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1190: StubGroup: Simplify Your Ads, Maximize Your ROI with CEO John Horn

November 23, 2024

It can be a real challenge to balance staying on top of shifting ad policies and actually seeing results. On one hand, you’ve got to keep your ads in line with the rules, which seem to change all the time. On the other hand, you want to make sure those ads are driving real sales, not just checking boxes. It’s all about refining your approach, tweaking things as needed, and keeping a close eye on what works to make sure you're meeting both the compliance standards and your financial goals.

John Horn is the CEO of StubGroup, a premier Google Ads agency that has been helping small and medium-sized businesses address the challenges of digital advertising for over a decade. In addition to his role at StubGroup, John is also the host of his own podcast called “Clicks to Customers,” where he shares his ideas and expertise on a wide range of marketing topics. Today, John talks about the importance of understanding client needs and setting realistic expectations when it comes to running successful Google Ads campaigns. Stay tuned!

Resources

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1123: Ultimate Sales Guide: Overcome Anxiety, Increase Closing Rates, and Leverage Referrals with Sales Expert Eric Lofholm

June 7, 2024

What is the ultimate sales guide? Sales is all about connecting with people and solving their problems. It’s a journey of understanding customer needs and offering solutions that create value. It’s not just about transactions, but building relationships and trust. In essence, sales is the bridge that connects a product’s potential with the customer’s needs.

Eric Lofholm, a master sales trainer and expert, has been teaching sales since 1999 and has shared his sales systems with thousands of professionals in the U.S. and worldwide for over 20 years. He is the author of 15 books on sales and success, reflecting his passion for simplifying the sales process to help people increase their sales. Today, Eric shares insights on demystifying the sales process, using content to attract prospects, the importance of self-control, and prospecting strategies using social media. He also shares how he got into sales training, how someone can become more confident, and how to overcome call reluctance. Stay tuned to learn more from this leading authority in sales and sales strategies!

Quotes

“Use technology to create the sales conversation and learn how to embrace sales, as opposed to resisting it, and watch your sales results skyrocket.” – Eric Lofholm

"Look to leverage their network. Build a relationship with them and get them to refer or endorse you to their entire network." – Eric Lofholm

“Optimism is a learned skill. Optimism is a muscle. You can learn how to be positive, you can learn how to be optimistic.” – Eric Lofholm

Takeaways

02:03 Embracing sales and leveraging existing networks can significantly boost lead generation and sales results.

08:29 Creating valuable content and building familiarity with potential customers is an effective way to nurture relationships and drive sales.

20:41 Developing self-control and consistency through daily, small actions is crucial for achieving sales and business goals.

24:18 Prospecting regularly, even through simple outreach on social media, can fill a sales pipeline with opportunities.

33:39 Maintaining a positive, optimistic mindset and treating sales as a learnable skill can lead to long-term success.

Resources

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1119: Achieve Success Through Leadership, Mental Toughness, Overcoming Personal Adversity, and Helping Others Reach Their Full Potential with Former Army Ranger and High-Performance Coach Jeramiah Solven

June 3, 2024

Have you ever thought about what it takes to really do well in life? Not just in your job, but also in becoming the best person you can be? Leadership is the ability to influence and guide others, whether in a business, military, or any other setting. True leaders are not just born; they are made through experiences, challenges, and a constant desire to improve. Success, mental toughness, and leadership are all interconnected ideas that are very important for reaching personal and professional goals.

Jeramiah Solven is a former Army Ranger officer, high-performance coach, public speaker, and the entrepreneur behind the Elite Leadership Coaching company Conquer Academy. Today, Jeramiah shares his personal journey of overcoming obstacles, including his experiences in the military, dealing with PTSD, and building a successful business. He discusses the importance of mentorship, personal growth, and helping others achieve their goals as the keys to his own success. He also shares his insights on leadership, mental toughness, and the path to personal and professional success.

Quotes

“The key I learned for success in any industry is that it’s not about what you need to do; it’s about who you need to become.” – Jeramiah Solven

" Stress will either show you how to get stronger or tell you what you need to cut from your life." – Jeramiah Solven

“You can get everything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want. That’s the truth when it comes to business. The way to accomplish your mission is to help people accomplish theirs. If you help people get what they want, anything is possible.” – Jeramiah Solven

Takeaways

07:34 Developing personal integrity, discipline, and mental toughness is crucial for achieving lasting success in business and life.

16:09 Addressing and processing stress and trauma, rather than escaping through vices, is essential for personal growth and well-being.

22:01 Prioritizing the development of oneself as a person, rather than solely chasing results, leads to faster and more sustainable success.

26:15 Helping others achieve their goals is the key to getting what you want in life.

Resources

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895: Strategy Sprints: Get Your Time and Energy Back, Enjoy Less Stress, More Revenue, Scaling, and Freedom with Simon Severino

November 4, 2022

There are so many situations in business and life where a small amount of reconfiguration is the solution. Perhaps there is no need to start over from scratch after discarding everything you've accomplished in your life. A slight reconfiguration may do instead of something more drastic, and that can entail reconfiguring your priorities, schedule, and finances. 

Simon Severino is the Founder of Strategy Sprints, a company that helps business owners in SaaS and services run their companies more effectively. He is the author of the book "Strategy Sprints: 12 Ways to Accelerate Growth for an Agile Business," which provides a framework for entrepreneurs to improve their decision-making, increase sales, and achieve their goals. Today, Simon discusses the importance of writing things down, measuring key metrics, and having a clear process for making decisions.

Quotes

“If you don't write down your assumptions, you treat them as if they were reality.” - Simon Severino

“If you don't know your numbers, your decisions are not based on data—they're based on rumors.” - Simon Severino

“When the tide goes out, you see who's swimming naked. Whenever there's a recession-type situation, the mindset that gets me through is that the weak hands are just being weeded out. All these businesses might not even have had any business making money.” - Simon Severino

Takeaways

02:49 Documenting your assumptions and testing them through experiments is crucial for making informed business decisions.

07:51 Tracking a few key metrics regularly can help you quickly identify and adapt to changes in your business or industry.

18:30 Simplifying your business offerings and focusing on one core solution can lead to a more efficient and profitable operation.

22:17 Connecting your daily work to the tangible results and feedback from clients can help overcome the perceived "boredom" of repetitive tasks.

23:49 Reducing the number of "parts" or components in your business can make it easier to maintain and improve over time.

Resources

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How to Index, Scape, Build a Spreadsheet, and Download an Entire YouTube Channel in 2022

March 29, 2022

Step 1: Get the List of YouTube Video Links from the Channel

Extract All YouTube Links from a Web Page: Go to the Chrome Developer Console (F12), click in Console and paste in:

var urls = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (url in urls) {
   console.log ( urls[url].href );
}

Select All (Ctrl-A), Copy, and Paste (Ctrl-V) into a text editor to sort out the list. I've used EditPlus for over 20 years because it allows me to use regular expressions when doing a search-and-replace... use the ^ (hat character or shift-6) to place text at the beginning of every line and $ (dollar sign or shift-4) to place text at the end of each line.

Step 2: Get the "Metadata" (Title, Number of Views, etc.) for Each Video Link

Start with just ONE YouTube video before building a "batch file." I use YT-DLP (a command-line tool).

yt-dlp -o "%%(id)s	%%(upload_date)s	%%(title)s	%%(view_count)s	%%(duration)s" --get-filename https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl1wkoG-os0 >> list.txt

This will dump the video ID, upload date, title, view count, duration (in seconds) into a new line in the file "list.txt."

Here's a really important nuance: if you were to run this command (perhaps as a test) in the command line, you would only have one percent % sign. But when you enter this into a batch (.bat) file, you must enter two percent signs %%.

I use a "search-and-replace" regular expression in EditPlus to add the special command to the left and right of each YouTube video, then save the file as "batch1.bat" (with the quotes), and then I can let it run and fill up the text file containing the list.

Because I separated the "columns" with a "tab" character, it pastes right into any Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet.

Step 3: Download Every YouTube Video in the Channel

You could almost figure this out on your own, without me having to tell you. Build a batch file with the list of YouTube videos, a search-and-replace regular expression in EditPlus:

yt-dlp -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4 --output "%%(id)s %%(title)s.%%(ext)s" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl1wkoG-os0

831: Grow, Build and Generate Leads for Your Business Using Video Editing Tools with Augie Johnston

December 28, 2021

Have you always wished you could create high-quality videos? Aspiring to become the next internet sensation? Or are you just starting your company and want to increase your consumer base by running ads on social media platforms but feel ill-equipped and have little to no funding to do so? VidChops, as a video editing program, enables customers to expand their businesses by quickly creating high-quality films. Users can upload their raw video footage to this platform, and expert editors will edit it within two business days. Augie Johnston will discuss the fantastic video editing tools that top Youtubers have used to create professional-looking campaign advertisements. Tune in to learn more!

Resources

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770: Listening, Adapting, Appreciating: Master Your Team Communication Skills with Meredith Bell

February 15, 2021

Why is effective communication very important in the workplace? According to general consensus, the #1 issue identified in every workplace is always the lack of effective communication. Whether it’s co-workers or talking to clients, it’s the pain of ineffective communication that always gets in the way.

We are joined by Meredith Bell, co-founder and President of Performance Support System, a global software company providing products and services used by leadership coaches and consultants as well as internal manager become more effective leaders.

Among of her long list of strengths, building strong relationship anchored in effective communication is her strongest suit. Meredith is the author of the book Strong for Performance: Create a Culture with Learning & Development Programs That Stick, and co-author of Connect with Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communications Skills, with Denny Coates, her business partner of 30 years.

In this episode, she uncovers her guide to the most important ingredient in any successful team: effective communication. Learn some tips to improve your communication skills to better connect with your team and empower leaders and coworkers to cultivate productive team relationships. Together, let’s unpack this helpful guide to effective communication and reduce the amount of pain that’s in so many workplaces. What’s nice about this? This skill can improve your overall relationship not just with your coworkers, but most importantly with your family and friends.

Resources

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704: Video Persuasion: Storytelling, Brand Building, Demonstration Videos, and Psychological Principles with Rick Cesari

April 24, 2020

Rick Cesari has been responsible for many successful product campaigns. His company has produced infocommericals of some of these iconic brands- OxiClean, George Foreman Grill, Sonicare, Rug Doctor, Juiceman Juicer, GoPro Camera etc. Moreover, he has used Brand Response strategies to help build iconic brands from scratch and earn over a billion dollars in sales. He is also co-author of the book Building Billion Dollar Brands and the newest release, Video Persuasion.

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Topics Discussed:

  • Rick Cesari Career Overview
  • Using Video in Online Marketing
  • 4 steps in Creating a Good and Effective Marketing Video
  • 2 Negative Practices of most Companies
  • His book called: Video Persuasion
  • How to come up with the best marketing strategy and great ideas?
  • His website: rickcesari.com

How did his career start?

Rick Cesari has been in the marketing business for 25 years. His first few years in the marketing business was greatly spent in helping to promote Real Estate Seminars- trying to get people attend this real free Real Estate Seminars. Real Estate is one of the few businesses who started using television as a medium of marketing to promote their business. He is considered as a pioneer of infomercial industry. In 1990, Rick Cesari started his own company, Juiceman Juicer, along with his brother. Juiceman Juicer was one of the first products and brands to be sold and built through infomercial format. It was later on sold to a company in Chicago called Salton Housewares which later on came up with the product George Foreman Grill. Among his successful products are Sonicare, Oxiclean, Rug Doctor, and a lot more.

Using Video in Online Marketing

Creating videos that are interesting, engaging, and watchable with proven direct response marketing strategies.

What is the secret to Video Marketing? Understanding the direct response marketing and principles. It is not only about making videos that are shown on the internet or television but these videos should generate more revenue, sell more products, grow your business and create a good reputation brand.

4 steps in Creating a Good Marketing Video (effective for television and e-commerce channels such as Amazon)

  1. Introduce your Product
  2. Demonstrate your Product
  3. Focus more on the Benefits of the product rather than its features (if possible include product reviews and testimonials)
  4. Always have a call to action: Instructing viewers to go to their website and check out their products and BUY them!

These steps are similar to the AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action) Marketing Model.

2 Negative Practices of most Companies

  • Most companies forget that the most powerful marketing tool is the "Word of Mouth" of customers or product testimonials in other words. Companies fail to ask for product reviews of the direct consumers
  • Most companies fail to include a call to action in their marketing videos. For example, they don't tell their viewers to visit their website, check out their products or any stimulants that will generate product revenue.

A book called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, is a great book that talks about 6 persuasion principles that will guide Companies in creating marketing videos. One principle that is very helpful is Social Proof- a priniciple wherein we used the action of others to decide proper behavior for ourselves. In the concept of Product reviews and testimonies in E-commerce such as Amazon, for example, most people are gonna buy the product of 100 reviews over a product with 2 reviews. It is very vital to get product reviews and testimonials to appeal to more people.

Video Persuasion, The Book

One of the things this book offers is 3 ways to "hook" the viewer and keep them engaged. One way is to get straight to the point and deliver answers or solutions as quick as possible.

2 points to be successful in creating  marketing videos:

  1. Understand the Human Psychology- how people behave and react to things. Human behavior doesn't really change unlike the technologies and other marketing platforms.
  2. Create videos with User Generated Content.

An example of User Generated Content: the GoPro camera marketing in television and online platforms. Every GoPro ad started with a GoPro logo so people know right away that it is a GoPro ad and the content are any forms of videos that were by users on online platforms such as social media (snowboarding, scubadivng etc) and offer saying like "Win One Everything They Make" at the end of the video.

This marketing strategy creates a ripple effect in terms of viewer responses:

  1. They watch the commercial
  2. They go the website and register for the contest (the company creates database of email marketing)
  3. They go the website, watch other videos and share them to their friends
  4. The more traditional direct respone, they go to the website and purchase a product which will generate REVENUE!

Decisions & Strategies

How do you arrive at the decisions or strategies that you make? How do you come up with the ideas?

  • Make an educated guess based on understanding the demographics that you are marketing to and what they respond to
  • Make an AD Test
  • Reach out to the customer base and most companies have database of customer emails. Set up a Testimonial Day and invite at least 15 people for interview about the Why they bought the product, How did they hear about the product, what they like and don't like about the product, how will they describe the product to their friends. This will allow you to know what motivates people to buy the product which in effect let you create ads that are in response to real customer reviews
  • Record the video for marketing purposes.

WWW.RICKCESARI.COM

  • check out his website and download some of his free ebooks and watch his three most engaging types of online videos. For companies with e-commerce websites, in order to capture viewers, consider 3 types of online videos and upload it on your website
  • Create an introduction video that has parts: Your background, how you started, and most importantly about the PRODUCT and what make it stand out among other similar products.
  • Create a demonstration video not only showing a tutorial on how to use it but also points out the benefits to the end user.
  • Video Testimonials.

To get to know more about him and his work, and learn how to build your business by using videos, you can visit the following websites:

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702: Three Pillars of Change: Lead Others to Lead Themselves Using Your Open Playbook with Larry Dodd

April 22, 2020

Larry Dodd from Open-Playbook.com is a keynote speaker and thought leader around strengths-based leadership. He challenges you to combine the best of what your team has to contribute with the appropriate management tools for where you are and then trains you to master them. This takes you from where you are to where you need to go, building a results-driven, people-first culture that consistently exceeds expectations.

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Things you will learn in this episode:

  1. What is the methodology of Open Playbook to execute changes for effective leadership in a business or organzation?
  2. In relation to the first pillar, what do people usually come up or discover about their skills and what are the notable ones?
  3. Larry Dodd's inherent strength
  4. The number one mistake that most organizations or businesses do over and over again
  5. What is a Playbook and what is in it?
  6. Is there a timeline in the process of developing a playbook?
  7. What is the benefit of using and developing a Playbook?
  8. Hardest parts in developing a playbook
  9. Larry Dodd's journey of change
  10. What is the importance of the third pillar, giving away the playbook, in the process of developing one?
  11. Playbook's Ideal Client

What is the methodology of Open Playbook to execute changes for effective leadership in a business or organzation?

There are three pillars within the Open Playbook methods:

  • Know yourself - know yourself and understand what you could offer in the company or organization. Assess your skills, talents, temperaments and ask yourself what do you offer that nobody else can.
  • Know the kind of playbook you want to create- it is a foundation of building the change plan and its processes, and determining the people who will executive it.By this, you will have a clearer picture what you need and how to develop the change.
  • Give away the playbook- it is important to determine who you giveaway the playbook to because they are the people who you want to build.

In relation to the first pillar, what do people usually come up or discover about their skills and what are the important ones?
Most of the time, it leads to finding out your temperaments, learning styles, your strengths and weaknesses etc.

Larry Dodd's inherent strength

Making change. More specifically building people and seeing people's strength in every situation. He belivies that the key to success is getting the right people in the right place, with the right attitude at the right time.

Number one mistake that most organizations or businesses do over and over again

Lack of self knowledge and the lack of an orientation to develop people based on trust. By building a foundation of trust and confidence, you find the people to develop and help people to see the potential that they really have to offer.

What is a Playbook and what is in it?

Playbook can start with a document and the concept begins with developing. It demonstrates the change you want to make, the step-by-step process of achieving change, and the effect of change in the industry or business. As a leader, developing a playbook means developing people who will make the process better than it could be imagined. The idea is for people to unleash their knowledge about the business and acknowledge and use their skills to take the business further.

Is there a timeline in the process of developing a playbook?

It is not so much of a destination but a journey. It is a path. It is something that allows us to continually think about how we improve things, how we make them better, how we build people, who we build, and why. It becomes a way that you do your business. It is changing the heartbeat of that organization and the way that people think about how they do their job, how they interact with each other, how they view change, and how they initiate change

What is the benefit of using and developing a Playbook?

It is the constant innovation. Developing a playbook helps tremendously in the business scale since it is a competitive environment that needs a culture that supports constant innovation, continuous improvement, and creative thinking.

Hardest parts in developing a playbook

Coming up with the title of the playbook, the steps you will be taking, figuring out your strengths and abilities and how to advance them, and of course trusting the process.

Larry Dodd's journey of change

He began being frustrated that he was unhappy and made others around him unhappy too. He couldn't continue to work under the same circumstances and so he sought a counselor to help with his career.

He took the MBTI Test which really enlightened him and he began seing a clearer picture. The biggest break of his career followed within months. And that was the major league baseball team opportunity in which he was really charged along with the rest of the management team and the acquisition with leading change in a very high profile environment.

What is the importance of the third pillar, giving away the playbook, in the process of developing one?

When you think about giving away your playbook, you're really giving away your experience. You're giving away what you have to offer that nobody else can offer. And it's important to realize that you have to be careful and who you're developing and choose the right people who will benefit from that knowledge.

Playbook's Ideal Client

Organizations or businesses who need major change initiative, and they realize that it's going to require a cultural change with their organizations. It always starts at the top. It starts with the leaders

Key Quote: "When you have an open playbook and you lead with an open playbook, and you're developing yourself and others, and you're getting giving away and building the right people, the advancement of people in your organization and people you're investing in is absolutely staggering."

If you want to chat with Larry and his team, you may visit their webiste at Open-Playbook.com or call them at 925-448-4122 and begin the most needed change you've always wanted to see in your business!

Resources

Open Playbook (Website)

Call: 925-448-4122

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655: WWHW, Why, What, How-To, What-If: Easily Create a Book, Podcast, or Online Course In Just a Few Easy-to-Follow Steps

September 9, 2019

Do you want the ultimate fix for writer's block?

The answer is WWHW: Why, What, How-To, What If!

Listen in as Robert Plank explains the genesis and concept behind his new book -- and how you can use this universal formula to create a book, podcast, or online course -- that flows out of you AND is structured in a way that gets the most results for your readers and clients.

Get the Book:
"WWHW, Why, What, How-To, What-If: Easily Create a Book, Podcast,
or Online Course In Just a Few Easy-to-Follow Steps"

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