all right what’s up believe nation I’m a
special little video for you guys today
I got asked to do an interview with dun
& bradstreet for their small business
savvy based series if you don’t know
that in Bradstreet they have some elite
information on companies around the
world you want to look up information
about a business they’re one places to
go to if you need credit reports and a
whole bunch of data on companies that’s
it’s a great place to check out so they
have a Small Business Saturday series
and sent me nine questions about growing
your business in 2017 and so I thought
hey let’s make it a video you guys have
benefit from it as well and hopefully we
get some good answers for you today
so kick announce number one what are
some of the benefits of being small that
a business owner can leverage to beat
out the big guys I think the big thing
about being small is that you’re nimble
that you’re flexible that you can make
changes really quickly I deal with a lot
of big companies as my clients and the
number of people that have to touch a
decision is crazy and often they’ll have
me for example do a landing page to
promote something we’re doing because
they just can’t get it done in time
because they have to deal with tons of
different people get approvals at all
sorts of different levels and they just
can’t get it out and so they look to
small companies as being nimble and
flexible and be able to make rapid
changes if you want to do something you
just go and do it you don’t need
permission from anybody the other thing
I think that a strategy this is more
benefits but I think more on the
strategy that entrepreneurship used to
beat up the big guys is use your story
share your passion let us see why this
is so important to you entrepreneurs who
founded a business the most successful
ones do because they have a deep core
passion for what they’re doing they’re
not just trying to make money but trying
to help people they’re trying to make
the world better in some small or big
way and that passion is something that
you don’t feel from big companies you
can’t go to a big corporate company and
feel like you mean something to them as
a customer right you feel like you’re
just another number
and so entrepreneurs need to go all-in
on their story I want to see your
picture on your website I want to know
why you started this
I want to know how much it means to you
because I would much rather buy from
somebody that I feel connected to
because I know their story than some big
company and I think what happens is in
an effort to look professional a lot of
entrepreneurs try to model the big guys
and have boring corporate websites and
you’re always gonna lose it that game
because if I don’t know who you are I’m
gonna need to just compare on price and
that’s the last place that you want to
compete on as an entrepreneur I mean
otherwise nobody who I know if you’re
the same price as somebody else as a big
company that I know is trusted and
respected and you’re some new startup
and I don’t know anything about you I’m
gonna go with the big company because
it’s safer but if I feel your passion
understand your story and feel like if I
go with you I’m gonna get really good
service and someone who actually cares
about me is that he would be it wants to
see me be successful that’s the person I
want to sign up with so stop being so
boring and start leveraging when you
agree the skills which is your story so
everybody I would love to see a video
everybody but I know that’s not and
everybody skill set but at the very very
least your picture on an about page your
story in an emotional way something that
you really get excited by reading not a
boring resume but something that gets
you fired up that when you read it yeah
that’s why I started this business
that’s why it means so much to me do
that and you’ll start to win customers
that’s how you beat the big guys I’m
fired up it’s only one question in all
right number two is there a common place
where you see many small business owners
go wrong when you start to market online
yes I think a lot of entrepreneurs do a
lot of online marketing in a really
mediocre way meaning you start a
business you’re making shoes you’re
teaching dance classes you’re fixing
computers whatever it is that you’re
doing and you have to know that business
inside-out and now people are saying hey
you need to get on YouTube we need to be
on Facebook you can be on Twitter and
Instagram and snapchat you got to be in
all these places and so you go out and
you get the domains and you get the
accounts and then you start posting it
but it’s all crap the stuff you post
sucks the stuff you post you would never
want to share with anybody and so you’re
just pumping out garbage you’re pumping
out promotional coupons and you know
just
BAM is what you’re doing and then you
wonder why we’re not getting any
traction well I’m not getting any
followers well because your stuff sucks
it just sucks and what you need to do is
post stuff that you would be really
proud of I would pick the one social
media network where your audience is and
that maps to your skill set so if you
love doing video and you know your arms
is watching YouTube then go all in on
YouTube if you hate doing video they get
away from YouTube don’t worry about that
if you love writing then go on Twitter
right wherever it is that matches your
skill set what you love to do Angry
audiences that’s what you want to play
and focus on that one or those two
platforms and get really good at it and
post meaningful stuff most of the people
want to share and not just trying to be
everywhere because you also have a
business to run
I mean free social media has two proven
ROI if you’re not getting results from
it stop doing it like any other
marketing if you’re not getting results
stop doing it but getting results
doesn’t mean oh you know I post
something up and and people apply my
coupon and I immediately get sales right
there has to be a conversation and a
good way to start at least for me how
I’ve started all of them was I would see
people were my audience was their look
if people were mentioning my name if
people were talking about me if I saw
people who I was trying to reach really
active there that’s where I’d go
and I would start with one one thing and
then another thing and just be an active
listener to start especially on
platforms like Twitter you know are
people talking about your brand good or
bad you want to at least be a part of
the conversation you at least know
what’s going on and so I think too many
entrepreneurs just jump in get all the
handles start posting crap and get no
results and you don’t have time to do
that like if you’re you’re busy
entrepreneur you’re working a lot of
hours every week and you have to run
your business by the way not just live
on social media all the time and so I
think that’s a big mistake that that
they make and then they maybe they just
abandon it like you know what this is
stupid it’s not working it can be the
single greatest opportunity to help you
market and promote your business but
just like your product and service if
you put out a crappy product and crappy
service nobody’s gonna buy it right if
you put out crappy social media posts
nope
is gonna engage with it nobody’s gonna
share it so put stuff out that you would
want to see that you wouldn’t want to
engage with that if you saw it come up
you would send in somebody else you
would comment on it that’s the level
create social media post that you want
to show to your grandkids so you say
look what I made for the same amount of
love that you put into creating an
amazing product into the content that
you’re posting up if you do that then
you’ll start having some success
I like these questions number three we
all know those emails or websites that
look like spam but what are some
strategies you’ve seen business owners
do to demonstrate their credibility so
you know I think if you’re cold emailing
people than you are spamming even if
you’re even if you look credible if I
don’t know who you are and you’re
sending me a promotional email let’s
spam that’s not that’s not what you want
to be doing in terms of a website
there’s a couple things that you can do
one I would lead with your story
right I want to know what you do and why
you’re so passionate about it you can
showcase your customers and your
testimonials that you have if you’ve all
won any awards so you can put up if
you’ve been in any media instantly any
of those things signal credibility right
testimonials with faces and real names
of people not you know a Smith and it’s
like an avatar of somebody a real face a
real name ideally you can if they’re
from a business you can say what company
they’re from so I can see that that’s a
real-life human being who loves what
you’re doing awards you’ve won me –
you’ve been in how long you’ve been in
business and your company story and a
half-decent looking professional website
life it doesn’t cost a lot of money to
get a website up these days and so you
don’t want something that you know you
just kind of threw together if you’re if
you’re a real business and you’re
starting to make some money then put a
little bit of effort into having a good
looking website and those things
combined it won’t come off as looking
like spam like make something that you’d
be proud of you look at your website
saying I’m really proud of that you
would not be proud of spam right you
would not put out you know if I have
this water bottle I wouldn’t want to
sell a bottle that’s leaky right I
wouldn’t feel proud of that as an
entrepreneur as a manufacturer I don’t
want to put out a bottle that’s leaking
water right so don’t put out a whoops
that’s leaking to put out a crappy
product put us something that it doesn’t
have to be the world’s greatest website
if you sell water bottles nobody
expecting you to have an amazing amazing
over-the-top website if you’re a graphic
design they’re in the Navy right it has
to look good but if you’re a selling
water partners it doesn’t matter but it
needs to be at least has some standards
right the same standards that you apply
to your product you apply to your
website you apply to your social media
post you apply to everything that you do
don’t just hire some company and expect
them to deal with it and then you don’t
have to worry about it for the rest of
your life right the same standards that
you apply to your product has to apply
to everything in your business get
thirsty okay number four with so many
places for business owners to turn for
online advice how do you recommend they
cut through the noise in order to make
an impact so I would start with thinking
about how you best learn I’ll learn best
through visuals
I like seeing stuff that’s why I started
on YouTube that’s why I consume YouTube
videos and look at where am i learning
most it’s gonna be from videos I would
much rather see Steve Jobs or Howard
Schultz talk in a video then read their
biography or read an article about them
just just me I think most people are
visual but if you’re not then don’t do
that read the books right so if you
first figuring out where is it that you
learn best it was video you’re going on
YouTube if it’s if it’s reading it’s
looking at article websites news
websites biographies which are you know
books for people to read it could be
ebooks if you like hearing stuff then
you get audio ebooks you get podcasts
again you play to your strengths
well then I would talk to people that I
know in respect to see where they’re
consuming information and I would also
just try out a bunch of stuff like I
consume a lot of YouTube videos it’s
part of my business too but I consume a
lot of YouTube videos and I’ll give a
lot of channels a chance I’ll give a lot
of channels a minute you know someone is
the new business guru I’ll go check them
out for a video a minute five minutes
see if I’m hooked say
I like their style see if I’m learning
anything see if it made me think you
don’t have to finish a book you don’t
have to finish a video you don’t have to
finish a podcast if you’re not learning
get out right go up go out and learn
it’s like you want to listen to podcast
you want to look at YouTube channels
okay great go go find a list of the top
50 video channels YouTube channels for
entrepreneurs or for your industry go
watch one video from each of them let’s
see if you’re learning and chances are
you’ll find there’s like four or five at
the top that you can actually learn
something from and the rest are just
garbage and that’s okay don’t spend too
much time on the garbage ones that’s
fine subscribe to those four or five
consume the content a regular basis
whatever that is I think for me I have
something daily that I’m that I’m
looking at because I love the I love the
infusion it’s both the knowledge in
terms of information I can apply but
also that the motivation the inspiration
the daily you know watching a video from
someone that I respect makes me want to
grind a little bit harder so that’s my
advice find the medium that best fits
you and then look up which are the best
ones give all of them a chance and then
be willing to ditch the garbage one
super quick and stick with the ones that
you like the most number five where it’s
at halfway through we’re kind of halfway
through when working with new business
owners what are some tools or steps you
use to come up with a digital strategy
unique for their business I think the
first thing starts with understanding
who the entrepreneur is and on what
they’re good at you should be good at
your business right if you’re not into
preneur you need to be an expert at what
you’re making right I’m an expert at
making water bottles right you better be
that expert or you’re not gonna have
success in business business is about
providing da ru value comes from having
expertise in the market or an industry
so then I’d be looking at how do i best
capitalize that knowledge and distribute
it online
so my preference as much as possible is
to go video because I think it’s the way
the world’s moving and I think it’s the
it’s the way that a lot of people learn
and that’s how I like to learn so my
preference I would love to be able to
sit the owner down and make the
first video be why they started this
business why it’s so important to them
and it may take a lot I may think a lot
of takes they may have nervousness and
be afraid of the camera and you may take
a few takes to kind of work that out and
then you get to something really
passionate because entrepreneurs are
passionate people like we started this
business for a reason we persevered
through a ton of crap for a reason and
and that gives us the strength and
fortitude to keep going and we’re going
to turn up when people get excited and
ask us about our company and so you’ll
always find that deep level of passion
for the business and I want to see that
in a video as much as possible because
it communicates it breaks through the
clutter it breaks through the corporate
you know everybody’s playing safe Vail
and makes me feel like me and this
person really gets that industry and so
that’s what I would love to do as my
first video and then I would love to do
a Q&A format I would take all of the
common questions that your customers
would ask you you know what material
goes into the bottle how do you decide
determine what size you make the bottle
you know why what colors do your bottles
come in whatever the common questions
are and you know them like they’re
happening daily right when the customer
walks into your store your customer is
calling you on the phone or a customer
is sending you emails there’s the same
questions that repeat over and over and
over and over and over again and
business owners are used to saying the
same thing right you used to you used to
know what the questions are and you’re
used to knowing what your answers are
gonna be and so I would love to see some
of those questions turned into video and
release those as standalone videos for
your YouTube channel put them on your
website get a transcript I would use
rev.com
you can get it transcribed for a dollar
a minute and then maybe you need to fix
up some of the words you don’t speak the
same way that you may want to write and
put that up that would be my favorite
marketing strategy but the person may
just hate being in front of the camera
may just absolutely hate being on video
and have no interest doing it and in
fighting it and I don’t want to fight
with the new entrant they have enough of
a fight to get their business going I
don’t need another fight with me and so
I would try to get that knowledge out in
another way I would have them right
take those same questions and write
write down an answer 500 word answer I
would have them write out their story
why they started why they’re passionate
about it if they refuse to write then I
would try to interview them I would I
would hire somebody to ask them the
questions and then write it down and
turn that into content I’m basically
trying to get the knowledge that’s in
here every entrepreneur and put it out
in the content so that I can build a
relationship I want the entrepreneur to
build a relationship with their current
customers as well as new people who are
out there searching so the people when
they find your website they don’t think
it’s some spammy place but they see that
this is a person who has a knowledge
knowledge who really knows what they’re
talking about and it really cares about
me and wants to help me solve my problem
if you can do that then you’re ahead of
the curve then you have people calling
you who are ready to buy and all you
have to do is ask them how much and get
the details and close the sale it’s a
super warm lead as opposed to you trying
to go out and cold call people number
six
can people expect to get results some
purely organic campaigns these days or
is it pretty much required that they
have an ad budget for a campaign no you
can get tons of results from organic
campaigns most of the stuff I do is
organic my youtube channel is pretty
much all organic and those are the ones
that work best but the key is you have
to do something that people want to
share you’re not getting the organic
traffic because your content sucks right
go back to question whatever it was
before you are not getting people paying
attention to your content because your
content is just a commercial and people
don’t want to share a commercial but
people do want to share knowledge people
do want to share information and so I
would take a lot of time to sit down and
make a video or write out what you feel
is really valuable helpful information
for people to make a decision to help
them with something that they’re going
through in their life think about the
customers that are coming to you they
have a problem right they have a problem
in their life that they’re trying to
solve and you could potentially be a
part of the solution so give them the
knowledge to help them solve that
problem if they know you like you and
trust you they’re gonna buy from you
they’re gonna want to work with you
they’re gonna share information with you
they want to pass your name on to other
people as well
and so you don’t need to have an ad
budget you don’t need to have an ad
spend at the start and ad spent can
potentially get you there faster
depending on the medium that you’re
using I think if you’re going to do an
ad spend
Facebook targeted posts is the best bang
for your buck you could say listen I
want people who love Justin Bieber and
our single moms that live in Missouri
you know you could target those people
with an ad where you it’s super
difficult to do it through any other
platform but you do not need to have an
ad budget and in for any of this stuff
I love testing it I hate spending money
telling making money I want to test it
I’ll invest my hustle my heart my grind
my effort to try to find a way to make
it work and if it stopped if it never
works and I drop it and if it starts
working then I look at how can I use
money to help me expand it but if
anything if I had a thousand dollars to
spend on getting the word out I would
rather invest that money into creative
into the story into hiring a
videographer and shooting it into
writing out the content and putting a
nice graphic on it
it’s a making something that I’m really
proud of I would rather invest that
thousand dollars or five hundred dollars
or whatever budget you have I would put
that into the content into the creative
much faster than into an advertisement
and I would get a much better return
number-7 online to offline any examples
of companies doing a great job driving
traffic to their physical stores through
online campaigns well I’ll do some
shameless self-promotion here I run
Toronto dance salsa I acquired I was an
investor earlier on I acquired the
business at the start of 2016 and this
is a retail store we do salsa classes
were the largest salsa dance school
probably in North America
teaching five to six thousand people
every year ahead of salsa dance and so
it’s a it’s in a mall where people can
walk by but the majority of the traffic
comes through word-of-mouth any service
based business need to have positive
word-of-mouth and then through online
from Google searches from Facebook
campaign
from YouTube videos and some terms of
our marketing strategy in terms of our
online what was it
driving traffic to their physical stores
who online campaigns a couple things
that we do that are highly effective one
all of our events will take pictures of
people dancing and having a good time
we’ll post it to Facebook and we’ll tag
them will comment on them it’s a great
picture they’re dancing they’re having
fun they get tagged one they feel like
they’re part of the family they feel
like I look at this great moment that’s
been captured for me and to a lot of
their friends here and especially for
the repeat people their friends and ask
them like well I see these pictures of
you always having so much fun where how
are you doing this what’s going on where
are you learning and they talk about my
business and then they end up signing up
for a level 1 class 2 we write content
so we have a lot of content on our
website about salsa dancing about what
to think about in the first class about
how to compare or what to prepare for
when you’re coming to your first class
about do I buy shoes not buy shoes all
the stuff that I was preaching we’re
actually executing on in the business we
make youtube videos where my head of
operations does a series called ask Alex
his name was Alex where people ask him
questions and he’ll make a video
response to it it will turn that into an
article without the transcript they’ll
be on the website that builds rapport
with people getting to know Alex as well
as seeing content that ranks in search
engines we pay it a lot of attention to
our reviews people rank us in Google and
say they had a great time and that helps
us with our online marketing the next
time we have a Facebook ad campaign
where we look at people who are in the
aged demo that really fits well with our
student range and so that that brings in
new students we have a newsletter
campaign that goes out to current
students or anybody who sign up for the
newsletter every time we launch a new
class they can be notified that
something new has come out so all these
things all these things have helped us
turn this physical store that’s in a
mall that we’re probably in our mall and
the mother we’re in we are the least
dependent on
foot traffic normally anomalies like
Location Location Location you care
about how many people are walking by all
the time and we do get some walkins but
I would say we are the least dependent
business on foot traffic in our mall
because we do so much online because we
build up so much momentum and kick up so
much noise that people find us and they
want to come to us as a destination so
we end up probably bringing in more
people to to the mall then the mall ever
brings to us which also gives me gives
me some leverage I got to go talk to
them all talk about my rent hey guys I’m
helping you out recently I’ve had two of
my instructors go on snapchat and
they’re posting daily updates kind of
behind the scenes of what happens at
Trenton and salsa and showing that their
lives and that helps again humanize the
story back to the first question about
how do you compete against the big guys
share your story right it shows them
behind the scenes and interacting and
having fun a lot of people might be
stressed out about coming to a salsa
class the first time and so they’re
nervous and worried and you know what if
they look bad they don’t get the first
move or people will laugh at them and
then you watch these snapchat videos
that we then turn into YouTube videos as
well of people who are friendly and
having fun and joking and laughing and
not judging each other and say you know
what I think I could fit in there like
it’s not as scary as I think it would be
and so that helps Drive this is for us
and so online has been a massive success
story for our company remember eight
what cool or strategy do you think will
make the biggest impact in 2017 I think
video is going to be more and more
important I’m on the fence in 2017 it
depends on your demo I would say either
either the ones that are already popping
with YouTube Facebook or snapchat
snapchat is still skewing younger
although it’s starting to pick up steam
and certainly hit more mainstream but
more people are on YouTube and Facebook
for most of the markets that people are
covered so from my audience YouTube and
Facebook is much is a much targeted more
targeted demo right now thence now
check but I want to be prepared for
snapchat right Alex and Lily two of my
instructors and Alex runs ops they’re on
snapchat every day they’re starting to
build up momentum we still get more
juice out of Facebook now and probably
for most of next year but snapchat chef
F is coming right they’re getting more
views on their stories every day people
are following them people you know
students in the class or commenting and
feeling like they’re following along
Alex’s journey and talk to him about it
so if you’re younger if you have a
younger audience definitely snapchat
number one if you’re getting you know if
you’re over thirty forty is fifty you’re
definitely going Facebook YouTube but I
would have an eye on on snapchat for
2018 and having a strategy around the
world’s going video if you are not the
person to be on video I would really
question it and see if there’s a way
that you could do it and still really if
not then find somebody in your
organization who is passionate about it
who could be the face of your company
because it’s going to be super important
in 2017 and especially going forward and
last question number nine who are some
of the influencers who have made a large
impact on how you think about online
marketing I think a lot of the people
you know some of the people on my wall
here have impacted how I think about the
world and then I apply that to online
marketing a lot where you know Steve
Jobs is about having a big impact Howard
Schultz is about doing it through values
you know my parents taught me about
believe AP Giannini is the was the
believe banker and Kanye West you can’t
see him really there was about doing it
now no time to wait don’t wait till
you’re you know you retire to get going
and start doing it right now so a lot of
their thinking and all the other
entrepreneurs that I profile and look up
to they influenced my thinking and then
I just take a lot of that knowledge and
apply it to marketing and specifically
online marketing so you know of Howard
Schultz is all about leaning through
values great how do i market through
values right and then how do i online
market using my value
and so I think there’s a lot to learn
from any any famous entrepreneur they
can then apply to your online marketing
I think if the question is about the
tactics the specific execution that that
can change year to year like Steve Jobs
you know probably didn’t know a lot
about snapchat but you can learn from
him and how to have success with
snapchat the lessons about having a big
impact and doing something important
doing meaningful work you can apply into
your snapchat right where every snap
needs to be important every snap needs
to be something that you’re proud of
every snap needs to be something that
you know somebody sees it they’re gonna
feel impacted by right so you can apply
as mindset methodology without having
without him having done snapchat and
whatever the next thing is mood chat
that comes out in 2020 you can still
apply a lot of same things if you’re
talking just about tactics
I’d actually go and execute in it in
that platform probably Gary Vaynerchuk
said the single biggest impact for me
once I don’t really do love snapchat
maybe Facebook probably Gary on Facebook
has had the biggest impact there for
YouTube probably Tim Schmoyer has helped
me a lot with my youtube channel helped
me grow to you know almost half a
million subscribers on YouTube and five
million views a month on YouTube so
Tim’s been a great role model for me
there
that’s probably my – those would be my
two I don’t know that I’ve looked up to
anybody for advice on Twitter or
LinkedIn or the website so yeah so Gary
Gary on on Facebook and a little bit of
snapchat for my team and Tim Schmoyer
for YouTube recommend going to check
them out if I had to throw a third
person in there iOS 8 Louis house runs
the schools of greatness podcast which
has very little to do with marketing but
he’s interviewing people who’ve had a
lot of success in their respective
fields and their mindset and way of
thinking and the lessons that they
preach you can apply to marketing you
can apply to online marketing apply to
your business and kind of changes and
shapes your mindset as a human being and
so you can bring a lot of that to your
business in a lot of different ways
so that’s it thank you guys for the find
those are my nine strategies to grow
your business in 2017 hopefully you
enjoyed it thank you dun and bradstreet
for the opportunity I’d recommend going
to check them out if you’re looking up
information on businesses and need some
credit scores or information on private
companies that go check they might have
used them in the past before I’d love to
know what you guys think those of you
watch this video let me know what was
your favorite strategy out of the nine
leave it down in the comments below do
you have another you want to add a tenth
I did not you want to add a tenth
strategy to grow your business is 2017
I’d love to know what your single
biggest advice or 2017 entrepreneur’s
would be leave a Dem comments below I’m
gonna join in the discussion thank you
guys again for watching I believe in you
I hope you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is
much love I’ll see you soon
special little video for you guys today
I got asked to do an interview with dun
& bradstreet for their small business
savvy based series if you don’t know
that in Bradstreet they have some elite
information on companies around the
world you want to look up information
about a business they’re one places to
go to if you need credit reports and a
whole bunch of data on companies that’s
it’s a great place to check out so they
have a Small Business Saturday series
and sent me nine questions about growing
your business in 2017 and so I thought
hey let’s make it a video you guys have
benefit from it as well and hopefully we
get some good answers for you today
so kick announce number one what are
some of the benefits of being small that
a business owner can leverage to beat
out the big guys I think the big thing
about being small is that you’re nimble
that you’re flexible that you can make
changes really quickly I deal with a lot
of big companies as my clients and the
number of people that have to touch a
decision is crazy and often they’ll have
me for example do a landing page to
promote something we’re doing because
they just can’t get it done in time
because they have to deal with tons of
different people get approvals at all
sorts of different levels and they just
can’t get it out and so they look to
small companies as being nimble and
flexible and be able to make rapid
changes if you want to do something you
just go and do it you don’t need
permission from anybody the other thing
I think that a strategy this is more
benefits but I think more on the
strategy that entrepreneurship used to
beat up the big guys is use your story
share your passion let us see why this
is so important to you entrepreneurs who
founded a business the most successful
ones do because they have a deep core
passion for what they’re doing they’re
not just trying to make money but trying
to help people they’re trying to make
the world better in some small or big
way and that passion is something that
you don’t feel from big companies you
can’t go to a big corporate company and
feel like you mean something to them as
a customer right you feel like you’re
just another number
and so entrepreneurs need to go all-in
on their story I want to see your
picture on your website I want to know
why you started this
I want to know how much it means to you
because I would much rather buy from
somebody that I feel connected to
because I know their story than some big
company and I think what happens is in
an effort to look professional a lot of
entrepreneurs try to model the big guys
and have boring corporate websites and
you’re always gonna lose it that game
because if I don’t know who you are I’m
gonna need to just compare on price and
that’s the last place that you want to
compete on as an entrepreneur I mean
otherwise nobody who I know if you’re
the same price as somebody else as a big
company that I know is trusted and
respected and you’re some new startup
and I don’t know anything about you I’m
gonna go with the big company because
it’s safer but if I feel your passion
understand your story and feel like if I
go with you I’m gonna get really good
service and someone who actually cares
about me is that he would be it wants to
see me be successful that’s the person I
want to sign up with so stop being so
boring and start leveraging when you
agree the skills which is your story so
everybody I would love to see a video
everybody but I know that’s not and
everybody skill set but at the very very
least your picture on an about page your
story in an emotional way something that
you really get excited by reading not a
boring resume but something that gets
you fired up that when you read it yeah
that’s why I started this business
that’s why it means so much to me do
that and you’ll start to win customers
that’s how you beat the big guys I’m
fired up it’s only one question in all
right number two is there a common place
where you see many small business owners
go wrong when you start to market online
yes I think a lot of entrepreneurs do a
lot of online marketing in a really
mediocre way meaning you start a
business you’re making shoes you’re
teaching dance classes you’re fixing
computers whatever it is that you’re
doing and you have to know that business
inside-out and now people are saying hey
you need to get on YouTube we need to be
on Facebook you can be on Twitter and
Instagram and snapchat you got to be in
all these places and so you go out and
you get the domains and you get the
accounts and then you start posting it
but it’s all crap the stuff you post
sucks the stuff you post you would never
want to share with anybody and so you’re
just pumping out garbage you’re pumping
out promotional coupons and you know
just
BAM is what you’re doing and then you
wonder why we’re not getting any
traction well I’m not getting any
followers well because your stuff sucks
it just sucks and what you need to do is
post stuff that you would be really
proud of I would pick the one social
media network where your audience is and
that maps to your skill set so if you
love doing video and you know your arms
is watching YouTube then go all in on
YouTube if you hate doing video they get
away from YouTube don’t worry about that
if you love writing then go on Twitter
right wherever it is that matches your
skill set what you love to do Angry
audiences that’s what you want to play
and focus on that one or those two
platforms and get really good at it and
post meaningful stuff most of the people
want to share and not just trying to be
everywhere because you also have a
business to run
I mean free social media has two proven
ROI if you’re not getting results from
it stop doing it like any other
marketing if you’re not getting results
stop doing it but getting results
doesn’t mean oh you know I post
something up and and people apply my
coupon and I immediately get sales right
there has to be a conversation and a
good way to start at least for me how
I’ve started all of them was I would see
people were my audience was their look
if people were mentioning my name if
people were talking about me if I saw
people who I was trying to reach really
active there that’s where I’d go
and I would start with one one thing and
then another thing and just be an active
listener to start especially on
platforms like Twitter you know are
people talking about your brand good or
bad you want to at least be a part of
the conversation you at least know
what’s going on and so I think too many
entrepreneurs just jump in get all the
handles start posting crap and get no
results and you don’t have time to do
that like if you’re you’re busy
entrepreneur you’re working a lot of
hours every week and you have to run
your business by the way not just live
on social media all the time and so I
think that’s a big mistake that that
they make and then they maybe they just
abandon it like you know what this is
stupid it’s not working it can be the
single greatest opportunity to help you
market and promote your business but
just like your product and service if
you put out a crappy product and crappy
service nobody’s gonna buy it right if
you put out crappy social media posts
nope
is gonna engage with it nobody’s gonna
share it so put stuff out that you would
want to see that you wouldn’t want to
engage with that if you saw it come up
you would send in somebody else you
would comment on it that’s the level
create social media post that you want
to show to your grandkids so you say
look what I made for the same amount of
love that you put into creating an
amazing product into the content that
you’re posting up if you do that then
you’ll start having some success
I like these questions number three we
all know those emails or websites that
look like spam but what are some
strategies you’ve seen business owners
do to demonstrate their credibility so
you know I think if you’re cold emailing
people than you are spamming even if
you’re even if you look credible if I
don’t know who you are and you’re
sending me a promotional email let’s
spam that’s not that’s not what you want
to be doing in terms of a website
there’s a couple things that you can do
one I would lead with your story
right I want to know what you do and why
you’re so passionate about it you can
showcase your customers and your
testimonials that you have if you’ve all
won any awards so you can put up if
you’ve been in any media instantly any
of those things signal credibility right
testimonials with faces and real names
of people not you know a Smith and it’s
like an avatar of somebody a real face a
real name ideally you can if they’re
from a business you can say what company
they’re from so I can see that that’s a
real-life human being who loves what
you’re doing awards you’ve won me –
you’ve been in how long you’ve been in
business and your company story and a
half-decent looking professional website
life it doesn’t cost a lot of money to
get a website up these days and so you
don’t want something that you know you
just kind of threw together if you’re if
you’re a real business and you’re
starting to make some money then put a
little bit of effort into having a good
looking website and those things
combined it won’t come off as looking
like spam like make something that you’d
be proud of you look at your website
saying I’m really proud of that you
would not be proud of spam right you
would not put out you know if I have
this water bottle I wouldn’t want to
sell a bottle that’s leaky right I
wouldn’t feel proud of that as an
entrepreneur as a manufacturer I don’t
want to put out a bottle that’s leaking
water right so don’t put out a whoops
that’s leaking to put out a crappy
product put us something that it doesn’t
have to be the world’s greatest website
if you sell water bottles nobody
expecting you to have an amazing amazing
over-the-top website if you’re a graphic
design they’re in the Navy right it has
to look good but if you’re a selling
water partners it doesn’t matter but it
needs to be at least has some standards
right the same standards that you apply
to your product you apply to your
website you apply to your social media
post you apply to everything that you do
don’t just hire some company and expect
them to deal with it and then you don’t
have to worry about it for the rest of
your life right the same standards that
you apply to your product has to apply
to everything in your business get
thirsty okay number four with so many
places for business owners to turn for
online advice how do you recommend they
cut through the noise in order to make
an impact so I would start with thinking
about how you best learn I’ll learn best
through visuals
I like seeing stuff that’s why I started
on YouTube that’s why I consume YouTube
videos and look at where am i learning
most it’s gonna be from videos I would
much rather see Steve Jobs or Howard
Schultz talk in a video then read their
biography or read an article about them
just just me I think most people are
visual but if you’re not then don’t do
that read the books right so if you
first figuring out where is it that you
learn best it was video you’re going on
YouTube if it’s if it’s reading it’s
looking at article websites news
websites biographies which are you know
books for people to read it could be
ebooks if you like hearing stuff then
you get audio ebooks you get podcasts
again you play to your strengths
well then I would talk to people that I
know in respect to see where they’re
consuming information and I would also
just try out a bunch of stuff like I
consume a lot of YouTube videos it’s
part of my business too but I consume a
lot of YouTube videos and I’ll give a
lot of channels a chance I’ll give a lot
of channels a minute you know someone is
the new business guru I’ll go check them
out for a video a minute five minutes
see if I’m hooked say
I like their style see if I’m learning
anything see if it made me think you
don’t have to finish a book you don’t
have to finish a video you don’t have to
finish a podcast if you’re not learning
get out right go up go out and learn
it’s like you want to listen to podcast
you want to look at YouTube channels
okay great go go find a list of the top
50 video channels YouTube channels for
entrepreneurs or for your industry go
watch one video from each of them let’s
see if you’re learning and chances are
you’ll find there’s like four or five at
the top that you can actually learn
something from and the rest are just
garbage and that’s okay don’t spend too
much time on the garbage ones that’s
fine subscribe to those four or five
consume the content a regular basis
whatever that is I think for me I have
something daily that I’m that I’m
looking at because I love the I love the
infusion it’s both the knowledge in
terms of information I can apply but
also that the motivation the inspiration
the daily you know watching a video from
someone that I respect makes me want to
grind a little bit harder so that’s my
advice find the medium that best fits
you and then look up which are the best
ones give all of them a chance and then
be willing to ditch the garbage one
super quick and stick with the ones that
you like the most number five where it’s
at halfway through we’re kind of halfway
through when working with new business
owners what are some tools or steps you
use to come up with a digital strategy
unique for their business I think the
first thing starts with understanding
who the entrepreneur is and on what
they’re good at you should be good at
your business right if you’re not into
preneur you need to be an expert at what
you’re making right I’m an expert at
making water bottles right you better be
that expert or you’re not gonna have
success in business business is about
providing da ru value comes from having
expertise in the market or an industry
so then I’d be looking at how do i best
capitalize that knowledge and distribute
it online
so my preference as much as possible is
to go video because I think it’s the way
the world’s moving and I think it’s the
it’s the way that a lot of people learn
and that’s how I like to learn so my
preference I would love to be able to
sit the owner down and make the
first video be why they started this
business why it’s so important to them
and it may take a lot I may think a lot
of takes they may have nervousness and
be afraid of the camera and you may take
a few takes to kind of work that out and
then you get to something really
passionate because entrepreneurs are
passionate people like we started this
business for a reason we persevered
through a ton of crap for a reason and
and that gives us the strength and
fortitude to keep going and we’re going
to turn up when people get excited and
ask us about our company and so you’ll
always find that deep level of passion
for the business and I want to see that
in a video as much as possible because
it communicates it breaks through the
clutter it breaks through the corporate
you know everybody’s playing safe Vail
and makes me feel like me and this
person really gets that industry and so
that’s what I would love to do as my
first video and then I would love to do
a Q&A format I would take all of the
common questions that your customers
would ask you you know what material
goes into the bottle how do you decide
determine what size you make the bottle
you know why what colors do your bottles
come in whatever the common questions
are and you know them like they’re
happening daily right when the customer
walks into your store your customer is
calling you on the phone or a customer
is sending you emails there’s the same
questions that repeat over and over and
over and over and over again and
business owners are used to saying the
same thing right you used to you used to
know what the questions are and you’re
used to knowing what your answers are
gonna be and so I would love to see some
of those questions turned into video and
release those as standalone videos for
your YouTube channel put them on your
website get a transcript I would use
rev.com
you can get it transcribed for a dollar
a minute and then maybe you need to fix
up some of the words you don’t speak the
same way that you may want to write and
put that up that would be my favorite
marketing strategy but the person may
just hate being in front of the camera
may just absolutely hate being on video
and have no interest doing it and in
fighting it and I don’t want to fight
with the new entrant they have enough of
a fight to get their business going I
don’t need another fight with me and so
I would try to get that knowledge out in
another way I would have them right
take those same questions and write
write down an answer 500 word answer I
would have them write out their story
why they started why they’re passionate
about it if they refuse to write then I
would try to interview them I would I
would hire somebody to ask them the
questions and then write it down and
turn that into content I’m basically
trying to get the knowledge that’s in
here every entrepreneur and put it out
in the content so that I can build a
relationship I want the entrepreneur to
build a relationship with their current
customers as well as new people who are
out there searching so the people when
they find your website they don’t think
it’s some spammy place but they see that
this is a person who has a knowledge
knowledge who really knows what they’re
talking about and it really cares about
me and wants to help me solve my problem
if you can do that then you’re ahead of
the curve then you have people calling
you who are ready to buy and all you
have to do is ask them how much and get
the details and close the sale it’s a
super warm lead as opposed to you trying
to go out and cold call people number
six
can people expect to get results some
purely organic campaigns these days or
is it pretty much required that they
have an ad budget for a campaign no you
can get tons of results from organic
campaigns most of the stuff I do is
organic my youtube channel is pretty
much all organic and those are the ones
that work best but the key is you have
to do something that people want to
share you’re not getting the organic
traffic because your content sucks right
go back to question whatever it was
before you are not getting people paying
attention to your content because your
content is just a commercial and people
don’t want to share a commercial but
people do want to share knowledge people
do want to share information and so I
would take a lot of time to sit down and
make a video or write out what you feel
is really valuable helpful information
for people to make a decision to help
them with something that they’re going
through in their life think about the
customers that are coming to you they
have a problem right they have a problem
in their life that they’re trying to
solve and you could potentially be a
part of the solution so give them the
knowledge to help them solve that
problem if they know you like you and
trust you they’re gonna buy from you
they’re gonna want to work with you
they’re gonna share information with you
they want to pass your name on to other
people as well
and so you don’t need to have an ad
budget you don’t need to have an ad
spend at the start and ad spent can
potentially get you there faster
depending on the medium that you’re
using I think if you’re going to do an
ad spend
Facebook targeted posts is the best bang
for your buck you could say listen I
want people who love Justin Bieber and
our single moms that live in Missouri
you know you could target those people
with an ad where you it’s super
difficult to do it through any other
platform but you do not need to have an
ad budget and in for any of this stuff
I love testing it I hate spending money
telling making money I want to test it
I’ll invest my hustle my heart my grind
my effort to try to find a way to make
it work and if it stopped if it never
works and I drop it and if it starts
working then I look at how can I use
money to help me expand it but if
anything if I had a thousand dollars to
spend on getting the word out I would
rather invest that money into creative
into the story into hiring a
videographer and shooting it into
writing out the content and putting a
nice graphic on it
it’s a making something that I’m really
proud of I would rather invest that
thousand dollars or five hundred dollars
or whatever budget you have I would put
that into the content into the creative
much faster than into an advertisement
and I would get a much better return
number-7 online to offline any examples
of companies doing a great job driving
traffic to their physical stores through
online campaigns well I’ll do some
shameless self-promotion here I run
Toronto dance salsa I acquired I was an
investor earlier on I acquired the
business at the start of 2016 and this
is a retail store we do salsa classes
were the largest salsa dance school
probably in North America
teaching five to six thousand people
every year ahead of salsa dance and so
it’s a it’s in a mall where people can
walk by but the majority of the traffic
comes through word-of-mouth any service
based business need to have positive
word-of-mouth and then through online
from Google searches from Facebook
campaign
from YouTube videos and some terms of
our marketing strategy in terms of our
online what was it
driving traffic to their physical stores
who online campaigns a couple things
that we do that are highly effective one
all of our events will take pictures of
people dancing and having a good time
we’ll post it to Facebook and we’ll tag
them will comment on them it’s a great
picture they’re dancing they’re having
fun they get tagged one they feel like
they’re part of the family they feel
like I look at this great moment that’s
been captured for me and to a lot of
their friends here and especially for
the repeat people their friends and ask
them like well I see these pictures of
you always having so much fun where how
are you doing this what’s going on where
are you learning and they talk about my
business and then they end up signing up
for a level 1 class 2 we write content
so we have a lot of content on our
website about salsa dancing about what
to think about in the first class about
how to compare or what to prepare for
when you’re coming to your first class
about do I buy shoes not buy shoes all
the stuff that I was preaching we’re
actually executing on in the business we
make youtube videos where my head of
operations does a series called ask Alex
his name was Alex where people ask him
questions and he’ll make a video
response to it it will turn that into an
article without the transcript they’ll
be on the website that builds rapport
with people getting to know Alex as well
as seeing content that ranks in search
engines we pay it a lot of attention to
our reviews people rank us in Google and
say they had a great time and that helps
us with our online marketing the next
time we have a Facebook ad campaign
where we look at people who are in the
aged demo that really fits well with our
student range and so that that brings in
new students we have a newsletter
campaign that goes out to current
students or anybody who sign up for the
newsletter every time we launch a new
class they can be notified that
something new has come out so all these
things all these things have helped us
turn this physical store that’s in a
mall that we’re probably in our mall and
the mother we’re in we are the least
dependent on
foot traffic normally anomalies like
Location Location Location you care
about how many people are walking by all
the time and we do get some walkins but
I would say we are the least dependent
business on foot traffic in our mall
because we do so much online because we
build up so much momentum and kick up so
much noise that people find us and they
want to come to us as a destination so
we end up probably bringing in more
people to to the mall then the mall ever
brings to us which also gives me gives
me some leverage I got to go talk to
them all talk about my rent hey guys I’m
helping you out recently I’ve had two of
my instructors go on snapchat and
they’re posting daily updates kind of
behind the scenes of what happens at
Trenton and salsa and showing that their
lives and that helps again humanize the
story back to the first question about
how do you compete against the big guys
share your story right it shows them
behind the scenes and interacting and
having fun a lot of people might be
stressed out about coming to a salsa
class the first time and so they’re
nervous and worried and you know what if
they look bad they don’t get the first
move or people will laugh at them and
then you watch these snapchat videos
that we then turn into YouTube videos as
well of people who are friendly and
having fun and joking and laughing and
not judging each other and say you know
what I think I could fit in there like
it’s not as scary as I think it would be
and so that helps Drive this is for us
and so online has been a massive success
story for our company remember eight
what cool or strategy do you think will
make the biggest impact in 2017 I think
video is going to be more and more
important I’m on the fence in 2017 it
depends on your demo I would say either
either the ones that are already popping
with YouTube Facebook or snapchat
snapchat is still skewing younger
although it’s starting to pick up steam
and certainly hit more mainstream but
more people are on YouTube and Facebook
for most of the markets that people are
covered so from my audience YouTube and
Facebook is much is a much targeted more
targeted demo right now thence now
check but I want to be prepared for
snapchat right Alex and Lily two of my
instructors and Alex runs ops they’re on
snapchat every day they’re starting to
build up momentum we still get more
juice out of Facebook now and probably
for most of next year but snapchat chef
F is coming right they’re getting more
views on their stories every day people
are following them people you know
students in the class or commenting and
feeling like they’re following along
Alex’s journey and talk to him about it
so if you’re younger if you have a
younger audience definitely snapchat
number one if you’re getting you know if
you’re over thirty forty is fifty you’re
definitely going Facebook YouTube but I
would have an eye on on snapchat for
2018 and having a strategy around the
world’s going video if you are not the
person to be on video I would really
question it and see if there’s a way
that you could do it and still really if
not then find somebody in your
organization who is passionate about it
who could be the face of your company
because it’s going to be super important
in 2017 and especially going forward and
last question number nine who are some
of the influencers who have made a large
impact on how you think about online
marketing I think a lot of the people
you know some of the people on my wall
here have impacted how I think about the
world and then I apply that to online
marketing a lot where you know Steve
Jobs is about having a big impact Howard
Schultz is about doing it through values
you know my parents taught me about
believe AP Giannini is the was the
believe banker and Kanye West you can’t
see him really there was about doing it
now no time to wait don’t wait till
you’re you know you retire to get going
and start doing it right now so a lot of
their thinking and all the other
entrepreneurs that I profile and look up
to they influenced my thinking and then
I just take a lot of that knowledge and
apply it to marketing and specifically
online marketing so you know of Howard
Schultz is all about leaning through
values great how do i market through
values right and then how do i online
market using my value
and so I think there’s a lot to learn
from any any famous entrepreneur they
can then apply to your online marketing
I think if the question is about the
tactics the specific execution that that
can change year to year like Steve Jobs
you know probably didn’t know a lot
about snapchat but you can learn from
him and how to have success with
snapchat the lessons about having a big
impact and doing something important
doing meaningful work you can apply into
your snapchat right where every snap
needs to be important every snap needs
to be something that you’re proud of
every snap needs to be something that
you know somebody sees it they’re gonna
feel impacted by right so you can apply
as mindset methodology without having
without him having done snapchat and
whatever the next thing is mood chat
that comes out in 2020 you can still
apply a lot of same things if you’re
talking just about tactics
I’d actually go and execute in it in
that platform probably Gary Vaynerchuk
said the single biggest impact for me
once I don’t really do love snapchat
maybe Facebook probably Gary on Facebook
has had the biggest impact there for
YouTube probably Tim Schmoyer has helped
me a lot with my youtube channel helped
me grow to you know almost half a
million subscribers on YouTube and five
million views a month on YouTube so
Tim’s been a great role model for me
there
that’s probably my – those would be my
two I don’t know that I’ve looked up to
anybody for advice on Twitter or
LinkedIn or the website so yeah so Gary
Gary on on Facebook and a little bit of
snapchat for my team and Tim Schmoyer
for YouTube recommend going to check
them out if I had to throw a third
person in there iOS 8 Louis house runs
the schools of greatness podcast which
has very little to do with marketing but
he’s interviewing people who’ve had a
lot of success in their respective
fields and their mindset and way of
thinking and the lessons that they
preach you can apply to marketing you
can apply to online marketing apply to
your business and kind of changes and
shapes your mindset as a human being and
so you can bring a lot of that to your
business in a lot of different ways
so that’s it thank you guys for the find
those are my nine strategies to grow
your business in 2017 hopefully you
enjoyed it thank you dun and bradstreet
for the opportunity I’d recommend going
to check them out if you’re looking up
information on businesses and need some
credit scores or information on private
companies that go check they might have
used them in the past before I’d love to
know what you guys think those of you
watch this video let me know what was
your favorite strategy out of the nine
leave it down in the comments below do
you have another you want to add a tenth
I did not you want to add a tenth
strategy to grow your business is 2017
I’d love to know what your single
biggest advice or 2017 entrepreneur’s
would be leave a Dem comments below I’m
gonna join in the discussion thank you
guys again for watching I believe in you
I hope you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is
much love I’ll see you soon
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