Episode 2: Building and Owning an Audience Part 1
In this episode, Robbie & Tim discuss building and owning an audience in part 1 of this two-part discussion.
Robbie Fitzwater
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Quote of the Episode
“I saw a Roca ad one time. And basically all it was was people just violently shaking their heads as hard as they could. And I was like, Oh my gosh, these are my people. They so get me.”
Robbie Fitzwater
Transcript
[Intro]
Robbie 0:10
Hello, this is Robbie Fitzwater and Tim Lowry. With the Content Community Commerce Podcast, we unpack and discuss ideas at the intersection of content, community, and commerce. So eCommerce entrepreneurs and marketers can leverage those on their own and have some fun, and make marketing a little bit more accessible. Excited to kick off round two for content community and commerce.
Tim 0:34
Yeah, it’s it’s official, if we go to, like, I guess podcast number two, it’s a thing now,
Robbie 0:41
This is the thing. We’ve we’ve gone past the first date, we’ve got past, you swipe, you swipe right, Tim.
Tim 0:48
I did.
Robbie 0:49
We went on a date. And now we’re going on a second date. This is a big deal. This is a big deal.
Tim 0:53
Hopefully, it’s a good one. Hopefully, we can make it to third.
Robbie 0:56
In a world with infinite options. I’ll take it. So we were talking about what we wanted to talk about today. And you had a really cool, we were talking about kind of like toying around with ideas of how do you how do you build and how do you own an audience and kind of like high-level view, but you had a really cool client story? Like teed this up really well.
Tim 1:17
Yeah. Like, it literally just happened this week. So it’s like super fresh, super relevant. And I got a phone call and was; I was stoked. Obviously, the goal with content is always to drive the traffic to the client’s site, and then generate either leads or conversions or, you know, for B2B, it could be in sign up or for, you know, e-commerce, it could be driving somebody through to purchase. But in this case, it was even more unique than that. So we created this piece of content. That’s in an industry, the CBD industry, where you can’t really advertise; there’s a lot of regulations on the paid ads. So for these companies, it’s really important for them to be able to show up organically, and this company actually is not in the CBD space. But they provide a product that can be used by CBD companies, essential oils, really anybody that needs a label; they provide labels for them. So we’ve done this awesome guide on white-label private-label CBD companies.
Tim 2:21
And what happened is, now whenever these companies are trying to see how they’re ranking, they’re being outranked by essentially, their site, which has a piece of content that’s, you know, putting this list together of like, here’s some of the best companies that are top rated, or have got good reviews out there. And this week, they had multiple calls from stakeholders from these companies asking like, hey, how do we how do we get included in your guide, because A) they want to be showing up at the top of search and B) now we’re starting to show up in all the places they want to be. So it’s kind of narrowing down their options, but it’s really making this visible for them.
Tim 3:00
And from there, their sales teams have now had an opportunity to talk and present to them. And this can represent then hundreds of 1000s of dollars in an annual revenue. If these people decide like, Hey, we love your content. And we also love the product that you make. Let’s let’s partner together. So it’s just one of those really exciting moments of hearing how how content is going beyond even just the, you know, getting that sale or signup. It’s now built a relationship and opened the door to somebody that then has an owned audience if, like, hey, we bring hundreds of clients with us if we come to you. So it’s kind of like landing one of those whales into your business.
Robbie 3:40
Yeah, so not necessarily not necessarily the bright audience but the right audience.
Tim 3:45
And such the right audience. Yeah, it was, like I said, it was really cool being on the call with them, because the team member I was talking with was like the amount of excitement in our office right now over this blog post. And it’s pretty cool to hear that a whole office is jazzed about a piece of content, like, hey, we have this blog, like that’s not a typical thing that, you know, from the CEO level, all the way down to experience team and everybody else is like, we’re loving this piece of content, but as genuinely as driving calls from the right people. And it’s just opening conversations that they wouldn’t have otherwise and creating exposure, but it’s not doing it by what you would consider like the traditional direct way of like, hey, let’s just do a, you know, we’re a label company, let’s make a guide on how to label a jar. That’s great to have on your site. But this is going that one step further of, like, well, who is the audience? How do we attract them? And not only that, how do we show up where their customers are going to be searching and where they’re going to be searching? So now we’ve got two different audiences within that one post that are all audiences that we need. So it’s just a really cool way to just drive the to this client. So.
Robbie 4:57
No, in this example, like yeah, it was super excited about this because it’s just not necessarily traditionally what people think about when I think about content marketing. Because, yeah, like something completely different. That gives a different unique distinct value from what you would expect of hey, XYZ blog post that’s trying to directly make a sale.
Tim 5:18
So many, so many sites; play it safe. It’s like we do this. And all we’re going to talk about is this. And that’s fine. But that’s just one component of it. Your audience isn’t one dimensional; you have to be you got to be all the places that they’re going to be like; what are they thinking about? What what keeps them up at night? What gets them excited? You want to be showing up in those places.
Tim 5:43
So that then, you know, you’re having impressions with all the different stages of intent? Where do they move to? What do they do? How do they make the next decision? And if you just live in this one little vertical, you’re going to miss them at so many other stages of intent. And that’s, that’s the big thing that gets missed so often in in building an audience; it’s not just building this one little component; it’s you want to build the full spectrum of who your audience is, at all the different stages of where you could possibly talk with them.
Robbie 6:14
Yeah, so these nonobvious examples, like the the the academic marketer in me, comes out. And I want to put my professor hat on and talk about cool examples. But it makes me think about, like, an example of the John Deere Furrow Magazine; they started it in, like, 1818, 1896, or 1898. But basically, the goal of it is to help empower farmers with relevant information that gives them the tools they need to grow their farms, so common farming practices, relevant farming practices, and leveraging that it’s not necessarily, Hey, this is why you need a bigger engine, or it was why you need a bigger tractor.
Robbie 6:53
But hey, if I help you grow your farm, you’re gonna need a few more tractors; you may need a new cedar. And that’s kind of the the non, the nonobvious to a lot of people approach to marketing adds a lot of value beyond the transaction. But it’s kind of a unique way that content plays a large role in marketing because you’re helping people make decisions, totally different layers.
Tim 7:18
Yeah, like with this, this example, it’s doing exactly that. We’re creating an opportunity for these other businesses to grow because we’re in the top positions for all the keywords that they want to be showing for and if they’re part of our posts. And, of course, we want to make sure that we include genuine companies that are the best and our top-rated and everything else.
Tim 7:38
But if we’re including those and growing their business, because they’re getting leads and traffic coming through our post, then it makes sense to them to be like, hey, we want to work with you because you’ve gave us 5, 10, 15, 20 new referrals, clients that came through your post.
Tim 7:53
So it just makes sense that if you handle our business, we know that this relationship is going to stay sticky for a long time versus, you know, we get bumped off the list for somebody that’s newer and better. So it’s it’s relationship building. At its, I guess, at its most foundational level, like that’s content is relationship building. And you’re building the right relationships along the way.
Robbie 8:17
Yeah, and I love that because you’re taking a like a more traditional, like what could be looked at as like a B2B business. And you’re kind of flipping it on its head and turning it into a media company. Yeah. And, and through the expertise and insight that they have as a business, they’re able to add this unique value that people wouldn’t have it any other way. But you’re able to leverage that in a way that’s going to be able to build relationships with very, very valuable stakeholders and help them grow their businesses.
Tim 8:51
Definitely, yeah, we consume so much media now. And for companies, it just makes sense. Like, if you can become a source of media to your audience, then they’re going to be excited about come to your site. And we’re not just building like I said, we don’t want to just build this one piece of content. It’s like we’re all the other places that we can intersect with that audience.
Tim 9:13
And if we’re building a hub of content around that, and again, this is just one vertical that this business works in. And but if we build all the different stages of you know, well, here’s the best white label private label, here are the techniques for labeling your specific containers. Here are the places that you can source your dropper bottles, here’s the type of packaging that you need to use.
Tim 9:35
Here’s the regulations and rules around supplying to distributing then we go even further, how do you sell this product through E commerce? What are the shipping regulations? So now, anyone that is in that space, they’re most likely going to land somewhere on a piece of content on my clients site? Is that the exact moment of when they’re going to make the decision that like, we need a label?
Tim 9:57
Perhaps not. But if we’ve told them how to sell more of their products through Shopify or through Amazon. And we’ve shown them who’s going to be able to help them co-packmake it. And all of these people connect together, we’re going to grow that part of their business.
Tim 10:11
And we’ve been doing that we’ve done it for the supplement industry, we’re doing it now the CBD, we’re shifting into other lanes for their business. And we’re growing the base of clients in those verticals, through content. And it’s just such a fun space to be in. I love doing this stuff. So
Robbie 10:26
And yeah, like you said, it’s building relationships. It’s like, like, the relationships, strong relationships are built through consistency, not intensity, like, like I’m, if I was, for my wife, if I was a shitty partner, I show up with flowers once a year on Valentine’s Day, I’m not going to be a great partner, like I’m not going to be looked at is great. But like, again, blowing out all the stops on one day doesn’t make a relationship but consistency through the course of the year. Yeah, I just I put myself in the doghouse against you.
Robbie 10:58
But consistency through like day in day out, like doing that hard work and being there and being present. That’s what really builds strong relationships. And that’s what gives a great foundation for building trust. And when that trust is there, you’re the you’re the expert, that’s going to help walk them through the process. Because, again, B2B decisions, there’s so many layers to it, like the old adage, like, nobody gets fired for hiring IBM, because IBM was safe. IBM was consistent, and there’s so much angst around it, because like, this is your livelihood.
Robbie 11:30
If you screw this up, you could get fired. Yeah, and in so many cases, like any decision that take any decision that spends over like, $50, you’re going to be doing some level of research, and you’re going to want to understand, hey, I’m making the right decision. So validating it through content, is the best way to do that.
Tim 11:47
And B2B has, you know, again, we’re not just trying to sew into this lane, but like B2B Genuinely, for the most part has such a long sales process. It’s not like the part that I love about, you know, B2C, direct to consumer or things like that. It’s like, it’s a very instantaneous, it’s like somebody’s like, oh, man, I need a new pair of running shoes, and then they’re starting, you know, what’s the best running shoes? And then, you know, how does this stack up against this brand?
Tim 12:13
And how does this feel, and I want to run long distance, and then before you know it, they’re ready to make a purchase. And like you said, it’s low threshold low commitment, but if somebody’s going to spend hundreds of 1000s of dollars in something that could potentially impact success of their business, they don’t make that decision overnight. So you got to help them.
Tim 12:30
But you don’t want to just do it all with bottom of the funnel content. Because these people, they’re humans, at the end of the day, we’re not talking to talking to a person, and if we can answer those questions, and make that person look like, you know, a genius in front of the rest of their team, because they now have all this research and understanding they can go in and sit in front of the other stakeholders and be like, actually, I read this and I learned this and I know this, then that relationship has been built by making them look good, and giving them the information.
Tim 12:59
And it may still take that six or nine months to nurture them to the finish line. But you’ve you’ve already earned some, you know, earned some love, you’ve earned some credit with them, where they’re like, Okay, we’ve got us along the way, like they don’t just care about the finish line. It’s like, they got us through all the all the decisions we got to make in the run up to this.
Tim 13:19
And as I think over that, that’s kind of like, for anyone listening, then the question is like, Well, where do you know how to start with? Like, like, how do you? How do you figure out what they’re asking? Or how do you come up with a key words? Or what is that exactly? What is this doing that and that’s, I guess that’s the next part of the journey.
Robbie 13:36
Yeah, so understanding what’s going to be valuable and what their problems are and try to solve them and how to how what are they going to be the stages they go through in solving that those problems. So again, like you said, a B2B decision a lot more longer a lot more longer sales cycle, but you so holding their hand through more of it offers a lot of opportunity.
Robbie 13:56
And then also another side it probably off offers the sales team a lot of opportunity to because they’re probably getting approached more qualified leads that are ready to purchase sooner in that process, then a lot of unqualified leads who are new have to be completely nurtured through.
Tim 14:12
Yeah, and it’s it’s so much easier to convert a warm audience than just cold marketing. And that’s that’s kind of the focus here is like, we want to look at like building an owning an audience. And we’re talking about organic here initially like that is that is part of your building method of like, getting that ground floor, getting the foundation having something solid on your site and building an audience that you can own but there’s other methods you can do that with and some are good, some are okay.
Tim 14:44
Some are not going to do much for you, but you kind of need to play in all of them. So, you know, we’re where should we start on this? Like what’s our, I guess hierarchy of like, building, building that audience like where do you start? Which one is best. And then where do you go? Like, where would you start Robbie?
Robbie 15:03
So when I think about those, again, I don’t want to take a thinking about, hey, if we want to be reaching a specific group who’s like, what group are we going to be reaching? Most businesses reach specific different, different, specific different systems, and all different levels of value for them.
Robbie 15:25
Like, if I were a Lululemon, a, a 32, year old female would be more valuable for me than a 15 year old female, because hey, this group can actually purchase that product, and they’re probably influencing the buying decisions of women younger and older. So who are where do I need to start? Who are the core audience?
Robbie 15:45
I need to focus on first? And then what makes me unique? And where’s my niche that I can offer more expertise than another than XYZ other business? Who does work similar to mine?
Tim 15:56
Yeah, no, it’s, yeah, you got to understand where does your audience live. And that’s gonna be a big part of it. But then there’s also, just like, you might say that your audience lives in social. But if they live in social, they’re not maybe in a buying intent mode, when you’re living in social.
Tim 16:14
So what you’re putting in social can be a nitty gritty guide, a case study a white paper, it’s just gonna be pointless, it’s like that is not the right place and stage. And, frankly, social, there’s just so much volatility in that, and I’m biased I, I live in the organic worlds.
Tim 16:30
So like, I’m always telling people like this is where you’re going to have that best opportunity to grow your audience, it takes probably the most work, because you don’t get that luxury of the pay to play, so to speak, it’s like you got to, you got to put the time and energy and research into writing the topics, creating the topics, understanding the audience, and kind of rounding that out.
Tim 16:52
And that’s everything from looking at your competitors. But then I usually find that that’s where a lot of people kind of stopped was like, Well, what are our competitors doing? Those might not be the people that are truly your competitors, because they maybe just have great brand awareness, but their content sucks, or you may see them as competitor. But whenever you search the right keywords, they’re not your competitor.
Tim 17:13
So you really have to do a broader analysis of like, what’s going on out there? And then is it content that showing on the result, or is it commercial intent pages, and if it’s content, and the content is being done by content sites, and not really business sites, or even e commerce sites, then that’s your opportunity to kind of say, like, I’m gonna put on my media hat and be a company where we compete against these sites that are creating content that are getting our audience, but they’re gonna be landing into, you know, listicles that are driving them to Amazon or Etsy or something like that. It’s like, we’re going to acquire the audience.
Tim 17:53
And we’re going to drive them to products that we have on hand and can sell to them. And I think that that’s the beautiful part like that building in organic, it’s like you can, you can have that all under your roof. And the only, and I say the only volatility comes in like Google algorithm updates. But if you’re doing things honest and right and doing the hard work, you’re usually pretty shielded from a lot of that you might see some of volatility along the way. But if it’s been done, right, you’re not going to fall off a cliff.
Tim 18:24
Usually the sites that you hear that fall off a cliff, they’ve been kind of, they’ve been doing some of the things on the naughty list, they haven’t been doing everything quite right. Or there’s just some legacy stuff that they just need to fix. So really, that building for me, I’m going to be biased and just be like, organic is, is your best way if you want a long term one. But I know you got to start in other places, like maybe paid or social.
Robbie 18:49
Yeah, so the starting the starting starting of that process, it’s always gonna be a different, just a difference. Somebody taking from a problem, they’ve got a problem, I want to finally solve it, and then taking them from problem to solution aware as opposed to somebody who’s so we’re kind of starting off along that journey.
Robbie 19:13
And I think that’s one of the reasons like hey, that top of the funnel where I was, I was looking at like the race framework of reach, activate, convert and engage. I love that framework, but that reach stage it’s it’s difficult in some ways. Sometimes it may be more of a hey, I have a problem. I know I have a problem but I need to find a way to solve it. Or it may be the case where you’re just taking some type of funnel who is not problem aware and not solution aware.
Robbie 19:42
And I know all of us have seen it where they get the Instagram ad that comes across their their their timeline, and basically you’re like I never knew I needed that but I absolutely need it now like this is I can’t live without this. I saw a Roca ad one time. And basically all it was was people just violently shaking their heads as hard as they could. And I was like, Oh my gosh, these are my people. They so get me.
Robbie 20:07
They know, hey, I love violently shaking my head. And I hate when my glasses slip. These are two things I love. But they their product solves a problem that I have. It’s like, I have no nose bridge. I’m figuring out how to wear glasses, because they’re still relatively last four years, I’ve had to get more and more serious.
Tim 20:26
So your optician didn’t do that with you? He didn’t do like the head bang test?
Robbie 20:29
Oh, no, no. She’s like, he’s like, he’s like, What? Can you read these letters can read these letters. And then he’s like, grabs my hair and just shakes? He didn’t?
Tim 20:38
Yeah, so that’s a great example of like, somebody’s figuring figuring their audience, like, what is the problem that like, people people know, but wasn’t addressed. And like that ability to just like, show up there and social and have somebody except just shaking their head like it’s about to come off their their neck? And it’s like, that’s my problem. I can’t do that. Yeah,
Robbie 20:58
Yeah, they saw my wound, and they poured a little bit of salt in it. And they made it they made it stings a little bit more. And they took me from Hey, problem aware to solution aware. But that’s that the top of the funnel where you’re reaching an audience, but for even for that, too, you want to be able to say, Hey, I understand my audience understand what their problems are.
Robbie 21:17
And they may not even be able to articulate it. But when they see it, they can, they can understand it. And like the the creative aspect around, like, visualizing that and making an engaging ad that gets me that gets me to actually take action is important. But it does take a while for, like, that’s going to basically initiate me into the research phase, like I’m not going to purchase those glasses, right there.
Robbie 21:40
But that’s going to initiate the research phase of what other options are out there. And are those options going to be better than what I have right now. And kind of bridging that gap is tough, but like, it’s social funnel.
Tim 21:52
That’s gonna say like, and that’s and within social. So that’s social, but that’s a segment within that, like, that’s, that’s an ad. So then that goes to like, renting an audience. So like, you’re not again, you’re not owning that. It’s like you’re building an audience, but you’re, you’re renting that audience. And the second that you stop paying for that ad.
Tim 22:12
Those people don’t, they don’t follow Roca, like you didn’t follow them, and the people aren’t aware. So like, you’re, you’re basically just paying your way in front of people. And as soon as you stop paying rent, you’re evicted. It’s like Instagrams, like, you’re out.
Robbie 22:25
Yeah. And honestly, like I’ve I, I’ve spent so much time in my life dealing with that, like I’ve worked in social in like the early days, and spending a lot of time on social like from basically like 2008, till like 2018, like, 10 years, almost, basically, almost exclusively social and content.
Robbie 22:43
But 2000 2009 2010, when Facebook first introduced their algorithm, I suddenly understood what like what it’s going to be like dealing with, Hey, I have this group that I’ve built, that I can consistently reach, engage, they’re gonna engage with our content, they’re going to really worked with me.
Robbie 23:01
But suddenly, Facebook is changing the rules, and they’re kind of pulling the rug out from under me, I always joke that I totally hate Facebook, but dammit, that made me a better marketer, because I always have to be thinking, hey, what’s around the corner? What’s next? And understanding, hey, social platforms, and a lot of ways are kind of like an arbitrage of attention, where you can gain attention and earn that attention quickly and effectively on a new platform and understanding, hey, we’re leveraging this temporary attention because it’s going to go away.
Robbie 23:29
Once more people come to that platform, or once they changed the rules, it’s going to change. But how do we take them from a member of that platform and engaging in that platform to moving into a place where I can own more of that relationship? So moving them up levels, and I don’t want to skip forward and skip the head. So we’re going to connect back to the content, but what’s going to be the content that gets them into that process and like for for us, like I began working at Clemson as Director of Social, it was great, because like our football team was very successful.
Robbie 24:00
And we knew Hey, football is a the sports was like the front front porch for the university. Like we could get them on the front porch. But we can’t we’re gonna have to educate them, inform them before they can make a decision because nobody’s going to spend a few $100,000 Because they’ve got a good football team.
Robbie 24:17
Yeah. And there’s somebody making a good decision. So we’ve got to win their, their head, their heart, and then we got to win their head. So understanding hey, let’s let’s leverage our platforms to get in front of those people. So when they start to say, Where’s Clemson? What is Clemson? We’re, we’re available and present, and then kind of exploring that that relationship and kind of state taking them from again, solution aware to conversion.
Tim 24:46
Yeah. And I’m just I’m figuring over that then, like, that’s the social side. And it’s the same deal on organic because, unlike social, it’s not the visual feed, but it’s The searching of, you know, maybe winning winning their heart, and then you win their head afterwards.
Tim 25:05
And I think of one of the clients that that we both work together on, you know, what are the things that get them them excited, like, if they’re, they’re shopping for a new pair of breeches for the sake of it, you know, everybody loves the best off guide. So it’s like, you’re gonna win their heart by some fun, like, here’s, here’s the 10 best ones. And then as you want to move them from that, it’s like, they’re probably not going to buy on that 10 best.
Tim 25:28
But if they found a pair that they liked within that, they’re probably going to want to start to know more about a specific thing. So then how do we educate them on? You know, how to size them? How to fit them? How do they were? How do they last? What do they look like?
Tim 25:42
Then that’s that next part of kind of moving up from that heart of, you know, hey, this was this is fun to like, what’s the head knowledge that they need to be able to make that decision effectively? So it’s not just, Oh, these are the best ones. I’m gonna go and click and order this. It’s like, these are the best buy. I really like this brand. But I have no idea. Do they fit the same as my regular ones do they not fit the same.
Tim 26:03
So now we make the resource there, to give them the head knowledge that they feel confident and comfortable. And then going even further, I was just thinking of another one with him for like the heart. And you kind of joke about this one is like a crowd pleaser. But, you know, equestrian college is is like, for this client, they’re in the equestrian space.
Tim 26:23
Eventually, their audience is going to come out of equestrian college, they’re going to be professional riders, veterinarians, they’re going to be people that are around horses all the time. So they’re going to need boots, they’re gonna need bridges, they’re going to need the products that they sell. So why not get them excited about here’s here’s the best equestrian colleges in the US. That is definitely not a buying post. But it gets people excited. And you’ve you’ve seen it on the other side, even of you know, email, like it’s, it’s the crowd pleaser.
Robbie 26:53
Yeah Tim. Shut up and play your hits, like warm and fuzzy. That’s yeah, physical like Mickey Mouse content, like, you need some Mickey Mouse content in there. Because again, if you if you consistently have content, it’s like, this is how five reasons to do this five ways to do this five ways to do this, it becomes really like robotic and non human.
Robbie 27:14
And like content moving to a place where like, in so many ways that begin, you have to be authoritative in that space. But you also have to have that like a unique, a unique hook that makes you different. So having a having a voice, having a perspective, and have building relationships. Yeah, is that that possibly that human connection that you can’t have, through specifically just robotic content, if it sounds like a robot wrote this, or it sounds like a robot.
Robbie 27:45
So when creating this content, it’s not going to be the stuff that really connects to you emotionally. And to maintain that relationship. Again, if they’re, if they’re buying this once great, we want to make that first time purchaser but to keep them coming back and keep them reading and keep them in consistently engaging, that humanity really wants to come. We want that to come through in a lot of different ways.
Tim 28:06
It’s all about the mix, like I said, at the start, it can’t be all down in the very bottom of the funnel, it’s like you need to engage and entertain, you need to educate them, you need to equip them with stuff that makes them feel like the hero, whenever they go to shop, they have confidence they understand.
Tim 28:24
And then that final, like when you’re down at the bottom, that’s where like, seeing them within those purchasing 10 pages, or whatever that looks like for your site. But it’s like, if you can’t meet them up here in the middle, they’re probably not going to find your dominance at the bottom. Because at that stage, they’ve already had the relationship building.
Tim 28:42
And they’re now moved into an audience for somebody else where they’ve they’ve been the person that’s been doing the work, they’ve been doing the educating, they’ve been doing the warm and fuzzy, they’ve, they’ve made that person have that confidence around them. And that’s, that’s where, you know, I feel like it gets missed so often. And especially when it’s a brand, maybe doing this stuff for themselves.
Tim 29:06
It’s that fear of breaking out. It’s like, well, what if we what if we don’t look professional enough for our existing client? Or what if somebody questions like, why are you writing something that it’s like, because our audience is there, we want to meet them there. We will make them feel good. We want to entertain them, we want to educate them. We want to move them along the journey.
Robbie 29:24
Yeah, just understanding people and what they need. And like if you if you give, give give, like that reciprocity that builds up, you can make an Ask a lot easier. So like if you give, give, give and then make an ask. It’s going to work a lot better than if you ask ask ask ask ask.
Robbie 29:39
And suddenly your contents your contents a valuable resource that builds relationships as opposed to like a used car lot where you’re self serving and sale sale sale. And we’re the we’re the only choice only show it’s only choice where you give authentic perspective. You build credibility and trust. And then by the time they’re willing to make that transaction.
Robbie 29:58
They’re the you’re the only option for them because you’ve built that over time. And really, it’s hard to undervalue that where it’s something that in a lot of cases like, for a business sales team would have likely done in a lot of cases where they’re the ones interacting with the customer on a daily basis, and they’re the ones taking them, hey, I realized I have a problem.
Robbie 30:20
In the past, my car breaks down, I really have a problem, I’m going to go to a used car lot and or I’m going to go to a car lot or a used car lot on cheap, and I’m going straight, there’s straight to the bottom of the barrel.
Tim 30:31
There’s something that you said there. And it’s, I hear you say this often, because we’re in the same office as well. So we hear a lot of each other’s conversations the other day, but you talk about how, you know, trust is earned and earned and drops and lost in buckets.
Tim 30:44
And it’s like, you’re the same way you’re earning trust, and it’s done. Just it’s done and drops. And then at the same time, it’s like, if you do something wrong, it’s like, you’re quickly like, if you if you fail to keep their trust at some stage. So it’s like, if you’re, if you’re earning that you got to make sure that everything from the content side through to the actual like fulfillment and final like getting the good. Like, you got to keep that trust through the whole process.
Tim 31:11
Because if, if the content sides, amazing, but then you have a chink in the chain, it doesn’t matter, like how much trust you’re earning over here, eventually, you’re going to break that trust. So this is something that’s holistic, but it just came to mind there, whenever you’re saying about like, you know, just you got to drop it through. And that’s, it’s the same with content.
Robbie 31:29
It’s not easy. And when it’s done, right, it is it is so great. And, and when it’s done poorly, it’s so easy to see. And it’s it’s very obvious and like, I think, just in general, like we’re like the groups that are purchasing are consistently more and more media literate.
Robbie 31:46
So they understand their BS filter is so high, that they’re not going to make a purchase. Because just because like that you have to really offer value and give them a value like a strong value proposition because they’re going to be doing that research like people, people’s behaviors follow what they do in real life, like people in B2B are searching Amazon in their personal lives, they’re expecting a lot of that same process to be experienced in that B2B space.
Robbie 32:15
B2B is looking more like B2C every day, which is opening cool opportunities, but it just understands, hey, how do you understand what the problem you’re solving is? And how can you meet that person where they are in that process?
Tim 32:30
Yeah, that’s so true. It’s like I hear that and it’s like, I do it every day. But it’s one of those things like just hearing it again, it just clicks, it’s like, it’s the reason that you, you do it, it’s like, nobody just wants to make a big purchase decision in the store, before they even go to a physical location.
Tim 32:48
They’ve done all this research. So it’s no different for online habits, it’s the same thing. It’s, they’re going to research it, they’re going to study it, you want to earn that, you know, that respect, you want to show them that you’re knowledgeable, but you also want to be human and how you’re doing it. And they’re going to see if it’s fake, if it’s not done right.
Tim 33:07
And odds are if it’s fake and not done, right, it’s probably not even gonna rank anyhow. But if it is done, right, it’s a game changer for business. And that’s that is the foundation like that is the building you have shifted from renting your audience, you can still obviously do Google ads.
Tim 33:23
And I wouldn’t say that you want to turn those off or anything like that, you still want to do it. But you’re not relying solely on like renting your audience of like paid ads and social paid ads and Google, you’ve now got this organic base, that just month on month it’s drawing is drumming and traffic is generating leads, conversions, everything else.
Tim 33:44
And that’s, you know, that’s step one, you’re building your audience. And then you move towards step two, which Robbie is going to be sharing a whole lot more in part two, which is owning that audience. And that’s where it gets it gets fun when you’ve earned that respect.
Robbie 33:59
And speaking of earning respect, and I want to give a shout out to our non presenting sponsor, Long John Silver’s, earning respect, basket of hush puppies,
Tim 34:12
Craving a fish sandwich right now.
Robbie 34:17
Totally gonna get sued. But, but again, that these are all components that are, again, things we do as people that are really again, because marketing is such a new field in so many ways. Like, we have these tools, we have these options now that we’re not necessarily beholden to that information.
Robbie 34:35
There’s no gatekeepers anymore. And that information is accessible and available. So offering that up to an audience is cannot be more important and the more consistency, the better. And understanding Hey, where am I spending my time with my audience spending their time and then how am I going to add value to them at different stages when when they’re making a tough decision?
Robbie 34:58
Or an easy decision or fun decision? How are you making that decision process the easy as easy as it can be? And you’re there as it is a friend. And you’re there 24/7 not just when you can take a phone call
Tim 35:11
couldn’t have said it better, that’s yeah, that’s nailed that consistency, being there showing up giving the good stuff. And if you can’t take the phone call because you’re not there, your content is doing the work for you in the background. And that’s, that’s where content is most valuable. That is the part where it’s not built overnight. It’s not done overnight. But that consistent building over time, it’s gonna it’s gonna have a big company that doesn’t, right.
Robbie 35:39
Okay, so we’ll wind down for this one. And you guys will have to wait. We’ll let it a little bit of tension built. And hopefully we’re having enough content enough value through the content.
Tim 35:50
And Long John Silver’s hasn’t shut us down before you want to come back.
Robbie 35:54
And if we don’t have a cease and desist from Long John Silver’s, by the time this by the time we aired this next one. We’ll see you soon.
Tim 36:01
Goodbye.
[Outro]