Drop The Mic with Jason Hunt

Without a doubt, the onset of Covid 19 pandemic signaled the greatest turmoil period for lots of businesses around the globe. In today's episode, we have the honor of hosting two expert guests to get insight into the magic of the roundtable marketing system during Covid.   

David's and Kevin's journeys to being roundtable marketing experts - Kevin and David have worked together for about ten years in B2B telemarketing companies. For some time, they were successfully onboarding at least one new client every weekday. They realigned their business to a fractional CMO with a small base of lucrative clients. The onset of Covid cost them significant revenue loss, forcing them back to the market source to generate new clients. They further pivoted from promoting themselves to promoting roundtable Marketing.

Use of LinkedIn for promoting roundtable marketing awareness – Kevin says that they started by creating some events on LinkedIn and sent out invitations to their connections. They also undertook outreach programs on the platform, inviting signups to roundtables. He says that it has been their experience that it is helpful to consistently build a connections list on LinkedIn to send invites to the ideal customer profile.

Why is the roundtables marketing system more attractive to B2B - David explains that they mainly provide B2B business because they are the sort of business most predominant on LinkedIn.

The ideal size of a roundtable marketing system – Kevin argues that the number of people at a roundtable highly depends on the skills and capacity of the facilitator. The goal of the roundtable is to make it participatory for everyone. Thus it is best to keep the size manageable. As such, he drops a number between 4 and 10 people.

Tips for running an effective roundtable – David draws our attention to the need to engage the audience, right from welcoming them and through the discussion. It would help if you conversed with them about their business and its challenges while referencing them to the topic of discussion at the table.

Strategies for getting attendees to show: David lauds LinkedIn as the main contributor to successful signups following an invite (about 15%). He terms it the nature of LinkedIn for people to attend collaborative roundtables and workshops.

Incentives for inviting through other people's connections – David and Kevin explain that they seek willing partners and invite connections of partners that fit the ideal customer profile. They achieve this with the help of their own master connection database that gives the right target based on job titles, location, or industry.

Leveraging automation in building connections: David says they utilize various automation tools to determine their ICP, create outreach messaging, send out invites, and follow-up details on the event. These tools include WeConnect, Sales Flow, Apollo, and Sales Navigator.

Virtual roundtables in the post-Covid era: David explains that the roundtables product built during the Covid period has persisted even in the post-Covid period. He says that it is now commonplace for people to meet on virtual roundtables, unlike in the past when it was more of face-to-face meetings.

Key Time Codes

(1:18) Kevin and David's journey to today's roundtable marketing experts -

(4:25) Use of LinkedIn for promoting roundtable marketing awareness

(7:00) Why is the roundtables marketing system more attractive to B2B businesses

(8:00) The perfect size of a roundtable marketing system

(10:18) Tips for running an effective roundtable

(11:14) Strategies of getting attendees to show  

(14:17) Leveraging automation tools in building connections

(17:52) Virtual roundtables in the post-Covid era

(19:38) David and Kevin's contact information

Have you harnessed the power of LinkedIn ads? In today's episode, we explore the relevant subject of LinkedIn ads and their role in today's business. We are privileged to dissect this with Ben Lund. So in this episode, we ask a vital question: Do Successful LinkedIn Ad Campaigns Exist? 

Ben's journey from Rise Marketing Group to the present - Ben has always had a heart for marketing. In the mid-2000s, he got his break by working with Yahoo before proceeding to search ad campaigns. He materialized his yearning for entrepreneurship about 5 years ago and has grown from strength to strength.

How businesses can leverage LinkedIn - Ben qualifies LinkedIn as an interesting social media platform, especially for B2B businesses and other professionals. He lauds the flexibility of LinkedIn in the sense that you can target your B2B audience according to industry, revenue, and title, among other filters. Ben says that how a business uses LinkedIn greatly depends on its customer goals. While the platform may not be great for conversion-minded organizations, it is the go-to platform for awareness and consideration by the target audience. Interestingly, Ben points out that lead generation per conversion can be pricier for a business running paid ads on LinkedIn. True, LinkedIn would gladly chew your money on weekends because of the fewer people on it during that time of the week.

Industries highly successful on LinkedIn: Ben addresses himself on the million-dollar question of whether there is an audience on LinkedIn. He registers his doubts if the hospitality industry players like restaurants are on LinkedIn round the clock. He drops sound advice that you should note the availability of the audience on the platform before launching a marketing campaign. As primarily a manual media-buy platform, it does not provide for ad scheduling or automated betting.

Target audience conversion to business on LinkedIn: Our guest agrees with me that LinkedIn, compared to other platforms such as Meta, provides superior opportunities to narrow the target audience to paying customers. 

Document Ads in LinkedIn: Ben cites the new feature of document ads on LinkedIn as a game changer by the platform as a value addition to advertisers targeting clients who often stay in the ecosystem of LinkedIn. Its lead generation campaign is showcased in a document format uploaded for the user to view and download. It is an effective strategy for capturing a lead through a non-intrusive way to the user experiment. 

In today's episode, we talk with Megan Thompson. She is the social media guru at our company Merged Media. She is the TikTok guru. She has attracted an impressive following of over 103,000 followers on TikTok. She consistently puts out amazing content on TikTok.
Her maiden TikTok video was a dance video, which she quickly realized that it wasn't to her appeal. She moved on to making random, funny, relatable content that quickly gave her traction. Thanks to some of her viral videos, she has attracted companies such as fashion and skincare brands seeking her to promote their products.
Meghan observes that a company can use your TikTok account to niche by posting content on your ideal target audience. On the other hand, she reckons that the best marketing strategy for an individual seeking to sell themselves as content creators is to seek out a wider variety of audiences through their content. (As many audiences as you can get in front of, do it).
Initially, she rolled out freestyle by posting whatever she wanted. Lately, she has decided to niche down on wedding TikTok. She observes that a trend inspires her creative idea. With the help of her iPhone reminder app, she compiles a list of trendy ideas that become the content source for her TikTok account.

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Why business owners should trust their instincts with digital media with Edward Nugent.

In the business world, the decisions of business owners matter. In the increasingly technological business environment, business owners often face the dilemma of relying on hard data or simply trusting their instincts. Today's technological advances have given businesses unprecedented access to data to help make informed business decisions. However, most businesses bypass hard data in favor of intuition or instinct for essential business decisions. In today's episode, we talk to  Edward Nugent about why business owners need to trust their instincts, particularly with digital media.

It gives a great deal of autonomy and rewards. The entry of digital media, particularly Google, changed the landscape where customers started seeking out business. Applying digital principles of online sales to non-digital businesses can be successful. (When running a business, customers should pay the bills, not the investors).

A business has to put in time and effort towards understanding the customer's mindset when buying a product or service. By relying on business instinct, a business owner can gain valuable knowledge on customer behavior during the pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase phases. The sole responsibility of the business owner is to join the conversation going on in the head of the customer. Indeed, this conversation varies depending on where they are in their product purchase journey. In this regard, the customer journey should match the purchase journey. Following instinct-based business decision-making models, companies and small businesses can avoid focusing on the least important purchase event that often happens at the tail end of the product purchase journey. (The premise is:  if I understand how they buy, I have to be able to help them buy from me). 

Dropping lead magnets is crucial in planting seeds in prospects' heads to elicit a conversation. The instinct of a business owner should be to leverage lead magnets better to understand prospects' thinking in their purchase journey. The business needs to focus on the customer end more than seeking to close the sale. Most SMEs often make the mistake of trusting agencies to do the right thing. Yet, in reality, the agencies fail to focus on the mentorship of the customer more than the transactional relationship. These include websites, email autoresponders, lead magnets, and traffic sources. With this structure, a business owner has context when presented with new information or scenarios that demand their decisions. 

Certainly! Rebranding can be an exciting and transformative experience for any business. Whether it's a fresh new logo, a revamped website, or a complete overhaul of the company's identity, rebranding can help businesses stay relevant and competitive in today's ever-changing market. In this episode, we host business branding expert Jim Heininger. He founded The Rebranding Experts in 2017 and has 30 years of business and brand strategy experience for P&G, McDonald's, Anheuser-Busch, and others. Jim's team believes rebranding should be a strategic growth accelerator, creating a forward-facing organization ready to grasp new opportunities. Jim coaches CEOs through the rebranding process, aligning their executive team and helping to execute complete name changes and new customer promises. He will help us explore the benefits of rebranding and what you can expect from the process.

The first and most obvious benefit of rebranding is that it can help your business stand out from the competition. A fresh new look can catch the eye of potential customers and make your business more memorable. A strong brand identity can also create a sense of trust and loyalty among your existing customers, making it more likely that they'll continue to do business with you.

Another benefit of rebranding is that it can help you better communicate your message and values. As businesses grow and evolve, their messaging and values may shift, and rebranding can help ensure these changes are reflected in their brand identity. By clearly communicating your message and values, you can create a stronger emotional connection with your customers and build a more meaningful relationship with them.

Rebranding can also be a great way to signal a new direction for your business. You may be expanding into new markets, launching new products or services, or simply looking to reposition your business in the minds of your customers. Whatever the reason, rebranding can help signal this new direction and position your business for growth and success.

Of course, rebranding isn't always easy. It can be a time-consuming and expensive process, and it's important to approach it with a clear strategy and plan. Before embarking on a rebrand, conducting research and gathering feedback from your customers and other stakeholders is important. This can help ensure that your new brand identity resonates with your target audience and reflects the values and messaging of your business.

In conclusion, rebranding can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to stay relevant and competitive in today's market. Whether you're looking to stand out from the competition, better communicate your message and values, or signal a new direction for your business, rebranding can help you achieve your goals. With careful planning and execution, a successful rebrand can help set your business up for growth and success for years to come.

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How he started out in real estate - He learned from his real estate father and traveled in Asia. After seeking the best location for his resort, He created his own vertical in Southern Ontario from the supply side to install. With the help of efficient Canadian building technology, he ventured into building material distribution and construction. He had a dream and vision, and he started making it happen. 

Challenges while building the resort - He dealt with the inefficiencies of the Island lifestyle by seeking a consistent supply of construction materials, employing his staff, and aligning himself with the right legal personnel. Crucially, he did it harmoniously with the island's environment, culture, and people.

His role in the Canadian Turks and Caicos Islands project - The Canadian government has occasionally toyed with the idea of leveraging its economic and social connection with the British Turks and Caicos. With the help of his close friends in Canada, Kelly managed to arrange for the Canadian Premier Harper to meet with the Turks & Caicos Islands Bilateral Working Group. The purpose was to advance the economic and trade agenda between the two.

How does Kokomo Private Island stand out from the competition - It has continuously ranked as one of the world's best sand, sun, and sea beaches. It has one of the best sun, sand, and sea destinations worldwide, enjoying high-ranking years. There is an incredible beach club on the best part of the beach, and you can visit a different beach every day. The beach also enjoys all-year-round sunshine, unlike most places in the world.

Kokomo is not for everybody – Once you enter the gates of Kokomo, you transition into another oasis. Kokomo private resort offers serenity from indigenous trees that are hundreds of years old. You can enjoy fish and meat from the international market and great vegetarian offerings. (Without you, there is no we, it is about who we are coming together -people come here as strangers and leave as friends).

What do you give the most credit for your success story in the hospitality industry? Kelly most greatly admires the hoteliers in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He emphasizes self-belief, and the never quit spirit. (Successful people never quit).

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In today’s episode, we discuss Avoiding the “Content Graveyard.” My guest expert today is Alan Silvestri, the founder, and CEO of Growth Gorilla. They help B2B SaaS companies promote their content to get high-quality publishers to link to it, increase traffic and sign-ups, and win at the SEO game. Alan is also a Back to the Future fanatic and daily drives a Delorean. Audio Alan’s affiliate marketing building sites in the early days - He built a site debunking health myths using thoroughly researched content. He also created content on hair loss for women. He enjoys working with clients to create content in areas they are passionate about and spreading content on their products. What is The content graveyard - Alan defines content graveyard as unpromoted content sitting idle on Google pages, not adding any value to the business. To avoid this, Alan employs strategic link promotion where they promote specific pages with more potential to rank higher in the short term (90 days).  Accessing content with more potential - They get conversion data from the client and use google analytics and their link-building SEO analytics to create a short list of pages with the most business potential.  Alan’s link-building process: He looks at the pages linked to the client’s competition to get a feel of the type of content on topics and subtopics and uses them to find similar pages not linked to any competitor. It provides room for a unique pitch to the competitor to link back.  Role of social media in the strategy against content graveyard - They use social media for brand awareness but not for SEO benefits. He recommends that a company or business should seek where people are, such as on Reddit, instead of randomly publishing on all its social media sites.  Some issues SaaS Companies have with creating content - Alan observes that SaaS companies have excellent content creation but need to improve on the promotion side. As such, there is a lot of similar content across many SaaS businesses, meaning that differentiation is a major challenge. To go around this, Alan advises that a business should utilize its product within its published content to help and demonstrate to the target audience how to solve a problem with the product.  Helping a SaaS company create content - They assess existing content on pages with the most links from a few competitors and establish those ranking well. After that, they develop something similar but with a better spin to resonate better with the audience. How are you using Chatgbt in your business? Alan says that they use it as an assistant for tasks like link prospecting and generating extra sentences or anchor text in articles. However, he laments that ChatGbt is only an assistant, not the real writer, because human input is still crucial in content creation. (The biggest misconception is that content creators solely rely on Chatgbt for creation while it is only part of the human brain extension) Trends in SEO in the year 2023 - Alan predicts that links will have less impact on content promotion. This explains the ongoing shift to actual distribution by seeking communities where people hang out. He believes that artificial intelligence interventions will run most of the tasks, rendering organic search a bit irrelevant (It is a good idea to go where your audience is instead of waiting for it to come to you). Time Stamps (1:25) Introduction to today’s topic and show guest (2:34) Alan’s affiliate marketing building sites in the early days (5:00) What is the content graveyard (8:15) Accessing content with more potential (10:00) Alan’s link-building process (11:30) Role of social media in the strategy against content graveyard (13:24) Some issues SaaS companies have with creating content  (16:22) Helping a SaaS company create content (17:48) How are you using Chatgbt in your business  (20:21) Trends in SEO in the year 2023 

Today’s episode discusses ‘Strategies for Maximizing Your Time at Local Business Networking Events’. My expert guide today is John, re-runs frequent local business events.

Motivation for John to the events industry: He started with community-based fundraising events that inspired him and his old friend to get into that space.

How his events differentiate from others- John denotes that his events are always highly original, with people benefitting greatly from networking. The biggest attraction for attendees of his local events is often the trade show of more than 70 exhibitioners. They are keynote events on various relevant business topics from leading industry professionals. Lastly, networking is significant because you get face-to-face interaction with major players from the business community.

How an attendee prepares for these events - John reckons that you should go in with a plan and know exactly what you are looking for. Also, take your time to have meaningful relationships with business professionals you will meet at the event and have your business card on hand.

Strategies for maximizing time at a local business event - Our guest advise that you should seek to show up and leave with various meaningful contacts that will benefit your business.

The best setup strategy for a vendor at a local business event - John reckons that the best strategy is to bring along some help, often in the form of one or two more people. These extra pairs will help you run things smoothly at your booth. Secondly, you should be ready to work your booth by engaging your audience in creative, differentiated ways. A friendly hook would serve as a great conversation starter. Thirdly, give an attendee a reason to choose you immediately, e.g., a special discount offer.

Tips for vendors and attendees to do follow-ups after the event - John underscores that you should follow up on a lead immediately to ensure you get all the potential business. It would be best if you nurtured those relationships through follow-ups. However, it would help if you had an eye for good leads because you often may end with many leads at an event that are not worth your time.

Finally, hear about John’s exciting choice of brand ambassador.

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In today's episode, I talk with my co-author, Mike Ulmer. We are talking about 'How We Wrote 'Drop The Mic Marketing .' Mike's bio speaks volumes: Aside from co-authoring Jason's debut book 'Drop The Mic Marketing,' Mike Ulmer has had an illustrious 25-year career in journalism, having worked for the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, The Hamilton Spectator, The Hockey News, Southam News, National Post, and The Toronto Sun, where he served as a sports columnist for seven years. He has also authored 12 books, and his opinion pieces have been featured in the four major Toronto-based dailies: The Sun, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and The Toronto Star.

I asked Mike about the process of information gathering, which included him asking me "business-unrelated" personal questions. He clearly explains the necessity to establish a comfortable environment where they can trust that the author is a good listener. It gives the reader clarity of who you are, what and why you did the things you did. 

Next, I pose to Mike the question of what comes after the research process. He says that he and his team referred to the recorded audio manuscript to keep up with the authenticity of my story. Mike says it was the first time he worked with a "Japanese figure in gangster rapper" who loved doing music but loved marketing the music. He says he was drawn to my evolution from singing behind the mic to talking behind the mic to doing digital marketing, which he rightly observes is where my heart is. 

Moving on, we talk about the relevance of baseball player Joe Dimaggio in the book. Mike illustrates how Dimaggio became a successful brand ambassador, having evolved from a baseball player. It perfectly relates to my story as a former "failed rockstar" to a well-performing digital marketer.

Next, I seek from Mike some of the hacks in research for the book's direction. Mike admits he has no secret tricks but relies on his brain, which naturally harbors information. He has a head with a library of ideas.

Working on the initial script with the client - At this stage, Mike says he gathers just small details from the client. I was glad he threw in some cool superlatives to describe me: "a great client and fun guy ."A takeaway quote from him is, "Once you know who the principal star is, your book is done, for the rest is just details."

Examples of other "failed Japanese rockstars" - Mike tells us a story of his former client, Mark, in his book "The 50-year-old Millenial." Mark did not have a proposition, which is the foundation of every story in a book. In the book, he carves a more radical proposition for a fresh culture of servant leadership, challenging the conventional leadership style in business. My guest advises that you should not stop learning when writing a book because you get to review everything. 

The exciting story of Ron Foxcroft - An official baseball referee, Ron spent US$300,000 on three Fox 40 whistles he invented that anyone did not want. The math wasn't good at all. During one big match officials convention, he walked out to the compound in the middle of the night and blew his whistle loudly. The attending referees worldwide were startled by the sound of the whistle and wanted it immediately, marking the beginning of Ron's empire. 

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 In today’s special episode, LeadsCon Podcast host Ian McRae speaks with fellow guest and me, Collin MacMillan, of Riverwood landscape. We are tackling the ever-large and relevant topic of lead magnets. Collin starts us off with an insight into the landscaping industry, its boom, and the early days of the operation of his company. He observes that the landscaping industry has experienced rapid growth over the last decade but remains fragmented. Most landscaping businesses are in the US$500 -1 million revenue bracket, mostly owner–operated. In this regard, the marketing budget allocation to generating successful lead magnets is generally limited. My first question from host Ian pertains to the cost and quality of lead magnets. As I always insist, the goal is to find lead magnets to get you the lowest cost per lead. You then want to leverage these lead magnets to attract people off social media to a more controlled environment i.e., email. In other words, the lead magnet topic is bait for the audience. Collin gives his perspective on the effects of Covid-19 on his landscaping business. In unexpected ways, the pandemic was largely a blessing in disguise for the landscaping industry. Due to the lockdown, many people forced to remain in their homes found themselves with relatively more money that could be channeled into landscaping projects. As such, his company realigned its marketing efforts by toning down on ad words and paid clicks. Instead, they focused more on brand awareness and longer-term needs. I chime in with what Merged Marketing did on its part: we pivoted into the home services industry with such landscaping businesses as Riverwood. Host Ian takes me on my digital marketing journey with a question on how I leveraged emerging social media during the early days. In 2007, while I was head of a music band, Facebook was only starting, and many businesses still needed to leverage the platform for marketing. On my part, however, my digital journey evolved with the evolution of Facebook by pivoting and trying out new ad placements as they emerged in that space. Then I had my epiphany that Marketing was where I wanted to go forthwith. Host Ian seeks Collin’s thoughts on the tactics for assessing the success of our lead magnet generation. Collin underscores the need to generate data and track where your leads stem from. He argues that you stand to benefit a great deal if you track your leads with CRM. Finally, host Ian seeks our thoughts on what we look forward to from the forthcoming LeadsCon Las Vegas 2023. As a frequent attendee of digital marketing conferences, I am most excited about attending one focused explicitly on leads which will be my first. On his part, Collin admits that, unlike myself, he has only been to a few marketing-focus conventions, but he is looking forward to the entire convention and learning a lot. Time Stamps