Paid media tends to be a dirty word for communicators who tend to think of fancy Super Bowl ads (you know, back when we used to have a Super Bowl) or jingles everyone remembers (two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun) or a funny mascot that resonates (the Geico gecko, anyone?).

And those things are incredibly important, but they’re not part of a PESO Model program driven by communications or marketing. Rather, paid media in the PESO Model speaks to social media and search engine ads. 

There is a pretty easy process you can use that allows you to take traffic from a visitor to a customer or client.

For most of you, paid media is going to be brand new and you’re going to learn how to use all sorts of methods that will allow you to generate leads, nurture them, and then—depending on how your organization works—work with sales to close or convert them. This is where the rubber meets the road. You’ll begin to see how all of the work you’ve done to this point starts to come together so you can measure your efforts to cold, hard cash. 

What did you do to amplify a juicy media placement the last time you had one? Did you send it to the entire company? Share it on your social channels?

Hopefully, you at least did those two things, but there’s a lot more you can do to increase the reach of your media placements and your owned content with paid media—the final component of the PESO Model foundation.

Paid media is what it sounds like: you pay to reach new audiences. This is important because you need to reach new audiences to keep your funnel full and meet your business goals.

Despite its importance—it is an entire fourth of this model, after all—it’s often an overlooked area when it comes to communications. This is due to the perception you need a large budget for it to be effective, or that it’s something you can only undertake with the support of an advertising agency and a media buyer.

Thankfully, neither of these misconceptions are true!

In the PESO model, paid media includes paid social media content, content syndication and distribution, and lead generation email campaigns.

And that’s what we’re going to talk about on today’s Spin Sucks podcast episode.

PESO Model Resources

* The Conversion Code

* The Fireside Chat with Chris Smith

* Facebook ad boycott

* LeadPages

* SharpSpring

* Spin Sucks Community

* PESO Model Certification

Your inbound marketing strategy likely took a hit this year thanks to the pandemic. In order to rebound from this, you need to adjust and be agile.

In this episode of AMP Up Your Digital Marketing, Glenn Gaudet speaks with Jen Spencer, VP of Sales and Marketing at SmartBug Media, an intelligent inbound marketing agency. On the show, they discuss the impact of COVID-19 on inbound marketing, and what her advice is for organizations to adjust, what organizations should do as businesses reopen, and what her takeaways are from this time.

You’ll learn:

* The impact of COVID-19 on inbound marketing.

* How to keep your inbound marketing strategy agile.

* Why it’s important to consistently talk to your customers.

This year has been unlike any other, and that’s an understatement. It’s caused all of us to adjust a great deal on short notice. Plans you made in January had to completely change in March, and this includes your inbound marketing strategy.

Organizations have really had to shift away from events, and they’ve had to completely change their messaging. But that alone is a lot to change in not a lot of time. So what can marketers do in that scenario? What have they done? Has inbound marketing worked at a time like this?

The State of Inbound Marketing During COVID-19

Inbound marketing still works, but some organizations have had to adjust more than others and this depends on a few things.

One is the vertical you’re in, and the other is the agility of your inbound marketing strategy. Some organizations provide solutions that support a remote workforce, and those verticals are thriving right now.

Outside of organizations that provide services for remote workers, e-learning, etc., businesses need to be cautious with their marketing budgets due to uncertainty. For SmartBug, website traffic dipped in March when the coronavirus made its initial impact on the economy. But in April, traffic kicked back up, and so did marketing qualified leads, with sales qualified leads increasing in May.

During this time, people are doing research, and there is a general interest in learning more about products, services, and solutions to make their jobs easier. Companies may not be able to sign a contract yet since they have to be more careful with their budgets, but they are itching to make a move.

“The power of inbound is being able to nurture people and support them along their buyer’s journey,” Spencer said. “When they are ready to engage with sales, we’re ready alongside them to support them.”

The Start of COVID-19’s Impact on Inbound Marketing

SmartBug Media started preparing for the economic impact of the coronavirus in mid-March. Just two weeks later, the tone of sales calls really changed.

“We started to see folks that said, ‘Yeah, I want to commit to growing my marketing strategy,’ and they were getting ready to sign off on a contract,” Spencer said. “All of a sudden their budget got cut by 30%, 50%, 70%…That’s really when it hit.”

Spencer notes that if you looked at sales data for SmartBug without any context, it would look like there was a dip in April and then a recovery in May.

“That’s just been what we’ve experienced so far,” she said. “We are staying on our toes, using data to help inform the decisions we are making both in marketing and sales.”

Every organization is unique from each other depending on their verticals, how diverse their inbound marketing strategy is, and how prepared they were to 

#394: Bob Musial and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Enhance your business development and address issues on miscommunication to establish credibility, build trust, and generate more revenue. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Bob Musial (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/), a value-based business development coach, author, and innovator. He is committed to providing creative input on often-ignored communication “basics.”

Bob works with entrepreneurs, senior management of startups, and small to medium-sized businesses to help analyze, develop, implement, and monitor client, prospect and employee revenue-enhancing programs. He summarized 40-plus years of successful business development, sales, strategic marketing, advertising, and client-service experience in an easy-to-read eBook called, “Soft Skills. Hard Returns.”

Every year, miscommunication costs small and large companies billions of dollars in lost revenue, and no company is immune. If you recognize that somewhere in your organization, there’s a miscommunication, and you need help figuring out how to identify and then fix it, reach out to Bob Musial by going to https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/.

Here are a couple of AHA messages from this episode:

* What you say, how you say it, when you say it, and why you say, will determine how well your ideas, are understood, accepted, and importantly … acted upon. The converse is also true. Those things are based on soft skills. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/

* Soft skills, like communication, are in high demand because they express subtle, yet powerful attributes that help establish credibility, build trust, provide value and generate revenue. How well developed are the soft skills in your company? https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/

* Presentations & proposals are vital in business communication. Do you use memorable, impactful “hooks” in presentations to get and keep someone’s attention that demonstrates you understand and can help resolve their pain points? Do your proposals accomplish the same thing? https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/

* Consistently communicating credibility, trust and value to clients, prospects and colleagues in a relevant way, impacts corporate culture and open doors to revenue opportunity. I work with companies and people to help make that happen. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/

* Years ago, I developed a diagnostic tool that measures how well companies and people communicate in four interrelated, revenue-generating categories common to businesses and nonprofits: Awareness, Presentations & Proposals, Account Management and Revenue Protection & Expansion. I’m happy to share it. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmusial/

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

 

#395: Roger Hall and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Monitor and manage your thinking for better behavior and results. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Roger Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-hall-28a5632/), a business psychologist, executive coach, and CEO of Achievement Metrics. He provides executive coaching to business owners, senior executives, and high-potential young leaders.

Roger is passionate about training leaders to monitor and manage their thinking...

#390: John Bianchi and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Increase your market exposure, and optimize your sales funnel through creative and revenue-driving strategies. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert John Bianchi (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/), a marketing and business consultant, partner at Bos Klein, and vice president at BOS Digital. He renders highly specialized, data-driven, three-stage marketing strategies for clients.

John is the co-founder of Bos Klein. He brings together experts in the fields of media, design, communications, and technology. He primarily helps small and mid-sized companies increase their market exposure while boosting their ROI and cutting costs. He is also passionate about uplifting the integrity of creative processes, to provide his clients with relevant tools that effectively establish cultural codes.

If you have a product or service but don’t know how to represent or bring it to the market, reach out to John Bianchi by going to https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/.

Here are a couple of AHA messages from this episode:

* Companies that are trying to tell their stories about bringing a product or service to the market but are not sure how to should reach out to John Bianchi and get help. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/

* People are turning to different types of platforms today. We help customers and clients understand their brand message to educate them about what’s needed in the digital and branding space. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/

* We help companies craft creative campaigns to deliver their branding message to their target market. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/

* Advertising and branding is a crowded space. There are big agencies that are breaking up and startup firms that are doing great work out there. You have to be different and stand out. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/

* It all comes down to understanding the right channels of delivery and then being able to use those to effectively talk to the customers and clients that you specifically want to reach. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchijohn/

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

 

#391: Alain Hunkins and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Become a better leader in today’s transformative world through a solid leadership program. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Alain Hunkins (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alainhunkins/), the managing director of Hunkin’s Leadership Group. He is also a sought-after speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach.

Alain has over 20 years of leadership training, facilitation, adult learning, development design, organizational development, and culture change. Leaders trust him to help unlock their potential and expand their influence, leading to superior results, increased engagement, higher levels of retention, and greater organizational and personal satisfaction.

If you know the “what” and the “why” of becoming a better leader but can’t figure out the “how,” reach out to Alain Hunkins by visiting his website, https://www.alainhunkins.com, and going to

This week we discuss the Facebook ad boycott. Well, it really isn’t a total boycott but more like a brief pause by hundreds of major consumer brands in their advertising programs with Facebook and all of its social media platforms. CNN is keeping track of who is pulling their ads this month. However, the protests aren’t expected to hurt Facebook very much since most of its $70 billion in annual ad revenue comes from smaller businesses, something that Andrew Yang discusses on his podcast with cybersecurity pro John Redgrave and is worth listening to (after you listen to ours).

The effort was created by a group of anti-hate speech advocates such as NAACP and ADL under the banner of Stop Hate for Profit. That website lists their demands for changes to Facebook’s operations. We wonder why more B2B companies haven’t stepped up to this effort. David wrote a blog post with his point of view last month here. Shortly after we recorded this episode, the results of an internal audit were released, finding that Facebook’s “approach to civil rights remains too reactive and piecemeal.” Clearly the company still has a long way to go, particularly since top executives appear to be in denial that anything is wrong in the first place.

Facebook has also been criticized for some sloppy programming with its API, allowing discontinued mobile apps to still access private data. The company has made a lame and half-hearted response.

 

Speaking about other worthwhile podcasts, the NY Times tech columnist Kevin Roose has been producing a series called Rabbit Hole about how social networks in general, and YouTube in particular, suck people into echo chambers through their recommendation engines. It’s an unsettling series and well worth a listen if you want to know how Gen Z and  younger use social media. 

 

It seems like every day brings with it a new social media channel or trending meme. What TikTok dance craze have you learned during the pandemic? What are we going to do about our influencer programs? Will a broom really stand up by itself on a particular day because of a hashtag trend? And what the heck is this Vero thing all about?

It’s tough to keep up. Every day there is something new and fun and cool that other people are doing on social media, leaving you with a sense of FOMO—fear of missing out.

We all get FOMO, but it’s a terrible way to decide how to spend your time on social media and to allocate your content budget. Instead, you need to “fish where there are fish.” In social media terms, that means to be where your audience and community already talk about you, your competitors, and industry topics, and engaging with them there.

The nice thing about shared media is you can use it to distribute your content and allow you to engage with customers, prospects, employees, and more. It’s free to test, it’s relatively risk free, and it gives you an easy way to figure out what works and what doesn’t. As you build it into your PESO Model program, it’s one of the easiest things to implement while you work on everything else.

That’s what we’re going to talk about on today’s Spin Sucks podcast episode. That and how shared media fits into a larger PESO Model program.

If you want to learn more, check out the PESO Model Certification that is offered by Spin Sucks and the S.I. Newhouse School for Public Communications at Syracuse University.

You’ll learn how shared media fits into one of the foundational pillars of your integrated program.

And you’ll learn how to implement this for your clients or for the organization for which you work—and become certified, which tells everyone you know what you’re doing and have done the deep work to put theory into practice.

#386: Kathy Letendre and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Achieve organizational excellence through transformational improvements. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Kathy Letendre (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyletendre/), an organizational excellence expert. She guides leaders, teams, and organizations through transformative improvements for their customers, organizations, and community.

Kathy, previously a healthcare executive, has expertise setting a compelling organizational direction, accelerating to excellence, and solidifying execution. This enables her to contribute to the transformation of organizations and leaders in all sectors. As an advisor and consultant to executives, leadership teams, and organizations, she thrives when helping others create their excellence advantage. Kathy guides leaders to achieve the highest levels of performance through focusing on the priorities that will significantly improve their impact and by aligning organizational efforts toward excellence.

If your org is striving for #Excellence, reach out to Kathy Letendre by visiting her website, https://www.letendreassociates.com, and going to https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyletendre.

Here are a couple of AHA messages from this episode:

* Healthcare leaders who are looking to make transformative improvements and are stuck should reach out to Kathy Letendre. #Excellence https://www.letendreassociates.com @KathyLetendre

* When healthcare leaders are true to themselves, they see their success but know there’s something more. I can guide you through the next steps toward #Excellence. https://www.letendreassociates.com @KathyLetendre

* Success means different things to different people. I work primarily with the executives in healthcare organizations as individuals and as a senior leadership team to define #Excellence in their terms. https://www.letendreassociates.com @KathyLetendre

* My primary credibility to make transformative improvements comes from having done this firsthand. I know the struggles and challenges. I also know the pride when your org becomes #Excellent for its patients, staff, and community. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyletendre

* I work with healthcare leaders so they can recognize if they’re stuck. I guide them through the ways to get unstuck and begin to move the ball forward toward #Excellence. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyletendre

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

 

#387: Karen McGregor and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Transform lives and monetize your business through speaking strategies that get results. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Karen McGregor https://www.linkedin.com/in/Karen-Mcgregor-aa1627116/,  the founder and CEO of the Speaker Success Formula.

Karen helps business professionals and entrepreneurs harmoniously merge daily action with profound inner growth to have the greatest impact and influence.

If you’re a speaker or an entrepreneur who knows that you’re not as good as you need to be and you want to be significantly better, reach out to Karen McGregor at

https://www.linkedin.

Millennial branding is more important today than ever before with the growing number of millennials in the workforce.

In this episode of AMP Up Your Digital Marketing, Glenn Gaudet speaks with Douglas Spencer, President of Spencer Brenneman, LLC., a brand strategy consultancy based in Boston. On the show, they discuss the growing number of millennials in the workforce, and how organizations can approach millennial branding. This refers to brands being mindful of millennials in their target market and employee population.

You’ll learn:

* Why you need to keep millennials in mind more than ever.

* How you should adjust to millennials in your workplace and your target market.

* How millennials prefer to communicate and what that means for you.

Today, there are already more millennials in the workforce than any other generation, but they are about to take the majority of the whole workforce on their own. Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, according to Deloitte.

“That’s not too far away,” Douglas said. “They might not all be decision-makers in terms of buyers, but they will make up a fair amount of the workforce. To pretend like that’s not going to happen, or they’re going to act just like Gen Xers or boomers, that’s just foolish.”

Millennials are those who were born between 1980 and 2000. This is a wide range, but nevertheless, a very unique time to grow up considering the internet boom and growth in technology. This had an impact on the way many millennials work, communicate, and more

Glenn and Douglas are both early Gen Xers. In this episode, Glenn noted that while a large majority of the workforce will soon be made up of millennials in the coming years, that is already the case at his company, GaggleAMP.

Douglas emphasized that the change millennials bring is positive for all of us.

“I am really thankful for what they’re bringing to the world,” he said. “They are helping us evaluate what’s important and what’s not. For the most part, the change that millennials are going to influence is positive for humanity.”

Having said that, all organizations need to adjust for millennial branding and understand what millennials want from brands.

Modifying Branding For Millennials 

When it comes to your brand, do you have to make any changes for millennials? Isn’t the whole point of branding to be as consistent as possible?

Douglas defines branding as the relationship you have with those most important to your success.

“Does your brand have to change when millennials start to take up the bulk of your employees or the bulk of your clients? Probably,” Douglas said. “If you want to have a profitable and equally beneficial relationship with these folks, i.e. a brand, then yeah, you’re going to have to figure out how to connect with them.”

The big change you will have to make is how your organization connects with millennial consumers and employees in a way that’s mutually beneficial. You need to know what millennials want from brands and know where your pitfalls are to adjust for millennial branding.

Workplace Culture

Branding isn’t just about your customers. It’s also about your employees. In order to have a brand your employees want to be part of, you need a strong company culture.

Many millennials tend to be more team-centric and inclusive. They are more open to a diversity of opinions than older generations, who are accustomed to a hierarchy of opinions in the workplace, Douglas said.

“If you weren’t at a certain level, well, then your opinion didn’t really matter,

This week’s FIR Zoom Chat included a discussion about using streaming software like OBS and vMix.

#382: Josh Allan Dykstra and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Revolutionize your company culture with an energy-based operating system to help people love their work. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert, Josh Allan Dykstra (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshallan/), a recognized thought leader on the future of work and company culture and an author, TEDx speaker and CEO of Helios – a community of leaders and work revolutionaries who are committed to creating a world where everyone can love their work.

Josh Allan’s expertise is in positive psychology, organization design, talent management, change management, employee engagement, learning and development and multiple assessments. He is a passionate holistic systems thinker who helps build healthy organizations with sustainable change efforts by looking at emerging technologies, cultural and social trends and value-centric organization design.

If you need someone to help with big-picture strategy, workplace trends and a clear vision of how to create a much better future for everyone, consider reaching out to Josh Allan Dykstra by visiting his website https://helios.work/ and going to https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshallan/.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* Organizations struggling with burnout should reach out to Josh Allan Dykstra. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshallan/

* Do you want to help your employees experience love in their work? My role is not just to neutralize their burnout or cure them out of it by going back to zero. It is to actually energize them to be happy at work. #LoveWork https://helios.work/ @joshallan

* I can help to create a culture for your company by guiding you to increase the well-being of your people. People who are more focused and more positive are more efficient and more productive. #LoveWork https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshallan/

* The stories and case studies of clients and iconic brands that I have worked with gives me the credibility to save you retention costs and to produce manifold returns on the investment of what you pay me. #LoveWork https://helios.work/ @joshallan

* Peak performance at work is closely related to states of flow and energy alignment. I can mentor you for what you need to accomplish in order to draw that kind of performance from your people and not force them to perform. #LoveWork https://helios.work @joshallan

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

 

#383: Adrienne Barker and Mitchell Levy on Thought Leader Life Credibility Episode

Create a winning advertising campaign in order to effectively use promotional products that are beneficial to your firm. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert, Adrienne Barker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennebarkerpge/), senior brand marketing manager at HALO Branded Solutions which is the second largest promotional product supplier in the US.  She is lifetime-certified with a Masters of Advertising Specialties, a PPAI fellow (Promotional Products Association Industry) and a SCORE-certified mentor and director of marketing.

Adrienne Barker has a complete understanding of the promotional product industry, supply chain management,