The Bacon Podcast with Brian Basilico | CURE Your Sales & Marketing with Ideas That Make It SIZZLE!

Jeff Smith is the Alexa Guy. He creates Alexa skills for companies, entrepreneurs, coaches and speaker to help them engage with their followers on a daily basis.

His career started in advertising, first as a copywriter, later as a creative director. That created opportunities in Hollywood, and he moved his family to Los Angeles, where they lived happily for 14 years. Jeff created trailers and promos for all the major studios and networks and produced three TV shows and wrote the screenplay for the movie “New World Disorder,” which starred Rutger Hauer.

While producing the TV show “Reel Planet” in 1996, Jeff needed a website and anyone who knew how to create websites at that time was really expensive. So he bought Adobe Pagemill 1.0 and taught myself.

That began a 20 year career of combining marketing with tech. He’s created web applications, services, websites, mobile apps and more for clients big and small.

In December of 2017, Jeff began developing Alexa Flash Briefings for a few friends. They were so amazing at building and engaging a new audience that by January, it was his new full-time job instead of a side-gig.

Jeff has been married to the beautiful Mrs Smith for 32 wonderful years. They live in Kingwood, Texas (a suburb of Houston) with two pugs, Newton and Lenny.

Learn More About How YOU Can Start An Alexa Flash Brief - CLICK HERE!

Creating Content is a great way to distribute your marketing messages, but Audio 7 Video Can be intimidating to some people. It's really easier than you think?

There are simple tools and methods almost anyone can use to grow their sphere of influence. Some of these include:

* Alexa Flash Brief - Audio Minute

* Podcast

* Social Media - Video Minute

* Animoto

* Mac Photos

In this episode, I will explore some simple ideas and methods to make Audio & Video and perfect part or supplement to your current marketing mix!

Founder of Crystal for the past 4 years, a personality platform that offers free assessments and industry-leading psychometric predictions.

Focused on helping people communicate effectively, resolve conflict, manage stress, influence others, and make better decisions in their professional lives.

Always looking for software engineers and talented people-people to join the Crystal team. Email me if you're interested: [email protected]

Started multiple businesses before then, including an event software company (Attend.com), a pizza box advertising agency, and a bed bug extermination company. Private pilot, songwriter, runner, and local diner aficionado.

Get a 10 FREE DISC Personality Profile Reports - CLICK HERE!

LinkedIn is the business to business social network. But many people spend very little time on the platform. Why? It's often one of two reasons... Either they don't know how to effectively use it, or they fear the dreaded "Connect & Pitch" that some many people employ looking for business. Relationships take time. Relationships take work. So why are people teaching the "Easy Button" approach to using Linkedin?

There are steps, that when taken, can lead to long term and meaningful relationships that can promote and lead to business. Part of the process includes:

* Know Your Niche

* Know Their Needs & Wants

* Connect Up

* Send a Generic Message

* Ask Permission To Email

In this episode, we will explore how to use emotional intelligence to start to build lasting relationships, find good targeted prospects, and generate new sales opportunities.

Brad Banyas is an entrepreneur, executive and technology advocate with over 22 years of experience in the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry. Brad started his career in software sales in 1991. He then started, and subsequently sold, Output Solutions Inc.

Brad is currently the CEO of Outsource Management, Inc. (OMI) which he founded in 1999. OMI is the go-to resource for emerging mid-size companies that embrace CRM, Marketing Automation and Sales enablement platforms to grow and dominate their niche.

In 2016 Brad Banyas along with Paul Sciandra, Ravi Devulapalli and Thomas E. Orton co-founded 366 Degrees a Relationship Marketing and Sales Automation Platform.

Brad lives in Cumming Georgia with is wife of 27 years Brandy and his three sons, Connor, Cason, Michael and daughter Madeline.

Affiliate Product Info - Links and Description: 366 Degrees www.366.io- The Relationship Marketing + Sales Automation Platform for Small to Midsize Enterprises that manages the execution and delivery of communications across email, landing pages and social connections. The service combines the strength of other platforms such as Nimble CRM, Salesforce, Vidyard video by connecting and automating key engagements around sales, marketing and customer communications to provide a unified view of engagement.

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL of 366º - CLICK HERE!

You can drive in a nail with a screwdriver... and you can pound in a screw with a hammer... but why would you? Often times that's they way people treat marketing. They tend to push the kind marketing messages, on the platforms that appeal to them most. Email, Social Media, Video, and Podcasts (like this one) are all viable was to distribute messages, but are your messages targeted enough even when distributed on multiple platforms?

Systems like the DISC or Myers-Briggs allow people to profile people based on the way they communicate. What kind of communications or personality traits does your audience have?

* Dominance - Results - Quick Action

* Influence - Enthusiasm - Collaboration

* Steadiness - Security - Create Stability

* Conscientiousness - Quality - Accuracy

In this episode, we will discuss How you can use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, to help target the same message, in a slightly targeted more fashion. And... we do this by discussing Toilet Paper Marketing!

Back in the day when MySpace was all the rage, my friends obsessed over profile pictures and sharing memes while I geeked out for hours learning how to code new backgrounds and analyzing what actions got the most reaction from people.

Fast forward a few years later and I'm sitting at the startup, LinkedIn in Sunnyvale, CA helping them recruit their first accounting department. All the while getting the best digital education a girl could ask for.

And since then?

I've taught over 200 workshops and tried just about every digital strategy out there to sell socially and experimented with every marketing software, app and playbook I could find. If you need to do it, I've probably done it, failed at it and figured out 3 to 4 other ways to accomplish it.

I'm always here to help and most business owners have a question or two they just can't seem to figure out. I'm that needle in a haystack that probably has an answer and if I don't, I welcome the challenge to add another skill to my toolbox once I figure it out!

Nimble is the simple CRM offering browser widget and mobile-based sales force automation and is a social CRM solution for small and midsize businesses. The solution automatically populates customer profiles and interaction histories from contact lists, email conversations and social media activity across a range of popular platforms including LinkedIn.

As Nimble's Channel Partner Advisor, it is my responsibility to work with Cloud Service Providers and Microsoft Partners to get the best out of the software for their own business and help them market the product to their own prospects and clients.

Get a 14 day FREE TRIAL of Nimble! - CLICK HERE! Check Out Nimble on Facebook - CLICK HERE!

What business are you in? I can tell you that no matter what your position or what you are selling or servicing... You are in the relationship business. All of us are!

A relationship is defined as the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people who are connected or in the state of being connected. Every relationship that lasts has a value associated with it. It could be emotional, financial, or some sort of dependency. What value do you bring to the relationship? What value does the other person bring? Lopsided or one-sided relationships generally don't last.

To build a relationship, I'd like to talk about five steps or phases that you need to consider...

* Networking

* Connection

* Research

* Maintenance

* Deep and Personal

In this episode, I will explore they five steps and how you can use the power of relationships to grow your business and make more money!

Mike is the founder of Black Mountain Media, which provides consulting & marketing services designed for service providers. His proven strategy is designed to help you attract more of your ideal clients without wasting time, money, and energy on the ones you don't want.

As a cereal entrepreneur Mike has owned a successful carpet cleaning company, multiple e-commerce stores, and his current marketing company. He is also the COO of eAutoClub which helps auto repair shops transform their customer service experience through predictive service analytics.

His well-rounded experience in both online and offline business is a great combination for the service provider looking to build a thriving business.

Find Out More About Mike's Special Offer! - CLICK HERE!

Is your business messaging ready for 2019? Has your business changed over the last year? Do they reflect current business trends? There is no time like now to start verbalizing what you want to promote in the upcoming year.

The time between Thanksgiving and New Years has a tendency to be slower than spring or fall. It's a good time to make the most of off days and downtime to start formulating how and why you communicate with past current and future customers!

There are five common mistakes I see people doing all the time:

* The Free Hosting Trap

* Wish Marketing

* Wee-Wee All Over Themselves

* You Talking To Me?

* Guessing The Jelly Beans

In this episode, I will explain the above problems and why you need to pay attention to them. Act NOW to make sure you start out your next year on a positive note and create a solid business foundation moving forward.