The Bright Ideas eCommerce Podcast | Proven Entrepreneur Success Stories

Jascha Kaykas-Wolff is CMO for BitTorrent, a well know internet brand. Jascha has been in internet technology for 17 years and has worked on projects including Microsoft product stores, social marketing, and workflow management & innovation. In this episode, we won’t be talking about BitTorrent though, we’ll be talking about agile marketing processes. If you are not yet familiar with agile marketing, grab some paper and a pen so you can take notes as you learn how to avoid wasting money by evolving away from the legacy mindset of marketing. We discuss specific tools and tactics and additional resources you can use to increase your education on this topic. Listen now and you'll hear Jascha  and I talk about: (01:00)  Introductions (05:50)  What is agile marketing? (09:50)  Why is change management so difficult? (12:50)  What are some of the key distinctions executives need to master in order to succeed? (14:20)  How can agile marketing processes help to align sales and marketing? (18:10)  What are some of your recommended tools? (21:50)  What are the 3 key ideas for giving great feedback? Resources Mentioned Book: Switch by the Heath Brothers Chief Marketing Technologist Blog (chiefmartec.com) AgileDevelopment.org AgileMarketingManifesto.org @kaykas More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "Agile Marketing 101: What You Need to Know to Succeed #thebrightideaspodcast"] Transcript If you would like a transcript of the show please visit the original interview published at GrooveDigitalMarketing.com/23 About Jascha Kaykas-Wolff Jascha Kaykas-Wolff believes in two key principles: Find opportunities where no one else is looking, and never fail the same way twice. It’s a methodology centered around Agile marketing practices. Coupled with a B.A. in Psychology from Whittier College, his methodology is one that’s served him well professionally and personally. As a longtime marketer and consultant with executive management experience at Yahoo!, Microsoft, Webtrends, and Involver (acquired by Oracle) he now leads marketing at BitTorrent. Jascha calls Marin County home with his 3 whip-smart children, 4 newly-ish acquired hamsters, 2 frogs and 6 or 7 fish. Prior to joining BitTorrent, Kaykas-Wolff served as CMO For Mindjet, senior vice president of marketing and customer success at Involver (acquired by Oracle) and he previously headed Global Marketing for Webtrends. Kaykas-Wolff served as a strategic consultant for Alvarez & Marsal, a global business advisory services company, and has held senior management positions at Microsoft's MSN and Windows divisions & Yahoo! Inc's commerce business unit. He published Growing Up Fast with Kevin Fann in August 2014. Jascha has spoken at Content Marketing World, Martech, Dreamforce, Business 2.0, DemandCon, SXSW, Oracle Social Summit, Eloqua Experience, GetSatisfaction CC, E2 and more

Last November I had the honor of being interviewed by Wes Schaeffer, President and CEO of  The Sales Whisperer, on the Sales Whisperer Podcast. If you are looking to start a new business, or accelerate the growth of your current business, you will want to tune in! Listen now and hear us discuss: Our sales backgrounds. What gave us the drive to succeed. How I leverage social media for success. Using video and podcasts to drive engagement. Inbound vs outbound marketing Creating a sales funnel Resources Mentioned How to Start a Business with No Money The Digital Marketing Handbook Bright Ideas Mastermind [Tweet "How to Start a Business with No Money #thebrightideaspodcast"] Did you enjoy this show? Trent shares great business building nuggets every week on the Bright Ideas podcast.

Inbound vs outbound marketing. Which is a better use of your time? I had the opportunity recently to interview 2 CEO’s who were both running very successful businesses and taking very different approaches to lead generation. One CEO focused on inbound marketing, the other on outbound marketing. Which marketing method is a better use of your time if you are just getting started and don’t have the momentum from having an established content marketing strategy in place? This podcast discusses the pros and cons of each approach as well as a hybrid approach. (01:38) Introduction (02:05) Inbound or Outbound? (03:15) The case for inbound (05:20) The case for outbound (09:35) Our hybrid approach For more episodes from myself and other successful business professionals, subscribe now and don’t miss out on future shows. Resources Mentioned Bright Ideas Podcast Show notes Tweet about the show More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "Create Content or Prospect via LinkedIn: Which is a Better Use of Time? #thebrightideaspodcast"]  

Are you a new agency owner? Do you have an agency that's been around a while but isn't growing? In today's episode I interview Drew McLellan. Drew has owned a marketing agency for almost 20 years, and has revenue of over $2.5 million per year. He is also the founder of the Agency Management Institute which advises other small and medium size agencies on how to increase profitability. Drew has found that many agency owners start out because they are really good at a particular marketing craft. Once they go from being a practitioner to an owner, they find themselves swimming in waters of overwhelm dealing with all the things they don’t know.  Listen in for powerful advice on growing a successful agency by focusing on the mechanics of the business. We finish off the interview talking about how to crowd source books which can be a huge boon to your business. Listen now and you'll hear Drew and I talk about: (03:00) Introduction (05:00) What type of agencies do you work with? (07:00) What advice would you give to new agency owners? (12:00) How should a solo agency owner make the the transition to team building? (16:00) Should agencies focus more on inbound or outbound? (27:30) Why is having processes so important for agency owners? (33:00) How does one crowd source a book? (39:00) How many authors contributed to each book? Resources Mentioned agencymanagementinstitute.com servantofchaos.com lulu.com Drewsmarketingminute.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "Agency Veteran Drew McLellan on How to Increase Agency Profitability #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Drew McLellan Drew McLellan has worked in advertising for 25+ years and started his own agency, McLellan Marketing Group in 1995 after a five-year stint at Y&R. He also owns and runs Agency Management Institute (AMI), which offers agency management training, consulting and facilitates agency owner peer networks for small to mid sized agencies (advertising, digital, marketing, media and PR) so they can increase their AGI by at least 25%, attract better clients and employees and best of all — exceed the agency owner’s life/financial goals. Drew’s agency was a member of the organization for years before Drew acquired AMI and began to run it full-time. He launched his agency's blog in 2006 and it has been on the AdAge Top 150 from the list's inception. His first book, 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing, was published in 2003 and Drew and Australian marketer Gavin Heaton created the Age of Conversation series of crowdsourced books in 2007. To date, the AOC series has raised over $50,000 for charity. Drew launched the AMR blog in 2012 and hopes it will be a great resource to agency leaders. Drew’s often interviewed/quoted in Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, CNN, BusinessWeek, and many others. The Wall Street Journal calls him “one of 10 bloggers every entrepreneur should read.” When he’s not hanging out with agency owners/staff, Drew spends time with his family and pondering why the Dodgers can’t seem to get back to the World Series. Drew has a Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota but alas, he cannot remember their fight song.   Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency

Evan Owens has built Centresource to $3.5 mil revenue last year by attracting the right clients and employees. Centresource is a digital agency that makes, markets and measures digital experiences for companies. In today's episode I get Evan to share the type of work Centresource does, who they work for and how they generate leads. We also discuss how content marketing plays a role in their business, how they pick which local networking events to attend and how both of these strategies generate leads. Pay close attention and learn a very smart thing Evan does once he builds a relationship with event organizers. Listen now and you'll hear Evan and I talk about: (03:00) Introduction (04:30) What type of work does your firm do? (07:30) How do you structure the billing of your software development projects? (08:45) What KPI's do your customers focus on the ensure they are getting an ROI? (10:34) Which areas of healthcare are you getting traction with? (12:00) How are you generating leads in healthcare? (15:15) How do you find events to attend? (19:00) Please describe your process for content marketing. (27:00) Please tell me about how you go about hiring salespeople. (34:00) Should an agency choose just one niche? Resources Mentioned Who?: The A Method for hiring Built to sell More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How Evan Owens Built a $3.5 Million Digital Agency #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Evan Owens Evan Owens is the CEO for Centresource Interactive Agency. Founded in 2003, Centresource helps their clients merge technology and marketing strategies to produce measurable results in the areas of growth, retention, efficiency, training and analytics. Throughout his career, he has helped a broad base of organizations such as Adobe, Healthways, Singer Sewing, Mapco, and SESAC revolutionize their marketing and technology strategies. Under his leadership, Centresource has expanded to a national client base and is privileged to be named in the INC 5000, the Hottest 100 Companies in TN and the Inner City 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the US lists. Also in 2010, Centresource was selected as a finalist for the .NET Design Agency of the Year. Evan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Belmont University. Outside of Centresource, he is the co-founder of Reboot Combat Recovery, a non-profit dedicated to helping service members heal from the spiritual wounds of war such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and combat trauma.   Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency

  Kathy Leake has over 20 years experience in agency advertising. In 2007 she became an entrepreneur and started her first successful ad-tech company. Kathy started her second company, Local Response, also in the ad-tech space in March 2011. LocalResponse has revenues of over $10 million and expects to double revenue this year. Kathy has a goal of starting multiple companies over the next 10+ years and maintaining a vested interest in each. In this interview you will learn what the ad tech industry does, how Local Response is using commercial intent, how they collect data and how the brands they work with use it.  Kathy will also share how Local Response generates leads for themselves, and how they use email to open the door. Listen now and you'll hear Kathy and I talk about: (03:00) Introduction (05:20) Why did you start two ad-tech companies? (07:30) How did you cross over from the services to technology side? (12:00) How did you raise the funds to start your current company? (16:00) What does your product do? (20:00) How many people are on the team? (21:00) What are the profit margins like in ad-tech? (23:00) How do you generate leads? (34:00) What does one of your first sales calls look like? (39:00) What things need to be in place to have any type of a series A round for raising funds? Resources Mentioned localresponse.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How LocalResponse.com Has Grown From "Failed Investment" to Over $10M in 36 Months #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Kathy Leake Kathy is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of LocalResponse, a company that helps marketers respond to real-time consumer intent. At LocalResponse she is responsible for positioning, go-to-market, revenue generation and general operations. Prior to joining LocalResponse, Kathy was a Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Media6Degrees, a Social Targeting company.  At Media6, Kathy developed the positioning, strategy and go-to-market blueprint for the company.  She successfully took Media6 to market and drove the company from pre-revenue to $20 million in revenue and $100 million valuation in 2 years. Kathy came to Media6 with 20 years of advertising experience having worked at multiple Omnicom and WPP agencies such as DDB Needham, Ogilvy & Mather, TBWA/Chiat Day, Agency.com and Red Sky Interactive. At these agencies Kathy held executive, business development and media positions. Kathy is passionate about creating new methods of ad targeting and has been published in numerous articles for industry leading publications including Ad Age, Ad Week, eMarketer, CMO.com, MediaPost, Business Insider, Tech Crunch, GigaOM, Mobile Marketer, Venture Beat and Internet Retailer. Kathy was named Mobile Marketer’s Mobile Women to Watch in 2013 and 21 Most Powerful Women in Mobile by Business Insider 2012 and 28 Most Powerful Women in Mobile 2013 by Business Insider. Listed on Forbes as Top 11 Women Who Started Amazing Companies and both of her start-ups are listed in Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies 2013.   Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency

Alan Vitberg rapidly grew his marketing agency from a $100K to a $300K firm. He shares: why he chose his specific niches how he generates leads his content marketing strategy his LinkedIn strategies (and mistakes he made) If you're an independent marketing consultant who would like to build a team and really grow your agency, you will definitely want to listen to this podcast. Listen now and you'll hear Alan and I talk about: (04:25) Introduction (05:55) Overview of his firm and strategy (07:55) Why did you pick CPAs? (11:55) Please describe your content marketing strategy (17:10) Please give me an example of a compelling TOFU offer for a CPA (25:25) How do you promote your content? (34:25) How should the solo operator start to build a team to deliver services? (35:55) How do you go about building relationships with other partners? (37:05) How did you land your first manufacturer as a client? (39:15) How do you prioritize your time? Resources Mentioned avitberg@vitbergllc.com GrabTrentsBonus.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How to Grow Your Agency's Revenue From $100K to $300K with Alan Vitberg #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Alan Vitberg Alan Vitberg is owner of VitbergLLC, a marketing agency for B2B and professional services firms. He is a nationally recognized marketing executive, speaker, and author, specializing in helping clients grow their top line though design and execution of lead generation campaigns, “get found first” internet strategies, installation of inbound marketing programs, and laser focusing marketing budgets for more ROI. Alan is one of the nation's foremost experts on designing and building websites for lead generation, and is a specialist in content marketing and the use of social media for lead generation. Prior to VitbergLLC, Alan was the award winning Chief Marketing Officer for a Top 100, mega regional CPA firm (The Bonadio Group). During his tenure, the firm grew from a $12 million/110 person company to a multi-disciplined, $43 million/6 location firm employing 350 people. In addition to branding, strategic, and tactical activities that helped secure a position as the market’s dominant leader for accounting and consulting services, he developed and installed one of the first inbound marketing programs in the nation for professional services firms. Prior to Bonadio, Alan worked in both B2B and B2C environments, for firms including ALEON Corporation, and Young & Rubicam. His responsibilities included lead generation campaigns; sales support and collateral; brand building; niche building; and both traditional and e-based advertising, collateral, and public relations activities.

Listen in on this podcast as I interview serial entrepreneur extraordinaire Bill Faeth about how he grew traffic to his blog to 25,000 visitors/mo in the first year and 40,000 visitors/mo within two years. Bill shares his unique content syndication strategies, including how he discovers the exact places his buyer persona hangs out online. He also shares the exact tools he uses to make the most from Twitter, and how he uses Twitter and LinkedIn to research his buyer. This interview is a gold mine of information - I took two full pages of notes! Listen now and you'll hear Bill and I talk about: (04:55) Introduction (07:55) How much of your first year's revenue came from personal relationships? (14:25) How do you determine which are the most important KPIs are? (20:55) How do you grow your blog to 35,000 visitors/mo within 2 years? (23:55) How are you using Twitter to help promote your content? (31:55) Please explain your content syndication strategy (34:55) How do you get your content syndicated? (40:55) How do you craft an email to get your content syndication? (43:55) How do you build a list of places to syndicate? (47:55) How did you use Twitter to research where your Buyer personas frequent? (52:55) How are you creating this volume of content? (60:55) What is brokermentor.com? Resources Mentioned quicksprout.com brokermentor.com sproutsocial.com siteliner.com searchengineland.com GrabTrentsBonus.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How @bfaeth Uses Content Syndication to Grow Blog Traffic to 40k Visitors/Mo #thebrightideaspodcast"] Additional Resources Mark Schaefer on How to Expand Your Professional Network with Twitter Michael Gass: 12 Ways to Get Personal Using Twitter (and why you'd want to) Sarah Goliger on How to Leverage Twitter for Lead Generation 5 Ways to Increase Twitter Promotion: Part 1 5 Ways to Increase Twitter Promotion: Part 2 5 Ways to Increase Twitter Promotion: Part 3 5 Ways to Increase Twitter Promotion: Part 4 5 Ways to Increase Twitter Promotion: Part 5 About Bill Faeth A former golf professional, career entrepreneur, and CEO of Inbound Marketing Agents, Bill discovered inbound marketing in 2008 via HubSpot. He quickly became a convert to techniques that allowed him to grow his business faster than ever, while reducing his marketing spend and tracking ROI. Bill is a nationally-recognized expert on small business growth, entrepreneurship, and digital marketing. Over the last 22 years Bill has successfully launched 21 startups in industries that include eCommerce, transportation, and even a nationwide glow-in-the-dark mini golf business.

Ever since Dan Faggella realized the potential of marketing automation, he hasn't looked back. Dan and I discuss the many benefits of marketing automation, including the low-hanging fruit: the very quickly-realized increase in Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). As you probably know, I'm a huge fan of marketing automation as well, which is why I why have used and recommended Infusionsoft for years. These days, I use HubSpot as well as Infusionsoft (I explain why I use both in the interview below; if you want a more detailed analysis check out my HubSpot vs Infusionsoft post). This is a must-listen if you've been thinking of implementing marketing automation in your business, or if you are already using it and want to see a bigger ROI. Listen now and you'll hear Dan and I talk about: (03:15) Introduction (04:06) How did you get into business with science of skill? (08:15) Describe how you implemented marketing automation in your business (12:05) How did you first discover marketing automation? (14:15) What were some of your most valuable insights? (17:15) How did you collect data from your users activity? (23:15) Where is the low hanging fruit for marketing automation? (27:05) What is the big red button problem? (31:15) How are you collecting website data? (36:15) What is wrong with collecting only name and email on initial opt in? Resources Mentioned clvboost.com GrabTrentsBonus.com HubSpot Infusionsoft More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How to Use Marketing Automation to Boost Lifetime Customer Value #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Daniel Faggella Daniel Faggella is a recognized email marketing expert, entrepreneur, and speaker. Dan started his first business in his undergraduate years, and began with his second business while attending the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Master of Applied Positive Psychology program. His expertise lies in targeted marketing strategies and exceptional attention to maximizing the ROI from email. Dan sold his first business at age 25 and moved from Rhode Island to Boston. Dan’s passion lies in helping startup and existing businesses use marketing automation technology to drastically increase their customer lifetime value (CLV) and drive business metrics that matter. Dan’s expertise has been recognized not only by the many companies he’s helped directly, but by major media sites such as Direct Marketing News. He has been interviewed on popular shows such as MIXERGY, GrowthHacker.tv, Entrepreneur’s Journey, and many others. He also speaks around the country on successful marketing strategy and business, including the eMarketing Association’s national conference, Bryant University, the Cambridge Innovation Center, and more.

Sam Meers is the President and CEO of a very successful Integrated marketing communications agency that is 21 years old but nearly went broke in 2008. The number of adversities that he has dealt with is mind-boggling. In 1995 both his wife and son were diagnosed with cancer and he later lost both of them to the disease. In 2008, he nearly went broke and his agency shrunk down to 3 people. How does someone get through this? What went on in his mind to pull through this adversity? Tune in to learn the secrets of how he overcame these immense challenges. Sam will also share: How content marketing is playing a role in his company. How to develop an effective content strategy. How to engage a prospective client in a conversation that makes you look like a genius that they realize they have to start working with you in order to connect with their clients in a meaningful way. Listen now and you'll hear Sam and I talk about: (03:50) Introduction (05:22) What type of client do you work with (07:50) When and how did you start? (11:05) Where did you first few clients come from? (15:20) How did you manage to keep going after your wife and son died? (25:50) When did content marketing start to play a role in your business? (30:50) How did you bounce back from the bottom in 2008? (38:50) What does a discovery conversation with a client look like (46:50) Please explain the importance of having a strong media team (52:50) Why did you start your podcast? (55:50) Please tell us about one of your biggest mistakes? (59:50) What advice would you give to CEO's who want to embrace content marketing. Resources Mentioned sam@meers.com @SammeersKC grabtrentsbonus.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "Sam Meers on How He Built a Thriving Ad Agency #thebrightideaspodcast http://brightideas.co/love"] About Sam Meers A strong proponent of advertising and digital strategy to build brands, Sam Meers has developed his marketing communications beliefs through experience. Founding Meers Advertising in 1993, he has witnessed the rapidly evolving integration of traditional and digital communications first-hand. Some of the companies with which the agency works include Assurant, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, Missouri Gas Energy, HCA Midwest Health System, United Way of Greater Kansas City, Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 3M, Lead Bank and the National World War I Museum. Earlier this year, Meers Advertising was recognized by Inc. Magazine as the fastest growing company in Kansas City, Missouri, and the 649th fastest growing company in the nation. The company was also recognized by The Agency Post as the 33rd fastest growing advertising agency in the nation. The Downtown Council of Kansas City named Sam an Urban Hero for the work he and his company have done to revitalize the Urban Core of Kansas City. Sam posts frequently to his blog and podcast, Smoke & Meers, on the ever-changing advertising and digital marketing scene. His agency has become known for helping clients build their brands, drive customer engagement and product sales. Meers serves on the Kansas City Board of Governors of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, is a Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program Fellow, Vice Chair of Member Engagement at the Central Exchange and is a long-time supporter of Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics.

Tony Wright is the CEO of WrightIMC, an integrated marketing agency that did $2.3 million in revenue last year and is on track to earn over $3 million in revenue this year. Want to learn how to get more retainer clients? 90% of WrightIMC's revenue is retainer income. Tony also shares his 4-step strategy for SEO, how he uses speaking gigs to land new clients, and why he spends 2 hours per day on LinkedIn. Listen now and you'll hear Tony and I talk about: (03:10) Introduction (05:10) What type of services are best for retainer? (06:40) When do you start talking to clients about a retainer? (11:10) What tools do use to track time spent by your team? (13:10) What type of customer do you sell to? (16:10) When did referrals start to play a major role? (17:40) How do you get your speaking gigs? (21:10) How do you use LinkedIn? (29:10) How does content marketing play a role in lead generation? (31:10) What does you first conversation with a prospective client look like? (34:10) How did you get to write for INC magazine? (37:10) What do you do for SEO for a client these days? (41:55) Please expand on your syndication strategy (44:10) How do you tag someone on facebook? Resources Mentioned Rapportive Sempo.org @Tonywright wrightimc.com tony.wright@wrightimc.co More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How to Attract Retainer Clients Using LinkedIn with Tony Wright #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Tony Wright With more than 14 years of hands-on and strategic experience in interactive marketing and a background in traditional and interactive public relations and journalism, Tony Wright has spent his career helping companies of all sizes be profitable online. Wright is a search marketing geek and also has extensive experience in online crisis communication and brand reputation strategy, including corporate blogging and corporate monitoring, most notably directing the online corporate reputation management strategy for American Airlines immediately following the events of September 11, 2001. Wright serves as the driving force behind WrightIMC while also managing online media strategies, public relations and other interactive marketing projects for clients. He provides valuable input into creative, technical and strategic projects as well, ensuring that the strategic vision of all interactive marketing programs mesh with campaign goals.   Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency

Paul Ten Haken is the CEO of Click Rain, a $3 million business located in South Dakota. Click Rain is a 25-person marketing agency that has been recognized for extraordinary levels of growth. Learn how Click Rain attracted their very early customers and what has become the number one source of new business for them now.  Paul reveals some potential snags around partnerships and how to avoid them. Finally he explains the deliberate actions to take to build a positive company culture so you have less turnover, happier employees, happier clients, and more referrals. Listen now and you'll hear Paul and I talk about: (03:45) Introduction (05:15) Why did you start your company? (06:45) How did you get started? (09:30) What advice would you give to others considering partnerships? (14:45) How did you attract your first 10 customers? (16:45) How do you attract clients now? (21:15) How do you attract and retain talent? (23:45) How are you shaping your culture? (26:45) When did you begin to consciously invest in your company culture? (30:15) Tell us about your content marketing strategy (35:15) Why did you bring on two more partners? Resources Mentioned Discover the tools we use to run our business and recommendations at GrabTrentsBonus.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How to Build a Big Agency in a Small Market with Paul Ten Haken #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Paul Ten Haken Paul Ten Haken represents the personification of web and digital technology and its limitless potential. Since launching his digital marketing firm, Click Rain, in 2008, the company has made its way on to the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s fastest growing companies. Paul was named as one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Ten Emerging Entrepreneurs of 2011. He sits on numerous boards and committees and is a respected author, businessman, and member of the community. He credits his spirituality for much of what he defines as success. He and his wife Jill have three outstanding kids and reside in Sioux Falls, SD.  Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency

I am a firm believer in the importance of very clearly defining your buyer persona so that you can target your audience effectively with your marketing efforts. However, the work Jon Pietz does with his clients delves far deeper into this area. He charges handsomely to help his clients fully understand their ideal customers, and for good reason. As a result of our conversation, I'm fully convinced that this is something that - emphasize it as much as I have - I have taken too lightly. If you're in the process of developing a buyer persona, suspect you should be, or would like to offer this service to your clients, this is a must-listen. Listen now and you'll hear Jon and I talk about: (03:20) Introduction (06:10) What are the three types of research that you do for clients? (09:00) Why doesn't interviewing your own clients work as well as working with a consultant? (10:30) How do you get an interview started on the right foot? (12:50) How does this style of interview help your client? (17:20) How do you present the results of your work to a client? (19:50) Who hires you and what does this cost? (21:20) How do you make the date actionable? Resources Mentioned Brandxco.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How to Help Your Client Develop a Deep Understanding of Their Ideal Customer Profile #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Jon Pietz In the creative departments of big advertising agencies, there’s a phrase for marketing that looks slick, but is based on flawed strategy. It’s called ‘polishing a turd’. Jon Pietz, principal and creative director of Brand X Communications is here to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. Because SMB and B2B companies can’t afford to waste money on marketing that doesn’t attract their most profitable prospects. After 20 years in the Advertising business, Jon formed Brand X to help B2B companies create memorable brands based on the needs and desires of their ideal customers. And he’s got a process designed specifically for his clients to unleash their brands and find their true believers. To find out more about how to unleash your brand, visit brandxco.com.  

Andrew Gaffney is the founder and CEO of Demand Gen Report, a digital publication covering best practices and engagement strategy for lead generation. Founded seven years ago, Demand Gen Report has experienced continuous growth and ranked on the Inc 5000 last year. Since then, their revenues are up another 70% this year. Andrew is a walking, talking example of developing content marketing strategies that work. Content marketing has played a pivotal role in his organizational growth. He shares how to figure out your buyer persona and how it affects content marketing strategy, what your marketing funnel should look like, and how to combine traditional outbound with content marketing to get much better results. Listen to the end, and I share how to get a list of all the tools we use to run BrightIdeas. If you choose to purchase using our affiliate links, you will get a bonus! Listen now and you'll hear Andrew and I talk about: (02:30) Introduction (05:16) Please tell me about your company (10:30) How do you help clients understand their buyer persona? (12:50) What advice do you give clients on how to really understand their buyer persona? (15:55) Please tell me about the specific process you use to help clients understand their buyers (18:30) How to better look at marketing opportunities to align with your business goals? (19:50) How does a big piece of content fit in with the content strategy? (22:15) How does the length of the sales cycle affect the value of content marketing? (23:30) Please describe the various stages in a marketing funnel (25:30) How have you combined traditional outbound with inbound? (29:30) How has Linkedin played a part of your outbound? (31:30) How are you helping clients use data to validate their assumptions? (32:30) What is sales enablement? Resources Mentioned demandgenreport.com Digital Body Language Report   More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "Content Marketing Strategies That Work with Andrew Gaffney #thebrightideaspodcast"] About Andrew Gaffney Andrew wears many hats at his growing company, Demand Gen Reports, and its many divisions. He works with many leading solution providers to develop programs that position their company as a thought leader in their respective industry. Andrew's company specializes in custom content creation such as white papers, E-books, infographics, webinars, videos & social media that positions their clients as a thought leader and generates leads and sales opportunities. They have several online publications with more than 60,000 loyal subscribers providing their clients with a platform to distribute their message and guaranteeing they get to the people they are trying to reach. Their divisions include: Retail TouchPoints targeted to decision makers in the retail industry. Demand Gen Report targeted to B2B sales and marketing executives with over 28,000 readers. Get your complimentary subscription! Channel Marketer Report targeted to OEMs / manufactures their partner networks. Content4Demand for healthcare, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, industrial, IT/Telecom and consumer packaged goods companies.   Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency

By any measure, Max Traylor has built a very successful marketing agency. IMR focuses exclusively on content marketing and only takes clients on retainer. He shares with us how they built their agency, the type of customers they have, how they sell their services, and the essential role of the Content Marketer's Blueprint. This is a must-listen if you're an agency principal or are interested in content marketing. Listen now and you'll hear Max and I talk about: (02:55) Introductions (04:29) Please tell us about IMR (your agency) (05:25) What type of client do you work with? (09:11) What were some of the early challenges in the transition to an inbound agency? (11:25) Why did your top client fire you? (16:55) How do you go choosing a niche to offer content marketing services? (21:25) Please tell us about your sales process (28:55) Please tell me about results from a recent client engagement (36:55) How can another agency become a CMB partner? Resources Mentioned contentmarketersblueprint.com More About This Episode The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business. It's designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today - all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big. Listen Now [Tweet "How To Build A Successful Content Marketing Agency with Max Traylor #thebrightideaspodcast"] Max Traylor After struggling as a young entrepreneur, Max was bit by the inbound agency bug, eventually landing at the role of Inbound Marketing Consultant at Innovative Marketing Resources, a young inbound market agency. Today he is spearheading an initiative to help inbound agencies close deals and service contracts more efficiently. Max is committed to helping young inbound agencies stay ahead of the learning curve by sharing the same sales and service processes that have allowed Innovative Marketing Resources to achieve explosive growth, closing over 20 retainer contracts in 9 months and scaling the agency to meet demand.   Additional Resources How to Pivot Your Agency From SEO to Content Marketing with Robb Bailey 3 Reasons Why You Must Create a Buyer Persona How Chris Heiler is Growing Landscape Leadership into a Successful Inbound Marketing Agency