Mark Podolsky started in the early 2000's, learning a way to market land online and finding buyers. Since then, he’s managed to build a profitable and lucrative business through his Brand, The Land Geek. Although he specializes in real estate investing, this episode isn’t just for those interested in the real estate industry.

 

In this value-packed episode, Mark discusses the strategies he used when he first got started and how they've evolved with the times to make his business more successful and lucrative than ever. He provides actionable tips and takeaways to apply to your business no matter what market or industry you're in.

 

Episode Discussions:

• The most valuable marketing asset Mark has
• The only channel to immediately connect with your target market
• Why email marketing is more of a valuable marketing tool than ever
• The benefits of having an email list and lead magnets
• Why you should always have a plan B to Facebook and other marketing channels
• Important marketing foundational concepts and fundamentals
• How to peach to the converted
• Not being in the convincing business
• The importance of knowing your customer avatar
• How to handle negative comments on your Facebook ads or posts and the beauty of hugging your haters
• The insiders secret weapon to making money online

 

4:13

Mark's intro:

• Professional land investor
• Has done over 5,200 land flips since 2001
• Got into land investing working as an investment banker and was miserable
• Got the “Monday and Friday blues”
• Firm hires someone taxing deed auctions, buying up raw land for pennies on the dollar, flipping online and making 300% returns on investments
• Mark buys 10 half acre parcels at an average of $300
• Sold them online for average price of $1200
• Next auction made $90K

"Now...I work 2 hours a week. Take that Tim Ferris."

 

7:19

• Mark's main marketing channel back in the early 2000's was Ebay.

 

9:22

The best buyers are the neighbors:

• Sends out neighbor letters build up buyers list online if neighbors pass
• Prices to receive money out of the down payment and finance the rest
• Automates payments through software

 

10:53

Takeaways:

1. Mark knows his customer avatar
2. Goes to the people that already understand the value of his product

 

11:48 

"If you're not offending by noon, you're not working hard enough."

-Dan Kennedy

12:11

• Transitioned to Craigslist after Ebay
• Is able to post 124 ads with a touch of a button using software
• Uses Facebook because it's cost effective and it works

"The costs of marketing are so low and you can target so well on Facebook."

13:51

• Listing where most of your results are coming from could cut 80% of your marketing
• Allows you to focus in on what's working.
• Makes life easier, gets you better results, saves you money, enables you to connect with customers.

14:41

• Mark uses scheduling software like MeetEdgar.com or Coschedule.com to auto post ads on Facebook.
• Posts ads around 2 or 3am to target the "toilet sitters."
• Acquisition manager is on Facebook messenger, responding in 10 seconds or less.

16:00

"The secret of making money online is the phone."

17:54

• Talk to people and ask them the right questions so you know your target customer.
• If you don't know who your avatar is, you don't know what keeps them up at 2am, you can't target them properly.

18:47

Mark's favorite customer calls are the "haters."

• They cut to the chase.
• Don't care about your feelings or how hard you've been working.
• They tell you what you're really doing wrong.
• Once you cut through the initial sting, take their criticism as a gift.
• Tweak accordingly and the haters become your greatest advocates.

19:31

1. The haters are the type of people that want to be heard.
2. They have opinions that other people have but come out and say it to your face.

19:54

Dealing with haters:

• One of Mark's favorite books is Hug You Haters – by Jay Baer
• Negative feedback is an opportunity to not answer the hater, but to answer the market.
• How to reply: "Thank you for your comment. I'd like to educate you on why this is not a scam."
  • Been in biz for ________ years.
  • Flash your rating and customer satisfaction badge
  • Link to testimonials
• Provide proof to challenge comment.
• Thank again for comment.

"Now we're making that person look like a lunatic."

21:29

How to handle negative Facebook comments:

• Make sure their gripe is legitimate
• Provide proof to negate their concern
• Address it twice and then stop!
• Use it as a marketing opportunity to overcome objects and lower your cost-per-click

23:51

Why the two best marketing channels are your neighbors and your email list.

24:19

“Would you say that everyone should probably have an email list in their business? “YES”

24:53

Mark's process developing a lead magnet:

• Asks: “what are the common things people are asking me?”
• Marketed concerns as "Here's How to Avoid the Three Fatal Land Buying Mistakes I See Investors Make Every Day."
• Psychology states we're more risk averse than gain.
• Always under-promise and over-deliver on everything

25:54

Every business should have an email list and a lead magnet.

• If you don't have a lead magnet, look through emails and questions
• Find what short-term immediate problem you can solve for potential customers.
• Convert to PDF and use as an exchange tool for customer info.

26:34

Where is The Land Geek today?

• Teaching people who have solo-economic dependency how to get out of it with the ultimate side hustle.
• How to avoid mistakes and move the needles in their lives with the goal being that their passive income exceeds their fixed expenses within 18 months of working the business.

27:28

What The Land Geek is about:

• Solving every single pain point that Mark has gone through in the business with software and virtual assistance.
• Backend software geekpay.io that automates collecting money.

29:12

Mark's Secret marketing fantastic "techy, geeky" tips:

       •  Lumen5.com takes blog posts and creates a video        •  Showbox.com        •  TakeQuickVideos.com

 

Connect with Mark:

Thelandgeek.com - Mention the Modern Marketing podcast and get the $97 Passive Income Launch Kit for free!

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Lumen5.com

Hug You Haters- Jay Baer

Geekpay.io

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts 

Without new leads, there’s no new business at all. That’s why lead generation plays such a significant role in keeping your business’s future secure.

 

In this episode, Adam discusses three lead gen tips, the single most important tool in lead gen today, and how to implement it into your marketing strategy.

 

Episode Discussions:

• Where most well-intentioned leadgen strategies go wrong
• The bonus lead gen tool every business needs to succeed
• Why it’s worth investing resources into developing lead magnets
• One lead magnet or multiple?
• How to get crystal clear on your lead gen strategy
• The different types of lead magnets
• Why consistency is so important to lead gen
• How to decide what lead magnet to develop for your business
• How to get crystal clear on your lead gen strategy
• The importance of your customer avatar and how to conduct free market research

 

2:39

1. Strategy and systems

• Success is largely based on underlying systems and strategies you use.
• Ask yourself questions like:
  • who is my ideal target market?
  • what do my best customers have in common?
  • what is their biggest challenge?
  • how can I help solve it for them?
• Be crystal clear on your strategy
  • Understand and learn about your customer avatar and who you're trying to reach.
  • Listen to episode #2 "The Customer Avatar"
  • Listen to episode #3 "Free Customer Market Research"

 

4:08

2. Consistency is crucial

• Sporadic, random leadgen isn't much better than generating no leads at all.
• Without consistency, it's hard to plan and scale.
• Focus on identifying a steady and consistent leadgen source
• Discovering the perfect combination for your business allows you to confidently invest in it, knowing your output will exceed your input.

"It takes some time but the ROI goes to those who try."

 

4:57

3. Give to get

• Leadgen is a value exchange.
• Don't devalue your prospects time and attention.
• Offer value by giving something away of equal or greater perceived value than your prospects contact details.
• The bonus leadgen tool every business needs to succeed:
  • A lead magnet is one of the most valuable and underutilized tools available.
  • It’s something of value to entice your prospect to give up their contact details.
  • Offered in many forms: Guides, cheat sheets, blueprints, templates, video series, webinars, free strategy calls.
• The lead magnet for you will depend on your business, market, and offer.
• Takeaway point: Your business needs a lead magnet.
  • Worth investing time, money, and energy in developing one.
• You can have multiple lead magnets for different markets, customer avatars, services.
• Consider what problem you could solve for your customer and create something of value.

 

07:15

Adam's recap

 

Mentioned in this episode:

• Listen to episode #2 - The Customer Avatar
• Listen to episode #3 - Free Customer Market Research

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

Whether your business is in startup mode, reputable and well-established, or somewhere in between, traffic, conversion, and retention are essential elements to making it sustainable and profitable.

 

In this episode, Adam walks you through the simple 3-step TCR advantage marketing strategy that gets you more traffic, more conversions, and better retention to generate more customers, sales, and revenue for your business.

 

Episode Discussions:

• How to identify which segment of TCR you need to focus on
• One of the most valuable tools any business can have to convert traffic into leads
• The key premise behind an effective lead magnet
• Landing pages: What they are and why they’re the best way to deliver lead magnets
• Why retargeting ads are so effective and profitable
• Adam’s top 2 traffic source recommendations
• Reasons why email marketing remains to be well-worth the investment
• How content marketing boosts the effectiveness of Facebook Ads
• 3 important things to remember when creating lead magnets
• Ways to nurture your leads
• The biggest mistakes to avoid when focusing on customer retention

 

2:04

Identify which area of your business needs attention

Laser-focus efforts on where the greatest opportunities are and what will provide the biggest impact

• Focus on traffic (step 1) if…

You need more people to know about your business, visit your website or store, or call you.

• Focus on conversion (step 2) if...

You have enough traffic and visitors but aren't turning them into paying customers.

• Focus on retention (step 3) if...

You have traffic and customers but want to maximize revenue by increasing their lifetime value and selling them more of your products and services.

 

3:19

Step #1. Traffic

• Niche down and focus on your ideal target market.
  • Ensure they're able to find you, learn about your business, and do business with your company.
  • Find how to leverage it, how to get the best results, and the amount you're able to pay for it and still break even or return positive ROI
• Top 2 traffic source recommendations:
  • Facebook Ads - short-term win
  • content marketing - boosts effectiveness of Facebook ads, provides more sustainable and long-term approach.

"When you combine these tools together, you create an unstoppable force destined for marketing domination."

4:57

Step #2. Conversion

• Offer something of value in exchange for prospect's contact information.
• Key premise behind an effective lead magnet:
  • Drill down the needs of your customers
    • Find out what information they're looking for
    • their problems and how you can help
  • Keep it simple, easy to digest, and positions you as an authority in your market
  • Use a landing page to deliver magnet in exchange for their contact details.

 

6:53

• Nurture leads via:
  • email nurture sequence
  • retargeting ads
  • sales call
  • webinar

 

7:13

Step #3. Retention

• Continued service and offering of new things for customers to buy.
• Use a combo approach of email marketing and retargeting ads.
  • Retargeting ads
    • ensures you stay top-of-mind
    • allows you to advertise to a smaller area of the market
  • Email marketing
    • Provides remarkable return (some ROI numbers: 3800% and 4500%)
  • Biggest mistakes: not providing a call to action (CTA) or opportunity to learn about your other products and services.

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

When it comes to generating more sales for your business, there’s no shortage of strategies and tactics to try. However, be wise when choosing, as some have the power to not only waste your valuable resources, but damage your business in the process. So, how do you choose the best option, especially if cold calling or slashing prices aren’t your thing?

 

In this episode, Adam shares three tips to increase sales without discounting or damaging your brand, business or reputation in the industry, while keeping long-term revenue in mind.

 

Episode Discussions:

• Adam's objections with cold calling and slashing prices
• Countdown timers on your website: good or bad strategy?
• How frequent sales can damage your long-term sales
• Ways to get creative when planning promotional events
• How to get the most out of using scarcity and exclusivity
• What to do when your competitors are running discounts
• The psychology behind reciprocity and why it works to increase sales
• A must-have powerful tool to keep in your marketing toolbox
• How and when to implement a rewards campaign into your strategy
• Why you should track, measure, and monitor your rewards campaign and what to look for

 

1:59

• Cold calling: loss of power balance, gives off a "needy" impression, interrupts someone's day.
• Slashing prices/frequent sales: devalues your offer, destroys profit margins, trains your customers to wait for the next sale rather than purchase immediately.

 

4:20

#1. Events

• Takes advantage of the psychological principle of scarcity
• Create an event around your product, service or business
• Allows you to ethically and honestly put a real deadline on your promotion.
• If using a countdown timer on your website, use a real timer like Deadline Funnel.
• Gives you creative liberty to promote, advertise, and spread the word.
• Pair event with something relevant and meaningful to your business or industry.

 

6:14

#2. Upgrades

• Takes advantage of the psychological principle of exclusivity.
• Provide an additional product, service or benefit worth 20% more rather than offering a 20% discount.
• Can be tied in with an event to help include the scarcity factor.
• Gives feeling of exclusivity if upgrade is limited to a select few, those who purchase a select product or at a select time.
• Consider upgrading if competitors are running discounts.

 

7:25

#3. Rewards

• Takes advantage of the psychological principle of reciprocity.
• Says "thank you" and promotes new sales
• Can be offered with no requirement or stated expectation of purchase
• Instills an element of reciprocity in the receiver to feel out of balance until favor is returned.
• Use with frequent or loyal customers
  • Or test strategy on new cold traffic
• Track, measure, monitor - Ensure campaign is ROI positive over 30, 60, 90 days

 

8:51

Takeaway point:

“Long-term brand value shouldn't be jeopardized just to make a few short-term sales. Especially when you have so many better options available.”

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion- Robert Cialdini

Deadline Funnel

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

 

 

 

Being blindsided by a few career hits didn’t stop Ryan Stewman’s eye from seeing opportunity. It’s served him well. He’s built multiple six and seven figure businesses and helped countless entrepreneurs do the same through his company, Hardcore Closer. As a 4-time best-selling author, sales coach, podcast host, and blogger, it’s safe to say he’s got a winning formula for success.

 

In this episode, Adam and Ryan discuss lead generation, the importance of consistency, good content creation practices, and how to be confident when talking price.

 

Episode Discussions:

• How to use Evernote to log and organize content ideas
• Ryan’s content creation methods
• Why taking action beats just talking about it
• How Ryan built a brand aroundHardcoreCloser.com
• Ways to syndicate content across different channels
• Lead generation recommendations for newer entrepreneurs
• Why you should write an article first and pitch it second
• Steps to getting your article published on big name websites
• The importance of being authentic
• Ryan’s sales funnel from lead magnet to $30K Mastermind program
• Building confidence when talking price (internal cost objection)
• How to position yourself to show value and get your asking price
• The 2 jobs a salesperson has and how to execute them to get the sale
• How you can get a copy of Amazon’s #1 selling sales book for free

 

2:53

Ryan's story:

• Corporate & freelance background
• Found success working in mortgages
• Grew business from referrals of people leaving the industry when market tanked
• Lost his job when CFPB law passed
• Had to figure out a way to earn money and avoid problems
• Has since built several multi-million dollar businesses

 

5:17

Hardcore Closer

• Started off as a joke
• Built his brand around HardcoreCloser.com — predominantly blogging
• Blog draws quarter of a million unique hits a month
• 60,000 subscribers

 

7:11

Lead generation

• Ryan writes 5 blog posts a week, records all videos and podcasts
• Current lead magnet: Elevator to the Top
• Has a proprietary back-end system that rates leads

"I actually go through the leads and have my sales team call the ones that are most qualified."

8:25

Funnel talk

• Book offer: "Elevator to the Top"- Free + shipping ($8)
• Professional video of live event ($47 upsell)
• Program: Break Free Academy Entourage ($297/mo.)
• Nurtures customer relationship (Phone calls and Facebook community)
• Live seminar ($5K event)
• Mastermind program ($30K/year)

 

11:02

Ryan's lead gen recommendations for newer entrepreneurs:

• Write articles in places like Huffington Post or Medium
• Be consistent (emails, social media posts, LinkedIn networking, etc)

 

13:22

“How are you coming up with content?”

"I don't have a cheat sheet where I steal other people's headlines. They're all original things I come up with because I go through these experiences..."-RS

• Uses Evernote to record ideas for blog posts and Whiteboard Wednesday videos
• Each Sunday, reviews notes and creates content
• Podcast producer extracts show content from archived blog posts (content syndication)

 

16:58

Outreach Strategy and Getting Published:

• Hired PR to introduce him to Entrepreneur
• Pitched until article was accepted
• Used Entrepreneur articles as credibility and leverage
• Went to Huffington Post
• Addicted to Success
• Contacted by Forbes to write articles

 

20:10

Why you should write your article first and pitch it second.

 

21:15

"Don't talk about it. Be about it."-RS

22:00

Confidence —Talking About Price

"As a salesperson, your job isn't to talk. It's to ask questions and listen. When you ask questions, they give you answers. When they give you answers, you can get an understanding of their problem."

• Understanding their problem demonstrates empathy
• Empathy results in their confidence in you that you can provide the best solution
• Then, price doesn't matter

 

Always investigate the project by asking questions before quoting a price.

 

24:32

"The number one reason people get the price objection is because they just said the price!"-RS

25:17

“Elevator To The Top” covers topics that were briefly talked about in this episode,

Including ways to help with confidence issues or jumping too quick on things like price.

 “Everything you need to find yourself successful.”-RS

 

25:58 "I enjoy talking about this and you can tell I'm passionate about it. I could go on forever. If you were like, 'Hey man, you know what, this is gonna be a four-hour show,' I'd say 'done, let's keep rollin'."

 

 

Questions? Email Adam directly at [email protected]

  

Connect with Ryan:

 

ElevatorTotheTop.com (Get your free copy of the book!)

 

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts 

 

Paul Kortman is a self-proclaimed “odd duck” with a foot in two different worlds. His areas of focus include both SEO tactics and paid video advertisements. Odd duck? Or one well-rounded digital marketer?

In this episode, Paul discusses the SEO tactics and video ad strategies he’s found to be most effective and how to successfully apply them to your business.

  Episode Discussions:

• Why Paul recommends recording different videos for Facebook and YouTube ads
• Testing different video ad lengths and which ones offer a great return
• 4 elements of a successful video ad
• Paul’s preference: Video template vs. short script
• Using actual customers vs. paid actors to deliver your message
• Alternatives to traditional video ads: video sales letters and animated videos
• How Paul does and doesn’t use retargeting
• The strategy behind split-testing videos
• Why diversity is important in your marketing
• How organic ranks and SEO aid paid traffic
• Why SEO is a long-term yet effective strategy
• Backlinks: What they are and how they affect your website’s authority
• Paul’s tips for gaining linkback credit
• Two factors to SEO mastery
• What type of content has the best chance of ranking for SEO
• How long-tail keywords will help boost your search engine rank
• How to get an unbiased 3rd party opinion of your content for the price for a coffee

 

 

1:27

Small to medium businesses will see lower costs per acquisition if they do an actual video ad.

1:44

One of Paul's clients is paying less than $2 per email address acquisition.

He found success via video ads on Facebook which allows him to directly target his audience.

2:24

Paul recommends recording different videos for Facebook and YouTube ads.

3:02

"I try to stress to all of my clients to keep it down to 15 seconds. This is an elevator pitch minus the elevator doors even closing. The moment you step foot on that elevator, you have to spit it out."-PK

4:06

Paul encourages his clients to write up a short script and use their phones to record. Usually the 5th or 6th take that works well.

6:52

Things to include in your 15 second video:

• Scarcity
• Price and time urgency
• Mention customization

7:31

• Make sure you're talking right to your target audience.
• Use anything that would work on a landing page or sales copy.
• Make sure there's value.
• Talk about your client, not yourself.
• Mention the benefits of your offer, not the features.
• One simple call to action (CTA)

11:31

Alternatives to directly delivering the message yourself in your video ad.

12:02

"You trust someone if you see their eyes."-PK

13:11

If Paul doesn't capture interest with the video enough to get click-throughs, a different video is created all together.

13:33

"We actually split-test the videos rather than try to retarget."-PK

16:43

 "PPC is short-term, quick gains. SEO is a long-term, in it for the long haul."

17:07

To master SEO:  

• Have the high-quality content that people are searching for
• Have the backlinks and authority

18:22

Focus on creating high-quality content that people are talking about, commenting on or linking to. Most likely a blog article. Then market the content.

20:31

• Depending on how competitive your industry and market is, your homepage, services page or pricing page won't affect your rank.
• Long-tail keywords are less competitive and more likely to rank in the search engines.

21:48

"All boats rise with the tide." As you get backlinks, it raises the value and authority of your entire website.

22:47

Paul’s actionable tip for small businesses to generate leads and increase conversion rates:

Business owners are so closely tied to their businesses. It’s difficult to see things objectively sometimes…

"The next time you're in Starbucks, pull up a webpage from your website and say ‘Listen I'll buy your drink, I just wanna ask you a few questions about this webpage.”

 

Ask them to review your content and they’ll give you good, honest feedback.

 

Connect with Paul:

ConnexDigitalMarketing.com

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

 

 

 

If you want your business to thrive and survive moving forward, making social media a key part of your marketing strategy is essential. Without it, you risk hurting your brand and business by not staying relevant, accessible, and connected to your customers. But when used properly, it can serve as a powerful force to boost your business and keep you ahead of the competition.

 

In this episode, Adam discusses 15 social media marketing mistakes your business should avoid and why social media marketing is one of the most important tools you can implement in your business.

 

Episode Discussions:

• The most important element in creating an effective social media marketing plan
• The one tip that could 10x your social media marketing results
• Why the short game is a costly amateur mistake
• How to start benefitting from the incredible power of paid social media traffic
• The best place to start if you’re brand new to paid traffic
• What separates the amateurs from the pros
• One of the biggest mistakes you can make in business and social media marketing
• Facts and stats on social media consumption and it’s influence on web traffic and consumer purchases
• What important details to consider when identifying your target markets social media usage
• Why right now is considered to be the “golden age” of paid traffic
• The most effective marketing strategy to combine with social media to amplify your efforts
• Why it’s fair for social media networks to charge for ads
• How being overly polished, rehearsed, or scripted can hurt your business
• How to save time and money by identifying your target market’s channels
• Ways to avoid overwhelm and how to get help with your social media marketing

 

 

3:18

Mistake #1: Not using social media marketing

• There will always be some form of social media channel that connects users, friends, family and businesses.
• Neglecting it signals carelessness for customers, how they want to connect and consume information.

 

3:59

Mistake #2: Not giving social media marketing the respect it deserves

• Most businesses are unaware of power and potential of a strategic social media marketing campaign.

 

4:44

Mistake #3: Treating social media like a hobby

• Happens when:
• Social media is misidentified and not treated as a valuable business tool.
• Miscategorize it under personal and not a professional heading.
  • Differentiate the two.

 

• Don't do the same thing from the same channel at the same time.
• Approach it thoughtfully and strategically.

 

5:45

Mistake #4: Not being strategic about your social media marketing

• The cause of a failed campaign is almost always a focus on tactics, shiny objects, a disregard for foundational marketing strategies and principles.
• Businesses play the short game at the expense of building long-term trust and customer loyalty.
  • Spread too thinly across too many channels
  • Throw everything at the wall hoping something will stick

"Strategy is the single most important element in creating an effective social media marketing plan."

 

7:08

Mistake #5: Ignoring customer social media details

• Successful companies try to make their customers feel understood.
  • Identify your target markets social media usage statistics
    • What channels they're on
    • How they use them
    • What kind of content they're consuming
    • When they're most active
    • What about that channel appeals to them
  • How you can leverage info to your business’s advantage
• Identifying what channels they're on eliminates the need to be on every channel.
  • Saves you time and money.

 

8:05

Mistake #6: Being active on every social media channel

• Can prove to be overwhelming and time-wasting.
• Focus on platforms that best align with your market, business, and style.
  • Cuts workload and increases results.

"You don't need to do everything. You just need to do the right things, in the right place, for the right people."

 

9:04

Mistake #7: Thinking social media marketing is free

• The cost is either time or money.
• Look at your revenue and workload.
  • If you have more time, get active sharing, helping, posting, and caring.
  • If you're more established, it's worth investing money when done strategically.

 

9:42

Mistake #8: Not investing enough in social media marketing

• Competition is at an all-time high
  • more connected world
  • more discerning clientele
• Level of minimum viable investment continues to climb.

"When done right, more time and money in is going to equal more time and money out."

• Allocate more of your business's marketing budget toward social.

 

10:36

Mistake #9: Playing the short game

• Overpromotion will burn audience and yourself out.
• Many get the impression that online marketing doesn't work.
• The real money is generated long-term with:
  • Back-end sales
  • Continuing to nurture customer relationships
  • Building a worthy brand

 

11:41

Mistake #10: Not combining social media with content marketing

• Social media is a tool, not a strategy.
• Combine it with a foundational marketing strategy like...
• Content marketing:
  • Rapidly builds know, like, and trust factor
  • Establishes authority in your marketplace
  • Creates a world class brand and business

 

12:33

Mistake #11: Not leveraging paid social media traffic

• Organic (non-paid social media reach) is rapidly declining.
• It costs to create, maintain, and service a massive social media network.
• They're free to do what they want to do
• Post content on your website first in order to maintain control of your content and share on social media after.

"In a competitive business environment, any barriers to entry eliminate those unwilling to adapt and evolve from the competition."

• Start with Facebook if you're new to paid traffic.
  • Offers the best targeting, options, and easiest use.

 

14:13

Mistake #12: Not being consistent

• Consistency provides exponential returns over time.
• Builds trust, likeability, recognition.
• Commit to integrating and scheduling into your business to fully benefit.

 

14:52

Mistake #13: Leading with anything other than value

• Understand the mentality of the average social media user and adjust accordingly.
  • The typical user doesn't log into social media with the intent to purchase.
• Engage customers with value-providing content that educates, entertains, or a combination.

 

15:50

Mistake #14: Not being authentic

• One of the biggest mistakes you can make in business and social media marketing.
• Customers are quickly able to detect a fraud.
  • Less receptive to big faceless corporations and meaningless mission statements.
• Being overly polished, rehearsed or scripted can hurt your business.
• To fix it, define and establish your values and principles and live them day in and day out.

"Simply be yourself and don't be afraid to show it."

• Customers will appreciate your genuineness and humanity.

 

 

16:52

Mistake #15: Being afraid to ask for help

• Facebook influences over half of all online and offline consumer purchases.
• Pinterest drives 25% of all retail website traffic
• 81% of Millennials check Twitter at least once a day
• Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18-34-year-olds in the US alone
• Easy to get overwhelmed and put off social media marketing.
  • Seek help by buying a book, taking a course, or hiring an agency.
• Businesses and entrepreneurs who take action and commit to adopting a social media strategy are going to be the ones best positioned for success today, tomorrow, and for years to come.

"Go out there and take action."

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

With video making up over half of all internet traffic, it’s increasingly difficult for business owners to overlook it as a marketing opportunity goldmine. The belief that it’s complicated, time-consuming, and expensive is simply old-fashioned. Just a few short minutes with a camera or smartphone and you have a powerful tool that can drastically transform your business.

 

In this episode, Adam breaks down video content marketing to better understand it's importance and how you can strategically use it to benefit your business [includes free downloadable template].

 

Episode Discussions:

 

• Stats and projections that verify the impact of video consumption
• The crucial keys to creating valuable content
• How to 10X your video content marketing results
• The importance of appropriately targeting your market
• Ways to optimize your video for user experience
• How to give customers more opportunity to find and consume your content
• What type of videos are worth paying to promote and why
• The difference between marketing and advertising
• How to quickly and easily create your own video ad for free
• Simple instructions on how to download and use the “60 Second Video Ad Template”

 

 

3:58

1.   Video

• Makes up over half of all internet traffic.
• By 2019, estimated to rise to 80%.
• Facebook generates over 8 billion video views daily.
• Snapchat is 1/15 the size of Facebook and generates 7 billion daily views.
• One of your customer's most preferred forms of content to consume.

 

4:57

2.   Content

• The key to creating valuable content is to
  1. Answer customer questions
  2. Solve their problems
  3. Add value to their lives
• When you begin creating content, have your customers in mind.
  1. Research what questions or problems they have.
  2. Create your content.
• Listen to episode 42, "The Power of Content Marketing for Small Business" for more content marketing tips!

"A few minutes of preparation ahead of time will literally 10X your reach, your impact, and results."

5:59

3.   Marketing

• Makes for bigger and better results in a lot less time.
• Should be appropriately targeted:
  • Have a clear understanding of ideal target market and who you're trying to reach.
  • Ensures you're using the correct tools and gives highest probability of success.
• Optimize for user’s experience:
  • Readable - include captions and subtitles
  • Search engines - use relevant keywords in title, tags, and descriptions
• Give customers more opportunity to find and consume your content on their preferred channel/platform:
  • Upload video to YouTube, Facebook, and embed it on your website.
• Invest in promoting successful and well-received videos.
  • Will reach more potential customers and clients faster.

 

8:00

Video Advertising

• Advertising and marketing are not the same:
  • Marketing: bigger, overall picture
  • Advertising: specific subset of marketing
• "The 60 Second Video Ad Template" - Use this free download to quickly and easily create YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram video ads for your business!
  • Simple plug and play script
  • Add your own keywords
  • Shoot video on your smart phone or use a videographer
  • Keep it at 60 seconds to use on Instagram and other video channels with time limitations

 

Email Adam with your “60 Second Video Ad Template” success stories! [email protected]

 

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Freebie download - “The 60 Second Video Ad Template"

Or go to AdamErhart.com/VideoAdTemplate

• MMP episode #42 - "The Power of Content Marketing for Small Business”

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

5-Step Content Promotion Strategy | #043

 

"Content without promotion is not a whole lot better than having no content at all."

It’s true. Content marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies available today. So, you put fort the time, effort, and energy into creating the valuable content that will make your marketing strategy a success. How do you ensure it gets put to good use in the most optimal and profitable ways possible?

 

In this episode, Adam recaps the 3 key pieces to content marketing success and discusses a 5-step promotion strategy that ensures your content ends up in front of the right people, in the right places, at the right times.

 

Episode Discussions:

• How to gain initial speed and momentum with your content
• 3 Key pieces to content marketing success
• How to optimize your content to give it the highest probability of success
• Ways to make your content easy to find and consume
• How to find the most relevant social media channels to promote your content
• How the quality of your content impacts your paid traffic efforts
• Ways to repurpose your content for maximum audience engagement

 

3:04

3 key pieces to content marketing success

1. Be consistent
2. Be strategic
3. Be promoting

 

5-Step Content Promotion Strategy:

 

3:45

1.   Identify your target market

• This ensures your content won't fall on deaf ears and/or go to waste.
  • Happens when businesses misidentify their markets and disrespect trends in consumer media consumption.

Need help? Listen to episode #2 on how to create your perfect customer avatar!

 

4:32

2.   Optimize your content

• Gives your content the highest probability of success
• As simple as making your content easy to find and consume
  • Use relevant and searched for keywords in your title, tags, and descriptions.
  • Use short sentences.
  • Keep it casual and conversational
• For video content: use captions or subtitles

 

Key Takeaway: Make it easy to find and consume.

 

5:16

3.   Share content on relevant social media channels

• Odds are good your content will benefit from at least 1 social media channel.
• Match your ideal target market with regular statistics on which demographics are using which social media platforms.
• Start with some combo of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram if you're unsure.

 

6:16

4.   Amplify content with paid traffic

"The beauty of paid traffic is that it takes whatever you have and makes it more of that."

• If you have a great piece of content that's getting positive results, adding paid promotion will help it reach more people.
• If you have poor content, it's likely to result in silence, diminished exposure, and cost you more.
• Paid traffic platforms reward quality content with greater reach and punish the weak with higher costs.
• Solution:
  • Ensure you're creating the highest quality content possible
  • Once published, monitor, measure, and analyze what content does well and what doesn't.
  • Boost only the good content.

7:16

5.   Recycle, reuse, and repurpose your content

• Your content can be modified for alternative forms of distribution.
• Example: A blog post...
  • Can be read aloud and turned into a podcast or…
  • Broken down into talking points and turned into a video, power point, or keynote presentation.
• Syndicating your content across other media channels presents more opportunities to connect with your customers where and how they want to be connected with.

  Mentioned in this Episode:

• Episode #02 – The Customer Avatar

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts  

Running a small business is no easy feat so we commend those who do. Your day-to-day dealings demand most of your time and energy, leaving you without much to invest in your long-term goals. Even though you’re aware of how imperative marketing is to the ultimate success of your business, it still finds its way to the backburner.

 

The solution is to concentrate your efforts on the most effective strategy that provides the greatest return.

 

In this episode, Adam discusses the power of a content marketing strategy and how it can be used to deliver more quality leads and customers for your small business. Listen to find out how to get started using a content marketing strategy and begin as early as now.

 

Episode Discussions:

• The remarkable success of content marketing
• The best place to distribute your content
• How much content is enough?
• How building up a content database will grow your business
• Why it’s important to be consistent and committed to your content strategy
• Suggestions on how to align your content channel with your comfort level
• How to provide valuable content that ensures the success of your strategy

 

 

Steps to start using a content marketing strategy:

 

3:24

Find your channel.

• Focus on one channel and master it.
• When finding the best content channel, look at your market and find what best aligns with their consumption habits.

 

Key: Start small and build from there.

 

4:13

• Align your market's preference with the channel you feel most comfortable on.
  • Prefer writing over speaking - use a text based blog
  • Prefer speaking over writing - start a podcast
  • Prefer video over typing - use a video-based channel
    • easy to repurpose and syndicate content across other channels
  • Be consistent and committed to your content marketing strategy.

 

 

4:58

Find your voice.

• Identify your business's unique selling proposition (USP)
  • What makes you better of different from the competition?
• Focus on providing value: make sure it helps, educates, and informs.
• Be yourself.

"Together, they provide an unequaled level of authenticity and connection."

 

5:37

Find your frequency.

"The more time, money, and energy you dedicate to your content marketing strategy, the greater and faster your returns will be."

• Being consistent and regular with producing content:
  • builds up your audience
  • increases your perceived level of expertise and builds trust
  • creates a content database that continuously provides value

 

Key: Find the right level of frequency for you and your business and stick with it.

 

6:26

"Focusing on quality over quantity will help build a foundation of content that will make growing your business faster, easier, and more profitable than ever before."

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Modern Marketing on Stitcher

Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts