0324 | Erin Fults

This is Erin with theacornteam.com and you're listening to EA interviews, EA interviews episode.

324, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's expert Authority Effect interview. Do you have a small business? Do you have a big business? Do you have a medium business that wants to attract more customers?

How do you do this? Do you get that new shiny object thing? Do you click on that thing you saw in some ad? Or do you hire a business made simple or story brand certified coach that has a passion for helping small businesses? We're going to dive into marketing for your business and how it's going to help you and actually how it can pay you dividends as I bring up Aaron Foltz on today's episode right after we thank our sponsor. Every business needs a book, including yours. And that's why I'm launching my new book to help you regardless of where you think your current writing abilities are. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that's EA publishingmethodbook.com Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, Erin Fultz. Erin, how are you feeling today?

I am great, Mario. I'm happy to be here.

I'm happy that you're here too, because I know you're going to share some wisdom with the audience. And I just want to ask you why is most marketing a waste of money?

Yeah, great question. Marketing is so much of it is a waste of money because people are not clear in their marketing message. It's not intentional. But I could guarantee that a ton of your listeners are confusing their audience with their marketing message and they may not even realize it.

How would you know if they're confusing them or not?

Yeah, so so many marketing messages are confusing one because you're just not clear about what you offer. You think that you're clear about what you do and what you offer, but your customer is unclear. And this is especially true in service businesses, businesses that are maybe not as obvious. So you have your, the easy ones like H Vac and plumbing and lawn care companies. And you know, it's not hard to talk about and know what those companies offer, but especially if you get into other businesses, coaches, consultants, those sorts of industries, it can be really, really unclear. You think you're saying, oh, this is what I offer and this is how I help my customer. But your customer is going, how can you help me? Again, I'm still not exactly clear what you offer. And that shows up in websites and other market material that you just go, you look at it and you're like, I don't even know what this company does. And if that's you, that's a problem for sure.

So even if your business is pretty well defined, doctor, lawyers, cpa, you know, all the ones you mentioned, a roofer, plumber, any of that, it's pretty clear what they do. But would you say it's important to have a value statement?

Yeah, absolutely. So beyond just it being really clear what you do, right? I'm a roofer, I'm a plumber, whatever you want to make it clear.

How do you make your customer's life better? Like, why should they care about hiring you versus the guy down the street? And so having a clear value statement, even positioning yourself. So many brands make the mistake of positioning themselves as sort of the hero of their story, where it's all about them. Look at how great I am. Look at how great our company is. Enlisted a long list of accolades and things like that. When your customer doesn't care, all your customer really cares about is how can you make their life better? And so if you're not communicating that, in addition to clarity on what you actually offer, you're really missing an opportunity to invite them into a story, to invite them and help them see you as the solution to whatever problem it is that you solve.

Now you bring up a really good point, and you're actually cueing a memory. I have when I walked into this gentleman's office and it was a potential client, they had one of the first bed loaders that you could install aftermarket on a truck bed. That was like a dump truck thing.

Yeah.

And I remember being in his office with. It was, truthfully my graphic designer at the time and web designer. And I just thought it would be cool to bring him to a meeting, just, you know, because it wasn't me. I had my team. I'm like, well, he doesn't want to do anything about sales, but he can be there. And I remember the owner going, I don't care how good you guys are. I don't care how good you think you are. I don't care what awards you have won. How are you going to help us? And I was just like, I'm glad I had an answer at that point. I mean, this is going back, let's just say a few years.

But I just remember it was like no one had Ever flat out said it to me before, why is it so important that you focus on them? And I didn't go off on all the great things and all that stuff.

Yeah. So customers, they buy solutions to problems, right? Like sure you may, there are brands that.

There are clients and customers who go, I want the best of the best. And they might seek out, you know, that brand who has the accolades or whatever. But it really is more of a status thing in that point. But that is not your everyday consumer and that's not the bulk of the people that, that bulk of our customers. I don't think in that they really go like if I'm going to give you my money, help me understand how you're going to solve a problem for me. Because this is not about me making your business successful. This is about you helping me make my, my business successful. You know, in the case of my clients, say as I'm helping them with marketing their messaging and things like that, like they're looking at me and going, Aaron, how are you going to help us make more money? Like I don't care about, you know, this, that and the other, you know, accolade or whatever. They want to know how I'm going to solve this specific problem and pain point they're up against. And that's true of every consumer. Now do the problems all look different? Yeah. I mean, are some of the problems more, you know, are we talking about a roof over our head and the necessities in life versus things that are, you know, they are discretionary income or depending on what you sell. Right. The way that you're going to position how you're solving a problem is going to be really different from somebody, a different type of business or a different industry. But you still have to go like this is how I'm going to make your life better as a brand and tap into the deeper desire that our customers have because they do purchase a solution to an external problem. But really they're trying to solve an internal problem that, that external problem they're trying to solve for with our product or service. There's an internal problem associated with that. And if we can talk about that internal problem and help our customers see that we get that you don't just need your, your heating and air to work. I live in the south so it is a non negotiable to have a working air conditioner in the summer or you'll die. Right. So I have an H Vac client right now that I'm working. And yes, their customers go, we need our air conditioner to work in July in Mississippi. But really what they want is in that process they want a hassle free experience. They don't want to have to deal with the hassles like it's such a pain to even have to deal with getting your air conditioner fixed to begin with. It's a given that that gets fixed in the process of hiring a service provider. Right. What they really want is somebody to fix it and in it to be a pain free process in that process of getting it fixed. Like that's what they're buying just as much as buying the air conditioner, this blowing cold air. Right?

Yeah. Because anyone can come in and hook up a unit, but if they have a horrible experience and the customer experience isn't what they're desiring, not only is it going to be bad for them, but they're going to go tell 20 people how bad it was.

Yeah, that's exactly it. That's exactly it. So, so in our marketing we need to communicate that. We need to communicate what is the thing that makes us different in how that how we're helping solve our clients issues and problems. And we need to do it super clearly, like state it. If it's not very obvious when I go to your website or your customer comes to your website and if they don't show up on the homepage and go within about 10 seconds, I know exactly what you offer and how you're going to make my life better and how to get it. You're confusing your custom, you're missing out on sales if you don't, if it's not that clear and that obvious right out of the gate.

Now do you have, is this custom? I'm sure this is customized for every single different customer, but do you have a process that you take people through and go, okay, step one is we check out your website, we check out your messaging. Step two is this, Step three is that. Do you have something you could walk us through as far as like, here's what you'd recommend for any business that's going, you know what, maybe our website could get a little better, but I'm not sure where to start. Maybe it's in the brochure, maybe it's the business card. Because I love that you focus on the messaging and the messaging doesn't matter on the platform and it's not dependent on the technology. You can take a crayon. I actually did this in a training one time. I threw down a pack of paper and a pack of pens and I was like, we're gonna fix your business.

Yeah, yeah, the platform doesn't matter. You're right. And the platforms are gonna come and go. Right. You know what's popular today? Social. Social platforms are famous for this, right? There's a popular one this week and next week there'll be a new one. You know, like that's what it feels like sometimes. And so it certainly is platform agnostic that you don't. It applies. So the process that I walk a client through is one, we start with a brand message development process actually. And we, there's a actually used, you mentioned in the intro a story brand certified guide. And so that is the framework. It's a seven part story framework or based in narrative story rather. It's basically a messaging filter. It's seven questions a business can ask to develop a really clear brand message. Something that makes it really clear what they offer, makes it really clear the problem they solve for their customer. It makes it really clear how their customer can get it. And so that's always step one that I start with with a client. After that we go, okay, now where, where are all the places this needs to be applied in the context of your marketing? And that's going to look different for every business. But I can't think of an example where we did not start with their website as the first. Just because that, that is the, the baseline marketing.

It's so easy to spy on everyone. You just look it up.

Yeah, yeah, totally, totally. And so we'll start with, after that we'll move to their website and go, okay, we need to translate this really clear brand message onto your website because ultimately all your other marketing collateral, whether it's a, we get real old school and go, we're going to send out mailers in a mailbox or email or social media, whatever the other platform, all of them eventually are going to lead back to a website almost always. And so you need to almost work backwards and go if that's where we're going to send people eventually, if that's where we all want all the traffic to end up is on a website that then converts into a sale. Whether it's clicking a buy now button on a website because that's the kind of business you can buy through the site or it's hopping on a call with a salesperson or you know, whatever the process is depending on the business, we start with that website and go, okay, now we need to make sure that all of your message, your brand message is incredibly clear on your website and your Website's optimized to make sure that it is prompting people to take the next step you want them to take whether it's schedule a call or buy. Now that you're walking them through, what's the one next thing you want your potential customer to do to move the ball forward in doing business with you? Once we tackle website and get that up and going and optimized for conversion, then we look at all the other pieces. And so the strategy is going to look different depending on the business and their industry and how they do business. But almost always the next step after that is developing a sales funnel. And that looks like how are you getting new leads in the door? What's the process for that? Often that looks like creating some sort of lead generating asset like a PDF in exchange for an email address is the most popular. It's the simplest to create, but some asset, lead generating asset that they can capture a potential customer or leads information and then from there they can nurture them into, into a sale. And again, the process of that is going to be customized for every business. But the overall concept is the same regardless of industry.

Yeah, the framework sounds fantastic. And that's the fun thing I love about business. When we're working with our author clients, you know, to develop the book, it's the same, it's. I don't want to say the same thing, but it's so similar. It's like, what are we gonna, what's the book gonna be about? Well, your business, you know, what do we need to do? It needs the COVID it needs this. And they all need the same thing. But the content you're putting in there, you know, like you said, the website, the funnel, the lead gen, the lead magnet, all those different things that it's real easy to tell. The business either has them or doesn't.

Right.

You know, so it's, I love that you're working out of that. What's been one of the most challenging things you've had?

Not the most challenging thing, the most challenging client you've had that you had to overcome an issue with them.

Yeah, I would say.

The clients that are always the challenge, the most challenging are the ones who come in and they go, they think that they know what they need, they know what they want the result to be and they think they know the process to get there and it's the educating. A lot of my clients actually come to me familiar with say the story brand framework. They know what it is, they go, I want to figure out how to apply that to My business, those are my easiest. Right. They're the ones who are, they're bought into the process. They understand the process. There is no edu. There is education, but there's not the same kind of education in the process. But the ones that are tough are the ones that.

They, they doubt the process or they don't want to implement the whole thing. They go, I just want to cherry pick this one little thing. And you go, well. But they all, they all stack on top of each other, and if you don't do all of it, you're not going to see the kind of results you want to see. So especially with small businesses, it can be tough sometimes to say you have to see it as an investment and it's not something that you're going to necessarily see results next week. It is a long tail, but it's getting the foundation set so you can see the results and you can actually scale over time.

Which is where a lot of small businesses especially, it's kind of this fly by the seat of your pants, but they don't have, they don't have a real process and foundation in place.

It's all piecemealed.

It's piecemealed. It's.

It's work on the site this year, the messaging next year. Now the site's broken and, oh, now there's something cool for Facebook. That must be the secret.

Yep. Shiny object syndrome. Is it? Absolutely. Yeah. And it is. It's the piecemeal. Like let's, let's put this together with bubble gum and toothpicks is what it feels like sometimes. And so that can be a challenge for sure.

I can relate to that. And, you know, I've used the example of if you're a doctor, you go to the doctor, the doctor says you need A, B, C, D, E, F, G. You don't go, well, I just want to go with B and D. Right?

Yep. That's it. That's it. You have to look at it in context. And I think that's where a lot of, a lot of businesses really regardless of the size, because I've seen this in larger businesses too, where you go, your marketing is just your overall strategy of how all these pieces are putting, are put together. They don't really fit together and they're not serving each other. So each, each piece of marketing collateral. So whether it's a website, whether it's a lead generator, whether it's how you're showing up on social media, all of it needs to fit within a larger context and a Larger plan. And if it doesn't, it really is random acts of marketing that don't play or build on each other. And it's, you know, you're pulling in 30 directions and you can't ever. And people wonder why you can't get traction. And it's pretty rare that, you know, you have some people go, well, Facebook doesn't work, or whatever the platform is, or whatever the tactic. Oh, it doesn't work. Well, it doesn't work if you don't use it in, in a larger context. One off rarely is going to get you the results that you're going after.

Yeah. Neither do attorneys, CPAs, real estate, bankers, roofers, construction work, like real restaurants. None of those industries are profitable. Right. Well, what's the common denominator there, Bob?

Exactly. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So it is, it's. It's having an overall strategy, having an overall brand message and then just methodically implementing it.

You know, so it is cohesive and so all of it builds on each other to serve a common goal. Right. Which is what, make more money, like make more sales. Right. But too often they can, they can work against each other sometimes and you just can't, can't get traction if there's inconsistencies between the different platforms or places that you're showing up with marketing activities.

Well, I appreciate you taking us through that. I want to ask you how you got into this because you have a passion for it and I'm hearing that. But why did you decide on marketing as here's what I want to choose for my career.

Yeah. So I actually don't feel like I necessarily chose marketing. It kind of.

Marketing chose you.

Marketing chose me? Yeah, it kind of found me. So I actually, I had a photography business for about 11 years and it was in the process of building and growing that studio and that business that I really fell in love with business. And about two thirds of the way through having that business, I started working more with small business owners where my clients for, for my photography business. And I was helping them with their brand visuals, you know, custom stock photography for websites, those kinds of things. And it became evident really quickly that these businesses just did not have. They did not have a strategy or the resources. They were trying to fill this one little piece of the puzzle. The images, the visual part of their brand, but they didn't have the larger marketing strategy. And so I was implementing some things in my own business that were working really well. The story brand framework and using that messaging filter framework was one of them. And so I really fell in love with that process. And I started kind of on the side, started helping my photography clients go, like, I can help you with a bigger picture than just the images because this is not going to be enough. And over time, it sort of morphed into transitioning to doing marketing full time. And I really loved it. To see, see small businesses especially, to really be part of guiding them and helping them get what they need to grow and to thrive. I love that. I think they can have such impact on our communities. They just have direct impact on owners and your individual employees in a way that feels different, I think, than larger companies. And so I really enjoy, enjoy helping them succeed and getting emails and text messages that say, you know, I had to turn off that, sending those emails because we have more business than we can handle. You know, like, those are the kinds of things that are so fun to see them grow in ways that they just could not have imagined prior to working together.

What do you think it would look like if more small businesses were marketing as big businesses?

Yeah, I think we would see.

One. This may sound counterintuitive, but I think that small businesses would feel less overwhelmed by marketing if they would pull back like a larger business. You know, larger businesses, often they have whole marketing departments, right? A small business, you have somebody who's, you know, they got handed the marketing hat, but they have about 14 other jobs that they're doing. I mean, it is the nature, especially really small businesses. And so if they would pull back and go, let's develop an overall strategy and get really clear on that. Instead of this, you know, what's the new marketing thing of the day? And feeling like you're always behind you, never on all the platforms you're supposed to be on or whatever those feelings are that they have. But have a strategy and go, no, we're going to develop a plan and we're going to work the plan. And we're not going to get sidetracked by the newest social platform that shows up next week. I think, one, they would be less overwhelmed as it relates to marketing. But two, I mean, they're going to see results and they're going to see growth to whatever level they want to grow their business. Right. Not all small businesses want to turn into big businesses. That's not always the goal. But getting really clear on what's the goal, what's the business I want to build, and you can get there a lot faster than you think if you put the investment into smart marketing, you know, invest in that engine of your business. If you will, to propel it forward.

Yeah, those are great points. And what I think is great about the structure is let's say you have five people on your team right now, and you're looking at a business that has 50. Well, those 50 people, there's not 49 different jobs. There's probably the same five or six, but they each have 10 on that team. Like you're talking about where the small business might have one graphic designer, one or one marketer, one salesperson, this bigger business. And it's all relative. Because truthfully, I think Small Business association, it's like any business under a hundred employees is a small business, or under 10 million a year, it's a small business. So it's all relative. But when you have 10 people on the team, it's because this stuff works and they need to scale it to keep up with it. Like you said, oh, it's working so well, we had to shut it down. No, you don't shut it down. You got to the point where it's working, right?

Yeah.

You get more people to take the calls and follow up with them.

Yep, that's it. That's it. Well, and then you end up in a. I mean, it can create other issues, right? I mean, if we're. If you're really seeing results quickly in terms of scaling up with your marketing, the client that I mentioned, where they, you know, they had to say, we can't send any more of these emails because we can't handle more. You know, you. You get into these. This tension of going, we do have to get add to our team. And there's the process of going through that, to do that in a healthy way. There is a balance there in knowing when to pull the right levers to keep moving forward in a healthy and sustainable way. Because that's important too, when you're growing a business is it needs to be in a way that's healthy and it's sustainable. And striking that balance in all of those pieces is part of the fun. I mean, I think that is the.

Fun of just thinking the same thing. You don't want to go from, oh, we're dealing with 10 clients a week to 100. If you don't have the infrastructure. And even if you do, that's a pretty significant jump. You have to, like, go back and forth, leave some time. Are we good? Okay, cool. Go for it again.

That's fantastic. I'm glad you're out there helping them because I have a passion for helping people too. And, you know, I've worked with small businesses and, you know, they've been in the audience and there's all kinds of. And they're listening now. You know, hey, what's up? So it's, I really believe, because I've had the pleasure of working with people from all over the country, nationally and internationally, and just the way they think about stuff, it's like, wow, that's so much different. But you can apply it if I believe you can wrap your head around it. And sometimes, like you said, hey, we don't want to grow past here, but, you know, there's things you can do. Let's just get our time back here. And maybe you don't need to be working 20 hours a day if you put a system in place. So I'm glad you're working with them. And they're better off for. I have no doubt about that. I got one more question for you before we thank our sponsor. You know what that question is?

What's that?

I don't know. I don't know either because this thing determines it. Ah, it's the wheel of whatever. That's a real good spin. Wow. On a roll today. So is this yellow or black?

We'll go black.

Nice. So it's interesting, this is my own personal split test between all the VIP guests because it seems like it's like all yellow, then it's all black, and sometimes it's mixture. So where'd it land? Landed on black.

My question for you is, what do you think is going to be the next big thing in marketing over the next five or ten years? And what do you think won't change at all and will still work in 10 years from now?

Yeah. So I think we're just call it the next big thing. Might. Might be generous, but I think that we will continue to see that customers want things to feel very custom to them. They want to feel like we're speaking directly to them. So this sort of mass message of being bombarded by things that don't apply to them, I think we'll continue to see a move toward companies that can be more custom in their. In the way they're reaching their clients. It feels more personal. I think we'll continue to see the companies that do that reap the rewards. What's not going to change is really smart messaging that is clear and speaks to the heart of your ideal customer and using a narrative story framework to develop that message. Our brains have been wired to respond to story for centuries. That's not changed in centuries. It's not changing anytime soon. And so clear messaging, regardless of the platform that comes up or the application is never going to go away.

I love that. I've used the examples of the Rockefellers and Edison and Tesla and all the turn of the century businesses. I go, they didn't have Internet or 99% of what we have now and they were still able to pull it off.

Yep. Yeah. The human relationship and the way they develop has not changed much. You know, we have different tools, but it's still just human to human. We're all just people.

I've often wanted to. If you were to drop us 100 years ago, 200 years ago, would it be harder or simpler? I think that's fascinating.

I think it would be simpler, yeah. If we were to go back 200 years in as businesses in marketing, you.

Only had a few options that either, you know, it's either working or it doesn't.

It's working or it doesn't. You're localized. We don't have this global, you know, everybody's connected, you know, via Internet. It gets way simpler. Of course your competition looks different. You know, if you're in a. Yeah.

They have a spear and they'll throw it at you.

Yeah, totally. Yeah. The hazards look a little bit different than they. Than they do today, but yeah, that'd be interesting.

All right, well, we're gonna thank our sponsor and come back for the imperfect action room. You've heard me say every business needs a book, including yours. And it's true. And that's why I'm launching my new book at eapublishing method book.com so you can learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. But you know what, don't take my word for it. Take it from a few of my authors like Lori, I went from having.

An idea and a possibility to actually getting my book published.

Or Catherine, thank you for making my.

Mom number one best selling author.

Or Mary Alice, what he got done.

For me in three days regarding my book launch.

Unmanageable.

John Cody.

I've worked with Mario over the phone.

And online and he's been very helpful in getting me where I needed to.

Go with promoting my books.

Rocio.

There's no way in the world I would have been able to do this with somebody else again. I've attempted it in the past. It didn't serve me. As a matter of fact, I ended up more frustrated than anything. So this has been a very seamless process. Adele, if you're looking for an amazing business coach, I highly recommend Mario Ficcini or Bill Benner.

I can't make a higher recommendation for me than to work with Mario Ficini. He has been great for me and right now I won't work with anybody.

Else except for Mario.

Hey, their words, not mine. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get your copy and I look forward to hearing your transformation as our next video success story. Once again, that's eapublishing method book.com and we are back with the Imperfect action round. Aaron, are you ready to take imperfect action?

I'm ready to go. Mario. Ready to go.

All right, I got three questions for you. 60 second or less answers. The first one is what is the fastest path to the cash in your marketing?

The fastest path to the cash is to develop a really clear message and then to start with your customer base. Don't forget about the people who've already bought from you. Re engage with them. They are far more likely to buy from you again. It's easier to have them buy from you again. Then acquire new people. Don't forget about them.

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem your prospects are making and the fastest way they can fix it?

Yeah, biggest problem my prospects are making are really confusing messaging and they just don't realize it. And the random acts of marketing like we talked about earlier that they're not operating out of a cohesive strategy with a really clear message. And so you go to resources like Building a Story brand. Great book by Donald Miller that walks through the story brand framework to help you develop a really clear message. Go read that. Go work. Work through developing that framework and then apply it to your website and all your other marketing material.

Customer Lifetime value. What's the best way to maximize it?

Yeah, kind of what I said earlier. Continue to nurture your customers. Like nurture them, nurture them, nurture them. So that can look a lot of different ways. Email list is one of the most popular to just continue to provide value and nurture those customers and they'll come back over and over and over again.

Excellent.

You mentioned storybrand, but what other books would you recommend to Expert Authority World?

Yeah, so I really love all of Donald Miller's book. So Building A story brands one marketing made simple that he wrote with Dr. J.J. peterson is another. That's great. Great for just a marketing plan and overall strategy. Business Made simple is another one. That's fantastic. So any of those are great. Recently read they Ask youk Answer by Marcus Sheridan. That's a fantastic one about how to create fantastic content and really up your inbound marketing game just by answering your customers questions. Be the brand that's willing to do that. And that's a fantastic one that I highly recommend.

I have not heard of that one yet. Well, thank you for sharing it.

Yeah, add it to your list.

All right. Where would you like people to learn more?

Yeah, so you can find me@the t-ecornteam.com and actually put together Mario, for your audience, if they go to theacornteam.comeainterviews they can find some downloads and freebies that will help them with clarifying their message and applying it to their website. And then erin Foltz on LinkedIn is the best social platform to track me down on.

Excellent. Well, thank you for that and I'll make sure that makes it into the show notes on the website. Aaron, it's been a pleasure. Thank you for sharing everything you have.

Thank you Mario. It's been a pleasure to talk with you today.

All right, Expert Authority World, we have another great episode here today. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day and God bless.

You're already the expert, but have you transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate qualified leads while increasing profit for you 247 and if so, how well are you promoting it? With my new book, the Expert Authority Effect Publishing Method, I take you through my process step by step. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit eapublishingmethod book.com to get started now Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.com thanks for listening to today's episode. I would love to know what you enjoyed most from it. If you haven't done so already. I invite you to connect with me on my new LinkedIn. You can go to it directly at eainterviews.com LinkedIn Once again, that's eainterviews.com LinkedIn lastly, check out the full eainterviews.com site for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you on the next one.