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[0:00] We're going to go live and we are live today on the pirate broadcast and all the gratitude in the world for you being here,
where we bring interesting people doing interesting things and we love the opportunity to share this information and develop a conversation around,
you know life marketing linked in tips and all of the things that we can do to help you grow your business.
And today is an amazing day we have big deal.
And she's going to bring some nuggets of knowledge that you'll want to stick around and listen to.
Now if you're not happy if you don't happen to catch us live on Linked In.
It's 7:00 a.m. every morning Monday through Friday for the live broadcast of The Pirate broadcast.
We're also found on Facebook YouTube and I also publish on Russ Jones dot com slash pirate broadcast for the podcast the episode transcription and all the information around with that.
So Vicki welcome to the show.
How are you this fine day so much.

[1:06] I'm doing absolutely wonderful. Thank you for asking. How are you doing.

[1:10] I'm doing better than average because you know I thought I'm going to get out of bed and I'm going to be I'm going to make it an exceptional day.
So it's like one of those things you have to.
Yeah you know it's like you have to live a little bit and enjoy life.
And so part of that is enjoying the community around us and the,
application of these tools and technologies that we're using and we before we jumped on online we were talking about you know Snapchat filters and you know all of the social media's and we have some things that are amazing. And I just.
How did you arrive at where you are today doing what you're doing.
I love to hear that story and how you developed to today.

[1:53] OK.

[1:53] Yeah that's a great question because I've been in marketing and sales forever,
or ever 20 years. So yes I start out in a actually it was a temporary marketing role it was an admin role and I,
loved the marketing department that I was in so much I loved everything that they did it was complete it was a marketing team of like 30 people and our whole purple our sole purpose was to support the sales team.
So we interacted very closely with sales throughout the year there all their campaigns.

[2:29] I loved it so much and then just went to different companies and either a marketing or a sales role.
I felt it was important to have marketing and sales experience.
If I was going to be effective combining the two companies connect the dots between marketing and sales efforts.
So I started my company which is Ken came marketing in 2011 with intention just to work on some side projects and throughout the years.
That's all I did. And then in March of last year so March of two thousand eighteen I was working at a local company as an inside sales manager for the east part of the country,
and they went through an acquisition and arts were.

[3:13] So of course I was I was the last one and so first one out. Yeah yeah.
So my dad was dissolved and you're a corporate orphan. Yes I am yes.

[3:24] And actually it was you know it was a gift because it was something that I always wanted to be a hundred percent focused on my company anyway.
And I didn't really fit in the corporate world. I always felt like OK I've learned my job and now I need to go and apply all these other things and oh hey here's something we could do or is better or let's do this.
So my mind was always going on how we could do things better in the corporate world which you may also know is that things are set a certain way.

[3:54] It's hard to change. You can't step outside of the box. You have to stay in the box. We do things a certain way. Right.
Exactly. Yeah. It gets difficult. So I was like You know what.

[4:06] This is my opportunity I'm going to spend 100 percent of my time and I'm going to focus on my business. And we've been doing since March of last year.

[4:14] Yeah. That's so amazing. That's so fun. You know I kid people because I said I work in.
I spent 25 years in organizations that no longer exist.
And I literally had with the CEO at one point in time it was the CIO and he drew a square on a piece of paper. He said this is the box.
And then he drew a dot on the outside of the box.

[4:38] He says this is you,
and you're like I'm going to take that as a compliment. I did it as a compliment.
I wouldn't say no I'm a free thinker you know it's like OK thanks for that. Amazing.

[4:53] I know what is your primary focus. What is what are you excited about what gets you excited in the morning get out of bed and doing some work and activity.

[5:03] I am passionate about helping other companies connect the dots between marketing and sales.
So a lot of times it's the smaller companies and sometimes mid-sized companies that especially small companies are so ingrained in their day to day and running their business.
Time to focus on marketing or they don't have time to focus on sales because they're wearing multiple hats.
So I go in and I help them with one or the other or both help them from an outside perspective filter business.

[5:32] The patient is of a doctor and a patient in the hospital you know the patient is surrounded by specialists because you know we all need help.
And when you're first starting out in business you know it's it's difficult to build a team because you really have a lot of different things going on. You have a lot of activities that you have to wear hats and make decisions yourself.
And as you grow and you develop and you get more active in the community of being an entrepreneur you have to start growing a team so you can delegate things. And it's so different for a business owner.
Looking for marketing assistance or even social media is becoming its own valuable asset in the real estate.
Social media is going to be key and also also you know just like an accountant or an attorney or you know an administrator you know all of these things have to be done.
And that's the point I'm the business owner if they want to grow in scale. They need help and support.

[6:35] So yeah a lot of times it's just looking at going into the company and evaluating their internal processes team because like you said,
you know you've got these different departments and if they're not communicating internally then the message externally to the customer which is important is isn't going to be consistent.
So connecting the dots between not just marketing and sales but also including customer service and just all or touch points and making sure that that's a seamless process from a brand perspective.

[7:04] Yeah it's absolutely critical to understand what the messaging is because a lot of business owners usually start from very,
they just start from an idea or they they're solving their own problem and they're growing and evolving and they don't see it because they don't see the outside perspective.
So someone like yourself can really come in and help them understand the bigger picture and the longer term goal.

[7:28] Yeah exactly. I just help them focus too on because they're they're focused on their business and ultimately it's the customer that you need to have a focus on.

[7:38] It's just it's the customer journey that's important right.

[7:41] It really is. So that's why I focus so much on companies knowing who their ideal customer is their persona and developing those.
Because if you don't know who it is you can't be where they are and then you can't be connecting with them and helping them with that journey.
So it's a great starting point for any company.

[7:59] Oh absolutely absolutely. Speaking of starting point I want to give a highlight the shout out to some of the people that are joining us.
Vikki its ad use here today.
Shielding John experiences in the room. We had John on Friday.
It's like awesome. All week it's amazing.
Debbie Sherry Sherry Lawley How are you this morning.
Love you and cold deep.
And then we have GMO. Seth is here.
Seth Marlowe hate the box. Don't put me in a box. Don't put me in a box.

[8:39] Let me just help but maybe in a corner.

[8:41] Don't me about it. Yes. Maybe.
And I just I just fascinated by these things because,
one of the one of the journeys that we have and I always think in terms of stories and journeys and being able to really articulate this concept of where a customer has to go in order to really,
utilize your services or your products and.
And how how they can imagine themselves being in the place where they want to work with you and it's.
And it's a nuanced thing that really takes a little time and talent.
And it's not necessarily as simple as you would think it should be.
And so do you have a like a process that you go through or like a you know Vicky's seven steps of of excellence in your messaging or what's your what's your thought process going through this after after years in marketing media.

[9:42] Yeah I've got a 10 10 10 step process that I walk brands through and it all starts with the most basic form of communication.
A lot of times that's that's the breakdown and that's the very first step is that there has to be vacation between teams throughout teams.
And if that's not happening it's extremely difficult to reach out and have an effective conversation with any customer because it could be two different messages,
from a customer standpoint if you're getting two different messages from two different people customer service sales marketing messages that they initially clicked on to start you know having that journey with your company.
Right. Those are all disconnected.
I mean it's going to create a problem for you as a business because you're creating doubt in the prospects mind or in the customer's mind of what they can expect by doing business with you.

[10:36] You know if everybody not singing from the same.
Sheet music everybody's telling a different story to the client when they talk to him like engineering maybe you having a different story than accounting.
You know it's like you have a conversation with somebody in the company.
What story do they tell about the company and what is universal about that.
Yeah I think that's absolutely key. That's a great point. Yeah whatever steps you take them through.

[11:03] There has to be a combined strategy or at least common goal of marketing sales customer service.

[11:11] Is working towards the same thing.

[11:13] So that if they have separate strategies because sometimes marketing wants to keep their sales wants to keep theirs that's OK.

[11:21] But just make sure that the goals the business goals are being met by the different strategies and tactics of each team so that everybody's working towards the same common goal.

[11:32] So it's making sure that there's alignment in their strategies as well.
Personas actually mapping out the customer journey looking at customer service and saying you know what their process is looking at internal processes.
So it's really doing like a full 360 overview of a company and where the gaps are.

[11:53] Absolutely absolutely. You know what's really interesting too and you probably had this experience is with marketing and sales.
And also operations there is like Okay I can't sell this because you can't deliver this and I can't I can't market this because it's not a product yet or,
it's it's that edge of the,
edge of the boundary you know where you're you're pushing the growth in the company and organization and sometimes it's a little challenging because you know as we grow and stretch and build as an organization it's like OK,
do we take it on or do we not take it on because it's it's something beyond our boundaries. Marketing can help.
I think maneuver through that challenge because you can actually project and say hey this is this is coming this is on the way.
And then you can prepare the organization to organize and get ready to deliver that information.

[12:55] I hope that you can do right. Yeah exactly.

[12:59] I think to your point of marketing kind of being that person that owns looking at you know where the changes are aware you know there's that step on that boundary that's just a great example of how important it is for marketing.
They need to be doing the research and seeing what's going on in the marketplace. You know who's doing what's keeping our finger on the pulse with,
the latest and greatest technologies or it's that communication with sales who's actually having the conversations with prospects and customers in closing those deals.
And then you've got customer service that's taking calls that could be complaints it could be you know help me set this up.
It could be any number of things so you've got these three different buckets.
A lot of great information. So if you think about the different content or the different messages or just different information each one of those groups is privy to those three aren't talking.
It just creates a Mass Gap throughout the entire organization.
So you know each team can have somebody that owns collecting that information but they really need to be talking in order for there to be this seamless process for the customer.

[14:07] Any any disconnect in the organization causes disconnect with the customer.

[14:12] It does.

[14:13] Yeah yeah I know that our customers are looking at marketing ads.
They're not looking at you know customer or brands that are actually talking about themselves constantly or saying hey why that's they don't care.
They've got the world at their fingertips with their phone. They're educated they're going to make their own decisions.

[14:33] If they have a poor experience and and they don't have everything.

[14:38] You know the relationship is solid and they have a poor experience or they're off to the next example the next adventure. Yeah.

[14:46] So that process easier for them to make a choice if you're not creating a good situation for them from the beginning.
And that's why I always think about having a journey for the customer is you know what's what's the experience like you know what's in complete experience like there are still some people that have you know the 19.

[15:06] You know Y2K website that is like a brochure essentially on on the on the page.
Yeah. And they say well you know our Web site never really did anything for us.
And it's like well it's doing something for you. It's not necessarily what you wanted to do yeah.
So there could be a problem there. Could be a problem there. What are the big gaps that you see in organizations now that you're in in doing more of a.
Conceptual visual evaluation side of the equation.
What are some other things that business owners need to think and consider.

[15:46] That the big thing that I've been saying is that sales is not leveraging the talent that they have internally.
So it has a ton of information. They're there to support sales but the sales team or sales person is focused on getting a sale.
They're very focused on their numbers. Every month they haven't it.
So if if marketing isn't part of that process with sales and understanding how sales works and operates,
then sales is going to continue to do their own thing and they're not going to use the information that marketing creates and puts out there and says hey you know here's this compelling piece of,
collateral that tells a great story but it's not a situation that sales is actually encountering with their prospects and it's not going to get used.
So I see a lot of that too that sales just as in leveraging the talent of their marketing team in order to be able to use information and continue to provide value add.

[16:48] Well I think I think part of a big part of that is clear messaging.

[16:52] Yeah.

[16:53] You know making sure that every word is clear and concise and,
in also saying what the company wants to communicate to the customer in the community.
You know one of the areas that I think there's a huge opportunity in in organizations that have multiple salespeople in large teams is the idea that.
If they were to coordinate even their LinkedIn profiles and LinkedIn business page now,
it would be a huge impact on a positive impact on the,
on the marketing efforts that are going on because you could actually tell stories and relate and have everybody connected and put that out there and share that information in a consistent way.
And Dan quite a bit of traction in attracting the right customer too.

[17:49] Yeah.

[17:50] And I actually posted about that. I think it was last week about it was one of the video pieces that I posted about.
Employees of companies that are taking me company page posts that may or may not have any information associated with a link.
Hey there's a new product we released but they don't say anything about the product release just the link an employee will take that and share it and not add anything either.
And here's to me that's just.
There's no value there. There needs to be some type of you know some.
My post was about it. If you're gonna share I mean sharing is not ideal.
We had a conversation on that particular post about commenting or that's gonna get more exposure for that particular post. All right.
If they're gonna share then add your thoughts add some value add some what's in it for your audience so that you're going to band on it.
Yeah exactly. So yeah there's there's some opportunities there are huge opportunities.

[18:58] Yeah so one of the things that I want to do I want to dig a little deeper into the storytelling as well in creating marketing pieces because I think a lot of people miss out.
They put a post out there and they just that's the end of the story.
It's like having employees or having others in the organization Share it out expand on it and their thoughts.
As marketers we can also develop a series of stories that allow us to take on,
you know a a much deeper conversation that leads people into the conclusion that this is something that would work for me or this is something I could imagine myself doing or having or purchasing,
and I think that because the way video has developed and the way that the social media has shortened our attention span I think it's really going to become,
it's becoming more prevalent that we have.
We're gonna have to do short stories in in multiple formats over time in order to achieve that same result you know and and so YouTube video.
So how how is that developed your business and how is it evolve your business over time since you've been involved in using video.

[20:24] This recent video this year more than I have any other time.
But a lot of people starting out on video can be a little intimidating and expects well say being a pirate today.

[20:39] You.

[20:39] Yeah. So thank you again for having me. I appreciate it.
So I've just you just have to get used to you know holding your phone and or you know being in front of a camera on your laptop and your message.
And the biggest thing is is just if you can start out with something that's going to be compelling.
So starting out from the beginning maybe start with you know the end or something in the middle that's going to grab people's attention. Maybe it's the problem that they're having.
Right. Or something like that. And then just kind of talk through it on video and video and John Experian has mentioned this recently as well as that,
when you're on video people can see you they can see your facial expression they can see that you're passionate about something they can see your body language.
And it's easier for people to relate to you if you're in video. It's the next best thing to being in person.

[21:33] Yeah. And we all have a personality and I think I think you know there's a lot of people doing the same thing which validates the tasks that we're doing right.
And everybody has a different connection with individuals and that's the reason video works so well is is that if you can develop a connection in a relationship with these individuals,
over time when they need your your services or your,
tools or your products,
and you can stay top of mind it was very easy for a lot of people it's very easy to pull up the phone.
Talk about it and go on about their day.
You know other people are intimidated by it. And I think the intimidation is you know it's like OK they're going to judge me they're going to you know say something or you know it's like.

[22:26] Yeah it's it's like well for us to we we grew up in a time where we didn't have phones. So and especially during all of our you know teen age you know 20 years even endure it.
We didn't have phones. So for us after so many years of having a certain habit or a certain way of engaging with people. Yeah. Pick up your phone point of view and you're talking to a phone.
Yeah. You're really talking to people. But it's it's that whole like you know you have to kind of get past that mindset of you know I'm talking to myself Now put it out. Yeah.
Probably the most like the most uncomfortable. Was like OK I'm talking to my phone.
This strange talking to my phone. Yeah yeah yeah. Like anything else the more you do it the more you get used to it. Now it's no problem.

[23:18] I mean we get on like any other instrument. Life is an instrument. We've got to practice that right.

[23:22] Yeah exactly. So we're more open to like it for it.
Sometimes I'll do videos and I stumble in the middle of it or even in my podcast if I'm doing an intro or an outro and I'm like You know I stumble on my f you know I'm being human. Yeah.
And people are accepting of that. So I think people just need to jump in their phones or sent for their laptops and just start recording videos even if they don't post it just to keep them going in real life.

[23:48] It's like if I'm a networking event or a client meeting and I stumble I stumble. Yeah.

[23:53] You know like retail I can't ever get out. I can edit that out.

[23:58] That's fantastic. In fact I'm do. I'm gonna be doing a workshop here shortly.
Video workshop on how to build a strategy around video using video.
Because I think it's so important for us to really understand because.
You know getting on camera is one piece of the strategy.
Using it to your advantage and using it to not or to to actually focus on the results I think is another part of the strategy.
And marketing overall. You know it's just like you were saying with the business owner they need somebody with a global view to see outside their box,
so we can actually identify the weaknesses and the strengths and everything that goes along into that process. Yeah.
And I think it's critical for us to help each other out. And that's why I love LinkedIn is the ability.
You know you know John and you know we both know Jeff and we know other people on these on this platform.
And you know five years ago this would be nearly impossible to to make these kind of connections.

[25:03] Exactly. I think it's amazing that we can connect with people around the world. I know you said right now that you're in Texas Tech.
Normally you're in Arizona. John's in the UK. You know it's like we can connect with people around the world.
And then Dan are just technology in general has given us that possibility.
So I think it's amazing. Yeah.

[25:24] So what's the one thing that has really surprised you about being an entrepreneur in your own business owner now versus being in the corporate world.
What's what's the one thing that you had not imagined or counted on or relied on I guess.

[25:41] It's a lot lonelier even though we have technology and you can connect with people on LinkedIn or wherever.
When you're an entrepreneur you kind of have to be your own cheerleader and you have to be your own best kicker and your own you know just.
You have to be OK with being alone or you know if you go to networking events so you just have to kind of create what works for you.
But for me it's a balance. Like I'm ok working alone if I'm focused obviously that I don't want other people around me at that point but then having that flexibility of being able to meet with,
clients face to face or going to a networking events or connecting with people on LinkedIn even doing your knees like this.
I mean this is you know something that we would have been able to deal with because the technology that we can and you know this has been a great addition to my morning because I got to talk with you.

[26:36] Well I really appreciate the opportunity to have a conversation because I thrive on the idea that I can share interesting people doing interesting things.
And I always find it fascinating about it and it goes to the point of being lonely is like OK I'm not the only one doing this,
I'm not You're not the only one doing this there's other people doing this and I think if we if we put that out there and we actually share the fact that this is a universal thing this is not a unique individual thing.

[27:06] This is a universal thing. Yeah. And all all the freelancers and all of the entrepreneurs that are developing their first stage business is you know it's it's a challenge.
It's about balance sometimes and it is not the dress it ran to.

[27:24] I think that's probably a close second with no worries just the the ramp up time to going from you know you are earning a paycheck in a corporate world.
And making that transition if you haven't done a whole you know side hustle,
you know to build that income back up if you're then staying focused on it just being an entrepreneur it does take time to kind of get your feet wet kind of get out there and get your name out there so that people can know like trust you. And in order to do business with you.
So yes a great way to do that is you know you get to connect with people a little bit faster.
I think they get to see who you are.

[28:04] And also having a team too is it's because when you're first starting out you know for the longest time I,
I ran a team in corporate and I had a lot of people around you know I could delegate too and when I became a corporate orphan as I call it I I you know it's like I'm just going to do this I'm going to do this on my own.
You know I did web development I did marketing and media and creative and content creation and I wanted to be kind of an independent.
You know just kind of a digital nomad of sorts in and that's what I was designing for myself.
And then recently you know I've brought a couple of people on the team and I've got a couple of virtual people that and then I'm delegating now more and more like I was on a client shoot yesterday and.
No video is really strange. And now it's like OK I think I'm going to go you know I'm going to have to bring on a video editor because I just don't like doing live because I don't like doing editing. Yeah.

[29:12] Yeah. Yeah. Doing the video podcast. So I'm going to do a podcast epithet. Then I do video. They're open to it.
That video editing that goes along with it. And I'm like S It's audio only it's a lot easier to draw it better.

[29:28] Yeah. And I started while I was in radio and I manage radio stations here and use it for a while and,
in doing podcasts and developing podcasts and and having podcast clients you know producing the podcast and the same thing with the pirate broadcast.
Is this technology and the things that I've developed for this this technology I can transfer to other business owners that want to do video for their business.
And it's it's a very simple transition. Only if you're not in it it's overwhelming.
Yeah. You know to to start from zero is pretty overwhelming so yeah. So much to learn.
But I just I just love the opportunity. Have you here Vicky.
Thank you so much for for being here and sharing your worth is linked in a great place to connect with you.

[30:16] Yes I'd be the best place to connect with me. And thank you so much for having me today too.
It was an honor and I left our conversation so thank you very much.

[30:24] Yeah well we'll do it again. We'll do it again. So if you're out and about and you're looking for assistance Todd I'm going to probably connect you watching this.
I'm going to connect you with Vicky and introduction and also in the world of Cincinnati,
Vicki's hanging out there if you need some assistance with marketing media and some of those tools in your tool box reach out to Vicki.
She can be found on LinkedIn. I just I just love the opportunity to share these things with you.
And Vicki Thank you so much it's been a fantastic day.
Tuesday I actually fly back to Arizona today so I'll have a different time zone tomorrow and it'll be great.
But if you're joining in.
Thank you so much for joining in. Carol shell Dean John thank you so much for.
I'm not sure what time it is for John right now but as my hours ahead SBA thirty two thirty in the afternoon so it's not too bad not too bad at all.
Thank you. Thank you so much Vicki. I appreciate you. And you know kindness is cool.
Smiles are free and you enjoy the day.

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