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2 episodes with river pools
2 episodes with river pools
2 episodes with river pools
2 episodes with river pools
Marcus Sheridan is a communication expert, author, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur. With over 13 years of experience, he has helped brands and organizations build trust and deeper connections with their audiences. At only 23 years old, he founded River Pools, a swimming pool company that has evolved into the most trafficked swimming pool company globally. As a speaker, Marcus has delivered transformational experiences to over 750 live audiences across the world. He has spoken on platforms such as TEDx and INBOUND. He is also the author of the best-selling book, “They Ask, You Answer,” a book that serves as an indispensable toolkit for those wanting to improve their communication strategies. Listen in as Marcus shares his journey, insights on building business, and how to effectively communicate to your audience. Links: Marcus's Website: https://marcussheridan.com/ They Ask, You Answer: https://a.co/d/0t7eCHl
The latest AI tools have made it easier than ever to generate content; however, it's often at the risk of mediocrity. To stand out, your content needs to resonate with your audience and make them feel heard and understood. Host James Lawrence revisits his discussion with Marcus Sheridan, author of New York Times best-seller, 'They Ask, You Answer,' about how addressing customer concerns and creating relevant content can build trust and drive tangible marketing results.Guest:Described as a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books and publications around the world. Marcus is the author of the best-selling book, ‘They Ask, You Answer', which has been named “One of the 5 Best Marketing Books of All Time” by Book Authority.Find Us Online:James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/ Smarter Marketer Website: https://www.smartermarketer.com.au/ Rocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/ Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/Buy Smarter Marketer:Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kg Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm About the Podcast:This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.
Marcus Sheridan is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker known for his unique ability to excite, engage and motivate live audiences with his simple, yet powerful transformational business approach. Marcus has been dubbed a “Web Marketing Guru” by the New York Times and in 2017 Forbes names Marcus one of 20 “Speakers You Don't Want to Miss.” Not one to be limited to the stage, Marcus is most often found walking through the crowd, calling audience members by name, and bringing them into his presentation.As author of the content marketing guidebook, “They Ask, you Answer,” Marcus has not only inspired thousands to achieve their potential but has given them the tools they need to get there. Mashable rated his book the “#1 Marketing Book” to read in 2017. Forbes listed it as one of “11 Marketing Books Every CMO Should Read.” Marcus has been featured in the New York Times, Inc., The Globe and Mail, Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, and more. He has inspired thousands of audiences and helped millions of people from all over the world to achieve their own success with his “They Ask, You Answer” philosophy.Marcus' experience as an entrepreneur and business owner who had successfully saved his company led him to opportunities to share his story and help others. What started as speaking from the stage quickly turned into a Sales and Marketing consulting agency, The Sales Lion. Using his marketing principles, Marcus and his team led clients step-by-step through the process of growing and even transforming their companies. In early 2018, The Sales Lion merged with IMPACT, establishing one of the most successful digital sales and marketing agencies in the country. Within his speaking company, Marcus Sheridan International, Inc., Marcus gives 70 global keynotes annually where he inspires audiences in the areas of sales, marketing, leadership, and communication.While Marcus is passionate about his roles as co-owner of IMPACT, River Pools and Spas, and full-time professional speaker, he admittedly loves his role as husband and father even more. When not on the road, Marcus is with his high-school sweetheart and wife, Nikki, and their four children. A boating and fishing enthusiast, Marcus also takes advantage of any opportunity to have a fishing rod in hand!Please click here to learn more about Marcus Sheridan.About Brad Sugars Internationally known as one of the most influential entrepreneurs, Brad Sugars is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and the #1 business coach in the world. Over the course of his 30-year career as an entrepreneur, Brad has become the CEO of 9+ companies and is the owner of the multimillion-dollar franchise ActionCOACH®. As a husband and father of five, Brad is equally as passionate about his family as he is about business. That's why, Brad is a strong advocate for building a business that works without you – so you can spend more time doing what really matters to you. Over the years of starting, scaling and selling many businesses, Brad has earned his fair share of scars. Being an entrepreneur is not an easy road. But if you can learn from those who have gone before you, it becomes a lot easier than going at it alone. That's why Brad has created 90 Days To Revolutionize Your Life – It's 30 minutes a day for 90 days, teaching you his 30 years experience on investing, business and life.Please click here to learn more about Brad Sugars.Learn the Fundamentals of Success for free: The Big Success Starter: https://results.bradsugars.com/thebigsuccess-starter Join Brad's programs here: 30X Life: https://results.bradsugars.com/30xlifechallenge 30X Business: https://results.bradsugars.com/30xbusinesschallenge 30X Wealth: https://results.bradsugars.com/30xwealthchallenge 90X – Revolutionize Your Life: https://30xbusiness.com/90daystorevolutionize Brad Sugars' Entrepreneur University: https://results.bradsugars.com/entrepreneuruniversity For more information, visit Brad Sugars' website: www.bradsugars.comFollow Brad on Social Media:YouTube: @bradleysugars Instagram: @bradleysugars Facebook: Bradley J SugarsLinkedIn: Brad SugarsTikTok: @bradleysugarsTwitter: BradSugars The Big Success Podcast https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-big-success-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/ep-25-marcus-sheridan-the-big-success-podcast-with-brad-sugars
Marcus Sheridan is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker known for his unique ability to excite, engage and motivate live audiences with his simple, yet powerful transformational business approach. Marcus has been dubbed a “Web Marketing Guru” by the New York Times and in 2017 Forbes names Marcus one of 20 “Speakers You Don't Want to Miss.” Not one to be limited to the stage, Marcus is most often found walking through the crowd, calling audience members by name, and bringing them into his presentation. But Marcus' story didn't begin on the stage. It started with a business created and run out of the back of a beat-up pickup truck. Marcus' experience of saving his swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas, from the economic collapse of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications and university case studies from around the world. From its humble beginnings as a three-man company to one of the largest manufacturers and installers in the country, River Pools and Spas has the most visited pool website in the world, with over 750,000 hits a month. I'm thrilled to have met Marcus back when he was just starting out on his keynoting career and I'm thrilled he agreed to be on the show today. 00:00 - Marcus Sheridan's journey as an author and business savior. 06:01 - Surviving the 2008 economic downturn in the swimming pool industry. 09:13 - Trust is fundamental to business success. 13:55 - The importance of long-term vision and patterns in business. 14:44 - The power of patterns and the curse of seeing them. 18:13 - The importance of relatability and avoiding arrogance in communication. 20:10 - The value of discipline and rules in personal and professional life. 26:55 - The power of a 10-year vision for business success. 28:41 - Reflecting on a decade of change in entrepreneurship and the business world. 09:37 - The importance of a worthy cause for entrepreneurs. Find Marcus Online https://marcussheridan.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan/ https://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/ https://www.impactplus.com/ https://speechlesssportfishing.com/ If you're enjoying Entrepreneur's Enigma, please give us a review on the podcast directory of your choice. We're on all of them and these reviews really help others find the show. GoodPods: https://gmwd.us/goodpods iTunes: https://gmwd.us/itunes Podchaser: https://gmwd.us/podchaser Also, if you're getting value from the show and want to buy me a coffee, go to the show notes to get the link to get me a coffee to keep me awake, while I work on bringing you more great episodes to your ears. → https://gmwd.us/buy-me-a-coffee Follow Seth Online: Seth | Digital Marketer (@s3th.me) • Instagram: Instagram.com/s3th.me Seth Goldstein | LinkedIn: LinkaedIn.com/in/sethmgoldstein Seth on Mastodon: https://s3th.me/@seth MarketingJunto.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, Click Here Check Out Marcus' sales & marketing training company: www.impactplus.com Order His Book They Ask, You Answer: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119312973/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3 Our guest on the show today is globally renowned speaker and consultant: Marcus Sheridan. Author of They Ask, You Answer and The Visual Sale. Marcus is the go-to guy for content marketing and inbound sales (especially for contractors and home services). His philosophy is simple but powerful: If your customers are asking about it, you should be creating content around it. Getting out in front of the concerns and questions of your potential buyers is the easiest way to build authority and elevate your company from “one in a sea of options” to “the only one” they want to do business with. Expect to Learn: How to build trust and transparency through your website's content using “The Big 5” framework - turning visitors into buyers while exponentially increasing site traffic Just how educated the modern buyer truly is and why relying on uninformed clients is no longer a viable marketing strategy (if it ever was) Marcus' insights on navigating through a changing market, having carefully steered River Pools through the 08 financial crisis and into one of the most successful pool franchises in the US Making great content doesn't have to be hard, you just have to know where to start.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, Click Here Check Out Marcus' sales & marketing training company: www.impactplus.com Order His Book They Ask, You Answer: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119312973/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3 Our guest on the show today is globally renowned speaker and consultant: Marcus Sheridan. Author of They Ask, You Answer and The Visual Sale. Marcus is the go-to guy for content marketing and inbound sales (especially for contractors and home services). His philosophy is simple but powerful: If your customers are asking about it, you should be creating content around it. Getting out in front of the concerns and questions of your potential buyers is the easiest way to build authority and elevate your company from “one in a sea of options” to “the only one” they want to do business with. Expect to Learn: How to build trust and transparency through your website's content using “The Big 5” framework - turning visitors into buyers while exponentially increasing site traffic Just how educated the modern buyer truly is and why relying on uninformed clients is no longer a viable marketing strategy (if it ever was) Marcus' insights on navigating through a changing market, having carefully steered River Pools through the 08 financial crisis and into one of the most successful pool franchises in the US Making great content doesn't have to be hard, you just have to know where to start.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
They Ask You Answer is in the “Top 5 Marketing Books of All Time” by The Book Authority and “#1 Marketing Book to Read” by Mashable. In this week's episode, Marcus Sheridan discusses his blog article that directly contributed to 25 million dollars in sales and how this led to the development of his renowned marketing book, They Ask You Answer. Guest: Called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the Story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world and is the centerpiece to his best-selling book, They Ask You Answer, which has been named “One of the 5 Best Marketing Books of All Time” by BookAuthority. Follow him on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan/)], or visit his website [https://marcussheridan.com/ (https://marcussheridan.com/)]. Buy They Ask You Answer: Amazon: http://bitly.ws/sBQ8 (http://bitly.ws/sBQ8) Find Us Online: James Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslawrenceoz/) Smarter Marketer Website: https://www.smartermarketer.com.au/ (https://www.smartermarketer.com.au/) Rocket Agency Website: https://rocketagency.com.au/ (https://rocketagency.com.au/) Rocket Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/mycompany/?viewAsMember=true (https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocket-agency-pty-ltd/) Buy Smarter Marketer: Hardcover: https://amzn.to/30O63kg (https://amzn.to/30O63kg) Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm (https://amzn.to/2ZqfCWm) About the Podcast: This is the definitive podcast for Australian marketers. Join Rocket Agency Co-Founder and best-selling author, James Lawrence in conversation with marketers, leaders, and thinkers about what it takes to be a smarter and more successful marketer.
The story of how a business that found itself facing bankruptcy and turned itself around to become a successful business is very inspiring. Marcus Sheridan became obsessed with the customer with a philosophy that helped him pave the way for success. In the age of online research, even the smallest companies have to figure out how to answer their customer questions and deliver value ahead of time using content.
Making Conversations Count: Honest, relatable conversations with business leaders
Using your website to answer customer questions and address the elephant in the room Making Conversations about them asking Count! "It's not until we're really serious about spending our money on something that we start to wonder, all right, how could this go wrong? How could this blow up in my face? What could be the drawbacks? What could be the negatives? We don't ask those things unless we actually want the thing" Marcus Sheridan, Making Conversations Count - (April 2022) Psst! Low on data? Here's a lower bandwidth version for you. Open and honest website marketing Have you ever had a conversation with a company where they just didn't seem to want to be open and honest with you? In this episode of "Making Conversations Count," Marcus Sheridan discusses how companies can avoid making conversations suck. He explains how many businesses try to hide information from their customers rather than being transparent with them on their websites. This is a huge mistake, and Marcus caused a movement in marketing when he released his book "They Ask, You Answer" in 2016. The 'pool guy' Since then, he's gone from a guy who was selling fibreglass pools (and ONLY fibreglass pools) to a highly respected global keynote speaker, offering wisdom to forward thinking corporations who want to embrace the philosphy of 'TAYA'! If you want to learn how to make your conversations count, and avoid making them suck, then you need to listen to this marketing masterclass! The book "They Ask, You Answer" is about how companies can be more open with their customers on the internet. Marcus Sheridan talks about how they can avoid making conversations suck, and how they can embrace the philosophy of TAYA. He also offers some wisdom to forward thinking corporations who want to adopt this philosophy. Marcus Sheridan is a highly respected global keynote speaker, and he has some amazing things to say about marketing, and how companies can use the internet to their advantage. If you want to learn more from Marcus Sheridan, then you should definitely check out this podcast episode! In fact, it's less a podcast episode, and more a mini masterclass on how to do website-based content marketing correctly! Click play. You won't be disappointed. With the help of Marcus Sheridan, you'll learn: The importance of talking about the elephant in the room Why 'TAYA' (They Ask, You Answer) philosophy works so well The things people worry about when making a purchase Why even the wealthiest purchasers still need to know your pricing Want to read more in depth info about the episode? Click here to be taken to the podcast's website. A poignant moment from the episode: Wendy It is something that really tickles me that people are a little bit like, oh, no, it's mine, it's mine. It's mine. And it sort of reminds me of a title to one of your chapters. I've been told if we're not adding anything new to the conversation and we shouldn't be talking about it, it's like, well, that's like the CEO of that marine boating company saying, well, we don't really know who our customer is then, so let's not talk to them. Marcus That's exactly right. I actually get really miffed about some of the things that you see when it comes. I think a lot of folks that talk about social media, talk about content, talk about this, talk about that. They act like there's no learning curve to this whole thing. Like, as businesses, we've got to start the race running. And if we can't start a running, we shouldn't start the race at all. It's like, what are you talking about? Like, you're going to crawl for a while and then you're going to stumble and start walking, and then you're going to start jogging and start running. That's how it works with anything in life. But yet when it comes to the Internet, we're not allowed to do that. Everything you do, we have got to understand there's going to be a learning curve. The companies that don't embrace learning curves, that don't embrace the messy, they suck at the Internet, they're no good because they think, I'm going to just make this quantum leap without actually doing the learning component to this. I'm going to come out the gate perfect. Bull crap you are. That's not going to happen. And so the ones that embrace the messy, let's say, you know what, on a letter grade scale, this is like a C plus. Eventually it's going to be a B, maybe it'll be an A, but today we're going to take C plus. We're going to take it. Click here for the full transcript Honorary mentions in this episode Dr Ivan Misner "They Ask, You Answer" (obviously!) River Pools (obviously!) Jim Collins If you connect with any of them, tell 'em Wendy Harris sent you along for a ChinWAG!... What IS Making Conversations Count? "Making Conversations Count" is a podcast from WAG Associates founder and telemarketing trainer Wendy Harris. Missed our previous episodes? You can catch up with any of the other guests we've been making conversations count with, here: https://makingconversationscount.com/episodes/ Listen to Making Conversations Count On your mobile device? Hear them in your favourite platform (Apple or Spotify etc) here: https://makingconversationscount.studio/listen Once you've listened, remember to leave us a review! https://makingconversationscount.studio/Review-all-episodes NEVER MISS AN EPISODE AGAIN!! You are following the show on socials, right? Only there will you see sneaky peaky teasers of the upcoming episodes, as well as updates and news on the show! Here are the links just in case you need them: Twitter Facebook Pinterest YouTube Instagram Lower quality version Strapped for data? You can hear a lower-quality version of the episode that's less data intensive, here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/makingconversationscount/Lower_bandwidth_They_Ask_You_Answer_and_immediately_enjoy_a_better_customer_relationship_thanks_to_the_teachings_of_Marcus_Sheridan_epiode.mp3 Transcript version Hard of hearing? Read the episode using a transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/makingconversationscount/WAG_MCC_78_Marcus_Sheridan_transcript_word_version_12_4_2022.pdf Make sure you're following the podcast in your favourite app, as every Sunday, we're carrying on the conversation.... https://makingconversationscount.studio/listen
Marcus Sheridan is a global keynote speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space. He has been referred to as a “web marketing guru” by The New York Times, and his story of saving his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and case studies around the world. Marcus is also the author of They Ask, You Answer and The Visual Sale and is a Co-owner and Partner at IMPACT, which was recognized by Fortune as one of the “Top 25 SMB Workplaces” in 2017. In this episode: Did you know that there are five subjects that all customers tend to research before they reach out to a company or buy a product? And, did you know that most businesses don't like talking about these five subjects? From experience, Marcus Sheridan knows that the key to growing an audience and building trust with your customers lies in answering these key questions openly and honestly. They include the price of your product, the problems that could arise with using it, how it compares with competitors, and more. If you can address the topics other businesses won't, you'll have the upper hand with your audience. Marcus Sheridan, the Author of They Ask, You Answer, is Adi Klevit's guest in this episode of the Systems Simplified podcast.Marcus talks about his methodology for building trust with customers, the importance of putting product prices and honest reviews on your website, and his tips for addressing difficult questions from customers. Stay tuned.
In the debut episode of the How I Made It In Marketing podcast, Daniel Burstein talks to Whitney Hill, Co-Founder and Head of Business Operations & Development, Snap ADU (https://snapadu.com/).Whitney shares key lessons from what she's made – ranging from Excel data tools to a transparent website to a memorable brand name – in a career that has spanned Yale, an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, Seamless.com, Bain & Company, and more. We discussed:Winning on execution: using real-time data to intrinsically motivate a warehouse fulfillment team (and reduce headcount by 20 percent)Scaling to a $15 million company in 18 months with the help of Excel tools, pricing transparency, focusing on the ideal customer, and morePromoting transparency to gain trust: being an information source for an industry (whether or not people buy from you) – including clear, upfront pricing – to help attract 75% of the company's business through organic searchBeing memorable and pithy: rebranding from a traditional construction company name (Moore Construction) to a name that better communicates the value proposition and helps with SEO (Snap ADU)She also shares lessons she gained from influential mentors and managers in her career:Wiley Cierlli, CEO and Founder, Good Uncle – honing an elevator pitchAndrew Benoit, Founder & CEO, ZoneJump – building a legacy Paul Cichocki, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer, BJ's Wholesale Club – managing a data teamMike Moore, Co-Founder & Head of Production, SnapADU – nurturing business relationshipsArticles mentioned in this episode:Sales Funnel: 3 case studies with tips on how to say “no” to customers and improve marketing results – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/sales-funnel-3-case-studies-with-tips-on-how-to-say-no-to-customers-and-improve-marketing-results (Quick Case Study #1 in this article shows how Whitney helped improve proposal close rate by 55 percent)14 Strategies for Hiring and Retaining Marketing Professionals – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/marketing-hiring How to Win Friends and Influence People (book by Dale Carnegie) – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-dale-carnegie/1100370318 Hospitals Hide Prices on Web, Undermining Disclosure Rule. – https://www.wsj.com/articles/hospitals-hide-pricing-data-from-search-results-11616405402 Is Your Company Embracing ‘Fear-Based' or ‘Fear-Less' Marketing in 2012 and Beyond? – https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/fear-less-marketing/ (Marcus Sheridan shares how transparent pricing information on River Pools & Spas website helped generate 124,000 page views over two years)To receive future episodes of how I Made It In Marketing, sign up to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter at https://marketingsherpa.com/newslettersThis podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher free digital marketing course – https://meclabs.com/course/&l
LinkedIn, Consistency, and the FutureIn this episode of The Outspoken Podcast, host Shana Cosgrove talks to Colleen McKenna, CEO and Founder of Intero Advisory, LinkedIn Trainer, Author of It's Business, Not Social™, and Leader in LinkedIn Branding, Sales and Recruiting Enablement. Colleen gives her insight and professional tips on marketing yourself and your business on LinkedIn. She goes into what it is like working alongside her family, what her business work environment is like, and the way she looks at the future. Colleen also shares the catalysts of her starting her book and what that experience has been like for her. Lastly, we get to hear books that have impacted Colleen and her fun fact about Oprah Winfrey! QUOTES “Most CEOs don't love social media. But, they will be open-minded to a business tool that will help them increase productivity and sales, find talent, help their salespeople connect with the right people, and share their content and build their brand.” - Colleen McKenna [18:10] “I'm pretty driven once I say I'm going to work on something and I like creating things...I always say I'm like the baker…So, I'm usually the person that puts it in the oven, pulls it out, puts it on the table, then other people on the team finish it up and make it beautiful. - Colleen McKenna [30:28] “I think everyone should take a look at their [LinkedIn] profile and really make sure that their profile is built out as a marketing tool.” - Colleen McKenna [37:31] “Always add value to a conversation. I think that's my 2021 motto. Are you adding value to the conversation?” - Colleen McKenna [42:27] TIMESTAMPS [00:04] Intro [01:44] Meet Colleen McKenna [03:55] Starting a Business [06:46] HubSpot [07:48] Business Establishment [10:00] Remote Work and COVID-19's Effect [11:05] Look-Back of the Year [13:08] LinkedIn as a Business Search Engine [14:37] Growing as a Business [18:36] Delegation and Building a Team [21:32] Pricing Services [22:33] Joyful Moments [25:23] Digital Communication and Relationships [27:01] It's Business, Not Social™ [31:18] Colleen's Children [33:41] Technology and Being a Futurist [34:29] Colleen's Husband and Work Environment [37:27] Colleen's Tips for LinkedIn [42:57] Treating LinkedIn Like Facebook? [45:20] Cons of LinkedIn [48:12] Connecting With New People [49:48] LinkedIn Networking and Features [52:07] Creating Content on LinkedIn [54:58] Data and ROI [58:09] LinkedIn in the Hype Cycle [01:00:25] Colleen's Impactful Reads [01:02:06] Colleen's Fun Fact [01:04:06] Outro RESOURCES https://www.hubspot.com/ (HubSpot) https://marcussheridan.com/ (Marcus Sheridan) http://riverpoolsandspas.com (River Pools) https://www.vistage.com/ (Vistage Worldwide) https://www.facebook.com/ (Facebook) https://twitter.com/ (Twitter) https://www.instagram.com/ (Instagram) https://www.google.com/ (Google) https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertbmiller1/ (Bob Miller) on LinkedIn https://www.millerheimangroup.com/ (Miller Heiman Group, Inc.) https://zoom.us/ (Zoom) https://www.xerox.com/ (Xerox) https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ (Reid Hoffman) on LinkedIn https://www.startupofyou.com/ (The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career) by Reid Hoffman (Permanent Beta) https://www.amazon.com/Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked-Age/dp/1625275773 (The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age) by Reid Hoffman https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-i-learned-young-professional-during-pandemic-sarah-bentley/ (What I Learned as a Young Professional During a Pandemic )by Sarah Bentley https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-bentley/ (Sarah Bentley) on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/premium/products-v2/?intentType=FIND_LEADS&upsellOrderOrigin=guest_login_sales_nav (LinkedIn Sales Navigator) https://www.amazon.com/Life-Transitions-Mastering-Change-Any/dp/1594206821 (Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age)...
Marcus Sheridan is a highly sought-after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing industries. Offering his services through Marcus Sheridan International, he has been named a “Web Marketing Guru” by The New York Times and was listed in Forbes as one of 20 “Speakers You Don't Want to Miss.” In addition to his work as a keynote speaker, Marcus is also the Author of the books They Ask, You Answer and The Visual Sale. Marcus is the Founder and former President of The Sales Lion, a marketing and sales consulting firm, and the Owner and Partner of both River Pools and IMPACT. While he is passionate about these roles, Marcus loves his role as a father and husband even more. He enjoys spending time with his wife and their four children, boating, and fishing. In this episode… How can you become a trusted business that consumers always turn to? What can you do to draw in the right customers and stand out from your competitors? Marcus Sheridan says that you need to show more, tell more, and sell differently. If customers are turning towards other businesses as a cheaper option, show them why your business is better. Whether that's through videos, articles, or any other creative medium, you have to effectively communicate your company's value in order to attract the right people. In this episode of This is Concrete, Chad Gill is joined by global keynote speaker and author, Marcus Sheridan, to talk about becoming a trusted business within your industry. Marcus details the importance of answering consumer questions, the steps to get you and your customer on the same page, and why you should be open and honest about all aspects of your company. Stay tuned!
Marcus Sheridan is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker known for his unique ability to excite, engage and motivate audiences. He is co-owner and partner at IMPACT, one of the most successful digital sales and marketing agencies in the country, and author of They Ask, You Answer – once touted by Mashable as the “#1 Marketing Book” Dubbed a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times and, in 2017, named one of 20 “Speakers You Don't Want to Miss” by Forbes, his philosophy has helped countless marketing and sales teams around the world connect with buyers online and achieve astounding revenue growth. In fact, Marcus saved his swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas, from the economic collapse of 2008 and adapted, not only to stay afloat but to thrive.
Called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the Story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world and is the centrepiece to his best-selling book, They Ask You Answer, which has been named “One of the 5 Best Marketing Books of All Time” by Book Authority. Today, Sheridan is a highly sought-after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of businesses and brands alike to achieve their potential in a rapidly evolving marketplace, ultimately helping them to become the most trusted voice in their perspective industry. What will be discussed on today's show: They ask you answer content marketing digital sales and marketing trends virtual selling How to get hold of Marcus: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSalesLion Website: www.marcussheridan.com To find out more about Fearless Business: Join our amazing community of Coaches, Consultants and Freelancers on Facebook: >> https://facebook.com/groups/ChargeMore And check out the Fearless Business website: >> https://fearless.biz
For almost a decade, Marcus Sheridan has been teaching the principles his book to audiences around the globe. But before it was a book, the River Pools story (which was the foundation) was featured in multiple books, publications, and conferences for its incredibly unique approach to Inbound and Content Marketing. In this Martech Zone Interview, we speak to Marcus Sheridan about the growing digital trends that businesses are not paying attention to, but that are having a dramatic impact on their sales and marketing processes. 33% of buyers want a sales-free customer purchase journey. Wether a consumer or business-buyer, customers are seeking assistance online where they can self-schedule, self-price, or walk through a self-assessment to reach a recommendation. Marcus shares valuable information on the strategies companies should be adopting... including the seldom-seen strategy of disqualifying visitors who are not prospective buyers. Special Guest: Marcus Sheridan.
Marcus Sheridan is a keynote speaker, the owner of River Pools and Spas, and the best-selling author of “They Ask, You Answer”. In this episode of Specified Growth Podcast, Marcus tells the amazing story of how he saved his pool company from the economic crash of 2008. He also discusses the importance of trust in your business, why you shouldn't be afraid to talk about price, and much more! Don't miss this episode of Specified! Please reach out if you have any feedback or questions. Enjoy! Twitter: @TatsuyaNakagawa Instagram: @tats_talks LinkedIn: Tatsuya Nakagawa YouTube: Tats Talks www.tatstalk.com www.castagra.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Part 2 of our discussion with keynote speaker and marketing guru Marcus Sheridan, Marcus shares how he developed assignment selling and other inbound marketing strategies as a way of saving his River Pools & Spa business. There are many take away tools in this episode that an insurance agency can implement for a higher close rate.
River Pools went from almost closing their doors to becoming the world leader in fiberglass pools. They did it by answering customer questions. ------- Get Joe's new book, Corona Marketing: What Marketing Professionals Need to Do Now to Survive the Crisis, absolutely free. Want to stay in touch with Joe? First, subscribe to this podcast. Second, subscribe to Joe's every-other-week Random Newsletter. Third, buy his new marketing thriller, The Will to Die.
Welcome to episode #695 of Six Pixels of Separation. Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation - Episode #695 - Host: Mitch Joel. Long before Marcus Sheridan became one of the most sought-after speakers and trainers in the world, he was just some dude I saw speak on a small stage in front of an unsuspecting audience. Sometimes, you just know it when you see it. That day, I saw it. The "it factor" in Marcus. Speaking, teaching and training audiences to think differently (and better) about their sales and marketing in one of the most captivating ways. Since then, I have watched Marcus' massive ascent. From just another pool salesperson, into what he is now. He is the author of the bestselling book, They Ask, You Answer. As I alluded to, Marcus’ story didn’t begin on the stage. It started with a business created and run out of the back of a beat-up pickup truck. Marcus’ experience of saving his swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas, from the economic collapse of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications and university case studies from around the world. From its humble beginnings as a three-person company to one of the largest manufacturers and installers in the country, River Pools and Spas has the most visited pool website in the world. From there, he built his sales and marketing consultancy, The Sales Lion, and in early 2018 that company merged with Impact, where they are now building a leading sales and marketing agency. With that, he recently updated and revised his book, They Ask, You Answer. Enjoy the conversation... Running time: 54:00. Hello from beautiful Montreal. Subscribe over at iTunes. Please visit and leave comments on the blog - Six Pixels of Separation. Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook. or you can connect on LinkedIn. ...or on Twitter. Here is my conversation with Marcus Sheridan. They Ask, You Answer. Impact. River Pools and Spas. Follow Marcus on Twitter. This week's music: David Usher 'St. Lawrence River'.
Being from Arizona, we have not had much exposure to fiberglass pools and we wanted to know more about them, so we took a trip to Warsaw, Virginia to learn from the best. Our friends at River Pools were kind enough to open their doors and share their knowledge on the subject. We got to tour the facility, roll fiberglass, and even see a fiberglass pool being installed “The River Pools Way.” Being around their team for a few days was a breath of fresh air. They are the true definition of a family and we saw that throughout every department. We have heard many different opinions about fiberglass pools throughout the years, so we wanted to find out the truth from the people that are experts at them. In this episode we dive deep into all things fiberglass pools as we get answers from Jason, Aaron, and Cristian. Like always, we encourage you to listen and form your own opinions on the subject matter. River Pools does things the right way and we are proud to call them our friends and to share their story. You can register for your Pool Chasers Live Tour tickets below: Website: http://bit.ly/LiveTourPWU You can find River Pools below: Website: http://bit.ly/RiverPoolsPWU Instagram: http://bit.ly/RiverPoolsIGPWU Facebook: http://bit.ly/RiverPoolsFBPWU YouTube: http://bit.ly/RiverPoolsYouTubePWU Learning Center: http://bit.ly/RPLearningCenterPWU You can find the books and podcasts discussed below: Good to Great: http://bit.ly/GoodToGreatPWU 21 Laws of Leadership: http://bit.ly/21LawsPWU Steve Jobs Autobiography: http://bit.ly/SteveJobsPWU 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: http://bit.ly/7HabitsPWU Traction: http://bit.ly/TractionPWU This American Life: http://bit.ly/ThisAmericanLifePWU You can follow Pool Chasers below: Website: http://bit.ly/PCWebsitePWU Instagram: http://bit.ly/PCInstagramPWU Facebook: http://bit.ly/PCFacebookPWU Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/PCFacebookGroupPWU Twitter: http://bit.ly/PCTwitterPWU YouTube: http://bit.ly/PCYouTubePWU Patreon: http://bit.ly/PCPatreonPWU Supporters: We want to thank Pentair for supporting the show. Pentair Master Service Program is a program designed to recognize dealers, service technicians and other pool professionals for completing desired training modules. It gives you the tools you can use to troubleshoot Pentair installations in the field and become a master of Pentair product knowledge. Be rewarded for educational activities designed to enhance your Pentair knowledge as you move through the certification levels. With three levels to work through, becoming a certified Pentair professional has never been easier. It’s training that rewards you, AND your business.But the real value comes from building your confidence in the field to ensure the customer loyalty you need to keep your business growing. So to become a certified Pentair professional today visit: http://bit.ly/PentairPartnersPWU We also want to thank Ledge Lounger for sponsoring the show. Since we started Pool Chasers, we've spoken with a lot of pool builders and designers. Something they have all mentioned is that having realistic, detailed 3D renderings to show their clients is a game-changer. Something that makes the rendering come to life is including products and accessories that your clients can purchase from you. Visit http://bit.ly/LedgeCADPWU and you can instantly download a 3D file for ANY product in their catalog. Everything from their signature chaise, to their new patio furniture, cabanas, games are all available to drop into your 3D designs. If you want to transform your 3D renderings, weather you use CAD, Pool Studio, Sketchup, or another platform, you can get the product files you need by clicking the link above. Please take a moment to think about what this podcast means to you and how many hours of content that we have already produced for you, then contribute what you can afford. Please consider the upper tiers if possible, but even the smallest contribution is extremely helpful in keeping this podcast alive. We will never take it for granted as your support means the world to us. To support the podcast, click the link below: http://bit.ly/PCPatreonPWU
How do you make technical information about inground fiberglass pools engaging? You just have to get started! Well, there’s a little more to it. Luckily, Christian Shirilla, Marketing Manager at River Pools, fills us in on how he helped grow River Pools from a small business in Virginia to a nationally-recognized brand. In this #VideoInFocus episode, we cover: Why you don’t need the priciest gear to get started with video How to use written content to develop videos Making engaging informational videos people actually want to watch See River Pools' YouTube channel here. This is from a Creating Connections podcast episode. Check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Updates & follow up Artículo: Apple's Longtime Design Chief Jony Ive Leaving Artículo: Apple's Organizational Crossroads Artículo: Functional versus Unit Organizations Documental: Dieter Rams Jimmy (también) es diseñador. Turismo en Mexico de la mano de Jimmy. Marc viaja a Berlin para vivir la experiencia Infarm. Artículo: How Long Does It Take For Lettuce To Grow (Primer) teaser del siguiente episodio. Libro: Los asquerosos Tema principal Estrategias Ejemplos de organizaciones que utilizan historias para dar una dimensión adicional a sus productos: Red Bull, GoPro, Slack, AirBnB. Libro: Start With Why Litmus test: cuando usas el producto, sientes la historia. Más ejemplos: Nike, Starbucks. Harley Davidson: una marca que ha conseguido convertir colectivos marginados en un estilo de vida, la historia trasciende su producto. Empezamos a entrar en terreno pantanoso: marcas que se alinean detrás de un valor para contar su historia. ...más ejemplos: Zappos, Patagonia, TOMS. Tácticas Caso práctico en vivo: descubriendo la personalidad de tu marca. Wiki: Jungian archetypes Imagen: Archetypes Worksheet: Intereses personales Qué pasa cuando tu marca vende un producto "aburrido". Case study: River Pools & Spas Libro: How to Win Friends and Influence People Producto: Blendtec Producto: Subzero Wolf Entrar a la guerra con los CPG. Video: Dollar Shave Club Productos que conectan contigo de forma directa: Warby Parker, Away, Casper. Distinción entre productos B2C vs. B2B. La importancia del contexto a la hora de comunicar tu mensaje. Las personas harán cualquier cosa por quienes alienten sus sueños, justifiquen sus fracasos, disipen sus temores, confirmen sus sospechas, y les ayuden a arrojar piedras a sus enemigos. —— Blair Warren Productos que nos inspiran Website: Hifly ✈️ Producto: Modemie
What is (and is not) working with inbound marketing in 2019? This week on The Inbound Success Podcast, world-renowned author and keynote speaker Marcus Sheridan shares is kicking off our first episode of 2019 with his perspective on what it will take to succeed with inbound marketing in the year to come. This week's episode of The Inbound Success Podcast is brought to you by our sponsor, IMPACT Live, the most immersive and high energy learning experience for marketers and business leaders. IMPACT Live takes place August 6-7, 2019 in Hartford Connecticut and Inbound Success Podcast listeners can save 10% off the price of tickets with the code "SUCCESS". Click here to learn more or purchase tickets for IMPACT Live Some highlights from my discussion with Marcus include: While most marketers are talking about "authenticity" as though it is a new trend, Marcus says that to do inbound marketing well, you've always had to be authentic. The reason that most marketers haven't been able to capture the feeling of authenticity tends to be the lack of buy-in amongst company leadership. In 2019, we as marketers can't just answer our audience's questions in writing - we're going to have to show them (through video) and tell them (through audio). Companies that produce their own written, video and audio content in-house will do far better in terms of ROI in 2019 than those who choose to outsource it. The most successful companies are the ones that build a culture of inbound that supports in-house content creation. In 2019, sales teams need to be embedded with marketing teams so that the content they create truly addresses the needs of prospects and can serve as a sales aid. Alignment between sales, marketing, and leadership, and the buy-in for inbound marketing that results, is for the most part just as much a problem today as it was 10 years ago. Marketers need to stop speaking like marketers and start speaking the language of sales and leadership. One way that marketers can get more buy-in from sales or senior leadership is to use their conference and training budgets to send people in those positions to marketing conferences such as INBOUND. The concepts behind They Ask, You Answer are just as relevant today as they were when Marcus first came up with it because great, educational content will always be a valuable sales tool and an effective way to help your leads prequalify themselves. Self-selection and self-configuration tools will yield tremendous results for companies in 2019. HubSpot's website grader is a great example of a self-selection tool. The best way to position your company as a leader in the year ahead is to always be asking yourself "what can we do to reduce the friction in the buying experience?" Companies that produce two to three textual or video pieces of content a week should to start to see hockey stick growth after the first year. Resources from this episode: Save 10% off the price of tickets to IMPACT Live with promo code "SUCCESS" Email Marcus Sheridan at Marcus@MarcusSheridan.com or MSheridan@ImpactBND.com Marcus Sheridan on Facebook Marcus Sheridan on Twitter Listen to the podcast to get Marcus's playbook for success with inbound marketing in 2019. Transcript Kathleen Booth (Host):Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. I'm your host, Kathleen Booth. Today I am especially excited to announce that my guest is the one and only Marcus Sheridan. Welcome, Marcus. Marcus Sheridan (Guest): Yay. Happy to be here, Kathleen. It's going to be a great conversation, I'm sure. Marcus and Kathleen recording this episode Kathleen: I am so excited. This is the first episode of the Inbound Success Podcast for 2019. Marcus: It's a good start. Let's start this party right. Kathleen: It can't get better than that, right? I wanted to start, really, with something big. That's why I asked you here. About Marcus Sheridan Kathleen: For those listening, if you've been living under a rock for the last 10 years and you don't know who Marcus Sheridan is, he is a partner at IMPACT, which is the agency I'm with. He's also the author of They Ask You Answer. He is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker on topics relating to marketing and communication. He is the principal and the founder at Marcus Sheridan International. That is a very brief bio. Marcus, for anybody out there who might not know who you are or those who may not know what you're doing now, could you just take a minute or two and catch everyone up? Marcus: I'll try to do the really fast 101. The one that you didn't mention was I'm still a pool guy, too. I started out of college a swimming pool company called River Pools. Things were going okay up until the market collapse in 2008, 2009. That was when we were getting ready to lose everything and ended up embracing what we call today They Ask You Answer. To make a long story short, it became the most trafficked swimming pool website in the world. That company really took off. It's extremely strong today. I wrote about what I was doing at River Pools, and as I wrote about that, that opened up other opportunities to speak and to do consulting. Started an agency. It was called The Sales Lion, but we merged at the beginning of 2018 with IMPACT. That's why I'm one of the partners there. Today, I also have Marcus Sheridan International, which to your point, that's really my speaking company, Kathleen. It's a bureau, as well. In other words, companies contact us that are having events and they're looking for particular speaker capabilities, subject matter, whatever. We're really well connected, so we recommend those. We essentially broker that. It's a lot of fun. I like to dabble with that, which I'm passionate about. They're very diverse, too, which is interesting. A pool company, an agency, a bureau, B2Bs, B2Cs in there. It's a great sandbox to experiment with and to say, "Hey, this is what's working here. This is what's working there. This is what's not working." Kathleen: That's what I think is so interesting about you is that you have, to me, a really different perspective on marketing and what works with marketing. I would refer to it as a human-centered perspective. I've known you for a while. I've followed you for longer than I've known you personally. I always appreciated that you're not necessarily a marketing guy. I mean, people think of you as a marketing guy, but you're more like a guy who's trying really hard to deeply understand people and what will work when you want to communicate with or connect with people. To me, that's the theme that underlies everything you do, but I think that's also the theme that needs to underlie marketing. Marcus: I'm glad you've noticed that, because I think that's a really big deal. I think one of the reasons why I've been really successful speaking about marketing is because I don't speak like a marketer. One of the biggest issues that our space has is silos that exist between sales and marketing and marketing and leadership. One of the big reasons for that is most marketers fail to instill the vision of what they're trying to do and achieve with everybody else on staff. That's because they talk about it in a way that is marketing-centric. Me, I've always spoken the language of, foremost, the business owner that was very concerned with sales and revenue. That happens to include marketing but not the other way around. That's, I think, why They Ask You Answer resonated so well with business owners and CEOs, salespeople. That's always my hope, Kathleen, is that I can be human-centric in the way that I talk about the thing. The moment you stop that, you start to lose certain portions of your audience. Here's silly examples. I was a pool guy and a business owner for 10 years. I didn't know what the words B2B or B2C meant until I started going to conferences. I was a business owner. I wasn't dumb, but I had no idea what they meant. I didn't know what top, middle, bottom of the funnel necessarily meant. ToFu, MoFu, BoFu -this junk. I hope that I never suffer so much from the curse of knowledge that I can't communicate with your average Joe or Jane business owner, CEO, whoever that is. Kathleen: Amen. Marketers are terrible violators of the jargon and acronyms and technical word rule. We should be great communicators. I mean, that's kind of what we're taught to do if you're a trained marketer. I've always heard people say that marketers, when they put on their marketing hat, they forget everything they know about being a human being. Marcus: Fundamentally, we're outrageously assumptive. We assume that people understand us, our products, our services, our lingo. You see this a lot with just content marketing in general. I'm constantly reading stuff, I'm like, "They actually think I know what they're talking about right now, and I don't." One of the industries that I think is the worst at this that I've messed around a little bit with is the big data industry. You find somebody out there that can define big data in a way that the common man or woman understands it, they're going to be rich. Let me tell you, these big data companies, they can't articulate what they do. They can't articulate the problem they solve. Because of that, if you ask somebody, "What is all this big data stuff about?" they say, "I don't really know." Unless they're in the field, they don't actually know. Kathleen: I would tend to agree. I mean, it's interesting. As somebody who's been in agencies for a long time, you work with people in lots of different industries. I have found that it's the more technically complex industries that have a harder time communicating, 'cause they fall back on industry jargon. I worked with a lot of cybersecurity companies, and they couldn't get out of their own way talking about what they did. Marcus: That's correct. Kathleen: That's often why they need to bring in outsiders to help them with their messaging. It's easier to come in as somebody who knows nothing and be like, "Talk to me about what you do. If you can make me understand it as your marketer or as your consultant, then I can make anybody else understand it." Marcus: Our good friend Ian Altman talks about this. You always start not with what you do but the problems you solve. If especially every B2B company replaced solutions in their navigation bar in their website and replaced that with problems you solve, you would see there would be this drastic, dramatic difference in how often those particular pages were frequented. I mean, fundamentally, what the buyer needs to do, the prospect, they need to be able to nod their head and they say, "Okay, now I get it. Ah, that's me. That's exactly what I'm experiencing. That's what I'm going through right now." Unless it's stated that way, it's not good. Kathleen: Now, you've been preaching about problems they solve for a long time. I'm not sure that'll ever change, 'cause that, again, speaks to the fundamental human need and the way we connect and communicate and comprehend. What Is (And Is Not) Working With Inbound Marketing in 2019 Kathleen: I want to take a step back. The big reason I wanted to talk to you for my first episode of 2019 was that, since I've been involved in inbound marketing, even since I've been doing this podcast ... by the time this goes live, I'll have done probably 75 episodes. Even in just that short amount of time, so much has changed in the world of inbound marketing. The podcast is about inbound. Most of my listeners listen because they're interested in inbound marketing. When I first created this podcast, it was really to scratch an itch that I had, which was you hear these stories of people who are getting amazing results and doing great things. I really wanted to be able to find out what exactly are they doing to get those results in a way that felt very actionable. Normally, when I interview people, we talk about what's a specific strategy or a specific tactic you're doing, or tell me about a campaign. We're not going to do that today. What I wanted to talk with you about is, looking back at the evolution of the field of inbound marketing, if we can even call it a field, when it first became a thing, there was very much a formulaic approach to it. HubSpot drove that. They invented the term. They came up with a methodology that was driven by their product, and all of that has evolved over time. In a lot of ways, it's still very driven by HubSpot's product and the need to promote the use of that. To step outside of that product-driven world, I'd love to ... this is going to be a big question that I'll throw out and then we can drill down. I'd love to find out from your standpoint with inbound marketing, with where we are today in the world we live in now, what is still working from that original philosophy or approach? What are the timeless elements? What's not working, and what do you think is going to be needed to really knock it out of the park? Let's just talk about 2019, 'cause I can't even forecast what's going to happen in 2020. Who knows? There could be robots that rule the world by that point. Marcus: You're exactly right. What is still working ... I think to answer that question, you have to look at principles. The beauty behind principles is they're timeless and they should, hypothetically, always be working. It's funny to me that all of the sudden you hear more and more people talking about trust, authenticity, and transparency. It's like, "Guys, this is not new." The idea authenticity's the big thing in 2019 ... seriously? If we've been doing this the right way, since even when HubSpot was started ... the whole premise behind They Ask You Answer is an obsession with the way buyers think and the willingness to address exactly what that thought is. Sometimes the thought is a question, and that question could be good, bad, or ugly. Usually, when we're willing to address the bad and the ugly, that's when people call us authentic. That should have been happening for a while now. Now, the reason why it didn't happen for many is because of the buy-in issues and the lack of implementation across the board, the vision, lack thereof, from leaders of organizations. One thing that is working just as well today as it was when I got on HubSpot in 2009 is the idea of truly obsessing over your customers' questions. I'm talking about the difficult ones. And the willingness to address them well. Now, how that's evolved, though, is the way that we address it. Maybe now we're saying we can't just write it. We've got to also show it through video and not just say it. We've got to eventually give them the ability to listen to it. We're talking about voice here, which I don't think is the major 2019 play. I think voice, although I'm working on it right now ... I just had a River Pools skill developed for Alexa that's very good. You're going to see it here soon, Kathleen. Kathleen: I can't wait to test it out. Marcus: It's really neat. It'll have a full fiberglass swimming pool conversation with you. I'm only doing that now not because I think I'm going to need it in 2019, but I think I'm going to need it in 2020. I think this authenticity thing ... it bugs me a bit, because that's been working for a long time now. What doesn't work in conjunction with content while we talk about that is we've known for a while that quality was important, but I think it's really starting ... how long have people been outsourcing content and getting results? Now you see fewer and fewer companies outsourcing content and getting results. Of course, the question is why? Because A) it's not authentic, B) it doesn't truly represent the soul of your business, C) it usually isn't qualitative enough to truly answer the question well, whatever it is, in an expert-like way where the reader, the viewer, the listener can say, "Okay, I get it. Now I understand." What we're seeing here, we've seen this at IMPACT tremendously, is that when companies take ownership of the thing, the skill -- in this case, that might be producing the textual content or producing the videos in-house , even though often times there's a bit of a learning curve, embrace the messy that comes with that at first -- they end up catapulting way beyond those that outsource those six videos a year to some video production company or outsource a blog post every week to a ghost writer. Which, come on. If the ghost writer's any good, they've got to interview all your SMEs, your subject matter experts, anyway. It's essentially like you're doing it in-house. You can't escape it anymore. You can't do this half-cocked, like, "Let's just dip our toes." Sometimes companies come to me, Kathleen, and say, "I just want to dip our toes in the water." I think you could probably do that a little bit before. You can't dip your toes in content and be really successful. You either play hard or you just don't play. Just do something different. You know what I'm saying? Kathleen: I couldn't agree more. Like I said, I've been in the agency world for a long time and have played around with different solutions to the content question. When I had my own agency, a lot of our clients didn't want to write their own content. In the beginning, we were trying to just purely outsource it. We would have an insurance agency that wanted us to do blogs and they'd say, "We need blogs on these ten topics." We'd find a writer and that writer would write them. They were fine, but to be perfectly honest, if a writer is writing a blog on 10 things you should know before you buy car insurance and they're not an insurance expert, what are they doing? They're going out and they're Googling. They're finding 10 other blogs with the answer, and they're basically just rewriting what's already in existence. It doesn't add any value. The only way you can add value is if you are delivering something unique, original, different. That can either be factual information. It can be a point of view. It can be an analysis, what have you. I completely agree. The only time we only had success with creating content for clients was exactly what you described. We had the amazing Liz Murphy, who is now with IMPACT today, who figured out this methodology of doing phone interviews with our client subject matter experts. 15 minutes per article. She would just extract all the knowledge out of their brain, turn it in into an article. She'd still have to send it back to them and they'd still have to be a part of the process. Would it be better if they wrote it themselves? Absolutely. At that time, that was the most we could get them to do. The difference in the results was dramatic between that and the alternative. Marcus: There's a definitive profile of the companies we've seen with world-class digital inbound marketing case studies versus the ones that have not. Almost every single time, it comes back to ownership. What can they do, what can they produce themselves? This is why at IMPACT we've been shifting the traditional way, which is do it for you, versus walk with you, grab your hand and walk down that trail together. I've seen time and time again, if a company hires a videographer, that's usually not enough, because that videographer, they might know video, but they don't yet know how to create sales, marketing, and customer experience videos. That's different. They don't know sales and marketing strategy. If they have somebody that teaches them that ... the good thing is it doesn't take a lifetime to learn that. Within a certain period of time, you can take that person that just knew how to do video and create documentaries or create films and truly turn them into someone that understands what the visual sale looks like. Now, the whole company can have a culture of video in-house. I think that idea of having a culture of inbound in-house, a culture of video in-house, a culture of content, of teachers in-house -- I think that this is a principle. I think that is not going to go away for a while. There's a very strong decade of this. I know AI's going to play with all this stuff, but AI, what they won't do, is they're not going to be able to replicate the videos that I'm doing right now. There's something about those that is extremely human that resonates with the marketplace. Instead of worrying about that, we've got to establish ourselves. Are we learning how to do these things in-house as organizations? Are we eliminating the silos? Does the sales team realize they're a part of marketing? I think, before, marketing could be on an island in 2009, Kathleen. I don't think marketing can be on an island today. I don't think they can have great success if they're not embedded with the sales team. If the sales team and the other subject matter experts aren't at least involved somewhat, some way, shape, or form in the content production process, I would argue that it's almost impossible for it to fly big at this point in time. Kathleen: It's really interesting that you just said that, 'cause when I was listening to you talk about having a culture of inbound, a culture of content, a culture of video, in my head I was picturing somebody listening to this podcast, and most of my listeners tend to be marketers, and picturing them having a panic attack. Many of the marketers I've spoken to I think would love to have more company-wide alignment or support around what they do, but I feel like a lot of them either don't know how to get it, are afraid to ask for it, or in some cases --and I have had clients tell me this --I have had clients say, "I don't want to open up that can of worms. I don't want to have the attention that that would bring." There's a real fear within marketers of that kind of change. How do you navigate that process? I mean, you've worked with a lot of companies on this- Marcus: The problem is marketers have to understand just a few realities. One of the biggest realities is that if you have a CFO, if you have somebody that's paying the bills, unless you can really start to prove that you're driving revenue for the company, you're always going to be underpaid, underappreciated, and not really listened to, which is frustrating, but it's true. What has not improved at nearly the rate that it should have is this alignment between sales, marketing, and leadership. That has not happened over the course of what is now for me about 10 years of being in this space. Buy-in for the most part is just as much a problem today as it was 10 years ago. Kathleen: Why do you think that is? Marcus: There's a multiplicity of reasons. Let me break them down, a few of them, for you. The first one was our original conversation on this call: marketers need to stop speaking like marketers and start speaking the language of sales and leadership. That's major. Number two. You go to an event like INBOUND or any of these other events, 90% of the room is still marketers. Then you have a handful of salespeople and leadership. More often than not what happens is they get fired up at INBOUND, they get a ton of ideas, they go back to the office on Monday, and everybody rains on their parade, because they weren't there. The reason why leadership so often pushes back, it's not because they're a stick in the mud. It's because they're ignorant of the thing. I don't say that in a bad way. It's just truth. Because they're ignorant of it, they say things like, "I don't have the time," or, "No, I just don't think that's in the budget right now." The reason why we say things like time and budget has nothing to do with time and almost never budget, but it's always because, "I don't value it like you do." Why don't they, Kathleen? Because they haven't been educated nearly well enough yet. It is still the fundamental problem in this entire inbound space. That's why marketers have to be obsessing over that. Sometimes I've had marketers tell me this before. I'm like, "When's the last time you went to leadership and said, 'You know what? You gave me a $2,500 education budget this year. I would like to give you, Mr. or Ms. CEO, my ticket to INBOUND. Would you be willing to go in my place? I will stay here and man the fort. Your vision for what I'm doing is more important than me going there and hearing about all of which I already know'?" We don't do that. We don't send the sales manager. We don't give up our budget, either, do we? We keep going to INBOUND. We keep going to Content Marketing World or maybe even IMPACT Live, which is really where you need to be going the most. This is what we're not doing. This is what we've got to change. Those are the two biggest reasons. Inbound Success Podcast listeners can save 10% off the price of tickets to IMPACT Live using the code "SUCCESS" Click here to learn more about IMPACT Live or purchase tickets now Kathleen: It's interesting. I don't often talk about IMPACT on the podcast on purpose. It's not about the company. It's about inbound marketing. I will interject and say that we have this conference in August and we just this year launched this package for teams because of this kind of thing. We really believe you should come with your group of people from your company and experience something together so that you leave and you're charged up and you're excited and you're all on the same page. Marcus: Do you know how many times I have talked to a salesperson at an event and they will say things like, "I finally get it. I finally understand"? It's so sad. Think about how many frustrated marketers are listening to this right now, Kathleen. I would say there's a third reason, too, of this buy-in issue. It goes back to education. As I've stated before at times in different places, the number one email that I've gotten over the course of these almost 10 years is ... it's not from business owners saying, "We need more traffic, leads, and sales." It's number two. The number one, "Marcus, I'm a marketer. I'm frustrated. I'm sick and tired of feeling like I'm alone, of having to scratch and claw for anything to get approved. I'm almost ready to leave my company." I've seen so many leave, Kathleen. Now, part of this, and this is the third part, is that when we start these digital campaigns, what does the start look like? In other words, let's say you've been doing inbound for a while and I went to your sales team right now and I said to them, "How come we're producing all this content?" More often than not, they wouldn't know. They wouldn't have an answer. That's the problem. That denotes that there is a serious issue. We got to fix that. I've taught so many workshops. The marketers are the ones that call me initially and I say, "Look. You don't need to be at the workshop. I don't care if you're there, 'cause you're already all in. Your sales team has to be there. If they're not there, I'm not going to show up, because everything starts and stops with them anyway." Kathleen: You're really good, I will say, at holding people's feet to the fire about that kind of thing. Marcus: Because I'm willing to go through the pain on the front end so that we can have the pleasure on the rear. The issue is we're too afraid, often times, to address this ugly reality on the front end. Then we wonder, "Why didn't the campaign work? Why did we get the pushback? Why so many obstacles? Why so much red tape?" I just had a company a few days ago call me. Hundreds of employees. They're a pharma company. They're like, "Marcus, regulation is making this impossible." I said, "Well, okay. Regulation is potentially a problem in healthcare. But the fact is, do you have somebody in leadership that is an advocate and that can go to that department and can talk with them about what is and is not kosher and can ensure that those that are dealing with the regs, that they catch the vision that is digital sales and marketing for your organization?" "No we don't have that person yet." Of course then you're getting pushback. All they're hearing is somebody in marketing tell them, "Hey, we need this approved." Leadership's not saying, "We need this approved." That's why it happens. We have to do the hard stuff on the front end to experience the pleasure later. Kathleen: One issue is absolutely buy-in and getting buy-in from the top to the bottom, from the left to the right, all through the organization. Let's say the organization has buy-in and they agree they want to move forward, they want to produce their content, they're going to embrace this approach. You wrote They Ask You Answer, which is very much a blueprint for how you should tackle content creation. Is it still applicable today? I mean, are we in a world where everybody's already doing They Ask You Answer, or is there still room? Marcus: Often times people say, "My industry, Marcus, is so saturated. How could we ever find success with so much saturation?" That's because, again, they're looking at it as a marketing play. Let's turn this around for a second, Kathleen. Let's say that you produced a video that's specific to addressing some of the major questions your sales team's getting all the time and dealing with all the time. Let's say that video never ever gets watched on YouTube, ever. At the same time, let's say that the sales team gets it and they immediately integrate it in the sales process. They use it to send to the client before they have the first sales call. Because the client often times does watch it, now they spend less time on the first sales time, because they're way more educated, they've heard the company doctrine on these major questions that are asked, and now the conversation is less teaching, more selling. The sales team loves it. Was it a successful video? Another scenario. Let's say that you have this whole plethora of questions, fears, worries, concerns, et cetera addressed on your website. Let's say none of these articles or videos have ever produced a single organic lead from search. But let's say, because of that, now when anybody comes to the site from pay per click, their user experience is so much better that your conversion rates go up there. Let's say now whenever anybody comes to your site from social, all of which that content you were using on social in the first place, when they come as a referral from social, now the user experience is so much better they say, "These guys are different. I trust them. I'm going to contact them." Or, let's say that it's a referral. Still to this day, even if it's a word of mouth referral, they're still going to vet you first on the site probably before they call. When they come to the site, are they going to feel different? Are they going to be satiated? You see, we overestimate the quality of the content in the messaging of our competitors. Everybody does this bad. There's still a bunch of blue oceans. Even if the textual content is saturated in your space --and I still believe that we should produce that, because it's rare that that's the case --the video content in most industries is still wide stinking open. There's the final element to this, Kathleen. Let's say your marketing team never benefits from it, your sales team never benefits from it from a straight sales standpoint. Is it worth it? There's this thing that happens when you produce content that nobody seems to talk about. You know this as a writer, as a content producer. You start to figure out what you're trying to say and you figure out what your opinion, what your doctrine, what your philosophy is on that subject. When you do this as a company, it forces you to take a stand. When you do this now, this will become the training manual for any new employee that ever comes on, any sales person that ever comes on and says, "How do we approach this question? How do we feel about this?" The answers are already there. That's why this is so relevant. I think that's going to maintain itself for quite a while, regardless of how much saturation is out there. Now, there is a level up, though, Kathleen. It used to be that we might just say, "What is the best swimming pool?" That might have been the question before, but now we're getting more specific, like, "What is the best type of swimming pool for me?" This is why one of the big focus areas that I think we should all have that is just rife with opportunity, I mean, just so heavy of opportunity right now in 2019 and beyond is the trend of self-selection and self-configuration. In other words, let's say you came to the River Pools website right now. Let's say you didn't have any idea what type of pool you want. "Do I want an in-ground pool? Do I want an above ground pool? If I do want an in-ground pool, should it be concrete, should it be vinyl-lined, or should it be fiberglass?" Is there an unbiased tool that you could walk through that would ask you a series of questions and be interactive that would essentially give you some type of output in the end that would say, "Okay, Kathleen. Based on what you just said, it sounds like a concrete pool or a fiberglass pool or an above ground pool is the right choice for you." These interactive styles of self-selection and self-configuration, they are so monumental. So few companies are doing them at all right now, Kathleen. This is the level up of what you and I might call traditional content marketing. Kathleen: It's interesting. I've had some experiences with those kinds of tools. Now as I tell this story, I'm totally going to out myself and my age range. My experience with self-configuration tools was when I first noticed I was getting some little gray hairs on my head. Marcus: That happens to all of us at that 40-ish age. Kathleen: I was like, "Okay, got to cover those up." I don't know. I'm not somebody who spends a lot of money on salons and things. Funny enough, I heard about this hair color company through the TechCrunch blog. This is how much of a geek I am. They were talking about how this company was really upending the model of hair color. It's called Madison Reed. I was like, "If TechCrunch thinks this company is cool, I'm going to check them out instead of going to CVS and trying to find a box of hair color on the shelf." I got to the website and it's exactly what you described. It was like, "What is your natural hair color?" I said brown. "Is it more reddish brown, blondish brown?" Blondish brown. "Has it been colored before? How much gray do you have? How long is it? How curly is it?" All these questions and then it basically said, "Here is the perfect color for you. By the way, if this doesn't look perfect, here are the next three if you want to see what those look like." I became a customer. Not only did I become a customer, but they're so smart, they have a subscription plan. Now it's on a "set it and forget it" thing where it comes to my house every few weeks. That's amazing. I don't even have to think about it any more, and they've got a customer for life. Marcus: You've got to send me that link, by the way. I want to see that. I'd like to do that myself. Kathleen: You've got some grays you want to cover? Marcus: I'm so fascinated with self-configuration right now. We've been working with it at River Pools. To give people an idea, we've got one at River Pools we're developing that is, what is the best shape and size for me for my swimming pool? The other one is, what is the best type of swimming pool for me? The best type of swimming pool for me is the most top of the funnel. What is the right shape and size for me is lower in the funnel. How much is my fiberglass swimming pool going to cost, that's even lower in the funnel. I'm trying to develop a perfect pricing tool. It's never been developed in our industry before. I want people to be able to get close numbers even before they talk to a sales person. Again, a lot of people think that's crazy. If you've read They Ask You Answer, you know how this works, you know how applicable it is, whether it's B2B or B2C. Those two examples we just used now were both B2C, but this is relevant in the B2B space as anything. Everybody should be thinking about self-configuration right now. I think that's a major that we all need to be upping our game with as we go forward. Kathleen: It'll be fun to see what you come up with there, 'cause there are a couple of examples that I can think of of companies that have done the pricing part really well with complex things. For example, there's window treatment companies where you put in the exact size of your window and the fabric you want and this and that. It's complex, but I'll tell you, I only order from companies like that, 'cause I don't want to go into the store. It works. Marcus: How would I set this up? If somebody contacts you right now, a legitimate prospect, what are all the questions that sales consultant is already asking? If you talk to a sales consultant about your hair, every single one of those that you mentioned, that's what they would have said. The beauty behind this, it's dramatically more efficient and it induces a friction-free buying experience. If our guide, as we go forward 2019 and beyond, is we say, "Is there anything I can do that lessens the friction?" There's a very good chance that that means your leader of your space, because antiquated, traditional thinking generally is very friction-based. It's the opposite of today's buyer. Most swimming pool companies would say, "We could never give pricing, period. We can't talk about pricing." Everybody knows for years I've been talking about pricing. I've been giving ranges of pricing. I've been talking about all the factors of pricing, but now I'm trying to give actual prices as close as possible. We've already got a little bit of this developed on the site. It's a lead generating machine already. I mean, it's really, really beautiful, this pricing tool that we have. Anybody can set this up, regardless of what you are. B2B, B2C, service product, big, small, local, national. This is the mindset that we have to have. Let's make it easier on the buyer. Let's see if we can mimic or replicate the in-real-life sales experience. Can we replicate that online through the digital experience? If you can do the self-configuration combined with beautiful video explanations of that thing ... one of the issues, Kathleen, is whenever you do these types of self-configuration tools, inevitably, again, because the curse of knowledge, the company will ask you a question that you don't know. For example, if I'm a pool guy and I say, "Do you think you want a heat pump or a gas heater with your swimming pool?" most people have no idea. You don't know that. Kathleen: No. I would have no idea. Marcus: If I can have an explanation, especially if it's a video explanation, now that you can just quickly click and say, "Here's where you would want to fall. Here's the pros and cons of each one. Hopefully that helps you decide which is the best for you." That allows you say, "Okay, perfect." If you're a consultant, this is the same thing. Every consultant in the B2B space asks a series of questions to their prospects. Can we handle that on the front end? One of the things that we're trying to develop at IMPACT right now that Bob and I are talking a lot about is we constantly assess these companies and we let them know where are they from a digital perspective, what's their impediments and all these things. Can we replicate that on the front end? The most forward-thinking on this was Dharmesh with Website Grader in 2007-8 time period. When he came out with that, that was so stupidly ahead of his time. It was genius. That was the catalyst for me. That was the great motivator for me. The first time I took that, which is essentially ... it was a self-assessment tool. That's all that was. I got a 37 out of 100, and I said, "Bull. That's not me. I'm not a 37 out of 100. I'm going to show you wrong, Website Grader." Then I went on this glorious journey. Of course- Kathleen: Boy, did you show it wrong. Marcus: It's what propelled me. It gave me that drive. I could keep going back and saying, "Okay, now it's at a 42. Now it's at a 49. Now it's at a 75." Kathleen: In my mind, when I hear you talking about all this, I feel like how I know this is possible is that if there was ever an industry that was unnecessarily overcomplicated in terms of the research and the purchasing process, it was cars. I've heard you talk a lot about CarMax. To me, there's even a leader further ahead of CarMax now, which is Carvana. You can buy your stinking car out of the vending machine with Carvana. They literally have car vending machines. Marcus: That's correct. Usually, the leader of the previous generation is slowest to adopt the next one. What happened was most of the successful used car dealers said things like, "There's no way we could ever offer a five-day money-back guarantee. There's no way that we could have this intensive inspection process, which would essentially eliminate the possibility of selling any lemons to the marketplace. There's no way we could do all these things to eliminate the fears of buying a used car." CarMax came in, turned the industry on its head, and did that. But CarMax is going to get replaced by the Carvanas, the TrueCars of the world, because they're making it even more friction free. If we're not looking to replace ourselves and our business model and the way that we do it, then there's a good chance we're off. When I started They Ask You Answer, Kathleen, I really thought it was a blogging strategy. This is why when you talk about something, you learn what you're trying to say. You just discover it over time. It's a fluid experience. They Ask You Answer became that, but it became an obsession with the way buyers think and the willingness to evolve with said buyer. If a company's embracing They Ask You Answer, they don't make statements like, "I don't watch videos, so why in the heck would we create them for our customers?" It's like, our opinions don't matter. They don't mean jack squat. The only thing that matters is, what does the marketplace want? They Ask You Answer is basically saying, "People would like to buy it like this. I know it's never been sold like that in our industry before. Let's just strip out all the rules, all the regs. Is it possible that it was sold that way?" That's when you have entire industries flipped on their head. We're seeing it over and over again. It's such a fun time to be alive if you're the type of person that likes to fill in outside of the circle, because that means you're willing to break the rules. You just don't have these confines, these parameters that everybody else has. You say, "Why not? I mean, of course we could do that." Kathleen: So many interesting things here. We've got self-configuration tools. We've got creating your own content. We've got taking They Ask You Answer approach. We've got using video to show and not just tell. For the companies that you have worked with on this and the companies that are doing it right ... I know that you work with a wide range of companies. They're not always the sexy disrupters of their industry like a Carvana. Some of them are a plumber- Marcus: I love unsexy, nerdy, just stuff that you would traditionally think, "They couldn't do this," and they end up killing it. What Does Inbound Success Look Like in 2019? Kathleen: That's what I was going to say. In today's world, when you say killing it ... if somebody's listening and they're thinking, "Alright. I could maybe try this approach," what kinds of results should they expect and what does killing it mean these days? Is it a nice 5% increase every month over time? Can you still hockey stick? What does success look like? Marcus: We see lots of hockey stick growth when it comes to traffic, leads and sales. When I really started teaching They Ask You Answer, I didn't necessarily know what were the major bullet points of success in all of these most successful organizations, 'cause I didn't have enough case studies yet. I had River. That's all I really had. Came to realize there is a few essentials that you got to do, that you've got to have. If you have these essentials, there's a good chance you're going to see that growth. First essential is you've got to have buy-in from top to bottom. It's just absolute. Number two, you have to look at this as a long-term play, which mean there's continual updates, education, and awareness about how the program's working, what's happening, everybody knows. Again, it's not a program; it's culture. Number three, that you have owners, specifically of textual content, of video content. Everything has an owner. Unless there's an owner that's not wearing a thousand other hats, generally it's not going to fly. Number four, that it's accepted that everybody has to participate. It's almost like part of the job description. They don't say, "Well, it would be nice." They just do it. It's just what they do. Again, not utopia always. It's just something that we do, we know it's part of the deal. You do certain things with your job you don't love, Kathleen, but you do it because it's just part of the deal. You don't miss it. You don't stop it. It's just who you are. Then the fifth one is they measure everything that they possibly can. That way, they're not having conversations like, "Did this really work?" They're saying, "We spent this much money on a content manager, on a videographer in-house, but we can definitively track that we have generated this much more traffic, this many more leads, and this much more revenue in this process." There's others we could add in there, one of which would be clearly that the sales team obsessively integrates content into the sales process as much as possible. That they're always looking for ways to do this. Somebody might listen to this and say, "Well, we're e-commerce. We don't have a sales team." Yeah, you do. The page is your sales team. Are you integrating content so well into that page that the person says, "Every single question I had about that particular product has now been resolved. I'm ready to click the buy button"? Are we doing these things? We still consistently see, when they do this right, amazing growth, but you've got to be qualitative and quantitative. For a long time, there was this dumb debate of, "Should I focus on quality, or should I focus on quantity?" Well, you've got to do both. That's just the truth. I mean, you can't do one great blog article a month and expect to see hockey stick growth. Generally, that's never going to occur unless you already have some established audience. If Oprah started a blog, she's probably going to get great growth at once a month. We're not Oprah. We can't do that. We continue to see the pattern of great success when you start something is two to three pieces of content a week on that thing. In other words, for most companies, if they're producing two to three textual pieces of content a week, they're going to start to see hockey stick growth after the first year. Same thing with video. What happens is it becomes habit at two to three a week. It just becomes who you are as a company. At two to three a week, you've got to have owners, you see what I mean? Because you have owners, it's like everything is self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating. This is the pattern that we've seen time and time again. It's fun to watch it. It's really, really neat. They are obsessed about the continual education and they'll add something each year. Maybe they're crushing it with the textual content, they're crushing it with the video. Now they add chat and they want to become the best at chat. Don't try to be great at all these things. Most of the companies don't try to be great at all social media platforms. They recognize if you try to be a jack of all social media trades, you're going end up being a master of none. You're way better off just focusing and being a master of one. This is how it works. You knock out one at a time and you grow that way. The last thing I'll say about this, every company that's been obsessive about They Ask You Answer since the beginning has done everything that Google says today that they want you to do. They were never afraid of a single algorithmic change, because this was a long-term solution to a long-term problem, which is search. Search is a long-term problem. Google's obsession, "Give it to them as quickly as I can. Make it as relevant as possible. Make sure it's the best, most qualitative answer they could possibly get." Anything that doesn't align with that is a short-term solution. Vanity link building that got many people penalized these last few years, that was doing a deal with the devil, Kathleen. It came back to bite so many people. Those that were just doing it right and obsessing over the quality and the quantity component, they're the ones now that own the industry. I MPACT is one of those. 600,000 visitors a month of traffic is a big deal for any agency. The reason why that happens, it's been a long-term play. We ain't out there asking people for their links, though, I'll tell you that. Kathleen: Definitely not. I'm not sure I would enjoy my job very much if that's what it involved. It's like the cold-calling of marketing. Well, you just did a great job of bringing us full circle. I started this conversation talking about how I feel like you've always been somebody who's less focused on how to do marketing and more focused on how to make that human-to-human connection. I think what you closed with, at least the way I heard it was, when you're solving for search engines, the best approach is also to solve for humans, because that's ultimately what the search engines want to solve for. Marcus: They're completely aligned. Kathleen: At the end of the day, all the latest, greatest tactics of marketing don't mean anything if they're not solving for people. Marcus: It's our moral compass. That's always going to bring us back where we need to go. Not to make this about They Ask You Answer, but I'm trying to show the principle here. Whenever we would have a debate about a piece of content, we would say, "Do our customers really want and need to know?" If the answer was yes, we said, "Okay, we're going to talk about it." Kathleen: I love it. Marcus: It always worked. Kathleen: Awesome. Well, I'm going to have extensive show notes on everything that you shared. If somebody was listening and they want to have this, essentially which is a playbook for 2019, they can find it in the show notes. How to Reach Marcus Sheridan Kathleen: We need to close, because I could talk to you forever, but you don't have forever to talk to me. If somebody's listening and they want to learn more, they want to contact you, they want to ask you a question, what's the best way for them to find you online? Marcus: You can still find me at TheSalesLion on the Twitters. You can find me at Facebook. I'm public there. You can email me. An easy one to remember is Marcus@MarcusSheridan.com or MSheridan@ImpactBND.com. Either one works. Hit me up, folks. I love the personal contact. Kathleen, otherwise, this was a pleasure. Hopefully, we delivered a few nuggets today that are going to help those wonderful listeners of yours tomorrow. Kathleen: Absolutely. My one ask to anyone listening is if you do any of this and you see success with it, let me know. I would love to share your story. Maybe you could be somebody that I interview in 2019 about your inbound success. That's it for today. Thank you for listening. Happy New Year. Thank you, Marcus, for joining us and sharing all of your wisdom.
Marcus Sheridan got his first start in the business world in 2001 when he began installing swimming pools with two other friends out of the back of a beat-up pickup truck. Nearly a decade later, Sheridan’s company triumphed through the adversity after the collapse of the housing market to become one of the largest pool installers in the United States. Their website has become the most visited swimming pool websites in the world. Marcus transitioned his success with River Pools and Spas into the development of his marketing and personal development blog —The Sales Lion, which has become a staple in the inbound and content marketing world. It has been featured in multiple industry publications including the New York Times where he was referred to as a “web marketing guru.” His book, “They Ask, You Answer” was rated the #1 Marketing Book to Read in 2017 by Mashable. His digital marketing and website design agency, IMPACT, helps businesses make their visions a reality by growing their marketing and sales. When Sheridan isn’t spending time presenting compelling and passion-filled keynotes around the world and consulting with businesses and brands, he is usually with his wife and 4 children exploring new adventures. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Reasons Marcus feels the life lessons he learned as a child have shaped him and how he carried those lessons into adulthood both professionally and with his family Why Marcus believes it’s important to have private jokes with your kids The lessons Marcus learned, while on a mission in Chile during college, that taught him the skill of asking excellent questions and facilitating discussion The surprising benefit that being married and having children had on his college experience How Marcus is able to maintain his energy even when traveling up to 150 days per year When, how and why Marcus came to the realization that he had a unique ability to teach Why Marcus believes in passionate debate with business partners and the importance of a strong set of core values Reasons Marcus chooses not to dwell on the past How Marcus intends to disrupt the speaker bureau agency business The unique philosophy Marcus has regarding education Why Marcus wakes his wife up in the morning before he gets his day started One of the best decisions Marcus ever made in his life Why Marcus would rather exercise than take a nap The importance of being around people who make you want to be a better person Why Marcus believes waiting tables is a valuable skill and how it helped him create his own system that became useful in his own business success Why paying attention is essential, no matter how far something is above your head The importance of being present while spending time with your family His inspiration for the “They Ask; You Answer” style of business that brought his pool business back from the brink of bankruptcy Why building trust is essential, why it works, and how answering uncomfortable questions makes it work Ways to contact Marcus: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcusSheridanInternational Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSalesLion Website: https://marcussheridan.com/ and https://www.impactbnd.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcussheridan1 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MarcusSheridan River Pools and Spas: https://www.riverpoolsandspas.com Buy His Book “They Ask, You Answer”: https://bit.ly/2MJ4RC8
When Marcus Sheridan faced desperate times with his pool business in 2008, he needed a better way to attract new business. Marcus immediately started to answer the questions his customer had with fiberglass pools and presto, the new business started to present itself. Today, River Pools and Spas is the top pool company in the Mid-Atlantic and the entire US. How can managed IT service providers benefit in the same way? Start answering the questions your prospects and customers have.
Learn how Marcus Sheridan saved his company (River Pools and Spas) in 2009 after the economic collapse, by simply answering questions his customers were asking. His company went from near bankruptcy to become the largest installer of fiberglass swimming pools in the country. Produced by Seedling Inc. Hosted by Jason Zagami Music Credit: Piano_flava – Not-just-jazz PIANO FLAVA Hip Hop Instrumental #13 " Not Just Jazz "
Inbound marketing saved Marcus Sheridan's business, his family's finances, and brought him to the place where he is today -- a successful business owner, keynote speaker, and author. We dig into the mindset it takes to be successful in marketing/sales and more. Guest Biography Called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the Story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer,” which was dubbed the #1 marketing book to read in 2017 by Mashable. Known for his incredibly unique ability to engage live audiences, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today. No one ever says, “When I grow up, I want to be a pool guy.” Neither did Marcus Sheridan when he was a youth being raised in the small town of Callao, Virginia. But that’s exactly what he was for 10 years of his life—a decade that would go on to become the foundation of his incredible “They Ask, You Answer” story, one where his swimming pool company would go from near bankruptcy to one of the most successful pool builders in the entire country while being featured in multiple best-selling books, the New York Times, and many other publications. For Sheridan though, one can trace his success as a business and communications thought-leader today back to his time spent as a missionary for his church, when he lived in Chile for two years from 1997-1999. During this time there, Sheridan, who had never spoken Spanish and up to that point had a fear of public speaking, was constantly put in positions to speak to and teach large audiences. Eventually, Sheridan’s fear for public speaking would turn into a strength. By the end of his mission, he realized he had a knack for explaining complex subjects in a way audiences could easily understand and relate to them. Furthermore, he could see that audiences seemed to resonate with his unique, interactive speaking style, something he would end up using full time as a professional speaker 15 years later. After his mission, Sheridan married his high school sweetheart, Nikki, and finished his degree at West Virginia University. While looking for his first post-college job, Sheridan was approached by two close friends from home who had just started a swimming pool company—River Pools and Spas. Upon asking him to be the first employee of their fledgling company, Sheridan responded: “Sure, at least until I find my ‘real’ job.” The rest, as they say, is history. Sheridan’s two friends invited him to join them as owners 6 months later, and for the next decade, he would help River Pools and Spas find the ultimate success it did. With such success, Sheridan started his personal blog, The Sales Lion in 2009. By focusing on an array of sales, marketing, and personal development issues—Sheridan developed a large following and eventually, the site was recognized as one of the top 10 Social Media sites on the web. The momentum with The Sales Lion naturally led to speaking and business opportunities for Sheridan, where today, he and his team are internationally known for keynotes, workshops, sales/marketing coaching, and HubSpot training. But outside of all this, the thing that means most to Sheridan remains the marriage he has to his wife (Nikki) of 15 years and their 4 children: Danielle, JT, Larsen, and Casey. In fact, if you happen to run into Marcus at a conference or event, there is a very good chance one of these 5 is right there with him. Show notes: http://www.inspiredmoney.fm/025 In this episode, you will learn: Whether you’re a business owner or trying to build your personal brand, learn the mindset that can bring you success. Elements of effective business blogging. Why it’s important to become a world class communicator and how that can positively impact your life. Links The Sales Lion Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Marcus' book: They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today's Digital Consumer IMPACT Branding and Design River Pools and Spas Video: INBOUND Bold Talks: Marcus Sheridan Thanks for Listening! To share your thoughts: Leave a note in the comment section below. Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. To help out the show: Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Special thanks to Jim Kimo West for the music.
A Passionate and Interactive Co-Host, The Sales Lion Himself: Our co-host today has been called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times. The Story of how he was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world. It is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer,” which was dubbed the #1 marketing book to read in 2017 by Mashable. Known for his incredibly unique ability to engage live audiences, Marcus Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today. (http://thesaleslion.com) On This Episode You Will Hear: [spp-timestamp time="01:30"] The Sales Lion joins us as our latest co-host for a fun conversation. [spp-timestamp time="03:30"] Sales as a Profession vs a Job. Marcus doesn't agree with the point that nobody likes to be sold to. [spp-timestamp time="06:45"] 70% of the buying decision has already been made before we walk in the door these days. [spp-timestamp time="07:45"] Channeling They Ask, You Answer to save his pool business. [spp-timestamp time="08:45"] The online content that took him 45 minutes to write on his kitchen table has generated over $3.5 million in sales. [spp-timestamp time="10:45"] Active Listening vs Just Listening. [spp-timestamp time="13:45"] Good Parenting as a Teacher. [spp-timestamp time="16:25"] Analyzing how Tony Robbins works. [spp-timestamp time="17:35"] World Class Communication. [spp-timestamp time="18:50"] Marcus' #1 frustrated email that he receives. [spp-timestamp time="20:05"] You can be a profit to the world but nobody listens to you in your hometown. [spp-timestamp time="25:00"] How do YOU propose we solve the problem. [spp-timestamp time="28:00"] The #1 thing that dictates someones compensation in 2017. [spp-timestamp time="31:30"] Marcus' disappointment with George Washington University. [spp-timestamp time="32:45"] Read outside the lines, we don't need to follow outdated systems. Marcus' 16-year-old daughter travels the world with him since she was 14! [spp-timestamp time="33:45"] His daughter rocked her first keynote speaking opportunity, opening for Marcus, at a recent Content Marketing Academy. [spp-timestamp time="34:35"] His daughters 15-year-old entrepreneurial journey into the glitter eyeshadow market. [spp-timestamp time="38:50"] She said "Why Not Me". [spp-timestamp time="40:20"] Living Spouse, Family, First. [spp-timestamp time="45:00"] Updating your website with a section for the problems you solve. [spp-timestamp time="46:00"] Updating your website with a section for who you are not a good fit for. [spp-timestamp time="47:30"] Saying NO to prospects to grow your success. Save yourselves from the ones that cause you all the stress. [spp-timestamp time="53:50"] Final Words [spp-tweet tweet="Is It Possible That This Applies to Me?! Listen in with @TheSalesLion @LIVETHEFUEL "] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6wnisRwak] Links and Resources: TheSalesLion.com (http://thesaleslion.com) @TheSalesLion on Twitter (https://twitter.com/TheSalesLion) @TheSalesLion on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TheSalesLion/) @TheSalesLion on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thesaleslion/) @TheSalesLion on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2X9pBr24FsAMRgDhiUTTdw) River Pools (http://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/) Marcus Sheridan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan/) Marcus Sheridan on...
What is the “elephant in the room,” and how can you conquer it? Trust! This week on Hire Power Radio Show, Marcus Sheridan, president of The Sales Lion and author of They Ask, You Answer, (Amazon.com) joined us to discuss how a company’s reputation, and the unspoken issues surrounding it, can impact hiring/recruitment, and how being open with candidates about the “elephant in the room” can build trust and win over the talent you need to hire. Called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the Story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, They Ask, You Answer, which was dubbed the #1 marketing book to read in 2017 by Mashable. Known for his incredibly unique ability to engage live audiences, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra- fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today. To learn more about Marcus Sheridan, visit thesaleslion.com. Check out the Blog on the Stride Search, Inc site for the supplementary “show recap” article with detailed takeaways/insights from the interview.
Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask You Answer, shares powerful, proven ways to build trust and increase sales through content. Marcus Sheridan, Sales Lion You want to increase sales, but you don’t have unlimited funds for advertising… What can you do? Believe it or not, this may put you at an advantage. Today’s guest, Marcus Sheridan, isn’t just a sales expert. He is a “Sales Lion!” And he’s here to tell you how content marketing can not only save your business, but push it towards exponential growth. “We can either make the rules…or we can watch our competitors make the rules…” -Marcus Sheridan Maybe you don’t know the first thing about content marketing, or maybe your strategy isn’t getting the results you want. Don’t fret! Marcus started from scratch as a last effort to save his business after the market collapse of 2008, and he’s seen phenomenal growth ever since. Today, we cover how to get started with content marketing, how to determine what customers need the most, and how to marry this up with long-standing sales techniques. This episode covers so much ground, so get ready to build trust like never before. “When all is said and done, the only thing that really matters is trust.” -Marcus Sheridan You’re going to have things to do after this episode, so sharpen your pencils and listen in! Highlights from the interview: Marcus explains how the philosophy of “They Ask, You Answer” saved his business. [2:50] Why is trust so important in sales and marketing, and how can content build that trust? [7:15] If 70% of buying decisions are made before customers meet us, how can we get through the vetting process? [10:40] What is the “ostrich marketing strategy,” and why is it so effective? [15:00] How can we “disarm” customers, or get them to let their guard down and be receptive to communication? [16:40] Marcus shares best practices around sharing prices (or not) on company websites. [24:00] About our guest: Called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the Story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer,” which was dubbed the #1 marketing book to read in 2017 by Mashable. Today, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today. Connect with Marcus LinkedIn Twitter Website Email: marcus@thesaleslion.com Related Content 360Connext® post, No Longer a Buzzword: Customers Redefine Transparency Episode 205: Colin Shaw, The Intuitive Customer Episode 104: Pat Helmers, Sales Babble Podcast We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message: Develop your customer experience mission Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We can help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. The Customer Experience Investigators™ at 360Connext specialize in helping companies across industries and around the globe. Developing and internalizing unique and scalable customer-focused missions has been crucial to their success. Want to compete with the other 89% of companies staying afloat by providing better experiences? You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience while breaking down the silos that are holding you back. We offer evaluations, workshops, and roadmaps to keep your wheels firmly planted on the road to a customer-centric future. Join us on our mission To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™ today. Visit us at 360Connext.com. Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode Bella speaks with Marcus Sheridan, a former pool guy turned digital sales and marketing expert. He is the President of The Sales Lion and a Partner at River Pools and Spas. Bella and Marcus discuss: The philosophy of “They ask, you answer” Why business owners are afraid of just giving honest answers […]
Neil chats with Marcus Sheridan, aka “The Sales Lion.” Marcus started River Pools & Spas in 2001, and since has gone on to create a sales, marketing, and personal development blog The Sales Lion. If you've enjoyed the podcast, please head to iTunes and leave a rating & review for the show! It only takes a moment, and really helps me to reach new listeners. You can also head to the website at TheLawEntrepreneur.com for more information on the podcast and my legal services. -- Thank you to our sponsors! Daylite by Marketcircle – business productivity apps specifically for Apple products, with cloud syncing between your Macs, iPhones, & iPads Spotlight Branding – Web presence and branding for law firms Production & Development for The Law Entrepreneur by Podcast Masters
“The art of the question has fundamentally been lost.” As a global speaker and consultant in digital marketing and sales, Marcus Sheridan has made name for himself and his business by answering all of the questions. I couldn’t wait to talk to the content marketing legend and author about all of this, on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Marcus Sheridan Called a “web marketing guru” by The New York Times, the story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer.” Today, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today. Episode Highlights The 20-second version of Marcus’ story. “In 2008, I was going to lose my business. I had two consultants tell me to file for bankruptcy. I started reading about inbound marketing and content marketing and created a four-word philosophy.” They Ask, You Answer. This philosophy applied to content marketing helped Marcus save River Pools. It’s also helped countless marketers who have read his story and heard him speak. “If you can’t explain it — if you can’t answer the questions — it’s no good.” These four words are also the title of his new book. They Ask You Answer, which is full of case studies of “digital Davids” like River Pools. “It’s 50% marketing, 25% sales, and 25% implementation.” The most important social media question. “It’s not ‘how can I be great on Facebook today?’ It’s ‘how can I be great on Facebook forever?’ You do that by solving customers’ problems.” How can you cultivate a culture of questions? “Businesses need to think more like buyers and less like businesses. Marketers aren’t subject matter experts.” You have to get out of your bubble and seek the expertise of leadership, engineering, and sales to effectively answer your buyer’s questions. What question is Marcus asked most often? “It’s not, ‘I’m a leader/business owner — how do turn my business around?’ It’s ‘I’m in sales and I need leadership’s buy-in.'” Marcus recommends getting leadership re-acclimated with customers’ needs for a better connection between the business and the buyer in your sales and marketing execution. What brand has made Marcus smile recently? “I’m gonna use this example because it would be easy for them to say, ‘but we’re too big’ — Home Depot.” Citing their “exceptional blog where they teach, teach, teach,” he noted that it features products without being too sales-y. To learn more, go to The Sales Lion website, check out his book They Ask You Answer, and follow him on Twitter. As We Wrap … Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Sean Carpenter gave us a shout on Twitter for our recent episode on millennial marketing featuring Gabriella Mirabelli. Thanks for listening, Sean! Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!
Marcus Sheridan, Partner of River Pools and Spas and President of the Sales Lion Consultancy, joins the Bryan Kramer show to discuss distilling our thoughts, moments of magic, and how to tell your story. In This Episode: What makes a great event Drawing on your creativity in your most stressful moments How to develop teaching and learning in everyday conversation The marketable value of being able to simplify information The power of asking questions The buffet principle The number one determining factor in your ability to be successful Why running a podcast is a great tool for learning Resources: The Mad Marketing Podcast Marcus Sheridan's Sales and Marketing Consultancy Marcus Sheridan's Twitter The Pool School (They Ask, You Answer) Jim Rohn Visit Bryankramer.com to hear more Human Conversation.
The Bright Ideas eCommerce Business Podcast | Proven Entrepreneur Success Stories
Show notes for this episode: http://brightideas.co/191 In this episode, Marcus and I talk about how he merged River Pools with a much larger pool manufacture and how he was able to get his digital assets valued just as high as their real estate, plant, and equipment. We also talk about why he started the Sales Lion and how doing so has helped him become even more successful. Have a question about this episode? Record it at: http://brightideas.co/asktrent
In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares a bit of the Marcus Sheridan story of how he grew River Pools and Spas by becoming the best teachers in their industry. He reminds you that what you sell will probably change over the next few years. But if you are putting a value first approach to your content and becoming the leading educator in your industry, this won't matter. Content that teaches your audience will ensure you will always be relevant to your audience.
What is content marketing and how it drives ROI In this episode of Tourism Tweetup the podcast we chat to Jacki James a strategist at Zuni a Sydney based digital agency about content marketing and if you can track an ROI on content marketing. Jacki defines content marketing by starting with what content marketing is not. She says back in the day advertising is what we thought of as marketing and that is about interrupting people with your messaging and this is a push strategy, pushing your message out. Content marketing however is about creating content that your audience wants to consume and you are drawing your audience to your brand so more of a pull strategy. The content could be a game, a white paper, could be inspiring images or how to blog post. For your content marketing to be effective brands need to be more strategic in their approach and have a focused content strategy. Focusing on the high value areas - identify those areas that are going to add the most value to your target audience and those that will make the biggest contribution to achieving your business objectives. "Every piece of content you put out there must have a reason and a purpose for being - @jackijames" [Tweet "Every piece of content you put out there must have a reason and a purpose for being - @jackijames"] What to post or what content to create, "Your content should meet the audience needs and your business objectives." What does my audience want How can I offer them value How can I be useful Link to River Pools and Spas 'the pool guy' Marcus Sheridan case study click here At the 8 minute mark we discuss that content marketing isn't just about social media. At about the 9 minute market we talk about content marketing and ROI. You can have an ROI on a content marketing strategy. If you are trying to increase brand awareness you'll want to look at reach metrics, If you are looking at affinity and relationships you'll be looking at engagement metrics like returning users, visit, log ins, shares, or even hashtag usage, If it's sales then looking at google analytics sales funnels and how customers are moving along the funnel. Link to the Levis and Google thing we were talking about. Link to the Leo Burnett diving with sharks thing we were talking about Zuni website http://zuni.com.au Jacki on Twitter https://twitter.com/jackijames The post What is content marketing and how it drives ROI: #29 appeared first on Holly G.
Content Marketing with Marcus Sheridan This week I get to chat with Marcus Sheriden "The Sales Lion" . Marcus is a super smart guy who started in the marketing world with his fiberglass pool company River Pools and Spa out of Virginia. He tells us how his pool company hit a really rough patch to the point where he almost lost his entire business and had to lay off his whole team, and in a last ditch effort decided to take to answering questions he got asled all the time from customers. With this method now called content marketing. Marcus built his website into the most visited pool website in the country and saved his business. He now has a website and podcast over at www.thesaleslion.com where he talks and teaches all about content and inbound marketing. Go listen and visit his website he's a great guy and you'll learn a ton. What to Listen For: How he almost went out of business and what he did about it. Why he decided to start with content marketing. What exactly is content marketing? Is content marketing for every business? Why everyone who thinks content marketing is dead are dead wrong. Why your industry isn't special and why you have to use content marketing. How to get to know your customer beforethey ever meet you or use your service. Why you need to make your information easy to find and consume. Why the old ways of business are dying and never coming back.marcus Marcus' Website River Pools and Spa website Macuss' Podcast Marcus on Entreprenuer on Fire Marcus on Twitter Thanks For Listening Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. I hope that you have found it to be valuable, if you have a question you can email at Bruce@smartpizzamarketing.com . Big Thank You to Marcus for coming on the show with us he's a super smart guy and great to be able to talk with him and share his knowledge with everyone. If you did find this information valuable it would be awesome if you could share it using the social media buttons on the side of the post. Aslo Please leave a quick review on Itunes or Stitcher that would really help grow the show and get more guests on to help you grow your business and marketing efforts. Visit Smartpizzamarketing.com for tips and resources to help grow your business or for help with anything mentioned in this show. Twitter: https://twitter.com/Irvingmedia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Smart-Pizza-Marketing Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Smartpizzamarketing
Click Here for WOMB Downloadable pdf file How Can You Elevate YOUR Business In The Eyes of Current & Potential Customers? Hold onto your socks, or toes; whichever is easily accessible. This strategy is going to surprise you. AND because only the tiniest percentage of businesses commit to this, it is another, very powerful, strategy to set your business apart from others in your industry, develop raving fans, and loyal customers! So let’s get started. You’ve heard from your family, friends, acquaintances, strangers—a good 1000+ times, if you’ve heard it once, references to ‘gifts that keep on giving.’ Quite probably, this quote could reference both positive and negative examples. This use is all positive. I am not talking about free reports as an enticement for a prospect to provide their email address, etc. I’m not even talking about a “value added” bonus, which you might include with a product, service or information product. Here, I am talking about another powerful opportunity to be of service to your target audience, by providing a gift to address their needs. A gift that will indeed, keep on giving, to you as well as to your target audience: This additive does require ongoing attention Can be a core component to “brand building” for your business Acts as a catalyst toward gathering rewards through your new marketing strategy—rewards for your target audience and for your business’ bottom line. The gift is your business providing some source of digital information—a blog, podcast, Facebook Group, an “Ask Annie / Ask Us” Website or a separate area of your exiting Website—which addresses one or two challenges, or concerns, shared by those individuals which make up your target audience. And . . . this is the IMPORTANT part, you provide these resources . . . without any selling! “What!?,” you say. Yes, this strategy involves a bit of a trust, a leap-of-faith. But if you provide an information venue which addresses issues especially relevant to your target audience; provide this from a perspective this is not part of your actual, going-out-there-to-sell marketing, it will make a huge difference to your target audience—your current and prospective customers/clients. This is your business providing information that is valuable to your target audience. This is you, as a business owner, building relationships, which leads to trust. And when prospects trust you, they’re going to end up coming to you when they do need a product or a service that you offer. They will want to come to you, someone they’ve learned to trust, instead of searching for someone else. This results in sales. It just doesn’t do so initially. This strategy is slightly indirect but still amazingly powerful. This strategy has already made amazing differences for large businesses and even small businesses, such as River Pools & Spas in the state of Virginia. This approach is worthy. Yes, it’s different, but it is worth your time and effort! Do’s: The information can be in a domain you own, even a section of your main domain You must do the ‘marketing’ of your “gift area” to point your target audience to exactly where that information exists Somewhere in your graphic, or at the byline, place: “this blog/venue is authored, or managed, by MyCompany.com” Do say “Go to OurWebsite.com/specialized_information” or “Go to SpecializedInformation.com.” It is permissible, as well as important, to have subtle branding somewhere on the Web pages of your ‘gift’ area, whether that area is within your primary domain or on a separate domain, which you may decide to set up for this information. Don’ts: Do not say, “Go to OurMainWebsite.com and click on such-and-such particular link” to direct prospects to access your “gift information” area Your ‘gift’ area cannot have anything that really tries to take your Website visitor back to your products/services or says, “Oh, hey, click here to see our great products/services.
Marcus Sheridan from the Sales Lion joins me today. Marcus is a highly successful business owner and speaker. His highly energetic personality is paired with amazing insight into business marketing. Listen in as he gives you some amazing tips and advice. His energy is infectious and by the end of the interview you will be ready to start implementing his advice today! About Marcus Marcus started a swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas in 2001. The pool company grew to be one of the largest of its kind in the world (due to inbound marketing efforts and their incredibly popular swimming pool blog). After huge success teaching other pool professionals how to embrace inbound marketing, Marcus has become a very successful HubSpot Partner, training inbound marketers and companies everywhere how to find success. With an incredibly entertaining and educational style, Sheridan has become a highly sought after speaker for many marketing and business conferences globally. He is also the author of the blog, The Sales Lion, one of the best marketing, business, and life-success blogs on the internet. Show Highlights Ø What makes a great website Ø The importance of teaching your clients Ø Joining you sales and marketing teams Ø How to rule with content marketing 70% of buying decisions happen before the customer even makes contact with your company. That number is still growing and will continue to grow. This puts an ever growing importance on marketing. Marcus explains what you need to be doing to capitalize on this growing trend. Want to know more about Marcus? The Sales Lion Mad Marketing Podcast River Pools and Spas Marcus1@thesaleslion.com Twitter: @thesaleslion Feedback Have any suggestions for future shows? Have questions or topic you would like us to do an episode on? If so, please leave a comment. If you enjoyed the podcast would you please take a moment to leave a review and rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Every review means we can reach out to more people. iTunes: Franchise Euphoria Podcast Tune in on Stitcher!
Click here for Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf When the content of your marketing messages is focused on the needs and problems of your target audience with information and keywords important to these prospects, your buiness message is far more likely to be found during online searches. It is also more likely to be remembered, whether it was seen online or offline, because you are speaking to your prospective customer rather than pushing your business at them. No one likes to be “sold,” but most everyone likes to buy things they want. Customer-focused messages transform your marketing into customer magnets! A Step-by-Step ‘Base’ Recipe to YOUR “Secret Sauce” for Customer-Focused Messages Write all your marketing messages content from the perspective of your target audience—online and offline. Talk to your prospects, not at them. Carefully review all marketing messages to make certain they contain words and phrases that your target audience would use when searching for what they want. Caution: be certain you are talking to your prospects rather than search engines. Avoid becoming obsessed and over-packing your messages with keyword after keyword, such that your messages no longer sound like people talking to each other. Search engines are targeting-“tools,” not your target audience. Be the solution to the problems your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website Be the source of answers to the questions your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website. Be the source of answers to the curiosities your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website. Decide upon a plan for how often you will add new content to your Website—remember these are new reasons for prospects to visit your marketing messages, and new opportunities to strengthen your ‘expert’ position as well as develop the trust of your target audience. And all of this is without paying for AdWords and expensive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies! When your marketing messages and Website content are focused on serving your customers, including thoughtful consideration of which keywords your customers and target audience would most likely be using, your Website content IS your SEO strategy. Who’s Doing It Right? While representing only a very small percentage of the businesses involved in marketing both online and offline, there are businesses are out there that do already create their marketing messages from the perspective of their target audience. Would it surprise you to discover that those businesses that develop their messages in this manner are also particularly successful? A few examples: at the Enterprise level include Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, and Red Bull; on the small business level, there are “River Pools & Spas” in the U.S. state of Virginia and Dinesen Flooring in Denmark. I know what you’re thinking. Well, yeah! Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), Red Bull—they have MASSIVE UBER-budgets. They can pursue any marketing idea they want. What can that possibly have to do with my small business? Yes, Enterprise-level businesses have budgets which, if we say them out-loud, could make us break out in a zero-envy rash. We can’t play in their ‘financial’ ballpark. However, we can emulate their strategies by acting on what these businesses, collectively, are doing right. We can also realize not all Enterprise-level businesses are doing it right; actually, most of them are not. So, money is not the difference. Insight, choice and execution, through resourceful and creative emulation, is the difference. And small business owners can capitalize on that difference. The Enterprise business examples above are not each utilizing all of the powerful pieces of effective customer-focused marketing. Only Red Bull is doing it all! I’ve spent a few years reviewing and studying thousands of Websites and several hundred businesses,
The Bright Ideas eCommerce Business Podcast | Proven Entrepreneur Success Stories
On the show with me today is a guy called The Sales Lion. Originally, the ‘pool guy’ behind River Pools and Spas, Marcus Sheridan has become well known for both his success as a inbound marketer (his pool company is a lead generation machine) as well as the guy behind the popular blog, The Sales Lion. Here’s a short summary of his achievements: Thank you so much for listening! Please subscribe rate and review on your favorite podcast listening app. To get to the show notes for today's episode, go to https://brightideas.co/xxx...and if you have any questions for me, you can leave me a voicemail at brightideas.co/asktrent
Selling swimming pools doesn’t sound all that exciting. Let alone blogging about selling swimming pools. After all, what’s there to say? Well, a lot as it turns out… Marcus Sheridan started a swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas in 2001. Finding himself selling in a tough economy, he turned to the web to help market his business. […]
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