Building Credibility for Small Businesses with Rachel Minion

Welcome to the B2B Growth Blueprint podcast, where we talk with entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders at B2B services, tech, and SaaS companies to learn the systems and processes they've used to create success for their business. We'll also learn from marketing and sales experts to provide insights to help you grow your business. I'm your host, Mark Osborne, and the podcast is brought to you by Modern Revenue Strategies and their 10x ROI B2B Growth Guarantee. Schedule a free diagnostic call to learn the fastest path to double your B2B revenues in just 90 days. Hello and welcome to another episode of the B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Osborne, And today I'm very excited to welcome my guest, Rachel Minion. Now I'm going to read Rachel's bio to make sure I get this right. Rachel is a force to be reckoned with. She's a marketing rock star, a relentless cancer warrior, and a dynamic speaker who embodies resilience, raw honesty, and unapologetic truth. She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing industry, and she's honed her expertise to become a powerhouse of no-nonsense insights and actionable strategies that resonate deeply with her audience. Her speaking style is direct, bold, and refreshingly real. She doesn't just skim the surface. She dives deep into the complexities of life and work, tackling the tough topics that others shy away from. Whether that's navigating the unpredictable career journey, confronting the life-altering reality of a cancer diagnosis, or breaking free from societal expectations to find and amplify your unique voice, Rachel brings real talk to the table, and she's here to do more than just inspire. She's here to provoke thought, ignite passion, and challenge the audience to push beyond the superficial. So, I'm very excited for this conversation. Rachel, welcome.

Thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure.

Yeah, absolutely. So, you've got, you know, such an interesting background, and both literally and also visually, you have a really interesting background. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your path and Being a rockstar marketer?

Well, let's be really honest. We'll start with the background. I have all the guitars behind me, but I'm really amazing at branding. I have zero musical talent. My company is called Rockstar and Moon. And let me tell you, marketing, that's what we do. So every time you see guitars moving forward in the background, you'll be thinking of us and we know it. So let me tell you how it all began.

Sure.

It was started, oh my goodness, it was back in the 2008 recession and it was tough. I was with my parents. We were running a printing company. And with that recession, things before, it was awesome. We were growing a business. It was doubling, it was tripling. There was no question there. And when that recession hit, Everything stopped. The Government Printing Office, where we had a lot of our clients getting contract work through, stopped creating contracts. So what do you do? So our clients slowed down and they were paying in 30 days to 60 days to 90 days to 120 to, I don't know if I'll ever be able to pay you because we're going out of business.

Yikes.

One of our largest clients, Ritz Camera, went bankrupt at the same time. It is that moment of, uh, that every entrepreneur has, you know, it weighs on you, it holds down your chest, it holds down your shoulders. Like at this moment in time, you can physically feel the baggage that you're carrying. And we hung in there from 2008 to 2010. And in 2010, we just couldn't do it anymore and we had to close the shop. Because no printers, no clients. What else can you do?

Yeah.

And when you're a woman in printing back at this time who was working for your father, it's impossible to find a job. They didn't think I actually could go run the digital press. I could go work in bindery. I can go do production management. I can estimate, I can invoice, I can run the entire business because I did. They didn't believe that the credibility was there, and because I couldn't find a job, I was stuck having to move into my summer beach condo that I had rented with eight people. It was a three-bedroom, two-bath condo, tiny as anything, and there's eight of us, and I had to go move in. So what do you do? You're struggling to find a job. You're struggling to figure out what. where you're gonna be, what you're gonna do, what's the next move? And it's really hard. And so I took a break. I sat outside one night of the apartment and it's great because we were by the ocean in Dewey Beach. I'm behind the bottle and cork. I'm staring up at the stars and the moon, listening to one of the greatest rock bands you can hear. And that's where Rockstar and Moon came from.

Huh.

I decided to create a marketing agency that would grow my skill set over the years and could always be a side hustle. But it's something that would prove credibility that I knew what I was doing. I had actual proof and that I've grown clients' businesses at the same time.

Sure.

So that started that night and there's been really no turning back. It's something I had done as a side hustle. And because of the side hustle, I could get in and get that full-time gig. So I was working nights and weekends and lunch breaks to just keep that side hustle going. So I had the right set of skills so I could do whatever I wanted. And then the dream job came. I got a full-time gig at Ticketmaster, and I'm a girl who, as you can tell, I love music. There is nothing better than live music.

Wow.

My first year, we saw 275 different artists.

Wow.

And I was thinking, this is it. I have arrived. This is all I've ever wanted to build up to, right?

Sure.

And the hours were longer. I'm traveling between LA and San Francisco and my home in Chicago on a regular basis. I never had a moment to breathe, but I was still trying to keep Rockstar Moon open and going. And what do you do? Because you're balancing the, what you think is the dream gig With being able to make an impact in small businesses across the US. And it was a hard balance.

Sure.

Do you stop the business? Do you not? And then the decision was made for me. The pandemic hit. So 4 years ago, we were all sitting in this big corporate meeting. There were 2 different Zooms going on. We had no idea. And 80% of us were furloughed that day.

Wow.

Because no events, no ticket sales.

Yeah.

Right. They can't justify it. And so instead of me waiting and waiting and waiting on making that decision that afternoon, it was like, great, that's the kick that I needed to go full-time. So I called up all my clients and said, hey, you know all this stuff we've been talking about doing that I put on hold because I haven't been home, right? We're doing it effective immediately. We'll get this done and knocked out. And Here we are. Not only have we grown from the handful of clients that I had for the decade, but my husband came on to run technology and do business development.

Oh, great.

We've grown a team and we've been able to make a huge impact for small businesses across the country. Now, we've also been able to evolve so that every single day I get to wake up with one goal in mind, to transform the lives of small business owners. Because in the end, it's not about me just helping the businesses. It's a small business that is the heartbeat of our entire economy. It's what our country is built on, right? It is the absolute reason why we're here. It's our why, because we're not only impacting the entrepreneur, their family, their community, and all of their employees' families.

Wow, that's such an inspiring story and lots of twists and turns, uh, and certainly very interesting. So your work today with Rockstar and Moon is focused on, uh, small businesses, uh, and, and doing marketing and, uh, sort of those activities for them?

Yep, we work with B2B small businesses on the marketing side of the world as the agency, but we also have solutions for B2C, um, that are more technology solutions. And what our goal is, is Just really to enable entrepreneurs to be relentless and grow and amplify their potential.

Awesome. Awesome. So within that space, what's one of the biggest challenges that you see that these small businesses are facing when they come to you and sort of needing solutions?

I think the biggest challenge that everyone has is credibility.

Mm-hmm.

I had credibility when I was trying to go get a job. And all of my clients have the same problem with credibility because it's us that's trying to go make that next sale, right? So we're talking about how amazing we are, but we never let the work speak for itself. We kill ourselves to go get the job done for our client and get amazing results, right? But how often do we spend a little bit of effort to just get the case study, a video testimonial, a review? Any of those pieces that would then make it really simple to go make the next sale.

Yeah, it's so interesting. Like within the B2B space, credibility and trust are like the sort of the cornerstones of everything that we do. Like no one wants to work with someone that they don't trust and no one wants to work with someone that, and they're never gonna trust them if they don't find them credible. And so it's, you know, sort of building that and I've actually heard it said and And I didn't come up with this, I read it somewhere, I can't remember exactly where, is that, you know, sort of credibility is you have to do it twice. You have to do the thing that sort of makes you credible, but then you have to kind of merchandise it back and remind people of the thing that you did that sort of gave you that credibility, which is such an interesting thing. So what are some of the ways that you sort of implement In order to create credibility for your clients?

I think the biggest thing that we can all do is let's make it easy. Let's just get metrics of your wins. Sure. If we can get metrics, that's a great start because it's something you can put up on the website.

That's right.

Second thing that I would do, let's get some written testimonials. It's not as in-depth. It's not gonna take any more than a second, but it could be You got an email back from your client that said, wow, this is the best thing in the world for my business. Oh my God, you've changed my world. Any of those things we can pop all over the website. But what if we took that a step further and we asked them for a Google review?

Yeah.

And the reason I would say a Google review is because you and I would all have some type of automated chat that we can do that says, oh, Rachel's a rock star, blah, blah, blah. I can put that on my website. But if somebody takes that extra step to go put it on Google, they're independently verified. It's not gonna be this spammy review. So it's something that as a consumer you would trust more. Then we can take it a step further and there's video testimonials because wouldn't you wanna see somebody saying this is the best company in the world to work with? I have had a wow experience. experience, they have kicked butt and I'm so grateful for them. And here's what they did for me. Here were my challenges. And if we can do that, why not do a case study at the end of it?

Sure.

And bring in what the real challenge was, because some of us don't love to watch video. So let's do a written format of it. And then you could also video that case study because we want to make sure we're hitting all mediums.

Yeah. Yeah, that's it. It's so interesting. And that also just taking that approach and that mindset really sets you up to deliver results for your clients. Because when you have in mind that, well, at the end of this, I'm going to, you know, A, I want to show exactly what I did. So then now you set up your scope of work to we're going to accomplish A, B, and C. So you've got actual business impact as part of the scope of the proposal. And then once you accomplish it, You've got it. You've now documented, hey, we did this. Let's talk about it. Whether it's doing a quick video or having them go to the Google review site or whatever it might be, having that clear sort of progression of sort of what you know you're going to do and then actually doing it. And then, you know, that's credibility. You have to do it twice. That second step of actually documenting and getting it out there. One of the things that we find is so helpful is really just having a process and systems around asking every client, were you happy with the results that you got? Would you be willing to tell other people? Okay, well, why don't we do a quick video about it? Or I'll be happy to write up a few options of sort of testimonials that you could give. And we actually implement a metric of what percentage of your clients in the last year have either made a referral or given you a testimonial. Because not everyone can make a referral because maybe they don't always, you know, have someone that's a perfect fit for your services or that they know, but everyone can give you a testimonial. And so measuring that metric of what percentage of your clients in the last year have given you one or the other is such a great thing to focus on.

And if you're in a world where you're niched down, so you're only working in B2B service businesses, or you're only working in pest control or HVAC or whatever that may be, with your service business, everyone you're working with could also have a referral because you're really narrowing in on your focus. They know somebody who's in the industry, they know who to talk to, they know who their competition is, who they probably don't want to send you to, but they also have a friend that could be in a different state that's not a competing business.

That's right.

And as a human, we all want to help each other. So can I ask you a favor? You know 2 people right now that could benefit from my service. How can we make that introduction happen? Yeah.

Well, and I know also that, you know, you and I talked a little bit about some other ways to leverage these testimonials is around sort of using them to kind of warm up potential prospects. Talk to us a little bit about some of the things you've done there.

So we create pre-call campaigns for our clients and the big thing that you have to remember is somebody will book a call with you, and if it's cold, they have no idea who you are and why they're going to be on the phone with you. And in most cases, they'll probably cancel, or they'll get on the call and they'll say, hi, who are you?

Right, because there's no credibility or trust yet.

Yeah, that's it. And so why not take these incredible stories that you're creating anyways and utilize them to help warm up the cold traffic So that you can convert them at a higher rate. Not only that, but if someone has an objection, they're just not sure, it's those case studies that will sell your business because you'll have one of someone who was in the same exact spot and you can really utilize that to say, okay, so this is what it could cost you to not work with us today. Yeah.

So, so interesting. So what are some of the ways that you, you know, sort of do that? How do you kind of put that into, into practice tactically?

Well, once somebody books a call, why just send them an email invite? That sounds like such a waste. Send them the email invite and give them a little bit of a taste of what the call is going to be about. Who are you? Why you are an industry expert and how you can help their business even before the discovery call.

Yeah.

Give it a little bit of intrigue and at the same time warm them up with maybe a video of you. And add the testimonials below. Let's give them the opportunity to get to know you without having to be on a call to get to know you. Let's have them wanting your service. And at the same time, this is a great moment that they can opt out because they know that it's not for them.

That's right. And you'd rather not waste your time with someone that it's not for them.

And in advance, they will probably cancel versus just the normal no-show. Because now you've had that human connection, right?

Yeah.

And that human connection makes it where I don't wanna ghost somebody that I haven't really talked to and I don't know, but they've sent me something. So maybe we'll, you know, we'll do it a little bit nicer. We'll cancel the call. We may say why, we may not, but it gives that moment for that human connection to happen.

Yeah. I've also seen along these lines some companies that I've worked with or other people that I've worked with, they'll do like a pre Like a sizzle reel while you're waiting for them, you know, in the Zoom call. And so they've got like a quick 30-second, hey, here's who I am and here's what I do and here's a quick testimonial. And it's such a nice way to sort of open the call. Like, it reminds you, oh yeah, now I remember why I wanted to take some time to meet with them because they've done X, Y, and Z for A, B, and C. And so I'm excited to learn how they can do that with me. It's such an interesting— And, and actually, Simple, cheap, free, easy way to sort of create that credibility and trust with those prospects.

Absolutely. And the only thing to pay attention to when you're doing that, if you have volume and you're gonna add music, just make sure it doesn't overpower the speaker.

Right. Yeah, I need to keep my eye on that myself because I, I tend to be a little bit loud.

Well, how many videos have you been on that autoplay and all of a sudden it's Like, loudest intro music, and then the person is speaking so softly. And so you've turned it down and now they're muted.

That's right.

That's right.

Oh, so I know, uh, one thing that you've been doing too, a little bit more tactically, is, uh, you've been having a lot of success with LinkedIn newsletters. Talk to us about that a little bit.

So it's really crazy how LinkedIn has changed the algorithm. Previously you did an article, you get a little bit of notoriety in here and there, but it didn't work in the way that it should have. And now LinkedIn is providing— when you create a brand new newsletter, they are giving an invite in the notifications bar to connections. And it's a percentage of your connections, it's not 100%. And typically within the first month you'll get 10 to 15% of your connections who will have subscribed. Now, this is the fastest, easiest way to grow a subscription list if you don't have email subscribers, or to add on because you're already on LinkedIn if you're B2B. So what we want to make sure of is how do you grow that influence that you have instead of just organic posts? You're already creating content for SEO. Repurpose it, use it there. Because what we've seen is not only do you get that initial notification for your connections, but now every single time that you post an article, it gets a notification in the notifications bar to everyone who's subscribed. That means your article views are going up. People are seeing your stuff more, and it's helping to really get the content into the hands of people who should have it— your connections that are engaged. And if we can utilize that with a great call to action at the bottom, you're now bringing people in and keeping that awareness going because it may not be the right time today for your product or service. But that doesn't mean 3 months from now that they're gonna remember who you are if you don't stay in front of them.

That's right. And such a great way to sort of build that credibility and trust prior to them needing you. And What a great place to put those testimonials that you've gotten is right into that newsletter right there on LinkedIn. Such a great strategy.

So, well, and one of our clients, he is a commercial real estate agent and epic guy. He's trying to figure out how do we nail this awareness? And we went down a path of let's create a lot of content on 1031 exchanges. That's what he really wanted to focus on. He's an industry expert. How do we get that out? So we created a series of articles about that for his newsletter. And a month and a half goes by and he hadn't gotten any calls. Are you sure that this is working, Rach?

Sure.

3 weeks later, he gets a call out of the blue for an $11 million deal that says, hey, I saw your articles. I know you're the expert. You're the one I need to work with on.

Definitely worth a good return on investment there to write a few articles for an $11 million deal.

Just a couple. And have a great following on LinkedIn and just staying active and using the tools for what they're intended for.

Yeah, well, and it's such a good lesson too of you can't give up. And I've seen that, you know, sort of the— I think about the analogy all the time of, you know, the 2 people that are You know, digging from 2 different sides. And, you know, the gold is right there in the middle and one of them is just inches away, but he's, you know, given up and thrown his shovel to the side. You just gotta keep digging, keep doing those strategies that, you know, will pay off eventually.

And avoid shiny object syndrome. Think about that, right? Like there's a brand new this and a new that and a new marketing technology and a new marketing strategy and a this and a that and the other. And if you don't have a strategist who's there who can just like put blinders on and say, These are the 3 things we're focusing on this quarter, and then we can adjust.

That's right.

Like, we're in trouble if you don't do that.

That's right. Well, Rachel, I could— we could talk about this all day. We're obviously both really passionate about these topics, but I got to be mindful of your time. But before I let you go, tell us something that's on the horizon that you're excited about.

I am extremely excited for 2025 to roll out, and I think there's going to be so much innovation and excitement around AI and how do we all use that in the workplace? And how do we get smarter? Because I don't know about you, but I have so much busywork. I can't stand it. It is the most frustrating thing in the world. I come in in the morning, I want to be creative, or I want to get this done, or I want to go write a case study. And my to-do list is bigger than me.

Sure.

I'm gonna take full advantage, as I hope most of you who are listening will, of AI and how do we make that better and how do we get smarter about how we work and where we work and why we work?

Yeah. I mean, so many, so many new tools coming out that are really sort of making it not so much to replace people, but be a force multiplier. And that's the thing that's really exciting to me about AI is that ability to really leverage it to do more rather than, you know, have fewer people just to instead focus on the things that you want to do. That make more of an impact instead of the things that make less of an impact.

Exactly.

So, Rachel, for those that are listening and want to get in touch with you to learn more about how Rockstar and Moon can help them grow their business, what's the best way to get in touch?

You can visit Rockstar Moon at rockstarmoon.com, or you can visit my website at rachelminion.com. Awesome.

Well, Rachel, thank you so much for taking the time to connect with us today. I know our audience will have gotten a lot out of this.

Thank you so much for your time. It was such a pleasure.

Awesome. Talk to you soon. Thank you for joining this episode of the B2B Growth Blueprint podcast. We hope you've gained insights to grow your business. If you enjoyed this discussion, please rate, comment, like on your favorite platform, and share to others who will find it useful. Do you know a CEO, founder, or leader at an early stage B2B services, tech, or SaaS company who would like to be a guest and share their story, send us a note. Let's schedule a conversation.