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Dive into a riveting discussion where local network marketing whiz, Jim Stewart, unfolds the layers of a dealership model that outperforms traditional franchises. From leveraging indoor digital billboards to optimizing multichannel advertising, this episode packs a punch with tales of industry camaraderie and wisdom on building a business that resembles more a community than competition. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Benefits of the dealership modelInsights on marketing agency partnershipsTips on using white-label servicesImportance of Google Business ProfileValue of local networking for growth Resources: Your Local NetworkDevNoodle Connect with Jim Stewart: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 14:20 - When you're talking to that marketing agency, I tell everybody, just ask 'em this simple question, what else outside of what you offer should I be doing to help grow my business? Because a good agency will point you in other directions too, because we don't all do everything. So, you know, we're really good at certain things, and then we do other things, and then there's stuff we don't do. And I always have other agencies on my list where I'm like, I think this person would be a really good fit for you. You should call them because this is something that could probably help grow your business outside of the stuff I'm doing right now. And there's too many agencies out there, and they make us look bad as they're just out to sell the services they have and focus on that and nothing else. 11:04 - The one was, you know, I got this, an email that I send out that reminds everybody about the event every month. And this guy probably has been on my list, my email reminder list for like 16, 18 months. And he finally showed, you know, he finally showed up for the event, and he spent five minutes thanking me for not stopping, you know, sending him the emails. He's like, thank you for keeping me on your reminder list. He goes like, every month I wanted to come out, something just came up, I couldn't do it. You know, he is like, I came out, he goes, I had two really good conversations that are gonna lead to bigger conversations here tonight. Thank you so much for continuing to send me the email.32:14 - I do a ton of networking, and you know, you're in a room and you, you see that a person that's, you know, another marketing person and they refuse to talk to you, you know, because you're the enemy and you're just like, no, we're, we're not the enemies. We're, you know, we should be working together. I can help your clients, you can probably help my clients. 37:11 - You're trying to grow your business, you gotta build your network. I'm a big believer in that. I belong to multiple chambers. I belong to BNI,  belong to a few other networking groups. I'm constantly out there. I just, I'm heading to my third networking event tonight for the day. So I had a morning one, I had my BNI lunch, and now I'm gonna be heading to a multi chamber happy hour. So I just tell people, you know, get out there, show up. That's the biggest thing. Just show up.28:07 - It's a really interesting model, my perspective on it and why I think it works really well, you're able to offer more of a full digital marketing agency approach with billboards as well, in indoor billboards. And that network that's built out there, while still maintaining the relationship that clients get with being a smaller, localized agency. And that is rare, it seems almost impossible outside of this type of model, 'cause usually we seems, there'll be a small team of under 10 people that is a full-service digital marketing agency. And that specialization in all of the areas that you listed becomes impossible.

Let’s dig into the digital depths with Michael Fleischner, a seasoned SEO navigator, as he reveals how to keep agencies afloat amidst changing tides, from the surging waves of LLMs to the calm shores of client communication. Tune in for an episode brimming with actionable strategies, personal sea tales, and the undercurrents of agency life. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Boosting online visibilityDomain authority insightsBalance in agency growthContent's role in SEOConversion optimization tips Resources: Big Fin SEODevNoodleConnect with Michael Fleischner: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 22:47 - The problem is that today, and as you mentioned over the last year, people are going directly to ChatGPT to ask and answer questions. They're not going to Google, or at least not in the same way. And that's why Google's really, I think, sprinting to try to catch up with AI overviews and changing some of the results and how they're created. But you know, ultimately it's kind of like saying, oh, no one will ever unseat Facebook yet Facebook is unseating itself through Instagram, and TikTok is replacing Facebook. So we have these, these visions of grandeur around some of the typical search behaviors because we've operated that way for so long. 36:40 - And that's kind of the manic depressive nature of agency ownership. And it's not for everybody. You know, again, I've been around long enough to know that all you can do is continually focus on delivering quality results for your customers. And you can do that, and they may still leave, you may not do that, and they stay, but you really have to, again, from my perspective, make sure that you're delivering the best quality and you're engaging in this idea of fair exchange or abundance exchange on a regular basis. And that's it. There's really no more to it. But over time, you know, the good news is you do get accustomed to, it's kinda like Game of Thrones when you're kind of getting into the characters initially, you quickly realize don't get attached to any of the characters, right? Like it's kind of the same dynamic.21:37 - I've been in the SEO business, but it's longer than most. And this one is different. And what I mean by that is, when I started out almost 20 years ago, the way that SEO was changing was more an evolution, not a sea change, which is happening here. The evolution was, oh, this is what you needed to do to rank, oh, this is what you need to do to rank differently. Oh, this is a different kind of ranking. You know, now we have images showing up in search, so on and so forth, right? So like there was all this evolution happening in the world of search and it created a really cool dynamic for us and our clients. It helped kind of expand content generation and creating different types of digital assets, building authority, doing all these fun, exciting projects for clients, really to get them to show up in search results.30:40 - Because LLMs, right now, they're inherently lazy. At least that's my perspective. They're not going even though it says, you know, taking a minute to think longer or deep research or yeah, they're just scanning more websites. But AI, but Google does that through AI as well. So it's, it's nothing, quote unquote new, but it is an advancement in terms of search behavior and how these machines return information. 31:44 - Because we're now so used to, I remember like I had to, I took a course to learn how to use Google properly, how to properly think about crafting the search term or question or whatever it was down to get down to relevant results instead of thousands. And now a lot of that's gone away because you could just chat with GPT, and if you took a wrong turn, you naturally, as if you're talking to a person, ask the right question and get into that depth. What's becoming really interesting is once you get someone to your place, your site where wherever it is that you have them, that you want to have them learn more about your company and convert, they're still gonna have those same questions.

Dive into the bustling intersection of influencers and innovation with James Michalak, CEO of NeoReach. Discover how a blend of top creators, cutting-edge tech, and insightful market data can lead to transparent, scalable marketing success, no matter the budget. Join us for a spirited talk that unravels the essence of being a creator in today's complex digital landscape. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Over 80% of creators operate independently.Substantial growth through creators, not brands.AI manager negotiates deals for creators.Strategic M&A for operations improvement.The concept of "fan subs" to monetize content. Resources: NeoReachDevNoodle Connect with James Michalak: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 11:20 - There's things that look good, like, you know, you have the concept of a 10-foot car, you know, 10 feet away. It looks fine. We had a 10-foot business for a little while, right? So it's taking a look at those things and saying, Ah, I could probably make that better. Or, oh, we should focus some time and attention here to improve that process, improve that, you know, customer service, whatever. So yeah, I do a lot of that. It gets me in trouble both at home and in the business. But you're not, you're not moving forward unless you're making things better or trying to break stuff.28:07 -  I think that the creator economy is still ripe for a complete rollup. I think what we're seeing from a perspective at the macro level right now is driven by agency holdcos that are like, oh shit, we need this capability. We're just gonna bring it in-house so we can, you know, charge out the wazoo for it and add in hourly rates and stuff. But for us, we've looked at it differently still through the lens of like roll-up strategy in the sense that there is a huge competitive landscape out there. Any individual or like single aspect of the creator economy has hundreds of organizations trying to figure it out. 14:27 - I think everyone is swimming in the direction of continuing to service brands 'cause that's where at least the short-term dollars are. We're kind of going against the current, and we are focusing, I would say probably 80% of our attention now on the creators themselves. So building out tool sets for them to be more dangerous with their brand deals, building out ways for them to get paid more easily to do all the back office menial BS work that they don't really want to do. That's part of an activation. And then leaning into AI to make all that happen. 'cause the holy grail for us is being able to be that self, you know, full self-service aspect for creators to where we are also leveraging the data that they provide us to make informed decisions on the managed services side and possibly even use that to dictate where the creator economy is going. 27:01 - If it's hurting creators more than it's hurting my team. We're doing the creator thing first, 'cause at the end of the day we're in service of them. They're the reason we exist, and our entire value proposition moving forward is built around them. So like how can I be a hypocrite and focus on us first rather than trying to, to make life easier for them in any way that we can. Whether or not it's like payment processing, it's new tool sets, different data sets, jumping on the phone and just answering questions, all that kind of stuff.41:27 - Cause what we see all the time, even with the creators that we represent as licensed talent managers, brands, lowball, right? Brands have, they've got a bottom line that they need to preserve. So they're not coming out with their best and brightest or their best offer out of the gate. They're probably asking for way too much in terms of content or requirements from the creator as well. And these, the creators were looking to service, they're amazing, but they're not as well versed in how to negotiate with a big brand or even a smaller one, how to advocate for themselves. So this is us taking data, and backing that up, and putting an AI agent in their corner.

Dive into the exhilarating world of a high-flying CEO whose calculated risks in the unpredictable seas of business turned waves into success. Mark Belen's candid approach to growth, health, and strategy is both inspiring and instructive. For entrepreneurs thirsty for achievement and adventure, this episode quenches that thirst with stories of trials, triumphs, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. The evolution from marketer to entrepreneurImportance of sales process in business growthPhysical endurance events mirror business mindsetStrategic financial understanding boosts businessEmbracing risks to push through business plateaus Resources: SearchLabDevNoodle Connect with Mark Bealin Jr: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 13:44 - And he just said, you can do anything for 24 hours. A human body can do anything for 24 hours. And I, if it got hard, I'd just be like, you can do anything for 24 hours tomorrow, you'll rest. Like, I'll be comfortable again. And that was a lot of like the training, what you realize is like, it feel if, like, especially when you're so outta shape, it's like, it just feels like this is never gonna end, but like really in a short period of time, you're gonna be in a comfortable shower, you're gonna be in a shower, you're gonna be in a comfortable car, you're gonna be, you know, it does, it ends. And so just reminding myself, you can do anything for 24 hours is very helpful.24:15 - I progressed to the point, remember where I came from, like, I just hated this stuff. I progressed to the point where I did a three-day bootcamp at Wharton School of Business, where I, like, I remember walking around and being like, they're gonna find out I'm here and kick me out. Like, I shouldn't be allowed at this. Like all these Ben Franklin, Ben Franklin quotes on the sidewalk and everything, it was really cool. So we had Wharton professors teaching us all this stuff and case studies on humongous companies. And I just thought it was exhilarating, and I took away from it a bunch of things that are still involved in my business. I learned how to salary cap there. I learned how to like, manage numbers that are really important. So, so I've come a long way where now, I mean, it's one of the main things I talk about our finances. And it's been an amazing evolution.13:55 - I've spoken on this before that I, I'm very aggressive in my head. I'm like, no, no, do it, do it. But that's the other side of it is I really think like, you know, my body, I  can do anything that I, I need to right now, and I'll take a break later, and you obviously feel so much better about yourself after I have put myself in the hospital. So I have tried too hard once. But no, I think the other side of it is also, you know, life is hard and when you do hard things, life, I don't know if it gets easier, but it allows you to approach things with a better lens, like hard problems with a better lens 38:50 - I'm gonna just give you some numbers not to, not to like brag or boast or anything like that, but I just think it paints a better picture. So when you get going as a business, I was flat broke, like I had no money. I was coming, going through savings, like out to wazoo, and it was really stressful. And so then once I got to a certain point, I'd say there's like 20 grand a month coming in of profit, right? It was, it's so easy to just sit there and bathe in those profits and just say like, man, why don't I just stay here a little while and start making this money. And really there's no button you can push that says like, just keep me right here and I'll be fine with 20 grand a month. If there was, I might think differently, but I had to take risks to get to the next level in the game. And the temptation I think far too often is once, once things get comfortable, businesses kind of go like this, they kind of plateau and then they go up and they plateau and they go up and they plateau in those plateau periods or even before those plateau periods, as you can see an opportunity or a good, a good op like a good way to reinvest profits that's the time to jump.33:57 - So the lesson I would give to anyone who's listening to this or to you guys is like, there was something that was going on there that nobody is, that I haven't talked about, which is, if I heard Greg in December of 9, 2019, I may all those hires during COVID, like during a period of a lot of uncertainty and when like, we were candidly like losing revenue. But there's my friend Will Scott, who's another agency owner, he used this, this buffet quote that I really like, which is, you know, Warren Buffet says like, be stingy when other people are being greedy and be greedy when other people are being stingy. And that really helped me because in that period of time everyone was being stingy, and I decided to be greedy and made a bunch of big hires, and it changed my life completely.

Join us in a dynamic conversation with Mike Falkow, CEO of Meritus Media, where his vibrant life experiences from sports to spirituality inform his unique approach to marketing and personal philosophy. Expect tales of surfing, creative marathons, and branding brilliance in an episode that oscillates between profound insights and delightful details. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Getting deep on brandingPersonal journeys and businessThe influence of Peaky BlindersMike Falkow’s creative processThe problem with old agency modelsResources: Meritus MediaDevNoodle Connect with Mike Falkow: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 19:06 -   I hate being bored. I mean, if you really want to abstract it all the way down, that's it for me. Like I was having a conversation with my sister yesterday actually,  and she was like, it's good that you're doing things and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, you know, I despise the idea of being unproductive. It really bothers me. And so, I, wherever that comes from for me, who knows, I think it's not even worth analyzing all that deeply. But like, I find great joy in being productive. I find that my morale comes up. I find that I tend to feel like I'm exchanging more with the world around me.  I feel like I'm in a better position to help the people who I care about. You know, like all those added benefits, but like sitting still for too long really drives me nuts and feeling lazy and feeling unproductive, and like, I'm not contributing like that.22:09 - And then also just having your biggest competition being yourself. Like, there's nothing that I can control about how that guy surfs that way. There's nothing that I can control about how that actor auditions for that part. Like, those are entirely out of my hands. So if I want to do the best job that I can do, all I need to do is focus on myself.13:08 - You need to treat your business like your body of, like, it needs to be well fed, it needs to have good sleep, it needs to get exercise like you, you need to respect it and treat it as such. 'cause a lot of times, especially with small businesses and, one man operations, it gets into this thing of like, ah, I'm just gonna cope and try and, juggle the plates and do everything all at once. And, but it's like, no, take time to rest. Take time to exercise, take time to feed it, and we can sort of extrapolate that metaphor all the way down the road, but being in the present, I think that's, that's the business right there.40:41 - ​​Mike: It's unethical. If I want to be straight up about it. That's just my view of it. I feel like that's unfair. If you're already paying me a retainer to be your consultant and your PR strategist, why would I upsell you if I'm finding opportunities for you to do paid branding? Right?Alex: That's interesting. That stems into a lot of different industries as well, and like the owning relationships and kind of keeping those to the chest, close to the chest, and then upcharging for access, really. Yeah, Where that access may not even be limited to that agency. Maybe Lucky Strike could have gone and knocked on that door themselves.39:36 - Mike: The product is the commercial, but now you've got a product that you can sell at like massive, massive margins and then do these huge profits on media buys. Where like that's where the money is for the old agency model.Alex: So was that really in the relationship and them owning the relationship to those media distributionMike: Products? Yeah, like if, if you look at like, okay, so Lucky Strike comes in as an admin example, right? So they come up with a great creative idea of how to put the commercials together and what that ad campaign would look like. But okay, so they're getting paid some for that. But the contract with the, with Lucky Strike is all in service of getting to the media buyers. 'cause the media buyers where, okay, I, I pay, you know, $50,000 or whatever it is, or a hundred thousand dollars for this, but the client is now paying me five or, or whatever it is. Because the media buy upsell is, is such a large margin.

Take a seat and learn from Adam Warren, the CEO of OpenJar, as he dives into the world of high-performance advertising, children's book writing, and movie-making. With a drink of creativity and a splash of legal marketing expertise, this episode is more intoxicating than a happy hour at your favorite bar. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Unique insights into legal marketingTips on creating effective brand contentThe importance of website conversion optimizationStorytelling in professional brandingDiscussing OpenJar's agency successResources: OpenJarA Bear with PantsDevNoodle Connect with Adam Warren: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 19:06 - Just when you thought, especially as a marketer, you've seen everything. We haven't, we've only seen everything up to this point, but tomorrow is going to be another monkey wrench. And so I'm gonna be dealing with tomorrow with fresh eyes, with fresh experience, and having to learn as I go. And, you know, I think that is something that I reminded myself of in writing that book to keep it from scaring me away from doing it. And believe me, I thought about not doing it about 30 times. In fact, I didn't tell anyone but my wife and kids for the longest time that I was even doing it. In fact, the majority of people who know me didn't know until I finally had the book in my hand. So it was a big secret to sit on because I did not want to disappoint if I decided an 11th hour back out. But even in other parts of my career, my first movie, you know, I had no idea what I was doing. I just generally don't let that be the deterrent. 31:56 - So it's easy for us to figure out what the client's budget is, figure out what they need, and then plug them into the media and the content that's appropriate for them. If there's something we don't offer, let's say I, would like to have some controls over the website development. We bring in a partner for that. Either we white label them or we let, let it be known from the start. We're always looking to identify vendors because someone always has something you don't and business owners who don't admit to that are full of shit. I think you have to recognize that sometimes you can't be, what is it omniscient? You know, we need to recognize as a company that strategic partners are important, and we have very much so built a company with strategic partners from day one.20:16 - Because at the end of the day, everyone had to do something for the first time. And so, you know, we go to school, you learn a lot in school. What you really learn in school, if you're going to get the ultimate takeaway is how to deal with shit, how to problem solve and how to understand that what makes you uncomfortable might be what makes you grow the most.39:41 - As a lead generator, when you start getting stuff below the fold, that concerns me that it's just gonna disappear. Not everybody is a long scroller. You know, I might like to see that his lead capture, his form feels were a bit more accessible. I thought they were too far down. And that's always something you can put on the, like, let's say he took this and just moved it off to the right, and it was there from the top of the fold. Like, Yeah. I mean you can't see where exactly where your cursor is. Like yeah. What if it was there? You know,, I think that people, the design challenge, the design challenge is, you have to remember you're dealing with the short attention span theater and maybe one of the greatest short attention span theater.27:40 - We live in the age of content, you're missing the boat if you're not creating good content. It's all anyone cares about at, at least in terms of entertaining needs or engaging needs or who they work with. You know, there's an old saying, you work with who you like that's the most optimal person to do business with. Well, if you're never gonna be able to create a relationships with someone, you kind of can do that through content. People begin to feel that like they're building a relationship with you through content. And so I looked back on my history and said, this is the moment where I get to take those lessons of my past and put them into action. And it was right around when I was finishing this book, when I was finally moving towards doing my first really big ad in this industry. And it's just such a cool ad. It's this, we turned this attorney outta Texas into like a spy, it was like this Jason Bourne kind of leaning inspired project and it was so much fun and no one had ever seen anything like it.

Take a deep dive with Dr. Wilson Zehr as we navigate the dynamic tides of innovation, the strategic intricacies of business, and the revival of direct mail marketing. This episode isn't your average marketing talk; it's an academic exploration of the forces shaping industries – all interwoven with practical knowledge to propel your venture forward. Tune in for a riveting blend of thought-provoking ideas and actionable insights. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Automation revolutionizing direct mail.Easy letter-sending tool with tracking.Pub talks: Informal yet insightful entrepreneur tales.Bridging theory and real-world application.Moving beyond the hammer-nail paradigm. Resources: ZairmailDevNoodle Connect with Dr. Wilson Zehr: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 10:52 - So Tim, once he told me that one of the things that people need, I mean, we always hear people talk in the industry, we talk about you need the expertise, you need people with the skills, and you need people, you need the money, you know, need the finance. But he said the other thing that people really need is heroes. They need people they can look at and said, if that person can do it, I can do it too. And we need more heroes and an entrepreneurial ecosystem.24:30 - And then, you know, the Christensen talked about this idea that when you create new industries, when you're doing disruptive, what he called disruptive innovation, oftentimes, well usually favors the new entrant. Usually the incumbent is at a disadvantage for a variety of reasons, including the reason that it's not always in their best interest to do that. They've got an a market to pretend and defend, to protect and defend, but they also have new ideas, new specialties, in a specific area. And we would need to, I guess we'd need to take time to spend on the curve, but the idea of this model that we built on is the idea that if you're looking very early in a life cycle.18:31 - But one of the interest, the really cool things that you see happening is that students, when you first lay out this project, you know, they just, kind of all the blood drain outta their face and they're like, oh my gosh, what did I get myself into? And they're really nervous about it. And because, you know, like any real world project, like I'm not out of the textbook, any real, real world project project, things are not always clearly defined. There's squishiness and you almost never have complete information, right? There's holes in that information. And you need to use what you have to work with, and you need to make assumptions to do that. So you need to try and make the best assumptions. And it may be that there is no right answer. There might be a series of right answers, wrong answers, depending on who they're for. It may be that, that there's only, you need to pick the least worst of the bad outcomes, right? 32:14 -  AI is gonna kill everybody's job. And what history tells me is that it will reduce some opportunities, especially stuff that's systematic and repetitive, things that maybe people shouldn't be doing anyway. But it'll also create opportunities, and it's likely that it'll create many more opportunities than it actually eliminates. So, I mean, I'm not really worried about that technology at all. I'm more worried about the misapplication of it, people trying to use it to solve problems that's not well suited for than I am about it, eliminating everybody's job.38:44 - I think that the trick for me is AI, just for the sake of AI, everybody today seems to have a need and AI story, but AI for the sake of AI is maybe not as valuable. I, what I'm really trying to do at the most basic level is I'm trying to solve important problems for my customers. And I might use AI to do that. I might not. And in fact, there might be other tools that work more effectively to do that. So that's the question to ask is what's the problem I'm trying to solve?

Dive into a riveting exchange with Pat Alacqua, CEO of Blue Magnet Partners, as he unpacks the entrepreneur-to-enterprise journey. Learn from a leader who's walked the path, scaling businesses, managing transitions, and successfully exiting companies. This episode is a trove of wisdom for any businessperson eager to learn from experience and expertise. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Unveil growth tips from an expertScaling and exiting companiesSystem and process importanceIdentifying stages in businessMental transitions for leaders Resources: Blue Magnet PartnersPat AlacquaDevNoodle Connect with Pat Alacqua: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 16:31 -  I think everybody starts a business as much as you love it. You always [have to ask] if you're really going to get value out of it, you really got to say, how can it operate without me? Right. However, all that works. That's why I relate it to most of us. Parents can recognize the importance of letting our kids go. Right. So that's why I think that's a great analogy.19:33 - So we had to, I always say something, as you go through every stage of growth, we as leaders have to learn how to think differently, plan differently, and execute differently. And that's a constant transformation. And our businesses can't make that transformation if we're not making that transformation when we look in the mirror and there's different, we have to be different people as we go through that, right?28:14 - There's 2 ways to look at a business. There is your life cycle of every business is the same. OK, and you go from startup, you go to growth, you go to maturity. OK, where you either end up being, either make some adjustments at that point, and then you either continue to grow or you ultimately have to reinvent, right? because you decline, and that's where turnarounds come in, right? And then, without getting further in depth in that, every product has that same life cycle, if that makes sense, right? And when companies in that stage start to grow, A company might hit that maturity phase, right? Where you got a lot of competition coming in, you're not growing as fast, but the way they keep growing, if they choose to, is the next product.10:33 - You know, when you're starting up a business, right, you're wearing every single hat. What sort of what working on it means is you sort of got to step back and say, okay, where do I need systems? Where do I need process? How do I replace myself? You know, you know, we, we, we all enjoy in, in starting something. We all enjoy doing it and, and accomplishing things ourselves and what we do, right? But, you know, and when you start working on the business, you really start looking at how do I actually replace myself, right? And, what does that mean, and how do you go about doing that?50:56 - Pat A: So I think if you're on that journey in business and you wanna figure out how to get unstuck and tackle some challenges, I, think there's universal insights in that. And it's not all about me, it's about a lot of really interesting successful leaders that okay, you know,there may be some of 'em aren't on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, but quite frankly, they've got some great stories that we just wanted to highlight.Josh: I think, like you mentioned, I think that's exactly what we're trying to do with this podcast, too.

Discover how Alex Polamero merges his world religion studies with his passion for business to drive empathetic client relationships and significant growth. In this candid conversation, Alex divulges his unique path and the strategies his consulting firm utilizes to not just attract leads but to ensure they're quality, valued, and ultimately, contribute to a significant rise in business valuation. Get an unparalleled look at how a synergy between sales and marketing can unlock new levels of success. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Turnkey sales & HubSpot solutionsThe impact of studying world religionsStrategies beyond lead generationImprove business valuation tacticsInsights on website lead conversion Resources: Ninestone PartnersDevNoodle Connect with Alex Polamero: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedInQuotables: 1:08:03 - Clients like it when we have skin in the game. For sure. Absolutely. Yeah. And if we can help two x three x or more their valuation on top of their annual revenue, they start seeing numbers in a different, in a different light, right? Oh, and we can help. Now that's a smaller company, right? Let's say like three to 15 million. If we can help the owner get out of being the only person doing all this stuff, that's major, right? Talk about lifestyle change.28:04 - Alex P: I learned a lot from that experience, right? About working with partners about negotiating agreements. A lot of times when you're, buying or selling a business, you gotta think about the end game, even though it's kind of hard. What happens if one of you dies? What happens if one of you doesn't wanna work together? You know, all these things. And also the, the just the power of patience and perseverance, right? Because running an agency takes a lot of effort and there's a lot of, you know, trial and error and, winning and losing and trying to learn from others who've done it, you know, better than I have. So that was my journey.Josh: I appreciate you sharing that. Is there anything that you would do differently? Because it sounds like you did think about a few things and how this could go, but yeah. Would you do anything differently?Alex P: Yeah, I wouldn't have sold, I wouldn't, so I wouldn't do that. Like two years in business is not very long, right? There are a few key things that I would do. Number one, right? I would start, I creating systems in my business from day one, right? How, so? Scalability is about systems, which people talk about this all the time, right? But I was more of a sales person and technical expert in marketing automation. So I was like, well I can go get business and I could do the work, right? But the creating the systems for replicating that without me, that was the hard part. So I would start that much sooner.22:41 - Alex P: So then how do you align that back to like your worldview for running a business?Alex G: I think, all right, let's see. I think let's take it one, one to one initially, like relationship based. Whether it's a relationship with your, your spouse or your child or your partner, whatever, you know, business partner, whatever, take it. I think that, I used to say that communication is the most important. I switched that to expectations are the most important. And I think that dives deeply into how you enter a situation with what expectations you have. And potentially those expectations are not aligned on the other side. So you have mismatch. And that creates, you know, you could take that on the product side as well. And that creates a spectrum of the expectation versus reality is essentially sat user satisfaction, user experience, right? You need to understand that. So that's kind of on a one-to-one level. And also going to a somewhat of a one-to-one level with a product. You, with a product as opposed to the relationship you have with someone else. And I think, you know, take that to a worldview. If we understand each other's expectations, maybe on a worldview we can identify those gaps and at least have a relevant conversation.41:40 - We're we're telling them this is how we're gonna build your company, right? We're leaders in their company with them on their executive team. They love it when we show them a dashboard and it says, revenue going up, Right? Here are the awesome things. Here are any challenges we're facing and what we're gonna do about it. Right? And the shorter that meeting, the better. When we're not meeting expectations, going all the way back to the beginning of our conversation, that's when clients are like, I wanna micromanage and help, you know, solve all these problems. So the, the more we tie our work to actual results, the easier it is for everybody. 21:42 - For us, at the end of the day, it's expectations and satisfaction. Obviously for us. Did we hit the due dates, right? Because we're doing technical work. It's construction a lot of times, right? So did we hit it on time? But that's not really what matters. What matters is the client satisfied? Did we manage expectations we could have delivered earlier and they're not satisfied or we could deliver late and they are satisfied. So we base that on how's the relationship with the client? Are they, are we aligned on expectations and what's their rate of satisfaction? And the more of those we get ultimately will lead to more for us, really, retention is more valuable than the initial sale. 

Dive into the world of B2B marketing with the founder of Maven Collective Marketing. This episode is packed with insider knowledge, from carving a niche in Microsoft Partners' marketing to the value of being a B Corp. Discover actionable strategies and relatable agency anecdotes that will inspire any entrepreneur or marketer! Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Insights on B2B SaaS marketingBenefits of B Corp certificationImproving website conversionTrail running and mental toughnessKeys to onboarding new employees Resources: Maven Collective MarketingDevNoodle Connect with Erica Hakonson: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 60:00 - Erica: What I love about this and what I love about the B Corp community is that you are now a for-profit organization that is not just for profit, it's actually for the benefit of your community. And so when we talked about process a little earlier, Alex, you know, one of the things that helped me establish process even further was going through this assessment. ‘Cause it was things we were doing, but maybe not things we were documenting and it was community building that we were doing, but maybe I didn't have it in our staff handbook as something as a policy of ours or a mandate of ours. So we have pro bono volunteer hours that are built into our employees work and some of that we do together as a group. Some of that they find their own passion projects and work on. We try to find organizations that we align with value wise to give our time and energy and skillset. And so I know that it feels like when you're a small business, there's just so many things cooking, how could I possibly get to those pieces? But those pieces sometimes are what fuels us to get to that next step in our entrepreneurial journey. And for me for sure, having that as a part of our mission, having that as a part of our work and mandate and dedicating ourselves to an organization that keeps you honest about that, is a really huge opportunity that I'm excited about this year. Like I said, we're in assessment, we've scored enough to be in assessment and hopefully as we go through the process, we'll then become certified and get to join that amazing community of entrepreneurs and larger organizations that have the same vision and mission of for profit companies not being for profit.Alex:Identifying around that purpose is huge. So I think that's, yeah, that's amazing.58:10 - I love the validation that you have on your site. I mean, you have partner client, you know, part partner logos, you have awards, you have scores and numbers and then you have testimonials, you have case studies. The only other thing is I would say that you could leverage on your case study in the, how we did it, I can't get to that right now, but there is, once you show, because you're asking for them to give their email address to get the case study, one of the potential that could be the main CTA on that, but a secondary CTA could be something like, you know, once you show these are the results before they get into the nitty gritty, it could be like, do you want this, you know, want the same results for your company and then whatever that free offer is for that first call. Yeah. 'cause if they identify with the case study and they envision themselves in that case study, then they're gonna potentially want the same results for them. So having that additional CTA for them to potentially, not just download it but to schedule a call with you.46:04 - But if we're staying on the front side of things, I'd say you have a really clear message and helping your ideal audience solve the problem. So I mean, initially just upfront on this, above the fold, like building a website sales machine, who wouldn't want that? I'm an agency. I want that. I, I can have a website that does my sales. Excellent. And you have good calls to action or grow your website, see pricing, grow your website sales. So I would, and even that like little footnote around a free conversion strategy, like a very, very tempting and then you build trust right away by, by getting your brand banner in there to say like, look of all these people that we've helped, these people could look exactly like you and we could help you in some of the same ways. If you scroll down a little bit, I really liked the way you also did clear problem solving for the client. So you gave them a path and those paths are solving their problem. You know, you're either managing an existing website, you're starting a new website, or you're managing client websites. So I feel like all of those were really clear and, and helped me feel comfortable if I came with a problem, you addressed a problem that I would have based on again, who your target audience is.31:34 - I think it seems like in each case you've stepped up to whatever the challenge was. Maybe that's just, that's seems to be just your personality. But I talk with some people all the time that wanna get into entrepreneurship or want to do something and they're waiting for whatever that right thing is or a situation changes and they're like almost crippled by like, there's so many decisions, I don't know which one to take. And I have this, this thought that it's, you just look at the skills that you've acquired can kind of like the talents that you have at hand and then what's the next possible best move, which it seems like you naturally do throughout. And then the clients coming to you stepped up to the challenge.26:45 - So we need to approach it in quite a few different ways. And then we get them doing work quite quickly so that they can put what they're learning to use and then they can get feedback quite quickly as well. So they're, you know, everyone gets scared of the red pen. I mean that's a very old terminology, but like the best way to learn is through getting that editorial feedback or through getting that, you know, strategic feedback and then taking that into the next application. And you can just instantly see growth when you start to apply things that way where you're either surrounding them with tools and knowledge and then they're getting the feedback and then the next time they do something very similar. It's like, it's at a whole new level. 

Dive into a whirlwind episode where marketing melds with haunted houses, tech trends, and a no-holds-barred web design teardown. It's a detailed delivery filled with sharp insights and hilarious ripostes, perfect for anyone looking to extract the secrets behind potent digital growth strategies. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Haunted house becomes marketing goldmineRevelations from a Revenue Orchestration platformDesign choices dissected by a web guruMixing tech with creative for strategic successInsights on encouraging client content creation Resources: Solid Digital DevNoodleConnect with Jesse McCabe: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 18:41 - So it's like, it's very much driven by like what, what gets measured gets done. Like that's one of my favorite sayings, right? It's like if I'm collecting data on something, I will see progress in some way or another. And I love the scientific method. So like, I guess like how that left brain of like creating software applies to then, like how do we drive people to do and act the way that we want them to act when it comes to like our marketing process, right? Like what I hate and what I will never, ever be is like one of these agencies where, you know, we have this one straight up SEO product and you come in and we're gonna do the same thing for you that we're always gonna do for everybody else. Like that just dr. Like we tried that. It's annoying to me. So like I want to have some sort of agile right process to the way that we are applying marketing. 'cause it's not always gonna work. Like at some point you are going to hit a ceiling if you stay stagnant and just keep doing the same things. 11:11- And so we did that and then like two years ago we get this call from ABC and they're like, Hey, we noticed that you have a pretty popular home haunt. Like at this point we had like thousands of people coming and checking us out. What do you think about, you know, being on this reality show contest thing and basically like this Christmas light show that they have on ABC they did one season or yeah, one season where they like had these Halloween setups. And so, you know, this, the crazy thing is that meant that we had to start building in July to create this display so that they could record it in August. And then, you know, oh sure showed in October. So our neighbors absolutely think we're nuts at this point, right? It's like, what are they doing in July? Anyways, I'm making this a long story, so that's great. It's, yeah, it's awesome. I love it. So it goes, it goes great. We actually like scared the host like so much he fell on his ass. And we ended up winning the show.16:58 - Josh: Do you take anything that's cool from your dev days, and bring it to marketing, you know, best practices, whatever it is? Anything?Jesse: Oh, best practices. I don't know about best literally practices. No, but like, I like, I love marketing tech. Like, I love finding new ways that we can use technology and campaigns integrate it with our client stuff. You know what I mean? Like, I'm, right now I'm like way into clay and AI enrichment for, you know, data and like how do we like automate stuff from, you know, coming into A CRM to then like exploring and finding more information about the brand and the person that is, you know, coming to the site and like how does that filter then down into like, you know, sales enablement and, you know, how do we find better qualified leads for our clients? It's all, you know, it's like there's all these new ways of doing this stuff and I just, I love it. I'm working on a WordPress plugin right now to like enhance the experience on our client's websites. 26:50 - I think like when it comes to web design, there's like really kind of like three different types of agencies that do the work. So I think there's like your high-design creative agencies, like, they're typically like B2C kind of agencies where they're trying to always do something different. They're like highly brand-focused, like to the point of almost like changing the brand. And then I think there's like more tech kind of agencies where, you know, they'll find good themes and they'll use those. But the idea is like, we're gonna integrate you and get you like, going with all this stuff. I think a lot of e-commerce companies might use like agencies like that. And then I think like where we fall is we're more strategic. Like I think we have a good balance of tech and we have a good balance of design, but we're not gonna like, do something completely groundbreaking because it's more about like, well  what is this website supposed to be doing for the brand? Like what, how does the marketing team going to use this tool moving forward? Like, how do we get everybody set up so that this becomes a good hub for customers to come learn about who you are. But then like there's an intent, like we want them on some sort of journey that is going to bring value to the organization. And so like, that's really like where, where we end up. 56:34 - Alex: Now this thing they can improve in this way.Jesse: And one of the things I was trying to do and I think maybe you guys could apply this for other interviews just like what is the thinking that goes around the difference between products and solutions. So what’s the debate that they’re having around why this decision was made. That was good that you called that out. Maybe you could say like what decision do you think was made to put this there. Because then it goes to the empathy of the person who actually had to put this together. And like maybe they’re going to hear me say something where it’s like yeah we did have that debate. And yeah I lost it you know but at least like it’s like not just saying like their final decision was crap I am literally putting that specific question right into my template, no, I actually until you said it I didn’t I didn’t consider it that way because for me I always hate it because I’m looking at it from the lens of the business owner it’s like I don’t care about your products. Like I have a certain thing that I need to solve I want to I want to find that.

Join us as we unravel the gripping world of behavioral health with Gary Garth, who has transformed personal loss into a mission for systemic change. Expect raw insights on creating life-improving habits, profound industry processes, and the long-term recovery road, all in this intense yet enlightening episode. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Discussing the transformative power of plannersImpact of correctly implemented processesThe bridge between motivation and disciplineThe holistic approach to client problemsFinding 'whys' for deep entrepreneurial efforts Resources: Eleva8.ioDevNoodle Connect with Gary Garth: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 20:54 Because we all know, like you, you don't wanna be the the richest man in the graveyard, right? Or, you know, you don't want to be have, have no friends, no love, no connection. So I'm, I, for me it's, that's important. And so it starts with these exercises and then it segments into, okay, if you wanna accomplish this, what kind of rituals do you need to establish your morning ritual, your evening ritual, and how do you plan for your week? We all know like, if you don't schedule it, it doesn't get done. So it's kind of like, let me have this planner that's offline that integrated with all your notifications and apps, et cetera, that you can just sit and look at and reflect and that journal and put some thoughts into, if I wanna be here in one year, what does that look like? Where am I right now, what I need to do to get to that point? And you know, I always tell people it's just a, it's just a tool. Nothing is ever gonna be perfect. You look at mine, you're like, well, what the heck's wrong with this guy? It goes up and down and right and left. But it's, that's the journey. And that's the value that you are conscious and aware and working on yourself, I think. 24:55 - So I think you can do several things. You can have constant reminders, reinforcement, like a planner. Another, another big thing I think is like, expression, birds of a feather flock together, surround yourself with the right, setting, the right people that you can feed off. I'm the same way. I'm very, I'm drawn to energy. So, you know, I like to, if I am around people that are disciplined, motivated, determined, I may be not sharing their exact view on things, but you know, it stimulates me and inspire me in the right way. So if you have that opportunity, you should embrace it. But I always tell people, like sometimes people write me, they bought the planner, they're like, I'm here.I'm living in this neighborhood somewhere that I have never even been and I don't have that opportunity. I'm like, you have the internet, my friend, or you have books. Start reading some self, some biographies and start reading and so you can get inspired in a lot of different ways and just program your mind and look at it like a muscle. It takes time basically. 45:43 - I'm selling my shares, stepped out. I was like, shit, am I making a mistake? But I took that money and then I said, I'm gonna go out and change these statistics. 'cause I was looking into the market and I don't know if you know, but you know, because of social media and the whole trajectory of how everything is going, I think there's a lot of people that feel lost and one out of three Americans actually has, or even worldwide and I think, but America specifically is one out of three has some sort of mental challenge and suicides is at an all time high, especially with teenagers that have a teenage daughter. So, you know, it just freaked me out. I looked into the statistics of addictions, you know, with the opiate crisis and it's basically at a state that it kills more people than car crashes and homicides and everything combined. Basically you take all that and it's still the number one killer and it doesn't get any attention in the media. And then I was like looking at my friends and like, what kind of options would they have had? And then I learned that less than 10% of the 24 million Americans alone they have, that are struggling, that are suffering with some sort of addiction, less than 10% gets treatment. And I start wondering why is that.29:42 - Even one year I was like a platinum member with Tony Robbins. But the whole point was, I remember I was this setting and he was like talking about these drivers of we have as people, right? One is, you know, certainty that we need certainty and then there's uncertainty as a second, you know, driver feeling there is significance, which is for me was always very important. You gotta achieve this and love and connection. But it's just like when you really wanna get fulfilled and what could be that lasting driver for your discipline is when you get tapped into the grow and the give. Because when you start growing as an individual, as a professional, as a, then all of a sudden you start, you feel motivated, that fuels your motivation even further. And then when you have the opportunity, the blessing, the privilege to actually give that back to somebody, then it's really rewarding because then when you're demotivated at some point, like, you know what, there's a lot at stake here. I'm actually helping other people. I have a lot employees here. We're helping a lot of clients. And then that can refuel your discipline. So I think if you can get beyond yourself and use those four first for about I'm safe or I need sobriety, I'm bored, I want to feel significant or had love of connection or draw. If you get beyond your ego, beyond that I just say grow and give. That helps with the drive and motivation.39:55 - So I said the same way, you know, you have to have the right strategy, the right processes, then back the tools with it. And then the people's gotta be trained on that. When you have all of that in place, that's when you get the consistent results. And it's just a very tricky industry I'm in. So it's maybe, I think that's why so many people, some there's not a lot of marketing agencies, for example, cater to this vertical because you got legit script, you got hipaa, HIPAA regulations. There is constantly new leg legislation on like changes in the market. And it's very difficult. So clients, prospective clients come to us, say, Hey, want Google ads? I want this cost per patient. And I say like, before we even go anywhere, we have to have this process go through that calculator. I have to ask you all these questions. I'm not trying to interrogate you, I'm just trying to identify what you're doing. Right. What are you not doing? So we can calculate, start with the end goal, calculate backwards, say how can we hit that decide cost per acquisition, for example. And then we have to look at all those different factors and the clients that are savvy, that are data-driven, that appreciate, you know, the detail. I think we work great with them. We haven't had a cancellation, I think in like 18 months.

Dive into the nitty-gritty of SEO success with Nick Rubright from Ranko Media. Discover how a year of behind-the-scenes experimentation can exponentially grow your site's traffic. From industry-nuanced strategies to content that converts, this episode is an SEO goldmine — delivered with a dash of gaming fun and music band analogies! Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. SEO growth can take about a year.Outbound reach is key for SEO.Effective link building is not quick.Content should generate links or sales.SEO is competitive just like gaming. Resources: Ranko MediaDevNoodle Connect with Nick Rubright: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 27:05 - Nick: But I do, I mean I would imagine other marketing agencies struggle with the story of like that first three months being tough where it's like an experiment and yeah, if clients come in and know that it's an experiment, that's the best client. Like when we had Twilio, they knew that it was an experiment and it's like the client saying that is like super helpful. Because then you're kind of like, oh cool, okay. They know that I'm just kind of experimenting and I don't know a lot of things and you almost have like freedom to mess up, you know? And I think the reason my own projects do so much better than client projects is because I feel like I have that freedom to mess up. Hmm. And any of the projects I've grown to like a million visitors a month, I had the freedom to mess up and it wasn't like, it wasn't like the clients attributed the mistakes to me. They attributed the mistakes to like the campaign and they're like kind of asking me like, okay, well this didn't work, so what's next? And those clients are the ones that are successful like a hundred percent of the time pretty muchAlex: Because you're able to take risks and like you said, like it's the 20% where where it works. So you need to be able to take a lot of risks to see where's it gonna work in this industry. 44:40 - We don't care about getting traffic to this page. This is just some stat page, right? We don't care about like links necessarily. We care about making money. So the way we make this make money is we go, you know, from this page that has all the links we link to our other resources on the website. So that could be landing pages or content pieces you wanna rank because you know they're gonna make money. Like if it's like, like if you're plen, if you wanna rank for like best buyer intent data, yeah. Top intent data providers, you would, you know, build this stat roundup and link from that to this, you know, intent data providers list and pass the authority there and that one would rise as a result. You wanna do this a lot. It's not like you do one and this one page gets a lot of links and then you're good. That can work in some cases with like content heavy websites, right? But if you have a page that you're really trying to drive authority26:16 - Even though your market is like insurance or like gambling, right? The gambling niche is super competitive, but everyone's paying for links. So it's like, okay, just don't do that and you can win. You know? Like if you just do digital PR the right way and figure it out. And that's the thing is like once you figure it out, it's like, like, okay, now we can just like print links. But the process of like that first three months is kind of a trial. And I think that the first three months of anything is a trial. Like even when I, when I hire a new employee, it's like the first 90 days is kind of like, all right, we're kind of f*****g around and like trying to figure out how this fits into this, right? And this is burn money, you know? And then we get to a place in three months where we're like, okay, now we have a lot of stuff that we can forecast off. But I do, I mean I, I would imagine other marketing agencies struggle with the story of like that first three months being tough where it's like an experiment and yeah, if clients come in and know that it's an experiment, that's the best client. Like when we had Twilio, they knew that it was an experiment and it's like the client saying that is like super helpful. 'cause then you're kind of like, oh cool, okay. They know that I'm just kind of experimenting and I don't know a lot of things and you almost have like freedom to mess up37:53 - And not competing brands, right? So HubSpot's not really a competing brands, but they have a blog so they'd be a good one to research close, right? I've written for close before and this has an audience of salespeople. Like you basically want to think like referral traffic, like if I get on this website, are people gonna click through like is it a clickable link? Because that's how Google's kind of looking at it as a vote. So you wanna get votes from these like authoritative sources and you can't pay for these 'cause these guys care about their website and the guy running the website works for a company that, you know, they don't sell links. That's not their thing and they'll, you know, probably get in trouble for doing that. Like they can get fired. So it's not something. They just want interject real here real quick. It makes so much sense when we talk to our clients, we look at like buckets where their leads come from in terms of their partners. Like for example, they may have partners in other industries like attorneys or real estate agents or whatever it is, and they send traffic their way because in what they do in their business, they say, okay, you may need the service go over here. And this is exactly the same thing that's happening here. Someone's reading content here and as part of it, if they're referencing your data, they, they care about that recommendation. Yeah. They're essentially referring your business.49:17 - And I learned that from Twilio, one of our clients. 'cause like one of the campaigns we did like an infographic campaign, it didn't do well at all and we had to pivot, but they were like, well we can use this for other stuff. And I was like, well, what do you mean? And then they're like, well we can have our sales guys use it or like, we can publish it on social media or share it on our blog or something. And I was like, dang, they make a lot of use out of this. So it's not so isolated. Like they're not like, I guess they're milking the investment a lot.Josh: Totally. Yeah. I think they're getting like sales enablement out. I mean they're literally getting, they're milking the content to get as, as everyone should be. And I think that lowers not the risk. I don't know if risk is the right word, but when you're able to use it in different, you know, avenues, I think it just gets more value out of the project.

Step into the thrilling world of healthcare marketing mastery with Saul Marquez. Dive into persuasive techniques, podcasting as a sales tool, and get an exclusive sneak peek into the dynamic pre-show banter. Captivating insights and hearty laughs guaranteed! Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast.  Heartfelt philosophy meets business.Podcasting as a high-impact sales tool.Insights on account-based marketing.Stone soup story: value-first approach.Aiming for results, not just tactics. Resources: Outcomes RocketDevNoodle Connect with Saul Marquez: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 32:00 - So the thing that I really wanna urge our listeners to do is to not forget that marketing has four pillars. And we were talking about this kind of bringing it back from the start of the show to now all those tactics are preceded with the strategy pillar. So you start with strategy. Once you have your strategy put together, you now can employ the owned, earned and paid verticals of marketing. And so we're able to help our customers in any one of, and any one of those verticals. But where we start is the strategy. And under strategy, you have some very simple things. Your brand house, which consists of your brand purpose, your brand differentiator, your brand attributes. Then from your brand house, you go down one level and you identify your ideal client personas, your ICPs, you clearly outline their pain points, you clearly outline their goals, common objections to why they wouldn't wanna work with you. And so that becomes another element of your strategy,35:19 - And the earned is all about OPS, other people's stages. So you got your own stages, then you go on ops. Now the beauty of ops is that you don't, all you have to do is show up and add massive value. The people that host you. So Josh and Alex, you guys are hosting me on your stage and I'm grateful for it. And anytime I get an opportunity to show up on someone's stage, my intentions to add massive value. And so you go, you show up, you add massive value. There's publications, there's media, that's other forms  of earned very little. People think about user-generated content. So like UGC is essentially like if somebody, if you write, if you put a social post out there and unsolicited, somebody says, wow, like Alex and Josh did a bang up job on my website, like I'm getting conversions like never before.16:21 - Josh: Okay? So if you don't have a plan,Saul: You become part of somebody else's plan. What does that mean? So this is a phenomenal quote that I love, and actually Josh, Alex, I was sharing with you guys with my son, you know, even I want him to know this. And by the way, for anybody listening, it's important that you also know this, if you do not have a plan, you do become part of somebody else's plan. And that is true for your brand, your personal brand, your company's brand. And the stat is very surprising. And that's only 23% of healthcare marketers actually have their content documented inside of a plan. And so what that means is the other 77% are becoming part of somebody else's plan. So the opportunity in this is that if you do put your plan together, there's an opportunity for you to have a competitive advantage. And so that's why I love, that's what I love about that is that the, you have the control40:52 - So we actually started, like our business started as a podcast. Like, I did not intend to start an agency, but guess what happened? I, so this year, we'll hit 2000 episodes on the Outcomes Rocket. Amazing. What a pleasure and privilege it has been to sort of sit down with all these amazing people, all healthcare leaders. Not only have we built an amazing network of just business leaders in the industry, organization, leaders in the industry, the knowledge. And by having all these conversations, I started seeing patterns that there's huge gaps in the marketing business in healthcare. And we decided to address them. Now, one of our main business drivers is our podcast. So we use the podcast to create thought leadership content, but we also use it to meet with our ideal client personas, our ICPs,44:00 - And what that story is all about, and you know, we talk about it at our company, is that sometimes you gotta make stone soup. And what that means is if you show up and you are asking for things, you're not leading with value, people are gonna close their doors, people are gonna hide their food. If you show up offering ideas and value, which is what a podcast does for you, right? You're showing up to offer, not showing up to ask people receive you more, more, more openly. The other thing here is it's the importance of how fast great ideas catch fire. So when you have a really interesting idea and you're creating awesome content, people wanna share, especially if they're part of it. So now you, now they're your guest, now they wanna share. So the network effect of that, like it happened with this stone soup story. Like, it is, that's what happens with your podcast.

Discover expert marketing insights with our agency experts as they uncover industry missteps, AI’s transformative potential, and the essential balance between strategy and operations. A must-listen for marketers striving for success. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast. Find your niche in marketingLeverage AI without losing the human touchThe power of SOPs in streamlined processesBuilding a referral network for agenciesEssential questions before buying a service Resources: ZenChange MarketingDevNoodle Connect with Diane Moura: LinkedIn Connect with our hosts: Josh Hoffman - LinkedInAlex Garashchenko - LinkedIn Quotables: 28:29 - And something like that, I think can be a real game changer for a lot of businesses, whether, you know, if they're SMB, whether they're a startup, if they're SMBs and they're 10 years in, there's still I think a lot of value there and some of the key tenets are around first of all like, let's make sure that we not only understand the vision of the company, but how are, you know, how are all of the KPIs attached to that vision. You know, if you are, whatever your level is in a company, you should have clarity as to what you're doing and how that impacts the overall company. And so if the executives have KPIs that they're trying to hit and you know, maybe they're bonus eligible, you still need everyone else in the company who is going to have a piece of those KPIs so that it can all be effective. And then there's another, I think, really important tenant that is called right person, right seat 14:45 - Let's make sure that, you know, we start with an MVP, you know, we make sure we test it, we test the market, you're always going to be kind of adding different features. You know, you might do some pivots to some extent, but you have to at least get something out there and get it working first. And the other thing, and this is coming from a marketer, is don't pull the trigger on marketing too soon. So if you don't have a product yet, you can burn through all your cash if you get really excited and you start pushing out all of the marketing that it's going to need. And especially I think with, with SaaS companies, because it's a, it's typically a pretty heavy lift the marketing that's required for SaaS. And if you start to do that too soon, then you know, like things are never gonna be delivered in the time that you think they will. There's always gonna be issues and you know, I worked with a client where they had the front end and the back end development were happening in different parts of the world. And when they finally brought them together, they actually didn't talk. So that was, that was kind of an issue. Had they been a little bit more conservative at the beginning in terms of their spend, they probably would've ended up in a better spot.46:08 - We're not the, you know, give, give me a certain amount of money per month and it's all a black box and trust me, I'm gonna get your marketing done. We're very transparent in the services. So we basically say, okay, here's all the things that need to be done. Now let's have a conversation about what you have the capabilities to do in house versus where it makes sense to outsource and let's look to prioritize. 'cause a lot of SMBs, you know, if you ask them their budget, they really don't know. Some of them are attempting marketing for the first time. So we do need to have that discussion with them and say, look, if you have the people in in house who can, you know, do your own video shoots, great. If you don't, you know, we can handle the shoots for you. You know, if you have your own people who can do social media, you know, do social media, but then maybe engage us just to provide them with some coaching or maybe they're creating content but they're not actually out there doing engagement and you know, maybe they're able to do it for the main brand, but they're not able to do it for your personal brand. 'cause that's like a kind of a, you know, as the founder, you should be top of funnel for your business and so maybe that's not their capabilities. And so then we just, we have a very open conversation with them and we prioritize into phases and then usually that will lead to the engagement.39:26 - And if you're not using that, you're falling behind. And I'm glad that you mentioned, you know, you'll have these unicorns with a few people. 'cause I've always had the thought that AI, if used properly, which you kind of went into pretty deep, which which was great, is essentially a company in a box or a marketing team in a box or like, and there still needs to be that oversight, but you know, it allows you for, and I'll tell you how I use it. Like, I have all these philosophical thoughts and that's why I love getting into Philosophy on this podcast. But I'm not the greatest writer. And what allows me to do is it is not gonna come up with a new philosophical theory, but if I pump in my theory notes, it makes me a good writer and then it makes it a lot easier for someone to read. So, so I, I just think everyone, you know, it is just this tool that makes people more efficient for bad writers. It makes us good writers. 44:47 - Alex: It's really interesting. And the way that you described that, it sounds like you provide a lot of value. Where does that initial kind of discovery before you get to the engagement and where does the engagement start? Is that, that's something we've been talking with a lot of agents is about, you know, there's the initial building, the relationship and discovery. So what does that look like for you?Diane: Yeah, so typically, we'll have an initial exploratory call with a potential client because as much as, you know, if you give me an attorney and you tell me their, you know, personal injury attorney, you know, I've, I've probably got 85% of their marketing plan in my head, right? Because we worked with so many of them, but I don't have that extra 15%. So that has to be personalized. So we, we have conversations about, you know, their business and what has, what has worked well, what hasn't worked well, what resources do they have internally. So we're try,  you know, our initial meeting is we're basically capturing that information and we're sharing some things as well, but we really wanna make sure that we focus and target and then we go away and we do our analysis and we come back and we share that presentation that I described to you.