Question: are you in the digital game? Are you leveraging technology to Brand, Market and to fill that Opportunity Funnel for your Industrial Company? Are you expanding your Market Share? Fear not, this week's Industrial Talk interview is with Estie Rand, Founder and CEO of Strand Consulting and she has the answers to your digital marketing questions. Estie's purpose is to remove the “Headache” that can come from digital marketing and put more $$ in your pocket. Find out more about Estie at:

Email: estie@strandconsulting.net

Website: https://strandconsulting.net/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/estie.rand.5

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/strand_consulting/

Podcast Transcript:

[00:04]                Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional, dedicated to transferring, cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hardhat, grab your work boots, and let's go

[00:22]                rig industrial professionals out there. Welcome to the industrial todd podcasts. You know, my name is Scott MacKenzie. This is where it does real leaders come to talk. We celebrate the human power of industry and you know this week's interview is nothing short of fantastic. It's with a young lady by the name of ESTIE ran at e, s, t I. He ran and she'll put more money in your pocket. You know, we're all about creating solutions for you as an industrial professional. She's going to focus on marketing, branding, and all the good stuff that you need to do as a professional, as a company. So let's get this interview and show on the road. So thank you once again for joining the industrial talk podcast.

[01:03]                Oh No, no, no. Hey, you know what it is? Tropical storm Gordon is right around the corner because we broadcast from Mandeville, Louisiana. That's right outside of New Orleans. So we'll see what happens. We got our stuff ready to go. Got Plenty of water. We're prepared. That's what we need to do. Alright. Estie Rand, she is the founder and CEO of Strand Consulting. But before we get into that interview, we've got us take care of some business. Delegate talk number one. Alright. You know I'm a big fan of reliabilityweb.com. Reliabilityweb.com. And they've got a podcast called reliability radio and that is the one that I'm on all the time. So. But nonetheless, I want you to be aware of some programs, have some events that are coming up. What you do is you go out to reliability, web.com. And uh, the first one is ural maintenance for Datto.

[01:52]                This is September 24th through the 27th. It's an Antwerp, Belgium. So any listeners over there that are in Europe now, they got plane over there too, so don't worry about it. It's gonna be a great event there. And then of course, December 10th through the 14th. This is a Benita Springs. This is imc 2018. I did 2017. And it's a great event if you're in the reliability space, if you are in the asset management arena, uh, I highly recommend and highly with an, you know, big age to go and, and find out more about that. So that's reliability, web.com. Go out to advanced tab and find a PR event near you because they got it going on. Number two. Okay. I'm all about books. I'm all about reading them all about finding the right. I don't know, you just got to keep on learning because this, you know, once again, I, I sit in the world where, where this information is available, you can be the best version of you because the information is out there.

[02:52]                And um, this story with a book called by a gentleman by the name of Jim Witt, a great friend. Mine, uh, I'd have to say he's a big influencer in my life and I'm so proud to be able to call him friend, but he's got a book out called writing for the brand and it's out there. It's out there on, on Amazon, but it's a great, it's a small novel, but you know what it does, it communicates the value of purpose. And I think as a company, as a professional in the industrial space, I highly recommend that you go out there and get writing for the brand and it's a, it's a great read. I enjoyed it. I, I read it in one sitting and, and uh, once again, that's with a for Jim Witt and it is a writing for the brand. Great Book Number Three. Okay. I've got a great relationship with a Colorado business round table that's Colorado Business Round-table and they've got a series out there for you supply chain people to go on out to that.

[03:59]                Uh, that's, that's CoBart, Colorado business round table or c O, b e r t.com. And they've got a great series on our supply chain. So once again, uh, if you are a supply chain professional, I highly recommend that you go out there, route around it's under podcasts, radio, tremendous resource, all free going out there. Number four. Okay, this is the last and final one before we get to the interview. Uh, we're working on a, uh, an industrial, uh, academy, a educational platform and what we're looking at right now, this is industrial talk and uh, we're breaking it up into leadership. We're breaking it into finance as well as operations. And then finally, business development, sales, marketing. But we're going to have a plethora of highlighted individuals that want to been on the podcast. And if you want to be on the podcast and you can share and fall into those categories, I would be happy to talk to you.

[04:57]                You go out to industrial talk.com and just say, hey, contact me Scott. I think I got some information. So that's number four. That is once again the industrial academy and it is, you know, it's all about education. It's all about content. It's going to be out there too, along with all of the podcast. So let's get on with this interview. So St Rand, um, she wants again, is the founder of Strand Consulting and you know, you know, if you've listened to me enough how passionate I am about branding and marketing and, and being able to leverage technology, you know, what Esties, she's a Rockstar, she knows what to do. She was blowing my mind with, uh, the, the information that she was providing on the interview. Um, let's put it this way, unless it's short and sweet, if you're not, and I mean if you're not professionally seeking solutions in the industrial digital world or if you're not finding ways of being able to leverage the technology your competition is and it's, and it's still, you got to get out there and it's painful to a certain extent, but you know, people like a ESTIE and others, I'm telling you right now, the answers are out there.

[06:16]                You can contact me. I've lived through this. This is important stuff. This, this is never going away. So why not figure out how you leverage technology to improve your brand, to improve your sales funnel, to improve your marketing. It's there. Okay. So Estie because she's with a strand consulting, she's amazing. So let's just get on with that because quite frankly I'm tired of listening to myself. So everybody she ran and she is the founder and CEO of Strand consultant and she's going to talk about marketing. Well, I'm here with a Estie a rand and uh, she has been so kind to be able to get on the old industrial talk podcast. Thank you very much for joining Estie. how are you doing? I am doing good today. How are you? Thank you for asking. Nobody ever asked me nobody. So there and I, and now I'm all caught off guard and I, and my thought processes all mixed up. No. Anyway. Hey Estie, you're out of California. It's getting warm but give us a little for one one on who you are and then sort of your company, but I want to hear about you and then how'd you get to be such an incredible professional?

[07:31]                Okay. Well thank you for that intro. Compliment. Welcome. So yeah, I am at an La. I'm actually originally from New York and I went to business school out there and then I actually did a 10 year stint in Jerusalem, which is where I grew professionally the most. Um, so I was a cio of a multinational nonprofit out there, so we were working with about 250 satellites that were all over the world. We had in the Fsu, former Soviet Union. We had all our across Europe, France, England, Germany, we had South Africa, we had South America, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and then all across North America as well, and Canada. So I was kind of managing all of the information flow, complex budgets, business plans and stuff. And about six years in the different political, when you work for a nonprofit, you know, you're always, you're always at the winds of the board and the donors and the donors decided that we needed to kind of change management structure. So they hired a middle manager between me and my direct boss and um, for various reasons, threatened. I'm that guy decided that I was no longer CIO. I was his new secretary. And so I said, I'm actually really bad secretary, I'm good at a lot of things and terrible secretary, not good at coffee, not good at it. Blindly following instructions, you know, just bad at it. And I'm so I'm like, nope. I'm the person by.

[09:04]                Wow, that's incredible. That's, yeah, it was big. It was married and I had three children. And what did your husband think? Saying, okay, I'm Outta here. I'm not going to be doing this.

[09:15]                So my husband actually encouraged me. It had been months and months and the new guy was just terrible. He was really making my life miserable. Like I was supposed to travel to Buenos Aires for something and I was really excited and he's like, nope, you're not going. I'm going. And I was supposed to. And he took my team away from me. He's like, your team is my team now. I'm like, but he's terrible. He got fired two years later. He was so bad. It took them two years to get rid of him because just politics. But it had really, truthfully, like if I think about it, it had been brewing from about a year or two previous to this guy's entrance when the company had hired an external consulting firm. I'm and I had no exposure to consultants. Like, no, I went to a regular school, but I've never looked at consulting as a thing. I didn't know what it was and this consulting team that they hired. So I was involved with the budgetary level as well, so I knew what they were being paid. I knew how they charged and I'm like, dude, they are getting paid way more than me and they're saying the same stuff I'm saying, but they're getting listened to in the wrong line of work. I want to doing what they're doing. And so that was already brewing for awhile before this crazy guy came in.

[10:20]                But, you know, what's interesting with that change, with that reality? Um, do you regret it? Do you regret the fact that you're not there?

[10:29]                Oh, I see. Fantastic. It was so hard though. I cannot even tell you. My husband was still in school at the time studying, so I was the main provider for our family. Um, he's amazing. Like I could never have done this without him. And He, when he saw how miserable I was becoming at the job, it's like you have to leave. He's like, no, money is worth this, you know, you're going to figure something out. We'll figure something out. You can't stay. Um, and it was actually you here. They're crazy story. The night that I quit, a lot of people don't know this story. The night that I quit and going to say it live. Um, what happened was like I had had a sacred time with my children, bedtime prayer time every bit, every night, bedtime prayers that was mommy and kids that was sacred, that doesn't get touched. And things were getting so crazy at work. So crazy that in the middle of saying prayers with one of my kids, my phone rang and I answered it on a work call and my husband just looked at me. He said, you're quitting tonight is that you have never, in all your years, ever done that. This is totally overtaken your life, our lives in a place that we don't want this to go. You're quitting tonight.

[11:32]                Yeah. And that's what happens back. And look at you now, and this is a great segue into. I definitely can say I never looked back, but I will, I will. I will tell you about strands now you're talking about, you're talking to me and then we're going to be talking about strand. What a, what a credible stuff that you guys do at your, at the founder, because you are founder, you're the consultant and you are a coach. So talk to me about strand.

[11:57]                So Strand consulting was this little pipe dream I had when I left that job. Um, and truth be told, I had already been coaching on the side for a year, a year or two. Yeah, no, about a year before. After that consulting company came in. I'm like, I want to learn coaching. So it took a coaching course. I got certified by the ACP, American Academy of Professional Coaches, APC. And I, uh, I was already coaching on the side and doing some business coaching but very, very part time and I said, you know, it was 2011, it was the beginning of the small business boom. And I'm seeing everyone and their sister brothers pet dogs trying to start their own thing and putting out like little ads or cards or telling people about it. And I'm like, you know, I went to business school, I have a natural business, had my first profitable business I ran when I was 10 and it was a really good one actually.

[12:43]                I still use those tools with my clients. I know really. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it was, it was a good one. And you know, I, I want to help them. I really think if they just knew a little more about marketing or they little little like I would see ads and like the local weeklies or even some magazines and I'd be like, it was such a waste of space and money. Like I know how much that add cost and I know that they got zero business from it. And the coolest thing was when I started the company, I actually got calls from some of those ads from those people and be like, Hey, I know, have you ever saw my ad if you read the local papers, but I didn't get any business. I'm like, yeah, I know like, how do you know? I'm like, because I saw your ad, that ad didn't work.

[13:15]                It was so bad. And so that was my dream. But it was a dream, you know, and the dream was to create a full service consulting firm that could serve as small businesses because the big guys like this, from that my nonprofit hired, I saw what they charge. No small business can pay for something like that. You're paying for, you know, three, four consultants at a time to come down to your space, including all of their travel time. So like, just to like talk to them, you got like a thousand dollars just to like say hi, can you help me? Um, you know, and I, I wanted to do something for the little guys that would be the equivalent in terms of service offerings. And that's what strands is, strand consulting. We pull all the strands of your business together. I call it also like the two strands that run through every profitable business, which is passionate and strategy and and we do full service consulting for a small business that everything you would imagine a fortune 500 company getting from one of the big guys will do for the little guys.

[14:12]                The prices are scaled down and the strategies are scaled down. You can't. When you are a little business and you're playing in the big business world, you are not playing the same game. I would say the rules are overall the same, but you're playing a different game and you have to, you know, I looked actually at one point at the billboard outside my office complex. You were doing the big event and I was like, yeah, maybe I'll put something on that billboard $9,000 for one month for one billboard. You can't do that when you're a little guy. I was like, yeah, never mind.

[14:44]                But you can't even do it because you can't see the analytics into that. You. It's hard to say that billboard for nine resulted in this type of business and that's part of what makes it totally not worth it completely. And you can't, can't pivot. You can't say, I don't like the way that sounds. I don't like the way that looks, I don't like the way, whatever. And you can't just go up there and say, okay, now you rip that down, I'm going to put up something. You can't do that. That's another 9,000 paid down that road. And it's awful. I hated it. I hated it with a passion.

[15:16]                Yeah, no, it's crazy. And today with digital marketing and that's a small business game, you know, when you're smaller and you've got a marketing budget of 10,000, 20, even 30 or 50. A billboard is just ridiculous. You can't, you can't play that game. You know, you've got to play the digital game. You've gotta play, you know. Um, I actually recently was teaching promotional strategies to, and I broke it down to like kind of seven key categories. Classic advertising is just one of seven and that's the main category. You can hit classic advertising being print, radio and television, radio, maybe first of all, business. You could do local radio ads. Actually not so bad, but again, you don't know the metrics. You know, why wouldn't you go digital where you can directly reach your audience is totally different. So anyway, so that's what strand was strand's was my dream of how to help smaller businesses to compete with the big eyes at...