Marcus Sheridan wanted to be a dentist, grew up to be a Pool guy and now travels the world teaching inbound content marketing. He does not hold back in this episode. If you’re struggling at all with content marketing this is a must watch.
We're giving away a copy of Jay Baer's book "Youtility". Just tell us in the comments the number one request you get from clients for their website that makes you cringe. Bonus points for telling us how you convince them otherwise.
"Congratulations Peter! Marcus has chosen you as the lucky winner of the competition! Thanks for your contribution and keep elevating!" (January 2015).
Some of the highlights of this episode include:
• staying ahead of the curve keeps me awake at night
• make your proposals look like a storyboard – less is more
• publish content without any expectation of the results – and don’t count your comments!
Elevation Round Answers
Here are the answers to the questions in our Elevation round. Watch the interview to get the full scoop.
1. Do not immediately agree with your customer – challenge them and you charge a premium
2. Speaking
3. Stop agreeing with everybody
4. Submit story boards and less is more
5. Hubspot
6. Write down milestones and be held accountable
7. Just be awesome and be likeable
8. Be more honest and transparent than anyone else
You can reach out and thank Marcus via his email [email protected] or @thesaleslion.
Marcus suggested I interview Ryan Hanley from Content Welfare. Ryan, keep your eyes on your inbox.
Hint: to enter the competition, leave a comment below and tell us the number one request you get from clients for their website that makes you cringe. Bonus points for telling us how you convince them otherwise!
9 Responses
This was a freaking awesome Episode! All wpelevation episodes I listened to have been very valuable to me, but in this one the energy of Marcus came somehow through the earbuds. Incredible.
After listening to stories and input like this I only think: Why am I still listening and lurking to all this stuff and not execute better? (You don’t have to answer this one 😉
Number one problem with clients is: they see a nice theme and want something similar (which seems to be easy as the theme they like can be bought at a theme market place somewhere). But at the same time they have no real content strategy or idea of the intended structure of their content. Scope creep ahead and the theme isn’t well prepared for such changes…. (This is the ugly story of a recent project)
Boom! Stoked you were able to interview Marcus. I have no hesitation in saying he’s the one influencer who changed my business thinking the most in 2014 after hearing him speak in San Diego. Truly someone who you cannot listen to without shifting your thinking (unless you’re dead or asleep. Well, dead anyway. I defy anyone to attend a Marcus keynote and fall asleep! 🙂
They ask. You answer. Content strategy 101.
My biggest challenge is the client who wants #1 on Google within a week of launch with no content at all. You know the ones: “Why can’t I have one page on my website and have it #1 for every search related to my business?”
Enter…”well, let’s look at what Google exists for. They built their business around providing the best answer to the question someone asked them.”
“Let’s think about how you use Google. What types of things are you looking for when you type into their little search box? Do you always find the answer you want? What happens when you don’t find that answer?”
“So, let’s talk about how you’re going to provide the answers that your potential customers want when they type questions into Google…” And on it goes until they’re on board!
I found Marcus about 2 years ago and have often referenced back to him regarding content marketing. His story is simply inspiring. I have emailed him before and he actually responds nearly immediately which is amazing for someone that is so busy, but he cares about people. His enthusiasm is quite refreshing and I would love to be at one of his live shows!
The number one request I get from clients is usually centered around a competitors website. They find a website they like and want me to make something similar. The problem is that the website they usually send me is horrible (for 2015 standards) and usually built on some free or cheap website builder.
What I do is find a nice theme or layout that I would recommend and send it over to them. The other method I will use to gain their business is create a quick photoshop mockup of my recommendation with their logo and images (from the current site), and this usually convinces them otherwise :).
Thanks again Troy and Marcus. Wonderful and inspiring interview. Best of luck in 2015!
Hi guys, this was great episode. I had some aha moments regarding content marketing. Not even consciously but unconsciously I was not writing enough content because I though there had to be so much research and dedication just to produce 1 post, now all I focus on is creating a decent post answering all the questions my clients had over the years. Not only this makes it easy to reference once a new client asks the same, but it also positions us as the experts.
The 2 bad stories we’ve had recently with client requests are adding a flash header, although it looks nice it doesn’t play well with mobile (it took time for the client to understand that). The other one was the client adding wacky color combinations on our quality work, it was so bad that I had to tell them (after my suggestion of course) “if you decide to go with those colors I would need a statement from you saying we are not responsible for such decision” (that was enough to discourage her of that 😉
Robert, love that client disclaimer man, awesome!!
And so glad you enjoyed the interview, continued success!!
Grant, very kind words, thanks so much and I appreciate the support.
And nice work with your clients!!
Marcus
Peter!!! What’s up buddy?? So glad to reconnect after SMMW14.
Your client issue gave me a chuckle bud. #UnrealisticExpectations
Keep spreading the good word my man!
Marcus
So glad you enjoyed the interview and energy therein…we have lots to be excited about these days, no?! 🙂
Continued success!!
Marcus
Hey Marcus, Pretty stoked to hear Youtility is on it’s way to my mailbox!
I appreciate your work (and Jay’s too – his session on empowering your employees as advocates at SMMW14 was excellent).
I’ll see you at SMMW15 🙂