Christina Ross With Silverfrog Marketing

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Christina Ross with silverfrog marketing. Welcome, Christina.

Christina Ross: [00:00:44] Hey, Lee, thank you so much for having me on.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] I am so excited to talk marketing with you. Tell us a little bit about Silver Frog. How are you serving, folks?

Christina Ross: [00:00:53] Oh, wonderful. So Silver Fraud Marketing is a full service agency, so at this point, we do everything from websites, SEO, digital marketing into the TV radio space.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:05] So what’s your back story? How did you get involved in your own agency?

Christina Ross: [00:01:09] So I, you know, I’m a serial entrepreneur and through a series of trying my own businesses and really always kind of coming to the marketing part and getting stuck. So going through everything that I had to learn from that I started serving small businesses with just one offs. So like a website here or a PPC campaign here for probably a good five years. And that was going really well. You know, I I did it alone. I started silver frog marketing in twenty fifteen in that method of websites and just getting people found right at that point. 2019, my husband joined me and brought in TV and radio, which just brought a different level of clients. So now we do both, we do the marketing, digital marketing and the TV radio.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:06] So now was that a big shift for you just from the in terms of an ideal client fit? You know, when you’re doing the one offs of websites that’s probably attracting a certain type of entrepreneur? And then when you layer in these larger mass mediums that might attract a different entrepreneur.

Christina Ross: [00:02:23] It does. We definitely found that there’s different clientele that need the TV radio. Those are typically larger markets, more branding, direct response. And then there’s a huge cluster of small businesses, entrepreneurs just getting started that really don’t need TV and radio at all. What they need is a good, solid digital presence, and that goes more than just being on Google or just being on Facebook. It’s really a blend of all the moving digital mediums, and that’s where I kind of developed this. You know, no one I’ve gotten really good at figuring out what works with what and why. Right. And we can go into some tips and details in a few minutes, but there’s definitely a lot of moving parts to be found that I think a lot of small business owners just need to have in place. And they may never get to the TV radio need. And that’s OK. There’s a lot of digital mediums.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:22] Now you mentioned earlier, use the word brand and a lot of folks use media, whether it’s digital or traditional for brand, you know, to create that brand ubiquity so that they see the brand. And then hopefully at the time of purchase, they think of my brand at that moment in time. But smaller entrepreneurs sometimes need more ROI driven marketing where they know that if I’m investing this amount of money that I’m going to get that amount of money plus more back or else I can’t stay in business like they, I can’t afford to just throw it out there and hope that over time, in the long run that this is going to pay off. How do you kind of educate your clients on the difference between the two and to manage their expectations on how both of those kind of perform?

Christina Ross: [00:04:16] Definitely. And that’s a great topic. So consistency is key, right? And I think what you just spoke to is these larger brown brands. They show that right. Their consistency through their brands, their messaging, their marketing, their colors. While small business owners can do that exact same thing, that exact same mindset on a lot smaller budget. And that’s a lot of what I talk about, and a lot of what we implement in our team is the consistency because of the trust that it builds in your consumer. So regardless of if you’re a one man shop just selling out of your home, or if you have a building full of staff and you’re a medium sized company, you definitely need your consumer to have the trust in your brand. So that’s huge.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:05] Now, when you are dealing with the smaller folks and a lot of their rhythm of their life is get a client, got a client, work on the client, don’t have the client better, find a new client, you know, like it’s feast or famine existence, and you were mentioning the importance of consistency. A lot of the smaller folks, the ones that are also doing the work, that they have to be the hunter to get the the client, but they also have to be the worker that’s doing the work of the client. So while they’re working on the client, they’re not saying, I gather, Hey, I got maybe I should be, you know, still doing stuff to get the next client because I’m so busy with this client. How do you help that person?

Christina Ross: [00:05:48] Absolutely. And that’s exactly where I was, and I think a lot of people, especially getting started, have all the hats there, the accounting department there, the service department and the marketing department. So one thing that I tell any small business owner is have a plan. So even if it’s just you, you know, once a month, sit down and think about what you need to do for marketing, but on your marketing hat once a month and create a plan because putting a plan in place, even if it’s just a list of things that you’ll get done over the next month, maybe that’s a Facebook page. Maybe that’s a Google my business page. Maybe that is a website if you don’t have one. All these things don’t cost anything or are low cost, but are very important in terms of getting found online. So I the few things that I would tell people that have no money but a great idea, right? And it’s only them is work on getting a Facebook presence because that comes up when people search for your service, have a website, if you can afford it, there’s definitely cheap options that are still relevant and still work for a lot of businesses. Google My business is actually probably the the number one thing that is going to get you driven on Google. So with a good Google, my business page and a Facebook page, that’s a great start to get yourself out there and to start gaining followers and gaining visibility without necessarily doing much. And again, I tell people, you know, just sit down once a month and implement certain things, and then you get to a point where you can almost set it and forget it with certain marketing techniques.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:30] Yeah, I’m with you totally. When it comes to that, I’m always recommending folks, just put it in your calendar, just block a certain amount of time every week, every month, whatever. But just put it in, make it non-negotiable, you know, schedule around it and just invest some time because there is a compounding effect. If you do this kind of regularly and reliably, that pays off dramatically in the long term, long term, even though it might seem like you’re not doing a lot in any. Given session, it compounds over time.

Christina Ross: [00:08:03] Absolutely. I mean, I’ve seen I’ve seen cases where a client literally just sends one email a month and that drives in a $100000 sale, you know? And again, it’s it’s the planning and the having a good list, you know, so you can do this with your website. You can do this if you’re gaining leads through Facebook. However, you’re gaining leads. Just be aware of it and to your when you’re at the point where you can run email campaigns do it consistently, you know, at least once a month, you want to be touching your customers and not always with a promotion, sometimes just with news about your industry or your growth as a company. Because, again, just the consistency of touching your the client’s email box once a month, that gets you back top of mind if they need your services in the future.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:57] Now, what do you tell the folks that say, You know what, I don’t have to do any marketing. I get all my business through word of mouth.

Christina Ross: [00:09:05] You know, and that does happen, and I say that that’s great. But I believe it will be hard to scale like that. And if that’s working for the person at that point, then you know what? Nothing I can offer is going to help. However, it’s very hard to scale your business if you’re not putting yourself out there in front of other people in front of new people. Referral programs are great. Word of mouth is absolutely wonderful and still a fantastic marketing medium. However, there’s a lot of other things that you can be doing to get new clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:40] Yeah, and you have to always be kind of getting ready for that rainy day because it’s going to come and it’s better to have people in the pipeline and a wait list than it is to say, Hey, I don’t have any business, but guess what? Rent’s going to be due at the end of the month. So surprise there. So it’s always good to keep the pipeline is filled as possible if you can can, and a good list goes a long way to doing that.

Christina Ross: [00:10:04] Absolutely. And if possible, a list differentiated between current customers and prospects because you can absolutely do different types of marketing to different types of people in your pipeline.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:18] Now, we talked a little bit about marketing with no budget. If you were to kind of advise people and then they do all those kind of basic blocking and tackling, like you said, the Google My Business page, and they got their Facebook page and they’re doing the stuff that they can control and they’re getting a little bit of traction and they’re getting, you know, things are starting to happen, but they want to take their business, their marketing to a new level. What would be kind of the progression, like, how do you go from this? Do it yourself kind of strategy to maybe do it with somebody like your former firm or a marketing person?

Christina Ross: [00:10:54] Definitely. So that’s an exciting point when you get to your business to the point where you can actually put money into marketing. And so at that point, I think Google and Facebook are great ways to put low amounts of budget in to start gaining the traction, figuring out what types of messaging, marketing promotions are going to work. We do budgets as low as $500 a month, you know, sometimes, especially for local businesses. The way that you target, especially with radius, is around your business. You really don’t need much as long as you do a little bit of research, you know your keywords. You have a good promotional message. You know, maybe it’s a holiday coming up or you’ve got a good new customer message. Those are great. People respond to that. I would definitely do a Facebook campaign or and or a Google campaign.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:47] So even if the business is maybe more B2B, you would still recommend Facebook. Or is that something that is so Facebook to you works no matter what type of business it is?

Christina Ross: [00:11:57] Yes, because SEO and B2B, you’re right is it’s definitely different in terms of marketing. Google, for instance, doesn’t work as well. However, Facebook is still good because of the targeting. So whereas for businesses, for instance, let’s say it’s a payroll provider and they’re looking for small businesses. I can go into Facebook and look for HR administrators, small business owners, you know, people with different titles or people in different industries, HR industries that I can put that message in front of the right person. So even be to be and then be to be. There’s a lot of opportunities with just SEO and blogging to get tips out there for other business owners who are looking for your services.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:47] And then when you’re working with a client. Talk to me about what does that look like from an onboarding standpoint, like how do you get them up and running? Like how much time does it take for you to kind of get the information you need because you mentioned things like keywords or ideal client? You know, to be as clear as possible when it comes to things like that goes a long way because the worst thing to happen is you have a great campaign and it’s aimed at the wrong group of people and then you’re getting you’re not getting the best fit client for the effort.

Christina Ross: [00:13:19] Definitely. So when we onboard a client, you know, we’re doing everything from the website, the SEO to all the marketing. So we do an extensive amount of research first where we’re looking at their competitors, we’re looking at existing Google information. If it’s not on them because they’re new, we look at other industries, you know, we start there, we look at what keywords are converting, what keywords are resonating. That’s a good point. Even existing businesses, there’s a lot of not a lot. There’s a few sites that you can go and get some free data in terms of SEO and keywords. I know Google’s got some great tools. From there, we come up with just strategic campaigns that flow together and are backed up with automation and that goes to planning. You know, anybody can do this where you’re just saying, OK, I’m going to send this email to this group of people, the people who open, I’m going to take this step, whether it’s be to send a follow up email or to notify somebody or to add them to a different list. You know, whatever step that is, you want to make sure that you’re constantly moving people in the pipeline and marketing down the funnel.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:30] Now you mentioned a funnel, a lot of our listeners are business coaches or their coaches, they’re in the coach business. And, you know, so they’re advising people about their business, but sometimes it’s like kind of the cobbler’s children that they are not doing the marketing themselves. Is there any advice for a coach, somebody that sells a service that isn’t necessarily selling a thing, but selling a service for them to kind of get the most bang for their marketing dollar?

Christina Ross: [00:15:01] Yeah, absolutely. So definitely email automation and really just workflow automation in terms of your events that you’re you’re holding any webinars that you’re putting out, keeping so well, like what I’ll do is I’ll send an email out and then I have a structure of auto drips. So if an email goes out, those people are automatically getting weekly drips in those campaigns. So things like that where you understand, I mean, you know, it’s marketing, not mind control, right? Not everybody opens the email, even if they are a fan of yours or are interested, they just don’t have time. So staying top of mind and constantly touching those people, I think, is very important, especially for B2B. And so, yeah, I mean, just definitely email automation would be my my first, my first key there.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:52] Now, can you share a story of maybe before and after somebody that obviously don’t name their name or their company, but explain like the challenge they were having? Then they found you and then you were working with them and you were able to take them to a new level.

Christina Ross: [00:16:06] Yeah, absolutely so. And so I recently had a client. It was one main company and they were kind of an umbrella for four different companies. And now at the time, they had brought in those companies at different points and they kind of had different things implemented. There was no consistency, and from their point of view, they really weren’t getting the leads that they were expecting to be getting from having all these brands. So what we did was we came in and just created consistency throughout with the marketing. With their list, we organize their lists. We developed different messaging in different methods of social media and email and automations that show no one showed the client where people their clients were actually interested in and then helped the client to then better follow up with those visitors by just understanding what they were interested in. For instance, if they got an email and then clicked on a link, OK, now did they fill out a form? Did they bounce off the page? Did they follow it to another link? And what we realized was a lot of their current clientele was gravitating towards one brand. What we were able to do the following month is develop different material for the other lacking brands and put money behind the working brand, and they are seeing a great return on leads coming in from that one brand. And we’re definitely seeing spikes in the other brands. So hopefully that that helps a little bit. But again, just having a plan, planning it out, utilizing marketing and follow ups.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:49] So now in your firm, do you have kind of your own personas of ideal clients? I know you mentioned that with the TV and the mass media, that might be a little different than the digital marketing for the entrepreneur. But can you explain like who the ideal silver frog clients look like? What do they look like?

Christina Ross: [00:18:08] So for digital marketing, for our core package, it works really well with local businesses that need customers to come in. So you know, the hair salons, landscapers, tax shops, those people, they need to be found on Google, they need to be found near me. So a lot of what we do is through Google, my business algorithms and SEO to have just anybody who’s searching for that service. We make sure that our clients come up first. We also work with a lot of specialty medical so allergy centers. We do a lot in terms of TV and email automation that works well, as well as online, just online only e-commerce. So we’ve got some vitamin brands that they sell vitamin powders online only e-commerce, and we do a lot of automation for that as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:02] So you can help somebody who has kind of a national business as well as local businesses.

Christina Ross: [00:19:08] Correct? Yes. And honestly, we put them on different platforms. The backend platform systems are different. But again, it matters. It really does matter what systems the business is using, what marketing efforts they’re using to put out based on the consumer that they’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:24] And this kind of work is not fully set at. Forget it, right, this is kind of a living, breathing thing that has to be tweaked and modified and and testing different concepts and creatives and offers like right, this is this is not something you just say, OK, I do this once and I don’t have to think about it again.

Christina Ross: [00:19:45] No, no. And I think that’s why, you know, having a one month meeting with yourself is great because that’s what we do with our clients. You know, at least once a month, we’re having a marketing meeting where we’re looking at results. You’ve got to find out how did your marketing do to figure out if you want to do it again or improve on it or do something different. Also, when you consistently go back and touch on things on your marketing, you’re able to tie in new promotions, keeping things fresh, giving your consumers and your audience something new to look at and be engaged by.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:20] Well, Christina, if somebody wants to learn more, is what’s the best way to get a hold of you? Is there a website or is it through social media channels? What can you give us the coordinates?

Christina Ross: [00:20:29] Absolutely. So Silver Frog Marketing is our website, and we are also on Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram, and I think we’re even developing a Snapchat channel at this point. But definitely. Or just reach me a Christina at Silver Krug Marketing.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:48] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Christina Ross: [00:20:53] Thank you. You, too.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:54] All right, this is Lee Kantor will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.