This episode is part of the "Best of Bella" series. Bella chose this episode with Marcus Sheridan as one of the best for many reasons. Marcus is one of her favorite human beings, they go on a deep dive of content marketing and his book "They Ask, You Answer". She doesn't want you to be making the mistake that she sees others doing when blogging, even if you've listened to this episode before you'll want to give it another listen.

Bella and Marcus discuss:

The philosophy of "They ask, you answer"

Why business owners are afraid of just giving honest answers to potential customers

The five subjects that move the economy.

The dangers of "Ostrich marketing"

How important video is becoming to the marketing process

Assignment selling

Face-to-face sales appointments without you being there.

Show Highlights

How did Bella and Marcus meet? [2:50]

Who is Marcus Sheridan? [3:55]

How did Marcus realize he needed to slow down and start answering questions? [8:45]

What are the five subjects that move the economy? [12:05]

What is "Ostrich Marketing"? [13:35]

How important is video to the marketing process? [15:20]

What is assignment selling? [20:05]

How are face-to-face sales changing? [23:20]

Original Show Notes

On this episode Bella speaks with Marcus Sheridan, a former pool guy turned digital sales and marketing expert. He is the President of The Sales Lion and a Partner at River Pools and Spas.

Links

Marcus Sheridan's book: They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today's Digital Consumer (available on Amazon)

You can find out more about Marcus at https://www.thesaleslion.com.

Transcript:

This is episode 152 of Bella in Your Business, The Best of Bella. Today we’re taking you back to episode number 36 with one of my favorite human beings in the marketing space — maybe even in the world — my good friend Marcus Sheridan. If you’ve never heard his name, stop what you’re doing right now and look him up because this man is not only knowledgeable but inspiring, and he’s influenced numerous pet sitters and dog walkers to take action.

We go on a deep dive about content marketing and what that really means. Content marketing is basically anything you put out there — video, audio, written, or pictorial — and how that can help your business. I picked this episode for The Best of Bella because I don’t want you to make the mistake I see so often. People finally start blogging, but they’re not blogging to help themselves. Their blogs are, frankly, useless. They don’t help, and they end up competing with big generic blogs like “Pet Tips to Keep Your Pet Safe This Summer.” Snooze.

In this episode, Marcus helps you understand how making content more local and answering the real questions people are searching for will help tremendously. I don’t want you to blog just to blog. I want you to understand what creating good content really means. Without further ado, here’s my interview with Marcus Sheridan.

Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where I’ll discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready — I’ve got your chute. Let’s jump!

Welcome to Bella in Your Business! I’m so excited today because I’ve got Marcus Sheridan with me, the self-proclaimed “used-to-be pool guy” turned digital marketer. I remember the first time I met him — at a small conference in Las Vegas back in 2012 with maybe a dozen people. I remember how captivated everyone was and how he knew everyone’s name in the room. That moment changed my life. At the time, I was still running my pet sitting company, and Marcus told me I could do anything. Fast forward, I sold that company and now run my coaching business — and it’s largely because of that one conversation.

Marcus says he started a swimming pool company with two friends in 2001, and things were great until the 2008 market crash nearly bankrupted them. By early 2009,