Podcasts about socialistics

Embark on a journey with Joanna and me as we open the doors to the vibrant virtual halls of Socialistics and share the secrets to cultivating an online culture that's as rich and interactive as its brick-and-mortar counterpart. Miss those chance encounters by the watercooler and the buzz of office banter? We're right there with you. Tune in to hear how we've transformed longing for the physical workspace into pioneering a digital renaissance, complete with the unexpected perks of spontaneous virtual drop-ins and the nuanced evolution of tools like Slack that keep our conversations flowing.Step into the future with us as we paint a picture of the digital workspace revolution, where 3D environments and personalized virtual offices aren't just a distant dream but today's reality. Discover how our team has embraced custom elements, like virtual pets and snack options, to create a work atmosphere that's not just about tasks but about connection and camaraderie. Joanna brings her unique perspective to the table, discussing how these tailored environments reduce our Slack dependency and foster more organic interaction. Get inspired by the creative, cost-effective strategies we're employing in this remote working evolution and how they might just change the way you think about logging in for the day.Learn more:www.socialistics.comwww.jasonyormark.comwww.antiagencybook.com

Lysa Miller is the founder and CEO of Ladybugz, an Interactive agency based out of Boston, MA and we sat down to talk about how she has been able to build a unique agency model powered primarily by a team of freelancers that she's been able to scale the business with. It's a new day and age of workforce, and Lysa has capitalized on this with some great tactics and strategies we discuss in depth.About:Lysa Miller is the founder and CEO at the award-winning web design + digital growth agency, Ladybugz Interactive in Boston, MA. Miller and her talented team found an industry niche serving early growth biotech companies across the country. The agency also works with growing nonprofits, B2B companies, legacy brands and independent schools. Lysa is also the founder of the MetroWest Women's Network online networking and referral group of 5000 local women. Her goal, to empower and help local women grow using the power of each other.Recent accomplishments include being featured on the cover of Boston Business Journal's 2020 Annual Book of Lists and named “Top Women Owned Marketing Agencies to Watch” by Agency Vista. She has also been featured for her agency expertise in Entrepreneur/Fortune.com, Cloudways.com, CIO, and Business Insider. Lysa regularly contributes thought leadership content locally and to Agency Publications + Podcasts. Follow her on Twitter or IG @lysapreneurLearn more about Lysa at www.ladybugz.com Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com

This week I sit down with Melissa Mellor, the CEO at Hey U Human, a mental health and human wellness company. We dig in to the power of emotional intelligence and how mental health for you and your team can set you up for incredible success personally and professionally.About:Melissa Mellor is the CEO of Hey U Human globally recognized mental health and human wellness company. They serve corporations and individuals in over 80 countries around the world and within over 15 different applications. Hey U Human truly does business differently – in every aspect of the meaning. From hiring + pay to how they sell and lead their team and support their human development in a vastly different way. Most notably, Melissa + the Hey U Human Founder, Sara Longoria, recently walked away from a business model that acted like a ‘cash machine' and did a massive pivot in how they conducted business. One day, they realized how their marketing efforts hijacked people's dopamine and created a “FOMO” and lack addiction that forces them to spend money. They were communicating only to people who had the luxury of disposable income and wanted their work to get into the hands of the masses. So they launched Hey U Human and changed everything about how they do business. When you think of the ‘workplace of the future' Hey U Human is the epitome of it. Through Hey U Human, Melissa is revolutionizing leadership and how businesses conduct work and lead their staff. Melissa is passionate about igniting humanity, waking humans up, and helping infrastructures and institutions understand mental health and human wellness through a completely different lens. A lens through which the company is no longer reacting to mental health issues and pandering to personnel complaints. One that proactively engages the whole human to create an unstoppable workforce. If you are a human with emotions, or you interact with other humans with emotions, you will want to tune into this podcast.Learn more about Melissa at www.heyuhuman.com Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Austin & Monica from A&M Digital Design who run their own web and brand design agency and do it in style by traveling the world. We discuss the advantages and challenges of running an agency while on the road, and what to think about before considering the lifestyle.About Austin & Monica:Austin and Monica are college sweethearts who built a design business centered around helping creative online business owners and couples find the confidence to show up authentically through strategic branding and websites.To them there is something magical about building a brand. Once you have a brand and a website that represents your business correctly, nothing can stop you. They love watching business owners bask in the newfound confidence their brand and website provides.Austin and Monica always joke that they are hard to keep track of because when they aren't designing, they're traveling the world in constant search of adventure, good food, and new friends.Learn more about Austin & Monica at: https://aandmdigitaldesign.com/Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com

Today I sat down with Jeff Gargas from Teach Better Team who co-owns a very different business than most we've talked to over the years, but shares very similar tactics and strategies that can help you grow a sustainable business. We discuss the art and science of incorporating an educational approach to your sales and marketing efforts and how that can lead to a healthy pipeline of opportunities for your business.About Jeff:Jeff Gargas is the COO and Co-founder of the Teach Better Team (Creators of Teach Better, The Grid Method, and Teach Further) and co-author of the book, “Teach Better.” He works with educators to increase student engagement and improve student success. He also offers 1-on-1 coaching for teachers who have a product or idea they want to share with others to better education.Learn more about Jeff at: www.teachbetter.com Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com

When Jason Yormark wrote his new book, Anti-Agency, it was written with one goal in mind…to motivate budding entrepreneurs, young or old, to start and build a successful digital agency or business using the same unconventional strategies and tactics Jason used in starting his “built from scratch” million-dollar social media marketing agency, Socialistics. In this […] The post A Realistic Path to a $1M Business, With Jason Yormark first appeared on Business Creators Radio Show with Adam Hommey.

EXPERT GUEST: JASON YOMARK Jason Yormark is the founder of Socialistics (www.socialistics.com), a leading social media agency that helps businesses turn their social media efforts into real measurable results. He is a 20+ year marketing veteran whose prior work has included launching and managing social media efforts for Microsoft Advertising, Office for Mac, the Air Force and Habitat for Humanity. Jason has been recognized as a top B2B social media influencer and thought leader on multiple lists and publications including Forbes, ranking #30 on their 2012 list. He's recently published the book Anti-Agency: A Realistic Path to a $1,000,000 Business, and hosts the Anti Agency podcast where he shares stories of doing business differently. You can learn more about Jason at www.jasonyormark.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-winners-ways-podcast/support

Hey everyone, and welcome back to Eggs. Today's special guest is none other than Jason Yormark. Jason is the founder of Socialistics, a leading social media agency that helps businesses turn their social media efforts into real, measurable results. With 20+ years of marketing experience under his belt managing the social media efforts for the likes of Microsoft Advertising, Office for Mac, the US Airforce, Habitat for Humanity, and more, Jason has led the field, becoming recognized as a top B2B social media influencer and thought leader by publications including Forbes. He's recently published the wildly popular book, Anti-Agency: A Realistic Path to a $1,000,000 business and hosts the Anti-Agency podcast, where he shares stories of doing business differently. Joining the show today for a discussion about social media strategies that drive real results, unique and different ways to think about running your business, how to create YOUR realistic path to a million-dollar business, and so much more. Please join me in welcoming to the show the incredible Jason Yormark.Our Guest:Jason YorkmarkFounder and CEO at SocialisticsBusiness Website: http://www.socialistics.comPersonal Website/Blog: http://www.jasonyormark.comLinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonyormarkTwitter: https://twitter.com/jasonyormarkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonyormarkInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonyormark----Credits:Hosted by Ryan RoghaarTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPMThe Carton:https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggsThe Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunesThe Plugs:The Showeggscast.com@eggshow on twitter and instagramOn iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pCOn Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcherAlso available on Google Play Music!Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and infodjontic.com@djontic on twitterRyan Roghaarhttp://rogha.ar

Tai Goodwin is the owner and founder of That Marketing Team and we sat down and talked about her journey to entrepreneurship and specifically how bringing her daughter into the mix not only helped grow the business, but give her daughter the life experiences that most can only dream of.About Tai:Tai Goodwin is a marketing strategist and the CEO of That Marketing Team, plus the creator of the Liberated CEO Accelerator. She's an award-winning instructional designer with 20+ years of experience creating learning experiences and content for Fortune 500 companies like Barnes & Noble and tech start-ups like Leadpages.Learn more about Tai at: www.thatmarketingteam.com Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com

Today I sat down with Ben Magnuson from Hive Growth Partners, a performance marketing agency which mixes things up by charging clients a commission or per lead fee vs. high monthly retainers. We talk about the benefits of incorporating such a model and the challenges he faces as well with the model, and as a relatively newer built agency.Ben's Bio:Ben Magnuson is the founder of Hive Growth Partners, which kicked off at the start of 2022. He has 5 years of sales experience in an agency setting and translated this into a unique, B2B model for scaling businesses across North America. Hive is a performance-based business development firm that executes sales and sourcing for companies looking to scale while minimizing financial risk.You can learn more about Ben at https://www.hivegrowthpartners.comLearn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com

This week I sat down with Brian Bogert, an incredibly well spoken performance coach, motivational speaker and business strategist focusing on helping entrepreneurs reach their full potential. It's a fascinating conversation that any aspiring or current business owner should listen into to learn more about how to get out of your own way to reach untapped levels of success.You can learn more about Brian at www.brianbogert.com, and be sure to take him up on his free offer at www.nolimitsprelude.com.Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com.

This week I sit down with Max Sher from Sher Agency who specializes in designing and developing websites. It's an interesting story as I got to learn about Max's journey from freelancer to full-fledged agency full of employees, processes, and the journey from doing everything for everyone to niching down.Learn more about Sher Agency: www.sheragency.comLearn more about Socialistics: www.socialistics.comAnd don't forget to help support this month's Socialistics Cares charity Northwest Harvest: https://www.northwestharvest.org/?form=donate

This week I sit down with Shelby Dash & Kristina Clifford from Take 2 Content, and we discuss their agency story and how they tap into comedy to deliver sticky, viral, memorable content for their clients, and how you can tap into your funny to do the same.Learn more about Shelby & Kristina at www.take2content.comLearn more about Socialistics: www.socialistics.com

Kaitlyn is the owner and creative director of South Street & Co. She started the company as a side-hustle after helping her prior company, a local dermatology practice, double in size in the two and a half years she was there. Now, 6 years later, she and her team specialize in helping small to medium sized service-based businesses grow their reach online. Kaitlyn has been featured in podcasts, publications and her agency has won multiple awards for their marketing efforts. Learn more about Kaitlyn @ https://southstreetmarketing.com/ Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

Nicole is the founder and CEO of Thrive Collective Co. Nicole and her team help startups and small businesses to grow and convert customers on social media. She helps people improve their social media strategy, stand out among competitors, market effectively and sell strategically so they can grow and increase profit from social media.In this episode we talk about how Nicole started her agency, and some of the successes, failures and learnings she's had as a relatively new agency owner.Learn more about Nicole and Thrive Collective @ https://thrivecollectiveco.com/ Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

Austin Rosenthal heads operations and sales for Lionize, an influencer platform/services company helping agencies deliver white-label influencer marketing services and clients with their direct influencer marketing campaigns. We discuss the power of influencer marketing, and how you can effectively integrate results-oriented campaigns that actually deliver.Learn more about Austin and Lionize at www.lionize.ai Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

Mark is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of 4Sight, and an award-winning, seasoned Senior Executive & start-up Founder with more than 25 years of success delivering profitable sales growth for some of the world's most visible brands. His experience spans consumer packaged goods, food manufacturing, home furnishing, non-profit, government and start-up as well as across geographies – having lived & worked in Asia, Europe and North America.Mark spent over 16 years at Procter & Gamble in marketing. While at P&G, Mark led brands such as Pampers, Always and Gillette, and spent the past 5 years leading marketing on Amazon as well as step changing Gillette's global eCommerce business. Prior to P&G, Mark worked at Colgate Palmolive on the Palmolive brand. Leveraging his combination of corporate acumen and entrepreneurial zeal, Mark launched his first start-up – Mobile Agent Now – in January 2018, an uberized review response model, which he sold in July 2020. 4Sight was born out of Mobile Agent Now as clients from Procter & Gamble and Clorox to Nestle and Energizer saw value in mining their reviews (and those of competitors) for actionable insights.Mark attained his MBA with honors from Georgetown University, The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, and his BA in History with honors from the University of Chicago. As a seasoned board member, Mark has held positions with go Vibrant (a non-profit that he founded, and is still Chair of the Board), the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center, and the University of Chicago Alumni Committee.Learn more about Mark at https://www.4sightadvantage.com/Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

Social media for agencies? The only metric that really matters is the outcome your agency gets, not the number of views or likes. Hear insights about: How Jason developed his experience and expertise in social media for agencies, and how he has found his calling helping agencies do more with their social media Why Jason decided to leave the corporate world and step into his strengths later in his career, and why going out on his own was the right decision How Socialistics started as a side hustle before taking off, and why creating the right runway and momentum was key to Jason striking out on his own How Jason defines “vanity metrics” and explains why the real measure of the effectiveness of your social media efforts is the outcome, not views and likes Why the difference between a great agency and everyone else is having the ability to navigate social media to achieve the results you want What Jason is most afraid of, and how building in a safety net and a “business nest egg” helped soothe those fears Why understanding your numbers and having the right team supporting your goals is crucial for your agency's success Why, if your business is growing, it is important to get out ahead of your need for talented team members Why the biggest thing Jason worked on as a business owner was learning “the power of no” and getting comfortable turning away wrong-fit business Why one of the main challenges Jason has faced was dealing with the complexities of business taxes, and why working with a trusted tax partner has helped How to Connect with Jason Yormark: Website: www.jasonyormark.com Website: https://socialistics.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jasonyormark/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/socialistics/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/socialistics Twitter: @jasonyormark Twitter: @socialistics Additional Resources: Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com Twitter: @CraigC2742 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa About Jason Yormark: Jason Yormark is the founder of Socialistics (www.socialistics.com), a leading B2B social media agency that helps businesses turn their social media efforts into real measurable results. He is a 20+ year marketing veteran whose prior work has included launching and managing social media efforts for Microsoft Advertising, Office for Mac, the Air Force and Habitat for Humanity. Jason has been recognized as a top B2B social media influencer and thought leader on multiple lists and publications including Forbes, ranking #30 on their 2012 list. Jason is a published author having released his first book in 2017, and currently resides in Snohomish, WA. You can learn more about Jason and catch more of his writing on his personal blog www.jasonyormark.com.

Jason Yormark is the founder of Socialistics (www.socialistics.com), a leading B2B social media agency that helps businesses turn their social media efforts into real measurable results. He is a 20+ year marketing veteran whose prior work has included launching and managing social media efforts for Microsoft Advertising, Office for Mac, the Air Force and Habitat for Humanity. Jason has been recognized as a top B2B social media influencer and thought leader on multiple lists and publications including Forbes, ranking #30 on their 2012 list. Jason is a published author having released his first book in 2017, and currently resides in Snohomish, WA. You can learn more about Jason and catch more of his writing on his personal blog www.jasonyormark.com. What you'll learn about in this episode: Why developing a social media presence for business success is crucial in today's competitive market, and how Jason's career path led to becoming a social media expert Why the key to leveraging social media is found in focusing on the right metrics and getting real results What challenges Jason and his team have faced in dealing with organizations' past bad experiences working with marketing agencies Why Jason is intentional about his interactions with clients and is focused on building relationships that can blossom over time Why a key part of being a successful entrepreneur is learning to overcome fear of being on your own Why marketing is often the first thing that gets blamed when there are problems in the business, and why marketing is seldom the fix for deeper problems Why being committed to their social media niche has been a powerful catalyst for growth at Socialistics Why the key to a successful social media presence for business is to meet people where they are and leverage your reach Why the level of intentionality Jason and his team practice and the trusted reputation they've cultivated have improved the number and quality of incoming leads they get Resources: Website: www.jasonyormark.com/ Website: https://socialistics.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jasonyormark/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/socialistics/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/socialistics Twitter: @jasonyormark Twitter: @socialistics

David Finberg has been building websites since the age of 9 and he decided to go all-in on the digital marketing industry in 2014 when he founded Peaks Digital Marketing. Since then, he's generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue and has a passion for growing small businesses and corporations through data-driven ROI-centered strategies. He found creativity lies at the heart of this SEO and SEM innovator. As a "Digital Sherpa" for his clients, David helps guide them on the best online path for the success of their business. He defines success as doing what you want to do and making an impact in the lives of others.Learn more about David at https://www.peaksdigitalmarketing.com/ Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

This week we sat down with Daniel Vivarelli from Starloop to discuss how online reviews can make or break your business regardless of what you do, and how you can integrate philanthropy into your business to make a difference in the world while disrupting the space you do business in.Learn more about Daniel & Starloop at https://danielvivarelli.com/ & https://starloop.com Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

This week I sat down with Jason Berkowitz, owner and SEO Director at Break The Web. We talk all things SEO…what to look for, ask and think about when considering an SEO provider, and what elements make up a successful overall SEO strategy.Learn more about Jason at https://breaktheweb.agency Learn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

In this week's episode, I chatted with Rahul Alim, owner and founder of Custom Creatives, a 16 year old digital marketing agency. It's clear Rahul has what it takes to have the staying power to run a successful agency over the years as he shares his no nonsense tips and advice on what it takes to be successful in the agency game.Learn more about Rahul at https://customcreatives.com/ and be sure to check out his free agency resource at https://customcreatives.com/winLearn more about Socialistics at www.socialistics.com 

Jason Yormark from Socialistics tells about how he knew when it was time to leave his job and take his agency full time. He also talks to us about social media management, ads, and more.

Jason Yormark realized the job stability he always hoped to find behind a desk was waiting for him as an entrepreneur. That's when he decided to take the risk and founded Socialistics, a B2B social media agency. Three and a half years later his agency, based in Seattle, helps tell businesses stories in ways that not only drive audience and engagement; but more importantly, real business results. Today, he joins the podcast to talk about how you should treat your agency, the benefits of long vs. short-term contracts, and more. 3 Golden Nuggets Don't be afraid to disrupt. When Jason started thinking of ways to disrupt and help get his new agency noticed, he thought about offering clients an option that would get rid of something that they typically hate. Long-term contracts came up as something that clients don't usually love about their experience with marketing agencies, and so he started offering monthly contracts and got good results. In time, many of his clients have opted to change from a monthly contract to a long-term contract. Treat yourself like a client. A lot of agencies don't dedicate enough time to building their brand. They get so busy with business development and clients and that it is the first thing to get pushed aside. Building your brand takes time and consistency when it comes to putting out new content, blog posts, social media, etc. Jason's advice is to make sure that somebody in your team is responsible for treating your business as a client. You can still outsource if you're doing the content. Are you a good writer, or maybe a natural in front of a mike when it comes to recording a podcast? Great! However, that doesn't mean that you have to take care of every step of the process. Get an SEO editor or a video editor that will take on the heavy lifting. This way, you can focus on your expertise and putting that content out there. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Don't Forget to Build Your Brand and Treat Yourself Like a Client Jason Swenk: [00:00:00] What's up everybody? I have another amazing guest coming for you in just a second. We're going to talk about why you should treat your agency as the number one client. As well as we're going to talk about long-term or short-term contracts, the benefits, the disadvantages. We're going to argue back and forth. This is going to be a really good episode. Now, before we get into chatting with Jason, our guest, I want you to do something. I want you to take a screenshot off your phone of listening to the podcast and upload that to Instagram and tag us because I want to thank you for listening to the show and do a big shout-out to you. So let's go ahead and get into the episode. All right, Jason. Welcome to the show. Jason Yormark: [00:00:44] Thank you for having me. Jason Swenk: [00:00:45] Yeah, man. I'm excited. So let's start fighting. No, I'm just kidding. No, tell us who you are and what do you do. Jason Yormark: [00:00:53] My name is Jason Yormark. I'm the owner and founder of Socialistics. We are a B2B social media agency. Jason Swenk: [00:01:01] That's awesome. And so how did you get started? How'd you fall into this crazy-ass world? Jason Yormark: [00:01:06] Well, I thought, I mean, I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit my entire life. But, uh, I was always searching for stability in my life professionally, and I always thought that that was, you know, a nine to five or sitting behind a desk with my paycheck and my benefits. All that good stuff. But, uh, marketing is a pretty volatile career path, I learned. And once I started to kind of see other folks experiencing the same thing I wasn't. So I didn't feel so bad about myself, you know, jumping around job to job, whether by choice or not. So that's stability I was always looking for was right in front of me all the time. Which was doing my own thing, controlling my own fate. And I just reached a point in my life. You know, I was a little bit later for me, where I could make that leap, take that risk. And get it right. And that happened about, uh, three and a half years ago. Jason Swenk: [00:01:52] Awesome. I love it. Well, let's talk about long-term contracts and short-term contracts. Tell us kind of how you started, where you're at now and what have you seen work? Because, you know, I have my own point of view and we'll see is we come together. If not, that's good. That's probably… that builds interests. Jason Yormark: [00:02:10] I've always been hesitant to admitting this to my other agency, friends. But, and this is going to be a little bit cringy, but, uh, we predominantly up to this point, we've done month to month contracts. And for me, it was a couple of things out of the gate. Number one, everybody's got a different agency story in terms of how they start and what they have to work with. I, you know, I had nothing, you know, I had to. And a lot of folks, I'm not the only one, a lot of folks, you know, start with nothing. You have to scrap and you have to get, you know, some clients up in the beginning and kind of make some decisions that maybe you otherwise wouldn't later on. But, you know, I just wanted to disrupt, I was always fascinated by companies like Uber, who just disrupted transportation. All they did was create this awesome piece of technology to connect drivers and, and people that need rides. And all, you know, I can imagine them sitting in a room and thinking like, what, what are the things that people hate about this? And I thought about that from an agency perspective. Like, what do clients really dislike about what they experience with agencies? And I thought, you know, long-term contracts and I knew this would be a way to disrupt. And I knew it would wait to create some momentum. I knew there'd be some risks with it. You know, the value of an agency is obviously can be dictated by that. But at the time I was like, I didn't care about that point. I just wanted to create something that would allow me to never sit in a car for two and a half hours, three hours every day and sitting behind a desk. I just wanted to create something with some momentum. So we launched with month to month, and it definitely created some instant momentum for us. We were able to maybe win some, some projects that we otherwise maybe wouldn't get. And my theory, my philosophy with it has always been a couple of things. Number one, if you do great work, if you treat clients well, if you deliver results, they're going to stick with you. And if they can't, it's going to be for reasons out of your control. And the pandemic was a perfect example, right? Some clients, look, I don't want to be the reason why an agency has to let go of some of their employees. Like, if they have to press pause on something, then I'm okay with that. So it really worked for us out of the gate to kind of create the momentum that we needed to build a foundation to stick. And to be able to have a business that I could have for the rest of my life. So it worked in the beginning. Jason Swenk: [00:04:11] I see that point and I really do agree with it because at the end of the day, like, think about it this way. Selling agency services is very different than like coaching someone, right? So a lot of times when I'm actually going to someone and saying like, well, you got pretty big goals, right? Like over the next year, it's going to take us awhile in order to accomplish that. Because I'm always looking, like I want to be what I call the chasee or the, I want to be the one getting chased, right? Rather than pushing sales, I want them to be pulling me towards you. And a lot of times what I'll do, and agencies can do this as well. Going, all right, well, we want to make sure you're the right fit for us. And for what you need to do, we believe it's going to take a long time to do, a year. We want to see your commitment level in order to do it. And so that's why I've always talked about doing longer term, and then it's more predictable, right? But I also agree with you. You know, it's easier to sell something that's out. Because it's less risky, right? You can make a decision. All right, I blow a month, two months here. Okay. But like you were saying, if you deliver amazing work, they're not going to want to leave. And then if they get in a situation like we just went through with COVID, right? Let's say you're going after the restaurant industry. The whole industry was shut down for months. Are you really going to stick it to them because you have a contract? No, you're going to let them out. At the end of the day, it's kind of like. You're just trying to figure out, do you really have that commitment level to me? Because I have a commitment level to you and I need to know that. That's the biggest thing I look for. Jason Yormark: [00:05:54] Yeah. And for us, I just feel like. We're growing, you know what? Even at the time, it's like, look, if somebody doesn't want to pay you, they're not going to pay you. Like, even, even the best contract language in the world doesn't mean you're going to see that money. And like, you know, in the beginning, especially the first year, like where are we really in a position where we're going to hire somebody, a lawyer and go to court? I'm like, no. If somebody doesn't want to pay you, they're not going to pay you. And I think in the entire history of our business, one client didn't pay, uh, an invoice. I, you know, I tried going after it and it, we didn't get it. So at the end of the day, it's not, it's just semantics almost. Because, again, if you do great work, they're going to stick with you. And if they can't, then they're probably, they weren't a good fit to begin with. We've had plenty of clients that would come into a relationship with us and I vetted them out the best I could. I think they've got good potential, but they get in and either they treat my team like crap or they weren't ready. And we didn't know that. And there w it wasn't a good fit. I'd rather grow a scalable business with the clients that makes sense for us then just trying to trap people into long-term contracts. Because even if they do sign a long-term contract and they're not a good fit, I'm just the kind of guy that's going to be like, look, this isn't working and we're going to go our separate ways anyway. So it really hasn't impacted our agency not having that. And certainly, you know, it's evolved for us, you know. Now we, my, it was funny, an interesting story. My, my team came to me and they were a little bit frustrated because some clients left because they weren't a good fit. And they said, well, what if we, you know, we think maybe we need to reconsider this. We kind of had a back and forth with the team. And ultimately what we decided is why don't we just create options, right? Let's give them the option of, okay, here's, here's your month-to-month price. And here's a long-term contract price discounted. It's your choice. We give the client the choice. What do you care about most? And a lot of what's happening a lot is some of them will take us up on the month, a month. And then after a couple of months, oh, these guys are awesome, actually deliver results. I like these guys. Hey, could we switch to a long-term contract? And then we kind of move into that. So we give them the option. So that has really actually worked really well for us. And now our balance of clients is shifting. Whereas like, you know, a hundred percent of them are month to month. Now that those numbers are changing. It's becoming like 70/30. I expect it to be half and half, which is good for us because, you know, I want an exit strategy. I'm not ready yet. I'm a couple of years away, but I know by the time I'm ready for that. I think that a good percentage of our clients will be long-term contracts. Jason Swenk: [00:08:18] We'll get you there quicker than you think. Or so you have the option. I mean, it's, it's kind of hard to interview, cause I know so much already I'm being in the mastermind. But that's a great point, Jason, too, of what you were saying about we give the option. Because at the end of the day, you got to think about how can I remove friction from them, making a decision? And then whatever, if, if they're like, hey, I still don't trust you yet. That's kind of why, you know, like in the mastermind and the playbook, we always talk about the offering ladder. Do the foot in the door, then a project. Show them value, and then they're going to want that retainer, but I like how you have, hey, if you want short-term contract. It's kind of like a SAS model, if you think about it, like on a technology, it's like, it's this, if you pay month to month, it's this. If you pay, you know, if you commit to a year… And I like to hear that a lot of clients are going to that, because that was going to be my next question for you. For people listening, going well, do you have an exit strategy? Because I know as a buyer of agencies, that's one of the things we look at. Because we need that predictability. Jason Yormark: [00:09:31] Well, plus, I mean, for me it was, I felt like, well, if they look at the history, if they see. Because honestly I could go back to a good percentage of our clients right now and say, hey, you know, I want, uh, for the, you know, I want to kind of solidify our agency a bit, build the valuation up. You've been on month to month for a year or two. You okay with just sliding into a year-long contract? Most of them are going to say yes. So I think that it's just building those foundational clients over time. I'm not worried whatsoever that when I start thinking seriously about an exit strategy, that I'll be able to transition a good percentage of the ones that we have. And this new approach that we're taking, you know, we'll get there. But as a, as a young hungry… If you're just starting out and you don't have anything, that's a great way to disrupt because it eliminates a lot of the barriers to saying yes. And what's interesting is it's almost kind of like a foot-in-the-door offer by itself. Because the whole idea of in my opinion, the foot-in-the-door is to get them to say yes, more easily. Like the commitment's lower, they get a taste of who you are. And that month a month approach… I mean the first month is strategy. So they're in essence getting a foot-in-the-door offer in some capacity. But ultimately I'm just trying to get them to yes more easily and more quickly. Jason Swenk: [00:10:39] Yeah, I love it. Well, I love that strategy and there's so much to take away. So if you guys are listening, we'd love to know your comments on that. You know, because I think all of you should do that offer if, uh, if you're charging month to month now. See about giving them the option at a, I wouldn't say at a discount, I would just say, we're going to charge you more if you're on month a month, right? Jason Yormark: [00:11:00] Exactly. Jason Swenk: [00:11:01] Let's change, focus a little. Because I feel a lot of agencies don't dedicate enough time to building their own brand, their own marketing, treating themselves as a client. So what have you found working for yourself? Jason Yormark: [00:11:14] Yeah. So I, you know, it was interesting. Every agency it starts out and like, you're just, you're so busy with like business development and selling and getting clients. It's, the first thing to get pushed to the side is your own stuff. And it's very easy to do and most do that. And we did, to a certain extent, we didn't take it serious. We just kind of dabbled, oh we'll put a blog post out. Then, you know, a month later, oh, we probably need to put another blog post out. And it just doesn't work. I found that. You know, we were… as a startup, I didn't have a tremendous amount of money to just throw out stuff. And I knew I had the luxury of creating a runway. I created the brand when I had another job. You know, I, I knew that it was going to take a couple of years for the name and our website to permeate on the web and kind of start to get some organic reach. That takes time, you know, it just takes a long time for that to happen. And I just consistently made a commitment to putting know blog posts out and putting content out and putting social media content out. And it gets frustrating because it's like, it's the sum of all that effort over time that really eventually gets you to a good place. Then, now we're three and a half years in or so, and we're getting about 20 to 30, you know, inbound, organic leads. Just from people searching. And that doesn't happen overnight. You have to treat yourself like a client. You have to prioritize. And the, the minute that we realized that, you know. I just, you know, I got someone on my team, Socialistics is their client just like anybody else. The accountabilities are there, the expectations are there. We don't let it slide no matter how busy that we get. We do not, you know, we just don't move away from what we need to commit to. And now that consists of, you know, weekly blog posts, right now, bi-weekly podcast episodes. Certainly social media every day. But it's just, it's just the sum and the consistency of that. Or, I mean, yes, it's got to be strategic and you need to pick keywords and phrases and work that in and, and be smart. But it's just that consistency that you have to kind of stick with it. And the best advice I can give is, you know, if it's just you, then it's gotta be you. But when you start to build a team, make sure that somebody is responsible and accountability is around your business, as a client. That's the best thing that you can do if you're serious about, you know, building a pipeline for yourself that doesn't require you shoveling money on paid ads all of the time. Jason Swenk: [00:13:34] Yeah, I look at it as if it's just you or you're going all right, Jason and Jason. Which, uh, we'll call it the J&J show, I guess. Then we'll be like, all right, that's all good, but I'm already too damn busy or anything. And I always go back to my motto. If you're saying you're too busy, you're not charging enough. It's the leading indicator for most challenges. If you can charge enough, then you can start hiring the right people. And most of the time we hire the wrong people. I want you guys to start thinking about you in the center and thinking about all the stuff you do, right now. The $10 tasks, the $100 tasks, the really cheap tasks. And think about who can you hire to do that stuff, to get some stuff off. And do only like, you know, Jason's talking about like he's doing content development. He can only create that if he's doing the podcast, right? That's what he should be doing and that's what I want all of you to focus on. Because it has to be like three pillars, inbound, outbound, strategic partnership for building a sales system or a lead generation system for your agency. So hopefully you guys get that. Jason, this has all been amazing. And I actually agree with you. I was hoping we would disagree. So I guess I hooked people in on the intro, but, um, is there anything I didn't ask you that you think would benefit the audience? Jason Yormark: [00:14:58] You know, just based on what we talked about and you kind of touched on it just now. You know, just because when you're doing the content, that doesn't mean that you can't outsource, whether it's somebody internally or whether you hire somebody. And a perfect example of that is like the podcast, which I love doing podcasts. It's easy. It's easier to me, right? You're just getting in front of a microphone and blab for 20 to 30 minutes with somebody. Not to mention it's awesome to just to meet other people in that way. But I don't do the editing. Like I don't do the editing. I don't, you know, I don't want to do any of that technical stuff. I did it at first just to kind of get a feel for it. But you know, a couple hundred bucks a month. There's plenty of resources out there that'll take on all the heavy lifting. So literally all you have to do is put the microphone in front of your face. Talk for 20 minutes, send it to somebody else they'll edit it. They'll publish it. It's fantastic. You know, it's a really low investment in time. The same thing with blogs. Like if you're a great writer, then write it, then send it to somebody to edit and SEO optimize it and publish it on your website. Like don't spend your time doing all of those extra things that make it feel too heavy. Like you can outsource a lot of that and really just focus on your expertise and putting it out there. And the minute that we kind of got those systems in place, it becomes a repeatable process and we're able to make it work. Every day, every week. And it's worked really well. Jason Swenk: [00:16:07] What's a website people can go check the agency out? And what's the podcast name that they can search to go, uh, listen? Jason Yormark: [00:16:13] Yeah. Well, our name's unique, so just search for Socialistics. But you can find us at socialistics.com. The podcast is called Socialistics, social media agency stories. And, uh, you know, just type in the name, you'll find us. Jason Swenk: [00:16:26] Awesome. Well, go check that out. And if you guys enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to do me a favor. We haven't asked for going to iTunes or whatever platform you have and review it. And then also, if you want to be surrounded by other amazing people, I want to invite you guys to go to our free Facebook group called the Digital Agency Owner Insiders. You can go to jasonswenk.com/insider. So that should direct you right there as you a couple of questions and only agency owners are in there. So go do that. And until next time, have a Swenk day.

Despite the popularity of social media, many small business owners don't feel social media savvy. Their strength is usually in what they do or offer. That's understandable and perhaps you even feel this way. However, the reality is that marketing is what'll allow you to keep doing what you love and are so good at, and social media marketing is especially important these days. Today I'm chatting with Jason Yormark of Socialistics, a social media marketing agency with a truckload of great tips and experience. A lot of businesses dabble in social media marketing just because they feel like they need to, as a "check box" marketing strategy. But there are specific platforms and approaches you should keep in mind depending upon your ideal customer. If you're wondering how to use social media for your business, look no further than some of the tips in this episode or reach out to Jason and tap into his free tools available at Socialistics. Social media can be a powerful marketing channel if used correctly, and you shouldn't be afraid to utilize it. I guarantee your customers are there, and you can connect with them! ~Pia Get all links, resources and show notes at https://makeyourmarketingpodcast.com

This week we take a break with our interviews and I bring Ashley Ohl back to the show. Ashley has recently been promoted to our Director of Business Development, and we talk all things agency sales. What's worked, what doesn't, and the wins, losses and challenges we've been facing trying to grow our social media agency.Learn more about Socialistics at: www.socialistics.com 

Joining us on today's podcast is Jason Yormark, the founder of a social media agency based in Seattle, called Socialistics, and keynote speaker. They are keen on teaching people how to leverage their social media effectively for businesses of all sizes. We do a deep dive into social media best practices in this episode. Lots of your buring questions on social media are answered in this episode!! Should you be on every social media channel? How often should you post? Should you do it yourself or should you outsource? Like the show? Keep Katie running and show her your support!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/katiebrinkleyEPISODE LINKSVisit Jason's website: https://socialistics.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialisticsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialistics/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialistics/Learn more about Katie and Next Step Social Communications: https://www.nextstepsocialcommunications.comlinkedin.com/in/katiebrinkleyInstagram.com/next.step.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.