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

Steve P. Young explains how app businesses can grow downloads and revenue with clearer app store marketing and smarter monetization. His core service centers on app store optimization, including titles, subtitles, descriptions, screenshots, and creative testing to improve organic rankings. He also emphasizes conversion rate optimization, retention rate optimization, and app audits as ways to help apps make more money after the download. For subscription apps, he says 80 to 90% of purchases often come from the onboarding flow and the app's main page. About 60% can come from the welcome flow pricing page when it uses reminders, social proof, and clear benefits. He also shares that longer pricing pages produced results like 12x revenue growth and a 65% revenue increase. The key takeaway is to make upgrades obvious, persuasive, and easy to buy.

Luke Van Der Veer explains how renting lead generation websites can create passive income from local business demand. The model starts by choosing a niche with search volume, building a site, and ranking it on the first page of Google. Calls use local tracking numbers and forms route leads by email, so a plumber, roofer, tree service, or concrete contractor receives prospects automatically. Before charging, Luke suggests sending free referrals to prove value and build trust with owners already using HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Groupon, or Google ads. Once a site produces leads, the owner rents it for a monthly fee, often through Stripe autopay. The goal is an asset that keeps producing with little maintenance. The key takeaway is to prove demand first, then rent the asset instead of selling services upfront.

Bear Wade explains how building marketing in the right order helps businesses save time, money, and heartache while creating clearer brands. His framework starts by defining the brand script, identity, photography, explainer video, value proposition, call to action, and pricing structure before touching the website. Only then should a company apply those assets to a converting website, print pieces, lead generation, and a specific campaign initiative. For growth, he recommends a content pipeline, assigned roles, a schedule, and deployment across channels so the same idea reaches different learners. He points to Red Meat Lover, a side project with over 130,000 YouTube subscribers and 50,000 monthly website views. He also highlights batching five recipes in one shoot day, using a push record checklist, and outsourcing editing. The biggest takeaway is to focus on the single brand step you are on before adding more marketing tasks.

Beate Chelette explains how entrepreneurs can turn failure into direction and build businesses that grow without trapping them. After reaching $135,000 in debt as a single mother, she rebuilt through a stock photography niche and sold a global company to Bill Gates. Her Five Star Success Blueprint starts with knowing the destination, then choosing the right path up the mountain. She warns against "mini me" hiring and prefers 10 people working five hours each over one person carrying 40 hours. She also stresses creating equity, defining what is being sold, and using Airtight Avatar to identify the right customer. Her new business code focuses on strength based teams, clear roles, belonging, and measurable contribution. The key lesson is to treat failure as a road sign, change direction, and fail faster.

Software startups can earn developer trust by publishing practical content that answers real technical questions and supports sales. Karl Hughes recommends educational tutorials with code samples, use cases, and integration examples instead of cold emails or pushy popups. A useful baseline is one strong piece per week, often around 1500 words with three to five supporting visuals. Topic research can combine Ahrefs keyword data, developer communities like Reddit, Stack Overflow, Slack, and Hacker News, plus sales and support questions. Strong content includes bottom and middle funnel pieces, such as CI/CD, testing, linting, JIRA, and web hosting integration guides. Older posts should be audited every three to six months, refreshed, internally linked, and re-promoted. The best takeaway is to start with helpful, current developer education before chasing scale.

Mike Killen explains how service providers can charge more by narrowing their niche and selling a clear business outcome. He argues that agencies do not scale businesses as much as they scale a focused idea, such as helping funnel builders sell five-figure marketing funnels. His framework starts with audience and amount, including setting a $25,000 offer before deciding what to deliver. He then adds assets, authority, attention, and action as the six components that justify higher prices. Practical assets include a sales page, webinar, Calendly form, and a 10,000-word blog post created from training content. Courses and lower-priced products should qualify buyers for deeper help instead of becoming the endpoint. The takeaway is to choose a specific problem, price around your desired business model, and build everything around that promise.

Jody Milward explains how Facebook ads can build authority, attract leads, and avoid costly account shutdowns. She recommends starting with engagement or video view campaigns before jumping into conversion ads. A simple video can run for $1 a day, then retarget viewers who watched at least three seconds. That audience can be nurtured for up to 90 days with follow-up videos and offers. She stresses sending traffic to a focused landing page, not a busy homepage, and installing the Facebook pixel on the thank you page. Compliance matters because income claims, weight loss promises, before-and-after photos, and overusing "you" can trigger problems fast. The best takeaway is to build trust first, track properly, and check Facebook's terms before spending money.

Mike Giannulis explains how small marketing fixes can turn a stalled business into a scalable growth machine. He shares how one health company grew from about 900k to almost 5 million in annual sales by improving paid traffic, credit terms, staffing, systems, and automation. He also shows how simple funnel changes, like a 37 dollar upsell or raising a 3.99 order bump, can lift average order value. For faster copy, he recommends saving tagged research, headlines, phrases, and proof into a swipe system instead of starting from a blank page. His mindset framework replaces motivation with consistency and turns goals into projects with steps, deadlines, and contingencies. Modern copy, he says, should break long sales pages into multiple content touchpoints. The clearest takeaway is to improve the fundamentals before chasing new tactics.

Mickie Kennedy explains how small businesses can turn press releases into real media coverage by choosing better stories. A strong release uses a factual headline, third-person announcement, and a quote compelling enough for journalists to build around. The biggest shift is selecting strategic hooks, not routine updates like personnel changes or mobile responsive websites. Surveys, studies, and oddball questions can create news, as shown by an auto repair survey that earned a dozen trade pickups. Distribution matters because PR Newswire can cost around $1,000 retail, while eReleases offers national access around $269 to $400. Mickie recommends a campaign of four to eight releases, not a single test. The most useful takeaway is to serve the journalist's audience first.

Mark Colgan explains how podcast guesting can turn expertise into steady visibility and qualified conversations. His framework starts with a one hour onboarding call to define the audience, topics, bio, profile, and media page. The team researches best-fit podcasts, listens to several episodes, and writes customized outreach around relevant angles. A six month campaign guarantees 24 booked podcast interviews, with first positive replies often arriving in week four or five. Preparation includes a recorded test interview, detailed feedback, and a one hour session with a presentation coach. ROI can be tracked with podcast-specific landing pages, form questions, and direct customer conversations. The most useful takeaway is that repeated interviews sharpen your message while creating evergreen trust.