More than a Few Words
1,038 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★★ - 88 ratingsA marketing podcast for business owners. The brief conversations of this marketing podcast are filled with practical tips from business owners and marketing professionals from around the world.
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Episodes
#879 Make Chat GPT Work For You
July 18, 2023 10:32 - 9 minutes - 8.66 MBThese days everyone is talking about Chat Gpt Ai driven content. I find some people are either really excited about it. Then there are others who are afraid we are the cusp of some dystopian world where the machines take over and we become their slaves. Which is more accurate? Well that is up to you, but Chat GPT is changing how content is created so you need to know how to use the tools. My guest Jules Dan seems to have cracked the code with Chat Gpt and it boils down to three simple st...
#878 Go Where Your Customers Are
July 16, 2023 10:42 - 1 minute - 1.5 MBYou have to go where your customers are Social media is about engagement. This is something businesses forget when they start to use it as a broadcast tool. Just because you’re posting information out there doesn’t mean that anyone is actually paying attention. So one of the most important things you can do to get the most out of your social media is to pay attention to your engagement numbers. Are people liking, sharing and commenting on your content? Are they interacting with you? If th...
#877 Be a Great Podcast Guest
July 13, 2023 09:00 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBSo you want to be a podcast guest. Before you start reaching out to potential shows my guest, Joe Matz suggests you need to start with Why do you want to be a podcast guest. There are a number of reasons. Some people, have just launched a book and they want to do a virtual book tour. Others want to get their authority positioning out there. Joe also mentioned, SEO because when you're on a podcast, you get links back to your website. So the podcast increases your backlinks. Other reasons mi...
#876 The Marketing Path
July 12, 2023 10:27 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MBFrom our archive. This conversation with Sharyn and Hank Yuloff was originally released in August of 2021. If you missed it then you are in for a treat. This was a fun, lively conversation about the marketing path. As you drive down the road, you have to be ready to make small adjustments. The same is true for your marketing. This week's guests, Sharyn and Hank Yuloff, think you need to stop thinking about your marketing as if the plan was carved in stone. Instead, you should view ...
#875 Common Startup Mistakes
July 11, 2023 10:16 - 10 minutes - 8.91 MBI would love to tell you that out of the gate I was a business genius and everything I did in marketing worked perfectly. Well that's not true. We all make mistakes along the way, but when we learn from them we have a better shot at success. And if we can get out ahead of some of those mistakes, by learning from what other business owners are doing wrong we can shorten the cycle to success. In this conversation with Lori Highby, we discuss the three most common mistakes new business owner...
#874It is ok to change direction
July 09, 2023 10:22 - 2 minutes - 2.39 MBWe’ve all had that marketing brainstorm sitting alone at a desk. It sounds like a good idea so you bounce it off other people. everybody excitedly supports the concept. You execute it the best that you can, but it doesn’t work out they way you planned. You should give up, but you’ve built this whole program so you double down and you keep pushing and pushing. Eventually you have to accept it wasn’t as good an idea as you thought. It is always painful when you realize you have made a mistake...
#873 Become a Better Public Speaker
July 06, 2023 10:01 - 10 minutes - 8.88 MBGetting up in front of an audience and speaking is how I make a living. Even if that's not your career goal you need to be a good public speaker. Whether you're standing up in front of an audience or one-on-one with an employee or a customer at the heart of each of those interactions are your communication skills. In this episode, Brenden Kumarasamy joined me for a conversation on how everyone can improve their communication skills. He started by explaining that good communication is like ...
#872 The Reason for Being
July 05, 2023 10:08 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBFrom our archive. This conversation with Mike Wittenstein was originally released in August 2021. If you missed it then, you should definitely check it out now. Why does your business exist? If you answered to make money, you are missing the point. That may be why your own a business, but the business exists to create value for your customers. As you define your reason to exist consider, the value you create, who you create it for, and what the customer will ultimately do with your ...
#871 The Complete Offer
July 04, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 9.56 MBYou have a great product. That's wonderful. But a product by itself is not enough to guarantee success. Shaun McAndrew believes you need to build a complete offer where you integrate a combination of the product, be it hardware and or software, with the technology, the internet of things, AI and machine learning, with the data analytics and services needed to build a single package that aligns to customer outcomes. About Shaun McAndrew Shaun is a Navy Veteran, the VP of Business Develop...
#870 Things go Wrong
July 02, 2023 10:00 - 2 minutes - 2.01 MBLet’s face it, sometimes mistakes happen and things go wrong. How you handle the situation will often determine whether your smallest mistake becomes a big crisis Even if you can’t predict what will go wrong, having a plan in place outlining specific steps in case of a mistake will make it easier to respond. This is true in the real world or on social media, where your Twitter or Facebook page can absolutely blow up. Keep these things in mind as you develop your crisis management plan A...
#869 Stop and Read This
June 29, 2023 04:08 - 12 minutes - 10.8 MBThese days so many people are hot on social media and whatever the new platform is this week. But Nicole Krug says that year after year email marketing works. It has a 400% return on investment and that has been consistent for many years. One of the reasons is email is more personal than social media. You have been invited into the inbox. Now the trick is getting people to open your email once you land there. Data suggests only about 20% of emails are opened, so in this conversation Nico...
#868 To Reply or Not to Reply
June 27, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBMaybe you think that when someone says something negative you shouldn't dignify their comment with a reply. According to David Oates, that's actually not the best strategy. The reality is everybody, right or wrong tends to have the same weight and credibility in a social media post or an online review. Now that rubs most of us the wrong way particularly when we get criticism from somebody who may not have ever been a customer or who had realistic expectations when they walked in our virtual ...
#867 Home Court Advantage
June 25, 2023 10:00 - 3 minutes - 3.33 MBAthletes love to play on their home court. Being intimately familiar with every square inch of the field is reassuring, and the supportive crowd gives them the confidence to play their best. In a way, the same is true in sales. If you can get a customer to come to your office or showroom, you’ve already scored the first point. Unfortunately, many home service businesses such as heating and air conditioning, plumbing, landscaping or roofing rarely have the opportunity of selling on their tur...
#866 On the Road to Mastering Your Marketing Message
June 22, 2023 09:58 - 11 minutes - 9.52 MBIt is often said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That is definitely true on the journey to master your marketing message. In this conversation Tracey Watts Cirino and I explored the first steps you need to take on your journey to master your marketing message. 1 - Get clear on who you will serve. You can not serve everyone. When we try to be for everyone we end up being for enough for no one This doesn't mean you're not going to do different types of things ...
#865 Affordable Research Tactics
June 20, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBIn this episode I had a chance to chat with Alison K about research. I know you're sitting there saying I already know everything about my business. Well guess what, you don't! So you need to listen to this short and lively conversation about affordable ways you can conduct market research to make better decisions about your business. Alison explains as businesses owners, especially in service area know the end goal it to make the sale. We know our target clients and their pain points. W...
#864 Podcast Tips, Tools and Tricks
June 18, 2023 10:04 - 2 minutes - 2.78 MBAfter 13 years of podcasting, I have found tools I rely on. My two favorites are Podmatch - It is kind of like a dating application. Instead of finding dates I use it to book podcast interviews on high profile shows and interesting guests . And now, they have rolled out a new feature that allows me to get paid to host guests on my show. Learn more at : https://www.joinpodmatch.com/mtfw For recording interviews, I love Zencastr It is a great all in one tool. Audio only or audio and video...
#863 Measurement vs Attribution
June 15, 2023 10:34 - 9 minutes - 9.36 MBJennifer Denney is obsessed with measurement and marketing data. She believes you can't improve what you don't measure. But there are a lot of challenges for marketers right now, as they try to measure the effectiveness of a particular type of marketing, Recent changes from Apple have cut off all apps from being able to know what happens after you click on a ad and leave their site. And there is more data loss coming in July 2023 with the changes to Google Analytics. Trying to map individ...
#862 Stand, Stagger, Fall
June 13, 2023 10:00 - 10 minutes - 8.89 MBHave you ever done something for the first time, without prior knowledge and been able to achieve success? If so, you’re truly unique. Most humans find themselves meeting new challenges with a series of frustrations and failures. Imagine an infant as they decide to walk for the first time, they stand up then they stagger and inevitably they fall. To become consistent walkers they repeat the stand-stagger-fall cycle for a few weeks or months. This pattern of stand-stagger-fall is repeated th...
#861 Go Negative to Get Attention
June 11, 2023 04:10 - 1 minute - 1.87 MBIf your blog titles don't grab reader's attention, they're not going to read your blog posts. While it might seem that people want to see something positive in these challenging times, surprisingly negative titles work better. Look at the newsfeed on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. Posts with negative titles stand out and are more likely to be read, create engagement and be shared. So, I want you to commit to not boring readers with weak language in your subject line. If you start your b...
#860 The Perfect Podcast Pitch
June 08, 2023 10:01 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBWould you like to be a guest on a podcast? If so, you want to pay attention to what Kelly Mosser has to say about pitches. The biggest mistake most potential guest make is the emphasis of the pitch. The message boils down to "I want airtime on your show. Here's why I deserve it. Here's why you should give it to me." This one-sided approach misses the key detail that podcasts are a business collaboration. When you focus on what you can get, and what the audience might take away, the host a...
#859 Better Content in Three Easy Steps
June 06, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBAccording to Stacey Hall when we create marketing content it should not be about our products and services. So stop talking about your products and focus on how you solve problems. She has a simple three step process to help you do just that. 1) Start with a question that is relevant to your customer and their problem 2) Explain what causes the problem 3) Provide the solution to your problem. Great content is just that easy. Stacey is one of the contributing authors in MORE THAN A...
#858 Ego Drives Social Media
June 04, 2023 04:00 - 1 minute - 1.73 MBSocial media is all about ego. No matter how many followers and fans you have, it’s always fun to see a new follower, a retweet, or reply, like, love or share. All of those things signal to us that we’ve been accepted and esteemed by the community. And that feeling of acceptance is really one of the most basic human needs. When you are using social media for business. Your objective is to make other people feel that way. If you spend the majority of your time on social media, liking and co...
#857 A Great Bio Makes People Want to Get to Know You.
June 01, 2023 10:00 - 10 minutes - 9.46 MBMany potential customers read your bio to figure out who you are, and what it is going to be like to work with you. Danielle Hughes believes you need to give them a sense of who you are as a person instead of a litany of tasks and accomplishments. That task list doesn't help them start the conversation with you or get to know you in any way. When somebody reads your bio and then meets you or they has a conversation with you. it should be the exact same person. They shouldn't feel that t...
#856 Take your business to the next level
May 30, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBDuring the pandemic many people started businesses and even more are sitting in a corporate role right now thinking you're going to start a business and leave the 9 to 5 behind. That's all great, but when the elation of the start up phase is over, you need to be able to sustain that new business through the long run. Anna Lundberg suggests you need to start with your "why". If you are not clear about why you do what you do, what you want to accomplish as a person and a business it will be ...
#855 To Meme or Not to Meme
May 28, 2023 10:02 - 1 minute - 1.87 MBIf you’ve been using social media for any length of time, you’ve probably seen your share of memes. What makes memes popular is the way they give people a common topic or trend to make jokes about. This creates a community as the meme is expanded and shared. People love memes, but what about brands? Are they invited to the party? That is a question every social media manager grapples with at some point. The answer is more complicated than you think. Why? Because memes move quickly. What’s...
#854 How Introverts Network
May 25, 2023 10:00 - 12 minutes - 11 MBI'm an extrovert. I love people. I love being around people and talking to people. But there are a whole bunch of people, introverts, who really don't enjoy interacting they way I do. Here's the trick, you've got to be able to reach both of those audiences. And if you're an introvert you have to learn how to participate in the world. This week's guest Amanda Watts share some great tips on how introverts can be effective, and maybe even enjoy of networking. It stars with understanding w...
#853 - Lessons from a Networking Junkie
May 23, 2023 10:01 - 14 minutes - 15.4 MBI have a confession to make. I am a networking junkie. I love getting out in meeting people. Unlike people with other addictions, I'm not looking for a cure for my networking addiction, because I think it's healthy for my business. There are lots of business owners who don't necessarily love networking and many don't even know where to start. That's why I've taught hundreds and hundreds of business owners the tricks to improving their networking skills. I have also written a book on the s...
#852 Google Doesn’t Buy From You
May 21, 2023 10:00 - 58 seconds - 1.09 MBIt is time for a Content Based SEO approach. You probably don’t want to hear this. I’m going to do it SEO wrong. You’re spending all your time focused on what search engines want, worrying about stuffing your pages with keywords, inbound links, and outbound links. Search engines don’t buy from you, people do So I want you to think about SEO differently. Start focusing on content that answers questions real people have about your product and service. If you do that, and you do that, well, ...
#851 The Testimonial Interview
May 18, 2023 13:23 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBEveryone knows testimonials are a powerful sales tool, so why don't more businesses have them? According to guest, John Hubbard the biggest reason is they don't ask. And even when they do, customers fail to follow through on the promise to write one. If you want testimonials, you need to make it easy for customers to give them. That's why he developed the testimonial interview. LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS PROCESS About John Hubbard John Hubbard is a business consultant, mentor and str...
#850 Next Level Entrepreneur
May 16, 2023 10:10 - 10 minutes - 10.2 MBAs a business owner there were things I had to do that I absolutely loved and there were other things that really pushed me outside my comfort zone. My business was successful because I developed skills in both those areas. And that's what I talked to Alex Brueckmann about in this episode. Alex explained: We often grow into our roles as business owners from a starting point of Knowledge. We've done something for awhile and we know it very well so we think we could build a business around t...
#849 Sometimes You Need to Shout A Little
May 14, 2023 09:03 - 1 minute - 1.14 MBWhen you were little, your parents probably told you to use an inside voice because it wasn't polite to shout. We've all been there, in a crowded room and you want to get someone's attention. Sometimes you have to shout or raise your voice a little bit to get noticed. Well, the internet is a lot like a crowded room when you're competing with so many other messages. To get the attention of visitors to your website, you have to shout a little bit. Online you shout visually. If you're puttin...
#848 Write a Book
May 11, 2023 10:16 - 11 minutes - 9.44 MBThere's a perception that authors are more credible experts than people who are not authors. Kim Thompson Pinder thinks it is just a perception and not necessarily true. But why not go with the perception? There are however, lots of gurus out there teaching you to write a book and business will fall into your lap. It is not quite that easy, but a book can be an incredible marketing and credibility tool you can use to generate leads. About Kim Thompson-Pinder – The Extraordinary Word Ninja...
#847 Email Works, Let It Work For You
May 09, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBI am an email marketing fan so I was excited to invite Kendra Corman to join me for a conversation on how to make email marketing effective. She started by explaining why email is so important. Sure it is great to build a community on social media, but what will you do if Facebook goes down or cuts off your profile. You are stuck. But if you have email addresses, you own those contacts and can take them wherever you want. You have the flexibility to contact them when you want and to sh...
#846 A Little Help From Your Friends
May 07, 2023 18:21 - 1 minute - 1.29 MBI don't ask for help very often. Maybe it's my personality I like to present this very competent, successful exterior. But the truth is everybody needs help from time to time. So today I have a request. My podcast has hit a plateau and I need your help to reach a wider audience. Follow the link https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-than-a-few-words/id438174063?mt=2 . If you like what you hear subscribe and leave a review If it's really not for you, but you but we're friends and you w...
#845 Manage Your Inbox
May 04, 2023 10:00 - 9 minutes - 8.84 MBStop for a minute and think about your inbox I know as soon as I said that that was that little pain in your stomach because you know there’s a lot of clutter there. But it doesn't have to be that way. In this conversation, David David Forman of Clarity Creative Group shares some simple tricks to tame the inbox beast. My favorite tips is the creative use of filters to screen irrelevant messages, and cluster important ones together.
#844 What Marketing Can’t Do
May 02, 2023 10:00 - 12 minutes - 10.6 MBWouldn’t it be great if your marketing could get people to buy from you? Unfortunately, as my guest Chris Hoyt explains, that’s not how marketing works. What can marketing do? Marketing can help people know you exist. It can communicate your value It can give people an incentive to try your services or your products And most of all it can help you listen to your customers.
#843 It is All About Attitude
April 30, 2023 10:34 - 1 minute - 1.72 MBToday, I want to talk about your attitude, and how it can drive action. Why this topic now? Let's face it, there are lots of things in the world which distract and impact us as individuals. And as business owners. There are things we can't control, but we can control how those things make us feel, and how we react in response. There is power in a positive attitude. Ask any doctor about a patient who live long after all the medical treatments have been exhausted. Patients have been known to...
#842 Don’t Scale Too Fast
April 27, 2023 10:00 - 9 minutes - 6.92 MBEveryone who starts a business thinks it's going to grow and grow. They assume the growth will be wonderful as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. My guest, Andrej Persolja suggests that may not be the best course of action, because many new businesses are not ready to grow. Growth comes with pains, and you have to have your infrastructure in place to withstand some of the pain. You need to have a clear definition of your target customer, the kind of projects you want, and the ones you...
#841 Do Not Trust Your Gut
April 25, 2023 09:58 - 9 minutes - 9.4 MBIf you are like most business owners you have developed a skill for making gut decisions. But my guest Dr. Gleb Tsipursky thinks that might just be the wrong way to approach your business decisions. The author of multiple articles and several books on the subject, including his new one. Never Go With Your Gut, in which he presents a logical and easy to follow alternative. Listen to learn his five easy steps to improving your ability to make decisions on the fly.
#840 Plans are Living Breathing Documents
April 23, 2023 10:02 - 1 minute - 1.31 MBIf you've just finished working on your business plan, you probably think okay I'm done. I can put it on the shelf and get on with the rest of my business. If that's what you're thinking, you've missed the entire point of the planning process. A good business plan is never done. You're always adding to it, making changes, scribbling out information and writing stuff in the margins. Your plan should be a living breathing document that grows as your business grows. At least once a year you ...
#839 Write Copy that Converts
April 20, 2023 10:24 - 11 minutes - 10 MBThere are lots of good reasons to create content for your website, social media and email newsletter. In this episode, Lorraine chats with Louis Dalton about how to write content for a very specific purpose, converting prospects and strangers into customers. Content created for this point in your sales process needs to focus on short benefits and results. People don't want to wait six months to lose 30 pounds. The are however likely to be excited about losing 5 pounds this week. The tr...
#838 Marketing Success is Not a Fairy Tale
April 16, 2023 10:15 - 1 minute - 1.74 MBOnce upon a time marketers ran television commercials and put ads in newspapers and simply waited for the phone to ring. But that was a long time ago. It was so long ago that it seems like a fairy tale, an expensive fairy tale at that. Today, consumers fast forward through ads and change the station on their radio. They don’t want to be interrupted by your marketing. They want to be free to look for information at their own pace as they browse and search online. And they’re not just looki...
#837 Simplified SEO
April 13, 2023 10:01 - 11 minutes - 7.93 MBI know you think we've talked SEO to death, but the field keeps changing and there are different approaches. My guest Meg Casebolt explains many people think think SEO is incredibly complex and you need to have an expensive team come in to fix your website for it. They also assume you must produce boatloads of content to be successful. She doesn't think either of those things is true. Today, the trick is not quantity, but content which clearly defines who you serve and how you help that a...
#836 More than One Reason to Buy
April 11, 2023 10:00 - 11 minutes - 9.13 MBIn this encore episode, we talk about how to use the frustrations, fears, wants and aspirations or your audience, as the foundation of your marketing. You have probably heard multiple times you need to start your sales process by defining your niche because when you do, you can create more relevant content. But our guest Leon Streete, says just defining the “who” is not enough. The demographics only gives you half of the picture. The second part, which is usually the most important ...
#835 The Business Plan Review
April 09, 2023 10:00 - 1 minute - 1.27 MBOnce you're done writing your business plan, pulling together all the numbers, charts and other information the most important thing you can do is share it with other people. Reach out to the smartest people you know, even if they're not in your industry and get their feedback. Share it with your employees and with your family because they're going to be involved in supporting you as you implement your plan. They need to know what you're planning on doing to they can help you create the bu...
#834 Use Email to Build Trust With Your Audience
April 06, 2023 10:03 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBMost people think about email marketing as a sales tool. But my guest, Jeff Felten thinks it is so much more. Email can play a valuable role as a way to build trust and relationships with your audience. He believes trust is the currency of business. Without it people don't make buying decisions. So your sales process needs to start with trust. One of the best ways to build trust is with social proof. When you can demonstrate what you have done for others with case studies and testimoni...
#833 - Smart Pricing Starts in The Mind of Your Customer
April 02, 2023 10:01 - 1 minute - 1.34 MBWhat is the right price for your product or service? Most business owners struggle with this question because they confuse the cost of producing the product, with the value that it brings to the customer. Establishing prices for your goods or services relatively little to do with what it costs you to make it. The real value is how much you help your customers save, increase, reduce or improve . If you can quantify those benefits then you have a foundation for establishing an appropriate pr...
#832 Sales is a People Business.
March 29, 2023 15:04 - 12 minutes - 10.2 MBReturning guest Ross Keating says that sales is a people business. While people may say it is the product or the features, it ultimately comes down to people and how well you connect. The more you understand about your customers, the easier it is to connect. And Ross shared how using the BANKCODE method can help you do just that. The simple assessment takes less than 90 seconds to help you discover your Bank Profile based on what you value. Listen to the conversation, then take the ass...
#831 Escaping the Hustle with Matthew Turner
March 28, 2023 10:40 - 10 minutes - 7.97 MBIn this encore episode, our guest, author Matthew Turner doesn’t think owning a business needs to feel like your are on a treadmill running hard, and never reaching your goal In his book Beyond the Pale, he explains that many of us think we own a business, but somehow it starts to own us. When you make a decision to work less, if forces you to think about who do you want to work with? If you have to choose a type of client what does that client look like? If you are going to choose one p...
#830 Reward Yourself
March 26, 2023 10:06 - 1 minute - 1.55 MBWhile I think business goals are important, there is more to life than checking things off your list. If you never stop and celebrate the win, it all becomes really tedious. So find a way to reward yourself, when you actually achieve your goal. It doesn't have to be a big deal. It doesn't have to be very expensive. Pick something that's a little treat or a little reward that will make the moment special. For me, it might be going to visit a friend and then taking a photograph of us together...