Podcast appearances and mentions of Al Ries

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Send us a textIn a world where you've got just 8 seconds to make your message stick—what do you say and how do you say it? This episode breaks down The Micro-Script Rules by Bill Schley, a game-changing read for any small business owner or personal brand builder. 

Did you like the episode? Send me a text and let me know!!Launching Your Physical Product: Prototyping to MarketingIn this episode of 'Business Conversations With Pi,' Skoob and his AI co-host, Pi, delve into the essential steps for new entrepreneurs launching physical products. The discussion offers comprehensive advice on market research, design, prototyping, manufacturing, and marketing strategies. Listeners will learn about tools like CAD software and 3D printing, gather tips for refining prototypes, and receive guidance on creating a strong brand identity and effective pricing strategy. The episode also includes book recommendations to further support entrepreneurial success. Whether you're just starting out or looking to enhance your existing strategies, this episode is packed with actionable insights. "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries:   "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal:"Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" by Al Ries and Jack Trout: "The Ultimate Sales Machine" by Chet Holmes:00:00 Introduction to Business Conversations with Pi00:46 Meet Your Hosts: KU and Pi01:11 Diving into Entrepreneurial Questions01:59 Special Focus: Sunglasses Startup02:37 Steps to Launching a Product03:42 Prototyping Tips for Sunglasses04:49 Getting Help with CAD and 3D Printing05:50 Marketing and Pricing Strategies06:54 Recommended Reading for Entrepreneurs07:59 Final Words of Wisdom08:24 Conclusion and Next Steps Thank you for being a Skoobeliever!! If you have questions about the show or you want to be a guest please contact me at one of these social mediasTwitter......... ..@djskoob2021 Facebook.........Facebook.com/skoobamiInstagram..... instagram.com/uepodcast2021tiktok....... @djskoob2021Email............... Uepodcast2021@gmail.comAcross The Start Line Facebook Community If you would like to be coached on your entrepreneurial adventure please email me at for a 2 hour free discovery call! This is a $700 free gift to my Skoobelievers!! Contact me Now!! On Twitter @doittodaycoachdoingittodaycoaching@gmailcom

Speaker Mastermind Community: Click here to find out more about the Paid to Speak Accelerator Community (aka Mastermind Community) and to put your name on our Waiting List. Show Notes: 11 Things Great Speakers Do Differently #5 - Great At Business Great speakers know the difference between B2C and B2B marketing and selling: B2C — Business to Customer B2B — Business to Business IMPORTANT: Speaking is a B2B Business 3 Recommended B2B Business Books You Likely Never Heard Of: 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout Opening Close Doors by C Weylman The Thought Leaders Practice by Matt Church Review: Here Are The Tips We've Covered So Far Episode 109 - Speak WITH Your Audience (Not AT Your Audience) Episode 110 - Bring Your Audience Into Your Stories Episode 111 - Create Experiences Episode 112 - Step Into Your Character Episode Resources 9 Ways to Get Paid as a Speaker (FREE Resource) 5 Keys to Create a Speech That Pays (FREE Resource) Got questions? Submit them here Thank You for Listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and review on iTunes. Also, share it by using the social media buttons at the top or bottom of this post. Until next time, continue to move from #DREAMtoDO as a speaker.

Send us a textHigh-pressure environments often teach us the wrong lessons about leadership, but they also serve as a foundation for growth. In this episode, I sit down with Manick Bhan, a visionary in the SEO and digital marketing space, to discuss his journey from Wall Street to leading a mission-driven agency. Manick shares candid insights on transitioning from toxic leadership styles and overcoming setbacks while scaling an agency and staying laser-focused amidst industry challenges.We dive deep into how his groundbreaking tools, Search Atlas and OTTO, are revolutionizing SEO with AI, achieving results that traditional methods claimed impossible. Manick also opens up about the importance of humility, mentorship, and learning from past mistakes to evolve as a leader. Whether you're curious about AI-powered SEO tools or seeking inspiration to lead with purpose, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways and fresh perspectives.Connect with Manick Bhan: Connect with Manick Bhan on YouTube or Instagram to learn more about his groundbreaking work in SEO and digital marketing. Dive deeper into his insights, tools, and strategies to scale your business with cutting-edge technology. Books Mentioned:Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout Join the New Catalytic Leadership CommunityCheck out our new online membership site, with new resources by Dr. William Attaway and his team added weekly: https://checkout.catalyticleadership.net/Support the showJoin Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence. Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success. Special Offer:Get your FREE copy of Catalytic Leadership: 12 Keys to Becoming an Intentional Leader Who Makes a Difference. Connect with Dr. William Attaway: Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram TikTok YouTube

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In this episode of The Unicorny Marketing Show, Dom and Peter Whent discuss Peter's straightforward "pool rules" for better marketing messaging. Inspired by clear, no-nonsense swimming pool signs, these rules focus on the power of simple, bold communication. Peter highlights the need for brands to stop using jargon and start focusing on the real issues their customers face. The conversation covers why businesses should be more direct, and how clear, impactful messaging can help brands stand out.Key points:Peter Whent's "pool rules" for clear, customer-focused messaging.Avoiding jargon and using simple, direct communication.The importance of addressing customer needs over product features.Why bold and clear messaging is essential for differentiation.Listen in for practical advice that will help you refresh your marketing and make it truly effective. About Peter WhentYesterday, Peter Whent built several businesses, making mistakes and learning along the way. Dealing with the establishment—investors, lawyers, the tax authorities, and others—helped him develop a healthy cynicism towards the phrase, "that's how it's always been done."Today, Peter owns and runs a modestly celebrated creative coalition called BoldAF, where he challenges norms and breaks the rules to help brands uncover the big creative idea that will ignite their identity. Once he's found it, he transforms it into bold messaging that gives the brand personality and draws prospects in like the Pied Piper.Links Full show notes: Unicorny.co.ukWatch episode: https://youtu.be/vlAY0Kc55mELinkedIn: Peter Whent | Dom HawesEmail: peter@peterwhent.comWebsite: Bold AFSponsor: Selbey Anderson Other items referenced in this episode:The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout Bold AF: Pool RulesBold AF: Brandwank BingoDropbox Original MVP Explainer VideoBerkshire Hathaway INC.Brand AF: Blog on Virgin Cola vs Fever TreeNike ad featuring Colin KaepernickApple ad ‘Crush!'Bumble's apology for celibacy ad

In this episode of The Unicorny Marketing Show, Dom and Peter Whent discuss Peter's straightforward "pool rules" for better marketing messaging. Inspired by clear, no-nonsense swimming pool signs, these rules focus on the power of simple, bold communication. Peter highlights the need for brands to stop using jargon and start focusing on the real issues their customers face. The conversation covers why businesses should be more direct, and how clear, impactful messaging can help brands stand out.Key points:Peter Whent's "pool rules" for clear, customer-focused messaging.Avoiding jargon and using simple, direct communication.The importance of addressing customer needs over product features.Why bold and clear messaging is essential for differentiation.Listen in for practical advice that will help you refresh your marketing and make it truly effective. About Peter WhentYesterday, Peter Whent built several businesses, making mistakes and learning along the way. Dealing with the establishment—investors, lawyers, the tax authorities, and others—helped him develop a healthy cynicism towards the phrase, "that's how it's always been done."Today, Peter owns and runs a modestly celebrated creative coalition called BoldAF, where he challenges norms and breaks the rules to help brands uncover the big creative idea that will ignite their identity. Once he's found it, he transforms it into bold messaging that gives the brand personality and draws prospects in like the Pied Piper.Links Full show notes: Unicorny.co.ukWatch episode: https://youtu.be/vlAY0Kc55mELinkedIn: Peter Whent | Dom HawesEmail: peter@peterwhent.comWebsite: Bold AFSponsor: Selbey Anderson Other items referenced in this episode:The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout Bold AF: Pool RulesBold AF: Brandwank BingoDropbox Original MVP Explainer VideoBerkshire Hathaway INC.Brand AF: Blog on Virgin Cola vs Fever TreeNike ad featuring Colin KaepernickApple ad ‘Crush!'Bumble's apology for celibacy ad

Welcome to another episode of The Art of Consulting, where we delve deep into the strategies and experiences of seasoned professionals in the consulting sphere. Today's guest is none other than Mark Amtower, the founder and partner of Amtower & Company, a firm specializing in marketing to the government. With a career spanning 39 years, Mark has been at the forefront of acknowledging and leveraging the nuances of marketing within the government contracting world. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 - 00:01: Speaker 1 (Host) opens the episode with a greeting to the audience. 00:15 - 00:22: Speaker 2 introduces Mark Amtower, highlighting his role as the founder of Amtower & Company. 00:23 - 00:25: Mark Amtower expresses his gratitude for being invited to the show. 00:25 - 00:36: The conversation touches upon a previous discussion, and Mark is prompted to share details about his background and focus. 00:38 - 01:27: Mark discusses the beginnings of his company in 1985, his background in literature, and his dive into the unique discipline of marketing to the government. 01:27 - 01:31: Mark humorously acknowledges the longevity of his career. 01:33 - 01:36: Speaker 2 jokes about Mark's long-standing career. 01:36 - 01:37: Mark responds with a light-hearted comment. 01:39 - 02:50: The dialogue shifts to the theme of non-traditional paths to consulting, highlighting the diverse skills that people bring to the industry. 02:50 - 03:04: Speaker 2 asks Mark how his non-traditional background shaped his consulting approach. 03:04 - 03:45: Mark recounts experiences, such as telemarketing and IT sales, that provided valuable skills for his consulting career. 03:45 - 04:27: Mark discusses his entry into advertising and how he identified a niche in marketing to government, which led to establishing his consulting presence. 04:28 - 05:14: Challenges of creating a client pipeline and managing financial concerns as a new consultant are discussed. 05:15 - 05:44: Speaker 2 reflects on the difficulty of securing subsequent contracts and the importance of building a client pipeline. 05:44 - 06:09: Speaker 2 asks how Mark identified and pursued the niche in government marketing. 06:09 - 06:54: Mark shares how he recognized unmet needs in the market and became the first to address federal marketing issues. 06:54 - 07:39: Mark explains positioning strategies and being first-to-market, referencing Jack Trout and Al Ries' marketing insights. 07:40 - 08:21: Mark's journey of writing about government business and giving speaking engagements is discussed. 08:21 - 08:27: Mark mentions how ad agencies in D.C. often overlooked marketing to the government. 08:29 - 09:01: Speaker 2 discusses the concept of market awareness and recognizing gaps in the market. 09:01 - 09:32: Speaker 2 and Mark talk about the importance of acting on ideas when opportunities arise. 09:32 - 09:50: Mark shares his strategy for building expertise through experience and addressing industry issues like mailroom logistics. 09:51 - 10:37: Mark explains his innovative solution to improve mail delivery in federal agencies by understanding internal processes. 10:37 - 11:14: Mark discusses founding an association to facilitate collaboration between mailers and federal mail managers. 11:14 - 11:51: The importance of addressing industry-specific problems through communication and collaboration is emphasized. 11:51 - 12:29: Mark's experience with influencing mail routing in federal agencies is shared. 12:31 - 13:07: Speaker 2 appreciates Mark's problem-solving approach and the importance of recognizing critical roles within organizations. 13:07 - 13:29: Speaker 2 relates Mark's experiences to modern challenges in delivering messages effectively. 13:29 - 14:16: Mark discusses how his business pivoted due to the rise of online platforms, affecting his direct mail business, and how he adapted. 14:21 - 14:35: Mark shares how engaging with a federal webmasters group helped him understand the changing landscape and adapt his consulting approach. 14:44 - 15:19: Speaker 2 highlights the importance of specialization and continuous learning in consulting. 15:19 - 15:51: Speaker 2 emphasizes the role of critical thinking and deepening domain expertise through industry involvement. 15:52 - 15:55: Speaker 2 notes the evolving nature of consulting and the need for specialization to stay competitive. 15:56 - 16:26: Mark discusses how consultants need to evolve their subject matter expertise to remain relevant in the industry. 16:26 - 16:29: Speaker 2 agrees with Mark's point. 16:27 - 16:29: Mark briefly mentions that his expertise doesn't cover all markets. 16:30 - 16:57: Speaker 2 talks about the dynamics of generalists versus specialists and how to find one's niche. 17:36 - 18:07: Mark shares a story about how Netscape disrupted the market, forcing him to pivot his business. 18:10 - 18:20: Mark emphasizes the ongoing need for consultants to adjust and innovate in response to technological changes like Web 2.0. 18:21 - 18:52: Mark and Speaker 2 discuss how Web 2.0 tools opened new opportunities for consultants to publish and share content. 18:53 - 19:38: Mark explains how he leveraged LinkedIn to establish his B2G (business-to-government) platform and his experience as a beta tester for LinkedIn's Pulse feature. 19:38 - 20:24: Mark talks about adapting to LinkedIn's evolving features and becoming a prolific content creator. 20:24 - 21:09: Mark explains how LinkedIn helped him build thought leadership and connect with his target audience. 21:09 - 21:13: Speaker 2 affirms Mark's approach. 21:15 - 21:42: Mark advises on making a strong first impression on LinkedIn, including using the profile banner effectively. 21:57 - 21:58: Mark suggests using LinkedIn features strategically to enhance personal branding. 22:39 - 23:00: Mark and Speaker 2 discuss how LinkedIn evolved from a resume site into a networking and content publishing platform. 23:00 - 23:31: Mark stresses the importance of crafting a compelling LinkedIn 'About' section to create a positive first impression. 23:31 - 23:34: Speaker 2 humorously comments on common mistakes with LinkedIn profile banners. 23:34 - 24:17: Mark emphasizes the strategic use of every LinkedIn profile element to project a professional image and value proposition. 24:18 - 24:53: Speaker 2 appreciates Mark's tips and underscores the need for attention to detail in presenting oneself professionally on LinkedIn. 25:35 - 25:54: Speaker 2 asks Mark about his content creation schedule on LinkedIn. 25:54 - 26:42: Mark shares that he doesn't follow a strict calendar but publishes when inspiration strikes, along with commitments to other platforms. 26:42 - 27:20: Mark talks about his prolific writing and method of seeking feedback before publishing content. 27:20 - 28:09: Mark shares how feedback from trusted peers helps him refine his content for relevance and clarity. 28:09 - 28:37: Speaker 2 highlights the value of critical thinking and the iterative process of content creation. 28:37 - 29:11: Mark advises on capturing ideas and nurturing them for professional growth and content creation. 29:11 - 29:38: Mark suggests validating ideas with trusted peers to improve them and ensure professional growth. 29:39 - 30:07: Speaker 2 and Mark discuss the importance of continuous learning, feedback, and engaging with one's audience. 30:07 - 30:37: Speaker 2 reflects on sharing ideas and receiving feedback as key to enhancing one's professional expertise. 30:47 - 31:20: Mark advises carrying a notebook to jot down ideas for later reflection and development. 31:28 - 32:04: Speaker 2 reflects on revisiting ideas over time and their potential for future relevance. 32:17 - 32:27: Mark humorously comments that everyone has a novel or country song in them, but not all ideas need to be shared publicly. 32:47 - 33:27: Mark shares an analogy from sports journalist Sally Jenkins about tennis margins, comparing it to consulting and handling setbacks. 33:50 - 34:28: Speaker 2 and Mark discuss the importance of nurturing even small ideas into valuable contributions. 34:58 - 35:40: The conversation shifts to building a pipeline for consulting work, and Mark advises defining a target audience and creating relevant content. 35:41 - 36:24: Mark shares a key lesson about realizing that the real decision-maker in a company was the CEO, not the marketing contact. 36:42 - 37:15: Speaker 2 and Mark discuss recognizing key decision-makers and influencers in organizations. 37:15 - 39:44: Mark emphasizes the value of connecting with executive assistants, understanding their preferences, and using LinkedIn to foster relationships with decision-makers. 39:10 - 39:44: Mark and Speaker 2 talk about nurturing influential connections and recognizing their contributions. 40:30 - 41:06: Mark continues discussing the importance of recognizing the power and influence of executive assistants in decision-making processes, sharing tips on building genuine relationships with them. 41:06 - 41:41: Mark emphasizes how consultants should research and understand the needs of both decision-makers and their assistants to provide better value. 41:41 - 42:12: Speaker 2 reflects on the vital role executive assistants play in shaping consulting engagements and client relationships. 42:12 - 42:44: Mark shares his experience using LinkedIn to connect with decision-makers and their assistants, noting how this approach has helped him open doors to new opportunities. 42:45 - 43:16: Mark advises using LinkedIn strategically to gather insights about companies and individuals, tailoring outreach efforts to resonate with the needs and interests of potential clients. 43:16 - 43:58: The conversation turns to building trust and credibility on LinkedIn. Mark stresses the importance of being consistent in messaging, content creation, and follow-ups to maintain visibility and authority. 43:58 - 44:34: Mark touches on how to nurture connections on LinkedIn over time, explaining that providing value and engaging authentically helps build long-term relationships with potential clients. 44:35 - 45:10: Speaker 2 asks Mark how he manages to stay on top of industry trends and maintain his relevance after decades in the consulting industry. 45:10 - 46:10: Mark shares his learning habits, including constantly reading, attending webinars, and keeping an eye on emerging technologies and market shifts, to ensure he can offer up-to-date advice to his clients. 46:10 - 47:02: Speaker 2 reflects on the importance of continuous learning and adapting to new trends in consulting, agreeing with Mark's approach of staying curious and informed. 47:02 - 47:52: Mark gives an example of how evolving technologies and changes in government policies have reshaped the way consultants need to approach marketing and business development strategies. 47:52 - 48:32: Mark discusses the rise of AI and automation tools in marketing and how they impact the role of consultants, especially in creating more personalized outreach. 48:32 - 49:02: Speaker 2 asks Mark for his thoughts on how consultants can use these new tools to improve their client relationships. 49:02 - 50:01: Mark emphasizes that while AI and automation are helpful, building personal relationships and trust remains critical. He encourages consultants to strike a balance between using technology and maintaining a human touch in client interactions. 50:01 - 50:43: Mark shares a final tip for consultants: to always remain flexible and open to new ways of solving problems, whether through technology, strategy, or networking. 50:44 - 51:10: Speaker 2 asks Mark to offer any parting advice for consultants looking to break into government marketing or consulting in general. 51:10 - 52:10: Mark advises consultants to focus on understanding the specific needs of their target market, build a strong personal brand, and consistently deliver value. He also emphasizes perseverance in developing relationships and gaining trust in the consulting world. 52:10 - 52:58: Mark reflects on the most rewarding aspects of his consulting career, sharing that seeing his clients succeed and making an impact on their businesses has been the highlight of his journey. 52:58 - 53:00: Speaker 2 wraps up the episode by thanking Mark for his time and insights, and closes the conversation. 53:00 - End: The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to connect with Mark Amtower online and to stay tuned for future episodes.   Episode Highlights: 00:15 - 00:22: Introduction of Mark Amtower, a seasoned expert in government contracting marketing. 00:38 - 01:27: Mark shares his unique journey into the niche of marketing to the government. 01:39 - 02:50: Discussion on the value of non-traditional paths to consulting. 04:28 - 05:14: Mark talks about the challenges of creating a client pipeline for consultants. 05:44 - 06:09: Insights into how Mark identified a marketing niche in the government sector. 08:21 - 08:27: Addressing the lack of marketing to government within ad agencies. 14:44 - 15:19: The importance of specialization and continuous learning in consulting. 23:34 - 24:17: Tips for making a strong first impression with your LinkedIn profile. 28:37 - 29:11: Keeping track of ideas and fostering creativity in professional growth. 35:41 - 36:24: Mark's lesson on identifying and engaging with decision-makers. 46:00 - 46:10: Mark emphasizes the significance of courtesy and empathy in professional settings. 49:43 - 50:22: Encouraging consultants to admit knowledge gaps and leverage their peer networks. About Our Guest Today: Mark Amtower is the founder and partner at Amtower & Company, a consultancy specializing in marketing to the government sector. With a masterful grasp of government marketing and an active presence on LinkedIn, Mark is a leading authority in government contracting and B2G marketing. With an impressive tenure of nearly four decades, Mark has shaped the landscape and discourse around marketing to the government. Where to Find Our Guest Online: LinkedIn - Mark Amtower: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markamtower/

In this episode of Sales and Cigars, Walter Crosby sits down with Gunter Wessels, Founder of LiquidSMARTS, to delve into the world of elite sales performance. Gunter shares his journey from academia to the trenches of B2B sales, providing a deep dive into the attributes that distinguish top-performing sales professionals. Episode Highlights: Gunter's favorite books that shaped his sales approach, including The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and Positioning by Al Ries. The intersection of marketing and sales, and how a Venn diagram approach can bridge gaps between these functions. The "Three C's" that Gunter believes are harming America: Crocs, Communists, and Kardashians, and their deeper implications on personal and professional presentation. Essential attributes of elite salespeople, from working smart to overcoming obstacles and maintaining personal credibility. The importance of curiosity, skepticism, and empathy in driving successful sales interactions. Gunter's upcoming book, Turning Fear into Fuel, which explores how to harness deep-seated fears to drive success. Grab a cigar, mix your favorite cocktail, and get ready for an episode filled with valuable insights and actionable advice. Connect with Gunter Wessels: Email: gunter@liquidsmarts.com LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunterwessels/ Website: www.liquidsmarts.com     Get Walter Crosby's new book, "Scale Your Sales: Avoid the 7 Critical Mistakes CEOs Make": https://helixsalesdevelopment.com/scale-your-sales Tired Of Watching Your Team Misfire When It Comes To Sales Hires? Unleash the secrets to sales hiring success for just $97! Sign up for the next Sales Hiring Secrets here: https://events.helixsalesdevelopment.com Connect with Walter Crosby: Email: walter@helixsalesdevelopment.com LinkedIn: Walter Crosby Website: https://helixsalesdevelopment.com/ Calendly: Schedule a Call Produced by titanmediaworx.com       #SalesAndCigars #SalesStrategy #MarketingVsSales #EliteSales #B2BSales #GunterWessels #WalterCrosby #LiquidSMARTS #TurningFearIntoFuel  

Send us a textCorey Poirier is a multiple-time TEDx, MoMondays and PMx, Speaker and International Bestselling Author. He is also the host of the top rated ‘Get Paid To Speak' Show, founder of The Speaking Program, Author of the For The Love of Speaking Book, bLU Talks, and he has been featured in multiple television specials. A columnist with Entrepreneur and Forbes magazine, he has featured in/on CBS, CTV, NBC, ABC, is a Forbes Coaches Council member, and is one of the few leaders featured twice on the popular Entrepreneur on Fire show. He has also interviewed over 5,000 of the world's top leaders. Books mentioned in the episode:The Enlightened Passenger: The Flight That Changes Everything By Corey PoirierPositioning: The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries & Jack Trout To learn more about bluTalks go to: www.speakonblu.com www.coreypoiriermedia.com Listen to this next: Leaders Are Readers Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind episodeShare the podcasT Don't Miss This Quick Read To Skyrocket Your Small Business Social Media

In this episode we discuss a couple of weeks when our Slack went silent, a slow grind to launch on iOS, and talk about the word we want Metacast to be known for.Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.Segments[02:12] Confessions of a lonely founder[07:12] iOS and Flutter woes[18:33] The Wizard of Oz feature for OPML import[23:30] What is the word you want to be known for?[29:38] Podcast and book recommendationsShow notesPodcasts596: A New Foundation for Progress - Accidental Tech Podcast300: The Aftermath - Under the RadarI like to Read My Podcasts - Comfort ZoneBooksThe Storyteller by Dave GrohlThe 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries & Laura RiesNight Watch: Book One by Sergei LukyanenkoGet in touch

From Jon... I love to read. Over the last 10 years in business I've read a tonne of business related books. This a non exhaustive list of 10 of my favorites and why I recommend that you read them (if you haven't already). There's some titles here that I know you've probably heard of, and some I'm willing to bet you haven't. Check them out and as always, make sure you're combining your learning with ACTION. Don't mentally masturbate. The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss - https://a.co/d/bOAXy0t Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz - https://breakthroughadvertisingbook.com The 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout - https://a.co/d/7JZMc52 The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday - https://a.co/d/dOXysny Do The Work by Steven Pressfield - https://a.co/d/ghVnff9 Traction by Gino Wickman - https://a.co/d/fYTMP0H Outlive by Dr Peter Attia - https://a.co/d/b2QuN4U Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy - https://a.co/d/fv5TBgi Purple Cow by Seth Godin - https://a.co/d/cYQnpg0 Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink - https://a.co/d/chYH868 Links Mentioned ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/5⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Wondering what products you'll sell? Take our 5 day challenge and find the market you're going to serve ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  — Join the course and start your journey today! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/Call⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Thinking about joining the course? Book a no obligation call with Jon and he'll walk you through it! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Want your question answered on the show?  Leave us a voicemail for your chance to be featured ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Our FREE Facebook Group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow DropshipBreakthru on Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the Dropship Breakthru ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sponsors ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/Clearsale⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  — Add this app to your business and never worry about fraud  chargebacks again. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/Shopify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — The only Ecommerce platform we recommend. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/Grasshopper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Get an 800 number for your business from Grasshopper ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/Rewind⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Automatically back up your Shopify store data ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DropshipBreakthru.com/PrimedMind⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Get coached by the #1 Mindset Coach in the world, Elliot Roe

Michael Brandtner ist Spezialist für strategische Marken- und Unternehmenspositionierung und Lead Partner von Ries Global. Seit 30 Jahren berät er nationale und internationale Unternehmen, ist Autor zahlreicher Bücher, Kolumnist und ein gefragter Vortragsredner. Wir sprechen unter anderem darüber ...

How you present your products and services to your customers matters. And while most copywriters don't overtly say they do positioning work, the reality is, any messaging project pretty much requires it. The question is, how do you do it right? For the 412th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, we talked with copywriter and product positioning expert, Kate Guerrero about the formula for positioning the products you write about in a way that makes it easy for customers to understand not only what it is, but why they need it. Click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript.   Stuff to check out: Positioning by Ries and Trout Fletch's website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Transcript: Rob Marsh: Positioning is a marketing term coined by Al Ries and Jack Trout way back in 1969. It refers to the practice of connecting your product or service (or your client's products or services) to a single idea in your customer's mind. And when it's done well, your prospects and customers associate your brand with that idea. Some examples include Volvo and safety, Apple and creativity, and Disney and magic. Although few clients ask for copywriters to position their products, this is actually a big part of what we do, whether we do it consciously or not.  So I thought it might be worthwhile to talk in depth about how copywriters can do it and the impact it has for their clients. Hi, I'm Rob Marsh, one of the founders of The Copywriter Club. And on today's episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, I interviewed copywriter and brand positioning expert Kate Guerrero. Kate is the in-house writer for Fletch, an agency that focuses almost entirely on helping their clients position themselves on their home pages. As promised, she laid out the process that she and Fletch use to help their clients identify the ideas they can stand for in the marketplace. We also talked about the differences between copywriting and messaging—what she shared pairs nicely with our interview with Justin Blackman on last week's episode. And finally we also talked a bit about fiction writing since Kate has a manuscript she's been shopping to major publishers. That's a lot to cover, but we did it, and I think you'll like the result, so stay tuned. Before we jump in with Kate… The next expert training happening in The Copywriter Underground is coming up soon. You probably know The Underground is our community for copywriters who are actively investing in building their business and writing skills. It includes personalized coaching for you where I give you feedback and ideas to help solve the stickiest challenges you face in your business today. There's a massive library of business-focused training to help you grow a resilient, profitable copywriting businesss. And each month we bring you a new guest expert training that will help you make even more progress in your business.  This month our guest expert is Heather Farris who will be showing you how to use Pinterest to drive leads to your business for years after you post on that platform. Unlike Twitter where tweets disappear after a few minutes, or LinkedIn and Instagram where posts are lucky to last a day, the content you post on Pinterest is close to permanent. That's because Pinterest is more like a search engine than social media. Any way, Heather will be sharing how to use Pinterest to drive copywriting leads to your business… it's the kind of idea that could add new clients and thousands of dollars in new revenue for you. But to get access to these closely held strategies, you've got to be a member of The Copywriter Underground, which you can learn more about at thecopywriterclub.com/tcu. Jump in now so you don't miss this or any of the other upcoming expert skill trainings. And now, let's go to our interview with Kate... Kate, welcome to The Copywriter Club Podcast. You've heard a few episodes of the podcast,

Send us a Text Message.Challenge everything you thought was just 'how it has to be' and build a business that allows you to live a rich life DAILY! I wasn't too sure about this book, but I have to say it's been a pleasant surprise, a gift of true thought leadership. Need I say more?We're back with our Leaders Are Readers Series (LARS) episode 10; if you've been listening, you know we bring the gems from best-selling faith, mindset, and biz books. Get your copy of The 4 Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, And Join The New Rich by Timothy Ferriss  at https://amzn.to/3Agw0utIf you love the book gems, listen to our most popular episode: Leaders Are Readers Series Ep.7: Positioning, The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries, Jack Trout, et. al

Chapter 1:Summary of Positioning Book"Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" by Al Ries and Jack Trout, first published in 1981, is a groundbreaking book in the field of marketing. It introduces the concept of "positioning" which focuses on the strategy of placing a brand or product in the customer's mind in a way that emphasizes the distinct benefits and qualities unique to that brand or product.Here are several key points from the book:1. **Positioning Defined**: Positioning is not about what you do to a product. It's about what you do to the mind of the prospect. It involves elements like the name, price, and the features of the product, but fundamentally it's about perceptions.2. **The Overcommunicated Society**: The book discusses how the massive amount of daily advertising messages has led to a cluttered marketplace. Consumers are bombarded with information, making it hard for any single message to stand out.3. **Simplifying the Message**: With an overwhelming number of choices and advertisements, concise and clear messages are crucial. Positioning is about making a product or service understand quickly and effortlessly.4. **Finding a "Hole" in the Market**: One of the effective strategies in positioning is finding a gap—a "hole" in the existing market where your product can fit in. This often involves identifying a specific niche or an overlooked need that competitors are not addressing.5. **Repositioning the Competition**: Positioning also involves sometimes comparing or contrasting a product against existing competitors to highlight its distinctiveness. It can even involve repositioning a competitor unfavorably to advantage your product.6. **Case Studies and Examples**: Throughout the book, Ries and Trout utilize multiple real-world cases to illustrate successful and unsuccessful positioning strategies, offering insights into the practical application of the theories they propose.7. **Importance of Consistency**: Successful positioning requires consistency over time. Initial positioning efforts can be wasted if not maintained, and frequent changes can confuse and alienate customers."Positioning" by Al Ries and Jack Trout has become an essential reference in marketing, emphasizing understanding consumer perception and creatively using it to position a brand. It's particularly relevant in today's market, where consumer attention spans are limited and competition is fierce. The book helps marketers, entrepreneurs, and businesses strategize effectively to carve out a unique market space and ensure their message cuts through the noise.Chapter 2:the theme of Positioning Book"Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" is a marketing book written by Al Ries and Jack Trout, first published in 1981. This book focuses not on the product itself, but rather on how it is perceived in the minds of potential customers. The authors introduced the concept of "positioning" as a way to differentiate a brand in a crowded marketplace. Below, I'll overview the key plot points, character development, and thematic ideas from the book, even though it is a non-fiction work and doesn't traditionally have a plot or characters.### Key Plot Points:Since "Positioning" is not a narrative work, it does not contain a plot. However, it discusses key concepts and strategies in its content, structured around the following main points:1. **Definition of Positioning**: Explaining the basic concept of positioning as a method for creating an image or identity in the minds of the target market for a product, brand, or company.2. **The Overcommunicated Society**: The authors describe why positioning is important in a world where consumers are bombarded with information.3. **Strategies for Positioning**:...

In today's episode, I explore why market category is a good starting point for developing great positioning. You will learn: * Viewing your market category is context-setting for your products/company. * Thinking of your market category as being similar to the opening scene of a movie. (See link below for my article about this idea, which includes the opening scene of the movie Baby Driver.) * Understanding your product/company's unique value proposition before determining market category.* Why positioning involves identifying what sets your product apart from competitors and the status quo.* Why positioning in an underserved segment of an existing market category is easier than creating a new category.* Communicating the differentiated value of your product or service.* Why companies need to go deeping into their value props to help customers understand how they can deliver unique value for their business.—If you want to skip ahead: (3:50) Market categories and their role in positioning products/companies, with a focus on differentiated value. (7:46) Positioning and messaging for startups, focusing on understanding customer needs and differentiated value. (11:26) Positioning and market categories in business.—Connect with April Dunford and learn about practical positioning that accelerates marketing and sales: Work with April: https://www.aprildunford.com/consultantApril's newsletter: https://aprildunford.substack.com/ April's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ April's Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/aprildunford —Mentioned in this episode: * My article about market category in which I discuss the opening scene of the movie Baby Driver: https://aprildunford.substack.com/p/understanding-the-job-of-a-market * Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, a book by Al Ries and Jack Trout: https://amzn.to/3JrR4zJ —Get April Dunford's books and audiobooks: “Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It.”“Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win.”Amazon US: https://amzn.to/49l0ZRY Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/4ac9hgt Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3vosDzQ—The Positioning with April Dunford podcast: Want to make your product stand out in a crowded market? It all starts with great positioning. Using April's battle-tested methodology, she'll teach you the nitty-gritty of positioning so that you can unlock better marketing and sales performance.Podcast website: https://www.positioning.show/ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:

In this episode, Sean chats with Patrick Bet-David about Genius Advice for Content Creators! ****** Join us for the #1 video marketing conference in the US for entrepreneurs

Chapter 1 What's Marketing Warfare Book by Jack Trout"Marketing Warfare" is a book written by Jack Trout and Al Ries in 1986. It outlines marketing strategies and tactics that can be used to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The book draws parallels between military warfare and marketing, and provides insights on how companies can effectively position themselves in the market to outmaneuver their competitors. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on the competition, defining a unique positioning, and exploiting weaknesses in the market to gain market share.Chapter 2 Is Marketing Warfare Book A Good Book"Marketing Warfare" by Jack Trout is often considered a classic in the field of marketing strategy. The book focuses on the concept of applying military strategies to marketing and competing in the marketplace. It offers valuable insights and strategies for businesses looking to gain a competitive advantage. Many readers find the book to be informative and thought-provoking. If you are interested in marketing strategy, competitive positioning, and business competition, then "Marketing Warfare" could be a good book for you.Chapter 3 Marketing Warfare Book by Jack Trout Summary"Marketing Warfare" by Jack Trout and Al Ries is a classic marketing book that outlines strategies for companies to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The book is based on the principles of military strategy and offers insights on how companies can outmaneuver their competitors.Key points discussed in the book include:1. The importance of focusing on the competition: Trout and Ries argue that companies should always be aware of what their competitors are doing and develop strategies to differentiate themselves in the market.2. Positioning: The authors emphasize the importance of positioning a company in the minds of consumers. They argue that companies should strive to occupy a unique position in the marketplace that sets them apart from competitors.3. Offensive and defensive strategies: Trout and Ries outline various offensive and defensive strategies that companies can use to gain a competitive advantage. These include being the first mover in a market, attacking a competitor's weaknesses, and defending against attacks from competitors.4. The importance of leadership: The authors stress the role of leadership in marketing warfare and argue that companies need strong leadership to succeed in the marketplace.Overall, "Marketing Warfare" provides valuable insights for companies looking to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The book is a useful resource for marketers and business leaders looking to develop effective marketing strategies. Chapter 4 Marketing Warfare Book AuthorJack Trout is a renowned marketing strategist and author who released the book "Marketing Warfare" in 1986. The book introduces the concept of marketing strategies based on military tactics, emphasizing the importance of focus, differentiation, and positioning in the competitive marketplace.In addition to "Marketing Warfare," Jack Trout has written several other books on marketing and branding, including "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" (co-authored with Al Ries), "Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition," and "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" (also co-authored with Al Ries).Among all of his books, "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" is considered one of the best in terms of editions and impact on the field of marketing. This book, first published in 1981, explores the concept of positioning a company, product, or service in the minds of consumers to create a distinct and favorable image. It has...

Positioning is a fundamental part of marketing strategy. But it's not always explicitly defined, particularly in small, fast-growing companies. In many cases, it's based purely on the original intent of the founder, and reflects early-adopters. But as a business scales, it's worth taking time to think through the Why/Who/How of your product or service, so you can develop the messaging and the Go-To-Market strategy that's going to have an impact.Sharon Scott knows how to craft a positioning statement. As a marketing strategist and founder of OtterScope, Sharon works with companies to define their place in the market. And in this episode of The Marketing Mix, she shares the frameworks and strategies she uses to get to the “why” of brands and products.We also discuss how marketing acts as the bridge between internal stakeholders, and the alignment of Product and Marketing teams. And Sharon shares some thoughts on how AI might be used to assist in customer research and the positioning process.Key Takeaways:Positioning considers the "why" of a product combined with the "who" of the target audience, along "how" the brand adds valueEven for tech products, a user's emotional response is an important part of the positioningDon't underestimate the value of unplanned, casual conversations across teams to break out of the silosAI tools might not be ready to play a major role in positioning, but they can help with early customer research tasksConnect with Sharon: Find Sharon on LinkedInAnd check out OtterScopeA couple of good reads:Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind - by Al Ries and Jack Trout. One of the classic books on the subjectCrossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. I mention this during the conversation with Sharon

How did we build a $40 million per year business in a HIGHLY commoditized and competitive marketing?PRODUCT POSITIONING.It's the same tool that's been used for hundreds of years to build the biggest, most profitable brands on the planet.Discover the FIRST LEVEL of product positioning in today's episode which is part 1 of a 3-part series from a special presentation I gave at our private mastermind for successful ecommerce entrepreneurs called the Tycoon Tribe (https://www.amazing.com/tycoon).Enjoy!-MattP.S. The book I mentioned in today's episode is “Positioning” by Al Ries and Jack Strout.

In this episode, Sean & Mel talk about 10 reasons real estate agents should go all-in on YouTube! * Learn the untapped opportunities to get more leads & expand your Real Estate Business with YouTube

Dr. Tanweer Alam is Global Marketing Director for Kemin Nutrisurance.With a background in animal health, as well as time served in the Indian military, Tanweer has had a fascinating journey to become the talented and passionate marketing professional and leader that he is today, and he takes us through that journey in today's episode. He also discusses how marketing strategy fits within his company's broader business objectives.Kemin is a human and animal nutrition product and service provider, and Tanweer's business, Kemin Nutrisurance, is a global leader in pet food and rendering technologies.In this episode:Tanweer talks us through his journey as a marketing professional and how is background in veterinary science and the Indian military, as well as in sales, have positively shaped him as a business and marketing leader and influenced his career to date.Focusing on his own sector, Tanweer talks about the increasing challenges around market segmentation, and indeed sub-segmentation, and the importance of well-defined messaging.He talks about emerging growth markets for pet ownership as well as the impact that the COVID pandemic had on the serious problem of pet abandonment.Tanweer talks about the importance of ‘thinking big' when it comes to international marketing as well as maintaining stability within the marketing team, while at the same time being agile and responsive.He talks about how some of the marketing world's most prominent academic literature continues to influence him, including Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout, as well as The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad and Stuart L. Hart.Tanweer discusses some of the latest innovations in content marketing and how AI can improve our understanding of personas.

Let's delve into the world of email marketing, a crucial tool for e-commerce businesses. Our return guest Priya Radia, from Flow Butler, shares her expertise and unravels the strategies that can help you master this powerful marketing tool. Whether you're an e-commerce entrepreneur or an experienced marketer, Priya's insights will provide you with actionable tips and a fresh perspective on optimising your email marketing efforts  Tune in and learn how to enhance your email marketing game and take your e-commerce business to the next level!   In today's episode you'll learn: Conducting A/B testing to refine messaging and uncover customer preferences. Experimenting with different messaging and offers, particularly during non-peak seasons to get ready for a busy period. The importance of creating email flows to nurture and convert customers as an e-commerce business. Tailoring the quantity and content of emails based on the buyer's journey and customer behaviour. Understanding personalised messaging to address various customers. Leveraging path length and time lag reports in Google Analytics to analyse the customer journey and optimise email flows. Seeking assistance to set up email marketing and evaluating your business's stage and performance. Crafting compelling offers that incorporate mental triggers e.g scarcity and urgency to boost your average order value. Enhancing connections by using plain text emails.   Links from the show: Book Your Free Strategy Session! Bright Red Marketing Episode 50 Flow Butler Website - Offer: Bright Red for 20% off your 1st month! Flow Butler Instagram Book Recommendation: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Sean talks about the one YouTube secret that changed his life & channel forever! ****** Learn the one YouTube strategy that gets me 122,490 views PER DAY ➡️ http://ThinkMasterclass.comThis video is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission.

“Writers without niches are starving artists. Because again, they're just competing in these massive competitions. Writers with niches are category kings.” — Nicolas Cole Nicolas Cole shares the lessons he's learned as one of the internet's most-read writers, including why he's fascinated with reverse engineering written work—from James Patterson novels to Twitter threads—into templates writers can use, why all great writing changes the reader, why his superpower is his ability to endure boring things for longer than others, and so much more. EPISODE GUIDE AND TRANSCRIPT https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/140 WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5QJhLoabFV1ZZfgVIIWmGqjKzbhe0N7o CHAPTERS (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:07:37) - Service Businesses, Linear vs Infinite Scaling, and Picking a Bag of Problems (00:10:02) - Ship 30 for 30 and Finding Your Niche (00:17:01) - The Origin Story of Category Pirates and Snow Leopard (00:20:13) - Category Creation, Competition, and Being Different vs Better (00:28:48) - Content-Free Content and Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious (00:35:34) - The Content Pyramid: Levels One, Two, and Three (00:49:44) - The Content Pyramid: Level Four (Making Non-Obvious Connections) (00:55:32) - Debunking Common Myths About Writing and Category Creation (01:04:10) - The Difference Between More Views and More Dollars (01:11:37) - What is Category Creation? (01:14:27) - How to Create a Category: Weird Problem + Weird Solution ABOUT THE BOOK Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create A Category Of One by Category Pirates (Nicolas Cole, Christopher Lochhead, and Eddie Yoon) shares why all legendary writers who stand the test of time create a category of one. In decades past, David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, Leo Burnett, Gary Bencivenga, Al Ries & Jack Trout, and many more master communicators have all written about the psychology behind how messages spread. Snow Leopard builds on their work with dozens of new insights and frameworks, and brings category creation and design into the digital age.

In this episode, Sean talks about the 6 Questions That Will Lead to Your Success on YouTube in 2023! ****** Learn the one YouTube strategy that gets me 122,490 views PER DAY ➡️ http://ThinkMasterclass.comThis video is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission.

Episode Summary In this episode of Sunny Side Up, host Ryan Schimmel engages in an enlightening conversation with Zari Venhaus, Vice President of Corporate Marketing Communications at Eaton. Zari, a seasoned professional in product marketing, brand management, and audience-focused marketing, delves into the intricate landscape of a marketer's content strategy. The discussion centers around the crucial aspects of understanding target audiences, setting clear objectives, and integrating generative AI into marketing efforts. Zari underscores the significance of balancing creativity and process, noting that a strategic foundation is essential for successful execution. The dialogue delves into leveraging AI tools for enhanced efficiency, while Zari also acknowledges the need for cautious optimism as AI's legal implications are navigated.  About the Guest As Vice President of Corporate Marketing Communications at Eaton, Zari is responsible for driving enterprise brand positioning, content strategy, and marketing operations, and supporting Eaton's digital transformation.  Over the last 20 years, she has built her career with roles in product marketing communications, brand management, and audience-focused marketing. Her focus is on building dynamic, customer-focused marketing teams that deliver business results.Connect with Zari Venhaus Key Takeaways - Zari emphasizes the importance of audience understanding for effective content strategies. - Marketers need to target specific audiences, avoiding the mistake of targeting too many. - Effective content strategy requires understanding business, buyer decisions, and audience funnel placement. - - Successful content strategy involves knowing customers, their needs, and content usage timing. - Zari recommends close collaboration with sales teams for valuable customer insights. - Message mapping and cross-functional teams help build customer-focused value propositions. - Team development involves setting clear competencies, tools, and training paths. - Turning ideas into actions requires clear objectives, testing, and scalable processes. - Generative AI can enhance content creation and ideation, yet cautious implementation is advised due to legal uncertainties. - Embrace standardized processes and AI tools for efficiency, freeing time for strategic work. Quotes “At the heart of any content strategy is the audience.” – Zari Venhaus "The best way to drive a successful content strategy is to take as much information as you can about your customer and understand why they would be using the content you're creating and when." -– Zari Venhaus Recommended Resources Newsletter: Joe Pulizzi's Newsletters Blog: Content Marketing Institute Book: - Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout - Everybody Writes by Ann Handley Connect with Zari Venhaus ⁠⁠| ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this episode, Sean talks about his YouTube Success Strategy & 6 Questions Every Creator Should Answer in 2023 ****** Learn How to Find the Best Channel Topic That Gets Views & Earns Money

Eric is giving all of our listeners a 30 Day Free Trial! Just type in the coupon code "TDM" at the end of onboarding and you'll receive this exclusive offer!Click this link to get started! https://www.joinordo.com/‍‍Guest: Eric AppelsiesBusiness Name: OrdoCheck out Eric's Media:‍Website: https://www.joinordo.com/Email: eric@joinordo.com‍‍Other Mentions and Links:HPSP ScholarshipBank of AmericaWells FargoInvisalignHenry ScheinDarbyNet 32Open DentalGoogle AdsPositioning - Jack Trout and Al Ries‍‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍‍My Key Takeaways:Acquiring an already established practice can be tough when it comes to updating systems and processes!When hiring, be sure to utilize your internal team members and their connections.Try to hone in on 1 or 2 marketing tactics rather than all of them at once.Always have great communication and expectations set with your marketing team.Having an identifier on your phone calls for new and existing patients will streamline your patient acquisition.When ground marketing, make sure you attend the events your target demographic will be at!‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)Michael: All right. It's time to talk with our featured guest, Dr. Eric Apsey. Eric, how's it going, Eric: man? Doing well. How are you doing? Pretty Michael: good. Pretty good. If you don't mind me asking, Eric: where are you located? I am in Denver, actually, in like the suburbs. Michael: Okay, nice, nice. It's gonna be good weather out there for here for like the rest of the Eric: summer or?Yeah, I think we've heard it's supposed to be, I've read something that was supposed to be hot, but also pretty wet, so it's been a weird, we actually had a pretty, our winters are normally pretty mild. I've been out here like maybe five, six years. This last winter was a rougher winter in terms of snow, and it's been a little bit yeah, it's been a little bit wetter of a spring too than normal, which, you know, like everyone says, you know, you could always use rain, right?I feel like that's what everyone always says, but yeah, I mean, it's normally. Pretty dry here, so it's not a bad thing. So, yeah. Michael: Oh, okay, man. Awesome. So let's jump into it. Let's, I'm gonna ask you a couple questions, all right. Mainly based off of your marketing. So number one, could you briefly introduce your dental practice and the demographic you primarily Eric: serve?Yeah, so I actually, I have two dental practices in Denver. One's in like the kind of south metro area. One's in like the North Metro area, so maybe 30 miles or so apart. Both of them are de Novo offices. The one down south opened in 2017, the one up north in 2019. And the demographics that we primarily serve at the one down south it's a little bit more of an established community.So we see. More adults, empty nesters, not quite as many children. And then up at the north location that's more of a growing and emerging kind of area. Lots of new builds and stuff like that. So we're seeing a lot of younger families there too. So we tend, we tend to see more kids in kind of family age at that location.How Michael: far apart are they normally? Eric: Like those practices? Yeah, about thir, about 30 miles. So, I mean, it takes, depends on traffic, right? But yeah, it can take anywhere, say around 30, 35 minutes apart. Michael: Was that always the goal for you? Like, I want two practices, or was it, I it just started happening.Eric: Yeah, I mean initially, so my, my little backstory, my wife is also a dentist, right? We met in dental school and everything and we always kind of wanted to have at least a couple offices. we love the dentistry part too, but we also like the idea of building our own stuff as well and being able to like create our own vision with our dental practices.So we always knew we kind of wanted multiple ones. And then, I mean, one nice thing is my wife actually was the one that kind of started up. The one down south and was kind of the main driver in there, was the one up north. I was too. So, I mean, kinda the reason we were able to do two is there's just two of us, right?Mm-hmm. So we were able to kind of divide and conquer. So, yeah. Oh, okay. Gotcha, Michael: gotcha. so for you, was that always the goal? Like, I wanna do my own practice? Eric: Yeah. I mean, so my journey was after I graduated dental school 2013. Right. And then I ended up doing like a scholarship with the Navy, like the H P S P scholarship.And was in the Navy for four years until 2017. During that time my wife and I had actually bought kind of an old Practice from, you know, an old dentist that really wasn't doing much and kind of fix and flip that. So we had done an acquisition when I was in the military and then from that experience we had said, you know, there were a lot of, there's a lot of challenges with buying a practice that doesn't have like good systems in place and you're just getting it kind of just cheap.So that kind of made us realize, hey, maybe if when we do this again, cause we weren't gonna stay in California where I was stationed, let's look in doing our own thing and doing it from scratch so we can kind of like, you know, create our own vision. Michael: Gotcha. Shit. What challenges were there that you can just think of right now where it's like, man, I don't know, like for acquisitions, if somebody's like, Hey man, I wanna do an acquisition, the first things you wanna let them know Eric: is what, My only experience is buying a practice. So like it was, I think the practice was doing maybe like $360,000, right? It was an old dentist who needed to retire for, you know, certain medical reasons. And so that's my only experience there. So I don't really have any experience if it was like a, you know, a 2 million practice or a really, you know, well ran practice.But from that, The one pro was, yeah, it was really inexpensive to buy. So like going out and getting a bank loan from B of A or Wells Fargo was pretty easy. Right. But it comes with a lot of challenges. Cause you know, obviously with the practice not being that strong of an office. From a production standpoint, made it challenging, more challenging with staff, right?When you wanna put your processes in place. They'd been there for 30 years, right? So we had a lot of challenges. The dentist wasn't honestly the greatest to transition with. There were challenges there too. So even though sometimes I think if you were doing an acquisition and you were trying to do something like we were, where it's like, Hey, I'll buy a practice that's like a cheap practice that looks like it's a gem, right?A lot of times there's a reason that it's a cheaper practice to buy and it wasn't doing well. So, I mean, there, yeah, there were a lot of challenges. So that, that, like, from that, I would say that's You can go into it and do it. Just don't expect, just because it was cheap that it's gonna be like easy at all.It's gonna have a lot of challenges with it as well. Michael: Yeah, I always hear it's like the team where it's like really hard to bring them on board and stuff like that. Eric: Yeah, definitely. Just because like I said, so the other challenge is we did that when, what my wife and I were like, Late twenties. Right. So, you know, and the, the, the team that was all there were in their fifties.Right. So it was a challenge. It, it is a challenge when you're trying to transition from a dentist who's older, had been there forever, the team has been there forever. And then, you know, the new owners or new doctors come in and they're the age of like, That those team members' children, right. So mm-hmm.It was very challenging to get them on board and get that level of respect. that was probably a big challenger. Right? Yeah, Michael: no, definitely, definitely. I get you. Okay, so then number two, in which category would you place your practice? Was it urban, suburban, rural, D s L, private practice, solo, docker, et cetera?Eric: So let's just start the one down south. So that's in a, it's in a suburb area, right? A pretty well established suburb area. It's private practice, right? Cause my, my wife and I own it. There, we have one associate dentist there right now, and a couple hygienists. It's mainly a general, it's a general practice.All the docs that work there are general dentists, but our associate is great with, you know, kind of being a. The super general dentist, right? Like mm-hmm. Enjoys doing third molar extractions, sedation some root canals adult ortho or aligners. All that kind of stuff.So it does help us that we brought on associates who like to do a lot more than I guess what you would typically say a general dentist would do. And then the other location up north. I'm working there. I have another associate doctor that works there as well. Same thing, private practice. And kind of suburb area, but like a growing suburb area.So like a lot of residential, but not really a lot of commercial spaces there yet. So that, that's been really, I'm, I'm glad we kind of made that decision where we picked that location. It's, it's worked out well. And same thing he likes to do, you know, he had gotten the G P R, so he got extra training, which was great.So when we brought him on, he already was comfortable with, you know, all extractions, third molars, sedation, kind of the same stuff as the associate that we have down south. Gotcha. Okay. Michael: Well, how did you find your Eric: associates? kind of a good story. So, the first associate we had just kind of put an ad out, right?And he had reached out to us that he was graduating from his G P R and was moving out to Denver. So, met him, had a, you know, great interview, brought him on, and then my office up north had been growing a lot and this was probably 2021, beginning of 2022. My practice up north was growing a lot and just to expand services and do some of the things that I didn't do as a dentist, I wanted to bring an associate on too that had a wider scope of what they wanted to do.And so my associate down south. he had a friend from dental school who was finishing who was actually working out here had finished his G P R at the same time as that associate down there. Was working a job and just really wasn't that happy. And so it was kind of like an, like a, I didn't have to do any marketing or I didn't have to go through LinkedIn or reach out to people because we had a good relationship with this associate down south.He pretty much said, Hey, I have a buddy who is looking for a new job. I went to school with him. I already know him. It's good. He's a good guy. And so, you know, we were able to bring him on. So, I think that just showed finding, you know, good associates, building good connections with them. That was great that we were able to find another associate just internally, right?Mm-hmm. Versus having to go out and interview a bunch of people, and that's worked out great too. Gotcha. Michael: Okay. So you kind of, you, do you always leave it open like as in the sense of like you let your associates know, or your team know like, Hey guys, we're always looking for applicants SMAs or no Eric: on for associate?It probably just depends on, it's all in like capacity issues, right? So right now it, both offices we're pretty like stable where we're at and still growing. But I haven't hit that next point to where. I'm having such a hard time getting patients in for months and months and months that I need another producer right now.I think it's, like you said, it's always good to just keep the door open and just say, Hey, we're continuing to grow. We want to grow as we do, we're gonna need more providers. So, if you know people like, always share the word about your experience here. But like actively all the time.No, and that's just based on like I said, we're pretty stable on the providers we have. Gotcha. Michael: Okay. Good man, that's awesome. That's a great way to, uh, you know what I mean, continue to get like associates, especially like, you know what I mean, within your own internal team. Eric: Yeah, yeah. It was great. Cause they all, they already knew each other, right?So when we do meetings and we do things with them and help them grow, it's nice because they already had an existing relationship and so it just, it just creates a really good environment. Michael: Yeah. No, no, no. I, I agree. So then what has been your experience with different marketing companies and which strategies have proved to be the most effective?Eric: Yeah, good question. So experience with different marketing companies. I think probably a lot of the same challenges that a lot of the listeners have here too, you know, I've had as well, it's, marketing. I feel it is such a soft science, right? And it's very easy. To get suckered into companies who we promise you X amount of new patients in this time or your money back, and it's very gim.It can be very, very gimmicky. okay, so going back to the beginning when we had the practice back in California, right? We just kind of did some research, went and saw who had good reviews, marketing agencies picked one who promised kind of the world, That didn't really get delivered after, we noticed after a few months.And so we're like, all right, well that's not really gonna work. And so we had challenges even then when we moved out to, Colorado out here. You know, we had gone through two, three different marketing companies that, first, everything seems great. And then push all these different kind of avenues to grow and do all that.And then when you start trying to track things and figure things out, you're finding that you're maybe not getting the same returns that were promised. So honestly the thing that's really worked for us recently is kind of just going back to the basics a little bit. And so the current marketing company that we use, We're just honing really in and from like a, a digital perspective of just doing Google Ads, making sure we're ranking really well, and that we have really good reviews.We were just finding, with when tracking right on where our new patients were coming from, so many of a majority were coming from, Hey, you guys, you know, rank high and you guys had really good reviews, And that's what everyone was saying. So we listened to what our customers were saying.That's how they were finding us. And so we just kind of doubled down and really focused in on that. And it made it a lot easier because we didn't, now, we don't have, now, I don't have to track direct mailers like I was in the past. I don't have to do as much ground marketing as I was in the past and track all these different things.We were able to just hone in on a couple things, make sure they're done really, really well, and it's worked Michael: nice. Okay. Right now. Could you tell us the name of your marketing company, Eric: the one you're using right now? So I use a guy who is based overseas actually, and it's his name is eSSH.He works with a lot of general practices, works with DSOs as well too. So yeah, that's, that's who I'm using. And that was just from internal referrals from other friends. But yeah, and I haven't really seen a drop off. I mean, at first you're kind of scared sometimes cause you're like, oh, you know, you're outsourcing stuff and you're outsourcing it overseas.But, honestly, the cost has dropped down a bit and I've seen no drop or possibly even a little bit of an increase in the number of new patients I've seen. So, you know, I was hesitant at first, but honestly it no complaints. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. When it came to the marketing companies that promised the world, how long did you stick with them?Eric: Yeah. I mean, you always wanna stick a little bit, right? Mm-hmm. Like, you don't wanna be one of those people that just switches after a month or two. We would give it a good, say, six months to a year. Especially because a lot of them, we're pushing direct mailers, right? And so in the beginning we used direct mailers a lot.Like that is what we did. It's expensive. Mm-hmm. And, the whole proposition on that was, well, you know, you gotta hit the consumer three, four or five times with like, same messaging, all that kind of stuff. You gotta put, deals in for place for them, all that kind of stuff. And, you know, you do get calls for 'em.So a lot of times we would wait with a marketer to at least do that first round of direct mail because we didn't wanna like commit and then back out halfway through. But I mean, usually within a first, the first few months little red flags we would notice were, that they weren't tracking the KPIs for us or any type of roi, right?Mm-hmm. On what we were getting. You know, communication was poor. It was almost like they spent a lot of time trying to get me. And then once they had me as a customer, it was kind of like just, okay, now we'll push 'em off, right? Mm-hmm. And so those were some red flags that I had noticed were just, yeah, it was, it was great in the beginning, but after a couple months you're like, all right, well this guy's not responding anymore.You know? He used to respond every, you know, and within 30 minutes and now it's a few days, and so yeah, those are some of the red flags I kind of noticed. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. And then how much budget do you typically allocate for your marketing Eric: activities? Yeah, so budgeting, like I said right now, because we're really focused in on just a few things.Our ad spend, it is dependent on where you live too, right? Mm-hmm. And how expensive, AdWords are and stuff. But we're spending anywhere from like, say two to three grand a month in ad spend and then just a management fee. Um, That's pretty small to the marketer that I use. So maybe all in for each office we're spending maybe.Three grand at one, four grand at the other, say. And we're seeing on average, say 60 to 80 new patients probably for each office which, happy with. Michael: Yeah, that's really good. So you're getting around a month, 60 to 80 Eric: new patients? Yeah. Each office. Yeah. Got it. Like for e not total. Each office gets between that.Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Michael: So like in total it would be like 160 kind of thing, Eric: right? Like yeah, probably anywhere from, say like, One 30 to one 50 if you averaged it. Probably around there. Yeah. Okay. Michael: On can you tell your highest months? Yeah, I knew we got that much cuz we were spending, or we were doing this or we were doing that, or, or you can't really tell.I mean, Eric: I'm trying, so I was looking back at that our, our biggest month ever was, we've had a couple times that we've gone over a hundred at the location that's up north. Some of that has been, it, it really wasn't that we spent more in ad spend that month. We just had a lot of openings and we had a lot of open capacity at the office.So kind of the issues that I'm starting to run in now is, you know, I'm getting say 60 to 80 new patients, but, just based on the size of the office. a new patient calls, we always try to get 'em in within the week, but I mean, we're starting to book out more so in my head we, I could probably get more new patients in.I'm just running into a capacity issue. So the reason I was able to see a hundred that one month is we just had a lot of openings in that June for some reason. And so we were able just to fill in tons of new patients there. So the positive. From that on my perspective is if I feel like I pushed it harder and either, extended hours or opened up a new operatory, did something like that and created more space to see more patients, then I could, probably get even more new patients in.So yeah, that's probably why we had that higher number. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. Okay. So it was more slots open, available in the schedule. Exactly. Exactly. Interesting. Okay. And then how equipped is your team in converting calls into actual Eric: patients? I feel like we're pretty good with it. I've made sure to train my team to always answer the phone.And one thing that we've actually done, which is a I forgot where I had learned it, but it was a good little nugget of information that on our phone system, right? When someone calls in, they, you know, it says, Hey, welcome to our office. If you're a new patient, press one. If you're an existing patient, press two, right?Mm-hmm. So if they press one and they're a new patient, the phone will ring longer. It'll go through, I don't know, four or five rings, right? Whereas if it's an existing patient, but it'll go for a shorter period of time. That way, my whole team knows if the calls ring longer, like it's gone through its third ring or its fourth ring, hey that is 100% someone who's calling to be a new patient.You gotta drop what you're doing. You gotta answer that phone. We cannot let that go to voicemail. Right. We need to answer that. Yeah. So we implemented that system in place and so my whole team knows that. Hey, even if I'm doing something else, if I hear the phone ringing and it's still been ringing for longer than normal, I gotta pick that up cause that's probably a new patient.Right? Cuz like all of us know those new patients cost money, right? We gotta put marketing efforts in to get that. So, my team knows to do that and that's a little trick we did to get them on board to answer that and then, We have a, just a very simple paper intake form that just has some basic questions on it that kind of directs our team on what to ask for whether, just a.New patient appointment for a checkup and cleaning, or if it's a limited exam, right, they need to come in for an emergency. If it's a new patient exam, we make sure we build our schedule out that we can get them in within the week, right? Because you don't want a patient calling and saying, oh, well we can't get you, you know?And we say, Hey, we can't get you in for three weeks. They're gonna find somewhere else. Or they'll make the appointment and then not show up. Right? So we make sure we have capacity in our schedule to be able to see them, within a decent timeframe. And then if it's an emergency, one thing I have told all my team is we gotta get them in same day.You know, we don't need to promise that we're gonna start treatment on 'em, right? But we can at least get 'em in to address their concerns and figure out what's going on. Patients really appreciate that, and that has created a lot of goodwill within our community that patients know they can come in and see us.We've had a couple patients who call in for emergencies because the dentist down the street or wherever they normally go, can't see 'em for three days. We get 'em in the same day and then we convert them over to our practice. So it's been a great way to, gain more patience by doing that. Michael: Gotcha.Okay man. So then they basically fill out that new patient form real quick and then bring them in. Eric: Right. Yeah. We have 'em fill in. So everything else is pretty much digital in the office, right? Mm-hmm. So when they fill out that intake form, then it's my scheduler's job or whoever has, whoever's taking the call to find time within our schedule to get them in.We'll try to get, you know, basic insurance information, all that kind of stuff so we can make the appointment go a little more smoothly when they come in, right from that perspective. and then, yeah, they pretty much just, they, we'd get 'em in. Michael: Gotcha. Awesome, man. And then could you elaborate on any unique.Ground marketing or outta the box strategies that have been successful for your practice. Eric: So when we did, because our practices were startups, right? So I feel like in the beginning we had to try to get creative, cuz you come in with no pa, no new patients, right? So, and you don't have, your website isn't built up, you don't have a ton of good reviews, all that kind of stuff.So a lot of the things I'm doing now is a byproduct of. Time, and being able to build all that. But in the beginning, yeah, some of the ground marketing I did and was, we went to all the apartment complexes that were nearby, you know, gave gift, either gift baskets to the people working there or asked to drop certain, flyers and different things in there new mover baskets that they'll give, right?Mm-hmm. To new tenants coming in. And saw some decent results with that in the beginning. I don't do that anymore because it's not, it's not really needed because we. Built up the new patient flow to where it needs to be. But in the beginning, man, you gotta kind of just grind, right? So, I mean, we did that, you know, I went to the towns we're in, they have like festivals, every summer.And so we took a booth out, wore our swag that we had and just, had 'em. Play like a game to win a prize. Then we try to get their information in, you know, as long as they put in their information, then we try to reach out to them later to try to get them to schedule. One issue we did see with that, and it's probably just dependent on the market you're in and where it is is my office is, don't take Medicaid insurance, but one of the festivals we were at, it was a heavy A lot of people who were there, used Medicaid for their dental benefits.And so that didn't work that well for us because, I mean, we didn't really know what the demographic was gonna be, who was gonna be at that, right? Like, there's no way to know that. But that was one good learning lesson is, the, the audience we were targeting wasn't the audience that was at that, mm-hmm.Ground marketing kind of event. Right? Yeah. But you know, I've thrown around tons of other like, kind of ideas, but it kind of goes back to that first point that I had was. initially I think you gotta do some of that ground marketing, but one I think you really hone in and focus in on, you get good reviews, right?As fast as you can. you get really good marketing company that can just build your rankings and build a really good modern website. That's good, that's easy for patients to use. we use a software that has kind of like a local med right, where the patients can schedule online to make it convenient for them.And we just really focusing on building those few things really well. And it's allowed us to kind of step away from having to do all this ground marketing that we, you know, in my head I'm like, oh, this is gonna be huge. Right. Because a, that takes a lot of time too. Mm-hmm. You know, my time, team members time, right.I gotta pay team members to be there, whereas, I have to pay for the Google ad, but don't have to pay for a team member to be there. So, we've definitely pivoted more to just, like I said, focusing in on those few main things and it's, it's been good. Michael: Yeah. The Pareto principle, right?Like you're focusing in on the this pretty good, pretty good. Exactly. Exactly. Have you ever faced a situation where the promised results were not achieved within the expected Eric: timeframe? Yeah, I mean, yeah, kind of like I alluded to earlier, you know, the one good thing about the marketer that I use now is it's pretty straightforward. Easy to get in touch with. I kind of know I, expectations are good, but yeah, in the past, so like, for example, the previous marketer I used. Before this one was a local marketer in Colorado. He was a de dental specific still, right? Like I still reco, you know, I'd still recommend you pick a dental specific marketer, right?Mm-hmm. he had all these huge ideas on what he was gonna do every week. It was, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, and then nothing would ever come to fruition. So that was kind of frustrating. I also found out, cause I had some friends that were clients of his as well.And they, you know, we'd talk and they'd say, Hey, I'm doing really well with him and, we're doing x, y, and z marketing things. And I was like, well, those never, how come those never got mentioned to me? I'm only 15 miles away from this other office. Why? Why is he telling them and not telling me?So I'd have to go back and say, I just talked to my friend, they said they're doing this and this with you. Just how come we're not having consistency here? Like everything's kind of all over the map and not organized. So, that was kind of frustrating as well, where I felt like I wasn't getting at least the options to know everything.Right. so then direct mailers too, like we used those in the beginning. And those, those did work for a bit, but then kind of tailed off and didn't really give us much of an ROI after that. But those were, those cost a lot of money and, sometimes marketers I think would promise, a certain result from those.And then when we would track it, we're like, well, we got like a third of that. Right? Like, Hey, you're gonna get. I'm just throwing random numbers, like you're gonna get 20 calls on this and we'd see like six. Right. And it would be consistent. So I think a lot of times, A lot of times I think it was just over-promising and underdelivering.Mm-hmm. Right. Or with rankings, previous marketer, I used two before this one. That's helped me boost my rankings, All right. How come rankings aren't where they're at? How come I'm still ranked like 20th and there's 20 dentists in the area, right? Why am I at the bottom? feel like we've got good reviews, we've got a good website, all this stuff.Oh, no, no, we're working on it. It takes time. It takes time. three months later, Hey, I'm still 20th, man, you know? Are we working on, oh, yeah, no, no, we're working. We're good. Next month. I'm at 19, right? See, see, we made some progress. Now we're at 19 and it's like, All right. Well, I mean, I'm paying you every month.Like I'd like to see some, possible, some quicker results. What do we need to do that? I'll do what you deem me to do. Just tell me. And so I think we were running into issues where it was just a lot of that Right. Just, you know, mm. Not being able to deliver. Yeah. Yeah. Michael: That's true. I feel like especially the SEO game, It's like that, where they're like, oh, you gotta optimize your website. You gotta piss optimize. You're like, well, whatcha you doing every month to really optimize this thing? Yeah. Paying a fee all the time, you Eric: know? Yeah. And it's not meant to try to be negative on it. I get, it's a really soft science, and I'm not a marketer, so I don't understand all the workings of it, but I think the issue is, is when.The promise or the expected delivery is we're gonna get you on the first page within X timeframe. What would happen is that timeframe would happen and it wouldn't happen. And so then I think as like Dennis, like us, we say, okay, well I just paid you X amount of money with the goal that we would get here.We're not here. And then it was always like a new excuse of why it didn't happen. So, I'm happy with, who I've got now. We've been able to deliver on the results and it's been good. Michael: Awesome man. So who you got now? The marketing company or the guy who's doing your, your marketing right now.What specific actions have they undertaken for you? Like, I know you said they're doing your digital or Google ads, and then at the same time seo, but specifically like what do they recommend from you? Or what they, would they ask for you? Eric: Yeah. Yeah. So for me, I'll use Slack, like, I don't know if you've ever used that app.Right. Just to communicate. And so we'll communicate on there. in the beginning he came through and he's like, Hey, I need to, like every marketer, I need to reoptimize your website. Right? So, you know, he went through and he told me, Hey get me a video here. This'll help if we put this here, I wanna put a call to action here.Here's the reason why I need some photos of this, this, and this. And so he would just gimme tasks of what I needed. I would send it to him, and then he would do it. Right. And that's, and we communicate mostly through like Slack, which is kind of nice. And then in terms of ads, a lot of it is, when I do meetings with him, it's, Hey, what do you, at your practice, what are you looking for right now?Right. Do you wanna see more emergencies? Okay, let's push Google Ads. Here's some of the recommendations that I have for ads that we do. Look over it. Tell me if you're okay as well with how it's worded, right? Because we wanna make sure things are worded how we want, right? Because to make sure there's not any, like either errors or we're saying something that we can't promise on, right?So I, I like to just do a quick double check just to make sure, or hey, My associate wants to get more into uh, clear aligners, right. You know, like Invisalign kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. And he'd say, okay, let's make a, let's make a landing page and try to put an offer on there.This is what I'm recommending what do you think? And I look my stuff and say, yeah, we're good. So he is like, all right, we're gonna drive traffic to here, and then it's gonna push them through to your site and then they can schedule. Right. So we kind of just are a little more collaborative and we kind of talk about that stuff and then, it's pretty basic.He just tells me what he needs and then he does it right. Which, sometimes, I think we think things have to be complicated for them to actually feel like they're good. And sometimes I think there's a lot of genius in people that can take things that. Are complicated, make 'em very simple and then just make 'em work, right?Yeah. And that's kind of what I've been finding with this marketer. So it's been good. Nice man. Michael: Awesome. Awesome. And then can you share any other strategic changes apart from marketing that you implemented and found to contribute Eric: to your success? So apart from marketing, For us, I think what's helped attribute our to our success in general and being able to grow both the, startup practices I feel like pretty strongly in a, in a relatively short amount of time.It's just having systems and processes in place, right. I kind of had to learn that the hard way. between the two of us, my wife is way more of the systems person, way more of the organized person. Mm-hmm. Hold people accountable. And I tend to just be like the fun one who just comes to hang out.Right. And so there's a lot of cons to being that type of person. Right. Especially when we had our first child a few years ago and she had to step away from the businesses and, then it was all on me to kind of. Take over it. And you know, I knew all the systems, but you know, I wasn't following 'em as much and I didn't track to make sure they were being done.The team kind of noticed I was, not doing my checklist of stuff I had to do in a, and then they stopped. Right? And so it caused the practices to kind of, dip a little bit. And so I kind of had to, Think about all that and kind of have a little heart, heart to it myself and say, Hey man, you got two options.Like we know these systems work. Either need to do it and be the leader of it or don't, and then they'll continue to dip. So once I started following more of our, you know, our systems for how we order our systems for, how we track lab or all that kind of stuff, right? That comes into a practice.Once I started actually. Holding myself and other people accountable to that, then the practices starts to, to get going better again. Right. And doing well again. So I would think the one thing that really contributed and contributes continuously to our success is just having systems in place and making sure that we're following those systems.Michael: Okay, so having systems right now, if you can think about it, what are like one or two systems where you're like, man, we created it. It's a unique system in our practice. We love it Eric: and it's amazing. Yeah, so that's great. I mean, probably for me it's probably all ordering stuff. Right? And then I'll, this kind of goes into, how I ended up creating a software company too that's based on.Like an ordering system. Right. So, little bit of a backstory. So when Covid hit right, it hit all of us as dental offices, right? We were all shut down. It was mandated, you know, some longer, some shorter, but in Colorado we were shut down for six weeks unless it was like a, just a straight up emergency, right?So, say mid-March to beginning of May my wife and I were just home, right? And we brought the office phone back to our office at our house. And we were just answering calls and we kind of said, all right, well, you know, since we kind of have to bootstrap this, the entire staff was furloughed, right?we'll take calls when we're not doing that, what are we gonna do with our time? Like, we had a little kid at home, but like when they're sleeping and stuff, it's like, we're not just gonna sit around and watch tv, right? Like, how can we, how can we actually like take this negative experience and make it positive?So we said, all right, let's look at all of our different processes, What are we doing? Let's look at our systems, let's review everything. So we started to go through all of our different systems and. We had gotten onto ordering and you know, we had a spreadsheet and everything and it was good. It was organized.And at that same time though, I realized that I had to order, right. Usually my assistant ordered, but my order, my assistant's not working for me. So, we were looking and we were trying to find the things that everyone was trying to find. Right. All the PPE you're trying to find. Yeah.Gloves, masks. You know, you've got, I had my Henry Shine tab up and I had my Darby tab up and my net 32, and then some random supplier in like China or something, right? Mm-hmm. And you got all of them up and you're trying to figure out, I need to get this kn N 95 max. No, no, no. It needs to be a level three.No, it needs to at least be this. Right. And then with gloves, but we need, you know, I wear larges. Oh, they only have extra smalls, right? And they're like, crap, okay, what does Darby have? What do they have? And one second, it's in stock. Then you press add to cart and it's now it's unavailable, right?And the prices are skyrocketing and there's all these issues with this. And so we're like, man, this is kind of tough. We're like, I wonder if there's like a better way to, outside of all this covid stuff, just to kind of order in general, right? Mm-hmm. Cause we were seeing all those challenges.So the idea for the software company we created Ordo like O R D O was born and so, They kind of first just started out as an idea to just take all of those vendors that we all use and just have 'em on one platform because, it's so annoying to have to click between 10 different tabs and, compare prices and do all that.So at first, the tool was just built out as a way to link all of the vendors that you have, put 'em on one platform. You search for an item, like if I was searching for Septocaine, right? I press search and then I can see. Septocaine, I can see all the vendors I've linked. I can price compare right then and there in real time.these are all made up numbers, but shine's numbers, it's, it's 45 bucks for Shine, it's, it's 50 bucks for Darby and it's 55 for net 32. Okay, well I'm gonna pick Henry Shine. It's in stock and it's there. So that's where that idea was born to just make it a lot easier for dental offices, assistant office managers, whoever who's ever ordering to be able to just.Place their orders and then it's grown, right? So we went from there and said, all right, well how else do you continue to build out an ordering system? Right? You gotta be able to track your inventory, track your budget, all that stuff too. So we've built out additional features where you know, you can track your budget.In real time so your team knows where they're at. You don't have to have a spreadsheet for that anymore. with inventory we can track all of your orders on one platform from all your different vendors. You can check to see, if it's shipped, you can click on the tracking link to know when it's expected.So pretty much from start to finish, you can order supplies and track all your inventory, which is great. We let users keep their current. Prices if they're part of a buying group, they get to keep the current prices they have with them. So, doesn't create an issue. And then we've even, sorry, I know I get excited about talking about this.No, it's good. It's good. Feel free to stop me if you need me to, but no. One other thing that we did cool that I feel like differentiates us from the other people in the space that are doing something similar is we've actually linked up directly with open dental. Right. You know how their softwares will do that as well.You know, there's a way where you can link your open dental account to Oro and we can first, we can pull all of your budgets automatically. So we'll just take your, you know, monthly report that shows your production or collections, and we can sync it straight into Oro and then it'll update, every month.So your team doesn't have to manually put in all that stuff again. And the other thing that we did that's really cool with Open Dental is we created a feature called FutureCast. And what that does is it allows us to scan your schedule on open dental, either a week out, two weeks out, just you know, certain timeframes into the future.We can compare how many of a certain procedure you have compared to what you normally do, like historically. So like for Example that actually happened. My associate had a ton of extractions scheduled in the following week. He had a full mouth case. He had a thirds case. He had a ton of just single teeth.He had like 30 more extractions than he normally does. That's what we figured out by running future cast. And so what it did is it allowed my assistant to be really proactive and she said, Hey, look, The doc here is doing 30 more extractions. Do I have enough bone graft? Do I have enough sutures?Do I have enough membrane? Do I have enough of the things I need, or my doc needs to be able to do these procedures so it's not Monday and we're scrambling to try to get stuff, you know, next day air sent over. So she was able to be proactive about her ordering. And it solved a huge issue. It was a super smooth week.We kept production. We didn't have to reschedule patients, you know, and everyone got, what they needed to get done and there was no stress then because she just was able to be proactive. But yeah. Cool. Yeah. So, yeah. That's nice man. Pretty Michael: excited about it. Yeah. And this is going live when?Eric: So right now we are just, we just got out of beta. We're doing kind of a soft launch with a few other offices just to kind of work out some final kinks on it. But, our goal is, June 1st, we're gonna start kind of doing a little bit heavier of uh, bringing on some more offices.And then July 1st is when we'd like to be full steam ahead, anyone can join on. And yeah, just go from there. So yeah, we're real, we're really, really excited. A lot of work development takes a long time, but it's definitely been worth it. It's been great. Michael: No man, it's gonna be exciting stuff.Awesome. So we'll talk about that a little bit and especially the exclusive offer you have for our listeners in a bit. But one of the last questions I wanted to ask you is, as a practice owner, what advice would you give to our listeners regarding effective marketing and ROI Eric Applesies DRAFT-cm: tracking? Eric: Yeah, that's a really, really good question.I was kind of contemplating and thinking about that a little bit it kind of goes back to what I've kind of been talking about throughout the podcast, I feel like is. Eventually just once you've got your practice established and you're good, just going back to the basics a little bit on what you're doing with marketing, right?And this is just from like the last year of when we've just kind of gone back to keeping it simple. And I think I tell a new practice owner, Hey, in the beginning you gotta go hard. You gotta ground market, you gotta do whatever you can. You gotta hustle, right? To get those new patients in.Cause you're, you know, if you're a startup, you're starting with nothing. And if you're a transition, I mean maybe not as much cause you maybe already have new patient flow. But I would say it's really just go back to the basics. focus first and on. If you're doing an acquisition, check to see what your reviews are like.If they're not where they need to be, get 'em up. Right? Use a company that does review management, right? There's a ton of 'em out there that'll help make it easy for you, right? Mm-hmm. Build up your reviews. 90 plus percent of your patients it happens every time I tell 'em, or I ask 'em, how'd you hear about us?It's always, you guys had amazing reviews. Right? And they're not just, you know, at our office, we just don't have a five star review with no. Like comment underneath it that the user left, it'll be a five star review and it'll say, I had a great experience. You know, Dr. So-and-so was great. The assistance were great.It's a long response. And potential customers or patients love to see those. So I would say build reviews, build them as fast as you can, and make sure they're quality reviews right. Focus in on that. Focused in on getting a marketing company that, doesn't try to over promise. If they're trying to over promise on stuff and like, Hey, we're gonna make you first in the rankings and all that, it's probably a red flag cuz I don't think they're doing something that's special that another marketing company can't.I have not been convinced yet that there's some special sauce that some market one marketing company has that other ones don't. Right. So, I don't see a lot of difference between them in terms of that. I would say, Get a really good website, make sure it's modern. Something that people wanna see, right?That users don't feel like. Cause if a, if a website feels old or it's not working, then they probably attribute that to your office, right? If it's modern, it looks new, it's clean, it's easy to use, you can schedule online, then you've created a smooth process for them before they've even seen you. So they have the expectations subconsciously in their head that my appointment is gonna be smooth too, right?So make it easy for 'em. And Yeah, and I, I'd say yeah, focusing on, focusing on those Google ads have worked really well for us. They're very hands-off. Once you have 'em running, you don't have to think about 'em. I found more of the marketing that I don't have to think about and just gets done and it gets done effectively.Frees up more time for me and it's less things I have to think about. So that's why I like those as well. But yeah, I would, I would say focusing on those things. Michael: Awesome, man. I appreciate your time. And real quick, where can people find out more about Ordo at the same time? The exclusive deal. All that stuff.Eric: Yeah. Yeah. So our website, it's join ordo.com. Very easy process. Once you go in you can check out the website, kind of see our vendors we have on there kind of see all the features that we have. You can onboard straight from the website, which is great. Onboarding takes safe five to 10 minutes, and then you're good to go.So, very easy as well. And yeah, so the offer that I wanted to, you know, give all the listeners here is just the first month free, That way it gives everyone a chance to use the platform, love it as much as we do. Make sure it's a good fit and everything. And if you just use promo code T D M and you put it in to the end of onboarding, there'll be a spot.Then it'll apply and you'll be good. Michael: Nice guys. So you're gonna get a month for free. Check it out. Taste it, right. Feel it. It's interesting. But future cast is really, really interesting. You know what I mean? Like everything's really great. But that to me, I was like, oh, snap. Eric: Yeah, we're really, and honestly it was through a friend who was like, you know, I was giving, I was just asking some friends about it, and he was like, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this?And I was like, yes, that would be amazing. We should do that. And so, yeah, we built it out. I, I really, I'm really, really excited about that feature. I feel like it's something that hasn't been seen before and it's gonna provide a lot of value to practices, so, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Michael: definitely. Awesome. Eric, thank you so much for your time.If wanted, if anyone wanted to reach out to you, where can they find you? Eric: Yeah my email is Eric e r i c, join ordo.com. So feel free there. And yeah, I'll I'm happy to answer any questions for you. Michael: Awesome. So guys, that's gonna be in the show notes below, along with the exclusive deal and the Ordo website if you guys want to go check it out.And Eric, thank you for being with us. It's been a pleasure and we'll hear Eric: from you soon. Sounds great. Thanks for having me.‍‍

What a beautiful book and what a beautiful day

In this episode, Sean talks about how small YouTube creators can win against big competitors! ****** Learn How to Find the Best Channel Topic That Gets Views & Earns Money

Today my guest on the I Want To Know podcast is Alicia Johnson. Alicia helps communities and community-centered organizations prepare, respond, and recover from disaster. You can learn more about her work at twolynchpinroad.com and through her newsletter Ready for Anything. As an emergency manager with two decades of on-the-ground experience, she brings connection and peace of mind to those she works with.Here are some of the most valuable moments in our conversation:00:00 - Introduction10:19 - Derek Sivers Podcast Strategy Is Brilliant!11:14 - Do This Before You Start A Podcast (4 Steps)37:40 - People Will Pay For Your Expertise If You Understand ThisShow Notes

Launching a startup in today's highly competitive business landscape can be challenging, particularly in the medical field. However, physician entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to identify gaps in the market and develop innovative solutions that improve patient outcomes.Join this conversation where we dive into the world of physician entrepreneurship with two experts in the field, Todd and Kim Saxton. Both professors for a physician MBA program at Indiana University have extensive experience working with doctor entrepreneurs and have been advisors, consultants, and board members for numerous physician-led businesses.In this podcast, we explore the various paths that physician entrepreneurs can take, including angel investing and innovation within the medical field. We also discuss the common pitfalls that physician-led startups face and strategies to avoid them. Whether you're a medical practitioner exploring entrepreneurship or an investor looking to support physician-led startups, this episode offers valuable insights and practical tips to help you succeed in this exciting field.Key Highlights from the Show[00:01] Episode intro and a quick bio of the guests, Todd & Kim Saxton[02:38] A quick background of Todd & Kim Saxton and how they got into what they do[04:04] Why Kim decided to shift to marketing at MIT[06:28] Why medicine is both a science and art[11:05] Risk vs uncertainty in a physician's business[16:42] Different paths to entrepreneurship for physicians[19:03] Other avenues that medical graduates go to apart from medical fields[26:11] Entrepreneurship mistakes and how to avoid them[27:48] Three things that sink many of the startup ships[33:34] What physician startups can improve on[41:13] What Todd & Kim  wishes to have put more resources into their entrepreneurship journey[43:05] Best ways to reach out and connect with the guestsNotable Quotes Being in medicine is not only a science but also an art. You can have great qualifications, but if you lack the art of communicating with your patients. You will not help them.  [06:28]Everyone is good at a certain phase of business. [26:11]As a startup, you must know where to put emphasis. It is much better to focus on the why than on the how and what. [30:21]Resources MentionedThe 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! by Al Ries and Jack Trout:  https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Startups by Todd & Kim Saxton: https://www.amazon.com/Titanic-Effect-Successfully-Navigating-Uncertainties/dp/1642792144Connect With Todd & Kim SaxtonWebsite: https://www.titaniceffect.com/LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/profmkimsaxtonFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TitanicEffect/ Thank you for listening to FROM MD To Entrepreneur PodcastTune in every Wednesday, 5 AM PST. Follow Us on our socials Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/frommdpodcast/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/from-md-to-entrepreneur/ Website - https://www.frommd.com/episodes/

There are no shortcuts to success! Here's what all entrepreneurs need to hear to expand their net worth and raise capital for the long haul! Links + Resources:Connect with Tim on Instagram | @tim.caliseDM Tim the word ‘Cayla' for a surprise gift on Instagram!Join Tim's VIP Email Community | https://timcalise.com/vipThe 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack TroutSubmit Your Crafted Deals Application!Increase your INCOME, PORTFOLIO, and IMPACT!https://caylacraft.com/Check out the program to Rewire YOU for Business & take your business to the next level!Caylacraftpodcast.comCONNECT WITH CAYLA!Follow Cayla on Instagram @cayla.craftWebsite https://caylacraft.com/Watch + Subscribe on YouTube - Cayla CraftShow Notes:Are you cut out for entrepreneurship? Find out what it takes to make millions with Tim Calise, business coach, investor, and advisor to over a dozen privately held companies! Tim is here to share his knowledge and advice when it comes to investing in yourself, raising capital, growing your net worth, standing out in the crowd, and much more. We'll discuss the do's and don'ts of entrepreneurship that may be your key to unlocking rapid expansion. How do you master discipline and build self awareness? What can you do to set yourself up for long term success with the stock market? Who is going to make your business even better? There may be no shortcuts to success, but you can still make the journey even more profitable along the way! 00:25 Introducing the expert advisor Tim Calise, a business coach, investor, and 7 time founder!01:20 Is there a common quality to a successful business?02:50 Tips for growing self-awareness.04:30 What was your goal when you were 10 years old?07:10 Why should we stop writing business plans?09:05 What advice would you give to someone who is their own brand?11:30 What makes the business better?12:15 Who is meant to be an entrepreneur?14:55 How do you know when and where to focus your energy?18:35 What are your investment criteria?20:20 If you were to start over, what would you invest in first?22:20 How do you get involved in the stock market?26:30 Do you need both real estate and stocks?29:25 What does due diligence look like?32:25 How did you build up discipline?34:05 How did you raise capital only to give it back?39:10 What was the key to your success?41:00 Top three things to do to raise a million.42:55 How do you find high net worth individuals?44:20 What do you do to stand out?45:45 How do you find your hook?46:55 How do you raise relationship capital?49:05 What is the biggest mistake you see entrepreneurs...

Three of my favorite takeaways from "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Ries and Jack Trout. This book has been a marketing classic for over 30 years and provides valuable insights into the world of marketing. Buy a personalized video greeting for your team or a Zoom drop-in or keynote on ThinkersOne:https://thinkersone.com/collections/featured-though-leaders/products/emily-binder?variant=41990647480488Rate / review / subscribe to this show as a podcast or Alexa Flash Briefing: emilybinder.com/podcastBook a coaching session: emilybinder.com/callFollow me/connect:My website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Get email updates Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is to try to change a mind. Instead, set yourself up as first in a category. It's a much easier hill to climb.Marketing is about perception, not product. This is a key concept in the book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk " by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Ries and Trout write:There are no best products. All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect. The perception is the reality. Everything else is an illusion.What comes to mind for you after Uber, Band-Aid, Kleenex, and Rollerblade? Chime in: comment on my LinkedIn post here or my tweet here with your favorite top products or brands in their categories.Your challenge heading into Q1: Find a way to be the first or only in a category. It will probably be a derivative of the category you're already in (like Amelia Earhart being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic vs. the second person to do so - which is forgettable). Get creative. #positioningSubscribe free or rate & review this show: emilybinder.com/podcastFollow me on social:LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Get email updates Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Ries is a marketing strategist, bestselling author and media personality. In 1994, she founded Ries & Ries, a consulting firm with her father and partner Al Ries, the legendary positioning pioneer. I was fortunate to get this sought-after-speaker to speak with me about building a global, generational business. It's clear that Laura lives by the fundamental and immutable laws of branding that she and her father have taught around the world. Gather ‘round and enjoy this episode of GENeration EXcellence with Laura Ries. Ries & Ries: https://www.ries.com/ Laura's Books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Laura-Ries/e/B001IGLSWY/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_2

Nicolas Cole shares the lessons he's learned as one of the internet's most-read writers, including why he's fascinated with reverse engineering written work—from James Patterson novels to Twitter threads—into templates writers can use, why all great writing changes the reader, why his superpower is his ability to endure boring things for longer than others, and so much more. “Writers without niches are starving artists. Because again, they're just competing in these massive competitions. Writers with niches are category kings.” — Nicolas Cole EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/snow-leopard-nicolas-cole  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/snow-leopard-nicolas-cole-transcript   CHAPTERS (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:07:37) - Service Businesses, Linear vs Infinite Scaling, and Picking a Bag of Problems (00:10:02) - Ship 30 for 30 and Finding Your Niche (00:17:01) - The Origin Story of Category Pirates and Snow Leopard (00:20:13) - Category Creation, Competition, and Being Different vs Better (00:28:48) - Content-Free Content and Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious (00:35:34) - The Content Pyramid: Levels One, Two, and Three (00:49:44) - The Content Pyramid: Level Four (Making Non-Obvious Connections) (00:55:32) - Debunking Common Myths About Writing and Category Creation (01:04:10) - The Difference Between More Views and More Dollars (01:11:37) - What is Category Creation? (01:14:27) - How to Create a Category: Weird Problem + Weird Solution ABOUT THE BOOK Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create A Category Of One by Category Pirates (Nicolas Cole, Christopher Lochhead, and Eddie Yoon) shares why all legendary writers who stand the test of time create a category of one. In decades past, David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, Leo Burnett, Gary Bencivenga, Al Ries & Jack Trout, and many more master communicators have all written about the psychology behind how messages spread. Snow Leopard builds on their work with dozens of new insights and frameworks, and brings category creation and design into the digital age.

We spoke with 100 marketing leaders and asked 3 questions:  What marketing podcast delivers the most value to you? What is your ALL TIME favorite book on marketing? What's a RECENT book on marketing you've loved?   In this roundtable discussion Benji, James, and Dan breakdown the findings.  Books mentioned:  Tipping point by Malcom Gladwell Linchpin by Seth Godin  Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore Play Bigger by Christopher Lochhead Thinking fast & slow by Daniel Kahneman 22 Immutable laws of marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout   Podcasts Mentioned: B2B Growth Seeking Wisdom State of Demand Gen How I built this Lochhead on Marketing Flip my Funnel HBR The Bigger Narrative

How do you position yourself uniquely so that you can win more often? In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm diving into the topic of positioning. I have found that this is very rarely taught but it's a critical skill to make yourself unique in the mind of the buyer. I'm sharing tips for creating your three key messages, how to become more memorable, pro tips for communicating, and so much more so that you can truly stand out amongst the competition.  Topics We Cover in This Episode:  The law of positioning Why people don't care about your accolades The three words to use when talking to a client  Why three is the perfect number Why you need to include three reasons a client should work with you The research that supports this method Why 3s and 4s are more memorable The three levels at which you might talk about your positioning Why it's up to you to determine how to add more value The five things you need to choose your three key messages The four reasons that clients choose someone else  When to be bold in your positioning Using one to two words per message How exactly to word your three messages The benefits of using rhyming or alliteration It is up to you to figure out how you're clearly going to add more value than anybody else. Boil it down to three things, because that's more believable and memorable to your clients. Show how in this exact position, you are going to provide a unique value.  Make sure your team is on board so everything is aligned and make sure you learn how to communicate effectively using the tips I shared today so that clients will choose you more often.  If you do these things right and embed them in your habits, you can use them forever! Resources Mentioned: Read the Cryder research Read Dr. Suzanne Shu's research Read the Rouder research about 3s Check out the positioning Wikipedia page Get the Al Ries and Jack Trout book on positioning Read the study about rhyming

In the last few episodes, we have talked all about the science of positioning. We talked about how to show your clear value and how to be more believable and memorable to clients when you're sharing why they should work with you. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, we're talking about how to get your team together to have a discussion on the five key elements to arrive at your three key messages.  Topics We Cover in This Episode:  The five things you need to choose your three key messages The four reasons that clients choose someone else  When to be bold in your positioning This is a very important conversation and you want to have it at the very beginning of this process. If you do this, then throughout your communication, proposal, and any other formal or informal process when the stakes are high, you will have your three key messages ready to go which will set you apart.  Your team will buy into this better if they're the ones shaping it, so make sure to get everyone involved in the process. When you do it upfront, everything is aligned throughout the entire process. Make sure to check out the Wikipedia page on positioning. You can also grab the Al Ries and Jack Trout book on positioning if you want to go deeper and make sure to get the 20th-anniversary edition NOT the original because it has pictures and illustrations.    Resources Mentioned: Check out the positioning Wikipedia page Get the Al Ries and Jack Trout book on positioning

How do you balance rationality and irrationality as a business leader? How do you position your company and product to disrupt the market? Kipp and Kieran go on a deep dive on how playing it safe is actually hurting your business, how to know when to hire a head of marketing vs. a product marketer, using emotions to position your product, and more! Plus, We answer one of YOUR questions. Shoutout to Fanny Kuhn for leaving their review! Do you want to be the next featured listener question? Leave your questions in the reviews and we may feature you next. Links Mentioned: Loom https://www.loom.com/  Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/  The Hard Things About The Hard Things by Ben Horrowitz https://a16z.com/book/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things/  Hooked by Nir Eyal https://www.nirandfar.com/hooked/  Rework by Jason Fried https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745  The Platform Revolution https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Markets-Transforming/dp/0393249131  Stratechery https://stratechery.com/  Not Boring Newsletter https://www.notboring.co/  The Hustle Newsletter https://thehustle.co/  Milk Road Newsletter https://www.milkroad.com/  Positioning The Battle for your Mind by Al Ries https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448  Principles for The Changing World Order by Ray Dalio https://www.amazon.com/Changing-World-Order-Nations-Succeed/dp/1982160276  Shoe Dog by Phil Knight https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Memoir-Creator-NIKE/dp/1471146723/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1654105299&sr=1-1  Direct Mail Copy That Sells by Herschell Gordon Lewis https://www.amazon.com/Direct-Mail-Copy-That-Sells/dp/0132147505/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2544SEVJ4RL7Q&keywords=Direct+Mail+Copy+That+Sells&qid=1654105342&s=books&sprefix=direct+mail+copy+that+sells%2Cstripbooks%2C68&sr=1-3  On Writing Well by William Zinsser https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_1?crid=30RQWSPYFT6FV&keywords=on+writing+well&qid=1654105374&s=books&sprefix=on+writing+well%2Cstripbooks%2C78&sr=1-1  New Rules of Marketing PR by David Meerman Scott https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books/the-new-rules-of-marketing-and-pr  The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-s/dp/0061452068  Twitter Blue https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-blue  Thank you for tuning into Marketing Against The Grain! Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts (so you never miss an episode)! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-against-the-grain/id1616700934  If you love this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review https://link.chtbl.com/h9_sjBKH and share your favorite episodes with friends. We really appreciate your support. Links: Kipp Bodnar, https://twitter.com/kippbodnar  Kieran Flanagan, https://twitter.com/searchbrat ‘Marketing Against The Grain' is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Produced by Darren Clarke.

As a business leader, how do you think about a recession, and what's your approach? Hint: It's not the strongest that will survive, but the ones who respond best to change.  Kipp and Kieran give tangible advice on what will make or break your business in the next 24 months, companies that made strategic choices to grow, what happens if your targeting is too broad, and more! Plus, We answer one of YOUR questions. Shoutout to user Write.Edit.Repeat. for leaving their review! Do you want to be the next featured listener question? Leave your questions in the reviews and we may feature you next. Things Mentioned: Shaan Puri's thread on companies that made strategic choices to grow https://twitter.com/ShaanVP/status/1529900270481596417 Tweet on Cinnamon Whiskey https://twitter.com/noahsfriedman/status/1529919311351009292 Tweet of Uber in Portland https://twitter.com/iamjasonlevin/status/1529901811183800331 Tweet on Aol CD delivery in US https://twitter.com/jonathansenin/status/1529917737547354112 Tweet on Cirque Du Soleil, Qualtrics, and Facebook https://twitter.com/grahamgintz/status/1529901696859656228  Andy John's Twitter https://twitter.com/ibringtraffic Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout https://www.ries.com/books/  Sequoia Capital's presentation for portfolio companies https://content.fortune.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Adapting_to_Endure_May_2022.pdf Alex Banks thread on takeaways from Sequoia Capital's presentation https://twitter.com/thealexbanks/status/1529865275876659218  The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt https://www.thecoddling.com/  Patrick Coleman on free marketing advice https://twitter.com/patrickscoleman/status/1529495625380679680    Thank you for tuning into Marketing Against The Grain! Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts (so you never miss an episode)! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-against-the-grain/id1616700934  If you love this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review https://link.chtbl.com/h9_sjBKH and share your favorite episodes with friends. We really appreciate your support. Links: Kipp Bodnar, https://twitter.com/kippbodnar  Kieran Flanagan, https://twitter.com/searchbrat ‘Marketing Against The Grain' is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Produced by Darren Clarke.