217cast: Business, Marketing, and Branding

On this episode Myles and Mack talk about business trends they are seeing and what is on the horizon. Facebook is launching a new app, Pinterest posts have the longest life of any platform, and some other fun facts. Sit back, tune-in, and enjoy!

In this episode of the 217cast Mack and Myles walk through how to use Google My Business to grow your business. Google My Business is a free service from Google that allows you to list, manage, and update your business information through their dashboard. Mack and Myles talk about how Google My Business should be looked at more like a social media as opposed to a digital directory. When you play Google's game you will be rewarded.

In this episode Myles and Mack get into the AIDA funnel, walking prospective customers through the funnel, and free and low cost marketing tactics to help you grow you business! Have questions or comments about this episode? Reach out to one of us at mack@217digital.com or myles @217digital.com.

In episode 019, Myles and Mack dive into why some of the major advertisers were missing, hidden humor in commercials, and why Reddit only advertised for 5 seconds! Tune-in to get their take on it all. We would love to hear what you had to think about this years Super Bowl! Shoot us an email at myles@217digital.com or mack@217digital.com

In episode 018 of the 217cast Myles and Mack discuss what they have been up to and why they have been MIA. They also share some of their thoughts on small businesses being fluid in their startup years. Finally, they share a preview of what is to come in 2021. Tune in and get ready for more amazing content in 2021.

On this episode Myles and Mack interview Erin Hohnbaum, the founder of E. Leigh's Boutique. Erin talks about her experience leaving a good paying job to follow her passion, her journey of taking her business from humble beginnings to now having multiple locations, leading a team and ambassadors, and her woman's advocacy efforts working with organizations like PowHER Project. Tune in to this episode to be inspired, motivated, and learn many lessons from Erin!

Anchor is the easiest way to make a podcast and powers around 40% of all podcasts made. Using Anchor is as simple as recording the audio and uploading, giving it a giving it a title, description ad publishing. Anchor also help podcasters monetize their show. According to Magna Global, podcast advertising is supposed to break the $1 billion mark sometime between 2021 and 2022. Creating a podcast and drawing in an audience can give people financial freedom by talking about topics they are passionate about. Since Anchor is now owned by Spotify it uses their data to tell you more about your audience with data like gender, age, geographic location, and the platforms they are listening on. Creating a podcast is an easy way to create a large piece of pillar content that you can break down into multiple smaller pieces whether that is clipping the audio into smaller pieces and uploading them or using quotes on photos. This leads to your brand being on multiple platforms with less of an effort to continuously create content from scratch and helps to create brand consistency. And with weekly episodes it keeps your audience coming back for more meaning you can build a personal connection with them.

What is it? Brand Strategies help give you and your team guidance as you build your brand. Often times companies are guided by a compass, you could be headed toward the right direction but if your start off going a few degrees off course you will be hundreds of miles from your destination. A brand strategy is a roadmap. It shows you exactly what you need to do to get your brand where you want it to go. How can someone develop it for their own brand? You have to first start by asking "how is my brand perceived now?" and "how do I want my brand to be perceived in the future?" What questions should be asked to develop a brand strategy Answer the "Why" The why that you should be answering comes from your consumer, "why should I care about what you offer?" How can we be unique? We don't care what industry you are in, there is a stereotype for your what your brand does. Figure out how your brand gives your target consumer a different experience. Netflix did it by cutting out the need to go to a store and deal with renting a movie. Spotify cut out the need to purchase music. Empathize with your customer Show them how they are the hero in their own story How can we put our consumer in the spotlight, not our brand?" Does our strategy feel risky? No brand strategy should be calming, it should scare you a bit.

Myles and Mack had the honor of having Ryan Tate on the podcast in this episode. Ryan is the president and founder of VETPAW, Veterans Empowered To Protect African Wildlife. Ryan tells his story on how he got involved in conservation, the efforts they are making overseas to protect African wildlife, and the programs VETPAW is putting in place in the Unites States of America to get more people involved in conservation. Ryan also talks about how he has balanced the different personalities within VETPAW and how to keep everyone on mission.

In this episode Myles and Mack get into the steps of picking an influencer for influencer marketing and the numbers you should be analyzing when doing so. This episode is based on an article you can find at 21digital.com or by clicking here. 

Myles and Mack get into their previous experiences, why they started 217digital, and where they see it going. This episode is more conversational opposed to the typical practical advice for small businesses.

In this episode Myles and Mack discuss building personas. Check out the notes to see questions to ask when building out personas for your business. Figuring out a persona helps you to speak directly to your target audience and not be too general. When it is a personal message you can see growth very quickly What is a persona: A fictional character that models your target audience. Necessary questions to ask to build a strong persona: Gender Age Education Income Day in the life PAIN POINTS Myles’ main questions to ask for building a persona: What does my user do everyday? What is the hardest thing they do everyday? Where do they spend time dealing with that? How can our user make their life easier for themselves and the people around them? How do you know where to advertise to your persona? Where is your persona getting their information? Older generations will lean towards email, radio, and TV while the younger generation will lean to social media. Email is the social media of an older demographic so getting in their inbox on a regular basis is important How many personas should I have? For a big company it is possible to have up 20 or more because of different product lines and they have a large marketing budget. For a small company 1 to 2 personas is good but make sure you master the first persona before adding a second persona. 3-4 is stretching it for a small company. Do not be afraid if your customers don’t end up looking like your persona, don’t be afraid to evolve your persona. Building a strong persona helps to keep your brand's voice and style consistent.

Myles and Mack dive into the details of lead scoring and moving prospects through a marketing funnel. Scoring leads can be difficult and most people have no idea on how to do it. In this episode you will find out exactly how. Take out your pen and paper and get ready to dive into this weeks episode. 

In this episode Myles and Mack talk about 6 different resources they use for marketing all of the time. The resources include Winmo, Digital Marketing Tuner, Typeform, Hubspot Blog, Medium, and Garyvee. Tune in to hear the best uses for these platforms and how Myles and Mack use them.

In episode 007 Myles and Mack discuss predictions for what a new normal will be. They dive into working at home, relationships, and more in this weeks episode.

In this episode Myles and Mack dive deep into influencer marketing. They talk about metrics to measure, how to make sure your influencer is legit, how influencer marketing is the wild west in today's business environment, and how influencer marketing is the perfect way to build brand awareness. Have questions about influencer marketing? Shoot Mack an email at mack@217digital.com.

In this episode Myles and Mack hop on a call with Andrew Salzbrun to discuss how art has influenced his entrepreneurial career, why he chose Cincinnati, and finding direction. 

Myles and Mack talk about remarketing and how continuously showing up in front of your audience is the secret to converting prospects into customers. Whether that's a series of billboards or using retargeting ads on social media platforms or search engines.

Myles and Mack discuss how content marketing can change your business and give you content to use across platforms from your website, social media, and email marketing! Tune in to learn how to build your content marketing for your business today.

In this episode Myles and Mack discuss Cincinnati local business, Panda Fresh Foods. Panda Fresh Foods went from being a B2B restaurant food supplier to B2C food delivery service when COVID-19 struck. Kam Siu, the owner of Panda Fresh Foods, was nice enough to give us some information on how he adapted and overcame when the seas got choppy.