B2U: The Business to User podcast

Daniel explores the topic of thought leadership with Brian Wallace of Now Sourcing, Jessika Phillips of Now Marketing Group, and Olga Adrienko of SEM Rush

Why do people love brands?Featuring: Heather Nicols, Dan Holloway, Fiona Lucas, and Emily Crume.To learn more about your host: Daniel Glickman visit www.cmoconfessions.com 

This episode featured:Rob Balasabas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbalasabas/Mari smith: https://www.facebook.com/marismith/Daniel Wass: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwaas/Thank you for subscribing.    

Lisa McLeod has worked with clients including Salesforce, Roche, Google, LinkedIn, Hootsuite, Volvo, and Dave & Busters. She write regularly for The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and LinkedIn Learning. She is also the author of five books, including the global bestseller, "Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud." Lisa is one of LinkedIn Learning's most popular instructors, delivering over 25 courses, including "Selling with Authenticity "and "Finding Your Purpose at Work."

Brandi Bernoskie is the CEO at Alchemy+Aim and North Star Sites, a website development and business strategy agency that helps thought-leaders and entrepreneurs craft custom websites to enhance client experience and help them step into their genius work. Brandi is an entrepreneur, business strategist, and former developer, who started as a freelancer but has since grown a team. 

Patrick Campbell is the Founder and CEO of ProfitWell (formerly Price Intelligently), the software for helping subscription companies with their monetization and retention strategies.  ProfitWell serves over five thousand subscription companies, including B2B companies like Autodesk, Atlassian, and Zuora, and B2C darlings like Meetup, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Lyft. 

Naira Perez is the founder of SpringHill Digital, a Digital  Marketing & Advertising agency. They specialize in helping small to medium sized businesses in their digital strategy and presence online. SpringHill Digital's team has a background in driving digital marketing efforts ranging from paid media, pay-per-click, social media, content management in social channels, engine optimization, integrated campaign design and new platform initiatives.

Margie Agin is the founder and chief strategist of Centerboard Marketing. She is an award-winning marketer and the author of Brand Breakthrough: How to Go Beyond a Catchy Tagline to Build an Authentic, Influential and Sustainable Brand Personality. Margie held leadership roles at Cisco and Blackboard, where she built and managed teams responsible for demand generation, content strategy, and digital marketing.

Ana Maria Raynes is the CEO and Founder of Simplified Impact. They help business owners to simplify the process of building marketing plans that have a genuine impact on the target audience. She is also the Vice President and Content Marketing Expert at Didit, a fully integrated marketing and communications firm.

Chala Dincoy is the CEO and Founder of The Repositioning Expert (division of Coachtactics). She’s a Marketing Strategist who helps professional service companies change their messaging to attract more decision makers. She is the author of Gentle Marketing: A Gentle Way To Attract Loads Of Clients, and How To Win Friends the Way Apple Wins Customers. 

Chef Katrina is the Creator of PinningIngredients.com & BloggingIngredients.com. She is a former Disney Chef who turns to Pinterest Digital Marketer. Chef Karina is known today as a specialist in Pinterest Marketing. 

Episode NotesTo view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To learn more about Valentine, click here.To learn more about Omniconvert, click here. Valentin Radu is the CEO & Founder at Omniconvert. He helps companies to  optimize their customer journey with data driven decisions. Omniconvert has helped global eCommerce companies become customer-centric through advanced segmentation algorithms, AB testing, web personalization, and web surveys. They've work with companies such as Orange, Avon, Decathlon, Whirlpool, being ranked as “High Performer” by G2Crowd (industry barometer).

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To learn more about Amy, click here.To learn more about Content 10x, click here. Amy Woods is the Founder of Content 10x. Amy is best-selling author, speaker, and podcaster. She helps content creators reach more people in less time. Content 10x is a creative agency that helps entrepreneurs, businesses and brands to increase revenue and grow their business. They specializes in content repurposing.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To join the Personal Brand Masters Facebook group, click here.To learn more about Michael, click here.To learn more about SmashBrand, click here.Michael Keplinger is the Director of Strategy at SmashBrand, where he leads the research team in developing design strategies for their clients and then optimizing those packaging designs through testing. SmashBrand's clients typically are mid-range companies with products already on the shelf. They test, optimize and then test performance again to be sure the products connect with consumers. This data-driven process guarantees market performance and creates packaging designs that are proven to sell.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To join the Personal Brand Masters Facebook group, click here.To learn more about Neal, click here.To purchase Neal's book, The Age of Influence, click here.To listen to the Maximize Your Social Influence Podcast, click here. Neal Schaffer is a recognized leader in helping businesses Maximize Your Social as a global keynote speaker, university educator, social media agency owner, author, and social media strategy consultant. From Fortune 50 enterprises to Grammy Award-Winning musicians, Neal has helped leading brands reach their next level in social media marketing, and he is available to bring this wealth of knowledge and experience to both educate and entertain your audience at your next event, workshop, or training.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To join the Personal Brand Master Facebook group, click here.To learn more about Jessica, click here.To join the Guest Expert Profit Lab Facebook group, click here. Jessica RhodesFOUNDER & CO-OWNER Interview ConnectionsJessica Rhodes is the leading expert on how to leverage podcast guesting for increased brand awareness, more leads and higher profits. She created the podcast booking industry in 2013 when she founded Interview Connections, the first and leading agency of its kind.Along with her business partner, Margy Feldhuhn, Jessica has quickly scaled Interview Connections to over $1M in annual revenue with nearly no direct marketing or advertising. Their team of in house Booking Agents are the podcast powerhouses behind many successful entrepreneurs and businesses including Ali Brown, Perry Marshall, Aweber, USA Financial and more.Jessica has done hundreds of podcast interviews both as a guest, and co-host of Rock the Podcast. She is the acclaimed author of Interview Connections: How to #RockThePodcast From Both Sides of the Mic and has been a featured speaker at Podfest Multimedia Expo and FinCon.Also an active member of her community, Jessica volunteers at her son’s public school, and mentors a 17-year-old girl in foster care. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, two kids, Nathan and Lucy, and senior cat, Kitten.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To learn more about Mary, click here.To connect with Mary, click here. Daniel GlickmanHi, everyone. Daniel Glickman here with Mary Fain Brandt. And we are going to talk about LinkedIn. Mary is a LinkedIn strategist. I'm really excited to have her here because she knows a ton about this topic. Mary, tell us a tiny bit about what you do. Mary Fain BrandtThanks for having me. I'm so excited to be on LinkedIn Live talking about LinkedIn, my favorite platform. I'm a LinkedIn strategist, trainer, and speaker. It all started when I was looking for a job on LinkedIn. I realized that entrepreneurs and business owners were missing out on some huge opportunities. And LinkedIn is free. So why not create a brand presence on LinkedIn and start attracting your ideal clients by having a rock star profile and a strategic content strategy. So that's what I do. I love talking and training about LinkedIn.Daniel GlickmanI want to start off by talking about spam on LinkedIn. The minute you receive a connection request, it is immediately followed up by a pitch. Especially if it's from certain countries or people that you don't know. That really limits our ability and causes us to stop accepting other connections. What's the deal with that? Mary Fain BrandtWe all get them on every platform. But we think that LinkedIn is the business professional platform. So why are these people doing it? I call them spam stirs. There's a couple of techniques that you guys should learn to do. So the first one - certain countries. They're big spammers of certain industries, like web designers and SEO. As soon as you accept that connection request, I'll get a message like, “Hey, Mary, I saw your website, I can show you how to get a better SEO program and more leads over on your website.” No, thank you. You don't know me or my business. LinkedIn was built for relationship building. It was built as a networking platform. And somehow, it or the people went off on this tangent. There's a couple things that I think are really helpful to know when you're getting spam. First, if you accept a connection request without a message, you have a 50% chance of it being spam. I always tell people don't accept them. If someone's not going to take the time to send me a message on why they want to connect, why do I need to connect with you? And if you send a message with your connection request, you have a 53% higher chance of that person accepting it. When you go to send that message, please don't do this. “Hi, Mary, I see we have some mutual connections. I'd like to add you to my network.” It is so boring and generic! There's a person behind the profile; get to know that person. Where do they volunteer? Where do they work? Where are they commenting? What are they commenting on? What are they posting? Find a post and say, “Hey, Daniel, I saw that post that you did last week or that live show. I really like the work that you're doing. I'd love to add you to my network and learn more.” Doesn't that sound more human? So, you definitely want to send a message, and you don't want to accept a ton of message or connection requests that don't have a message. I do a lot of training and speaking, and I always say “Hey, guys, if we're not connected, get connected with me now. However, you need to send me a message with that.” So they get busy and send me a message. When they do that, they get accepted. For the ones that don't, they're gonna sit in my inbox until I go back and vet them. So that is my tip on how to start sending better messages. Also, if you guys look at my name on LinkedIn, it has cupcakes on the beginning and the end. There's a strategy to that. Put a symbol before and after your name. If it's a spam or automation, it'll have that symbol in their message. They didn't even take the time to type the message. Daniel GlickmanCan you repeat that? Mary Fain BrandtI have a cupcake after my name because I own the LinkedIn Bakery. The symbol is on brand for me, but you can put any symbol you want. If the message you get is automation, it'll have that symbol or a gobbly goo because of something in the automation they are using. Daniel GlickmanThat's amazing. So, normally, I would ask “how could we automate LinkedIn?” But that's bad because we all have experienced it from the other end. So how do we prevent ourselves from looking like a robot? How do we make sure that we seem like real people when we connect? Mary Fain BrandtEverything I do is organic. I have built a network organically. I love doing this work organically. It just feels better to me. It's human to human contact. There's someone behind that profile. LinkedIn is about building a network and nurturing the relationships. So we have to send personal messages. If you send a personal message, you're going to get so much more out of it. Let me tell you what happened to me in the last ten days. I've been reaching out and accepting messages or connection requests from people that sent me an inmail. I've had about seven phone calls over zoom or phone. From that, I have one person that wants to be a referral for me. So she asks, “what do you have?” I have a one-on-one coaching program and I have an online course. She asks me to send her all of that information because she works in the recruiting industry. I had a phone call with another person the other day, and I'm going to be a guest on their YouTube channel. I have someone that I reached out to that is a rock star on Linked, and it took her a while to get back because she's super busy. I want to have her on my on my show and my message was, “Tisha, I really like what I see on your LinkedIn. I can tell that you're a rock star; you're someone that has a message to give to my audience. I would love to talk to you and see if you're a good fit to have on my show.” We have that phone call next week. For me, it's about building and nurturing the relationships one at a time. I don't need to have 10,000 connections, but you know what I want? 1,000 rock stars. It's not about the vanity number. It's about having true, meaningful relationships on LinkedIn. Here's my message to you guys - build your network, one rock star at a time. Make the connections with people that are not just ideal clients. I landed a client just two days ago from a LinkedIn message, a phone call, and follow up. It's all about the follow up. All of this greatness happens one person at a time. I would rather have 1,000 rock star people in my network versus the 10,000. I have 10,000. But do I connect with all of those? No, but be strategic. Here's my call to action to you guys - I want you to find five people on LinkedIn that you don't know. Send them a personal message and find out what kind of connection they are. Are they a referral partner? Are they a brand ambassador? Could you collaborate with this person? Mary Rose and I met on LinkedIn; she reached out to me, I reached back, and that led to lunch. I hired her for branding. And now we're LinkedIn local San Diego co-host. We host two to three live events a year. Daniel GlickmanThat's great. So LinkedIn is all about the one-on-one work. So does that mean that posting in the feed is not as effective? Should we try to target individuals for one-on-one conversations, as opposed to a blanket target like we do on Twitter? Mary Fain Brandt Who is your audience? My audience for my career stuff is female based, so my messaging is geared towards women working and pivoting their career. If we're talking about posting, it's about Quality over Quantity. Unlike Twitter or Instagram, where it's post, post, post. Tim just said, “Mary, do you think commenting is more powerful than creating content?” I feel that you need to do both. Commenting can get you in the door with someone. If you're not connected with someone that you want to be connected with, you can't just send them a generic message. Find their posts and start commenting. They're going to see your name, which opens the door to send them an inmail message. Say, “Hey, I saw your post on content strategy. I really like tip number one and two. I'm going to try implementing those. I'd love to add you to my network.” It's all about connection. H-to-H, Human-to-Human connection. Daniel GlickmanSo give us an overview. What did you do on LinkedIn today? What was your day like? What activities were you doing? Mary Fain BrandtSo I've messaged some people, I accepted four new people into my network, I scrolled the news feed to see what's going on, and just kept up to date. Tim and I have messaged back and forth. Another potential client and I have messaged back and forth. On Friday, I don't put out any content typically; my content is Quality over Quantity. When I first started, I thought I had to post everywhere, everyday. That's not a strategy. So I didn't post any content today. Today is about what's going on, wrapping up the week, and working on some other projects. Next week, I'll be live on LinkedIn. Wednesday, I was live with a client. So I'm live at least three times a month on LinkedIn. Because you need video. Daniel GlickmanYou need video. Yes, and shout-out to wave.video. Mary Fain BrandtI love wave.video. That's how we create some of the awesome videos that we put out. Daniel GlickmanThat is heartwarming for me to hear. So let's talk about how LinkedIn works with other channels. Do you customize your LinkedIn content? Are you reposting stuff on LinkedIn and your other channels? May Fain BrandtCombination. I can't sit here and organically do things every day, so I use Agorapulse - shout-out to Agorapulse. But I do leave room for organic posting if something's hot or something just happened. I'm the queen of post it notes; I have them all over my office. I have notes of posts that I'm going to create organically, probably today, and put it out on Monday. I really want to drive home three things. Quality over Quantity - Are you Speaking to your audience? Is it relevant? Is it timely? Does your audience need it or want it? Does it engage, entertain, or educate them? How to Tag Respectfully - We all know how to tag on Facebook and Instagram. You can tag on LinkedIn too. When I teach this, sometimes my students will go out and tag 25 people. I have to message them and say, “no, that's not how you tag on LinkedIn.” To get more views on a post, you want to tag strategically. Here's an example: I was on the “Who Do You Know Show” that's in Austin. I tagged the three co-hosts and the company in a post that said, “It's fun to be on here” and linked to the show. And that thing blew up! I think we got 4,000 views and 75 comments from just me resharing something. And they're all good comments. It's not like, “Hey Mary, how are you?” It's like, “Hey, great show, I learned a tip. I'd like to learn more.” It's about tagging people appropriately. Don't just tag the same 25 people every time. If I shared a video that I created with wave.video, you know what would be smart? For me to tag Daniel. “I love wave.video. Thank you for providing such a great tool.” That's a great way to get more exposure and more visibility. Daniel GlickmanBecause guess what I'm gonna do when I get tagged like that - I'm gonna share it. Mary Fain Brandt Exactly. Daniel Glickman It always surprised me that when I'm a guest on a podcast, which is something I do fairly often, when they send me the episode that they posted, nine times out of time, they will not send me their social profiles to tag them in. So I contact them back and ask for the profile, because I'm not going to spend time looking for it. Mary Fain BrandtWhen you're on shows, you need to give your guests the links and the profiles so they can tag appropriately. Tim says shout-out to relevant tagging. Tag with kindness and respect. That's what I want to say. Daniel GlickmanAnd it is a hack to tag a lot people. But when you do it a second time. Can you please stop? Mary Fain BrandtDon't tag the same people over and over and over. And when you do tag someone, give them warning. Be respectful you guys, just like you would in person. We have to take that respect that we do in person, online. Another way to get more engagement and reach on your post is by using hashtags. But again, this isn't Instagram or Twitter. More is not better. They say three to five hashtags is the most that you should use on LinkedIn. And here's a pro tip - create your own hashtag. Daniel, do you have your own personal hashtag? Daniel GlickmanI have a couple, Yes. One for CMOConfessions and one for Simple Lucid. Mary Fain Brandt I love that hashtag for CMOConfessions. You should use that all the time, because then people can just search that and find all of your posts. Everyone should create their own hashtag. I need to come up with a new one. Tim, I know we talked about this a few months ago, I know you're watching. I had Li Connectors for LinkedIn Connectors, because that's what we call our members in my private group. But I need my own hashtag that's just Mary. So if anyone's watching, and has an awesome hashtag idea, you can drop that in the comments so I can listen to my own advice and have my own personal branding hashtag. You should use two to three hashtags that has to do with the content, whether it's marketing or LinkedIn live. I use LinkedIn Live every time I go live. Daniel GlickmanHow do people search for LinkedIn Live? Mary Fain BrandtYou can search for hashtags on LinkedIn. Daniel GlickmanOh, the hashtag LinkedIn Live. Okay, got it. Mary Fain BrandtIf you're going live on LinkedIn, why not use that hashtag? Or the hashtag online marketing or online summit, whatever it is that you're talking about. You definitely want to use those relevant hashtags. And then, of course, your personal hashtag. That way, people can always follow you and find your content. Daniel GlickmanWhat is the downside of using too many hashtags? What could happen? Mary Fain BrandtLinkedIn keeps everything on lockdown; they don't really tell us what's going on. But among my peers, we think that they punish your posts. It's not shown as much. None of us really understand the LinkedIn algorithm. There are times where we think we've got it, and then it changes. What we've seen through trial and error, all of those posts that look like they are copied from Instagram do not rank high in the LinkedIn algorithm. So don't do it. And Tim says, “it looks spammy.” You can use the same content if it's relevant for your LinkedIn audience, but massage it up a little and only use three to five relevant hashtags. Daniel GlickmanThat's great advice; very practical. So there's a theme here about spam and spam. It seems to be a big issue. Mary Fain BrandtI have one more tip - we all hate spam stirs on any platform. LinkedIn hates them, too. So when you get a spam message, here's what you need to do – delete, report, and block them. They won't see that you did it. But you need to report them so LinkedIn can take their profile down. We have a responsibility to help LinkedIn because LinkedIn listens. I was listening to a podcast and they'd actually gone through and removed a bunch of profiles that had been reported for spam. So we have a responsibility to help them out. They have 680 million users on the platform. So if you get that real spam message - delete, block, and report them. Daniel GlickmanIt's feels like they're never ending, so I'm not sure if it actually solves the initial problem. But if we do it once in a while, maybe it helps the algorithm. Mary Fain BrandtIt's like picking up a piece of trash; if everybody picked up one piece of trash on the street, we will see a difference. So if everybody starts reporting the spam and fake profiles, we will see a difference. Daniel GlickmanThat's exactly the right analogy. Is there anything that you want to add? Mary Fain BrandtDon't forget to add symbols so you can tell when a message is automated. You should always add a personal inmail so that your connection request will get received and approved. Let's talk about the art of connecting. The first thing you want to do is send a connection request with a personal note. Not that “Hey, Daniel, I see we have mutual connections.” Something like, “Hey, Daniel, you're the founder and owner of wave. I love that platform. I use it all the time. I would love to add you to my network.” Send a great message. Then after they accept it, stand out and send a Sunday voicemail. Use the LinkedIn app and to send that voicemail. “Hey, Daniel, thanks so much for accepting my connection request. I'd love to learn more about your podcast or your live shows.” Hearing your voice puts a personal touch on it. Then if you're really a rock star, you'll send a video. I did this to a gentleman that I was talking to – we had a phone call and he sent a thank you on LinkedIn. I sent a video saying, “Hey, John, thanks so much for taking the time this morning. It was great talking with you. I'm looking forward to being on your YouTube show.” And he's like, “Wow, that's really cool.” He didn't even know that you could do that. So be a rock star on LinkedIn. Stand out by using voicemail. Tim, I used it with you this morning because he was asking me questions. I couldn't type all that, so I just whipped out my phone and left a voicemail message. It's more personal that way. Daniel GlickmanIt worked on me. And then the video is particularly effective because you can see the person. Mary Fain BrandtThree touches - you send the message, they hear you, and then they see your face. So it's all about h-to-h, human-to-human. Bring back that human factor in our online networking because we're not networking in person. It's all networking online. So we have to make it personal. Daniel GlickmanSo for those of us who are busy executives that don't have the time to spend on networking and building the connections, how do we deal with it? What do we do? Mary Fain BrandtAll you need is 20/30 minutes a day on LinkedIn. Whether you do 10 minutes in the morning or 15 minutes in the afternoon. Who do I want to connect with? Who am I looking to bring into my network? Who am I looking to partner with? For example, recruiters are great for me because I'm a career coach. So when a recruiter comes up, I'm asking, “Who are they? What type of recruiting do they do? Be strategic. Don't just connect with everyone. You can master it and have a great LinkedIn network with 30 minutes a day or less. Daniel GlickmanFantastic. That was a perfect closing for the show, because it summed up some great points. We got a lot out of it. Mary, where can people find you if they want to know more about you? Mary Fain BrandtMary Fain Brandt - if you Google that name, I'm the only one that will come up. You can also visit my website at MaryFainBrandt.com, or email me through hello at MaryFainBrandt.com Daniel GlickmanFantastic. Obviously, Mary is a LinkedIn strategist. I added Mary's contact info into the show notes. Post your comments. Thank you for watching and for being here. And thank you, Mary, for being with us today. Mary Fain BrandtThanks for having me. This was so much fun, Daniel. I'm sure we could sit and talk for hours but we're both busy. So, Ciao everyone. Have a great day.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To learn more about Marisa, click here. Daniel GlickmanMarisa is a LinkedIn strategy and live streaming expert. She helps businesses and people get views and engagement on LinkedIn. In fact, we're going live on LinkedIn here. That's pretty much all I know how to do. So I'm psyched to have Marissa with us today. Hi, Marissa. Marisa CaliHi, Daniel. How are you? Daniel GlickmanGood. I'm working from home as you can see. Marisa CaliI'm not working from home, but it's a good day here. It's what, Tuesday? I don't remember what day it is; the days kind of mesh together during the lockdown. But I'm happy to be here with you today. To talk all about LinkedIn. Daniel GlickmanSo let's talk about LinkedIn strategy. I know LinkedIn is a bit different than the other social networks. And somebody told me, that if you don't do five hours a day, commenting on people's posts and doing one on one share, you're never gonna get any reach. Is this true? Marisa CaliYes and No. A lot of people will focus on saying a lot of things. I'm going to post every day and spend a lot of time on making a really fancy video. And then it gets two likes. When you're building your network, a lot of people will shy away from commenting and engaging with people. That is what will put you in a better light on LinkedIn. Get in front of the people that you need to get in front of. But before that, if your profiles are not up to date in terms of "what are you targeting, who are you targeting, who would you like to work with, what is your background, what have you done before?" If you don't do that first and you start engaging, people are going to go to your profile and ask, "Who is this person?" Especially if you're not well known. And I think that's where a lot of people get misconstrued. I updated my profile, and I'm posting, but no one's seeing me. You have to do everything. And it doesn't take a lot of time. I would say between an hour to two hours a day. If you have a strategy in place, it's definitely something that will be beneficial for you. And the tactics that are working on LinkedIn has definitely changed in the last four months because everyone's online. So you have to be a little bit more strategic on how you do your outreach and what that outreach looks like. Daniel GlickmanWhat is the goal of LinkedIn as a social network? What are we trying to achieve? What is it perfectly designed for? Marisa CaliIn the business world, it is designed for your personal brand. A lot of people will shy away from that word. They don't think that they are a personal brand. But we are. It's how we come across digitally. There's a lot of people that will go on LinkedIn and say, "I'm going to target b2b because that's where the money is. And I'm going to sell to all these people and send a bunch of spam messages." And people will check out your profile and say, "This person has not been in the industry very long. They don't have many testimonials. They don't have a lot of examples of their work." And that can build a disingenuous way for how someone can interact with you. A lot of people will say, "I don't have a personal brand. It's not about me, it's about selling my services." But you need to be trusted. It's hard for people to grasp that, because I think they shy away from the word brand. But we all are a brand. For example, I'm wearing yellow right now. That's not my brand colors. I should have worn a brand thing. But I've been wearing yellow in a lot of things. And it's just a thing that I do now. Or even my headband. You're like, "Oh, you haven't worn a headband in a long time." I didn't know you were paying attention to what I was wearing on my head. And I know that doesn't translate to what I do in terms of LinkedIn strategy and coaching. But it makes you memorable. How are you memorable in the industry? Daniel GlickmanThat is interesting, because I used to think that nobody's watching me on LinkedIn. And then I would get comments from people without meat. They would say, "I noticed that you cut your hair last month." It would be very specific details. So they do watch. And they will notice a tidbit, but it's not necessary for the whole thing to be 100%. It's little bits and pieces. Marisa CaliIt's like a peek inside your life. Then they go and check out your profile or they check your website. There will be people that will check you and then never send you a message because they made a judgement based on your online presence. Daniel GlickmanAs a personal brand, what is my goal on LinkedIn? Is it to create a set number of followers and reached engagement? Track the number of inbound views of my profiles? Is it both? Marisa CaliI think it's a mixture of all of those. Just depends on what your goals are. You can be strategic in how you're showing up on LinkedIn and who you're targeting, and never post because you're in the messages. Or you're engaging with people on their posts and becoming recognizable that way but you never post anything yourself. For example, I'm working with an author right now. And his book is being released in late August. Right now, we're targeting outreach in terms of publicizing a media tour. His profile is also very important in terms of numbers, because we want to help with engagement. We want him to be known when that book comes out, and he's a five time best selling author. So he's known to a lot of people, but now we're trying to expand that reach out from the existing network that he's done because he can't do speaking gigs anymore. They're all virtual speaking gigs and digital sales. It's not just shaking hands and kissing babies. Now he has to be online and it's a mixture of all of those things - engagement views, website traffic newsletter, signups. I'm focusing on LinkedIn, but I need to have an understanding of all of those other things in order for it to be effective. Daniel GlickmanCan you show us an example along with the kind of content that is used? Marisa CaliSo this woman I worked with for a few months owns a youth soccer club. She's also a military spouse, so a lot of the content that she was working on for her social profiles was focused on the kids. So she didn't have much of a LinkedIn presence. Now she is getting invited on LinkedIn lives. She's posting quotes that means something to her. The engagement is not astronomical, but when people think about a youth program for kids, she's connecting with the moms and dads that would potentially sign up for the program. So her strategy is about building her name within the women sports industry, so that she can get speaking gigs. She can get invited to conferences once COVID stops. And it's all based around things that she's passionate about - entrepreneurship, military spouse advocacy, and sports. That's just one example of Amy doing stuff with her personal brand on LinkedIn. Daniel GlickmanShe's sticking to a topic and really showcasing her expertise. LinkedIn is about showing what we're good at through the content. I got another question - I know when people get connection requests every day on LinkedIn, a lot of them are people in the sales profession. Or even professions that don't really reflect my circle of expertise. Should I or should I not accept such requests? Is there a benefit to having a large number of connections? Do I want to grow it as much as possible? Marisa CaliThis comes back to your goals. Are you looking to be a small seminar speaker? Or are you looking to collaborate and white label some of your services with other people in the same industry? It can get overwhelming; I have 35 open connection requests because their message was salesy, and that's not very authentic. They're just trying to do as much outreach as they can. I'm not going to trust them right away, so I just leave them pending and it's not a big deal. But when you are trying to reach the masses, you accept every request that comes your way because you are trying to sell something. But if you're trying to work one on one with people, then maybe you should be a little more selective because you don't want to be sold to. I think people sell and make products for marketers. If we love a product, we're going to talk about it because we're marketers. We're gonna make a story, we're gonna make a video. We're going to do all this stuff, which is like free marketing. So I think you do have to be a little selective depending on what your goals are for LinkedIn. Daniel GlickmanIt's like the opposite of Facebook, where your level of engagement with your audience is important. So if you get a lot of fake followers, it actually harms you on LinkedIn. It's just a question of your strategic goal. Who do you want? So let's talk about video. There's live video and video posts. On other platforms, videos does much better. I've heard that text does better on LinkedIn. What kind of data do you have on this? Marisa CaliSo this bookseller was not doing much video at all. They were doing YouTube, but didn't share it on social. And the way that we're putting the video out on social has been well received. He was not posting any video at all on his platform until we started working together. These videos are really well received; almost 6000 views and 37 comments. By mid June, we were at 5400 connections and now we're close to 6200. So it's definitely helped grow his network. Once COVID hit, more people were posting video. But there are people and other industries that have not embraced video and the power it brings your brand. Daniel GlickmanSo what you're seeing is that video performs better than text. Marisa CaliLong text posts and video perform the best. Daniel GlickmanSo he combined both long text and video. Does the same apply for live stream? For instance, for this live video, is it better if I throw in a long descriptive text? Marisa CaliYes. Live right now is tricky on LinkedIn. We're not seeing as much engagement on there and I think it has to do with the interface and how LinkedIn live notifies all of your followers. It'll say Daniel is live on LinkedIn. But a lot of people are still not open to the live activity. People watch Facebook live and YouTube. But I don't think people are watching LinkedIn live because it takes up the whole window, whether you're on your phone or desktop. You can't multitask on LinkedIn. It's good to have it because you can repurpose it, you can showcase yourself, but I'm not seeing as much engagement on LinkedIn live. But other platforms, there is benefits to that. Daniel GlickmanRight, and that's what I'm seeing as well. And I'm going to repurpose this particular live for the podcast or on video for the blog. That's where this came from. I'm broadcasting and multicasting LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter at the same time. It's easy enough to do. I agree that there's an issue with notification. And you can't pre scheduled and say "come and watch me today." Marisa CaliHopefully they're changing that. I know they've slowed down their approvals for LinkedIn live. I think under 2000 people have it. I don't know of any one outside of the sales and marketing world that has it. I don't know if that means they're going to change it to a different interface. And LinkedIn is going to do stories eventually, too. I know that's coming out soon because it's in the settings. They wouldn't put it there if they weren't going to do anything with it. Daniel GlickmanLinkedIn stories is a big experiment. Will it be taken over by nonsense? Would it be for job posters looking for job seekers? And of course, those who pick it up first, might do best. So let's talk a little bit about LinkedIn pages. They don't seem to be very popular or have gained a lot of traction. I have yet to see a LinkedIn page that has a massive following or active engagement. Is it just another showcase page for your company? Or are there examples of companies that have actually utilized their LinkedIn page for real success? Marisa CaliI manage a LinkedIn page for the co-working space that I'm at right now and there's many different personalities that represent the brand. It's really a broadcast place; we not only send different messages to the members of the community, but also to potential members so they can see the value we have to offer. And there's a lot more engagement because everyone is working remotely. So there is more communication on that. It does require some active outreach to generate business from the people that represent that brand, which then results in traffic moving to that page. So there is a direct correlation between posting on the page and sharing it on your profile in regards to elevating that brand. You can't just say, "I'm gonna post on the page and then it's done." It's a two fold type strategy because that person is representing the brand as an employee, but they're not going to post a personal anecdote because it is their opinion; their opinion does not represent the brand. So it depends on the industry that you're in. And I have seen some pages that are very active. This one sales related page, I think they got onto it early, has over 600,000 followers. To me, that is huge! I don't understand it. I don't see results like this currently. But it is important to have that validation for your business and your brand. Even for the most simple startup, where you might not launch your product until next year, you need to have that presence so you can keep people in the loop on what's coming up. You could even have a live show or your podcast on your LinkedIn company page. Because you might not always want to share all of your stuff on your page. Then you can outsource it to people like me. I'm an admin to eight different pages right now. If any of those clients need me to share something on their profile, it's not me logging in. It depends on the strategy, which can change based off of your client's needs and the other marketing outlets they have in place. Do they have an email list? Do they have other social profiles that coexists with LinkedIn? It's not like LinkedIn is all they have. Daniel GlickmanSo to wrap this up - for those of us who are thinking of growing our LinkedIn channel, what is the number one thing we should keep in mind? Marisa CaliThere's two things. The first thing is to try to be on LinkedIn for 11 to 17 minutes per day. Now, what are you doing with that time? Are you looking at posts to engage with? Or are you posting something in your content strategy? You can do either of those every day, Monday through Friday. If you do it early in the morning, it can be like checking the morning newspaper. The second thing, when it comes to video, is that people want to see your face. That is how they can build trust. So if you're not on video, my advice is is to try a weekly or monthly video challenge. This will help break that fear of being on camera. Video will amplify your message and gain the trust of your audience. Without video, they don't hear the inflection in your voice and they don't see your confidence. These are two things that you can use to start building your LinkedIn presence. Just another platform to work on. Daniel GlickmanJust one more, and don't get me started on Tiktok. Marisa CaliI was on TikToc for 15 seconds and I was like, I can't do this. It's too much work. I really enjoy my quiet time. Daniel GlickmanI'd much rather spend my time walking in the woods or swimming in my pool, then feel my mind and keep the noise there, which is useless and highly addictive. Those 15 minutes on TikToc can turn into 15 hours very quickly. This was really interesting. I appreciate all of the specific, concrete information and examples you showed here. And we'd like to say thank you for giving me this account so we can use it here. And thank you to my employer, wave.video. Which is the software we use to repurpose and create all of the previews. It's very useful for this purpose. Marisa, do you have any final notes before we say goodbye? Marisa CaliIf you would like to connect with me, go to LinkedIn. All of my social communication will take you right to my LinkedIn page. And I'd love to see you there.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.To learn more about Make Kind Loud, click here.To learn more about Louisa, click here. Daniel GlickmanWelcome to our quick live show. This is Daniel Glickman together with...Louisa GarrettLouisa Garrett!Daniel GlickmanLouisa is a specialist in corporate kindness or kindness in general.Louisa GarrettThank you for having me. I appreciate it. My mission in life is to make kind loud; to spread as much joy and kindness as possible. And that includes businesses, corporations, organizations, nonprofits, and to embed kindness into those cultures. If you embed kindness, that is a game changer for your business.Daniel GlickmanSo let's attack this from the business perspective. What does kindness for business mean? How can a business be more kind? And why should a business be kinder?Louisa GarrettA business should be kinder because that directly impacts your bottom line. Your business is your people. And if your people feel valued, if they feel heard, if they feel seen, then they will do more, they will produce more, they will be more apt to promote the business. So it's definitely a game changer. And it's important that CEOs and executives understand that the business is the people. Then the people will go out and help the bottom line. But if you have people who are miserable at work, then that could adversely affect your bottom line. People might consider kindness to be a fluff word, but it really is the core to making your bottom line soar.Daniel GlickmanDo organizations realize that they are not kind and how can they make that connection between kindness and their bottom line?Louisa GarrettI think it's half and half. There's one company here in Dallas that has a no jerks policy. So they don't work with jerks. They don't go out and hire jerks. If there is something off with the people they are working with, they completely cut that off. So that's the culture that they have established. So some people, some companies innately strive for that. And then you have other companies who don't realize the importance of infusing kindness into their business. But once they start doing that, they see the difference. And so it really is about what kind of culture you want to create, and what kind of legacy you want to leave with your employees and with your customers.Daniel GlickmanSo exactly the way we are at video. We're just nice people, I think. And we always want to make sure that our customers are happy and satisfied, whatever that means in the moment within reason. And there are companies out there, like Uber, that had a notoriously bad reputation of being filled with a-holes. Is that simply because of the founders? How does that kind of toxic company culture evolve? Where does that come from?Louisa GarrettI think it comes from not listening to employees, and only caring about the money and not caring about the culture. When I go into corporations, and when I meet with CEOs, I explain to them that the money will come and the money will exponentially get better if you treat your people better. You have companies like Uber, that was notoriously famous for being a-holes, who were only concerned about the money. Now it's a business. Of course, you want to make money. Of course you want to sell whatever you're selling or whatever service that you're offering. However, in order to make sure that you are selling your products, offering your service, leading the nation in whatever that is, then it is important for your employees to feel heard and seen. Because once they bite into that, then there is no greater advocate for you than the people who are on the front lines. So if the people who are on the front lines are feeling abused, then that's going to come out. But if they are feeling like they're motivated, and they're enpowered, and they are inspired, that too will come out. It's really about changing the mindset of the leaders. I think a lot of the toxic behavior comes from only worrying about the bottom line and the spreadsheets. If we can look beyond the spreadsheet and really look into the people who work for you, because I cannot stress this enough, the business truly is your people. Once they buy into it and they feel motivated, they will go out and they will sing your praises. Adversely, if they're not feeling that, then they will come across as not supportive of the company and that can come across with customer service.Daniel GlickmanSo when does it signal that it is time for a business to hire a kindness consultant? That there is some problem here.Louisa GarrettI believe that you can feel it. When you enter a space, when you enter a company, you can feel the energy in the room. If you're going on to the floor of your company, or whatever you walk in, and you don't feel the love, then it might be time to do some team building. It might be time to bring in a kindness coach, and really explore that. Don't just do it because it sounds good. Do it because you really care about the people who work for you. And when I walk into companies, I tell the leadership that this is what I felt. Some CEOs will say "we're fine the way we are." And if that's the case, then unfortunately, that's the case. But if you care enough about your business, corporation, nonprofit, whatever the case may be, then you will look to see how you can get better. And you have to look outside of the box. It's not always about money. It is about human connection, and human interaction, and the ability to understand that we are in this together.Daniel GlickmanSo what kind of steps are typically involved in becoming Kinder?Louisa GarrettRecognize people. I firmly believe that if someone has a good idea, recognize that person; give credit where credit is due. Once they feel "Oh, wow, I was mentioned in the staff meeting or the newsletter or whatever," then that motivates them to get their creative juices flowing to see how they can help the company more. Give credit where credit is due. Listen to what your employees are saying; really hear how they are approaching or feeling about a project. Maybe y'all can work it out together. And that goes to having an open door policy. A lot of people say that they have open door policies, but what it truly means is that you could communicate and not feel like, "Oh, that's not gonna go anywhere." It means that I can bring you an idea, I know that you're going to consider that idea and figure out maybe it's not right at this time. But at least I know they heard me. So listen to your employees, give credit where credit is due, and allow them to have the creative license to think differently. And there's no set way to do anything. If someone has a crazy idea, but it's not really crazy, allow them to explore that. And then come back and say, "Hey, can we figure it out this way?" If you give people ownership on whatever project it might be, then they will go and do more and do better because they feel like they have been heard and understood.Daniel GlickmanThis is some great advice here. Do you have some example of kindness transformation?Louisa GarrettI was doing a kindness seminar at one PR company that asked, "What if the client is very demanding and they have ridiculous goals? How can we be kind, but also let them know that these are the parameters in which we can work in?" Just be honest with them. I think a lot of people don't want to hurt people's feelings for some reason. And it's not really hurting their feelings; it's just setting the boundaries. As I was speaking to this company, I saw light bulbs go off. They were like, "Oh, we can be kind and set boundaries at the same time." It's important to do both. If you don't set boundaries, people will continue to push your limit. Once that clicked in their heads, they're like, "Oh, that's interesting." To this day, they make sure that they're upfront with the client of what the parameters are while letting them know that we are working together. This is how we operate. And if the client doesn't want to operate within their parameters, then you have a choice to either accept that business or not.Daniel GlickmanThat was really great advice. I appreciate the topic and the fact that you came in during these times to talk about kindness. I feel that we all could use a bit more of it in our lives, and we can all contribute a bit more kindness.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.If you are a marketing leader in a startup, like I am, you will relate to the fact that ideas and projects seem to mount on your to-do list faster than your ability to execute them. Worse still, all these projects seem always to be ranked top-priority.But give it a week or a month, and there is a reasonable likelihood that the same idea that seemed so urgent just a short while ago may seem a lot less critical, or may even be forgotten altogether.That is why I like to arrange all projects in lists or on Kanban boards. I add new ones to the bottom of the list and organize the priorities every 2-4 weeks. If an idea stays at the bottom of the list for a more extended time, it's probably worth deleting. This method allows for the natural selection of the highest value projects over time. Deliberately procrastinating on projects this way provides additional advantages: You get to think out the details and implications before acting.You avoid disrupting your team's current plans.Having more to do than you can handle is the hallmark startup life. The ability to select the top-performing campaigns is a sign that you are allocating resources effectively.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Every marketer knows that content is king. But I ask you: Why?  Bill gates first made this term famous in 1996 when he used it to describe the emerging internet as a content marketplace. When you think of it, everything on the internet is content. So what makes content King? Marketers often use the phrase to justify large investments in content creation when applied as part of a content marketing strategy. There is a lot to be said for creating a robust content experience that builds a brand and a relationship with it. But if I had to choose between Content marketing and SEO marketing, I'd chosen SEO marketing any day. Why? Because SEO brings direct, measurable results to the company's P/L. SEO is the tyrant prince because, when done right, it dictates to the reader what the solution they are searching for is. When people search google for a solution to their problem, they trust that the top results are credible and worthy. So, when your advice or solution appears at the top of the search results, people are more inclined to continue their journey with you. SEO rules - Like a tyrant Prince.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Within what category does your product or service fit? I'd bet that no classification fits you like a glove. There are benefits, of course, for belonging to a predefined category: Prospects immediately and easily understand what you can do for them, and you can compete to be seen on various listing sites. However, there is a big downside: Once you are labeled as being in the same product category as your competitors, it is very hard to justify higher price points.Providing the lowest price to drive the lowest profit margin is never a winning strategy. Inventing a new category for yourself is very hard because you have to educate your audience about the category as well as the product, but it will allow you to charge "a nothing else like it" premium. In the long run, this could leave the competitors in the dust. In the short term, you must still fight to survive. It's best to look at listing sites and product categories as the opportunities they are and not as a strategic guide to defining your product.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Most marketing strategists will tell you that the number of followers you have on social media is irrelevant. Seasoned marketing leaders tend to refer to the number of likes and follows as "Vanity metrics."  These are metrics that the social media platforms would like you to focus on but don't necessarily benefit your bottom line.  It is easy to fall into the trap of spending your resources on growing the number of followers rather than growing your sales. True,  but it does not mean that the number of followers is meaningless. If you treat the follower count as a symptom rather than a goal, it's purpose becomes a lot clearer. If we do what we do on social media to gain leads, and we do not place any effort to grow our followers, then a growing number of followers is an excellent indicator of the quality of our work. The fact that you are growing your brand on social media is an indicator that your social activities are touching and relevant. How is that not a good thing?

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Anyone who had ever worked for a startup may be familiar with the lack of clarity of vision that comes with it. When working for a startup, employees often feel like the management is constantly changing their minds and contradicting recent instructions. Startups suffer from "strategic zig-zagging" because they are continually looking for a better product-market fit; They are desperate to make it big, and startup founders are often prone to rash decisions to begin with.Zig-zagging is part of what all startups do and can be a strength as well as a weakness.    There are two main challenges associated with zig-zagging: It demoralizes employees who may feel confused and frustrated as a result.Zig-zagging may get you going around in circles. Shifting your strategic focus too often by chasing short-term opportunities may leave you with inconsistent and incoherent messaging, and customers who don't appreciate the value you provide.So, if zig-zagging is inevitable, how can you zig-zag better? Continuously repeat the underlying goal or problem you are aiming for. For example, there is a chart that I show in every single company meeting. I make sure to explain again and again that this chart represents the one problem we are continuously trying to solve because it's what will make or break our company. It may be repetitive to hear, but it reminds everyone why we keep changing and coming up with new ideas.When speaking to the team, don't mix ideas, future plans, and current projects. Keep each of these for separate discussions. Doing so will help alleviate the feeling that "the management keeps changing their mind" and reduce confusion and frustration.Zig-zag like a dog. When a dog seeks an object that they can not see, dogs will move in a zig-zag pattern to identify when the scent gets stronger or weaker. Whenever you pivot, make sure to do it like a dog, always staying focused on getting closer to that ultimate goal, and not chasing the occasional squirrel.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.If you want to work with influencers, you need to create programs that cater to each of their stages of growth.There are four distinct stages of growth in an influencer's life cycle:Stage 1: Grow the audience. In this stage, the influencer is primarily concerned with gaining more followers.  Such an influencer might be very keen on collaborating with your brand by providing the content when you provide the audience. They make great guests on your shows and do not require money for their work.  When approaching a stage one influencer, you need to provide a clear list of activities and a budget (if any).Stage 2: Grow the brand. In this stage, Influencers want to be known for a specific know-how. They will be interested in doing joint research or might want you to present to their audience if you can provide information that matches their brand needs.  When working with a stage two influencer, it is best to work on one project at a time. Stage 3: Grow the content. This is when the influencer is mostly concerned with scaling operations. They are busy growing their team and opening new channels of influence. Influencers at this stage are difficult to work with since they are preoccupied with their own operational issues. For some, promoting an affiliate link is a good solution since it requires very little work on their end but can help with generating the desperately needed cash flow. Stage 4: Monetization. Mature influencers know their value and are primarily focused on charging the top dollar in return for their influence. They will prefer working with larger brands that can provide a stable income.  They will have a clear set of services and a price list. If you approach a stage four influencer, expect to work on their terms. Influencer marketing can be a very successful growth channel for startups and large brands. It takes time and patience, so it's good to start your influencer marketing early.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Fairly often, I enter a conversation thinking I know better than another person. Fairly often, I leave the same conversation learning something new. Experience counts for a lot, and at this point in life, I have a lot of experience. But experience is not everything. I have been party to many board meetings where we had heated debates about something someone said that seems to defy logic, things we agreed on, or things we have learned over the years. It's easy to dismiss that person or idea (or both) quickly. But those conversations provide us with the unique opportunity to learn, change, and expand our horizons. We only evolve and learn when we challenge what we know.  Does your ego get in the way of learning? If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it's to not let one's ego do the listening.    Every idea has merit or some value to offer. When your ego listens, it dismisses the idea and the person behind it. When you actively listen, you seek to understand what that person's goal is. What fresh perspective are they offering? What do they see that I don't? You might not implement what they suggested, but you might have learned to approach the problem differently, to reach for higher goals, or that some processes can be simplified.  How to actively listen?The rule is simple: Ask questions before providing answers. Try to truly understand their way of thinking and the logic behind what they offer, even if you don't agree with them.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.A medieval fortress had a moat that protected it from invasion. What protects your startup from the competition? There are a few kinds of moats that a startup can deploy. The technology moat. A patented, or hard to develop technology that prevents low funded startups from competing against you. Most SaaS startups don't have a technology moat (even though they may be very proud of the code they wrote).The Complexity moat: if you offer a highly complex solution, it's not easy to copy, even if it is "low tech". Think about sprawling eco-systems like Wix, which offers a website builder, eCommerce solutions, domain registration, an app marketplace and a dozen other services. The Critical market share moat. For collaboration software, a large number of customers can be a moat, think zoom or Jira. Once a few people in the organization start using these products, it's very hard to replace them. The brand moat. More so in the B2C space, a very strong brand can create incredible loyalty and pricing power. But this is not only true for the likes of CocaCola and Apple; many B2B companies are protected by a large investment in brand marketing. IBM was the accolade of B2B brand marketing for decades. These days companies like Stripe enjoy marketplace leadership due to a strong brand.The User Experience moat. The most elusive, yet often highly powerful moat is the ability to create a great user experience. User experience is not easily copied because one must have a deep understanding of the end-user to be able to get it right. In other words, it's not something that one can simply allocate funds towards creating. Great user experience creates great customer love and loyalty. This is especially true if you can create a great user experience in an industry that is known for having a terrible reputation.A solid startup will strive to build more than one moat. What moats are you building ?

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Marketing Sprints are a highly effective management tool for startups.They are quite simple to organize, and they yield immediate results. Here is how it's typically done:  You set a goal and a date for the team and outline the general tasks associated with that goal. For example, you could set a goal of running an online conference by the end of July. You chart out the general things that need to get done and discuss the details with the team.  How to get the task done is entirely up to the person whose name is on it, in collaboration with the team. Sprinting is effective because it focuses the team on getting the job done within the constraints of the time and resources available.  It's a perfect vehicle for delivering the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of the value comes from the first 20% of the work. And while employees may need to hustle to get the sprint done on time, they feel accomplished and proud when it's over, and see the results of their work. It's good to put some space between sprints, to give people time to catch up on old projects, regular maintenance, and take on their own initiatives. In the long run, alternating between sprinting and jogging will get you the farthest distance with the smallest effort.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Creating a successful business boils down to one simple formula: charge customers more than it costs you to acquire them and supply them with goods. In software, the cost of goods is close to zero, so all we care about really is the Lifetime Value and the CAC.If you are a typical early-stage startup or a young small business, you are likely spending your efforts to grow the number of customers even though your customer's Lifetime value does not warrant growth at your current Costs of Acquisition.  This is a crisis waiting to happen in about 18 months down the road. When DOES it make sense to grow your customer base even at a loss? When you have a high retention rate but a low ARPU. If you can build a strong, loyal customer base, you will likely find ways to upsell and profit from them. When you are in a rush to gain market share in a winner-takes-all scenario. If you are not in one of these situations, you should be closely monitoring the difference between the CAC and LTV. A good online startup has an LTV that is at least 3 times higher than the CAC. While that's very hard to achieve, one can get there by improving the product-market fit over time.It's hard to grow your business and grow your profit margins at the same time. So you got to pick one. Just be aware that if you choose to grow your business first, you might run out of resources by the time you realize you have to fix your profit margin problem. 

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.I always tell my team, "when you are looking to solve a problem, don't look at the competition." Too often, when faced with a problem, we check our competitor's product to see what they did. If there is one thing I insist on, it's not to compare us to the competition. Why?The reason that competitor made their choices are unknown to you, and so are the results.By copying your competitors, you become more and more like them. Eventually, you will become so similar to the rest of the industry that your only competitive option will be to provide lower prices than they do.So, where can you find inspiration?Look for similar problems solved in different industries—particularly ones that are growing and innovative.Ask yourself: What other types of products and services do my customers buy, and where do they get the best experience? That is where you should look for inspiration.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.We marketers have the tendency to think big. This quality is what makes us good marketers. After all, our job does involve making things seem bigger, sexier, or better than they actually are. This tendency can get us into a little bit of operational trouble because most marketing projects don't have to be big. For example, you can create an online giveaway or raffle to engage your users. You could go big, set up partnerships, big-budget promotions, and offer grand prizes. That would probably go well, but you might achieve similar results by just running a friendly competition with a few small prizes.  It all depends on the goals you are trying to meet. So when we come up with an idea for a new campaign, I always look for the "Minimal Viable Project".  I try to think big, but operate small. When we discuss potential projects, I try to think: How do we get the maximum result for the minimum amount of work? This approach is particularly important when you are trying out something new. The first time you try out a new marketing activity, you should always aim for the Minimal Viable Project.  If it works, try going big the next time.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.     In the digital marketing world, things change quickly.  Entire marketing channels can appear and disappear within what feels like the blink of an eye. For startups, the rate of change is even greater, because as a startup leader you are not only adapting to a shifting marketplace, you are also adapting to the realities of a changing company.      Everything you take for granted today may be obsolete tomorrow: What got great SEO results last year may not do you any good in the year to come. Your customer-base will probably shift too.  Tomorrow's prospects may be different, they may want a different USP or expect a very different on-boarding process than those early adopters you on-boarded so easily before.      What's a CMO to do?      Working in such a fast-paced, highly fluid environment is what makes our job so interesting and why we got into it in the first place.  So, put your ego aside, forget all those years of experience. Relearn everything there is to know about your customers and how to market to them.  Few people can do it, but that's what it takes to be a CMO.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Most early-stage startups are founded by amazing people who had vision and ferocity to get started against the odds. One of the reasons you started the company or joined an early-stage startup is that you believed you know better than everyone else.  You are an amazing person!But this amazing skill that got you to this point is no longer the skill that is valued by a larger team.  By definition, you no longer know best; you have a team of people who know better than you. Your job is no longer to tell them, "I know better; this is what I want you to do".  Your job is to listen to their ideas, solutions, and initiatives, and pick the ones that are most aligned with your strategic goals. Then allocate resources accordingly.In short, it's time to stop being an exceptional entrepreneur and start functioning as an outstanding manager. 

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.Is your competitive advantage some feature in your software? Ease of use? Your reputation? Think again.In today's world, products are easy to copy and improve on. What took you a year to develop, takes your competitor only 3 months to copy. Some of your competitors will copy what you do and improve on it to be even better than yours. Your product maintained a competitive advantage for just 3 months. Nowhere is this more evident than in the software industry. If you have enough cash, you can develop pretty much anything at record speed. When Covid19 hit, and Facebook saw the rise of Zoom, Mark Zuckerburg decided that Facebook should develop its own video conferencing solution. A month later, they announced the launch of messenger rooms. The large tech companies have more money, more talent, more experience, and a stronger brand.  How do you maintain a competitive advantage in this business environment? Well, there is one thing you have that most companies don't: Agility. If you can move faster than your competition; be quicker to adapt to market conditions, be willing to sacrifice existing audiences for new and better ones, and keep finding new product-market fits as the old ones disappear. If you can do all that better than most competitors, you stand a fighting chance at winning.Your product's competitive advantage today is momentary and fleeting. An agile business can last a long time. Additionally, there is one thing that your largest competitors have that you don't have, which makes you stronger: An inherent aversion to risk. If you learn to manage risk, not avoid it and move fast enough, you might grab enough market share before you wake up the sleeping enterprise competitor. As a startup leader, your quest is not the search for the ultimate feature. It's the quest for building the most agile and innovative organization in your industry. That is your true competitive advantage.

To view the blog post, click here.To learn more about Daniel, click here.     There are only two ways to find a perfect match for your job opening:Find a candidate with proven success in the exact position you are seeking to fill.Find a curious, fast learner who’s potential matches and exceeds the job requirements.     While most managers go for the first approach, it presents two major problems:As a startup, we try to do things that have never been done before. It’s impossible to find people with proven success in something that has never been done.A candidate that has a proven background in a company similar to yours will bring “best practices” and ideas from the very companies you are trying to disrupt. You will not succeed at disrupting a company by doing what they do.     We startup CMOs must opt for hiring the second type of candidates: innovative, smart, and fast learners. Experience matters a lot less than talent and motivation for a startup.     The obvious downside to this approach is that we must accept a high level of risk in hiring. You will have to interview a lot of candidates before you find the right one, and you should be ready to swiftly let go of the ones that don’t work out.

Read more on this and other SaaS growth topics at at http://cmoconfessions.comThis podcast is sponsored by Wave.video https://wave.videoEpisode page:  http://cmoconfessions.com/ask-your-customers/

This podcast was created for your enjoyment by Daniel Glickman and proudly sponsored by Wave.video.  Links to the show Guests: Bella Vasta: Jump consultingKrissy Buck: The digital neighborhood Megan Powers: Powers of MarketingDan Reed: Authenticity AgencyTracey Matney: Victory Points Social 

This podcast was created for your enjoyment by Daniel Glickman and proudly sponsored by Wave.video.  

This podcast was created for your enjoyment by Daniel Glickman and proudly sponsored by Wave.video.   Check out www.wave.video to learn more about this video marketing platform.To learn more about your host: Daniel Glickman visit www.cmoconfessions.com 

This podcast was created for your enjoyment by Daniel Glickman and proudly sponsored by Wave.video.   Check out www.wave.video to learn more about this video marketing platform.To learn more about your host: Daniel Glickman visit www.cmoconfessions.com  This episode featured:Rob Balasabas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbalasabas/Mari smith: https://www.facebook.com/marismith/Daniel Wass: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwaas/Thank you for subscribing.     

B2U is an innovative new podcast for digital marketers, CEOS and entrepreneurs.Each season will focus on a different aspect of what makes great startups succeed. Featuring some amazing people, including: Mari Smith, Rob Balasabas, Daniel Wass, Fiona Lucas, Stephanie Liu, Jessika Philips, Brian Wallace, Olga Andrienko, and many more. Sponsored by Wave.video: a video marketing solution: Create, host and edit videos for your entire marketing funnel.