Educate Your Clients…or Get Left For Dead with Paul Counts & Shreya Banerjee | Evolution of Brand EP066

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The Goods From Paul & Shreya

Connect with Paul & Shreya AND Get Their 26 Email Marketing Tips Guide | marketingcounts.com

Top 3 Takeaways From This Value-Packed Conversation

An educated consumer is the best consumer. There is nothing to gain by holding valuable information back from your customers. Take time to educate them and show them how what you’re doing is going to serve them
If you’re too focused on sales and not emphasizing education, customer retention will be difficult. You’ll find yourself constantly searching for new customers to replace ones that frequently leave you
Your brand may be special, but your business model is not. Successful marketing formulas designed to deliver results will work for ANY company in any niche, not just for one in particular

Show Notes

1:48 – A time in both Paul and Shreya’s lives when they listened to themselves instead of what others told them was right and it led to major accomplishments

4:38 – A look at Paul and Shreya’s entrepreneurial journeys, how they connected, and when they discovered that a business partnership was the best move going forward

11:03 – How did Paul and Shreya get their marketing education curriculum into over 140 high schools and how they built educational content that resonates with a young, aspiring marketer?
– They took a different route: build a social media presence, but put more emphasis on getting the audience to your own list
– Many people feel social media presence is the best way to go. But, you don’t own those platforms. What if the algorithm changes or your account gets banned? You’re back at square one. There’s more to be gained pushing people to property that you own
– They educate their clients on EVERYTHING they’re doing for them. “An educated consumer is the best consumer.” — Paul
– An educated consumer will stay loyal because of your up front honesty and transparency, plus they’ll know what to look for as their marketing strategies evolve

19:04 – What do Paul and Shreya say to a brand who’s more focused on sales and not putting enough emphasis on education?
– If you’re too focused on sales and not education, customer retention is much more difficult
– When a customer is educated, they want to work with you because you’re not trying to hide the process
– If you don’t build a solid relationship thru education, you’ll constantly be chasing new customers
– Employees are happier as well…because the customer is happy
– Stories and education sell!
– Educated customers experience great results, leading to longer relationships AND increased referrals
– Transparency goes a long way
– Education also builds loyalty

27:19 – What are some of the exciting success stories that have come from Paul and Shreya’s marketing efforts?

31:02 – The F.T.E. Approach that Shreya has created
– F = Foundation – you have a big following, but what are you doing with it? Focus on the foundation before anything else; build a landing page!
– T = Traffic – ads, build social platforms organically, and then drive people to your foundational landing page to capture their info
– E = Engagement – posts, comments, sharing, discussion
– If you don’t have a destination to drive people to, how will your efforts really serve you?
– This approach is applicable to ANY industry. The niche does not matter.
– Your brand may be special, but your business model is not. Meaning a successful formula can be applied to your marketing and work!

36:46 – If you only look at what’s happening within your industry, you inadvertently put up blinders
– “Everybody in my industry is on Facebook, so I’m just going to stay on Facebook.”
– But are they? Is more of your target audience on another platform?
– People go to social media for engagement, not to necessarily search for a specific thing – i.e. insurance quotes. But they’ll go to Google and search for that type of thing, therefore you need to build that presence as well

38:52 – Should you grow your presence on one platform while mastering it and providing value to your audience, thus letting people find you and getting the best you have to offer, or try to build presence on every single platform you can find?
– Social media = people stumble across you and decide if they like you
– Search engine = people discover you as they seek out information
– Both work well, but it’s much better to be in a position that people find you when they seek answers to their problems
– When you build an audience on one social media platform, don’t direct them to another. Instead, direct them to your landing page so you can take the next step in the process, not just have them bounce around from one social network to the next