I finally had the good pleasure of connecting with Jan Koch to talk about WordPress, e-commerce, and where things are headed.

Founder Matt Barnett joins me to talk about how Bonjoro is revolutionizing personalized marketing, onboarding, and video in email.

Content As Equity & A Update On Life WPCP: 169

I was having a conversation with my friend Lee Jackson the recently on a Facebook live stream and we were talking about how sometimes it feels like we're 'cheating' when we're podcasting because we get to spend an hour with these brilliant minds and it's almost like getting a one-on-one mentoring session with them.

That was exactly how I felt the entire time I was talking with Brian Kurtz.

It's been a long time since I've connected with someone new, who I instantly respected, and thought "as soon as I'm ready to hire a mentor next year, I want to work with Brian" (I need to wrap up a few things this year and get LeadSurveys launched).

Brian has an amazing background in direct response marketing (over 30 years) and has brought all of his wisdom from selling offline into the online space. He's also the co-author of 'The Advertising Solution' and has bought the rights to reprint all of Eugene Schwartz' books as well (he also graciously sent me his book as well as Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz... class act! :-) ).

I honestly felt like I had been giving a little bit of a glimpse behind the curtain. Over the last couple of years, I've spent a lot of time going back to fundamentals in marketing and direct response. I've started enjoying the process of mastery of the craft and have found a completely different joy in everything I do.

I can guarantee you if you're even slightly interested in marketing online with a real strategy (i.e, the long game as opposed to quick tactics), you're in for a real treat with this interview. I'd suggest a pen & paper for notes too.

Questions I Asked Brian

* Can you share your story with the audience?

* What is Titans Marketing?

* Let's talk fundamentals and the role they play in list building.

* What are people doing wrong with list building?

* What would you suggest someone do to improve their list building?

* Let's talk about your book, The Advertising Solution.

* What are you working on now?

[clickToTweet tweet="'Those who did it have an obligation to teach it.' Brian Kurtz" quote="'Those who did it have an obligation to teach it.' Brian Kurtz" theme="style6"]

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What You're Going to Learn

* Brian's thoughts on physical mail today

* How paying postage made him a better marketer

* What the 40/40/20 rule is

* What relationship capital is

* Why the psychology of selling is the missing piece of the puzzle

* How & Why Brian acquired the rights to Eugene Schwartz books

[divider top="no" divider_color="#95aa4d" size="1" margin="40"][divider top="no" size="2" margin="30"][/divider]

Where to Connect with Brian

Website | Facebook

Books & Links from this episode

The Advertising Solution

The Legends Book

Breakthrough Advertising Book

Brilliance Breakthrough Book

I was having a conversation with my friend Lee Jackson the recently on a Facebook live stream and we were talking about how sometimes it feels like we're 'cheating' when we're podcasting because we get to spend an hour with these brilliant minds and it's almost like getting a one-on-one mentoring session with them.

That was exactly how I felt the entire time I was talking with Brian Kurtz.

It's been a long time since I've connected with someone new, who I instantly respected, and thought "as soon as I'm ready to hire a mentor next year, I want to work with Brian" (I need to wrap up a few things this year and get LeadSurveys launched).

Brian has an amazing background in direct response marketing (over 30 years) and has brought all of his wisdom from selling offline into the online space. He's also the co-author of 'The Advertising Solution' and has bought the rights to reprint all of Eugene Schwartz' books as well (he also graciously sent me his book as well as Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz... class act! :-) ).

I honestly felt like I had been giving a little bit of a glimpse behind the curtain. Over the last couple of years, I've spent a lot of time going back to fundamentals in marketing and direct response. I've started enjoying the process of mastery of the craft and have found a completely different joy in everything I do.

I can guarantee you if you're even slightly interested in marketing online with a real strategy (i.e, the long game as opposed to quick tactics), you're in for a real treat with this interview. I'd suggest a pen & paper for notes too.

Questions I Asked Brian

* Can you share your story with the audience?

* What is Titans Marketing?

* Let's talk fundamentals and the role they play in list building.

* What are people doing wrong with list building?

* What would you suggest someone do to improve their list building?

* Let's talk about your book, The Advertising Solution.

* What are you working on now?

What You're Going to Learn

* Brian's thoughts on physical mail today

* How paying postage made him a better marketer

* What the 40/40/20 rule is

* What relationship capital is

* Why the psychology of selling is the missing piece of the puzzle

* How & Why Brian acquired the rights to Eugene Schwartz books

Where to Connect with Brian

Website | Facebook

Books & Links from this episode

The Advertising Solution

The Legends Book

Breakthrough Advertising Book

Brilliance Breakthrough Book

I have a little confession to make before we get into the podcast with Chris Mason of WooCurve.

One of the products sold through WooCurve, Handsome Checkout, was something I had thought about creating with my LeadSurveys business partner, Gordan, about a year and a half ago. Then we pivoted to LeadSurveys (which is good because I'm super excited about LeadSurveys, but that's another conversation).

Needless to say, WooCurve has created two amazing products for WooCommerce users that are long overdue.

One-click upsells and Handsome Checkout.

What was most exciting about talking with Chris for me (besides the fact that he has amazing products), is that Chris is a marketer first. He's the marketing mind behind WooCurve and speaks my language when it comes to direct response marketing (my most recent obsession).

Let's jump into the interview.

Questions I Asked Chris

* What were you doing pre-WooCurve?

* First, I love that you created WooCurve and the two products you guys sell. Can you explain One-click upsells and Handsome Checkout for the listeners?

* How long has WooCurve been around?

* What was the process for getting your WooCurve products developed?

* Who is WooCurve for?

* Can you share any of your customer's success stories with your products?

* What's coming for WooCurve?

[button url="https://woocurve.com/" target="blank" style="flat" background="#e05455" size="13" wide="yes" center="yes" radius="5" class="tvehover"]Get One-Click Upsells & Handsome Checkout Here[/button]

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What You're Going to Learn

* How they ran a beta to test the product

* Who they targeted for their beta version

* How they decided what payment gateways to integrate with

* What features they decided to run with when they launched

* What the 'proof element' is

* What Chris would recommend to someone getting started with online marketing

Where to Connect With Chris

Website | Facebook 

Links from this episode

WooCurve

Handsome Checkout

One-Click Upsells

No BS Guide to Direct Response Marketing by Dan Kennedy

I have a little confession to make before we get into the podcast with Chris Mason of WooCurve.

One of the products sold through WooCurve, Handsome Checkout, was something I had thought about creating with my LeadSurveys business partner, Gordan, about a year and a half ago. Then we pivoted to LeadSurveys (which is good because I'm super excited about LeadSurveys, but that's another conversation).

Needless to say, WooCurve has created two amazing products for WooCommerce users that are long overdue.

One-click upsells and Handsome Checkout.

What was most exciting about talking with Chris for me (besides the fact that he has amazing products), is that Chris is a marketer first. He's the marketing mind behind WooCurve and speaks my language when it comes to direct response marketing (my most recent obsession).

Let's jump into the interview.

Questions I Asked Chris

* What were you doing pre-WooCurve?

* First, I love that you created WooCurve and the two products you guys sell. Can you explain One-click upsells and Handsome Checkout for the listeners?

* How long has WooCurve been around?

* What was the process for getting your WooCurve products developed?

* Who is WooCurve for?

* Can you share any of your customer's success stories with your products?

* What's coming for WooCurve?

What You're Going to Learn

* How they ran a beta to test the product

* Who they targeted for their beta version

* How they decided what payment gateways to integrate with

* What features they decided to run with when they launched

* What the 'proof element' is

* What Chris would recommend to someone getting started with online marketing

Where to Connect With Chris

Website | Facebook 

Links from this episode

WooCurve

Handsome Checkout

One-Click Upsells

No BS Guide to Direct Response Marketing by Dan Kennedy

I was introduced to Kyle from my friend Tom Morkes (who I need to get on the podcast still, he's brilliant at what he does and is a stellar connector) and responded like a little kid with who was just given a new puppy! Because my happy place is content and content creation, I was thrilled to get to talk to Kyle who has a brilliant book and was also partly responsible for growing WP Curve with their content strategy (he took over for Dan Norris when Dan got too busy).

The more I dig into "all things content" the more my through processes shift. On one hand, I know there is a ton of value in creating a solid strategy for growing your business with content. On the flip side of that, there's also a ton of value in simply documenting and sharing. No strategy, just creating based on what you're doing and sharing.

This is why I was so excited to talk to Kyle.

I felt like I got to go behind-the-scenes with a master.

Kyle is the author of the amazing book, The Story Engine and founder of ConversionCake.

Questions I Asked Kyle

* Can you share your story of how you ended up with your online business and an author and expert on content marketing?

* How did you get the job as the content manager for WP Curve?

* Can you share the results from your content strategy for WP Curve?

* Let's talk about The Story Engine. I love that you divided the book into 4 parts and then gave different approaches on how to use the book. Can you share what those 4 parts are?

* Why do you think so many people struggle with creating content?

* If you could recommend someone to ONE thing today for their content strategy what would that be?

* I know you don't have a crystal ball, but where do you see things heading in terms of content?

* What channels & mediums would you recommend people pay attention to?

[clickToTweet tweet="Giving them this style guide took all of the critical thinking out. @kylethegray " quote="Giving them this style guide took all of the critical thinking out. @kylethegray" theme="style6"]

[spacer]

What You're Going to Learn

* How he created a system around creating more content for WP Curve when he brought on additional writers

* Examples of what they included in their style guide

* How focusing only on the data can hurt your content strategy

* What the invisible value of content is

* Why you shouldn't work on content one idea at a time

* Start with the core problem of your audience (and how to find it)

* Why you should get on the phone with your best customers

[clickToTweet tweet="Go where you're curious, go where it's fun. @kylethegray" quote="Go where you're curious, go where it's fun. @kylethegray" theme="style6"]

[divider top="no" divider_color="#95aa4d" size="1" margin="40"][divider top="no" size="2" margin="30"][/divider]

Where to Connect with Kyle

Website | Twitter | Book

I was introduced to Kyle from my friend Tom Morkes (who I need to get on the podcast still, he's brilliant at what he does and is a stellar connector) and responded like a little kid with who was just given a new puppy! Because my happy place is content and content creation, I was thrilled to get to talk to Kyle who has a brilliant book and was also partly responsible for growing WP Curve with their content strategy (he took over for Dan Norris when Dan got too busy).

The more I dig into "all things content" the more my through processes shift. On one hand, I know there is a ton of value in creating a solid strategy for growing your business with content. On the flip side of that, there's also a ton of value in simply documenting and sharing. No strategy, just creating based on what you're doing and sharing.

This is why I was so excited to talk to Kyle.

I felt like I got to go behind-the-scenes with a master.

Kyle is the author of the amazing book, The Story Engine and founder of ConversionCake.

Questions I Asked Kyle

* Can you share your story of how you ended up with your online business and an author and expert on content marketing?

* How did you get the job as the content manager for WP Curve?

* Can you share the results from your content strategy for WP Curve?

* Let's talk about The Story Engine. I love that you divided the book into 4 parts and then gave different approaches on how to use the book. Can you share what those 4 parts are?

* Why do you think so many people struggle with creating content?

* If you could recommend someone to ONE thing today for their content strategy what would that be?

* I know you don't have a crystal ball, but where do you see things heading in terms of content?

* What channels & mediums would you recommend people pay attention to?

What You're Going to Learn

* How he created a system around creating more content for WP Curve when he brought on additional writers

* Examples of what they included in their style guide

* How focusing only on the data can hurt your content strategy

* What the invisible value of content is

* Why you shouldn't work on content one idea at a time

* Start with the core problem of your audience (and how to find it)

* Why you should get on the phone with your best customers

Where to Connect with Kyle

Website | Twitter | Book

This episode is brought to you by my sponsor, Content Snare

This podcast interview is long overdue (we recorded a few months ago) and I'm excited to finally share this with you.

I had the good fortune of connecting Jürgen Strauss a few years back through a mutual friend. Jürgen is one of those people who instantly makes you feel at ease and is a true pleasure to talk with. He also has a brilliant understanding of processes and systems, how to grow a team (through outsourcing), and how to scale a business with WordPress. Jürgen is a certified WP Elevation consultant and is also the founder of the Innovabuzz podcast (which I have had the good fortune of being a guest on).

Questions I Asked Jürgen

* Can you share your background & business with the listeners?

* You've also got your podcast, the Innovabuzz podcast, can you share a little bit about the podcast and why you started it?

* What has the podcast done for your business?

* One of the many reasons I wanted to have you on the show was because I know you've got some amazing skills when it comes to systems & processes. How did you get into that?

* What are some of the things you see people afraid of doing or afraid to implement when it comes to creating processes & systems?

* For web development agencies, is there a common mistake people make?

* What's coming for the rest of this year for you?

[clickToTweet tweet="Marketing was definitely a gap for small businesses @innovabiz" quote="Marketing was definitely a gap for small businesses @innovabiz" theme="style6"]

What You're Going to Learn

* How Jürgen went from chemistry to the internet

* How he's learned to build remote teams in China, Japan, Singapore, India, Europe, and North America while being based in Australia

* How to focus on building strategic relationships and partnerships to grow remote teams

* How they position their projects for long-term work with their clients

* How his podcast was originally focused on innovation and has morphed into so much more (and what it's done for his business)

* How to connect with startups and get feedback and responses when using their tools

* How to make sure your team understands the why behind the company and their tasks

[clickToTweet tweet="It's like having an hour masterclass @innovabiz" quote="It's like having an hour masterclass @innovabiz" theme="style6"]

[divider top="no" divider_color="#95aa4d" size="1" margin="40"][divider top="no" size="2" margin="30"][/divider]

Where to Connect with Jürgen

Website | Facebook | Twitter