Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Business Growth & Entrepreneur Stories

Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Business Growth & Entrepreneur Stories

By Robert PlankBusinessEntrepreneurshipMarketingManagement
Download on the App Store

Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Business Growth & Entrepreneur Stories episodes

  • 182: Strategic Social Media Marketing and Paid Traffic with Corinna Essa
    Corinna Essa is an internationally recognized expert in social media marketing and the owner of Social Media Worldwide, a company that helps businesses grow their online presence without having to manage the day-to-day work themselves. She is known for her practical approach to social media, focusing on building real connections and providing value before making sales. Corinna is also an author and shares her knowledge through her blog and YouTube channel, both named Social Media Worldwide.
    Corinna Essa from Social Media Worldwide wants to help you and your social media marketing efforts. She has a unique strategy when it comes to social media, which involves spending $1000 on an initial ad campaign to a free offer with no call-to-action, to then retarget (cookie) your best prospects and run ads to that already-engaged-audience.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8woxN8tOQyg
    Quotes:                                                                                                                                   
    “When everyone starts doing the same thing, then it stops working. Marketers destroy everything, because they overdo things and then it stops working for everyone else who jumped on it a bit too late.” – Corinna Essa
    “Getting cold traffic is easy—almost every social network now offers advertising tools. Getting clicks and traffic isn’t the hard part; the real challenge is driving conversions.” – Corinna Essa
    “People forget the importance of warm traffic, and they don't take the time to turn cold traffic into warm traffic.” – Corinna Essa
    Takeaways:
    00:52 Social media works best when you focus on giving value and building trust before trying to sell anything.
    04:42 Paid ads should first send people to useful content, not straight to a sales page.
    12:33 If you post for free, aim for 80% helpful content and only 20% promotion.
    16:01 Using retargeting lets you show sales ads only to people who already showed interest in your first ad.
    21:49 Turning cold traffic into warm traffic takes time and money, but it leads to better results in the long run.
    Resources
    Social Media Worldwide (Website)
    Social Media Worldwide (Blog)
    Social Media Worldwide (YouTube)
    24 min
  • 181: Seven Principles for Building a Company Culture That Works: Culture is the Bass with Gerald Leonard
    Gerald J. Leonard joins Robert Plank to discuss company culture through the experience of making music with other people. A band can contain talented individuals and still perform poorly if they are not listening, working from a shared direction, and responding to one another. He uses that comparison to explain the culture behind effective execution.
    Gerald's seven-principle approach begins with vision and values, then moves into buy-in, stories, best practices, collaboration, and accountability. A stated purpose has limited effect if it never becomes part of ordinary decisions and working habits. He emphasizes helping people connect intellectually and emotionally with the work, then providing simple practices they can repeat.
    A system-integration project illustrates the difference. Gerald describes finding a team occupied with finger-pointing, then using shared goals, daily stand-ups, and sponsor conversations to help it demonstrate the system before a tight deadline. Robert contributes a school-band example in which a change of instructor affected the performance of many of the same players.
    The conversation also covers Gerald's transition from music into technology consulting as he sought work that allowed him to remain close to his family. The examples connect personal priorities, team behavior, and practical delivery. For a leader, the episode offers a way to examine culture through what people repeatedly do together, rather than only the values displayed in a presentation or on a wall.
    Making shared purpose part of daily execution
    Give the team a clear vision and values it can recognize in practice.
    Use stories to make the purpose understandable.
    Turn useful methods into repeatable working habits.
    Create a rhythm of communication and peer accountability.
    Resources mentioned
    Gerald Leonard, author of The Culture is the Bass
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvh6caivdhI
    33 min
  • 180: ClickFunnels: Done-For-You Product Launches, Lead Capture, and Conversion with Larry Becht
    Larry Becht joins Robert Plank to discuss planning a funnel around the customer and the business objective. Drawing on his early ClickFunnels work and partner training, he explains why an opt-in page, webinar, product launch, and membership offer do different jobs and should not begin with an identical template.
    Larry starts a project by asking whom the business wants to reach, what it wants that person to do, and which materials already exist. A client may need more than page construction: videos, scripts, copy, and an educational sequence can all be missing. Clarifying those requirements makes it easier to understand the scope before promising a launch date.
    An Ecuador clinic example began as a webinar registration page and expanded into a video library, additional products, and an affiliate program. The story shows how a single request can sit inside a larger customer path. The discussion also covers connecting landing pages with follow-up, payments, contact management, and other tools available at the time of recording.
    Larry describes a strategy session as the starting point for his agency's relationships. Some people went on to hire the team, while others received enough direction to implement the work themselves. He also found an international client base rather than the predominantly local business he had expected. The episode offers a practical look at scoping remote marketing work and choosing a conversion path before making the software the center of the project.
    Choose the customer path before building the pages
    Define the audience, objective, and next action.
    Identify the copy, videos, and follow-up the project requires.
    Choose a funnel type that fits the offer.
    Make the scope clear before estimating delivery.
    Resources mentioned
    Larry Becht from The Expert Media Group
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkAj12gfJ7g
    28 min
  • 179: Strategic Content and Advertising: Increase Social Media Presence with Marty McDonald
    Marty McDonald joins Robert Plank to discuss bringing a business purpose to social media. His approach starts with a goal and a performance baseline, then connects content and advertising with launches, events, and other marketing activity. The aim is to understand what a campaign contributes rather than judge it only by how active the account looks.
    Marty distinguishes broad awareness from campaigns asking someone to take a particular action. A business may need both, but the message and measurement should reflect the purpose. Coupon codes, coded links, event responses, analytics, and sales information can help connect an online interaction with something meaningful to the business.
    He describes working alongside Victory Beer's existing marketing department, which already had a community but needed additional time and specialist support. Coordinating product plans, content, and separate campaigns made the work more deliberate. Another example concerns building a targeted audience for a poker apparel brand and tracking its sales growth alongside the community.
    The conversation also covers looking several months ahead, testing advertising on a smaller scale, and allowing audience response to influence what comes next. A calendar provides direction without making the business ignore useful feedback. For an owner posting inconsistently or unsure what social media is accomplishing, the episode lays out the questions behind a more organized approach: what is the goal, what is happening now, and what evidence would show an improvement?
    Planning social activity around a measurable purpose
    Separate awareness from a campaign with a specific call to action.
    Coordinate content with the business's launches and events.
    Establish a baseline before judging a result.
    Test, measure, and refine before committing a larger budget.
    Resources mentioned
    Marty McDonald
    Bad Rhino Inc.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4hj-eSXxXk
    31 min
  • Too Many Ideas? Drain the Website Swamp and Don’t Make Your Site Fancy Until Tomorrow
    Can you relate to having "too many ideas" and you're not sure if any are any good?
    Maybe you've done the legwork for this website or that website... registered some domain names, setup an empty WordPress blog that will "one day" hold your membership site... maybe you've bought some resale rights content...
    Maybe you've recorded some interviews, videos, audios, or written some sort of report down that you one day want to put into a membership site... a site where someone pays you to get access.
    And then what happened? Life got in the way, right?
    Something came across that was more urgent and you had to switch gears to make money now...
    Or you came across something more exciting and you said... I'll put my current hopes and dreams on the "back burner" to try something else...
    I'm not sure about your current situation, but many people that are currently struggling with making money and creating a profitable membership site have this problem:
    -- not enough time, too distracted, too overwhelmed, too stressed out
    -- confusion about what to do next or what to "click" and generally getting FRUSTRATED with websites in general
    And even worse, the "sting" every time you check your internet marketing business on your phone or your computer. I'm sure you know what the sting is:
    there's a little of bit of that sting or that anxiety when you check your email, stats and sales and the number is either at zero or you wish it was way higher
    another bill for that web host, a quick charge for those handful of domain names you didn't use... should I continue renewing those domain names every year or cut some of them loose? And then what was I paying that yearly domain fee for?
    thinking about or browsing through the massive clutter of half finished projects, ideas, websites, and files... just a huge mess... sting
    wondering if this will all be worth it and feeling the "lifetime cost" of all the little e-books and things continues to pile up and sting...
    Can I tell you what my personal opinion is (which you can say is either right or wrong) about you, your upcoming membership site, and the future of you and your online business?
    You may have heard that you should narrow your focus down to just one website at a time, dedicate X days or X hours to getting it done...
    Maybe you've also heard that you should make the simplest, ugliest, most no-frills site as possible that DOES have a buy button, so you can get just one member and go from there...
    And... what is/was very reassuring to me is that after you FINISH that first money making site (FINISH meaning you get one single paying member) then not only does it become a lot easier to make your next site (because you've done it before), it's actually more fun because you now know this money making thing "works" and isn't just a hobby...
    So can I tell you what I "think" you should do today?
    Unsolicited Piece of Advice #1: Drain the Website Swamp
    Your previous websites, business expenses, half finished sites, etc. don't matter. If you have a mess of a folder, a mess of 10 half finished sites and you aren't making progress on any of them, isn't it time to clean up the mess and drain that huge "swamp" of stuff? Get some simplicity, clarity, focus?
    I'm no neat-freak, but if I sit down on the couch to relax and there's papers or "stuff" on the counter, I get huge amounts of anxiety... enough where I can't calm down and I can't think... not a good mental place to be. I'm the same way with any clutter on my desk OR if I have a ton of files on my desktop OR a ton of dangling unfinished projects...
    Put it all away. You can bring "the mess" back to the forefront after completing just one membership site... so how do you do that?
    Unsolicited Piece of Advice #2: Make it Pretty and Perfect "Tomorrow"
    Priorities. What do you need in order to take payments online?
    a domain name (.com name such as membershipcube.com that people can type in to find your site)
    a website and landing page (a simple sales letter, we include Paper Template in our Membership Cube course)
    a way to take payments (we use PayPal and if you want something fancier, switch out that piece later)
    a membership site to take payments, control access and provide content (PDFs, videos) -- we provide this in Membership Cube as well
    What about... 1-click upsells? Downsells and OTO Fancy graphics? Professional videos? An affiliate contest on social media? Those are nice to haves and not must-haves...
    Here's what I think... setup your membership site today with Membership Cube (we provide the 1-click template so it's done in seconds) and don't worry about that fancy stuff until "tomorrow"... just get that functioning membership site completed today.
    Your membership site is done today in one click and by the time tomorrow rolls around, it will be "today" again and time to focus on the important stuff... filling up the membership site with content in a day (module two) -- and you can save the fancy graphics and everything until "tomorrow" (which is still a day away at that point)...
    Day three... you could jump into module three of Membership Cube which is the one to beef up your sales letter and make it easy for others to join your site -- but guess what? Fancy graphics and procrastination land is still "tomorrow" at that point...
    Unsolicited Piece of Advice #3: Don't Plan, Course Correct
    Finally, many people think they need a master plan of some kind. They can't make membership site #1 because they want to know what membership site #10 is going to be...
    If that has been your way of thinking up until now, how has that been working out for you?
    Sure seems like a recipe for stress and being spread too thin, if you ask me.
    The problem with mapping out your entire life is that the sales and feedback you get from the mini-launch of your next membership site will completely change the trajectory of your internet business moving forward.
    For example, you might setup that quick golfing membership site and it leads to a couple high ticket coaching clients that wouldn't have paid you unless they find you through that single-payment training course they bought from you (membership site) first...
    Or maybe you whip up a single-payment quick weight loss membership site and it leads to you setting up some sort of monthly auto-ship service where you mail your members a bottle of pills or a some sort of algae liquid through the mail. You wouldn't have scaled your business to that point unless you had that validation -- sales of the weight loss course to prove that your idea works. Stepping stones.
    Perhaps you create a training course about drone flying and you realize that there is a huge demand for an additional membership course about drone racing. Your "first wave" of members actually ask you to create something for round two, and they buy it.
    What Your (Attainable) Goal Needs to Be
    It's good to have a goal, but if you don't have cashflow in your business, your goal is very simple: to just make one sale of ANYTHING, even something that's 10 or 100 bucks. Once you see how easy that is (and maybe you've been making it too complicated without even realizing it) you might say:
    that was fun, I want to do it again
    I want to scale my business so the next site makes even more money
    this small success gives me an idea for the next thing that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise
    I finally see the value in focusing and finishing what I start as opposed to being spread too thin or spinning my wheels
    There definitely is value to trying out a couple of things (think of it as "career day" or that "starter income") and then look back and think... did I enjoy that? Did I make enough money and if not, what small steps will I take so that not only make more money, but I generate that doing the things I enjoy doing?
    To make sure you're on the right track,
    look BACK at your past mistakes
    in addition to looking FORWARD
    so that you don't continue making the same mistakes.
    Setup a membership site quickly so that your thinking doesn't have time to get in the way of you taking action. Making money is more important than being 100% perfect and planned out, and this is the path you can jump on right now to flesh out your idea, click a button and set it up using our template, and have a site ready to take orders... not in three months from now, not in three weeks from now, TODAY:
    Claim Your Access to "Membership Cube"
    and Get All The Training, Tools and Templates
    to Create a Membership Site All in One Place
    14 min
  • 178: Financial Alchemy: Overcome Money Limitations and Increase Your Happiness with Morgana Rae
    Morgana Rae joins Robert Plank to explain Financial Alchemy, her coaching method for exploring the emotions and personal stories attached to money. The conversation concerns worth, safety, relationships, and the resistance she believes can influence a person's financial choices.
    Morgana describes a sequence that personifies a painful money relationship as a money monster, rejects that image, and imagines a more supportive money honey. These are visualization exercises within her method. She uses the imagined relationship to prompt questions about what someone wants, what feels unsafe, and what action they may be avoiding.
    Her own account begins during a period of very low income, when changing an image of money coincided with a change in how she handled prospective clients. She also shares clients' reports about business deals, payments, and other events. Those are personal accounts she associates with the work, rather than proof that visualization causes an external payment or guarantees a financial result.
    The final part of her process requires a concrete action. That connection matters to the discussion: an emotional shift is meant to influence what someone does, not remain only an imagined conversation. Robert and Morgana explore how beliefs can enter pricing, receiving, relationships, and follow-through. The episode introduces her distinctive coaching approach while giving listeners a way to consider the stories they attach to earning, spending, and allowing themselves to benefit from their work.
    Exploring the stories and emotions attached to money
    Identify the personal concern beneath a financial reaction.
    Understand the money personas as exercises in the guest's coaching method.
    Distinguish reported experiences from guaranteed financial outcomes.
    Connect reflection with a specific action you can take.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6qJxk6oX0M
    Resources
    Financial Alchemy: The Book (Book)
    Morgana Rae's Website and Blog (Website and Blog)
    Does Money Love You? (Website)
    Money Honey App (Website)
    38 min
  • 177: Life Embodied Therapy: Break Out of the Cycle and Get Motivated Using Art and Music with Tashayla Williams
    Tashayla Williams, the founder of Life Embodied Therapy, talks with Robert Plank about creative expression, emotional obstacles, and the uncertainty of starting a business. Drawing on her work in substance abuse counseling, mental health services, and private practice, she explains why a conversation is not always the easiest starting point for expressing a difficult feeling.
    Tashayla describes adapting her work to the individual through drawing, music, sculpture, dance, or another creative form. A client might spend part of a session making something and then discuss what emerged. The aim in her examples is to open a conversation that ordinary questions have not reached, rather than expect everyone to respond to the same exercise or artistic medium.
    Two stories illustrate that flexibility. One client connected with dance rather than drawing or music, and that shared language helped them communicate. Another person's drawing expressed something that had not surfaced during years of talking. Tashayla emphasizes understanding the person in front of her and finding an approach they can engage with.
    The business side of the discussion is equally personal. Leaving stable employment raised fears about security and whether her education would be wasted. Art, conversations with other entrepreneurs, and networking helped her navigate that transition. She also describes learning to use social media, which brought volunteers, introductions, and opportunities for her programs. Her Broke Entrepreneur concept grows from those experiences of building with limited money while preparing emotionally for the work.
    Creative expression and the realities of starting out
    How expressive activities can give a client another way to describe a difficult experience.
    Why the choice of activity depends on the individual rather than a fixed formula.
    The emotional tension between a stable job and creating an independent practice.
    How relationships and learning unfamiliar promotional tools opened opportunities for her work.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Mmeof-53U
    21 min
  • 176: Leverage Skills to Run Virtual Summits, Create Products, and Cause Massive Transformation with Entrepreneurial Business Coach Bailey Richert
    Bailey Richert joins Robert Plank to discuss turning expertise into products and organizing a virtual summit. Her approach starts with a transformation a customer can understand: where the person is now, where they want to go, and which skill or information helps them make that move.
    Bailey describes leaving environmental engineering, studying entrepreneurship, and building a travel-education business. Requests from other people helped reveal additional skills she could teach, including self-publishing and launching a business. The progression shows how a useful product can grow from something others already ask you to explain.
    Virtual summits initially made her skeptical, but running her own changed her view of their potential for audience growth, authority, and revenue. She breaks the work into a ninety-day process with planning, creation, and launch phases. Planning includes the topic, speakers, logistics, event length, and branding; creation includes interviews, technology, and the funnel.
    The final phase provides room for promotion and running the event rather than treating those activities as details to squeeze in after everything else. Robert and Bailey connect that structure with reducing overwhelm: a summit contains many tasks, but the tasks can be placed in an understandable sequence. The episode is useful for someone who has expertise or relationships to share and wants a clearer process for turning them into an organized educational offer.
    Turning expertise into an organized customer experience
    Describe the starting point and result the customer can recognize.
    Notice the skills other people already ask you to teach.
    Separate summit planning, content creation, and promotion.
    Schedule the launch work instead of leaving it until the last minute.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--a4xE49Vg4
    26 min
  • 175: View from the Top: Perspective, Mastermind, Abundance Mindset, and Decision Making with Aaron Walker
    Aaron Walker joins Robert Plank to discuss perspective, decision-making, and the difference between financial success and a meaningful life. His story includes starting a business at eighteen, selling companies, finding early retirement unsatisfying, and reconsidering his priorities after a fatal road collision.
    Aaron explains how repeated business achievement did not answer every question about purpose. Time away from work could become aimless, while a focus only on his own finances left important relationships and contributions unexamined. His later work places more weight on faith, family, accountability, and helping other people pursue their goals.
    Mastermind relationships supply a practical way to challenge an owner's assumptions. Aaron values people who can be candid without being caught inside the business or simply saying what the owner wants to hear. Gathering information and seeking experienced perspectives should support a decision, not become an indefinite period of analysis without action.
    One example concerns a member who nervously disclosed plans to start a competing mastermind. Aaron offered help, illustrating what he means by an abundance mindset. Another story describes an advertising trial that became a long sponsorship relationship. Robert also speaks openly about his own anxiety before ankle surgery. The episode makes room for uncertainty while asking how trusted relationships and a wider view of success can improve the next choice.
    Making decisions with perspective and candid support
    Consider purpose and relationships alongside financial targets.
    Seek people willing to question your assumptions.
    Give information-gathering a path toward an actual decision.
    Look for ways another person's success can coexist with your own.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7YvI8-Xz24
    Resources
    Free Personal Assessment (Website)
    View from the Top (Website)
    View from the Top Community (Website)
    Interview Valet Service (Podcast)
    32 min
  • 174: Success Secrets to Boost Your Self-Esteem, Be Present, Remove Negativity and Think Big with Todd Lemense
    Todd Lemense, author of Lose Your Ego and Gain the World, joins Robert Plank to discuss the connection between ego, negativity, and entrepreneurial decisions. He shares a business story in which rapid growth was followed by expensive mistakes, then considers the habits that can help an owner stay more grounded.
    Todd describes growing a painting and construction business to roughly sixty employees before ego and inattention contributed to its decline. The experience changed how he thought about responsibility. A business can have employees and support, yet the owner still needs to remain aware of its direction and condition. Early success does not remove the need to learn, pay attention, and make corrections.
    The conversation also examines the emotional weight given to other people's reactions. Todd recalls allowing a small number of unpleasant encounters to overwhelm many positive ones. Over time, he worked on becoming less argumentative and less dependent on proving himself right. Listening and looking for an outcome both people can accept become alternatives to treating every disagreement as a contest.
    Robert and Todd discuss thinking bigger while remaining present, taking action before everything feels perfect, and treating mistakes as information rather than a permanent identity. Supportive relationships and distance from persistently negative influences are part of Todd's approach. This episode brings a personal account of business setbacks into a broader discussion about humility, perspective, and the ongoing work of managing yourself while leading a company.
    Staying ambitious without losing perspective
    Remain involved in the health of the business as it grows.
    Notice when a need to be right is getting in the way of a useful conversation.
    Learn from mistakes without making them the whole story about yourself.
    Build relationships that support learning, responsibility, and forward movement.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7cVn6H4YcI
    27 min

About Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Business Growth & Entrepreneur Stories

From the publisher's feed

Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank is a daily business podcast for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, consultants, agency owners, coaches, authors, speakers, and expert-led service businesses that want…