Listen Now

Today's guest is a marketing strategist, a thought leader, an entrepreneur, and a certified Facebook ads expert. Joining me this week is Stirling Gardner, the Creator of Launch Perfect and CEO of Stackt Digital. In this episode, we talk about reframing your mindset around the sales pitch, working with clients who want to work with you, and the changing landscape of marketing events.  Busted Myths: Don’t just explain what someone needs, explain how you do it.  Takeaways  People will be more likely to buy from you if you give them the value of your skills up front.  Give people enough info up front to give them an “aha” moment, but not so much that they don’t need you to teach them more.  Clients are looking for your help! Don’t spend too much time overselling them on why they need your help. Focus on demonstrating your skills and abilities.  You can sort consumers into 3 main groups: The Overwhelmed Consumer, The Activist Consumer, and The Influenced Consumer. Don’t be afraid to look for a mentor.  It’s important to take care of yourself and create an environment that fosters the well-being of others. Overdelivering ≠ over teaching. It’s important to go that extra step for your clients, but if you swamp them with details, that is a quick way for them to tune out.      Quote of the Show: “The thing that you think you are called to do may not be a calling. It may be a push from your ego.” - Stirling Gardner     Shout Outs: Phillip Stutts: 3 types of consumers      Book Recommendations: So Good They Can’t Ignore You - Cal Newport https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/1455509124     Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stirlinggardner/  Website: https://stacktdigital.com/  Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/_lBLmrvl3Iw

Today's guest is a digital marketing expert, a speaker, a brand management consultant, a serial entrepreneur, and an Army vet. He’s an expert in online presence management, social media management, website design, and SEO reputation management. Joining us on the show this week is the CEO and founder of Smart Marketing, Paul Mackiewicz. In this episode, we sit down, bust some marketing myths, and talk about how you can take the pain out of curating an online presence.      Busted Myths: Myth: It's difficult to manage online marketing. So many people think that there are these massive time constraints around it, but what's fantastic is we live in a world where we have tools that can reduce the amount of time that you have to spend on this down to a couple of hours.  Takeaways: Online marketing doesn't need to be difficult. Use the tools out there to cut down on the time it takes to run your online presence.  Figuring out who you are, and what makes you/your brand different is a key to online success.  Fear of being judged is an important barrier to overcome when creating your online presence.  Digital marketing is all about the emotional response customers have when they view your brand. A strong negative emotional response can easily turn away a potential customer.  Follow up with the good and bad reviews. Following up with a good review is a great way to elevate that customer's experience, and get them to recommend your business to others. Following up with a negative review lets you show potential customers that even when things go wrong, you are willing to work to make them right.  You aren’t what happens to you in life, you are how you react to what happens to you in life, online marketing is no different. Embrace your network, you don’t need to be self-reliant all the time.      Quote of the Show: “You aren’t what happens to you in life, you are your reaction to what happens to you in life.” - Paul Mackiewicz     Shout Outs: eBrand/ZMOT Expert Dashboard  Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmotexpert/  Website: https://www.hashtag-smart.com/  Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/AK5px0o6loI 

The solutions available to marketers are always evolving through new innovation and integration and finding the right tool can seem like an immense chore. Thankfully, Scott Brinker, the creator of the MarTech 5000 and VP of Partner Ecosystem at HubSpot, has literally created the map of the MarTech wilderness and is here to guide you through it. Get ready to learn about how MarTech is both expanding and consolidating at the same time, why marketers revolve through the same channels over and over, and where the buyer’s emotions in B2B sales come from.   Busted Myths: The marketing technology industry is both being consolidated and expanding at the same time. The MarTech industry can be thought of as a very long tail with large companies at the head of the tail and further down the tail the smaller the companies get. Companies viewing the MarTech landscape do not have to make the binary decision to either go with a suite of tools from one vendor or find the best of breed for each solution. Most MarTech companies have made their products easy to integrate.   Takeaways  Emerging MarTech companies need their solutions to be able to integrate with their prospects’ core marketing automation systems. This has become a priority for them as the industry has evolved over the last decade. Because marketing needs to look at the bigger picture of the organization and have a view of the other departments, marketing also needs to be aware of, and have knowledge of, the tools that those other departments are using.  In the endless quest to break through the noise, marketers end up revolving through channels and tactics to find what is actually getting through at that point in time.  Although the tool may be considered “sales enablement”, it is often the responsibility of marketing to build out the content within for sales to use. Because marketing creates the content, they can ensure consistent messaging throughout all of the materials. The pandemic forced many salespeople to creatively engage prospects through a variety of digital channels such as video calls, online chats, virtual office hours, and social media. Your inbound marketing strategy needs to be built around the core idea that you don’t have to constantly sell your solution. If you actually help and educate prospects, when they go to make a decision, you are more likely to be in their consideration set. Closing a B2B sale is very emotional for the buyer. B2B buyers consider factors that can include their job risk, the support of their peers, the politics of the decision, and many more.    Quote of the Show: “We live, in MarTech, in a world of platform ecosystems” - Scott Brinker   Shout Outs: Frans Riemersma - Founder of MartechTribe Anyvoo - Virtual backdrop company  Jill Rowley - B2B Sales and Marketing thoughtleader  Gordon Hotchkiss - President at OOMG Consulting Clayton M. Christensen - Creator of “Jobs To Be Done” Framework   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjbrinker/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chiefmartec Blog: https://chiefmartec.com/ MartechMap.com: https://martechmap.com/int_supergraphic Company website: https://www.hubspot.com/ The MarTech Show: https://youtu.be/2Fw98UGrCpA Hacking Marketing: https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Marketing-Practices-Smarter-Innovative/dp/1119183170/ref=asc_df_1119183170/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312128454859&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=439765734653661185&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002280&hvtargid=pla-448831158462&psc=1 2022 Martech Landscape: https://chiefmartec.com/2022/05/marketing-technology-landscape-2022-search-9932-solutions-on-martechmap-com/  2020 Martech Landscape: https://chiefmartec.com/2020/04/marketing-technology-landscape-2020-martech-5000/    Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/e-N3g84Kbtw

What does branding mean to your company? Christian Klepp is the Co-Founder and Director of Client Engagement at EINBLICK Consulting and a expert on everything branding. Christian is also the host of B2B Marketers on a Mission podcast. Christian destroys misconceptions on what businesses need in order to do branding correctly, when the right time to focus on branding is, and what a brand truly is.    Busted Myths: B2B businesses need to stop thinking about branding as a nice to have that they can focus on more later when they have more money.  Just because you have salespeople does not mean you don’t need branding. Salespeople and branding are two very different things of which businesses need both. A brand is not your logo, website, ad, or swag, these are just results of branding.    Takeaways  Branding provides a company with its “blueprint”. Without the blueprint, the team that is building the house won’t know what the house is supposed to look like, even though they may be very skilled at what they do.  Branding forms the strategic framework which is needed for every aspect of the business, from marketing to sales and beyond. While marketing should have a firm grip, branding requires a larger, collective responsibility within the organization.  B2B companies have been undergoing shifts for the past five years because certain longstanding methods and practices have become less effective due to digitalization, new market entrants, and competitors. Results for brand effectiveness cannot be tracked using the same way that sales are tracked. Branding is an investment that is made now in order to reap long-term gains.  Your brand is a collection of perceptions that your customers, stakeholders, and partners have of your company, your product or service, and your company’s values.  Branding starts with a verbal expression of the brand. This begins with the mission, vision, and values of the brand. Then consider your positioning, or the perception you want others in the market to have about your company. Next, examine your value proposition, that is, what you are delivering to your customers that is of value to them.  To decide whether something is of value to your customers, determine if it is helpful, useful, and meaningful to them. You can use HUM as an easy way to remember this. When determining what clients to target, consider which accounts have been the most profitable for the company, have worked with the company the longest, and have recommended the company and its services to others? To do branding correctly, you need to answer these two questions. Who is your target audience? Why are they the right fit for what you offer? Then research the market to understand where your customers search for answers. Finally, talk to your customers! The B2B buyers’ journey is complex, so it’s important to know which stakeholders are involved at each step. Categorize your stakeholders as champions, influencers, and blockers. Each stakeholder will care about different things, so message accordingly.   Quote of the Show: “A brand is a living, breathing thing” - Christian Klepp   Shout Outs: Mark Stouse - Episode 85 of B2B Marketers on a Mission: https://youtu.be/UliiB4eseV8 David McClean    Book Recommendations: Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-klepp-einblickconsulting/ Podcast: https://www.einblick.co/podcasts Company website: https://www.einblick.co/   Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/I-UxZXGWXlo

Increase the efficiency of your marketing efforts without needing a massive budget, a giant team, or a household brand. Cameron Heffernan is a marketing industry expert and is flipping the script on marketing thought. This episode features some great discussion around what your content should provide your audience with. You’ll hear about fostering curiosity amongst your team, how to understand your audience, and learn the three basic components of marketing.   Busted Myths: You don’t need an enormous budget, a huge team, or a well-known brand to do marketing correctly.  If you are confident in your product-market fit and what you are offering to the market, you shouldn’t be afraid to show your competitors that information.    Takeaways Most of marketing relies on knowledge that is easy to learn on your own if you are curious and willing to put in the time. Marketers need to develop that curiosity within their teams. Your marketing efforts need to be creative, engaging, and genuine. It doesn’t cost more to infuse these three things in your marketing but it does make it much more effective. Your content should be something that consumers actually want. You need to provide them with value multiple times before asking for something from them in return. Give people value without expecting anything in return. You need to have a deep understanding of your audience in order to provide them with content that actually has value to them. Understand the full scope of your B2B customers’ businesses and also what their customers are looking for. Using surveys can be an effective way to learn about your customers and it doesn’t have to be an overly complicated process. Even three questions on social media can provide you with valuable insights into your customers.  Marketers need to look for opportunities that have hidden value, even if they clash with convention. Using different tactics will help marketers become more efficient. There are three simple components to marketing which can be simplified down to getting the right message to the right people at the right time. Hold off on sending the message until you have metrics in place to measure its success.   Quote of the Show: “It doesn’t really cost you more to be creative” - Cameron Heffernan    Shout Outs: How I Built This - Podcast Brian Gabrielson   Book Recommendations: Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk   Inc. Magazine   Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronInPR LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronjh/ Website: https://www.newgigsolutions.com/   Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/mBVm5LrgxhU  

So many teams want to start generating leads before getting any kind of marketing plan in place, but that leads to sales and marketing getting misaligned. Natalie Nathanson is here to help realign your company and streamline the planning process so you can crush your objectives. Get ready to learn about the Three M’s your marketing plan needs to have, how to use data for informed execution, and reach your audience with content in their favorite format.   Busted Myths:   You need a marketing strategy in place before trying to generate leads! Without a game plan, you’ll get stuck in a cycle of wasting time and resources. When people want to skip creating a plan, it’s likely prompted by a lack of understanding of marketing. Takeaways    In B2B marketing especially, terms can have different meanings to sales and marketing which can lead to misalignment on the goals and methods. Make sure everyone has the same understanding of what qualifies as a lead. Creating a marketing strategy for your company should address both the short-term needs of the company and the long-term initiatives that push the company where it wants to go. When creating a good marketing strategy for an initiative, you need to know the Three M’s which are the market being targeted, the message of the initiative, and the mechanism to run the initiative.  The length and format of a marketing plan really depend on the scope of the initiative, however, it should always answer what needs to be deployed and what does success look like? Using informed execution relies on testing smaller ideas to provide initial indicators of what’s working during the planning phase of a campaign so that once it is time to execute the larger plan, it can be based on the data from the prior experiments. Your marketing plan needs to be flexible to accommodate the blistering pace of change in the world of marketing. Create good content in the format that your audience prefers to consume content in whether it be written, video, podcast, etc.   Quote of the Show:   “Long gone are the days of putting together a 12-month roadmap and then executing one month at a time until you get to the end” - Natalie Nathanson   Shout Outs:   Women Presidents Organization Entrepreneurs’ Organization The Marketing Book Podcast The Trojan Horse Affair Podcast   Book Recommendations:   Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni   Links:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalienathanson/ Email: natalie@magnetudeconsulting.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/nnathanson Company website: https://www.magnetudeconsulting.com/ Ways to Tune In:   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/hIAZvYFp5zg

It’s time to move on from the worn-out advertising practices of the past and look for ways to entertain consumers, rather than annoy them. Zack Slingsby is a leading voice in the growing world of branded content and will fill you in on what you're missing out on. You’ll get the inside track on designing, creating, and deploying evergreen content for your brand. Buckle up for a wild ride into the future of advertising as you explore how to create stories, build connections with consumers, and build out the long-term strategy for your marketing.   Busted Myths:   If you want to sell a product, you can do a lot more than just talk about your product and every single feature of it. “You won’t convince people with adjectives.” The “Mad Men” era is over. You can’t expect success from just running commercials like in the 1960s-90s, you need to put on a show for people. Without adapting, you are burning your ad spend.  Takeaways    Brands can build more loyalty with consumers if they genuinely entertain them through engaging branded content. This bypasses the traditional model of brands needing to interrupt the consumers’ leisure activities with annoying ads.  Traditional ad content has a relatively short shelf life when it can produce ROI, and once it expires, that company has to go through all of the same pains to create new short-term ad content. Longer form branded content possesses much stronger staying power. Creating a story is different than creating an ad. A story is not about a product. A story is fundamentally about people. Your story should be appealing to human beings and should speak to them as such, instead of as customers. The difference between a story and a plot is that a story recounts events that happened, whereas a plot conveys how the consequences of one event lead to another event. While effective in the short term, your brand needs more than product differentiation for its long-term survival. Avoid getting caught in the trap of thinking that your content has to be very short. If it’s compelling enough and speaks to people as people, the audience will enjoy consuming it regardless of length. If you’re trying to jam a narrator speedreading a big script into a 20-second piece of content, you aren’t actually trying to entertain your audience. Good content should be allowed to breathe.     Quote of the Show:   “Now, brands are turning out to be these stages for creativity” - Zack Slingsby     Shout Outs:   JustSo - Content creation team that works with Red Bull Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster Mark & Jay Duplass - Independent filmmakers Links:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-slingsby-702461164/ Email: zack@humanfactormedia.co Company website: https://humanfactormedia.co/ Why Aren't You Famous: Silent Teaser: https://youtu.be/wDHDQC-Tjo0 Company Projects: https://humanfactormedia.co/our-work/ Ways to Tune In:   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/f1ROd5olAV4

Grow your website’s traffic and your company’s sales by understanding the nuances behind using affiliate marketing. Brook Schaaf is an industry expert and is breaking down the walls around what affiliate marketing really is. In this episode, you’ll learn about the extent of how impactful offering coupons can be, the changing ways that consumers shop, and how to implement affiliate marketing for your company.   Busted Myths: Coupons and rewards sites do add value and merchants should work with them. It’s too simple to say that the customer would have bought anyway without the coupon or affiliate marketing program. Affiliate marketing is a huge ecosystem that is more than just coupons and reward programs. Consumer reports and Wirecutter are examples of affiliate marketing in the form of “commerce content”.   Takeaways: Customers today are always on the lookout for deals, especially when shopping online, with 69% of millennials not completing a purchase until after searching for a deal. Coupons have been shown to decrease shopping cart abandonment and raise cart size. The established deal sites, such as Honey or Rakuten, have an immense amount of traffic and many consumers begin their searches there. By working with these sites, your company will have access to that existing traffic. People from all socioeconomic backgrounds love to find deals. For some, it is more need-based, while others find it to be a competitive outlet. For a merchant to begin using affiliate marketing, they need to choose a tracking provider, then hire a program manager, choose the type of affiliates they want to work with, figure out the commission structure, and settle on a discount strategy. Your discount strategy should be more dynamic than a single, evergreen coupon. You can use gift with purchase, credit with purchase, percentage off with a certain cart value, discount a specific product, etc. Get creative and get dynamic with your discounts. For affiliates, the industry around affiliate marketing has evolved over the last decade or two. At first, it relied on some quirky misfits, however, it has become very corporate as the money behind it has grown drastically. More than with any other channel, the merchant can control the terms, level of commission, etc. of an affiliate program.    Quote of the Show: “People play different games for different prizes. You’ve got to figure out their game and figure out their prize” - Brook Schaaf    Book Recommendations: The City of God by Saint Augustine More Than Words by John Howard Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel S. F. Heller The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida Online Great Books - Bookclub The Bible in a Year - Podcast   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookschaaf/ Email: brook@fmtc.co Website: https://www.fmtc.co/ Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/2UIyBx6hlwE

Get your content strategy on the right track to capture the right traffic and serve up the right leads to your sales team. Caleb Rule, The Great Filter, shares his perspective on the fierce debate around whether or not to gate your content and how this decision impacts revenue. Good luck trying to absorb everything Caleb has uncovered including which forms are evil and which aren’t, what data is the most valuable for your company, and how to make old content new again.   Busted Myths: The “ungate all of your content” movement is overrated! It is not the end all be all that many have purported it to be. There are other things that you can do that will have a greater impact on revenue.  Takeaways: Many of the influential voices online behind the movement to ungate all content are in the SaaS space. Oftentimes, their proposed solutions point back to their company’s product. Note, that the SaaS buyers’ journeys are much different than most industries. Forms are not evil! The poor customer experience that companies provide alongside forms, such as content that is not valuable and spammy nurture campaigns that someone didn’t sign up for, are evil.   A good form should take 5-30 seconds to complete at the most. This is aided by the fact that an embedded form should be auto-completing from the browser cutting the time further. Think about what you really need from the form, it’s probably just their email. Tracking without forms is not reliable, because it lets you see that people keep coming back to your website, but you don’t actually know who they are. Because of that, your Cost of Acquisition will rise from constantly remarketing to the same anonymous visitors. If your company does not see marketing as a revenue driver, then your company has bigger issues. Similarly, do not just change your content strategy if there are bigger problems in your company that need to be fixed first. First-party data is still the best kind of data you could have. This means that someone has voluntarily given you their information with the knowledge that you will contact them. It’s important to know what your content is and make sure that it is worth the “cost” of someone giving you their information. You also need to know what content is influencing prospects and what isn’t. If the content isn’t impacting anyone, deleting it can help SEO. Bundle your content! You can bundle together old content that is still relevant with new content. Repurpose old content that has performed well in the past into a different, fresh format.   Quote of the Show: “If you fill out a form and the content is not worth the price that you paid, which is your information, that’s evil” - Caleb Rule   Shout Outs: Chris Walker - Guest on HCM Show Episode #163 Angela Earl - Guest on HCM Show Episode #209 Latané Conant - Author of No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebrule/ Website: https://ruleyourcompetition.com/ Website: https://www.pedowitzgroup.com/  Personal Website: https://calebrule.com/ Caleb’s Un-Gating VS Gating Blog Post: https://www.pedowitzgroup.com/examining-ungated-vs-gated-content/ Bundled Content: https://www.pedowitzgroup.com/resources/trending-topics/ Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/1AHb8eu_DnE

Start bringing higher quality traffic that will convert to your website all while ditching Cost per Lead as your main metric. Chris Mechanic is a bottomless well of web optimization strategies and is sharing how to better use existing ad platforms to boost your conversion. You’ll hear about implementing revenue driven optimization, bidding on customers instead of clicks, and cultivating post click experiences that generate valuable data signals.   Busted Myths:   Cost per Lead is a useless metric. Once a metric becomes a target it becomes useless. You need to elevate your stack to a point where you’re bidding on customers instead of clicks or impressions and use this to measure your programs. Takeaways    Because of the amount of information that walled gardens and their algorithms have access to, you need to use them for optimization. In the long run, they will be much better at optimization than you trying to do it manually. CEOs need to change their perspective from seeing marketing as an expense and a large cost center to seeing the profit center that it really is and can be. To move on from CPL, there are a few different phases of maturity to go through. The first phase is mapping out your funnel at the most basic level and then looking at the costs of each outcome on highest spending platforms. The second step is to think about the data signals being generated such as clicking an ad, activating a field, navigating a page, etc. These data signals can then be associated with a secondary funnel and fed back into the platforms to train the algorithms better. Mark the data signals that are easy to access and track as green and those that are harder to get as red. Feed the easily accessible, green signals into the platforms to increase converting traffic. When bidding on clicks, set up a “zombie scrubber” which uses a data signal to tell the platform that a specific click is not a zombie. Once the platform knows the click parameters and what zombies are, you can create a new campaign for not zombies. Scroll depth is a great and easy way to determine if someone is a zombie or not. For smaller landing pages, set the scroll depth to 100% or set it to 25-50% for larger landing pages.  When developing landing pages, make them interactive and visual. When you ask questions on the landing page, make sure they are relevant to the context of the click and don’t contain PII. Ask your sales team what questions they ask aside from name and email. When you create a landing page, ask those same questions to help your sales team gather more of the data they need for a lead. This will help you generate higher qualified leads.   Quote of the Show: “If you can transcend to a point where you’re literally bidding on customers instead of on clicks and you’re measuring you’re programs that way, that is the holy grail right there” - Chris Mechanic   Shout Outs:   Dennis Yu   Book Recommendations:   Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz   Links:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismechanic/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrismechanic Company website: https://www.webmechanix.com/ Podcast: https://www.webmechanix.com/3-minute-marketing/ Ways to Tune In:   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/uPNck1mR7eE

Get ready to start engaging with your customers through your ideas rather than your product. Here to teach you about improving the effectiveness of your marketing is Ben Worthen. You’ll learn about what separates your idea store from your product store and why this provides more value to your customers. Prepare to find out what happens when you judge success by the outcome for the client, how to connect with your customers, and what your content desperately needs.   Busted Myths: The best way to sell your product is not to just talk about your product! This is what 90% of advertising is today and people have gotten good at filtering out this noise. There are cases when this is effective, but on the whole it is used inappropriately. Talk about what people do with their lives when they aren’t in buying mode.   Takeaways: So many in marketing are afraid of engaging in one on one conversations with their customers and would rather just try and cast a huge net and hope to bring in a few customers. Talk to your customers! Find out what they are interested in. By engaging with your customers and focusing on what they really care about, you create a relationship with them outside of your product that you can foster and grow which will lead them back to you when they are ready to buy. There are two questions customers ask when making a thoughtful purchase: 1. How does someone like me solve this problem that I can relate to?; 2.What information can help me make better decisions? The story behind a brand is one of the deciding factors for many customers when they are comparing products which have the same or similar attributes. The people who become repeat customers of your ideas will continue to come back to you and engage with other ideas of yours and will eventually become aware of your product and are more likely to purchase them.  When creating content, ask yourself, “who is going to care about this?” You should focus your content on providing the most value to the people who are going to consume it.  Talking about a vision of what’s possible is much more engaging to people than rattling off product attributes one after the other. Content aimed at providing value to very knowledgeable customers, should be written as if they are hearing it from a peer. The content should be relatable to that target and correspond to their level of expertise on the topic. Avoid trying to make it very broad.   Quote of the Show: “People who engage with your ideas are more likely to become customers of your product at some later point” - Ben Worthen “Get people to think about success, not as, ‘did you sell something’, but ‘did you engage someone?’” - Ben Worthen   Shout Outs: Ezra Klein Show - Podcast for the NY Times hosted by Ezra Klein Imaginary Tent Company Meta4 Time tracking Software   Book Recommendations: Big Ponderously Long Biographies - Esteemed Author   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benworthen/ Website: https://messagelab.com/  Ways to Tune In: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/IloTD7NcnZU

Creating content is something we have all at least put some time into, but many of us have never truly start and that is what Nick Bennett is here with us to talk about this week! Being a part of a team that allows you to feel empowered to create your own content is incredibly important, both for your team and yourself. Nick dives deep into what your content should be doing for you and how you can get started creating your own!      Busted Myths:   Employers are not empowering their employees to create content. Takeaways   If you aren’t empowering your employees to create content then you are missing out on plenty of opportunities. Creating your own content is a great form of personal branding and field marketing. Content creation can act as a stepping stone from one opportunity to another. It’s ok to start slow with creating your content, its not recommended to jump right into doing it every day from the start. If you aren’t ready to start creating content then go find someone else’s and learn from it If you’re the first person to consistently respond to the content that someone else is putting out, then you’re the first person everyone else sees too.  Content creation lets you create your own community that follow you, giving you new ideas and responding to what you have to say.     Quote of the Show:   “Creating content is all about creating your personal brand” - Nick Bennett Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/NickB2005 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nickbennett1 Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show

There is a lot of conversation going on about podcasts for B2B marketing, but is it hype? Is the success measurable?  Aren’t there tons of them?     Done correctly, Podcasts actually have 100% measurable $ ROI and benefits beyond that.     The presenter is Casey Cheshire, B2B marketing author, thought leader, and prolific podcaster. With decades of experience as both a CMO and entrepreneurial CEO, Casey has helped hundreds of businesses connect with their biggest customers and achieve incredible growth.     By the end of this epic presentation, you’ll be able to answer these questions: ~Why are podcasts the secret weapon for B2B growth? ~Why the audience doesn’t actually matter ~What’s measurable and what isn’t? ~What is the direct client acquisition strategy? ~What is the indirect client acquisition strategy? ~Is it true this will create ridiculous amounts of content? ~What other side bennies are there? ~What does a launch involve? How hard is it? ~How much time does it take ongoing?     Ready to learn more? Check out: ~Ringmaster's Website: https://ringmaster.com/ ~Text “LGF” 603-568-5325 ~Email: elena@ringmaster.com

If you’re looking for the golden rules when it comes to anything around public relations then this is the episode for you! Mickie Kennedy is with us, a press release and public relations expert with a vast knowledge on the subject, helping you figure out exactly how to utilize these tools that are at your disposal!      Busted Myths:    Press releases aren’t old fashion marketing that that just don't work any longer.  Takeaways   One press release can turn into many other opportunities. Writing a newsworthy release to gather media attention is the most effective way to put out reputable information. Writing your own press release can be beneficial, they have a simplistic style that you can tell in your own voice.  Press releases can be used as a way to generate interest for other larger media outlets to then generate even more interest. If you’re willing to go against what others are saying then it’s more likely that you’ll be picked up by another media outlet. If you aren’t afraid to disagree with some of the more popular opinions, then be ready to alienate some groups.  In your trade, publications are opportunities.     Quote of the Show:   “And you really should do a series of press releases, a proper PR campaign in order to see what works. And a lot of people will try a single press release. And just, take press releases off their marketing to-do list because it didn't work. And that's a shame because a proper PR campaign is like usually four to eight press releases on different strategies, hooks angles, and only then after you've done that, can you determine whether press releases are gonna work for you or not?” - Mickie Kennedy     Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/ereleases LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/publicity Website: https://www.ereleases.com/ Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/9o6-k8AJOes

Mark Raffan is here with us this week to discuss everything that you could hope to learn about content marketing and just how useful it can be. Mark is also with us to guide you through some more difficult conversations that you can find yourself in with your customers and why being honest with them is always the best way to go about those difficult conversations.      Busted Myths:   It’s not too late to start with content marketing Takeaways   The way you approach content marketing can help make you stand out from everyone else. Content marketing encompasses so many different areas, that is could be more beneficial to just focus on one at a time. The transition from marketing to sales is a conversation. Narrow down who your favorite customers are, analyze what makes them your favorite and design your strategy from them.  Keeping a consistent flow of communication with your customers will benefit everyone involved. Be open to taking criticism and learning from it so you can improve for the future.  When conflict does happen, be very careful with the words you use to help mitigate the situation as much as possible.    Quote of the Show:   “As we all know, when marketing transitions to sales, the conversations are the things that make that transition occur. And once you can start having those conversations, that becomes much easier.” - Mark Raffan Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRaffan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markraffan/ Website: contentcallout.com   Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show

There’s no better way to learn about starting your own podcast than from the expert herself, Shannon Martin! Shannon is here with us this episode to tell you that it’s not too late to start your own podcast, and what you can do to figure out how it can benefit you. Everything from your gaining an audience all the way to seeing the benefits of having your own podcast, directly and indirectly. If you’re looking to start a podcast of your own then this is the episode to check out!     Busted Myths:   It’s not too late to start your own podcast today.  Takeaways   Today there are over two million podcasts, but there are over 600 million blogs so it is definitely not too late to start your own podcast. Gaining an audience from your podcast is great, but the guest is really where the focus should be. With a growing number of podcasts, there is also an increase in listeners who are looking for podcasts with a similar theme.  For a business their focus shouldn’t be centered around gaining revenue from advertisements, but instead they can grow even larger through the connections they make. If you’re a guest on a podcast it could lead to even more connections outside from just the host. As a host you can grow your amount of connections from your guest, if they share it with others that they know are interested in the same topic or making a deal then that increases your number of guests. The majority of the revenue that a business can expect to make from their podcast will come indirectly from it, such as the deals they could make from a potential client being a guest on their show.      Quote of the Show:   “It's not that you're fighting for a piece of the pie and that there's more people fighting for that pie its that the pie is bigger because the amount of listeners listening to people, listening to podcasts and listening more regularly has also increased, significantly” - Shannon Martin     Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgingWisely LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shannonmartinwrites Website: podbean.com Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/NXXFZ4UFS34

We’re here today with Mac McIntosh to discuss what a real qualified lead is, if you’re looking for the new lead generation strategy right from the expert then this is the episode for you! Mac is also here with us to break down any common misinformation about leads so you’re only utilizing what works best.     Busted Myths:   Lists and inquiries are not leads.  Takeaways   Purchasing a database of potential leads isn’t the same as acquiring an actual lead themself.  A lead is someone who has actively shown interest already, such as visiting the website or trying to get in contact with your business. A lead is sales ready, they actively have shown you that they are interested in what you do. Sending a thoughtful gift to someone who helped you generated a lead can go a long way and helps build a great relationship. Give yourself room for an opportunity for a follow up call to keep coming back. If you’re trying to generate a lead through a phone call, it’s important not to stop just after the first call if you can’t reach them. You have to keep trying and trying.  Always question if a particular lead is worth pursuing and if you’ll get out more value than you put in.      Quote of the Show:   “You know, a chance now may not be ready to buy then, but it may be appropriate to be in touch with them now because they're getting ready to buy” - Mac McIntosh Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/B2B_Sales_Leads LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/salesleadexpert Website: sales-lead-experts.com Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/UGF6_oB_FhM  

Tim Parkin is here to give out the real truth, you can’t start to worry about your customer’s if your own employees aren’t being taken care of. Too much money is spent trying to keep your customers coming back rather than making sure those that are with you internally are also compensated for their work and time.      Busted Myths:   If you want to grow you need to focus internally rather than externally Takeaways [examples]   A lot of company spending is put into expanding and gaining more customers rather than focusing on what you have. If your team is happy then it reflects positively on your company. Internal focus leads to better external focus.  You can’t focus on your customer’s until your house is in order.  Communicate with all parties involved, internally and externally. Focus on what has already been working and capitalize on it.  Solidify objectives and key results.   Quote of the Show:   “But if you really want to grow, if you really want to have transformative success, you need to focus internally rather than externally, you need to focus on your team and your processes and your marketing rather than your customers.” - Tim Parkin Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/parkintr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marketing-consultant-tim-parkin/ Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/kHkJcKZyd7Y

Marketing is too important to be left all onto one person to take care of completely, that’s why Jessica Shirra is here today to let you know how truly important it is to have a team ready for your marketing plan! Having a group together and ready to put your marketing plan into action is where you can truly start to see the value of marketing shine!    Busted Myths:   Having just one person as your entire marketing team is enough. Takeaways   When bringing in a new marketing manager, it’s important to have them understand everything inside and out.  A senior leader should be a part of the marketing team to share their experience with the rest of the team The whole team should come together to support each other’s broader goals The closer the marketing team can work with their consumers, the higher the retention rate seems to be  Maximizing your budget and resources is crucial. It’s important to have someone that explain something in a general way that someone outside of the marketing team would understand. Work with a client who has a budget that works for you.     Quote of the Show: “It's  so important to understand how your customer talks about their pain points and their challenges so that they feel heard and they feel seen when they're seeing your marketing.” - Jessica Shirra Links   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicashirra/ Website: jessicashirra.com Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/zCwRAvWLYdQ

Here we are with Ashtan Moore! Find out right here if you’re putting more money into your marketing strategy than you’re getting out of it, and if there’s truly a demand for your product or service. There’s always a way for marketing to sell your product, but is it truly worth it if you’re not making a pay off from it? If you’re trying to figure out these answers then check out this episode!      Busted Myths:   There’s no amount of marketing that can save a product.  Takeaways   If you have a product that doesn’t have any sort of demand, then any amount of marketing won’t save it.  Marketing can potentially sell a product with very little demand, but the cost to make that happen outweighs the profit.  The top two reasons startups fail are running out of funds and no market need.  If you have a new idea, show it to the people who will be most honest with you. Family support is great, but it might not be the most accurate representation. With new ideas, be willing to take criticism, it can help you out a lot more along the way. Most startups fail because they’re putting in more than they’re getting out. Spending more money to market their product than they actually get from selling it.  If an advertisement isn’t bringing in any kind of profit, then you shouldn’t have it.      Quote of the Show:   “Marketing can sell a product that nobody wants, but it's going to cost you 10 times more than the return that you get on that sale.” - Ashtan Moore Links   Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashtanmoore LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtanmoore Ways to Tune In   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49dd Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show YouTube: https://youtu.be/QeM5Sh7Cxtw