One of the biggest lessons Marc Thomas learned about creating engaging content was the importance of bringing in bits of his personality. Today, Craig talks with Marc Thomas about how he has made a name for himself in the world of content and brand growth. Marc emphasizes what some of us forgot: B2B content has a purpose and we have to know what that purpose is. They also talk about the effectiveness of marketing “best practices,” the importance of transparency, Podia’s biggest marketing push and how it worked, and competitor landing pages.

Marc Thomas is the Senior Growth Marketer at Podia. Since 2014, Podia has been committed to building the most creator-friendly tools to help their customers sell online courses, digital downloads, membership subscriptions, and more to their audience.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. If you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Marc Thomas, LinkedIn 

“How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know” by Byron Sharp

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It’s the 300th episode of Rogue Startups, and it’s all about personal updates and professional improvements. Craig talks about where Rogue Startups started and what the future holds for this podcast and podcasting in general. What mediums will everyone gravitate toward this year? Who will win in this cage match between Google, YouTube, AI, SEO, and social media?

Craig also talks about where he wants to spend his time and energy in 2024. He has an ambitious but achievable goal of creating and publishing 200 videos on YouTube this year. Not to mention, he dives into this theory on personal engagement and personal content and how those things will change soon as well. Will they be more or less important? 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. If you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

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George Blackman joins Craig in this installment of the Rogue Startups YouTube series. They chat about scripting episodes and what you can do to prepare yourself for making successful videos. George has had years of experience working with successful YouTubers who have had millions of views on their videos, in part because of George’s scripts. 

George and Craig also discuss why scripting is important, how to use a teleprompter, and the pros and cons of riffing versus being intentional and planning content. On the topic of AI, they focus on how he utilizes AI for title creation. One example of a prompt being:

“I am writing a video based on a topic and a “grand payoff” that I’ll provide below. Based on these two components, what emotional transformation will viewers have experienced by the end? (Related to the Grand Payoff)

Question/Topic: [insert here]

Grand Payoff: Viewers will understand XYZ.”

George is a consulting YouTube scriptwriter based just outside London. He has written scripts for creators like Ali Abdaal, Noah Kagan, Creator Booth, and Mike Shake. His new course (”YouTube Scriptwriter’s Playbook” Course) focuses on systemizing the process of scriptwriting to maximize retention. It starts on January 12th. Join in at a discount by using the code: launch10.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. If you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

George’s website

”YouTube Scriptwriter’s Playbook” Course Discount Code: launch10

Connect with George on Twitter/X

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Trent Haire drops some serious knowledge as he chats with Craig today about the three things that you can do to move your YouTube channel to the next level. Trent has years of experience and has worked with some major YouTubers by helping them go from little to no viewer and subscribers to thousands and even millions. In addition to his tips, they also talk about how B2B YouTube strategies differ from other YouTube channels, the importance of providing value first, and how YouTube stacks up to other social media platforms with shorter content.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Creator Campfire 

Trent Haire on Twitter/X 

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Today’s episode is all about YouTube SEO. Craig is joined by Josh Howard, YouTube expert. Josh shares his knowledge about how to rank your video #1, and how to be successful in constructing a dynamic script and structure for your channel and individual videos. He also shows this information in action by analyzing Castos’ YouTube page, as well as Ahrefs’ YouTube channel.

Josh Howard started his analytics journey with website SEO before transitioning fully to YouTube. He used his love of math, statistics (and spreadsheets) as a foundation for understanding how to succeed on YouTube. He helps his clients make better content, utilize YouTube in valuable ways, and understand the analytics behind their videos to maximize the performance of their channels.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Reach out to Josh on Twitter

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn

Check out Josh’s personal website

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Today Craig chats with Jake Thomas from Creator Hooks about what SaaS owners and entrepreneurs can do to catch the eye of possible customers and viewers on YouTube. Jake started his journey to Creator Hooks when he landed his dream job as a marketing manager at a fishing company. There, he learned the most important thing about creating titles and content for YouTube: modeling other successful YouTube videos. In today’s episode, Jake talks about that process as well as the importance of authenticity, posting on different social media platforms, and how to position topics in a way that will draw people in.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Creator Hooks 

Reach out to Jake on Twitter/X

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Matt Wolach is a genius at closing. Today, Craig gets the opportunity to pick Matt’s brain. They chat about why most people don’t close deals and what they can do to fix that. They wax poetic about outbound leads. How do you generate them? Where does it work best? Not to mention, they also talk about their social media processes.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Matt Wolach 

Follow Matt on Twitter/X

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn

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On today’s episode, Craig chats with Corey Haines, founder of Conversion Factory. They chat about what it’s really like to be a B2B SaaS owner including how to handle marketing, if it’s necessary to learn the ins and outs of development, and how client work can kick you in the butt so you can stay fresh all the time.

Corey Haines is a marketing-first entrepreneur. He aims to help people with exceptional products, services, and content get the attention they deserve. Corey focuses on entrepreneurship, building a portfolio of small bets to optimize for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He is currently running Conversion Factory, Swipe Files, and SwipeWell. He has worked with dozens of startups on marketing and growth including Cordial, Baremetrics, SavvyCal, Bonsai, Evercast, Riverside.fm, Holloway, Beamer, and Timetastic.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Conversion Factory

Reach out to Corey on Twitter/X

Corey on LinkedIn

Corey’s Personal Site

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Craig and Ed chat about all things bootstrapping, personal branding, social media, and growth trajectory. They also do a bit of catching up. Ed provides a unique perspective on these topics in addition to trying to convince Craig to move back to Europe.

Ed is the co-founder of OpenCage which provides a geocoding API (which converts geographic coordinates to locations around the world). He also organizes Geomob which is an event series (and a podcast) that meets in London, Barcelona, and Berlin. Geomob provides a relaxed forum for geoinnovation and for geospatial enthusiasts. He is also an angel investor (occasionally) whose interests include geo, API-based businesses, developer tools, aggregation, SaaS, and messaging, based out of Berlin, London, and Barcelona. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Ed Freyfogle

Ed on Mastodon

OpenCage

Geomob

Geomob Podcast

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Work smarter on things that really matter instead of working harder on things that make no difference. Today Craig talks about what he has learned about prioritizing, focusing, and honing in on tasks that really mean something. Between his professional experiences and input from his business coach, he’s learned that there isn’t a magic fix-all button that will bring in all the customers. Be critical of the time you spend on your business.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Reach out on LinkedIn

Reach out on Twitter/X

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