Drop The Mic with Jason Hunt

In today's digital landscape, where online visibility is paramount, businesses of all sizes strive to maximize their reach and attract potential customers. While various marketing techniques can help achieve this goal, none are as effective and influential as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The art of SEO encompasses a set of proven strategies that enable businesses to improve their search engine rankings, boost organic traffic, and ultimately increase sales and leads. To help us better understand this topic, we host Brandon Leibowitz from SEO Optimizers.

SEO has evolved significantly over the years, adapting to the ever-changing algorithms and practices of search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. It has become a multifaceted discipline that combines technical expertise, analytical skills, and creative thinking. At its core, SEO aims to optimize a website's structure, content, and online presence to ensure its visibility and relevance to search engine users.

Time Codes

Are you doing the proper AB testing for your business? In today's episode, we discuss how to perform advanced AB testing while considering the original lead source and publisher. Our guest expert today is Jeff Schaffer.

Jeff's career background: He has been in the sales and marketing industry for the past two decades. In the recent past, he worked with a digital ad company with a focus on e-commerce, site development, and performance marketing.

What is AB Testing: Jeff describes AB Testing as the effort to test multiple subject areas to figure out the most effective for a given target audience through email marketing. He further explains that the common metrics for AB Testing include open rate and click-through rate, which makes email unique in email testing. He observes that organizations with multiple traffic sources rarely note the actual publisher source of the leads. As a result, AB Testing is done to determine the most strategic approach for pushing subject lines and creative aspects to the ideal customer profile. Our guest expert says that email is key in AB Testing because it helps segment the audience to determine the publisher source of the leads. He further explains that an alternative AB Testing focuses less on click-through rate and more on the call rates or the degree of intent for the response. It is essential to integrate email into the call tracking systems of the company to measure a customer's intent during the initial call. Jeff decries that knowledge on the source of traffic and customer journey still limits AB testing among many organizations. As such, he underscores the need to clearly understand the original source of traffic, which in turn helps to understand the customer journey.

Time Codes

Do you have a podcast for your business? Is it a profitable one? Today's episode discusses how to grow your business with a profitable podcast. Our subject matter expert today is Harry Morton. As a CEO & Founder of Lower Street, he helps agencies, startups, and enterprises launch next-level podcasts that actually make money and build their brands.

His journey in podcasting: With a music technology and audio academic background, Harry started in post-production before transitioning into sales and marketing. His desire to always own a business inspired him to establish a podcasting agency in 2006 with the goal of helping companies tell their stories through audio. He does not have a podcast because they have concentrated on developing podcasts for clients.

Benefits of a business starting a podcast: Harry says podcasting is for the long haul, not quick sales. This means the business often takes a long time to gain traction and grow meaningful relationships with the target audience for the desired ROI. He disqualifies podcasting as a channel of instant lead generation but lauds it as perfect for networking and account-based marketing. The feedback from the ideal customer profile is often valuable for the growth of the business. In addition, it allows the podcaster to gain knowledge from subject matter experts who come on as guests. These guests also become part of the business ecosystem because they get to learn about your product or service offering.

What is a profitable podcast: Our guest expert explains that how to measure the success of your show in podcasting varies from one individual to another, depending on their goals. While one podcaster may be after increasing the lifetime value of their customers, another may be simply seeking to develop strong networks with their ICP. He says that one should not launch a podcast to monetize it because the space is increasingly becoming competitive as podcasting gains traction. Instead, a non-sponsored podcast passes for a profitable podcast because it is built on authentic relationships and networks of the target audience.

How does a new podcast decide its starting point? Harry speaks to the highly competitive environment of podcasting, which translates that an individual podcast has to fight with many podcasts for the listener's ear. As such, a new podcast should focus on the target audience in terms of what they need, providing a competitive advantage.

Time codes

Which is better? Self-funding your startup or going for VC investment? Is it better to maintain the freedom as the financier of your business or sacrifice it for the benefit of greater capital from investors? In this episode, we host Dan Roberge as he unpacks self-funding and VC investment pros and cons. Dan Roberge is a results-driven President and CEO of Maintenance Care with a key focus on sales, marketing, and product development. His extensive experience building a company from the ground up, including establishing budgets, marketing image and strategy, business culture, sales processes, support protocols, and product development tailored to industry needs, makes him a great resource for startups.

Dan's career background: His passion for the creative side of things originated from his academic background in film. He started with marketing for client companies before he established his own company with his wife. Dan started as the marketing person for their startup before they could bring on board a team as the company scaled. 

When did he have the epiphany to start his own business: He first founded a wedding video company upon graduating from film school. With his spouse as a partner, they then launched a small advertising company from his long-held desire to be a founder. Due to cash flow challenges associated with a self-funded startup, he would seek employment in the insurance industry as a marketer. (Having your own business allows you to see the impact of your work directly).

Did his startup use self-funding or VC investment: Dan explains that their startup utilized the self-funding option instead of VC investment. They yearned for freedom from taking charge of their business establishment. However, Dan reckons that the self-funding model presented often hits its peak. As such, the founders must make tough decisions to adopt the VC investment model. (The funding path you choose depends on your ultimate goal).

Demerits of self-funding your startup: Dan reveals that cash flow problems with the self-funding model forced them to mortgage their house up to three times. In this regard, he risked the equity he had built for his house to grow his maintenance care startup. Although they started their company in 2003, Dan reveals that the business did not register any organic income for the next 5 years. This was because of the initial low adoption of computers in the maintenance industry. However, the founder's persistence in him saw him continue running the company until the marketplace was ideal for business. (When self-funded, you have to risk everything and be aware that you could lose everything at any moment).

Time Codes

In today’s episode, we host Aaron and Matt, two subject-matter experts in the Google business profile space. Appropriately, today’s topic is about leveraging your Google business profile for local SEO. 

Aaron and Matt’s career background: They met in 2019 while consulting before Aaron became an equal shareholder at Matt’s company. Aaron gained immense marketing experience from a young age at his family-owned business. He got inspired to become a serial entrepreneur, launching a design studio, game cafés, and video-game lounge. He handled many marketing for these businesses and helped various local businesses with their marketing efforts.

What is Google business profile: Matt unpacks Google business profile, describing it as the first point of contact for a new client with a business upon searching on Google. In this regard, business profiles are the most prominent on the web, which plays a big role in giving the business visibility. To optimize Google business profile, Aaron recommends that a business should first take ownership of the profile. Consequently, they should provide the catalog of products and services that the business offers so that they reflect on Google search results.

Techniques for ranking high your Google business profile: In order to gain a competitive advantage through top ranking on Google, Aaron advises that you should get it right with your service category. He also recommends adding other relevant service categories but taking great care to capture Google’s top ranking. (The low-hanging fruit is to list all your list of services and product offerings).

How to optimize SEO on Google business profile: Matt indicates the hours of operation for a business as a major SEO keyword on Google business profile. This is crucial because a customer searching for a specific business near them will first get results for business in operation at the time. Secondly, he notes the stream of reviews that benefit from Google links, QR codes, and positive reviews from customers. He argues that recent reviews are more beneficial than old ones, reassuring customers that they are getting value for their money. Aaron expounds on the keyword tools to leverage, including ChatGPT and SM rationing. It helps to maintain consistency in posting on the Google business profile and keeping in touch with customer reviews. Furthermore, it is important to provide relevant captions for images for Google to capture the content. (For great results, you don’t brush your teeth all day once a year; rather, every day: the goal is consistency in posting and updating).

Duplicating content from other third-party social media platforms: Matt argues that it is important to have a strategy around content duplicity. He notes that there are various tools to help with cross-promotion, tailoring every message appropriately to specific platforms. Aaron adds that the perfect scenario would be creating specific content for each platform. However, due to limited time, scope, and budget, he recommends that a business duplicate content with care for starters.

Time codes

Darin Dawson is on a mission to rehumanize the planet and wants to start with your business. He believes that human beings have intrinsic value. Each person deserves to be seen, heard, and understood. That's why he co-founded BombBomb. BombBomb enables everyone in their organization to easily record, send, and track personal videos so that they can break through the digital noise, build human connection, and get a "yes" faster and more often.

What is BombBomb: The inspiration to establish the video-sharing platform came about in 2006. They sought to create a platform for sending marketing videos and text and making presentations while maintaining the human element in the communication. Their ideal customer profile was individuals with complex products and technological know-how but depended on other professionals for marketing communication. These included real estate agents, mortgage professionals, insurers, and lawyers, among other professionals. Other clientele include landscapers, consulting companies, and some Fortune 500 companies. Today, BombBomb has a large geographical reach in about 48 countries with over 100,000 companies. 

Unique features of BombBomb – BombBomb allows the user to know if the recipient actually received the sent message/email. It thus helps the marketer figure out their engagement and tailors the message appropriately. In addition, BombBomb gives the user greater confidence with their video message because they focus on the human dynamic in front of the camera. The user's confidence grows with time as they create more and more bomb bombs. It reflects the growing importance of leveraging new communication media in the digital space to position as a known trusted source in a given niche.

BombBomb users' usage curve: Our guest expert underscores the role of human reciprocity in today's digital communication. Video content-sharing platforms such as BombBomb strive to eliminate the robotic feel of messages, whose authenticity ensures that the recipient offers feedback. As such, more people are willing to reciprocate the communication with more BombBomb usage. (There is no reciprocity for robots).

The journey of BombBomb products over the last five years: Darin says that they have experienced an increased uptake over the previous 5 years. During the Covid-19 pandemic period, the product experience increased usage because many people were forced to use video communication from their homes. However, the inconsistent nature of human beings meant that people returned to their old communication habits as the pandemic eased. (Consistency is how we win in business, but people are not often consistent). The company has introduced a new feature of BombBomb that offers marketing automation with evergreen video sequences with a human feel.

The role of artificial intelligence in BombBomb: Our guest insists that they are keen on maintaining the human element in their video and text communications. As such, they leverage artificial intelligence to be more efficient, consistent, relevant, and timely. For instance, AI can help generate video scripts for the target audience. Also, AI algorithms can help with transcribed data and comparing transcripts to figure out the most suitable for a given video. (AI is crucial in helping people to become the best they can be on the go for their industry using best practices).

Time Codes

(0:01) Introduction to today's topic and guest expert

(0:45) What is BombBomb:

(04:57) Unique features of BombBomb

(09:11) The curve of usage of BombBomb users

(12:35) The journey of BombBomb product over the last 5 years

(16:00) The role of artificial intelligence in BombBomb

(20:16) Key metric for BombBomb

(23:05) Other areas of usage for BombBomb

 (25:25) BombBomb in the next 5 years (27:17) Darin's contact information

(27:38) Darin's choice of brand ambassador

How wonderful would it be to grow your business while working fewer hours? In episode 184, we discuss how to be in execution mode 60 percent of the time. Our guest expert today, Kris Ward, is a Team Building And Systems Strategist who creates a movement where your business supports your life instead of consuming it. Kris founded the Win The Hour, Win the Day philosophy.

Kris has shared the stage with Jack Canfield - Chicken Soup For The Soul, Kevin Harrington, original Shark from Shark Tank, and Joe Theismann - NFL All-star and commentator, to name a few. Kris has also been featured on award-winning podcasts, radio and TV shows. She shares some of the tried and tested tactics for crashing your demand schedule while growing your profits.

Kris’ career background and journey - As a founder entrepreneur, she used to work round the clock for the business. However, her husband and biggest fan discouraged her from stealing from sleep. Over time, she managed to cut down from 16 hours a day to 6 hours. She now believes that your business should support your life instead of consume you.

Why do people work long hours - Kris observes that founders often strive to do right for their startups to grow their business. However, she argues that it is more beneficial to become more strategic than doing the grind. In this regard, operating strategically enables the business to scale.

Breaking the work addiction to becoming strategic - Our guest expert notes that most people lack the skills to use their calendars. Consequently, they do not include their work on the calendar, resulting in great to-do lists. Furthermore, Kris advises that every founder should seek help by hiring people for specific roles. Instead of following the conventional top-bottom way of business management, she favors an arrangement where the founder grants autonomy and independence to his or her professional employees. The founder is relieved of time by leveraging super toolkits because the professionals manage the business instead of the reverse. Generally, Kris follows the three pillars of Team, Time, and Toolkits that enable a business to scale.

Key Time Codes

In episode 183, we discuss using first and zero-party data to improve customer lifetime value. Our guest expert today is Valentin Radu, a seasoned entrepreneur who particularly likes customer value. Valentin Radu is the Founder and CEO of Omniconvert, a growth enabler for mid-size DTC eCommerce and retail companies looking to increase customer lifetime value and decrease customer acquisition costs.

Valentin's career journey – He has been an entrepreneur for a long time, working with four companies in Romania. In time, he has gained valuable experience crafting better digital journeys and improving conversion rates and customer lifetime value. Nowadays, his company serves hundreds of companies by gathering zero and first-timer party data to improve customer lifetime value. (Way too many marketers rely on paid media and acquisition rather than full lifecycle marketing).

Role of customer trust in customer lifetime value – A business often has a longer value when the customer knows, likes, and trusts them. A business can lower customer acquisition costs by leveraging first and zero-party data.

Time codes

Personal branding is the practice of creating and promoting a unique image or identity for oneself to establish a memorable and distinctive reputation. It involves defining who you are, what you stand for, and what sets you apart from others in your field or industry. With the increasing importance of social media and online presence, personal branding has become an essential tool for professionals looking to build their careers, establish their expertise, and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. A strong personal brand can help you attract new clients, secure job opportunities, and build a network of loyal followers who recognize and respect your value. In short, personal branding is the art of marketing yourself and your skills in an authentic, compelling, and unforgettable way. Just like companies create brand identities to stand out in the marketplace, individuals can also cultivate a personal brand to distinguish themselves in their personal and professional lives. 

A strong personal brand can help you build trust with others, establish credibility in your field, and open up new opportunities. In today's digital age, where social media and online presence play a significant role in shaping how we are perceived, personal branding has become an essential tool for anyone who wants to succeed and make a lasting impression. In today's episode, we discuss the importance of personal branding and the three simple strategies to create millions in revenue. We are privileged to talk with Dylan, the most appropriate authority on this subject matter. 

Timecodes

Are you leveraging modern digital experiences? Do you understand the existing gaps in creating modern digital experiences? We are talking with Shamir, the digital transformation guru, to do justice to this subject matter. Shamir is with Smart Panda Labs helping marketers get started with digital transformation. During his years in marketing, Shamir held leadership roles with Southwest Airlines, Disney, and NBC Universal. He discovered his love for the technical aspect of things back in the 1990s while working in marketing and research. (Having been at the right time at the right place with the right skill set, things all came together for me).

What is modern Digital Transformation - Shamir defines modern digital transformation as the customer experience that users expect when interacting with products or services online. It is what a company must do to align itself to start delivering to customers through the Internet. The transformation entails tweaking your technological back end to be able to deliver the modern digital customer experience that people expect.

Challenges in implementing digital transformation  - Our guest expert observes that the fear of the IT side of things among most marketers is often the major hindrance in undertaking digital transformation. That fear has the negative effect of denying oneself and customers the opportunity to have an experience that can lower the acquisition cost and derive value.

Example of digital transformation success story - Shamir cites Emirates.com as a success story in modern digital transformation. On their website, they have captured up-to-date information for the visitor. People know what exactly to expect when doing business with them because of transparency and consistency. In addition, Emirates has leveraged automation on its website and social sites, which bolsters its overall customer experience. Also, their digital purchase experience is next level; the client can easily keep track of their reward points and make or modify reservations without human intervention.

Role of transparency and consistency in the digital customer experience - The goal of the customer is to find consistency in the ad and post-click. If what the customer was sold in the ad does not match reality after clicking on it, buyer friction and frustration emerge. A transparent experience is key to building customer trust and loyalty. 

Primary steps for a business performing digital transformation - He first evaluates state key digital tactics presently in use. From there, they can fill in the gap as to the transformational technological capabilities required to keep up with the changing marketplace and customer behaviour. 

Key Timecodes

• (0:29) Shamir‘s background story 
• (1:54) What is modern Digital Transformation 
• (4:20) Challenges in implementing digital transformation  
• (5:59) Example of digital transformation success story 
• (8:19) Role of Transparency and Consistency in the digital customer experience 
• (10:20) Factors for success in modern digital transformation 
• (12:26) Role of first-party data in the digital space 
• (14:50) Leveraging first-party data for digital transformation
• (17:20) Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Chatgpt on digital transformation 
• (18:44) Recommended automation tools with Chatgpt  
• (19:50) Primary steps for a business performing digital transformation 
• (21:44) Are local programs helping digital transforming continuous - 
• (23:45) Shamir’s contact information
• (24:05) Shamir’s choice of brand ambassador