Purple Tie Guys Podcast

In this semi-weekly edition of the wonderful Purple Tie Guys Podcast, we talk about what's happening during our time in quarantine. We discuss what healthcare providers should be doing to help their businesses while they're in lock down. And we discuss whether it's safe to go through drive-thrus at all.

In today's episode we sit down virtually with Stoli, an entrepreneur from New Jersey and long time collaborator with Robert, to talk about the COVID 19 epidemic and what we, as digital marketers, can do for the healthcare industry. You can find Stoli at his digital home: https://apostolitsilikas.com/ or over at https://implantpatientsondemand.com/. We also mentioned Care Credit, here's a link for more information about that: https://carecredit.com/ And, if you haven't seen Robert's presentation, here's a link to the 4 minute trailer: https://purpletieguys.com/4minutes/ Lastly, I want to apologize for my atrocious audio. I was using AirPods while Robert and Stoli were using wired mics. 

This is a continuation from the previous podcast topic: When you can do something, but it's not really a good idea to do that thing that you can do. It's not that you aren't completely capable of doing the thing, but maybe you just can't do it to the point of being profitable for you or your practice. Also, Robert coughs a LOT (sorry headphone users).

So, this episode is definitely PG-13 because of mild language. While trying to explain how you get from "teeth whitening" to "anal bleaching" you really have to put a PG-13 label on there. And it's a wild ride, let me tell you! But in all seriousness, we touch on a few topics regarding letting people within an organization that aren't trained to do advertising run your Facebook and Google advertising campaigns. We also talk about how high schools should teach kids the basics of balancing a check book and how credit scores are calculated. Really, when I think about it, we're kind of all over the place. But in a good way? Also, we thought his episode was going to be kind of short, but in the end, we realized that it needed to be 2 parts. So, expect part 2 next week! Enjoy! #analbleaching

This week we talk about communication. We delve into the wonderful, terrible world of corporate/business email. We also talk about a host of other things including: Slack Facebook Messenger Zoom Skype Google Hangouts WhatsApp Here is our referral link to get G Suite - https://refergsuite.app.goo.gl/rBLF Use this code for 20% off your first year basic plan - P76AY3TWMNX4WX6 Use this code for 20% off your first year business plan - J7GTMPXWADK4YT9 Also, I hate old people texting. We explain what THAT is in the podcast. Slack is our favorite communication tool because of all the automation that works through it. And lastly, here's a link to our list building site, scraper.city . It allows users to send in a keyword, city, and state and get a list back of applicable businesses relating to that keyword.

In this episode we explain why we skipped a week. The beach may have been involved. Then we discuss a lot of things, including why the parking spots at ... not ... the ... beach ... are outlined in weird rectangles. Enjoy!

Today we talk about Lead Magnets! It's really interesting what people will give away for some of your information, if not for some money. Then we get into the muddy waters of the Virtual Assistant. We also ramble a good bit. Enjoy!

This episode is all about automations that are removing the need for human operators. This could be something as dangerous as rescuing people from a burning building, or something as mundane as taking an order at a fast food restaurant. We also touch on electric, self-driving vehicles. Here's the link to the Tesla Semi we were talking about: https://www.tesla.com/semiHere's a link to the Tesla Self Charging Prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI Also, I don't know what I was thinking. Tesla isn't going to make anything but electric vehicles. That was dumb of me. I apologize.

Part Deux. Return to Deux. In this episode we talk about points 4 through 8 of the top 8 of SEO trends. Also, UI vs UX. Here's the picture we referenced.

On this Part One of the top 8 trends for SEO in 2020, we talk about points 1 through 4. We argue. We discuss. We generally do all the typical antics you've come to know and love.

What happens when everything turns into a subscription? Your phone. Your house. Your car. Everything. We've got subscriptions for healthcare, subscriptions for iPhones, heck, even Volvo is offering a subscription for new Volvo vehicles! We talk about the pros and cons of the subscription life and how it affects businesses and consumers.

Happy New Year! 2020: The Year of Hindsight, The Year of 20/20 Vision! There. Done with those lame ass jokes. We can move on now. This episode is all about creating content, and how you can use your other activities to generate content. We talk about creating courses to sell or give away on your website. We talk about Fight Club sessions that can later be turned into articles on your website. And we also dove into the Weekend Workshop versus Online Courses debate. Okay, it's not really a debate; more like a comparison. Okay, it's not really a comparison, but we DEFINITELY talked about both of them. Enjoy, and we hope this is "Your Year" as Robert would say.

This rambling disaster of an episode starts off with us discussing creating a brand for a new company and transitions into reminiscing about past business ventures and what we did wrong with them. The moral of the story is if you want to be a serial entrepreneur you need to be ready to fail because it's going to happen. Also, second moral of the story, tell your designer the truth when they ask for your opinion. You're not going to hurt their feelings. Seriously.

Merry Christmas! It's that time of year, folks. And what better way to move capitalism forward than by buying gifts for all your clients? We went a little overboard with our purchases, but that's okay. We made our clients feel special, and that's all that matters in the end. Also, Robert feels like he's being bullied into making video podcasts, but really, he enjoys doing video. He just wants to act super modest and humble. But we all know that he's made to be a movie star. What do you all think? Should we do a video podcast? Is that something you're interested in? Also, I didn't forget about the review link. I just got vetoed is all. Take it up with the complaint department.

Today we're going to get slightly (very slightly) political and talk about ADA compliance. But Blake, I hear you saying through your computer screens, what does ADA compliance have to to with marketing and websites and the internet? We'll, Karen, it has a lot to do with, and we break down some of the dos and don'ts of making a website compliant. Here are a couple of links that are of interest to this topic: https://fortune.com/2019/09/21/beyonce-lawsuit-website-ada-compliant/https://fortune.com/2019/10/03/dominos-web-accessibility-disability-blind-access-supreme-court/ Long story long, it's a complicated issue without any guidance or regulation at the moment. There are guidelines to follow, but there are no clear cut rules. Here's an accessibility scanner for your website. Give it a go. We got 74%. https://www.webaccessibility.com/ Just remember, these are guidelines. Once regulations come out, you'll likely have to do some more updating to the old website.     

Today we're answering some burning questions from "the internet." These questions were found in several of the free marketing groups that Robert is part of. He tries to steer people in the right direction, but then he gets hit with questions like these. Stick around for some really hard hitting questions!

When you have a customer that you've completed the work for and they're ready to move on, there's NO REASON to force them to stay. If they've completed their contractual obligation and they want to move their website to another host, Let. Them. Go.  By forcing someone to stay with you after they're ready to move on, the only thing you're doing is hurting your company for a little extra money from the client. What you won't get is a good endorsement down the road. You won't get a good review. You won't get a referral. You WILL get a bad review. You will get someone who will trash your name any chance the topic of their website or marketing comes up. An unhappy customer will be your worst nightmare. They will make your life miserable. So, why take their website hostage when they're ready to move on? Why not help them get it setup on their new host? Why not help them? They've paid you your money. Let them go.

Not to sound too much like a middle-aged white dude, but our embroidered shirts DID look banger. In this episode we talk about the Southern Medical Association Regional Assembly in Birmingham, AL. and what it took to for Robert get up on stage after a 20 year hiatus. We met a LOT of doctors this weekend, and it was awesome. Pro tip: If you want people to take your business cards, attach a box of chocolates to them. Just saying. Also, Dustin, stop interrupting the podcast dude! Seriously.

On this episode of The Purple Tie Guys podcast, we talk about what happens when you get your Facebook Ad account shutdown. Y'all, we do this for you so you don't have to. Robert almost busted a blood vessel, he was so angry. 

Today we're going to talk about starting your own YouTube channel! Don't worry, it's very simple to get started. We'll give you tips on what hardware you need to have to get started, and we'll give you advice on what to do on the actual channel as far as art, etc. YouTubers to find some inspiration: Kai W Peter McKinnon Chris Hau Matt Carriker - Off The RanchMatt Carriker - Demolition RanchMatt Carriker - Vet Ranch

We're talking about blogs. Big blogs, little blogs, blogs of all shapes and sizes. We talk about Wordpress and Joomla and Drupal and Wix and Squarespace and on and on and on. We'll give you some insight into which platform you should pick for your needs, and we give advice when it comes to moving to a new hosting platform.

On this episode, we go through setting up a new podcast, what kind of equipment you need, where to host and what to talk about.

Robert sits down (virtually) with Randy Glick, Executive Director of the Southern Medical Association. They talk about promoting and marketing medical practices using the Internet.

On this episode we talk about the importance of reviews, how you can steer your audience to give you the best reviews possible, and what to never do when you're trying to get honest reviews.

Content. The backbone of all good SEO. There's different types. Different platforms. Different qualities. And we'll talk about all of them (mostly all of them) here today.

Step one in getting results using SEO on the internet is having a website. In today's episode, we're going to tell you exactly what you need to get a website off the ground from start to finish.

Google has decided to start putting ads in your Google Business Listing. We discuss the ramifications of this for you and possible implications for the future.

Over the course of this 48-ish minute rant, we cover cold-calling companies (say that 3 times fast), hiring people from overseas and all over the US, and inevitably, we talk about *sigh* "laptop life." I've got my own very different views of laptop life and cell phone life that I won't get into here. You should put your head into the culture for just a minute or two and gather your own opinions. Needless to say, but I'M GONNA SAY IT ANYWAY, I despise the fantasy that people portray as the digital nomad / laptop life / cell phone life. Also, beware when hiring people using services such as Upwork. Upwork, by and by, are a pretty good company. They make finding, hiring, and paying people to do your freelance work very easy. They also make you, and your freelancers, pay for that ease. To the tune of 7% from the client and 20% (20 f#*$ing %!) from the freelancers themselves. It's outrageous. It's also super easy to use.

Have you ever had your Google My Business listing taken away? Happened to me. It was very stressful, and it took a full 3 days to get it back. All be it without (spoilers) our reviews. Yep. Our wonderful, well written, glowing reviews that all of our satisfied customers have left us, gone. Blinked out of existence by an angry Google. Oh, and an Apple (possibly, we're not 100% on this yet) employee decided that taking a dump on one of our paid advertisements was a good idea. Do you think it's a good idea? Here's a hint: It's not. There's no reason for an employee of a company that we do repairs for should ever interact with our advertisements. Especially not to do what he did. Listen on and be amazed.

Today we discuss the client/customer who's never happy, no matter what you do. And we get interrupted about half way through by a phone call from my Mom. Stay tuned! Also, happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We hope you're having a safe and wonderfully awkward family dinner with that one aunt that no one likes. You know the one.

Guys and gals, we're still trying to hash out this whole Mac Mini situation. And we detail portions of it in this episode. We also obtusely discuss the scammer situation in the after market sales arena. To sum it up for you here: It's bad. Like, real bad. To the point that I ended up just taking my listings down because I never got any legitimate offers from actual local people. So, beware scammers when trying to sell your used items. We discussed Apple. Again. A lot. Sorry not sorry. And we bought a Chromebox! Having a full fledged, fully functional browser on your TV is kind of surreal. Something that pre-teen me would have salivated over. Enjoy!

It's interesting when you're trying to purchase a used Apple product. People tend to have an overblown sense of what the price should be for something. A 6 year old computer, even an Apple computer, isn't worth several hundred dollars. But I digress. We get off to a great start complaining about a review for the Mac Mini. And we made some truly insightful things about the Mac products gained through this terrible review. There's a brief discussion about why you'll never see Mac OS X available for purchase without Mac hardware. Later we also talked about the differences between Microsoft's business model versus Apple's business model.  

Well, we managed to squeeze another podcast out this week. This one is all about the Apple Keynote that dropped on Oct. 30th. They introduced a new MacBook Air, a new Mac Mini, and a new iPad Pro. All with impressive hardware spec bumps. We get into a bit of a discussion about a YouTube reviewer who reviewed the keynote, claiming that the new iPad is for the 1%. We also discuss the futility of upgrading your Mac products.

Let's get this out of the way. I was wrong about a lot of stuff on the Palm Phone off the bat. The cameras and storage, specifically. Here's a link to a review by The Verge. If you're interested in getting this extremely small smartphone, and you're already on Verizon, and you've already got a data plan and phone service with them, here's a link to the product page for the (snicker) Palm Companion Device. We also discussed Google's G Suite of products, specifically the email service. It's leaps and bounds better than the C-Panel email we'd been using before. If you have been thinking about moving your email servers away from your web host, DO IT! What's keeping you! Do it, now! And used Google's G Suite.

In our premiere episode, Robert and I talk about getting started in business together, our lives before entreprenuership, and everything in between (without going into too much detail). Join us as we go through the trials and tribulations of being business owners in our brand new podcast, The Purple Tie Show!