MORE - The Digital Marketing Tech Tools Podcast

In this episode you will learn the 4-step process to get the best out of your branding efforts.  Social selling and the power it can provide  - Tweaking your profile that tells the story you need it to - Your prospects and anyone to that you meet will be checking out your LinkedIn Profile - Aligning your message with what your product offering provides. Four-step process 1. Skills Gap Workbook – what do you want to accomplish 2. Review your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) for your business 3. Fully defined Target Market demographics 4. Recommendations to fill the gaps of what has been identified. This process is important for any business – small to large. - Ideation of where your business is and if it aligns with your mission and values. - New businesses will get a leg up in building a successful company. - Existing businesses who are developing a new product that is going to market. - This process will work with any industry focus. - Repurpose your content to attract prospects. Tools that assist you building your brand: - InMail feature in LinkedIn - Events on LinkedIn - StreamMart - Grammarly - Audacity for podcasts - Canva Connect with Grant via LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go. 

In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Coach AP and Dangerous Diva to discuss their company The Black Tube and how they are empowering content creators. They discuss what The Black Tube is, how it came to be, why it is important, and how you can benefit from using it.  Who can benefit from TheBlackTube.com? The Black Tube was created to empower people of color who were not getting treated by other content creation platforms.  Everyone can benefit from The Black Tube, especially content creators.  What makes The Black Tube different? The features on The Black Tube are similar to those of other platforms, but the system is different. The Black Tube puts the algorithm in your favor so that you see more views than on any other platform.  You can also become a pro-member to receive other benefits.  Book and podcast recommendations The Bible “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren Visit theblacktube.com This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Georgee Low, they discuss a method that Georgee has successfully used to help her clients make difficult decisions called Why Discovery.  What is Why Discovery? It is based on the work of Simon Sinek, and it gives you a decision making filter for everything that you do.  George recommends this method to anyone who wants to create a business that really matters to the world.  The process Analyze 3-6 moments in your life that were truly impactful, a moment that you can really feel. Look for common themes from those moments and then create a statement.  This statement will help you to recognize your values, which should be actionable.  Use these actionable values to drive your decision making process.  Who can benefit from Why Discovery? Individuals who are struggling with finding their purpose and feel like they can't articulate what is missing.  Those who want their career to be about more than just making money.  People who lack motivation.  How is this different from other similar processes? Oftentimes people think of purpose as WHAT you are doing, this process is about WHY you are doing it.  How can we ensure this works for you? For it to be useful, you have to use it. It takes effort. Georgee recommends that you write down your big why statement and review it at the end of each day.  Once you create a habit, it becomes natural.  Georgee's book and podcast recommendations The Power of Giving Away Power by Matthew Barzun Trailblazer by Marc Benioff and Monica Langley From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. Brooks The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek Find Your Why by Simon Sinek The Monk who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma Rich Roll Podcast The Futur Podcast If you would like to learn more about Why Discovery process and meet with Georgee visit www.decideyourlife.com. You can also follow Georgee on Instagram and LinkedIn.  This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

Harold is the CEO and founder of the Underground App. On today's episode of MORE podcast, Ricardo talks with Harold, the CEO, and founder of Underground App, about his new app and an email service provider that he has used along the way, SMTP2GO.  Why does Harold use SMTP2GO? Any organization with a marketing system in place that is sending emails can benefit from SMTP2GO. You can try it for free and if you want access to more features the subscription starts at $15 a month.  It easily integrates directly into your backend application. Great customer support.  Harold found that many of the emails he was sending were going to spam. Once he started using SMTP2GO that stopped happening.  What are the integration opportunities that exist with SMTP2GO? Easy to integrate with CRM, Java, and PHP.  Their website has sample code and great tutorials.  How has Harold stayed in business through recent difficult times? Continue communication with your clients. Make sure that they are happy and that you are providing them value.  Harold always makes sure that in his communication everything is clear and transparent. He has kept clients coming back for many years with these principles.  When you are truly providing value, your clients will refer you to others.  Other information from Harold His application is coming out on android within a few weeks. Check out underground.app to sign up for a newsletter and get involved.  Harold recommends reading the books The Last Lecture, and Proof of Heaven. To connect with Harold, find him on LinkedIn, Twitter, and subscribe to his newsletter.  This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

Email marketing can increase your ROI by 40x. On today's episode of MORE podcast, Ricardo talks with Valerie K, an email marketing specialist and manager who helps strategize and develop email marketing collateral. They discuss two email service providers, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact, and how you can utilize them to improve your organization.  How did Valerie get into her role? She was a teacher for several years, and she was a professional development coach at her elementary school. While great with students and parents, she was beginning to get burnt out. A mentor teacher helped her get a position at a school in Abu Dhabi. She traveled the world and learned a lot. She made traveling a part of her lifestyle, and she learned that she had the power to learn and accomplish anything. She took some free coding courses and decided she wanted a change of career. She enrolled in a coding boot camp and was exposed to tech. After graduating from the coding boot camp, she quickly dove into email marketing. What are Mailchimp and Constant Contact? In Valerie's opinion, these are two of the easiest email service providers to use. They are intuitive and have many templates already in place.  It's good to have great imagery in your emails. Try using free image sites such as pixels to add beautiful images to your emails.  These services will help you to craft a great subject line. They give you tips on how to increase your open rate. Great analytics. These ESP's give you great analytics so that you can improve your email marketing by knowing what works and what doesn't.  Where do you get email contacts to add to your ESP? If you have a website, you can add a pop-up that prompts users to submit their email and join your email list.  Social media is a great way to get contacts.  If your business is more in-person, offer discounts in exchange for email addresses. Use a QR code to make it easier. Some people buy lists, but Valerie doesn't recommend it because of legal issues and the risk of getting put in spam.  It's not about how many people you have, it's about having people who really want to hear from you. Quality over quantity.  Who would benefit the most from using an email service provider?  Small business owners. They can use these ESP's to develop your email voice and connect with your customers.  Influencers. It is a great idea for influencers to be able to connect with their followers away from social media as well.  Most everyone should be investing in email marketing.  How are these ESP's different from others? They are intuitive. They are easy to use for individuals who aren't comfortable coding. If you aren't very tech-savvy you are better off using Mailchimp and Constant Contact.  They have simple layouts that make it easy to style your emails.  What can users expect once they start using these services?  Figure out how to use the program and ease yourself in. Start small and make sure you are saying things that are meaningful.  Mailchimp and Constant Contact integrate well with your website along with Canva.  They are also more affordable than other email service providers.  Last advice from Valerie and Ricardo Optimize your subject lines. The subject lines are gold.  Avoid too many graphics. Imagine you are writing a note to a friend. Something personal.  Valerie's book and podcast recommendations Jasmine Guillory  Find me: A Memoir by Viola David Becoming by Michelle Obama To connect with Valerie, find her on Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, and her website.  This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go. 

If you can't sell, you can't make money. So, what's the secret to building an effective source of leads ready to purchase? In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by marketing consultant Patty K to learn how to implement a 7-stage marketing system from Duct Tape Marketing capable of helping any business in any industry gain more sales. Patty specializes in working with advisors and experts, selling their time to clients.  She helps get their content out of their heads and into the world so people can see how it's valuable. She started as a self-employed software developer but was stuck with the sales and marketing elements - getting people to buy her code. Patty became fascinated with marketing and soon learned the 7-stage system from Duct Tape Marketing to help clients develop more sales. Think about marketing not as a funnel but as an hourglass. Marketing doesn't end when you have a client - current clients are your best clients. The most high-level elements of the hourglass are the completed clients who can refer and buy again. Four of the stages people go through - Know, like, trust, and try. Put yourself inside the head of the marketing person and put yourself out there, whether that's social media, advertising, and other ways to make sure people know who you are. Have people form an opinion about you: Utilize reviews, testimonials, and indicators of trust as professional designators to give people a reason to trust you. Consider offering a trial period or a limited quantity of functionality on a site to encourage people to purchase. People don't buy what you sell; they buy who you are. Everybody can use the system. It's an absolute requirement for people like trusted advisors, but restaurants and other industries are also missing out. Many marketing funnel methodologies aren't complete because they stop at the initial sale. Marketing professionals often put too much weight on the top of the funnel. Practical applications with the seven stages: Look at the seven steps and determine which facet of the stages you're neglecting. Is there a way to get more positive reviews or variables to supplement the neglected stages? It works well with other tools and systems. Often the change required is the messaging within the system. Patty's parting advice? If you want to be successful in marketing, get in the head of the person buying your product and present what you do as the solution they're looking for. To learn more about the methodology, visit Duct Tape Marketing's website at https://ducttapemarketing.com/ for more information and free resources. If you're a trusted advisor, visit PattyK.com for resources and materials specific to your industry to help you find and retain more clients.  Patty's book and podcast recommendations: Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller Built to Sell by John Warrillow Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns  The 2Bobs Podcast with Blair Enns This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

Modern marketing isn't just for tech-savvy coding experts, especially if armed with the right tools to be successful. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by the founder of creative agency Underbelly, Anthony Lagoon, to learn the tech tools and platforms he uses to be successful.   The primary platform for today's discussion? Airtable.  Airtable helps automate processes within the company and links several different tools together. From sales funnel requests and client touchpoints to project management and potential roadmaps, Anthony maps out timelines a month in advance with Airtable. This helps his team plan for their workload, PTO, and hiring opportunities. Airtable is much more robust than a spreadsheet. It creates automation without needing a developer. Who is Airtable for? It can be used by any business professional looking to move beyond the spreadsheet.  If you get an email, it can scan it to determine the email type and then place it in the appropriate workflow. Spreadsheets store information, but Airtable is the backend that can support more facilities of your organization. If you have a website, it'll be good as a content management system to automatically publish to a website and workflow. How is Airtable different from comparable platforms? Its competitors could be a time-tracking tool or no-code software like GlideApps to create custom applications.  While it can get complex, there are simple integration opportunities with Google Sheets and similar platforms.  Using Airtable helped Anthony cut 3-4 other tools from his current toolkit because of the wide variety of features Airtable offers. Practical applications: Anthony wanted a SaaS, but they had a limited budget. With AirTable, they used Airtable as their background to make an Admin interface, which has been incredibly productive and allowed them to scale quickly. Twillio is a third-party texting service. Anthony's final takeaways? As a business professional, he likes to learn something new each day. By focusing on his and his employees' growth, he can plan for long-term success. Anthony's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Great Leaders Ask Great Questions by John C. Maxwell The Advice Trap by Michael Bungay Stanier Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

All it takes is one tool to dramatically shift how you and your organization operate. In today's episode of the MORE Podcast, Ricardo is joined by producer and visual storyteller, Miguel Lloyd, to discuss a tool he uses to perfect virtual meetings and video production.  In the virtual world, Zoom is wildly popular for coordinating calls and video feeds. However, Miguel found Zoom too low-quality for what he needed. After looking for alternatives, he discovered Ecamm, which offers more potential, qualities, and features that help him in multiple situations, meetings, and events.  Who is this tool for? You don't have to be a media expert, and it's excellent for process-oriented individuals who want more viability in their video recording platform. You might not need that level of production capability the platform offers, depending on what you need from the platform. So evaluate your business needs and determine if it's the right solution for you. The main limitation - you have to be a Mac user. Practical applications with Ecamm: If you have a call with many people, you can block other people from running other things on their screens. You can fully control the output other people see. You can easily place overlays and visuals in your video feed to make the video seamless and professional. What integration is possible? It can be used in tandem with multiple video recording elements, both software and hardware.  Any platform that allows a virtual camera can utilize and connect with Ecamm. Miguel's parting advice? Don't be afraid to do what you can and then outsource that talent to other people. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, but the 9-5 workday just isn't for everyone. There's a market for everything and everybody. Whatever content niche you love, there's a community behind it. Miguel's Recommendations and Resources: Lamar Tyler's Traffic Sales and Profit Will by Will Smith Anthony O'Neal's YouTube channel, The Table With AO This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

Content creation is a necessary marketing component for almost any organization. Despite this, the nuances and specifications that can make content marketing effective are often lost in production. In today's episode of the MORE Podcast, Ricardo is joined by the VP of Growth at Codeless.io, James Scherer, to discuss how he approaches content marketing and what tools he finds effective for content marketing professionals. Ahrefs.com is a powerful tool for SEO site performance optimization: This website can give insight into competitors' and your own site's Google rankings.  Whether you actively create content or not, this site helps you determine how quickly you are projected through Google searches.  You can use it for competitive and keyword analyses to determine the best words your content should target. Frase.io helps you drive keywords into a seamless content reporting tool:  It will tell you what articles rank with that keyword and what those articles look like. That'll help you writers understand what to include in that content, and it'll help writers take SEO-oriented content easily with foundational confidence. Wordable.io won't save your life, but it will save you 15 minutes a day. It takes a google doc and sends it into your CMS, formatted and updated to make your life easier. Once the content is uploaded onto your site through wordable.io, you can use Ahrefs.com to track and gather analytics, making it a full-circle situation that benefits from the other tools. Other tools for content marketers: Loom is a great tool that allows a manager to have conversations with remote workers and engage with them face-to-face. Asana, Trello, or another project management tool that can assign content to team members Drip.com, Leadpages, and Salesmate feature integration and distribution opportunities are available for content marketers.  James's parting advice? Don't be intimidated by the initial investment of content marketing or the slow growth. For more content and information from James, connect with him on LinkedIn. James's book and podcast recommendations: Rethink Lead Generation by Tom Shapiro  Backlinko by Brian Dean is a fantastic experiential and evidence-based marketing blog. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.

Whatever type of business you run, there are basic tools and systems that can make running your business a more (pun intended) seamless process. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by solopreneur-turned-brand consultancy founder, Ari Krzyzek, to discuss three universally beneficial tools companies should utilize, regardless of industry.  Entrepreneurs figure things out. They find a way to stay on track and figure out what they want to do. Ari and her partner have been in business for 11 years, now with 12 people in their company, and she collaborates and works alongside both her team and clients. Three tools Ari recommends: Salesmate.io, Plutio.com, and Flowmapp.com. Each of these apps interconnects and facilitates a complete sales cycle. Salesmate.io: Salesmate is a CRM platform that houses lead generation information. What sets Salesmate apart from other CRM platforms? It connects with other systems. Ari's website connects through Calendly, but there are limitless options a company can use. Salesmate connects with email and syncs emails to know when they open or click on email content.  Flowmapp: Flowmapp is a UX tool that gives a visual map that tracks certain channels and touchpoints, showing what you can expect users to do on a particular page. By using Flowmapp, you ensure a user gains the right interactions during the sales cycle, especially automated steps that support the user's sales journey. If you have a website, consider getting a free Flowmapp account (which is free for one project.) Plutio: Plutio has a lot of features you can leverage. It is central to contain projects and tasks within your organization to ensure everyone is on the same page. Integration beyond the three: Many day-to-day apps like calendly, Gmail, and other common tools can be integrated, which is pretty standard.  Zapier is an option for almost anything if you need to integrate certain software to accomplish certain things. Flowmapp offers a free account, Salesmate offers a 14-day trial, and Plutio is an affordable price for the value it provides. How has she stayed in business for so long? It takes grit and resiliency, and Ari wouldn't have gotten through 11 years in business without the support of her family and network. Ari's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Big Magic by Alicia Gilbert Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller 2Bobs Podcast with David Baker and Blair Enns Connect with Ari on LinkedIn for more great content, insights, and information. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go. 

Did you know that determining a basic advertising strategy for your small business can be as easy as taking a five-minute online quiz? In today's episode of the MORE Podcast, Ricardo is joined by Brian Gregory, CEO and founder of Admanity. Tune in to learn how you can garner agency-level information about your company's emotionality, messaging, and advertising strategies through his simple five-minute quiz. Visit admanity.com/more for a free report on your business, with no obligation! Admanity is a solution for any company: 99% of small businesses will never see the inside of an ad agency because of the cost. You can stumble and find a formula that works for you, but multiple attempts can result in wasted money. Admanity is based on the last 100 years of well-performing ads, and it matches companies with the formulas and concepts proven to work. No other company can give you actionable information within five minutes, making it an interesting and exciting prospect for any small business owner to implement. Practical applications of admanity: Admanity's research of the last 100 years of well-performing ads showed that any ad boils down to just 15 emotions, which have sold everything on the planet. Combinations of emotions work best for different brands, and Admanity's report reveals the emotions that best cater to your brand. People buy on emotion and affirm with logic, so catering to specific emotions can immediately create better emails, ads, and marketing or communications collateral. Admanity offers multiple integration opportunities: Admanity is partnering with a leading stock photo supplier to help curate photos that evoke the emotion a brand should convey. BrandCannon is a newly-launched program that nurtures businesses through one-by-one email builders to help garner high open and click-through rates. Their website, Admanity.com, also hosts a free webinar to teach you everything you need to know about the strategy and why it works. They also offer B2B consultations to help business owners determine which solution is right for them. Brian's entrepreneurial advice: Small businesses should advertise just like billion-dollar brands because ‘small businesses' doesn't mean ‘small tactics.' There is no royalty on emotion, formula, words, color, or photos. Look at what big guys in your industry do and copy it. Trigger the same emotions as them, and you'll start to see success.  Brian's Book and Podcast Recommendations: The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone How to Sell Anything to Anybody by Joe Girard While he doesn't have a specific show, Brain encourages listeners to hear stories about entrepreneurs. Hearing how they needed to pivot until they found the right direction for themselves can be excellent motivation. For more information and content from Brian, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit admanity.com/more for a special offer for podcast listeners for a free Admanity report. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go. 

Welcome to the new season of the MORE podcast! After a short break planning and developing the next season, Ricardo is ready and thrilled to announce the arrival of season two. Prepare for many in-depth interviews, discussions, and tools you can leverage to find growth in your company's sales and marketing performance. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the MORE podcast! Feel free to leave us a rating and review, and be sure to check us for future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and wherever podcasts can be found.  This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Group: MI Group is a tech company that assists you with billing technology solutions, full-service digital marketing, and hosting and maintaining your digital assets. With over 12 years of experience and a team of over fifty passionate business professionals, MI Group is your key to taking the next step to success. Visit migroupco.com to learn how we can help you and your clients reach your business goals. This podcast is brought to you in part by mMessenger.co: mMessenger.co is the ultimate SMS software that allows you to send messages to people in over 100 countries across the globe. Notifications, alerts, or any message you want to send can be done from the comfort of one website. Visit mmessenger.co for a free trial and to learn how you can use SMS to reach more customers. This podcast is brought to you in part by MI Digital Hub: MI Digital Hub is the all-in-one digital experience to help you improve your digital marketing experience. Suppose you want to understand your current online positioning and how your presence appears. In that case, MI Digital Hub gives you a high-level view of SEO, performance, listing, social media, and any online presence that might impact your business. Get a free snapshot of your performance by visiting midigitalhub.com to see where you are now and where you need to go.   

In today's modern world, video content yields far more engagement and views than other forms of content. But how do you know what type of video content to make? In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Andrea TheoJohn to share a tool that can help you become a better YouTuber. How did Andrea get to this point? She never planned to start a business; she was just in-between roles.  It wasn't until a good friend told her to do her own thing (and offered to be her first client) that she took the leap. She threw together a website and social media, and she thought it was a solid side hustle. When a friend offered their company as another client, she realized she could make it a career.  The video tool you need to use: TubeBuddy! TubeBuddy is a powerful keyword search tool that determines titles and tags that accompany YouTube videos. When Andrea started creating video content, she wasn't using keywords or tags. But, thanks to TubeBuddy, she now determines video titles to inform her of solid content ideas. (Ipso facto, she creates content about very searchable terms.) Anybody who creates YouTube videos, particularly small business owners, can see many benefits from using it.  While there are other competitors like VidIQ, Andrea hasn't used them. Leverage TubeBuddy to Make Better YouTube Content: Use TubeBuddy to identify content gaps for an industry, and then be the company that creates that content. In addition to identifying search terms, you can identify questions and struggles your ideal audience might have that you can answer. This is for the long game. YouTube is worth it to make evergreen content that people will always watch. Video content can be used across multiple channels and forms, so starting now is a great strategy!  Visit tubebuddy.com to install it; it walks you through connecting your YouTube. Andrea's business takeaway? Don't operate in a silo. It's very easy to stay in your lane and not interact with new people, but it's great to network. To see Andrea's work, visit her company website theadsagency.co/ and find Andrea on LinkedIn. Andrea's Book and Podcast Recommendations: The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss The Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn NPR's How I Built This with Guy Raz

For many small business owners, all it takes is a shift in mindset to see dramatic change. And on today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by someone who knows exactly how to facilitate that change. Joe Siecinski, co-founder and owner of BrainSHARE, helps businesses become profitable enterprises, and today he's going to share what he knows. Building a system is like building a house - you need a blueprint and a foundation. Until you have a foundation, it's difficult to determine your target market, USP, and strategic marketing. Joe helps companies lay these bricks to build profitable businesses that grow. Anyone can utilize this framework to embrace change. Businesses floating around the 10M mark usually see more success because they've learned some of the challenges associated with their companies.  (In his experience, you aren't ready to learn until you get some scars.) But his teachings apply to everyone, and the specific levels might not be as relevant for you, depending on your ultimate career goals. BrainSHARE offers a beginner, intermediate, and advanced stage. Joe started the beginning level as the foundation that builds up depending on where the client is at the moment. Best of all, he created his framework into bite-sized chunks so anyone can easily digest the information.  There are practical applications with Joe's system: When we break our modalities and think strictly in terms of operations, sales, or marketing, we're going to fail.  Entrepreneurs need to be adaptable and need to see the whole picture. If you just look at one or two pieces of a puzzle, it won't make sense. You have to use the whole picture as a guide.  Joe's final takeaway? Set short, medium, and long-term goals, and celebrate when you achieve them! Your business is meant to support your personal life, not BE your personal life. Joe's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Secrets of Question-Based Selling by Thomas Freese The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt Profit First by Mike Michalowicz Slicing Pie by Mike Moyer And anything by John Maxwell (like The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.) Most importantly, check out Joe's book, Brainshare: What Small Business Owners Need To Think About! Joe is offering listeners a free consultation to anyone, and his system is available by visiting brainshare.online. Joe is also offering a gift certificate to a podcast listener! To enter, simply send us an email at gmpodcast@mico.com.

Did you know that 85% of people prefer to receive texts over emails? Yet only a fraction of businesses integrate text messaging in their marketing strategy. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by the CEO of Mobile High 5, Barbara Casey, to discuss why every business needs to introduce this channel into their current practices to retain customers.  Every client is unique in their objectives.  Because of this fact, her team designs specific programs to fuel each specific objective the client has. Some clients just need a simple text reminder, while others need integrated messaging systems that are much more complex. Her agency uses highly robust analytics to refine messaging over time to ensure messaging is well-received and catered to its audience. Text messaging is for all industries: While Barbara likes retail, text messaging can and should be used across all industries.  Her customers typically value marketing, but they simply don't have time for it. For example, retail requires an ongoing conversation to maintain engagement. That ongoing engagement can be a struggle to maintain. Because it takes multiple touchpoints before a client even remembers a company name, text messaging can be a long-term strategy for long-term scaling growth.  Text messaging is more than an email blast:  Texting falls into two camps - a blast subscription list or a loyalty component that adds additional value. Her messaging systems utilize the latter. With this strategy, you have an ongoing conversation with customers to get them back in the door. You can use different metrics to create segmented and unique sequences that differentiate people's goals. What are some of the practical applications? If you currently ask for a person's birthday during the opt-in process, what do you do if they don't fill it out? Using text messaging, you can build a list of people who didn't answer, asking them if they'd like to receive $25 for a gift for themselves.  You can also use text messaging to remind people of expiring rewards, remind people they have items in their eCommerce cart, and many other uses. Are there integration possibilities? Mobile High 5 can integrate anywhere with open APIs. They also use Zapier, depending on where other platforms are located.  Many POS softwares are a closed ecosystem, so they cannot integrate directly in all instances. But they use a kiosk system in brick-and-mortar locations that can be customer-facing or staff-facing with cloud-based software. What do customers need to do to use it? Mobile High 5 offers 250 messages for free to help build your database, and you can contact them if you'd like to be set up for messaging success. For more information, visit mobilehigh5.com or email Barbara at barbara@mobilehigh5.com to get started. Barbara's final takeaway? If you're going to be an entrepreneur, stay nimble and keep your ear to the street. If you rely on social media and email, open your eyes to what's next (and that's text marketing.) Barbara's Book and Podcast Recommendations:  The CEO's Digital Marketing Playbook by Thomas Donahoe The Dropout  How I Built My Business with Dave Carlsen

For many sales and marketing professionals, you are your own bottleneck; there are only so many tasks and projects you can complete in the day. Because of that, it's critical to strategically automate projects and functions to help you accomplish everything you need. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by solopreneur and founder of Direct Connection Khalil Stultz to discuss Khalil's marketing tool that helps you grow your business. Khalil is a growth strategist and consultant who helps companies grow. He does this through a combination of training, business development, strategic partnerships, really doing whatever helps the business grow as effectively as possible. Khalil started his career in logistics making 150 cold calls each day. And because of his competitive nature, he wanted to grow even further.  Over the years, he developed and ultimately transformed his strategy into a formula anyone can apply to their own business (the foundation for his company later down the line.) The tool: DirectKonnection DirectKonnection helps business owners hyper-effectively target and craft messaging for their unique audiences. It then helps disseminate and track that messaging across platforms, including text, email, or LinkedIn messages.  It also has training features to help business owners and their employees learn the foundational principles behind their outreach strategy. This platform is excellent for any entrepreneur who wants more opportunities in their pipeline (or needs a pipeline in the first place) or just wants to grow and expand. How is DirectKonnection different from others? With DirectKonnection, you get a platform beyond tactics helpful for both strategy and development. From a development perspective, they stay ahead of LinkedIn changes, so you continue to see success. DirectKonnection uses integration and a multi-channel approach, incorporating email, text, and other tools and platforms like CRMs to create full-fledged solutions. For example, Khalil's client owns an app that helps people organize their financials and discover additional cash flow. In working with Khalil's platform, he got a go-to-market strategy for both prospects and strategic partners. Khalil's secret to staying in business: Diversification and adding new profit centers - entrepreneurs need to understand how to leverage existing solutions into new uses and solutions. Whether you're a solopreneur or enterprise, strategic partnership stimulates growth. People do business with those they know, like, and trust. Therefore, tap into companies that already serve your audience! He's huge on investing in others through teaching and education, challenging ways to find your business without “grinding” or overexertion.  Khalil's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got by Jay Abraham Launch by Jeff Walker Trillion Dollar Coach Bill Campbell The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon The Ultimate Entrepreneur Podcast with Jay Abraham Visit DirectKonnection to view monthly plans and features, and connect with Khalil on LinkedIn for more great content.

Digital marketing is a constantly changing field. Yet, with new tools and strategies proliferating, one necessary component remains the same - content. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Dadpreneur Alex Oliveira to discuss writing tools to help in anyone's digital marketing efforts.  Alex's journey into digital marketing is complicated.   After moving to the U.S. from Brazil in 1988, he became an entrepreneur in multiple industries, from construction to financial. In 2000 he dabbled in buying and selling internet domains, and he loved the ability to constantly try new things and adopt new strategies - both things the early internet allowed.  After graduation, he ran his mom's textile company for three years before joining his uncle at his construction company.  About six months in, Alex bought out the company and ran it himself for five years. In this position, he learned how much money was available in lead generation (and it was a lot.) His favorite lead generation tool: Jarvis.ai Everything online comes down to content. Look at competitors using SEMRush (or another platform) and see how you stack up to your competition. The salesperson is not as key to the purchasing decision as they once were. The internet allows customers to inform themselves about the product or service. Assuming you've performed keyword research with Google Keyword Planner or SEMRush, Jarvis.ai is artificial intelligence for content creation.  Whether creating blogs, product pages, Facebook ads - Jarvis will write based on the keywords you want to implement. Who is Jarvis for? Alex has yet to come across an industry that isn't good for Jarvis. While the articles it creates will need editing and changes, it gets the ball rolling far faster than a physical writer. The free tool gives you up to 10,000 per month, which is enough features to make it work for most businesses. The largest challenge for most small business owners when writing ads is being creative. Jarvis.ai creates mock-ups that simulate the creative process without spending a ton of time. A key caveat- know your stats: Using Google Analytics or some platform is critical to ensure an effective content marketing campaign.  You can't state your efforts lack results if you don't understand the numbers. Alex's Book and Podcast Recommendations: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell The Journal hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson The Daily hosted by Michael Barbaro Bankless hosted by Ryan Sean Adams For more content from Alex, connect with him on LinkedIn or listen to his podcast, The Dadpreneur Podcast, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And be on the lookout for his upcoming book, “If You Build it, Would They Come?” published early next year.

One of the most underappreciated (but necessary) skills for business professionals is communication. It can be the difference between landing a sale, earning that promotion, or securing funding for your next venture. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by MasterTalk founder Brenden Kumarasamy to understand how we can master communication for professional success.  Brenden's passion for communication started in CASE competitions. What he called “sports for nerds,” Brenden essentially competed in the art of presentations.  In doing this, he became skilled at coaching his teammates (and mastering the skill himself.) While later working as a management consultant, he realized the information he taught his fellow classmates wasn't available to the professional world. So, MaterTalk was born.  What does it take to be in the top 1% of communicators? You need to have direction. We have goals for the important aspects of our professional and personal life -  but do we have communication goals? Write down three speakers you admire in your industry, invest 30-45 minutes each week analyzing not their content but their communication style. MasterTalk clients typically fall into one of three categories: Managers and executives in the corporate world (typically IT space.) Entrepreneurs who want to build a movement, not just a business. (Think Gary Vaynerchuck.) Professional coaches who wish to better serve their clients. What makes MasterTalk unique? Most speaking coaches offer a 1:1 consultation in which you practice once per week. MasterTalk offers small group calls of 7-9 people who coach each other and offer feedback.  Additionally, group members are paired in accountability teams, thus offering additional practice hours to see more rapid results. Brenden's favorite speaking drills: In the random word exercise, someone selects a random word and then gives a 60-second impromptu speech about the word. Once you've mastered that, a speech about a topic you actually prepared for seems like a breeze. In his question drill, group members ask hundreds of questions to an individual about a topic, often to the point of exhausting the subject. This helps the speaker feel prepared to answer any question they might encounter in a board room. Brenden's business secret? Deliver value nobody else delivers - that's how you acquire customers with zero input. There are three ways to change someone's life substantially: change their wealth, change their health, or change the lives of their children. Have your product or service change one of those pillars to find success. When structuring his business, Brendon decided to coach executives and offer free coaching to their kids. This creates a unique relationship with the client where he knows their entire family, and they all know him. Brenden's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Thirst by Scott Harrison School of Greatness with Lewis Howes Brenden's parting advice? Be insane or be the same. It's fine to be like everyone else. But true success arrives when you get to the point where the only person who understands your decisions is yourself. The easiest way to get more content from Brenden is by visiting MasterTalk on YouTube for free videos and resources.  You can also register for free communication teachings at rockstarcommunicator.com.

Audio content has and is a great opportunity for all people to expand their network, educate their audiences, or fulfill marketing objectives. And it's probably easier than you might think to get involved! On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by managing partner of Business RadioX Stone Payton to discuss his work and the opportunities in it to develop relationships with people in your community. But first, how did he get involved in radio? Over 15 years ago, Stone worked in consulting, where his work led him to complete small radio interviews. While in this work, he met his future partner Lee Canter.  Stone loved the environment and opportunities created within the station. Within six weeks, he became a client himself, eventually becoming a partner with Lee at Business RadioX. Now Business RadioX is in 29 markets with 19 studios, and they serve 171 media properties mostly in the B2B world. Building relationships with audio is a fun and engaging process. Most people don't need 10,000 new Facebook followers; they need ten genuine relationships with people who matter. WIth specific audio content, show hosts can support and celebrate people in the community who do great things. Business RadioX invests time and resources in designing shows that serve people while helping hosts generate green-dollar ROI. Clients with Business RadioX are in all types of B2B industries, from marketing to commercial real estate. How is Business Radio X different from alternatives? Besides branching out into “virtual studios,” Business RadioX places a focus on its methodology.  They've built a methodology because it prioritizes what works, and what works in relationships building. The station is focused on delivering green-dollar ROI. They have little interest in unimportant metrics. What can a partner do with the data and content they've built: Most shows broadcast live, and people can enjoy them on-demand. So, in terms of leveraging appearances, the guests of shows can repurpose their content for multiple uses. There are no material restrictions - to educate their market, promote their work, whatever content is best for the guests and clients is fair game. With this audio content, the opportunities are endless - audio whitepapers, traditional whitepapers, social media posts, and much more! His advice to business owners? Get on the other side of the microphone. Creating a platform based on serving others is a great way to generate ROI. It's totally free to be apart of guest spaces, go to businessradiox.com, and there are tons of options to share their story. To schedule a meeting with Stone, visit his bookme account or send an email to stone@businessradiox.com.  Stone's Book and Podcast Recommendations: His own book, Never Fry Bacon in the Nude 13 Fatal Mistakes Managers Make and How You Can Avoid Them by Steve Brown Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason QBQ! The Question Behind the Question by John Miller  Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell He listens to a lot of Business Radio X shows, (and you should too.)

Marketing is predictable in its unpredictability. So how can you best set yourself up for success? On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by co-founder and CEO of Hawke Media Erik Huberman to learn a methodology that's helped Erik grow over 3000 brands successfully.  Erik's goal is to make marketing accessible and effective. He got his professional start by building e-commerce companies.  He eventually moved to marketing but soon realized the problems with both the agency and in-house models. So, he built his own marketing agency. The Hawke Method- Three Principles of Marketing Awareness - Find new audiences and bring them into your business. Nurturing - There is a time period between when someone first sees your brand and when they finally purchase something (and that process can take months.) Trust - 75% of consumers will not buy from a brand they don't trust. If you don't have credibility yourself, that means utilizing third-party validation and reviews. Think of it as a tripod - you have to use these elements equally, or the whole thing will tip over. Who is the ideal customer or user of the methodology? These three legs apply to virtually every company, so anyone can implement this methodology in your company's marketing.  In terms of who is the right fit for Erik's company, there is an opportunity for anyone, regardless of vertical. Practical application of the Hawke Method: It's a framework - you can't just make a laundry list of tasks and be successful. Use the framework to analyze and pivot your marketing strategy to adapt more easily and make more successful changes. For more information and strategies for the Hawke Method, pre-order Erik's book The Hawke Method on Amazon or his website (hawkemethod.com.) Erik's Secret to success: Be financially disciplined and be urgent. People like people who get stuff done. To get in contact with Erik, find him on all social channels at @erikhuberman. If you're looking to revitalize your company's marketing efforts, visit hawkemedia.com to get a free audit. Erik's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Appetite for Self-Destruction by Steve Knopper HawkeTalk (A shameless plug for his own podcast) The Joe Rogan Experience (perfect while training for his half-marathon)

Public relations can be fun and engaging work. But the job also comes with monotonous activities that can drain any professional's energy. This is a problem that WanderPR Ringleader Adriana Sol set out to solve by founding PR Sidekick - the ultimate support tool for public relations professionals.  Adriana realized PR involves a lot of monotonous work.  Even worse, it's expensive to do it all by hiring interns or junior employees. She saw a need in the industry, so she set out to create it herself. As the previous head of Miami's PRSA chapter, she found professionals within her network to serve as beta testers.   Now, she gets sales every time she goes to chapters meetings. Her other primary lead generation source is LinkedIn, by using both the Sales Navigator and Cleverly.  Sidekick is for all kinds of public relations professionals.  Adriana developed Sidekick intending to make it affordable. Many professionals can't afford to hire more staff or may thousands of dollars for a media database.  Many nonprofit professionals also use Sidekick with great success, especially for one-person departments who could use the extra support.  If you're looking for an agency, Sidekick is not a substitute. It doesn't write press releases, work with influencers, or set up events. But it's great to help ease the burden many professionals might feel. What are the specific things a professional can expect from the platform? Sidekick creates media lists based on criteria for your specific need. It generates reports to show coverage, exposure, and the work you've done. It also can provide media lists and create event listings on websites like NPR and local media channels to spread awareness. While it currently doesn't integrate with other platforms, but who knows what the future holds. Adriana's tips to stay in business:  Look for mentorship and leadership support; being good at something doesn't make you a good business owner. Hire help before you think you can afford it. The sooner you decentralize and designate essential tasks the better you'll be. Take vacations, get an assistant, and set boundaries. Allow yourself to live a life apart from your business. Adriana's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Crime Junkie Podcast Up and Vanished Traction by Gino Wickman The E-Myth by Michael Gerber Connect with Adriana on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on her PR adventures. And visit Go to prsidekick.com for a free trial.

Regardless of who you are or what career you hold, a change of perspective might be all you need to reach that next level. Today's guest on the MORE podcast is Shane Whelan, an entrepreneur who went through multiple jobs before realizing the end goal he wanted. But, thanks to his own framework, he was inspired to take action and carry the fire to success. It all started with Shane's first business:  Shane unknowingly entered an extremely cutthroat business yet managed to achieve a six-figure company within its first year. That initial success caught the eyes of his competition, who began to take more action to reduce his business. Shane learned that competitors were spreading falsehoods about him, and those obstacles nearly defined him. But he realized his interpretation and the way he chooses to handle these obstacles define him. For years, he journaled as a way to process and think. He would write about his interests and whatever he was into, from history to sports. Through this journaling process, he developed his framework idea (that later led to his book.)  The central theme: get back to who you are We come into the world and into business with so much excitement about the future and the potential. We get beat down with noise and with competitors, gaslit by anyone with an internet connection. By reframing our thinking, we can remember who we are and get back to that excited little kid mindset. This framework is built for anyone, especially those in the business world.  Shane wants to encourage the people around him to follow a path to look outward and see the bigger picture.  In it, he stresses the concept “the loudest person in the room is the weakest.” Let your competitors talk themselves into the ground. Stay solid, and you'll foster curiosity in your work. Why get involved in something that doesn't help you? Look outward and embrace the spirit of your customer. Everyone wants to win, but do you want to dominate not just business but in life? This framework will help you learn how to do just that. Visit carryingthefire.io/ebook for a free downloadable e-copy of the resources and information. Shane's Book and Podcast Recommendations: The Great Big Book of Horrible Things by Matthew White Traction by Gino Whitman Check out Shane's podcast Carrying the Fire podcast, for more information and thoughts from Shane.

A great marketing tool doesn't have to be well-known! After leaving the acting world behind, today's guest Rory Knighton has amassed experience in the digital world building websites, writing code, and creating content for both himself and his clients. In today's MORE podcast episode, he shares the tools he utilizes while creating content and how you can use them for yourself. The end result of his content: put meaning behind your brand. When starting in the industry, Rory went around to businesses asking if they wanted a website. And, in the early 2000s, that was a very fancy thing. For the past six years, he's been running his own eCommerce and video-focused agency, Runaway Collective.  Because of his specialty, his agency often creates video content. That means planning, filming, and editing content for clients (which can be a cumbersome process.) Imagine photoshop for video, but easier. Normally when in video editing, you have to color, cut, and keyframe manually.  But the tool Runwayml delete backgrounds, all with the click of a button. Especially for greenscreen changing, it works marvelously well.  You can teach it to look for people in footage, color correct, it has many different capabilities.  The tool is still in beta, and it operates right in the browser and is a huge time-saver, especially when editing multiple client videos. Sharing video footage is simple with Frame.io. A video collaboration tool, Frame.io allows you to send video content to collaborators easily, and it offers in-platform messaging with timestamps to make communicating edits a breeze. It has simple controls and menus, meaning anyone can pick up the platform pretty easily. There really isn't a good alternative to either of these platforms. Vimeo is the most similar to Frame.io, but it's not close. These platforms are beneficial to anyone utilizing video content (and everyone should be.) Rory's secret to staying in business:  Disclaimer: It's incredibly hard. And anybody who says it's easy is lying. For him, positive self-talk and delegating tasks help maintain forward momentum.  It can be tempting to do everything himself, but learning to delegate and asking for help when needed allows him to focus on quality over quantity.   Rory's final takeaway? If you aren't using video, you should be. People retain 97% of video information, versus only 27% through image or text. It's so much more engaging than the welcome copy on a website. To get in contact with Rory, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit his company website.  Rory's Book and Podcast Recommendations: A Hunter-Gatherers Guide to the 21st Century by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein  12 Rules for Life and its sequel, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life: by Jordan Peterson Atomic Habits by James Clear Modern Wisdom Podcast with Chris Williamson The Keto Kamp Podcast with Ben Azadi Feel Better, Live More with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee Business Anchors with Dan and Lloyd Knowlton

When it comes to utilizing different marketing tools and technology in your business, sometimes the best tool is simply a change in mindset! On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by John Diggs to learn about the power of mind mapping and how you can use it in both personal and professional development applications. John's journey using mind mapping was born out of the recession: He owned a mortgage company in the early 2000s, and he did very well for himself. However, the mortgage meltdown of 2008 lost him everything. Now homeless, John moved in with his mother and looked for ways to reclaim his life and identity. A friend introduced him to mind mapping, so he researched it. Within five months (and thanks to this process), he transformed himself and landed a job as a mortgage software developer. Anyone can use mind mapping:  There are apps and websites, and you could even make it yourself with a pen and paper. In its purest form, just draw a circle in the middle for your main idea, whether that's a problem you have, a decision you need to make, or an idea you have.  Then, draw out related subtopics and ideas related to that central circle—draw them from those subtopics.  Continue that process until you've exhausted all of the granular details that might be applicable. For visually-oriented people, this is a great practice to see the way topics might be connected or what areas might need greater focus. Some softwares make this process easier and more influential. MeisterTask has a mind mapping software (MindMeister) that John considers the best online mind mapping software available. They have a presentation version which is an excellent professional option when implementing that mind map in a meeting or conference. What are some practical applications of mind mapping: You can connect and link your topics and subtopics to other websites, sources, files, and YouTube videos  You can create documents like executive summaries that you'll actually want to reference later.  You can do three maps for free, but the sub is only $4 a month (and you can get 10% off when you use John's code: diggit, at checkout. To learn more about mind mapping, read some of John's books: His first book, Love Life: Can You DIGG It?, discusses the seven powers John identifies to expand your personal horizons. His other books, I AM and Blessed and Grateful, detail these powers and how you can cultivate them for yourself.  John's final book, DIGG This Too, identifies four more powers in the system that you can take advantage of for yourself in your life.  You can find these books, free webinars, and more resources on johndiggs.com. What is John reading? The Leader Phrase Book by Patrick Elane Sleight of Mouth by Robert Dilts

It can be challenging for startups, nonprofits, and freelancers to afford the tools and personnel necessary to develop professional and sophisticated social media content. Today's guest, Erika Mayor, shares many of the free tools and platforms she uses as a freelance public relations and marketing consultant to help organize, create, and deliver content for growth. Erika was a journalist before her career as a freelance consultant. While working at a local TV station in Florida during the 2005 hurricanes, she realized working at the station was burning her out. Because the station worked closely with the Red Cross (because of the hurricane relief they offered), they offered her a job in their communications department. This started Erika's passion for nonprofit work. Because nonprofits have so little funding, Erika had to wear many hats. In order to get everything done that she needed, Erika started to use tools that helped with different aspects of her job: Canva is a phenomenal free platform to create graphics and different content.  A scheduling tool like Later lets you plan out posts in advance so you can focus on tracking and extrapolating data from those posts. When it comes to digital marketing, video gets many more views than still imagery. Lumen5 and Videoleap are free video editing tools that help anyone create well-edited videos. Luman5 even makes video based on keywords with their extensive library of high-quality b-roll.  Snapseed is an app that edits photos, adds filters and is available on both Android and iOS. Powerful project management tools you should use: Meistertask and asana keep tasks organized and help keep your team accountable as you work to complete different projects. Slack is an internal messenger app that leaves your email inbox free of clutter and less bogged down. For internal communication, relying on Gmail and outlook accounts will inevitably lead to things falling through the cracks. Erika uses these platforms to a high degree of success: She had a client in the transportation industry, and she was working with an agency to support this client. The topics were heavy, complicated, and difficult to understand. Erika realized videos would be the best solution, so she and her team created videos with Lumen5 based on existing blogs (utilizing the platform's b-roll) to generate content with better traction. How has she stayed in business? She spent five years working exclusively on referrals, so she didn't have a website or anything. Then she realized she needed to legitimize herself,  She believes in paying it forward. So, if you meet someone who could benefit from using these tools, please share them with them. (You never know how much easier it could make someone's day.) Erika's book and podcast recommendations: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (she found out about these on Tik Tok, but we won't judge.) You're Wrong About  Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend To get in contact with Erika, connect with her on LinkedIn.

In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by digital marketing strategist Fernando De Los Santos to discuss a tool marketing agencies and professionals should use to increase their growth. As a digital marketing strategist, he helps companies improve their digital marketing presence by driving quality leads and creating websites that convert.  Fernando's digital marketing passion started with his love of soccer. While building websites for local soccer clubs, Fernando realized he had a passion for everything digital.  In his senior year of high school, he participated in a web design course and immediately worked for another company.  Nine years later, he became a partner, and they decided to specialize in digital marketing. The tool everyone should use: Semrush. Now considered an industry standard, Semrush can generate reports, create site audits, and perform keyword analysis to help develop strategies for your marketing efforts. While multiple platforms have some of the features of Semrush, no other platform holds all its capabilities on one platform. Because of its versatility, any marketing professional or marketing agency could find a use for the platform. However, it can be used by any business owner. Semrush be integrated with your social media channels to provide tips on improving your reach and engagement. While Semrush has different plans with different product offerings, they offer a free 7-day trial to see if the platform is right for you. How has Fernando stayed in business for so long? His company, ABC Web Service, has been in business since 1998.  While he acknowledges that businesses need to make money, Fernando says it's easy to stay in business when he's passionate about what he does. Fernando's book recommendation? The Irresistible Offer by Mark Joyner To get in contact with Fernando, contact him at his company website, https://www.abcwebservice.com/.

Not all marketing tools have to be cutting-edge technology or platforms to be important. Sometimes all you need is a framework to shift your perspective to discover growth and increased revenue. On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by the president and co-founder of Exverus Media, Bill Durrant, to discuss his book Digital Stone Age, which details what it takes to be successful in the digital world. The Inception of the Digital Stone Age: Over the last ten years of meeting with marketers, his team realized a few mindsets pervaded marketing thought.  People were either digitally focused, pushing dollars to specific paid tactics, or traditionalists, focusing only with tv, radio, and mass communication platforms. Research and experience say it's a medium between the two that brings the most success, which Bill talks about in his book.  The book became a tool:  How do you get a business or a brand to think a certain way and take away learnings they can use to grow their business? Bill's book is high-value for anyone thinking about or working in marketing. (Especially if your business is already seven figures.) If you're running an operation or a business and want to understand the appropriate mindset, this book is for you. Marketing is more than running ads on Facebook or Google.  It's how you can get involved in showing your business's applications in the real world. Digital media is less trustworthy than real-world interaction, but digital media in conjunction with traditional exposure is compelling in reminding people and driving them through the funnel. Don't stick rigidly to something never proven successful to begin with. Marketing is not just a cost or expense; it's an investment. Think of it like dating. If you walk up to someone you're interested in and directly ask them out without saying anything else, would you be successful? Conversely, having a conversation, letting them know and understand you, and then asking them out would be far more effective. Bill's practical marketing takeaways: The marketing funnel is the first thing to familiarize yourself with; it's a great way to talk with consumers and B2B buyers. The funnel isn't just a theory, it's a language and timeline marketers today use to speak. Determine how your business fits into and implements that funnel, and you will be better able to track and develop growth. When it comes to service, it's always about building stronger relationships for those whom you're serving. Bill's book and podcast recommendations: Madison Avenue Manslaughter by Michael Farmer The Inner Work by Mathew Micheletti The Miracle Morning (Hal's Podcast) The Lifestyle Investor Podcast with Justin Donald Connect with Bill Durrant on LinkedIn.

Starting an eCommerce store comes with plenty of challenges. From the logistical complexity to shipping products, there is perhaps no challenge as daunting as the competition. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Paul Kirch, CEO of Sellience, to explain a tool that helps small eCommerce stores stay competitive in the virtual marketplace: Cartfeeder. Paul always wanted to start his own company. He eventually negotiated out of his sales contract and started a company doing sales and leadership consulting. However, it quickly transitioned to a marketing company because that's where the demand was. Paul had started a radio show that eventually morphed into a podcast, and it ended up becoming a top 10 business podcast. While it has since been retired, it provided Paul a litany of knowledge to fuel his business. His digital marketing agency is Sellience, which focuses on marketing that drives sales, not just leads. Operating an eCommerce business comes with many challenges. You're going up against major companies that dwarf every small business owner. The problem with Shopify is if you're operating on small margins. Setting prices either equal to or more expensive than Amazon will lead people to just go with Amazon. However, operating on small margins can be challenging since Shopify takes a portion of each transaction.  Paul created Cartfeeder, designed to give small business owners an eCommerce store that benefits them and maximizes profit. Before Cartfeeder, the other tool or solution was just to have static pricing. And that pricing was based on traffic to the site. Amazon uses a similar strategy (called Spiders) that tracks eCommerce pricing for similar products and will make an attempt to undercut you in price.  A  quick case study: Amazon vs. diapers.com Amazon wanted to get into the diaper space, so they approached diapers.com and asked if they wanted to sell. They refused. Amazon started undercutting, offered free shipping, and providing other products catered towards mothers. Diapers.com approached Walmart and tried to sell.  Amazon, over one quarter, was willing to lose 100 million in revenue to squash diapers.com. And Amazon ended up buying diapers.com. The takeaway? Large companies have tremendous power to stay one step ahead of smaller companies. And this tool will give some of that power back to the small business. How to get started using Cartfeeder Shopify has changed the game for a lot of small businesses. But they take a portion of your sales to stay in business, which isn't the best option for companies with small margins. Go to Cartfeeder.com to check it out and receive a free audit to ensure you have the suitable systems currently in place. Paul's book and podcast recommendations: He is the co-host of a room with a group called Co-Founders Lab on Clubhouse. Getting There: A Book of Mentors by Gillian Zoe Segal  Co-Founders Voice is a podcast about to launch that brings tools, tips, and strategies for people in the early startup stage. Follow Paul on LinkedIn to know when it officially starts!

Amid the burgeoning world of digital marketing and online media, one element has blossomed into a powerhouse: video. Video is the most consumed type of media and continues to grow and expand. Today on the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by video strategist Ron Green to learn how anyone can start creating video content that drives success.  Video is extremely powerful. People prefer them over still images and text, and video tells a story that compels people to watch what that video is portraying. It is an effective tool to drive clients to your product and service. The biggest myth in the video world: if you get one great video to be launched to success. You should use multiple videos that work together like a machine that takes a prospective client or customer through a journey that ends with a purchase of your product or service. Ron's most effective types of videos for small businesses: The promo video: About 40 seconds to one minute long, the promo video's sole purpose is to drive traffic to your website.  The brand message video: About two minutes in length, this is an in-depth video on your website that explains who you are and what your business does. The testimonial video gives someone's story of using your product or service to legitimize and establish trust for potential customers.  Video can be used to supplement just about any other type of marketing.  Add video links into your drip campaigns and social media to see increased engagement and reactions to the messaging you're sending out. Video might seem intimidating for people. But just like anything else, all it takes is practice and patience to grow the skill.  A videographer captures footage, while a video strategist captures footage, acts as a director, and provides a strategy for video dissemination to obtain ROI. What does he do to stay in business? He stays accessible to people—networking and meeting people more intelligent than yourself leads to success. Ron's parting words: Everybody has a gift. Whether you've found it or not, take the time to look into your life, find your gift, and use it to serve the world. Ron's book and Clubhouse recommendations: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Check out The Real Deal Video Strategist Club on Clubhouse

Could you imagine operating a company without a website anymore? Yeah, neither could we. But between web hosting, web building, and cybersecurity, it's often an overly complex situation to create a well-designed yet functional website that meets your company's needs. In today's episode, Ricardo is joined by Michael Fredrick, owner of point2point of New Orleans, to learn the ins and outs of crafting a website that works for you. Michael saves websites from drowning (literally). After rescuing web hosting hardware during a flood, Michael now runs and operates his web hosting office in New Orleans. His team builds WordPress websites for clients, allowing them to make simple edits themselves, and giving Michael the freedom to create a unique and dynamic website.  Web hosting, a previously mystic art that required expertise and success, is now an easy field to find a company that can offer the services you need. Many companies fail because they don't have a good website. to drive traffic and build marketing around. Point2point can help websites with high-volume traffic maintain top-notch loading speeds and services.  Places like insurance companies and high-traffic restaurant supply companies are dependent on their website, and a crash could prove disastrous.  Why is loading speed critical? Because if someone tries to go to your website and it's slow, they're just going to find somewhere else. If all you have is a cat blog, it probably won't generate high traffic volume. (And it's probably not necessary to invest in a website company.) Hosting sites can offer different services, making it an essential investment for your business.  It all comes down to how fast they can make changes, how cheaply they can make changes, and what changes they're able to make. Some people operate their websites like a storage unit - they provide the space but offer no services. Michael flipped that and aims to provide a full-service offering that both hosts and designs websites. How to use integrations when building a website:  With WordPress, Michael likes using it because you can easily drag and drop images, add press releases, and any other changes you might need. Michael also uses Hubspot to assist with integrating things like QuickBooks because integrating financial and eCommerce platforms with your website simplifies your workload. How has Michael stayed in business so long? He gets his clients from awareness. His websites aren't the cheapest, but they aren't the most expensive. He gets clients from the positive word-of-mouth he gains from other people. It's all about making great personal connections. Google has a test that can tell you how it's performing. Google My Business is free and is a great way to help register higher on Google, drastically moving you up in the search rankings.  Michael's final takeaway? Make sure your website has an SSO certificate. If you don't have that, ask your hosting platform if they offer it.  Book and Podcast Recommendations: The Traction Book by Gino Whitman Getting Things Done by David Allen The Reply All Podcast His own podcast, point2people To get in touch with Michael, visit his company website or connect on LinkedIn. And for listeners of the podcast, Michael is offering three months of website hosting ( a $150 value) for free! Simply visit point2pointcentral.com and enter code “MOREPODCAST” to take advantage of this offer. (Michael's company also offers consultations to help you get the most out of your hosting experience.)

It goes without question that appealing and engaging graphics can make or break a business. And with some platforms, it can take years to develop the skills to do it successfully. But what if there was a platform that could help you create those graphics? In today's episode, Ricardo is joined by Courtney Wood (AKA Tech Queen 88) to tell you about a tool that does just that, helping you design like a pro from the comfort of your couch. Courtney's design origins: She's always had a passion for design, but she didn't apply it to her life until an internship her senior year of college. After her internship, Courtney created her own websites, which led to people requesting her services. Now, Courtney is a master designer who spends her time helping business owners, nonprofits, and other organizations create appealing visual materials and design strategies. Today's tool: Canva Canva is a powerful graphic design tool that allows you to easily create visuals, graphics, promotional materials, and presentations. Courtney still uses more professional software (like Photoshop) for intense editing, depending on the project. But for smaller tasks, it's easy to resize images, remove backgrounds, and create simple graphics, brochures, and promotional materials. From restaurant owners to marketing professionals, anyone can find a use for Canva. It is especially great for teams and collaborative editing, giving you the ability to view edits and changes as they occur. What makes it different from the competition?  You can pull it up on any computer.  It has a robust image library.  It's super easy to use and requires little to no training. There is both a free and paid version. You can do many things with the free version, but some services (like the background removal) are only available with the paid option.  Courtney used Canva to create a Visual Post Planner: We all know how significant an online presence is. But you can't just post random stuff; you need a design strategy behind it.  She created a setup where there's a different graphic for each necessary format (like social media posts, flyers, or other graphics) all on one page. This makes it easy for her team to create simple changes quickly and easily. How has Courtney stayed in business for so long? She chooses to welcome suggestions and be open to feedback. She listens to what people tell her, and she implements the things she feels are best for her business. She pays attention to new trends and places to expand her knowledge and structure to best accommodate her clients' needs. She is intentional about the things she does.  Courtney's book and podcast recommendations: The MORE Podcast (if you're reading this, hopefully, you know where to find it) Passport to Prosperity by Tiffany Buckner For those interested in learning the Canva basics, check out her workshop digital visuals to learn the basic graphics you need and how to create them. You can find Courtney on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter,

In a rapidly changing industry like SEO and digital marketing, finding tools that bring efficiency and productivity are critical to streamlining your efforts to succeed. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by the co-founder of GoBeyond SEO, Trish Saemann, to discuss one tool she uses to streamline her business and increase productivity. The tool? Bird Eye. Many of Trish's clients are attorneys, and their biggest sales and marketing complaint is they can't always answer the phone. Particularly with B2C lawyers, an unanswered call leads to a lost client. One of Bird Eye's offerings is a virtual receptionist that sends a text alert with information about the caller to avoid this problem. Bird Eye also has a review platform that will automatically send and request reviews from customers, and there is a referral component that can be utilized. Bird Eye has a universal inbox, which you can connect your different response areas like social media to create an easy and manageable workflow. There are many types of business professionals who can find use with Bird Eye. Because it has multiple features, there is a broad audience.  A great audience is people who rely on social proof and reviews to generate a client base, like restaurants. It is also great for people who don't have the staff to manage these aspects of a business. Conversely, it's great for teams because they have a higher overhead and can develop a robust strategy that can lead to more success. Bird Eye sets itself apart from the competition.  Vendasta is a platform that makes sure listings are correct and working appropriately. However, Bird Eye makes the process a lot easier. You can manually go to listings and get the same information you need. However, it is incredibly time-consuming. And as you scale your business, you'll find it will reach a point where it is no longer sustainable. What can people do with this tool in a practical sense? First, figure out what marketing activities you are doing that take too much time. Look through the list of solutions they have, and figure out which features are most interesting to you. Bird Eye integrates with popular project management tools (and other software), so you can get as much use out of it as possible. If there isn't a direct integration, you can use platforms like Zapier to third-party your way to a connection. Trish's book and podcast recommendation: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Goal Digger: The Podcast by Jenna Kutcher Trish's parting advice? Know your strengths and weaknesses. Understand what you can do yourself and what areas you'll need help. Before you make a decision, know who your audience is. Know what their pain points are and how you can solve them. And know what message you need to give them. Go to Birdeye.com to see what the platform can do for you and how you can take advantage of all that it offers.

Marketing can be overwhelming. But there's an easy way to simplify. On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Tim Fitzpatrick, the president of Rialto Marketing, to learn Tim's three fundamental elements in marketing that guide his process and approach when working with clients.  Tim didn't start in marketing. He got his start working at a wholesale distribution company, where he got hooked on entrepreneurship.  After being laid off during the recession, Tim started working in residential real estate. And he didn't like it. After two and a half years, Tim thought about his skills and what he likes doing. And that led him to marketing. He founded Rialto Marketing in 2013, and since then, he's helped businesses and companies implement plans to reach the right people at the right time. The Marketing Strategy Trilogy: Target Market: Who your ideal clients are and how you will serve them.  A clear, engaging message for that market. A plan. How will you get that message in front of your people? “Get the fundamentals down, and the level of everything you do will rise.” - Michael Jordan. You can't have long-term marketing success without a plan and the fundamentals in place. Every marketing professional, regardless of industry, should use those three pillars to develop a plan that leads to long-term success.  You can reach a certain level of success without those steps. But just because it has happened doesn't mean you should aspire to it. From a fundamental standpoint, people overcomplicate marketing.  Tim's approach keeps a focus on simplicity because complexity only makes implementation more challenging.  Once you have these steps in place, marketing tactics become far easier.  For example, if your company decides it wants to utilize Facebook Ads, you'll know who to target with those ads and what to say in the ad to get your audience to take action. When you know what you need to execute are, you'll find much more consistent and repeatable results. Tim's final advice? When you feel overwhelmed or want to alter your career trajectory, just focus on the next measurable step. That and, of course, focus on the fundamentals. Episode Resources and Tim's Book and Podcast Recommendations: Essentialism by Greg McKeown Business School hosted by Sharran Srivatsaa Tim built a landing page specifically for the audience of this show filled with resources and information that can help guide you as you use these fundamental steps. To check it out, visit https://www.rialtomarketing.com/more-the-digital-marketing-tech-tools.

For anyone in the marketing and advertising industry, Hubspot is a household name. But can you name all the different tools and components it has for business owners to utilize? In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by the founder of Audacity Marketing, John Cloonan, to discuss how anyone can use Hubspot's technology and tools. Many people aren't using Hubspot to its fullest potential. Hubspot is perhaps best known for its CRM platform. But Hubspot also has a marketing automation suite, a sales suite, and many other components like a platform for building websites and landing pages. Hubspot is great for small to medium companies because it has a great starting program for new businesses to get the technology for a significantly reduced cost. This creates an easy point of entry to grow and scale with the tool itself. But how is Hubspot different from the competition? The cost of entry is significantly less expensive. Hubspot has multiple integration opportunities not only internally but also externally with other tools.  John is big on event marketing, so he's used Hubspot integration with Eventbrite, Zoom, and other event platforms, but it also offers integration with many major tools small businesses might need.  As a business owner, what could you do with it? Get the free component, the CRM, set up with your information and data.  Once you understand the system, determine what you want to get out of the platform and customize your account to accomplish those goals best. Is it traditional email marketing? Add their robust suite with a drag and drop editor. Hubspot has a freemium model so that you can start small with little cost but scale as your business grows. This lets you focus on the areas your particular business needs the most.  But understand differentiation and targeting: not every product is for every person. You have to understand who you're targeting to get the most from your marketing programs. But if you have a differentiated product, you'll be in some kind of niche. John's final advice? Persistence, commitment, and differentiation are the skills he credits with getting him where he is today. Those traits are what led to his success, and they're skills he believes everyone should have.   John's book and podcast recommendations:  The Lead From Anywhere Podcast - Julie Bee The World Beyond Your Head - Matthew Crawford Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now - Jaron Lanier

As the top platform for professionals, LinkedIn has the versatility and functionality to help you reach your sales and marketing goals. In today's episode, Ricardo is joined by Sheryl Cattell, a digital marketer turned life coach, to learn how professionals can leverage LinkedIn to develop a personal brand, find more prospects, or do whatever else they need. Sheryl's start in marketing was unplanned. She wanted to go into sales in college but found it very difficult. When marketing opportunities presented themselves, she jumped on them, and later got her MBA with a marketing focus. While she enjoyed marketing, Sheryl shifted perspectives when she realized she wanted to make a difference rather than focus on making companies money. After losing her job due to covid, she began life coaching to help other people figure out and then accomplish what they want in life. Sheryl is the queen on LinkedIn. Once upon a time, LinkedIn was just where you went when you needed a job. That is no longer the case. LinkedIn is now the single largest social media networking platform for B2B companies, with about 50% of all B2B traffic coming from the platform. People can use it to develop relationships and engagement with prospects, colleagues, and even thought leaders. With creator mode, live streaming, and events, many assets within the platform make it continually more useful. Who is LinkedIn for? LinkedIn is for companies to help improve the credibility of their sales team and their company to have a united, organized front. Part of what makes LinkedIn so successful is that there is no real competitor right now, LinkedIn singlehandedly dominates. Sheryl's practical LinkedIn tips: Have a quality, professional profile and header photo. For the header consider templates on Canva, a collage of your favorite things, or something meaningful to you. Use Remove.bg to get rid of photo backgrounds if you don't have a headshot. Your default title will be your current position at your current company. Rather than utilizing the default, write a story about you and why you are unique. Your “About” section is your keyword repository. Anything you want to be searched for should be in this section. And use the first person in this section rather than the third. If you have a business page, she recommends you do 95% of your efforts on your personal page and only about 5% of efforts on the business page.  LinkedIn can be integrated with other tools. However, 94% of people use the free version of LinkedIn. Sales Navigator has a lot of value, but you don't invest the money until you fully leverage the free tools. But there's a place for it. At this point in the world, LinkedIn is as essential as a business card at a networking event. Hiring a life coach can help you. There's a lot of hesitancy about hiring a life coach. But if you've ever hired a personal trainer to work on your body, consider hiring a coach to work on your life. They provide an accountability partner and can help save years of trial and error. It doesn't even have to be Sheryl! Sheryl's Books and Podcast Recommendations: Atomic Habits by James Clear Start With Why Simon Sinek Mental Equivalence Emmet Fox The Happiness Lab by Dr. Laurie Santos Follow Dennis Yu for great Clubhouse rooms Final plug? She's recently signed an agreement to develop a BizHack class on LinkedIn, so be on the lookout for that in the coming months. To contact Sheryl, visit her life coaching website, LinkedIn, or check out bizhack.com when her course is released.  

Throughout this podcast, we've heard people mention the SharpSpring platform several times. And now, we have the opportunity to understand how business professionals can use this software system effectively. In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by virtual agency founder Denise Cagan to discuss the platform SharpSpring. Denise has been a business owner for over 20 years. She started her first business (a cleaning company) while working simultaneously as a lab supervisor for Coca-Cola but ultimately left Coca-Cola to pursue her business full-time. Not one for downtime, Denise immediately started DCA Virtual Business Support after selling her cleaning company in 2011, which she continues to run today. How can SharpSpring help your business? SharpSpring is an all-in-one platform that functions as a CRM, a social media tool, drip campaign creation, or anything else your business might need. Comparable to Hubspot, SharpSpring condenses all your business efforts into one platform, making it more organized and easier to maneuver while providing analytics to further fuel growth and development. Denise's recommendation, however, is that you have a solid strategy in place before you use it. Because the platform is around $600/month (depending on your tier), it is well worth the investment, but only if you completely take advantage of what it has to offer. The platform is designed for businesses once they are beyond the startup phase and need a system to scale and grow. How is it different from competitors like Hubspot? The main difference is that Hubspot requires the buyer's website to be through Hubspot to take advantage of everything available on the platform. With SharpSpring, you aren't locked into one specific website location. Hubspot is just as robust and has a freebie version (which Sharp doesn't have). However, the free version should just be used to get your feet wet and doesn't offer everything you'll need. Denise's tips for using SharpSpring effectively: Take advantage of its ability to create landing pages and lead generation. Many overlook the fact that the platform can be used for onboarding new team members and clients. It can create a nurture workflow, where you develop the relationship with people who sign up for your white papers or regular campaign emails. Because it is all-in-one, Denise didn't need to use integrations. But SharpSpring can connect with social media platforms, Zapier, Salesforce, and many other tools if appropriate for your business. To check out what SharpSpring can do for your business, check out their website. Denise's final takeaway? If you aren't ready for an all-in-one platform like SharpSpring, try to integrate the platforms you currently use to make them work together effectively. To contact Denise, visit her company website to send a message or check out her podcast, Nurture Small Businesses. Denise's Book and podcast recommendations: Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz Start with Why by Simon Sinek Who by Geoff Smart Buzzsprout's How to Start a Podcast  MORE by Ricardo Berrris

As internet marketing strategies and tools proliferate, it can seem daunting to keep track of everything. Especially when you have to visit multiple platforms and websites to stay on top of your metrics, it can seem impossible to stay organized. That's a problem today's guest, Patrick Alexander, sought out to solve. Patrick's experience in digital marketing made him aware of the problem. He started his digital marketing company in 2012. He attributed his desire to create a digital marketing agency to a typing class he took in school, which opened his eyes to the potential of computers. As the founder and CEO of Balambico, a digital marketing agency that helps companies with their digital marketing strategy, Patrick saw firsthand how many platforms and websites were required for his work. Patrick created bicomarketing to solve this problem. Bicomarketing.com is an all-in-one platform that consolidates social, digital, advertising, and any other digital marketing into one, easy-to-navigate space. With this tool, any marketing professional can create and organize their ideal workspace. What sets it apart from its competitors? Most competitors (like Hootsuite and Google Analytics) aggregate your data for one specific branch of digital marketing, while bicomarketing sources everything from social to SEO in one spot. It is an intuitive platform and will provide you a score based on your social media, SEO, and other digital marketing components. It will then give you feedback and advice to improve that score. It has some free aspects, such as the report card. But to truly take advantage of the platform, there are upgrades available for your membership. Patrick's major takeaways: Trust your gut feeling - if you feel that you need to fire a client, fire them. They want to monetize your time, so charge what you think you're worth. Recognize the power of taking control of your own time. Set boundaries you like and can manage, and stick with them.  Patrick has a business and a personal phone, and he doesn't let his time get controlled by his work (he doesn't even have notifications turned on on his phone.) To connect with Patrick, visit his company website or navigate to bicomarketing.com to check out his marketing tool.  Patrick's book and podcast recommendations: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy The Tim Ferriss Podcast The Bill Simmons Podcast Abraham Hicks Daily

On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by Josh Elledge. After experiencing six failed businesses throughout his career, Josh has found tremendous success in his current business, Up My Influence, a company dedicated to helping people generate the revenue, visibility, and authority they want. Josh has had experience dealing with customers, CRMs, and building authentic connections with those systems, and he is going to share his secrets to success. Josh's start in business was unusual.  He didn't have enough money for college, so Josh joined the navy right out of high school. Josh became a navy journalist, and he had a transformative moment upon meeting the one and only Adrian Crone. And now, after six failed businesses, his company Up My Influence helps people get from six to seven figures in income. What marketing tools should people consider using? The key is to start with what you want to create and accept that the beginning will be inefficient. As you determine what process works best for you, implement tools and services to make that process more efficient. When analyzing where to integrate tools and technology, look at the stages and cadences in the current user journey. Where are people dropping off? Where are you maybe not reaching out as frequently as you should? You have to get good at knowing exactly where every one of those people is in your cycle. Every sales company should use a CRM.  Josh's company used to use Pipedrive but has since moved into their own custom platform. A stage is a major thing that you just got done with that person, while a cadence is what you're doing with that person every day until they buy or decline. Think of it like putting on a Broadway play - the customers or guests should not know what backstage looks like because backstage is an organized but chaotic mess. But there's a method to the madness. Understand your audience to build connections. If you wonder why people who get excited by a product end up not buying, understand that that's normal. Everybody does it, especially if you sell bigger ticket stuff. Most leaders are too busy growing and building their business to pay attention to your drip email campaign; if you slide into their DMS, they're going to ignore you. The Ascension model of marketing is perfect for smaller businesses, but it doesn't apply to companies that sell larger products and services. If someone is spending $5,000 or more on service, their business is doing okay. They don't need the hand-holding, webinars, or touchpoints that a startup or small business might need.  How has Josh grown so rapidly and tremendously in his business? Staying focused on generosity and service takes the sting out of the inevitable bad stuff. You're always going to have disappointments in business; that's just the way it is.  His six failures in business gave him the fortitude to become the man he needed to be to serve his audience, guests, customers, employees, and family. Leaders obsess over learning and keep themselves in a learning-rich environment. The fact that you're listening to this conversation right now puts you head and shoulders above other people. Josh's book and podcast recommendations:  Think Again by Adam Grant Atomic Habits by James Clear Go-Givers Sell More by Bob Berb Josh's own podcast, The Thoughtful Entrepreneur  Get in contact with Josh: If you're at an earlier stage of business, there are great resources like free guides and tools to measure your authority and influence online at www.upmyinfluence.com. If you make six figures or more, Josh would love to feature you on his podcast. Go to www.upmyinfluence.com and book a time! 

In today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by brand strategist and co-founder of Story Cube Michael Murdoch. As the CEO of the branding and marketing agency The House, Michael realized that a tool like Story Cube would help businesses of all sizes shape their brand identity as they scale and grow. Why did Michael create Story Cube? As Michael worked with different companies, he realized they asked similar questions and motivations - raise awareness, sell things, increase donations, or other similar goals. He and his business partner Robbie Dale developed Story Cube over the last 3-4 years, delivering monthly workshops at the British Library in London. What is Story Cube? It's a six-sided framework that gives an organization the ingredients to understand the customer problem and the solution your company offers.  Story Cube helps you determine your organization's motivations, differentiators, connections to the market, audience reach, and obstacles. Story Cube's three main audiences: The primary audience is ambitious entrepreneurs - the people who put 110% effort into reaching their end goal. There's also a startup scaling stage for companies focused on growth - those in business between one to three years. Finally, they target larger organizations with marketing and salespeople who need the framework to develop their corporate brand awareness.  Story Cube has several different participation formats: Story Cube is an online course run by Teachable, but there are other ways to participate. A cohort process brings together those in the same sector organizations to work directly through webinars and an online slack group. (But they have access to the course as well.) Finally, Michael and Robbie provide one-to-one coaching for organizations or individuals that want direct guidance in addition to the online course. Michael's advice to those starting in entrepreneurship: Have a system to review and refine your process to make sure what you do today will help you tomorrow. If you're running a business, whether large or small, it is essential to adapt, learn, and be open to new things. Keep networking and meeting people. The more people you meet, the more opportunities you have. Ask yourself, is your story C.U.B.E.? (AKA concise, unique, believable, and engaging.) For more information or to find Story Cube for yourself, visit storycube.co.uk. Michael's book recommendations: Start with Why by Simon Sinek (and any of his other books, which you can find here) Key Person of Influence - Daniel Priestley

Are you using live streaming to your benefit? Whether for audience engagement, awareness, or anything else, this tactic, regardless of platform, has proven to be immensely influential in marketing strategy. But how can you best utilize this tactic? On today's episode of the MORE podcast, Ricardo is joined by brand strategist, marketing maven, and founder of Trailblazers.FM Stephen Hart to explain a key tool that might help you out.   But first, who is Stephen? By day, Stephen Hart is a marketing leader at the world's largest cybersecurity institute. But at night, he's the host of the Trailblazers.FM platform, a podcast and community created to explore the success stories of black entrepreneurs. He's also a brand strategist, creating online self-paced courses that help people design the life they want to live.   Stephen's key to live streaming success - StreamYard. Livestreaming and podcasting are the newest wave of new media and have a tremendous capacity for marketing. However, the main downside of live streaming is that you typically only can live stream on one platform at a time, meaning you leave out some of your audience who isn't on that specific platform.  The solution? Enter StreamYard - a platform that allows you to live stream on all of your social media simultaneously.    What does StreamYard do? StreamYard allows you to stream on multiple platforms at once. It also has small design inputs, giving you the ability to alter your stream's background, title boxes, and appearance to match brand identity. StreamYard also maintains the key of live streaming: real-time engagement. Just like a regular stream, with StreamYard, you can interact with your audience in real-time, and StreamYard will even tell you which social media platform each person is watching from.   Streamyard can be used by just about anyone. There is not much need for technical knowledge, which gives everyone the ability to use and get functions from the platform. There are many applications for live streaming. And with the StreamLine platform, you don't necessarily have to live stream; you can use it for a static recording to edit and publish. Stephen's major takeaway? Once you establish an audience, be consistent with your content.    MORE episode resources: If you want to join Stephen for a live stream or join his community, he's active on Youtube, Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram. He goes live every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8:00 am EST.  You can also visit his website, stephenahart.com. Check out StreamYard on their website. Books Stephen is currently reading: Tribes by Seth Godin, Good to Great by Jim Collins, Powershift by Daymond John, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Vivid Visions by Cameron Harold (who also has an excellent Ted Talk.) Podcasts Stephen listens to: Trailblazers.FM (naturally), Better with Paul, Secure Your Seat by Mindy Harts, Coaching for Leaders by Dave Stachowiak, and How I Built This with Guy Raz.

Throughout our first sixteen episodes, we've learned about many tools from many different guests. Whether it's SEO-boosting, brand-building, or helping you interact with your target audience, there are always new platforms to grow your business. As we wrap up our first season, we will be taking a short break to organize and develop our plan for an even better season two (if you can imagine it.) A quick thank-you- To all our incredible guests over our first season one episodes. You've taught us a lot and shown there are always new ways to innovate your business. To Meister Task, the life-saving project management tool. To TSE Studios for putting together all our episodes and making sure they get published. To MI Group for producing this fantastic show. Moving forward: The MORE podcast will resume around the middle of June.  While we're creating our next great season of content, we urge you to look back through our first season and see which tools can help you. If you have a tool you've mastered or created, and it's brought you growth in your business, we'd love to have you on the show! Reach out to us at Gmpodcast@migroupco.com All our previous episodes cover something you can implement into your work, so this is the perfect time to see which ones can impact you. Let us know which tools you use the most, and give any feedback you have for us to improve. And finally, we wouldn't have this podcast without our listeners supporting us through this show, so thank you. We'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Don Klos, Director of Sales and Business Development at Nuclear Networking, joins Ricardo on today's episode of the MORE podcast. As a long-time SEO specialist, Don understands the tedious and time-consuming nature of search engine optimization. He makes the most of his time by using third-party platforms to help expedite the ranking process to deliver faster results.  Tool #1 - Location Scan Location Scan determines which directories your business is on (like Yelp and Google My Business) and alerts you to inconsistencies in your information between platforms. It'll show directories you aren't on, giving you an excellent opportunity to establish your company in other areas of the web.  One warning before jumping on the app: Don't use their “fix” feature to perform SEO updates - they'll try and rent you backlinks. (Meaning when you stop paying for the privilege, it goes away.) Tool #2 - GTmetrics GTmetics gives your website SEO an A-F school grade and provides tips to get to an A. They go over everything on your site - your site speed, the images, everything on-site that might bring down your grade.  You can click “what does this mean” to reveal problems and solutions to your search engine optimization. Tool #3 - SpyFu SEO ranking is all about keywords. SpyFu gives you behind-the-scenes information about your competition and see what they're doing for keywords and backlinks. Spyfu doesn't reveal which keywords do or don't work, but it does show the keywords and backlinks they use. Don has been in this industry for a long time. How does he do it? His company started 11 years ago, and their model is unorthodox for the industry; they don't try to be everything to everybody. Instead, they focus on specific areas, do those areas well, and find vetted partners. About 90% of companies do on-site SEO—Don's company differentiated by specializing in white-hat backlinking. The Backlink Basics: Backlinks are juice for Google. It's a link off your site, either to another website, somewhere else that sends it back to you, right either as a blog or a link on your site. It has to be something in your space.  Black hat backlinking are methods banned or frowned upon by Google, whereas white hat backlinking is the process of building positive backlinks that Google loves. Don's company used to get their stuff cannibalized all the; people would find out their strategy and try to use it for themselves.  How did they solve the problem? They found a way to mask their backlinks. Meaning their competition couldn't steal their backlinks. Don's recommendations and final advice: While he's not a big podcaster, Don recommends The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. His advice for entrepreneurs: don't forget the importance of marketing. Marketing should utilize about 10% of your revenue and is critical to growing your business.  To the small business owners: When using a third-party SEO company, find out what the deliverables are. Find out what you expect to get for your money, and hold them to it. People get upset with the process and say it doesn't work. It does work. It just has to be done correctly.

Today Ricardo is joined by none other than the “image energizer” herself, Linda Yates. As a branding coach and consultant, she helps individuals and organizations improve their communication, leadership, personal presence, and public speaking skills. She's also created several resources to help anyone improve their personal branding. How did she get here?  As a 13-year-old, she had her parents spend over $250 for a professional development experience in the beauty industry. Linda knew that her teacher believed in her, and that made Linda believe in herself. Since then, her thirty-year, multi-industry corporate career all had one similar function: to get people excited about what they do. Linda's branding toolkit: Linda's book Beyond the Clothes details what an image is all about, whether it's a self-image, projected image, or team's image. Her six-hour audio course covers six steps to energize your personal brand. She hosts a weekly Facebook Live to pass along inspiration at the start of the week. Linda started this due to her inability to find inspiration on Mondays. She now streams each Monday on her Facebook group. Her podcast IntHERrupt talks about empowering women leaders. Who are these resources for? Individuals transitioning to their next career, and even those pivoting back into the workforce after an absence.  Folks graduating from college looking to bring their most professional, positive and productive self to the table. While these resources were created with women in mind, it has expanded into a toolkit where anyone can find benefit. How is this different from what other people currently use? These resources help you project out and, more importantly, project in; that's where the most effective self-confidence comes from. Linda's toolkit provides immediate thoughts and tasks for improvement. From nonverbal language to speech, you're going to see a difference in how people react to you and how you feel about yourself. Many of these tools are free to use, such as her Facebook lives and consulting group on Facebook. Linda also has a free ebook on her website that helps you start your personal branding journey. While her audio class has a fee, it's a six-hour course with supplementary teaching materials that make it well worth the investment. Linda's final takeaway? She believes we're just waiting to uncover possibilities that help us realize for ourselves what we can accomplish. It's all about starting the journey. Linda's recommended books and podcasts: The E Myth by Michael Gerber The Sales Evangelists by Donald Kelly Her own podcast, IntHerrupt Find Linda's free ebook on her website, and join her Facebook group for regular motivation posts.

On today's episode of MORE, Ricardo is joined with Tatiana McDaniel, digital marketing pro and CMO of Happy V. After working for years in advertising, Tatiana has since left the corporate world to build brands she's passionate about. Ergo, Happy V, a women's wellness company committed to building women's confidence. How did Tatiana end up as CMO of her current company?  Like many young college students, she had no idea what to do with her life after she tossed that cap in the air. But she knew she was fascinated with consumer behavior and why customers purchased things.  She also knew working in the digital space would offer data to drive behavior analysis, which was a huge reason she joined the marketing world. But why did she leave advertising if she liked it?  Not only did she feel corporate burnout, but one thing she didn't like was that she had little choice in choosing the companies she wanted to support.  Because of that, she left her corporate job (in the middle of the pandemic) because she trusted and believed in the space her new position offered. Tatiana uses ManyChat to alleviate some of her time restrictions. In her current CMO role, one tool Tatiana loves is ManyChat. This message bot software integrates into your website, social channels, and even CRM to offer 24/7 support to your customers or site visitors. It offers a lot of versatility, from lead generation and prospecting to customer service. For Tatiana, ManyChat saves time by replacing their manual process. Because it automates both messaging and resulting data analysis, it's an excellent tool for small teams to capitalize on time. Tatiana's favorite element? It creates chat lines based on specific responses a person might send, allowing for small conversations that lead to clear and actionable results for the user. What is Tatiana's ultimate piece of advice for beginning entrepreneurs? Have a goal set in mind, build a team of people you trust, and ultimately, have fun! Tatiana's recommendations: How I Built This by Guy Raz Grit by Angela Duckworth Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey Happy V is running special offers on their products. Email tati@happyv.com to get any women's wellness product at buy one get one free. There are also free products from their new brand, The Immunity Co., available on Amazon. Reach out to her email for more information about these deals. You can also find Tatiana on LinkedIn.

In today's episode, we welcome Reviewbiz's Andres Escobar for part two of our conversation. While part one focused on Andres's software Reviewbiz.io, this week is all about Salesmsg, the two-way texting tool to convert leads from warm to hot. What is Salesmsg? Salesmsg is the two-way text messaging platform ideal for businesses that want to increase their conversion of warm leads. How does it do that? By automating reach-out to warm leads through SMS messaging. Targeted to people who run their own sales team (and especially those team leaders who digitally generate leads), Salesmsg offers an instant communication line to a warm lead that starts building the relationship that later leads to a sale. Sales Msg offers greater usability than other SMS companies. The big perk of working with Salesmsg is integrations - think of it as a WhatsApp that can integrate with Zapier, HubSpot, and other CRM platforms like Active Campaign. With an app available through both desktop and mobile, users can directly see what conversations were started through Salesmsg and offer a place to communicate and follow up with leads instantly. Want to get started with Sales Msg for your business? The platform offers a $1 trial for 14 days, giving you a full-feature version of the platform to create a maximum of 25 texts. This gives you the perfect opportunity to see how Salesmsg can impact your lead conversion efforts. After all, anyone can generate leads. But the tricky part is converting those leads to sales. And that's exactly what Salesmsg can help accomplish. Andres's tips for using Sales Msg? Don't just promote yourself. The lead opted in to the service for a reason - use the opportunity to connect with them! Engagement can change a lead from warm to hot - keep them engaged. Andres's podcast and book recommendations: The Bible The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday Pre-suasion by Robert Cialdini The Sales Evangelist by Donald Kelly CarrotCast by Trevor Maunch Inbound and Down by Morey Creative Studios Find Andres on LinkedIn to get in touch with him, and sign up for a trial with Andres's Salesmsg affiliate link.

On today's episode of MORE, we're joined by the founder of reviewbiz.io, Andres Escobar. Andres created this marketing and sales tool to help companies generate authentic reviews for their business, and we're thrilled he joined us to share his platform. How did Andres Create reviewbiz.io, and what does it do? A friend of his introduced him to marketing and review platforms. Andres asked himself, “how can I do this better?” and launched his company. He attributes his friend and mentor Chris Brisson from Salesmsg for guiding Andres through his company's development. Reviewbiz.io generates the only thing better than word-of-mouth marketing: digital word-of-mouth marketing. His company reaches out to a client's current customer list via text and email and prompts them to complete a review. What makes his company different from every other review company? Reviewbiz doesn't just push people to complete a Facebook or Google review (platforms an audience might not have.) Instead, they offer multiple methods to generate a higher return. Reviewbiz also provides clean water to a family for an entire year upon completing a review, which gives people an opportunity to give back. There are methods to using reviews and testimonials properly. Reviews provide crucial information about a business's perception. They reveal problems an owner might not be aware of, like a mean receptionist or broken equipment. You can use reviews to supplement your entire digital footprint. Think about incorporating them on your website, social media, and even email campaigns. People buy from businesses they like, know, and trust. Reviews help bridge that gap. A big perk of Reviewbiz is that it provides easy integration with CRMs like Salesforce, Mailchimp, and Hubspot. They also offer integration with Quickbooks and other platforms to help incorporate review information across your business. Reviewbiz offers a free 14-day trial, so you can see firsthand if the platform is right for you. Demo bookings are also available on the website. What's next for them? They plan to create software that allows customers to create video reviews.  Recommendations by Andres: Check Google My Business for any business owners out there; you'll be able to discover a ton of interesting information. Books The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday The Practice Acceleration Method -  Tristan Bond The Sales Acceleration Formula - Mark Roberge The Bible Podcast:  Up My Influence Josh Elledge The Sales Evangelist Donald Kelly CarrotCast by Trevor Mauch Find Andres on LinkedIn to get in touch with him!

It's important to differentiate yourself to potential clients, who likely receive dozens of emails each day. Instead of sending long emails, video messaging tools allow entrepreneurs to engage their audience in a personalized, compelling way that sets them apart from others who are still using old techniques. Anthony Milia owns a marketing firm that serves businesses of all sizes: from mom-and-pop to Fortune 500. He launched the business as soon as he graduated from college figuring he could fail fast and learn quick.  Recording video Three primary tools exist for business owners who want to record video or grab screen recordings or share their screens: Loom, Dubb, and Vidyard.  These tools allow you to share videos through email and build it into your sales funnel to monitor how well they're working. Users can monitor how much time the audience is spending with the videos and respond accordingly based on the insights they gain. Anyone within small business can use this kind of tool for training, or for business development.  Video offers a different way to communicate through email, and it can help you get your point across better for your audience.  Being different Anthony previously used regular emails or phone call to communicate with his audience, but he wanted a way to differentiate himself. He discovered that these videos allow him to more thoroughly explain his message in a personalized way that he can also track. He gets notified when the user opens the video, so he can follow up knowing that the user has engaged with the content.  In sales, for example, it's a powerful way to grab your prospects' attention. You can use it before a meeting, or for a follow-up to a meeting where you might share next steps.  Video is underutilized in this way, so your efforts will immediately help you stand out. Streamline your process These videos also work well on your website, allowing you to feature a video on your homepage with an included call-to-action. You can, for example, add a CTA within the video that prompts users to share their email or some other information. Tools like Vidyard can also be integrated with CRMs like Salesforce and Hubspot as well as Zapier to help you further streamline your entire process.  All three of these video tools offer a free plan as well as a monthly subscription that gives the user access to even more features.  Peaks and valleys of entrepreneurship Anthony spent the first couple of years in business building processes and working to get his name out to the public. It was slow, but the key was delivering good work. They work to get things done right the first time, to get it done right on time, and to over-deliver.  Clients don't leave when you're providing what they are asking for and constantly improving the client experience.  Show up every day in your business and identify how you can improve 1 percent every day, either personally or professionally. Identify bottlenecks and find ways to make things more efficient and effective.  It's easy to get caught up in busy work so that you miss the important work.  Digital Marketing The MORE Podcast strives to connect with experts and master users who understand how digital marketing tools work and who can share knowledge with entrepreneurs who aren't tech savvy.  Check out the knowledge Anthony is engaging with now:  Check out The Customer Service Revolution Podcast by John DiJulius and Entrepreneurs on Fire with John Lee Dumas. Grab a copy of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance and Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh.  Check out Loom, Dubb, and Vidyard to better use videos to engage with your audience.

Clubhouse is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs who are looking for ways to grow their business, and it's changing the game for people who are working to extend their reach.  Alex de Carvalho explains the power of Clubhouse and the power it has to democratize the workspace for entrepreneurs.  Who is Clubhouse for? Clubhouse is for everyone. It's the most powerful branding platform available today. It's also very business-friendly. It's live and authentic and in-the-moment. People have different learning styles and not everyone prefers video. Technology allows us now to take advantage of written content, video content, and audio content as a way to connect with an audience full of people who learn differently. You don't have to create something new. Clubhouse allows you to participate in pre-existing rooms with thousands of listeners and engage in conversations. As you ask questions and comments, people will follow you.  It also allows users to create their own radio station and host conversations about topics that are important to them. Using Clubhouse Clubhouse is currently for Apple only. You must be invited by a current member, and it's free. Your first steps should be to add a photo (not a logo) and a bio that tells us about what's important to you. Really focus on creating a great bio that people will want to read. Add links to your other social media so people can contact you. There's no direct message option inside of Clubhouse. Twitter and Instagram currently integrate with Clubhouse, and those two platforms provide more context about you. Many people make the mistake of only adding friends on Clubhouse. It's better to add people who you find interesting. Consider adding moderators of rooms and others you encounter there. As you add people, it will open more possibilities.  There are tools to help improve your voice quality inside Clubhouse, like microphones, but the platform doesn't allow recording unless you're very explicit.  The constant evolution of digital marketing makes it a fascinating field. The fast-changing nature of digital marketing creates many opportunities for learning and growth.  Digital Marketing Grab a copy of Carl Jung's The Red Book and The Black Books.  Check out The Rich Roll Podcast. Find Tim Ferriss' Podcast here and Joe Rogan's podcast here.  Find the Clubhouse app on the App Store.

Tools to Help with Content Marketing In this episode, host Ricardo Berris, speaks to former Pulitzer Prize winner and newly branded digital marketing educator, Dan Grech, about tools to help with content marketing.  -When Dan Grech lost his job in journalism he was perfectly positioned to reinvent himself as a business storyteller. He planned to learn digital marketing in a couple of weeks but instead, here he is 7 years later, on the same journey. He realizes that in the digital marketing space, people can over-complicate systems. The expertise gained through his journalism career, however, in taking complex ideas and explaining them in simple ways is helping to define his new career.  -2 reasons why people over-complicate the digital marketing space: It's harder to make complex things simple. They don't know how to explain things simply.  Many digital marketers want to keep things complex so you will hire them to do the work needed.  -What Dan has come to realize is that many small businesses can do this themselves if only they have the right coaching. As a result, Dan has created BizHack Academy, which is dedicated to helping small business owners market themselves despite having limited time, budget and expertise. -BizHack has two elements that Dan says are critical to any process: The system and the tools you use to implement it. These two elements are in the BizHack Lead Building System.  -The system has a 6 pillar approach philosophically that consists of campaigns, objectives, your target audience, your irresistible offer, your thumb-stopping video, your compelling message, and your call to action. but then there are also step-by-step instructions, the exercise, the software, and the tools for your business. These are the 9 steps.  -Two books that Dan recommends are Traction: Get A Grip on Your Business and Scaling Up. These books help you run a business but they give little attention to marketing. Dan realized this was a huge gap in the business systems.  -Dan has built the system for marketing a business that is tailored to small business and micro budgets for people without a ton of money or expertise. This system allows you to generate leads and sales for your business with a much simpler, easier to understand framework.  -So who would benefit from Dan's service?   -A business with 1 to 50 employees.  -The leaders are growth-oriented and desire to improve.  -The business has a proven product-market fit. These businesses have a great product, they know there's an audience for it, and just need to figure out how to reach that audience. -People who are ready to show up and do the work.   -This is a system that is good for B2B businesses and B2C businesses, whether you are a product or service company.  -How is Dan's system different from others? Other companies will use their training as a form of educational marketing. With BizHack, their only purpose is to enable and empower business owners to market for themselves. Once this is done, then a business owner can hire people or an agency to implement the system.  -To access Dan's information you can join his weekly live webinar series called BizHack Live every Wednesday at 12:30 eastern. Dan also has a YouTube channel called BizHack Academy and finally, through their signature offering, a five-week accelerated course. The next course will begin on April 5, 2021, with another in June.  -Even with the threat of covid, Dan found a way to keep his company going and even managed to open a scholarship program for minority and women-led businesses that has given away more than $100,000 today. Dan has a mission to transform the lives of small business owners and that mission is contagious, attracting incredible talent and amazing clients.

Tool to optimize the way you communicate In this episode, host Ricardo Berris, talks to Rosemary Ravinal, Zoom Mastery Expert, about a tool to optimize the way you communicate.  -Rosemary has worked as a corporate leader public relations head for companies such as Avon, Discovery Channel, and recently at Univision. Through these positions she found her love for helping executives be more powerful when it comes time to speak. She found they speak in a dominant language and in a second language, a weaker language. Her specialty became coaching CEOs and presidents of companies how they could do an effective speech in the other language. She helped to build their confidence and found a way for them to deliver the same information with authority. This was going extremely well until March 2020. When the world changed, Rosemary had to figure out how to make a curriculum out of it. Like many companies, she decided to go virtual.  -Rosemary wanted to be a public speaking coach but had to ask herself how her expertise, skill, and talent could be used when people were scrambling to figure out how to convey their presence, run meetings, and deal with the ubiquitous Zoom meetings while working from home? How could she show up for people who were uncomfortable being in front of the camera? How could she help with team building and productivity?  -Zoom isn't the only platform Rosemary helps with. Her knowledge can be applied to any video platform.  -According to Rosemary, what are some missed opportunities when video conferencing? Not turning on your video camera is a wasted opportunity when it comes to brand building.  90% of our brains process visual information with only 10% auditory. If you don't show up, you are giving away 90% of your business! Not knowing how to turn the camera on, not looking good, not getting dressed that day, or having a messy workspace are no longer excuses. We've had a year to learn and get it together. Companies are saving money by having their people at home so it's not longer an option to not have the skills to get on a virtual conference.  Showing your face is as important as knowing how to use the different features of the program you use for virtual conferencing. The course of the meeting starts with you. How you show up determines the future of your business, your career, and your brand. It will influence your reputation in ways you can't even imagine. Don't lose your career over misusing this opportunity. Be mindful of what people see. Everything says what we stand for, what we believe, what value we bring, what service we offer, everything. Surround yourself with things that are product or service related . Populate your shot with things that are thematically appropriate and things that offer a lot of visual data that complement what you're saying.  Show up well dressed for the occasion as well as appropriateness of the occasion. Be well groomed. Consider the lighting and the positioning of the camera by framing yourself well and getting the lighting in front of you so you can be seen. If these aren't in place, would you do business with you? Your client has to be able to have visual clues that they can trust you with their business.   With all these people in a grid on your screen it's important you're not static. If you're leading a meeting, be animated, have good body language, and use a good vocal variety to keep people interested. Allow different people to have a variety of rolls during the meeting like monitoring chat or taking on different parts of the agenda. You can also do polls or breakout sessions. This allows you people to stay engaged. While someone else is talking, nod or smile. It's always nice for the person talking to feel acknowledged. Even though you're virtual, you can still be human.  You make an impression in the first 7 seconds so make it a good one. Understand that every piece establishes trust and you have to work a little harder on virtual platforms. -How can you set up your Zoom space? Know your equipment. It doesn't have to be fancy.  You can invest in lighting but natural lighting is great. Make sure you have an interesting background to give yourself some personality: globes, framed pictures, vases, sports memorabilia, etc.  -Rosemary offers a mini Zoom camp , at no cost, on the third Wednesday of every month from 4 to 530 eastern time where she discusses best practices. To connect with Rosemary,  go to rosemaryravinal.com.  MUSIC CREDIT: Beat Your Competition – Vibe Tracks (No Copyright Music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bll5zsOGNKA&feature=youtu.be

Tool To Market Your Business Online In this episode, host Ricardo Berris talks to Chris Thomas, who runs Yonder Agency in Canton, GA, about a tool to market your business online.  -Chris's agency not only focuses on helping businesses grow online but they give their clients a software called Holler Box. Their business has grown because people recognized that digital marketing needed to happen during a time when many businesses were being challenged to just keep their doors open.  -So how did this all begin? Chris was in the corporate world until the market crashed and became the creative director for a church of 15, 000 people. Through this, Chris went back to the corporate world after becoming addicted to the user experience design. While he was at the church an agency contacted him to help with prototypes and his first was working with the very first touchscreen for Wachovia. It was through a variety of prototypes that he was able to work with other big names like Nike, Callaway Golf, Weber, and others. He was able to be a fly on the wall with some of the best companies.  -In 2019, Chris was trying to work out whether or not he would start his agency or be a freelancer. He decided to jump back into the local market and knew he could apply the corporate strategies that could be used at a local level. He had played on the market side and the product side and figured out the sales funnel.  -The origins of Holler Box started about a year and a half ago but it was only in the last couple of months that Chris figured out a framework that worked. His clients could have one platform with all their tools in one place. Most people don't understand what a sales funnel is or how to set it up. Yonder is an agency that can help you set it up but Holler Box lets you work it yourself once the triggers are in place.  -An example would be if you sell water heaters and you wanted to give your customers the PDF, “5 Ways to Check Your Water Heater.” As a business, you need a place to put it. You then create a form on your website, and that starts your sales funnel as client information gets collected in exchange for the free PDF.  -Some features of Holler Box include a chatbot, calendar booking, email builders, and more. They can also build funnel pages with landing pages within as well as the ability to set up courses so you can sell them within Holler Box. Not everyone will need all the features Holler Box offers but they are there when you do.  -This tool is for everyone who runs a business and needs to put their clients through a sales process, no matter what size, even startups. Different price points will be based on the needs of your company.   -What makes Yonder and Holler Box different? They walk you through the process and clients can get a guided experience. Chat is being added in April to the texting and email they already provide.  -You can begin working with Yonder starting at $497 and for that, you get a phone number, you get your domain connected, you get email service, and more. Once you get into the tool you can do unlimited campaigns, messages, etc. The 30-day trial allows you to fully experience the service.  -Marketing is not simple or easy. Why? Because many people don't know who they are as a business and execute who they are. When you look at marketing, you have to ask yourself, “How can I get my name out there quicker and how can I help people realize that I'm going to help them with their life?” -In April, Yonder is going to be coming out with a course to teach the basics of marketing, even before you ever call them or use Holler Box. They just want to educate businesses to help themselves and if you don't want to do it yourself, Yonder can help. Set up an appointment today.  Find Chris on his website, or go to Linked In at Yonder Agency and Holler Box. You can also join Chris on his podcast, Yonderland, on a variety of platforms.  MUSIC CREDIT: Beat Your Competition – Vibe Tracks (No Copyright Music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bll5zsOGNKA&feature=youtu.be