Understanding the Essentials of Customer Acquisition in the Digital Age

Trey Robinson: 00:00:00

If you know you're 90 seconds in and they're still looking

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at you like you got a third eye, you

probably still have some refinement to.

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Brett: Mm, that's good.

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And welcome to a new episode

of Digital Coffee Mark.

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A Getting Brew.

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I'm your host, Brett Dyer.

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If you could please subscribe to this

podcast and all your favorite podcasting.

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Absolutely.

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For Five Star Review, it really

does help with the rankings.

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Let me know how I'm doing.

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But this week we're gonna talk about

customers, acquisitions, data, all the

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things that marketers should know, but

maybe boring to some, but it's still

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really important to actually know.

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But with me, I have Trey Robinson

here and he has been in the financial

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services industry since 1997.

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He's worked with Charles Schwab.

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Acquired and he went from being

responsible for a single marketing

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channel newsletter to becoming the

head of marketing and division for

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the startup by Charles Schwab at USAA.

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He was responsible for doubling

their account growth, client

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acquisition, and grew it by more

than 850,000 within three years.

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But welcome to the show, Trey.

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Trey Robinson: Thank you for having me

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Brett: ask the first question, ask all my

guest is, are you a coffee or tea drinker?

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Ha.

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Trey Robinson: Coffee.

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Actually both but if I have

to choose coffee every time,

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Brett: any specifics that you

like or you just just give it

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to me 'cause it has caffeine.

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Trey Robinson: No.

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In the afternoon it's iced

cold brew in the morning.

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It's got a little cream and sugar in it,

but I'm one of those all day coffee, gas.

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Brett: It's a good thing that you

don't actually, you can still go to

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sleep with an all day drinking coffee.

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Trey Robinson: Yes.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Brett: Anyways, I gave a brief

summary of your expertise.

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Can you give our listeners a

little bit more about what you do?

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Trey Robinson: I've spent my entire career

trying to find new clients for customers.

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A lot of it in financial services.

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And that's probably my

favorite thing to do.

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And the thing I love to do most,

whether it's for a brand I'm working

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for directly or or a client is

figure out how to help 'em grow.

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And usually that means.

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Finding them new clients.

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Brett: Got you.

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And so what are some more of the

effective channels for acquiring new

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customers in today's digital landscape?

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We got social media, we've

got email newsletters, which

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is still pretty effective.

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Like what is effective

for businesses today?

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Trey Robinson: A lot of it's driven by

the client's budget, market size, right?

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When I was at Schwab, we ran,

we went all the way out into tv.

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I don't recommend that unless you've

got a, a relatively large budget.

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If we're talking about a startup,

I think Google Search is a great

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place to start because it's high

intent, it's relatively affordable.

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There's not a lot of waste.

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And so what we like to do at Story

Amplify, our agency is sit down and

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talk to a potential client about

what resources do they have, who's

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the target, where do we find them,

what's worked in the past, and tailor

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something that's real specific to them

based on budget, geographic region.

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Target audience.

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But it's hard, honestly, if you're

new to marketing, to not start

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with something like and you wanna

start in a page channel, like

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something like search, because

it's, it tends to be very effective.

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It's got its downside.

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But if you're talking about starting

out where to start, we love starting

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at the, the bottom of the funnel.

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Brett: And it is like podcasting

starting to become that mix.

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'cause you do have very niche

podcasts that actually can.

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Fit within the user or

customer acquisition.

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Financially you can find a bunch

of financial pod podcasts and that

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some of 'em could be cheap and

some of 'em could be expensive.

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You really have to choose.

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Pick and choose.

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Trey Robinson: Yeah, a absolutely.

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One of the things when it comes,

especially if we're talking about media,

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we're talking about spending money.

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One of the things that's really

important for a marketer to

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think about is efficiency.

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How do I minimize the waste?

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And so when you think about a podcast,

if you are going after a specific niche

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in financial services it might be,

people that are close to retirement

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and you've got a podcast that

focuses on living in retirement, I.

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Most of those people listening to it

are gonna be in your target market.

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And so I love that type of niche

podcast for a niche brand because

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when they really align, like I said,

we're not wasting a lot of media.

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On the other side, I think a bad

mistake is when you pick a broad

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media channel for a brand that

doesn't have a broad appeal audience.

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And the other day we were

watching baseball and I

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noticed the logo on the patch.

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On the shoulder of the Rangers was for

a B2B energy play, and I was like, I

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don't understand why a B2B advertiser

that has a relatively small market.

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Wants to buy time on a major league

broadcast that's advertising to a

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relatively large consumer market.

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And it's that kind of thing we wanna avoid

as marketers is really, where there's a

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mismatch between advertising target and

and the medium that, that they're at.

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Brett: Yeah, it does sound weird given

that I know that you can get some sales

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through it, but if nobody knows who you

are, it's kinda that's a weird logo.

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You might as well just spend it

on LinkedIn and then B2B marketing

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podcasts or B2B Energy podcasts or

just energy podcasts in general,

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and probably spend way less and

probably hit more of your target.

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Audience.

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Trey Robinson: Absolutely.

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And I think there's a spot for in every

in every business plan for a mass media

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play, but it needs to be after you've

exhausted the lower funnel stuff.

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That's what we, I like to

move from the bottom up.

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I there's a brand here in Austin, I think

it's called Self, and it's a financial

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services startup, and I saw them on

the court of . The Santino Spurs last

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season, and I was like, that's awesome.

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I know those guys are responsible.

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I know they do a good

job in their marketing.

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I know they built it from the bottom up.

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And what was impressed me was, wow,

that's reaching a lot of people and that

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brand is now big enough to be moving

into a mass market type brand play.

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Like the Spurs to me just said a

lot for how that brand has grown.

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Like I said, there's always a spot.

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You just wanna make sure it fits with the

goals and the market size for your client.

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Brett: Could like one of the lower

parts of the funnel be like your

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webpage and your landing pages and

like offering something for free.

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'cause that's an easy way of

getting into your newsletter

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to eventually sell to them.

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It's a slower process, but it's a little

bit cheaper in a way of your own website.

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Trey Robinson: Oh, absolutely.

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We love content marketing.

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And I think content marketing works

best when you've got however the

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audience is getting there, whether

it's a Google search or it's a, or

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it's an ad whatever the content that's

on the ad that's driving them to that

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landing page, let make sure that the

messaging is very aligned to the problem

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that the the user's trying to solve.

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And then that downloadable piece

of content or deeper piece of

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content is also very aligned.

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So let's just say someone's Googling

. Tools to reduce my: 2023

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And then the ad or the blog topic is,

ways to reduce your 22 3 tax taxes.

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And then the downloadable on the

right side says all the ticks and

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tricks to reduce your tax bill.

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We've got real alignment between

what they were researching, what

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they saw, what ad they saw, what

they're finding on the landing

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page, and what that downloadable is.

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I think in a case like that where we're

using content, where brands can get

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themselves in trouble is they start to

introduce themselves too soon before

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they've really given the research or the

client the answer they were looking for.

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Because the last thing you want is

them to hit your landing page and

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then back out 'cause they don't

see what they were looking for.

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So I think in that case, when we're

playing with content, we love content.

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One of our golden rules is keep

it as aligned as possible and

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when you solve the user's problem,

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Then you've earned the right to

start talking about yourself.

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And love content for that reason.

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But I do think there's some tricks and

tips about when to start talking about

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yourself versus solving their problem.

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That will that can really minimize

the abandonment rate of that of

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that lead if we're real conscious

about putting their needs first.

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Brett: So it's almost like keeping

it as frictionless as possible.

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'cause if you're like, Hey,

I'm gonna solve your problem,

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jump over to my website.

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And I'm like I don't have a.

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Where's solving my problem except for sign

up for this, and I'm like, okay, I don't

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really, it's to some people it's I don't

really need that problem solved that much.

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And so then you lose customers because

Do you think it's the important like

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problem or solu to the solution and

I can just go to YouTube and find it

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a lot more frictionless than having

to jump through all these hoops?

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Trey Robinson: Yeah, absolutely.

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I think reducing friction

is the name of the game.

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And so when we sit down with our clients.

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Or I sit down if I'm in a new role,

one of the first things we try to do

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is really understand like what they're

trying to do, what they've done in the

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past, who their target is, because then

we can build a custom solution to them.

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And to your point that, that has

maybe the maximum pull through

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that minimizes the friction that

drives the most alignment with their

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With their brand.

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And so a lot of times it is custom.

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But I think there are some tenets

like we were just talking about, that

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you can carry from client to client

or campaign to campaign that, that

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I would consider best practices.

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Brett: Is there any way

to personalize this?

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'cause everybody likes things to be

custom to them for the most part.

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There's a certain extent of how

personalized you can get, but is

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there any ways to personalize it, to

humanize it a little bit so people are

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like, oh, you guys are thinking of me.

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Even though, to be honest with

you, it's probably using ai.

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We're just making you feel good?

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Trey Robinson: Yeah, I think the more you

know about who you're marketing to, the

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more you could improve your relevance.

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And you can do that through if it's a

one-to-one tactic like email, you can

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do that through the some of the variable

texts and fields that you might have

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in your CRM so that your dear name.

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Inserting paragraphs about or images

that we know are relevant to that user.

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If we get broader, like we were talking a

second ago with media but we're still in

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a, like a targeted media, like a podcast.

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I think customizing that read to

be about the problem or the topic

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of that podcast and really trying

to be as relevant as you can.

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It's obviously harder in media than it is

in one-to-one communications, but anytime

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you can, as we know, improve relevance, I.

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And reprove customization.

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We're gonna drive higher

engagement by the user.

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And then what that ultimately

translates to is better conversion.

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Brett: And is there some innovative

ways of using social media

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to do customers acquisition?

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I know it's commonplace to use social

media and it's depending on your

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generation too, because Gen Z Alpha

usually use TikTok, millennials, us,

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sometimes use TikTok, but mostly it's

YouTube, Instagram, and everybody

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else is like Instagram and Facebook.

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Trey Robinson: Yeah, to your point,

knowing where your audience is key.

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More and more the the, platforms

are pay for play, right?

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So we always, even though we put

together organic content for our

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clients, we always recommend spending

some money to boost the content or

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wrapping that with some paid ads.

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But our general rule of thumb in social

is create good content, create relevant

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pieces that solve people's problems.

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Put them on your site, put them on

your blog, then spin ads to run.

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Traffic to them.

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And since you've already done all

of that work to create the content

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and the experience also included in

your social, and then depending on

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budgets, spend money on social to to

boost it and drive engagement to it.

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We are a big bel believer

in create once, use many.

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In the marketing world because we

know how hard it is to create content

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and how today, obviously AI is making

some of that easier, we never find a

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marketer that has a bunch of extra time.

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And so one of the things we

like to do when we're creating

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a campaign is include social.

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And make sure that we are creating

assets that that, that are

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part of an integrated campaign.

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But mostly for us we try to start at the

content piece and then figure out, okay

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who that now that we've got something

that's really robust, how do we get

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it out in front of the right users?

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And social usually becomes part

of that, but it's never usually

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our primary starting point.

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It's usually an add-on to a campaign.

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Brett: Would you advise using like the

LinkedIn newsletter feature or would you

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like to place your news or your email

marketing specifically on your website?

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Because I know it's a difference between

rented and paid for or bought because

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you're only renting from LinkedIn.

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You may, you do something wrong

and all that stuff's gone.

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.

Trey Robinson: Yeah, I think as a marketer, the way to think about

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your email list is it's an asset

that you've created for use, right?

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And so I'm a big believer

in building your own list.

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I.

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And keeping it really clean and

keeping it outta spam filters

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and maintaining that asset.

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But to your point, that takes time, right?

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And so if you're a new brand and

you're starting out how can you

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use a LinkedIn feature or a rented

feature to drive people to the

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site, get them maybe subscriber,

a series or something like that?

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Use your blog to have a

subscription feature, right?

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Things you can surround

your marketing with.

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But over time, I think the right

thing to do is to build your own.

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Newsletter database, but in the beginning

I think it's great to use the rented

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ones or if you're launching a new product

or going on FD Target and you feel like

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your database you have is maybe off a

little bit, that's when I would rent.

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But, just like I tell my kids

long-term we wanna be a house

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buyer, not a house renter.

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I think in the email world,

we want to create that asset.

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And so if we can create an email

list that we own I'm a big fa fan

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of that as a long-term strategy.

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Brett: It's true.

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But never buy a house in California

'cause you'll just lose everything.

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Trey Robinson: Yes.

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You definitely don't wanna buy

anything at the top of the market,

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but yes there are certain markets.

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But like when we talk about rent

versus buying an email, I think

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it's also important as a marketer to

be thinking about rent versus buy.

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I.

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Across their channels.

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And what and a lot of times we have

conversations with clients and they

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say should I do organic search?

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Or do I should paid search?

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Should I create organic

content or should you pay?

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And I look 'em in the face and

I say, do you have more time

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or do you have more money?

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And most of the time the answer is,

it's some kind of balance, right?

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Because the organic tactics.

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Building a newsletter list.

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Those take time, right?

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The paid tactics are immediate

ad, but every time you use

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them, it costs you money, right?

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And so what we're a big believer

of is working with our clients to

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create some organic content, create

a way to sign up for a newsletter

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and be doing that from day one.

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At the same time, we're

running some paid ads.

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We're renting some lists, and

so we're finding a blend there.

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But what happens over time is the

organic content starts to rank.

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We start to build ourselves a newsletter,

and if we do it right, we become

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less dependent on our paid channels.

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Because we built our brand, we built

our organic search, we built our

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email list, and then that allows us to

have a lower cost to acquire, right?

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And ultimately, as we push our cost to

acquire down and we do things to improve

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. The lifetime value of those clients,

we start to build a healthy business.

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And so we love to come alongside our

clients and help them think about the

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short term and the long term, the rent

and the buy because when you do that, I

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think from the beginning, you can look up

in five years and have a very healthy mix.

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And as a marketer, be very secure in your

role because you've created a sustainable

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acquisition model for your business.

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Brett: Got you.

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And what are some of the common

mistakes companies make with

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a cus customer acquisition?

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We've been talking about email

marketing and doing con rate content

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and a little bit of frictionless too.

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But is there any other common

mistakes that they are like, oh,

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this is a great idea, and it's you

probably shouldn't do that yet?

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Trey Robinson: There's a couple

of things that we talk about.

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One I love when something goes viral.

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I think it's awesome.

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I think that's really hard.

305

: 00:15:20

And so explaining to your founders,

your partners, your business partners

306

: 00:15:24

your CEO, that this is a time, this

thing's gonna take time, right?

307

: 00:15:29

That they're, that silver bullets

are great and we will look for

308

: 00:15:31

them, but ultimately we need to.

309

: 00:15:34

This is a re effort reward

business in marketing.

310

: 00:15:36

And we need to be methodical and we need

to build a machine that works and we

311

: 00:15:41

need to invest in our channels and we

need to build things right over time.

312

: 00:15:44

That's one thing.

313

: 00:15:45

I think people try to, or

they expect success too fast.

314

: 00:15:47

They look for silver bullets.

315

: 00:15:49

They're not real methodical

in their methodology.

316

: 00:15:51

That leads me to number two,

they're not really measuring.

317

: 00:15:55

What's working and what's not working.

318

: 00:15:56

They don't have good dashboards.

319

: 00:15:58

They'll go all the way

down to revenue, right?

320

: 00:16:01

It's, they, like a lot of

people can get clicks and opens.

321

: 00:16:04

That comes in HubSpot, but what are,

what's our conversion rate on the visitor?

322

: 00:16:09

How are they buying?

323

: 00:16:10

How much are they buying?

324

: 00:16:10

And so having a dashboard that allows you

to really understand what's working out at

325

: 00:16:15

the top of your funnel based on revenue.

326

: 00:16:18

I think is a, is a mistake that people

make that, like I said, they don't spend

327

: 00:16:20

enough time building out their dashboards.

328

: 00:16:22

So that, that'd be number two.

329

: 00:16:24

I think lack of consistency

is something we see.

330

: 00:16:28

We, I had a client once who had changed

their target market and honestly

331

: 00:16:33

change the brand almost annually

for five years in a row looking for.

332

: 00:16:40

A quick pop.

333

: 00:16:40

And when and when we stepped in, it

was, when I stepped in, it was, we

334

: 00:16:44

were five years in and ultimately

if they had just been consistent for

335

: 00:16:48

five years, they probably went much

farther ahead than they are now.

336

: 00:16:51

Were now becau, but they just

didn't really spend the time to

337

: 00:16:56

understand up front who they were

going for and being consistent.

338

: 00:16:59

And so I think consistency

over time is a big thing.

339

: 00:17:02

And . Then lastly, I think number

four would be would be making sure

340

: 00:17:07

that you're hitting a customer pain

point that they actually really have

341

: 00:17:10

and your messaging is really clear.

342

: 00:17:12

We we had a discussion the other day with

the brand and, they, I was like I don't,

343

: 00:17:16

there were two different startups and they

were both in the real estate world and

344

: 00:17:21

one of them focused on generating leads

for real estate agents, and the other

345

: 00:17:26

one focused on engagement of homeowners.

346

: 00:17:30

I.

347

: 00:17:31

I was like, okay, I understand what it

means to create a lead for a realtor

348

: 00:17:34

and why they would pay for that,

but how do you monetize engagement?

349

: 00:17:38

And they were like if we can get

the yada y, know what I'm saying?

350

: 00:17:40

And so I took me a long time to

break down that messaging to help

351

: 00:17:45

them under, to understand what they

were doing as a business and to

352

: 00:17:48

ultimately how what we needed to do.

353

: 00:17:50

As a marketing team.

354

: 00:17:51

And so I think number four, sometimes you

can get too close to your own messaging

355

: 00:17:56

and you think you're being clear, but

when really you're not being clear, you're

356

: 00:17:59

not really solving a pain point, you're

not really hitting a big consumer need.

357

: 00:18:04

And so I think just being very diligent

about what you do, who you do it for

358

: 00:18:09

and speaking it very plainly would

be, a fourth mistake is you get caught

359

: 00:18:12

on, in your own messaging swirl.

360

: 00:18:14

Brett: So let's say it's

not like a company secret.

361

: 00:18:17

Should you give it to one of your

friends and family member, be like,

362

: 00:18:19

does this make sense to you or

would you be interested in this?

363

: 00:18:22

Because I feel like when you say

you're too close to it, it's true.

364

: 00:18:25

We get too close to our own things and

we aren't very objective after that.

365

: 00:18:28

We're very subjective.

366

: 00:18:30

Where any criticisms like, wait,

whoa, what are you talking about?

367

: 00:18:34

But is it good to get outside help

or get someone on outside eyes

368

: 00:18:37

to actually look at it and see

if it's actually clear or not?

369

: 00:18:41

Trey Robinson: 100%.

370

: 00:18:41

There's a lot of survey tools out

there that aren't very expensive.

371

: 00:18:44

And so I love the, I love using those.

372

: 00:18:46

We use, still use SurveyMonkey

all the time with clients, right?

373

: 00:18:48

If it's an easy, quick way.

374

: 00:18:50

Especially if they have a list

of prospects or a little bit more

375

: 00:18:53

sophisticated survey tool will.

376

: 00:18:56

Recruit for you.

377

: 00:18:58

But let's just be simple.

378

: 00:18:59

Like you've got friends and family, you've

got cocktail parties you go to, you can

379

: 00:19:03

go, you can easily go to a LinkedIn, even

though they're not my favorite thing.

380

: 00:19:06

Network mixer, right around a happy hour

and when someone says, what do you do?

381

: 00:19:12

Work on your pitch, work

on your messaging, right?

382

: 00:19:14

If they're like, oh, I

get that's really cool.

383

: 00:19:16

I know that like you're like,

Hey, I'm getting it right.

384

: 00:19:18

If you know you're 90 seconds in and

they're still looking at you like

385

: 00:19:21

you got a third eye, you probably

still have some refinement to do.

386

: 00:19:25

Brett: That is very true.

387

: 00:19:27

But what's the role of some brand

building in the long term acquisitions?

388

: 00:19:30

Like what are some ways of doing

those customers acquisitions and

389

: 00:19:33

grow growth with the brand building?

390

: 00:19:35

Because it feels like with startups

you're build, building your brand,

391

: 00:19:40

but you're also trying to acquire

customers and growth at the same time.

392

: 00:19:44

So what are some building blocks

or brand building blocks to

393

: 00:19:48

actually do this in the long term?

394

: 00:19:49

Because everybody wants

to do it in the long term.

395

: 00:19:52

Trey Robinson: Yeah.

396

: 00:19:52

Yeah.

397

: 00:19:52

So first of all I think if you're a

startup, I love the idea of being clear

398

: 00:19:57

on who you are, what pain point you solve,

how you say it, who your target market is.

399

: 00:20:03

I think that's step one of your brand.

400

: 00:20:04

And that's done around a

table in your own office.

401

: 00:20:06

To your point, step

two is let's test that.

402

: 00:20:09

And so cocktail parties, there's

some informal researcher.

403

: 00:20:12

We have money, some formal

research to make sure.

404

: 00:20:15

That our thesis and our messaging

is resonating with customers.

405

: 00:20:19

And and when you get that done, that's

the foundation of your brand, right?

406

: 00:20:23

It's who you stand for.

407

: 00:20:24

It's who you serve, it's what

you do unique in the market.

408

: 00:20:27

You typically wrap a campaign around that.

409

: 00:20:30

And those campaigns for

startups need to deliver.

410

: 00:20:34

They are hardworking, low funnel

tried and true tactics, but.

411

: 00:20:39

Along the way, they're reinforcing

your company name and what you do

412

: 00:20:43

and the value prop that you add.

413

: 00:20:44

And so even though they're

direct marketing tactics, they're

414

: 00:20:48

not devoid of name and brand

and colors and other things.

415

: 00:20:51

Name and logo and colors and

experience, which is your brand, right?

416

: 00:20:54

And so I believe that you can.

417

: 00:20:57

Once you spend the time to really

understand who you are and what you

418

: 00:21:00

do, I think you can do direct marketing

tactics that are meant to drive new

419

: 00:21:05

customers and wrap them in some brand

elements that are building your brand.

420

: 00:21:10

I don't, I think that's a long way

of saying I don't think direct market

421

: 00:21:13

tactics and brand or mutually exclusive.

422

: 00:21:16

As the marketing machine matures and

the company starts to grow and you move

423

: 00:21:20

up funnel, you will, your tactics will

naturally become less direct response

424

: 00:21:26

oriented and start to infuse more

and more emotion tactics like video.

425

: 00:21:32

Tv, those have natural elements that

can be more storytelling, that can be

426

: 00:21:37

a more emotive in their nature, and

then that allows the brand to express

427

: 00:21:41

its way itself in different ways.

428

: 00:21:43

And so I think that you want

to include those elements.

429

: 00:21:46

But like we were saying earlier,

as you move up the funnel, as you

430

: 00:21:51

mature your acquisition machine,

you spend more and more time in

431

: 00:21:54

those higher level tactics and that

will give you more space for brand.

432

: 00:21:57

But I think you can build

brand all along the way.

433

: 00:22:01

And I think it's how you talk,

how you do your offer, who you

434

: 00:22:03

target, how you're clear, right?

435

: 00:22:05

Even in some of the language you

use, I think you are building brand.

436

: 00:22:09

And I don't think those two the

direct response and the brand

437

: 00:22:12

building tactics next necessarily

have to be mutually exclusive.

438

: 00:22:15

I think they can work together.

439

: 00:22:17

. Brett: And what are some emerging

technologies or trends marketers

440

: 00:22:19

should be aware of for basically

customer acquisitions or future

441

: 00:22:23

customer acquisition strategies?

442

: 00:22:25

Trey Robinson: I'd be remiss if we

didn't talk a little bit about ai

443

: 00:22:28

because it's the topic of the day.

444

: 00:22:31

We at the agency are using

AI to help us do research.

445

: 00:22:35

To help us build outlines

to help us check our work.

446

: 00:22:40

I still, I think today's AI still needs a

subject matter expert at the helm, right?

447

: 00:22:45

And so I believe it has part of

the, it's part of the journey.

448

: 00:22:50

But I don't believe it's

the full journey yet.

449

: 00:22:52

I think you've still got to you've still

gotta have a subject matter expert review

450

: 00:22:56

and use part of, be part of that cycle.

451

: 00:22:59

So I definitely think when we talk about

emerging technologies we're talking

452

: 00:23:02

about AI in terms of content creation.

453

: 00:23:05

I think you still wanna include

your blocking and tackling like

454

: 00:23:08

we've talked about, search and

organic search and website.

455

: 00:23:10

I think podcasts to we, as your

point we were making earlier

456

: 00:23:13

in this one are growing in.

457

: 00:23:16

Their ability to reach niche audiences.

458

: 00:23:17

And I would, even though they've

been around for a while, I feel like

459

: 00:23:20

they're finally coming into their own

in terms of a viable scaled channel.

460

: 00:23:24

And so I think that's part of it.

461

: 00:23:26

And then and then, and then lastly, you've

gotta include some social, depending

462

: 00:23:29

on where your social channels are.

463

: 00:23:31

So I know really, AI was the only

emerging one I hit on, but I think, like

464

: 00:23:35

I said earlier, I think you gotta keep

your blocking and tackling in mind too.

465

: 00:23:39

Brett: Yeah, podcasting's

been around since.

466

: 00:23:41

2005, I think is the first official one.

467

: 00:23:45

So yeah, it's in technology terms it's

older because technology terms are

468

: 00:23:49

not as the same as human like age.

469

: 00:23:51

But yeah it's old, it's older,

but the awareness is newer

470

: 00:23:56

because it wasn't really until the

pandemic we were really shot off.

471

: 00:24:00

That's where it is.

472

: 00:24:00

I think markers.

473

: 00:24:02

Mismanage, the importance of downloads

instead of actual like ROI of the, 'cause.

474

: 00:24:08

You could have a really small niche,

but have a really engaged community

475

: 00:24:12

and you can get more out of that

than a big audience, but small.

476

: 00:24:17

Engaged, commun, smaller

engaged communities.

477

: 00:24:19

So I think marketers haven't

figured out that part yet.

478

: 00:24:22

And podcasting the metrics

aren't great either.

479

: 00:24:25

And speaking firsthand,

480

: 00:24:27

.

Trey Robinson: But to your point, if you look at a brand like Patagonia, right?

481

: 00:24:32

And they started with this, these

hardcore climbers in Yosemite, which I

482

: 00:24:35

love this, their brand story in general.

483

: 00:24:37

They started with a

really tight tribe, right?

484

: 00:24:39

And so the idea that we might have

a podcast that's followed by, that's

485

: 00:24:44

got a really hardcore following, and

they all have a very a very strong

486

: 00:24:48

sense of each other and what they

stand for and what they care about.

487

: 00:24:50

And if you can come along as a brand

and align your values and true, you

488

: 00:24:55

gotta be true to yourself, your brain.

489

: 00:24:56

You can't just be what they want

you to be, but if your values

490

: 00:24:58

align with their values and that.

491

: 00:25:00

If their tribe is your tribe and you can

start to support them and you can start to

492

: 00:25:06

. Get engaged with them on multiple levels.

493

: 00:25:08

To your point, that might be more

valuable because you're creating

494

: 00:25:11

a community of brand ambassadors

than a million kind of, oh, I think

495

: 00:25:15

I've heard of those type people.

496

: 00:25:16

Because, 'cause those rabid

fans will carry that message to

497

: 00:25:19

their, those tribes, and then I.

498

: 00:25:21

Ultimately what happens is groups

that are like that, start to circle

499

: 00:25:25

those fans 'cause they want parts of

that and they start to hear those.

500

: 00:25:28

And then, Patagonia is now,

closed, but now they're more about

501

: 00:25:32

environmentalism and that thing has

just grown into a global behemoth.

502

: 00:25:35

But to your point, it

started with a really.

503

: 00:25:38

Passionate type group of people and

and I think there's lots of good

504

: 00:25:42

brand stories that start there.

505

: 00:25:43

And so if that is your brand, I

think a tight knit podcast like that

506

: 00:25:47

to me is a home run place to start.

507

: 00:25:49

Brett: Yeah.

508

: 00:25:50

If you get with a smaller podcaster,

he actually may be, or she, he

509

: 00:25:54

or she may be more, I guess very.

510

: 00:25:58

Appreciative of you and they might

not charge you as much 'cause you

511

: 00:26:01

stuck with them in the beginning.

512

: 00:26:03

'cause a lot of we all want markers,

always want the bigger players.

513

: 00:26:06

But you're not always gonna

get the bigger players.

514

: 00:26:08

You're gonna get the smaller players.

515

: 00:26:09

And sometimes that relationship

in that building may actually

516

: 00:26:12

help in the long run because

podcasting is a very long run game.

517

: 00:26:17

So is customer acquisitions and you gotta

think in those terms of long run games.

518

: 00:26:22

Trey Robinson: Absolutely.

519

: 00:26:23

Absolutely.

520

: 00:26:23

And to your point, they may be a user

of the product yourself, and now they're

521

: 00:26:27

not just a podcaster, but they're a fan.

522

: 00:26:28

And that'll come through in how

they talk about the product.

523

: 00:26:31

I think a lot of benefit in

that small type of community.

524

: 00:26:33

And to your point it is

a long term game, right?

525

: 00:26:36

At, whether it's investing in a

podcast or a new channel, or building

526

: 00:26:39

your acquisition machine patience and

consistency are always gonna pay off.

527

: 00:26:45

Brett: And people listen to this podcast

and they're loving the information.

528

: 00:26:48

So where can they find

you online to learn more?

529

: 00:26:50

Trey Robinson: Yeah.

530

: 00:26:50

So f first of all, thank

you for having having me.

531

: 00:26:53

As you can tell, I'm a little

bit of a marketing geek.

532

: 00:26:55

I love to have these conversations.

533

: 00:26:57

We love to have 'em with clients even.

534

: 00:26:58

And if, honestly, at lunch,

I had one with a friend.

535

: 00:27:01

Our agency's called story

amplify just like it sounds.

536

: 00:27:04

S-T-O-R-Y-A-M-P-L-I-F y.com.

537

: 00:27:07

So story amplify.com.

538

: 00:27:08

We've got case studies on there.

539

: 00:27:10

We do mostly focus on financial services.

540

: 00:27:13

We do a lot of financial advisors and

fintechs, regional banks because that's

541

: 00:27:17

deep subject matter expertise and

our team knows about those products.

542

: 00:27:21

Not to say we don't take other clients and

I'm happy to have conversations but yeah.

543

: 00:27:25

Story amplify.com.

544

: 00:27:27

Is a place to find us.

545

: 00:27:28

Brett: All right.

546

: 00:27:29

Any final thoughts for listeners?

547

: 00:27:31

Trey Robinson: No.

548

: 00:27:31

I appreciate you having me there.

549

: 00:27:32

Here I would say be consistent, right?

550

: 00:27:35

Start at the bottle of the funnel know

what you do and how you help the consumer.

551

: 00:27:39

And if you do those things right

and you're smart, how you make

552

: 00:27:42

your decisions and you're patient,

you'll be successful in time.

553

: 00:27:45

Brett: All right.

554

: 00:27:45

Thank you Trey, for joining Digital

Coffee Marketing, bringing, sharing

555

: 00:27:48

your knowledge on customer acquisition.

556

: 00:27:50

Trey Robinson: Yeah, thanks for having me.

557

: 00:27:52

Brett: And thank you for listening.

558

: 00:27:53

As always, please subscribe

to this podcast and all your

559

: 00:27:56

favorite podcasting apps.

560

: 00:27:57

We a five star review of

religious help with the rankings.

561

: 00:27:59

Let me know how I'm doing and join me next

week as I talk to another great thought

562

: 00:28:03

leader in the PR and marketing industry.

563

: 00:28:06

Alright guys, stay safe.

564

: 00:28:07

Get to understanding your customer

acquisition, the strategies, the

565

: 00:28:10

merging technologies or whatever

you need to be successful in that.

566

: 00:28:14

It's you next week later.