and I think a lot of people took that to mean that you have to create a company that disrupts an entire industry and that you should be looking for ways to innovate on your products and services like nobody has […]
Turn Your Hunch Into the Next Big Thing written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Bernadette Jiwa Podcast Transcript I think you know what to do – I really do. The problem is that in the storm of running the business you start listening to outside influences, opinions of others, and maybe even what you see others in your industry doing. Get back in touch with your own […]
What Does the Future of Podcasting Look Like? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Tom Webster Podcast Transcript I’ve been podcasting a long time and it’s been pretty fun to see how this “channel” has evolved, particularly of late. The podcast or audio distribution format has definitely hit mainstream status. Radio and TV networks look to this form of distribution as the way forward and big time […]
The Science of Pre-Suasion written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Robert Cialdini Like so many others in marketing, one of the first books I read was Influence. Today this is required reading for anyone trying to persuade through writing, messaging, speaking – pretty much any form of communication. The principles outlined in this book have stood the test of time. So, it’s a […]
Do You Fascinate? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Sally Hogshead Why are you captivated by some people, but not others? Why do you recall some brands, yet forget the rest? In a distracted and overcrowded world, how do certain leaders, friends, and family members convince you to change your behavior? The answer, according to brand innovation consultant Sally Hogshead, fascination. […]
How National Companies Can Get Friendly in Local Markets written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Megan Hannay Podcast Transcript I’ve long been a big fan of partnering with not for profits in your community. (I wrote about this in The Referral Engine.) There are so many organizations that need and deserve our support and by partnering you further cement your business as a community asset. When an organization […]
The Key to Success? Taking Care of Your Community written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Brian Clark Podcast Transcript Community building is a big deal – so are a lot of things, but there’s no question that building and taking care of a large community of folks that trust you is a great way to build a business. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape […]
How to Build a Business Around An Unmet Need written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Kim Doyal It’s so easy to start a business today. You simply get online and start. Now I’m not saying it’s easy to own, operate, and profit from a business – but I do know if you don’t start you’ll never know. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing […]
Find Out Why Nobody is Finding Your Content written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Brian Dean I believe that elements of SEO are now elevated to the strategic level. In other words, as you plan your message, website structure, and content for your marketing, you better include some research commonly seen as a technical aspect of SEO. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct […]
Is Growth Hacking for You? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Sean Ellis Podcast Transcript What do you think of when you hear the phrase “growth hacking?” Few trendy terms have been more misused and abused by ‘marketers is what I think. I wrote this piece about growth hacking if you want my take. For some perspective I turned to someone that I […]
Convert Your Ideas and Messages Into Memorable Narratives written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Ron Ploof Podcast Transcript I enjoy it when someone can take a complex idea and make it simple without removing its initial power and intent. Storytelling is all the rage these days, but few are equipping people to actually use the power of stories. My guest for this week’s episode of the […]
What You Need to Know About Your Privacy Online written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Ryan Dochuk Podcast Transcript Online Privacy – now there’s an oxymoron. (So love it when I get to use that word.) The more we humans live our lives online the less we seem to expect basic privacy. Right now, pretty much everything you do is being tracked with your explicit permission – whether […]
Marketing podcast with Guy Kawasaki I asked the question contained in the title of this post in a community I moderate on Google+ (Consultant Exchange- join us if you are a coach or consultant) Somewhat predictably answers fell into two camps - those with a book said yes it was very helpful and meaningful toContinue ReadingDoes Every Consultant Need To Write a Book is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Dan Pink My father was a salesman in the classic Willy Loman kind of way, without the sad tragedy part. He got up each week, packed his bags and went on the road to exchange his time and information for the monetary reward of an order. However, one thing he knew andContinue ReadingThe Myth of a Salesman is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Dave Kerpen Dave Kerpen had the foresight a few years ago to lock up the term Likeable. It's the name of his business, Likeable Media, the name of his mega selling book Likeable Social Media and it's been applied to his latest work, Likeable Business. But as Kerpen quickly points out, beingContinue ReadingLikeable Is Not a Department is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Robert Greene It's funny how pretty much everything is instructional in one way of another. When Robert Greene published the now cult classic The 48 Laws of Power people were a bit polarized. According to LA Times the book, "turned Greene into a cult hero with the hip-hop set, Hollywood elite andContinue ReadingPower Seduction War and Mastery is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Robert Greene author of The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, and his most recent book Mastery.
Marketing podcast with Harley Manning (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) I think most of us would agree that the reason our businesses exist is to exchange value with a customer for payment. Now, that's not theContinue ReadingReexamining Why You're In Business is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with DJ Waldow and Jason Falls (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) There are a handful of generally accepted “best practices” when it comes to email. Some have withstood the test of time and experiment,Continue ReadingWith Email Marketing Sometimes You Need to Question the Rules is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Mike Michalowicz (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) Okay, I'll admit the title of this post is a bit odd for a marketing blog, but it relates specifically to the title of a bookContinue ReadingHow to Grow Giant Prize Winning Pumpkins is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Phil Auerswald (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) Here's my take. There is no resource scarcity issue, dependence on oil, shortage of water, climate change, political gridlock or disease treatment that can't be solvedContinue ReadingThere's Never Been a Better Time To Be an Entrepreneur is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Duct Tape Marketing's John Jantsch interviews Phil Auerswald, an associate professor at the School of Public Policy and a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Doc Searls, co-author of Cluetrain Manifesto.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist and Newspaper Blackout.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Bernie Farrari, author of Power Listening, Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Way in a Wild New World.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Rhonda Abrams, entrepuernuer, author, and nationally syndicated columnus.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Charles Duhigg, staff writer for the New York Times and author of The Power of Habit.
John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing interviews Lindsey Pollak, bestselling author, consultant and internationally recognized expert on next generation career trends.
John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing interviews Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com.
John Jantsc of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Greg Crabtree, CPA and founder of Crabtree, Rowe and Berger.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews David Mattson, CEO and a partner at Sandler Systems, Inc.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Laura Fitton, Inbound Marketing Evangelist at HubSpot.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Phil Simon, author of Age of The Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, And Google Have Redefined Business.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Steve Jones, author of Brand Like a Rock Star.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Laura Fitton, Inbound Marketing Evangelist at HubSpot.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Chris Brogan, author of Google+ for Business.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive and author of The Barefoot Executive: your guide to being your own boss and achieving financial success.
Listen to John Jantsch interview Jon Gordon about his new project, The Seed, finding purpose and happiness in life and work.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Mari Smith, passionate social media leader and author of Relationship Marketing.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviews Aaron Shapiro author of Users Not Customers.
John interviews Alexandra Levit - Former columnist for the Wallstreet Journal and author of Blindspots
John interviews Jay Heinrichs - author of Thank You for Arguing and Runs Figureofspeech.com
John interviews David Meerman Scott - Marketing Strategist, Speaker, Seminar Leader, Author
John interivews Carmine Gallo - Author of Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, columnist, and author of The Power of Foursquare.
John interviews Al Pittampalli - founder of The Modern Meeting Company and author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting
John interviews Mike Schulz - publisher of RainToday and Co-Author of Rainmaking Conversations
John interviews Mike Stelzner - founder of Social Media Examiner and Author of Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition
John inteviews Dave Kerpen - CoFounder of Likeable Media and author of Likeable Social Media
John interviews Eric Reis - Entrepreneur in Residence as Harvard Business School and Author of The Lean Startup.
John Interviews Chuck Martin - CEO of Mobile Future Institute and Author of The Third Screen: Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile
John interviews Doug Hubbard - Applied Information Economics Method and author of How to Measure Anything
John interviews Stephen Denny - Competitive Strategy and Marketing Consultant. Author of Killing Giants
John interviews Scott Ginsberg - Author of 12 books, speaker, award-winning blogger, and producer of nametagtv.com
John interviews Seth Godin - Bestselling author of 12 books, entrepreneur and agent of change.
What Does Technology Want From Us?
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
What Does Technology Want From Us?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Kevin Kelly (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) I ran a post last week outlining the way that I use a piece of [...]
John interviews Micah Solomon - Customer Service Expert, Business Leader, Speaker, CoAuthor of Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization
Creating Customer Bliss
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Creating Customer BlissThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Jeanne Bliss (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is customer experience expert Jeanne Bliss. [...]
John interviews Peter Shankman - founder of Help a Reporter Out and CEO of the Geek Factor and author of Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Enabled World
How to Find Part Time and Intern Help and Gigs
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
How to Find Part Time and Intern Help and GigsThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Cari Sommer (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) The trend towards virtual work and virtual workers has grown so [...]
The 4-Hour Entrepreneurial Body
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
The 4-Hour Entrepreneurial BodyThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Tim Ferriss (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) This time of year the Internet, media and bookstores are filled with books, stories and advice on [...]
Has the Definition of a Job Changed Forever?
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Has the Definition of a Job Changed Forever?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Scott Gerber (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) The current generation of students graduating from college is finding that the combination [...]
Accelerate Your Startup
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Accelerate Your StartupThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Brad Feld (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) One of the best ways to get your new business up and going fast is to learn from [...]
The Content Inspiration and Creation Rules
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
The Content Inspiration and Creation RulesThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) The need to produce lots of educational content is a given these [...]
Smarter Faster Cheaper Podcast
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Smarter Faster Cheaper PodcastThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with David Siteman Garland (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Those three words - smarter, faster, cheaper are certainly the rallying cry for these times and a welcome dose of marketing reality for those [...]
Do Small Businesses Need to Communicate Mission
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Do Small Businesses Need to Communicate MissionThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with John Spence (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen) Many small business owner don't pay much heed to some of the routinely accepted [...]
Are You Living The Life Other People Expect You To
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Are You Living The Life Other People Expect You ToThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Chris Guillebeau (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Chris Guillebeau. Chris writes, travels, and [...]
Talking Small Business With the New York Times
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Talking Small Business With the New York TimesThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Loren Feldman (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes The world of traditional publishing has changed dramatically over the years and more and more publications are looking for ways to [...]
Real Time is the Right Time
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Real Time is the Right TimeThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with David Meerman Scott (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Real-time marketing and business management is upon us. Companies that get the notion of instantly creating and responding, almost as a business [...]
Great Presentations Start With Resonance
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Great Presentations Start With ResonanceThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Nancy Duarte (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes I've been thinking and talking a lot of late about the topic of making great presentations because I think the ability to help people [...]
Rocket Lawyer Simplifies Small Business Legal Needs
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Rocket Lawyer Simplifies Small Business Legal NeedsThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Charley Moore (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Contracts, agreements, liens, non-disclosure, incorporation, non-competes, and a host of intellectual property issue are just some of the issues that small businesses [...]
Consider eBay as a Small Business Sales Channel
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Consider eBay as a Small Business Sales ChannelThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Lin Shearer (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes I spent a significant amount of time with eBay sellers this year as I participated in a four city event called [...]
Talking Money With inDinero
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Talking Money With inDineroThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Jessica Mah (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes For this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visited with Jessica Mah, the twenty something co-founder and chief architect of inDinero. inDinero [...]
The Power of Sound
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
The Power of SoundThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Fabeku Fatunmise (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Marketers know that the senses play a big role in how we are attracted and what we ultimately buy. But the impact of our sensory [...]
Creating a Boutique Business
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Creating a Boutique BusinessThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Sarah Petty (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes The term boutique is often associated with fashion or beauty related businesses, but it's a concept that can apply to any business. Case in point [...]
How To Increase Landing Page Conversion
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
How To Increase Landing Page ConversionThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Rick Perreault and Oli Gardner of Unbounce (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Landing pages, those web pages you create and use to entice visitors to take a single action, have [...]
Sprouter Is Growing Start-up Business Connections
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Sprouter Is Growing Start-up Business ConnectionsThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Sarah Prevette (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Sarah Prevette, the CEO and Founder of Sprouter and professional [...]
How Evernote Is Changing the Free Model
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
How Evernote Is Changing the Free ModelThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Phil Libin (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes For this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I had the chance to visit with Evernote CEO Phil Libin. Evernote is [...]
Color As Branding Element
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Color As Branding ElementThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Kate Smith (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Color has built in meaning and symbolism and can be a strong element of your brand when used strategically. In this episode of the Duct [...]
Social Media Makes Email Even Stronger
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Social Media Makes Email Even StrongerThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Gail Goodman (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes This week's guest on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Gail Goodman, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of leading email marketing service [...]
Talking Little Things with Tom Peters
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Talking Little Things with Tom PetersThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Tom Peters (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is management consultant and author of a dozens of books, including the [...]
What Does Open Leadership Look Like?
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What Does Open Leadership Look Like?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Charlene Li (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is former Forrester analyst, founder of the Altimeter Group and author [...]
Power Friending Podcast
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Power Friending PodcastThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Amber MacArthur (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Amber Mac, online video celebrity and author of Power Friending - Demystifying Social Media [...]
Are You Delivering Happiness?
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Are You Delivering Happiness?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Tony Hsieh (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for today's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Tony Hsieh, CEO of the billion dollar company Zappos. Tony describes Zappos as [...]
Is SEO Copywriting Just Good Copywriting?
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Is SEO Copywriting Just Good Copywriting?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Brian Clark (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Brian Clark, publisher of the best blog around on copywriting (my [...]
The Marketing Funnel Is Broken
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The Marketing Funnel Is BrokenThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Joseph Jaffe (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Marketers have used the metaphor of the marketing funnel for decades. The idea being to draw lots of leads into the very big open [...]
Marketing in the Age of Google
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Marketing in the Age of GoogleThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Vanessa Fox (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is ex Googler Vanessa Fox. Fox is the author of Marketing in the [...]
SOBCon Founder Liz Strauss on Virtual and Concrete
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
SOBCon Founder Liz Strauss on Virtual and ConcreteThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Liz Strauss (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Liz Strauss, CEO and founder of SOBCon and author of [...]
Do You Fascinate?
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Do You Fascinate?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Sally Hogshead (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Why are you captivated by some people, but not others? Why do you recall some brands, yet forget the rest? In a distracted and overcrowded world, how do [...]
Changes Come to Yelp
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Changes Come to YelpThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Luther Lowe (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes The online review site Yelp has come under fire of late for practices that have been described by some small business owners as heavy handed in an [...]
Making Ideas Happen
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Making Ideas HappenThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Scott Belsky (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Many business owners, particularly the more creative, are good at making ideas, but not always so good at making those ideas happen. For this episode of the Duct [...]
Groupon Founder Talks About Success and Growth
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Groupon Founder Talks About Success and GrowthThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Andrew Mason (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes This week's guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Groupon founder Andrew Mason. Groupon is a very unique service that allows individuals to [...]
REWORK Podcast with Jason Fried
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REWORK Podcast with Jason FriedThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Jason Fried (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes 37 Signals is a company that most online service providers would love to be like. From day one the creators of Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise and Campfire, [...]
Author of Book Yourself Solid Visits Referral Week
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Author of Book Yourself Solid Visits Referral WeekThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest podcast featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses - check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 Marketing podcast with [...]
Author of Word of Mouth Marketing Visits Referral Week
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Author of Word of Mouth Marketing Visits Referral WeekThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 Marketing podcast [...]
What's on the Back of Your Napkin?
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What's on the Back of Your Napkin?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Dan Roam (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download - Subscribe now via iTunes Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin, thinks that any problem can be solved with a picture. And that anybody can draw [...]
Made to Switch with Chip Heath
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Made to Switch with Chip HeathThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Chip Heath (Click to play or right click and "Save As" to download) - Subscribe now via iTunes Hopefully you recognize the title of this post as a play on Chip and Dan Heath's wildly popular book Made to Stick and the recently [...]
Your Business Is Worthless if It Depends on You
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ShareYour Business Is Worthless if It Depends on YouThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with John Warrillow (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download - subscribe now via iTunes The title of this post might sound like fighting words for some, I mean, you work and sweat and pour your life into [...]
PR is Only Dying If It Isn't Evolving
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SharePR is Only Dying If It Isn't EvolvingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Brian Solis (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download - subscribe now via iTunes
For this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I asked Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks and co-author of Putting the Public Back in [...]
Analytics from a Really Smart Guy
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Analytics from a Really Smart GuyThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Avinash Kaushik (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download - subscribe now via iTunes
Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0 is one of those rare people who can take a somewhat dry and mathlike subject of web analytics [...]
Talking Linchpin with Seth Godin
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ShareTalking Linchpin with Seth GodinThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Seth Godin (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download - subscribe now via iTunes I had the pleasure of visiting with Seth Godin for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Seth's new book Linchpin is out today and, as [...]