About This Episode: 

CEO of Client Attraction Pros sits down with Guy to discuss his backstory on marketing, and his specialty: content. He explains how essential video content has become. Atiba touches on how valuable video content has become in regards to SEO, especially in a post-COVID world.

He expresses the importance of understanding the customer's purchase journey. What are people Googling? How do you use SEO to market your brand? Check out this episode to understand the impact content (specifically video content) and SEO has on your brand and business.

About Atiba de Souza:

The Content Game is Intense with Third Party Data restrictions. New privacy laws and growing competition.

So what is the answer to generating more leads? Nothing less than fresh, original, and engaging content. But who's got time to create content, much less launch it across every platform in the appropriate format?

The answer? A customer-focused, tactical, technology-driven plan for radical content creation and repurposing that will land your content on Page 1 of Google.

Atiba de Souza is the Content Superman. Decades of running an exclusive agency combined with hardcore technical skills -- I'm talking CODE, people, REAL CODE! -- have made him one of the few people with the skills and insight to marry emerging software and Google’s algorithm with an intuitive feel for the culture of every social media platform.

His clients call him the SEO Super Sleuth, the Business Ninja, the “Build Your Team” Guru, and the Super Connector!

He was killing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) before the term was even invented, ranking regional and national brands in the US on page 1 of Google for over 15 years.

His content strategies are not just bells and whistles; his vision is inspiring and his voice is thunderous in the B2B SEO space. 

Kasim Aslam, owner of the  #1 rated Google Ads Agency in the US was blown away by his tech-backed ingenious process, “Nobody else is doing this. You’ve got stuff people need to hear, ” he told him.

Not even the best of the best can say that they ranked more than 3000 pages on the first page of Google results while helping companies enjoy qualified leads. 

Atiba’s experience and insights are so mind-boggling that Lauren Petrullo of Mongoose Media believes that there is “brilliance oozing out of his pores”

This Superman CEO of a Video Marketing Agency has been featured on many renowned platforms including Traffic & Conversion Summitt, Digital Marketer Blog, Fox, Digital Journals, The Times, & USA Today.

It's time to grab the content marketing bull by the horns! And Atiba is your man.

Links: 

https://marketingmachine.prorelevant.com/getting-started/

Sign up for ProRelevant Emails: https://mailchi.mp/prorelevant/newsletter  

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/83DU8io7eL8

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atibadesouza/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/atibadesouza

Thought Leadership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7Np_hjeakCER3xFzeu-Tw

Team Building YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChjej0lyswDeDd91x7y63ew

SEO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoEGC8wJj2WjotcfFU8Xudg

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theatibadesouza

Hi, I'm Guy Powell and welcome to the next episode of the

backstory on marketing. If you haven't already done so please

visit pro relevant.com and sign up. For more of these episodes

and podcasts. I am the author of my just released book, the post

COVID marketing machine, prepare your team to win. You can find

out more information on this at marketing machine dot pro

relevant.com. Today we'll be speaking with a Teva D'Souza,

welcome ativa Hey,

guy, thank you so much for being here. And man, what a great

title for a book. Genius.

Well, you know, it's funny when when we were doing it, we we did

some social media, and we did a handful of polls on it. And, you

know, during when and this was in the middle of COVID. And so

everybody really, really liked it. Now that we're kind of post

COVID Truly, then it's kind of like, well, you know, I don't

know, but I think it's good. I think it'll I think it'll do

well. So yeah, thank you for that. So, yeah, tell us a little

bit about yourself, what is your backstory on getting into

marketing?

Well, my backstory goes way beyond COVID. So that's for

sure. But I actually started off in 1996, building my very own

search engine, me and two friends sat in my mother's

basement, which, believe it or not, y'all, my mother's moving

out of that house right now as we speak, as we record this, and

we sat in that basement, and we wrote a search engine, because

it was a cool thing to do. And we thought we needed it. And

that started me in search. That way back in 1996, then I went

over to the government and did search for the government and

then got tired of the government. kind of tough

working with the government, and then went back into the private

sector. And at that time, which was right around 2005 2006

timeframe. I was looking at Google and the search results it

was providing and what people were saying about those results,

and I realized Google had a problem. At that time, Google

was also realizing it was having a problem. Right, it was

returning search results that people weren't happy with. And

there were people, business owners who had really great

content, even back then, who could not get their content in

front of their right customer. And being an old geek, who wrote

search engines, I was like, Well, I know how it works. And I

think we can figure out how to get your content to the top of

page one of Google, I think we can do that. And that started me

in at least search marketing.

Right? Right. Yeah. Fantastic. You know that. And that is so

true. Google, I mean, you know, who knew back then how important

that search engine is, and now with our clients, paid search

and organic search are just about everything to their

businesses. And if you're not successful in those, then you're

not, you're not your business is missing out, it's missing out on

opportunity. So tell us about your business client attraction

pros. Tell us about that.

So as you said, organic, right and searched. And so that's

where we started. right around that time 2006, and really got

going 2007 2008 and saw the market and what we can do. So we

did a lot of trials in those first couple of years. And by

2008 is when we really got started. And it was all about

written content, blogs, that's what we had back then. Okay,

that's what everybody had. And that's what people still have.

And we were helping our clients produce fantastic written

content, whether it was just a copy on their website, or more

often or not blog posts and blog content. And we did that, really

up until 2018 2019. And about 2018. And really excited 2019 I

was tired. I was tired. We went on vacation. And at the end of

2019, my wife and I, and she said she wanted to get her

business really going. It's a great because I'm getting tired

of written content. And I've been doing this a long time.

Maybe it's time for a change. And at that time as well. In I

had written really a spec in 2018 about video and that video

was the future, right it was becoming harder and harder and

harder to write rank for written content and video content was

really starting to pick up steam. And as I was saying, I

just, I think I'm done, then well, we all know what happened

after 2019. Right? Yep. And when COVID hit in early 2020, I said,

Well, maybe this is good timing, then. Because a lot of my

clients started saying, Hold on, we're not sure what we want to

do. We're not sure if we want to keep spending money, we're going

to pump our brakes a bit. So I started thinking this might be a

good time. But then something else happened on the other side,

bunches and bunches of people who I'd said for literally a

decade, you need a web presence, and you need SEO, started

showing up and knocking on the door saying, hey, we need help.

We need to get online, or we're online, but our online sucks.

Can you help? Can you help? Can you help? And it forced me into

this juxtaposition of okay, how can I really help you? What is

it that I can really do here for you? Because the other thing

that COVID did, for any of you who don't know, listening, is it

made a bunch of people who I'm not saying this to to be

disparaging to them. But who took a course. And then started

a Facebook account, AD account, and ran ads and said, I know

everything about SEO, I know everything about paid search,

because I took a course. Right? And so and you know, this guy,

and so people were just inundated, but they didn't know

who to trust. And it became even harder to rank on page one.

Because there's even more content being created. That

sucked. And so I said, Okay, what are we going to do with

this? And how are we going to help? And it was about that time

I met someone who was a really close friend of mine now us,

they're from the UK. And he's like, man, I've been doing this

YouTube thing. And I've been doing this since, like, 2016.

And here's my results now. And it reminded me of that spec that

I've written way back in 2018. Okay. And I pulled it up, and I

said, Hold on. This is actually really close to what he's doing.

And he was having some issues with just a written SEO. And so

we started collaborating on some stuff, and his stuff has

skyrocketed, you should go check them out. SF digital, absolutely

wonderful in this space. And what I learned there, though,

was that there was a way that we could help people create videos

using the same concept of spec in terms of content that we use

with written content, create videos, and then get those

videos ranked on page one of Google. Giving if you don't

mind, yeah. Quick, quick example of this. And I'm not listened to

listen to me yet. I'm not saying that these results are typical.

And always. But this just happened last week.

We have a client who has been struggling for several years to

get anything he's done, ranked on page one of Google two weeks

and two weeks, we were able to help get 14 out of 18 videos

ranked on page one and eight of them. And spot number one.

Now, that's phenomenal. That is phenomenal. So and you're

talking about page one of YouTube as opposed Oh, one of

Google? No, I'm

talking about page one of Google. Oh, no kidding. Wow.

page one of Google?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I do want to talk to you a little bit

more about that. But one of the things on your LinkedIn page, I

saw a couple of really good videos on there. And, you know,

and I really liked what you did in terms of, you know, your

customer value journey. And the key, I think you called it the

key to good content. Tell us about that. And then we'll get

into some of the YouTube stuff because I was, I thought that

was pretty impressive.

No, thank you. I appreciate that. And so this is what we

figured out back in 2005, to 2008, and we've used to help

written content rank, and we then took it to video content.

And that is the problem that Google has. And the problem that

Google is trying to solve is it wants to answer people's

questions. Google has been spent really the last 20 years trying

to figure out how do I take what you type in figure out exactly

what you mean exactly what your question is, and then give you

an answer. Sir, that exactly fits your question. And 2017,

they've they came as close as they've ever come, and they keep

getting closer and closer and closer every single year. The

challenge that they've had though is even though they're

getting better at figuring out what we call user intent, or

searchers intent behind what they typed in, the results

aren't getting any better. So what we do is very simple. We

figure out what real questions sorry, what what questions real

people are asking. So that backwards, what questions real

people are asking? What are people really asking Google? And

then how does Google interpret the intent? And then does that

intent match who you are as a business owner, and what your

business is all about? If it does, let's create video content

for that. And so we map that to the customer value journey, in

that it's important to understand before you buy

anything, there's a journey that you go through with that brand.

There's a process that you go through. Sometimes the process

is really short. Look, I need toothpaste. Okay, I'm gonna go

to store buy toothpaste, what was my journey with that? Well,

my journey was I went to the store, it was on sale, I buy

what's on sale, that was the journey. Lowest price one

journey. My journey could have been, I saw my mom using this to

say there's always a journey. And everything that you pursue

Brian car, there's a journey that you go through the

businesses that can master that journey can understand that

journey, and then create content to help the buyer along that

journey is going to win every single time.

Okay, yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, one thing too, in my

book, post COVID marketing machine. And actually, the last

two or three books, one of the things that I talked about is,

you have to understand how a consumer makes a purchase

decision. And you now widen that out even further, which I really

think is, which I really like is how that consumer then takes

that journey to go from, you know, I want to buy a couch or

whatever it is, or a car or whatever it is. And then how do

they follow that journey, all the way, then to the final

purchase? And I like, what you're saying is that the

content that you put out has to feed into the different steps

along that journey? That makes a lot of sense.

Yes. And, um, we did start doing that 2005 2008, then Google, and

this is when we really knew we were onto something Google came

out and then said, it's still way to go in 2011. Okay, so in

marketing in the history of Miami, go all the way back to

the 60s, there was this concept of moment of truth marketing.

Right. And the moment of truth marketing was, hey, these

moments that you've got to master with yada, yada, yada in

order to make the sale, right. And in 2011, Google published a

spec, and it's still out that you can go sue Google, this zero

moment of truth marketing. And Google said, Hey, I think people

need to start to realize that there are moments of truth that

happen before the customer ever calls you. And that's true,

because they can come to us and search, right? And if they come

to us and search, then the answers that they find, create

moments of truth. I'm going to back that up to with a study

that was done. And forgive me, because I forget it was either

Princeton or Yale that did this study. I forget which one it

was, but it was one of the Ivy's. And he was the study.

There's absolutely astounding. So that people are more than 90%

likely to blindly follow the first person that taught them

something about a topic. Just think about that.

That is very true. That is very true. That is and I know I'm

guilty of that as well. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So

that's then kind of like the the value of influencers if you if

an influencer in whatever fashion then really comes out

and has something that you can learn from and if you as your

brand or that influencer and teaching then that makes a huge

difference.

Yes, yes. And though being that brand, and the one that teaches

about your topic is even more important, the COVID marketing

machine.

To your point about the customer journey and the customer value

journey, which I like is, is how do you influence those, those

zero moments of truth to points that you may not even be aware

of, because I especially for, for what I call high

consideration products, typically products that are, you

know, that that are more expensive, or have a big impact

on your on yourself or on your business, you're going to be

trying to learn about them way, way, way before you actually

start to seriously consider your purchase. And, and I know I'm

definitely guilty of that, you know, well, I'll start thinking

about something today. And, and then maybe, you know, a month or

two from now I'll finally you know, pull the trigger and say,

Okay, I'm now going to, I'm now going to really seriously do

something and buy it within the next couple of hours. And if I'm

a brand, and I am not involved in that, in that activity, now

very early on, and I'm I'm not even going to be part of the

journey throughout the whole thing,

you lose out. And so this is the key. So so guys got us a great

question. It's an absolutely great question. And that's what

we do for our clients is we help them figure that out. Right? So

yes, everybody sees the videos, and everybody wants to talk

about Yes, but the real crux of it all, is we've got to figure

out what those questions are. And in figuring out what those

questions are, the thing that you have to consider is, every

solution creates a new problem. Every solution creates a new

problem. So when you went from living in an apartment, to

buying your first house, you solved the problem, you no

longer had to pay rent, okay, now you have a mortgage, but you

no longer have to pay rent. Well, what's the problem that it

also created? Well, now you also have to pay for trash. Now you

also have to get the lawn cut. Right? So if you're a lawn care

company, you know, there are people who are going to have a

problem after they buy a house. So who do I need to communicate

with? So that's one thing is understanding where you fit and

the life of your customer? And asking what was the problem that

they had right before mine? Something caused them to have

the problem that I solve, what was that? Let's go figure that

out. Because if we can educate to the end of that process, or

even through some of that process, then again, going back

to that study, we're the ones who educated them. When they,

when they have a need later, they'll blindly trust me. Here's

a case case study for this. I have a client, that's a caterer.

Okay. And they primarily do weddings, large weddings, most

of their weddings are minimum 20,000. So you're talking 20 to

60,000 hours, just for the food service, not for the whole

event. Right? Larger weddings, okay. And obviously, that's a

very tailored type a couple. It's not every couple. And they

were in a place where every couple was coming to them and

they were wasting a lot of time talking to a lot of couples who

had no business ever using their service. Right. So okay, what's

the problem that they have? Right before they get to you?

Well, they've got to the venue before they get to me. So we

created content for them around educating about the venues that

they work at. Yeah, right.

Yep. Yep, makes total sense. And you know, to your point, you

know, you would call those life stages or life moments. We work

with a furniture company and exactly to your you know, your

example when somebody is going to change from living in an

apartment to you know, to moving into a home. Just like you said

they need the lawn cut they need you know, to sign up for

electricity and gas and whatever but they also need new

furniture. Absolutely. I mean, typically the house when you

move from an apartment to a house, it's going to be bigger,

you need more furniture and and if you're in that early process,

that is exactly where to where you as a brand want to be and

then I do like your your your story about that IV research.

Will it you will have to give me the link on that because that

will post that with that because that I've really liked what that

means. In terms of being the first, it's not, you know, it's

always interesting, the fear of missing out. Well, this is the,

you know, the opportunity to to to miss in, you know, do you

want to be in there right there?

Yes, yes, absolutely. And you know, it's so very important,

right? Yeah, that's that's the. So if you've listened that those

are the things you have to really consider. Now, to your

next side of the question is, okay, so I've, I've figured out

where they were, before they got to me, maybe I've educated or

maybe I've talked to them. But now how do I, it's still like, I

just bought a remarkable, I don't know if you're familiar

with them. But I have been looking at a remarkable for a

year and a half. So how do you communicate with somebody for a

year and a half? What, what's going on there for a year and a

half? Right? So one, that's a lot of what we do with the data

analytics and the research that we do to figure out the

questions that they're asking along that year and a half

journey that you need to answer to keep them in your value

journey until they're ready to actually make a purchase. But

then here's the second thing that so many people miss. It's

voice of customer research. Ask your current customers.

Absolutely, absolutely. You can't learn more than I mean,

they are the fount of of all information. And if you're not

doing that, you are so right. And you are so right.

Yes, yes. So you got to ask your current customers have those

surveys. And so many people are afraid to have those types of

servers. And I know, I'll admit, I've been in business a long

time, I've owned multiple types of businesses, and I've been

there too. And every single time that I've done it, I've been so

very thankful

that I did. Well, let me let me tell you a short story, as well,

even on my post COVID marketing machine, I had the concept more

or less down. And and you know, you wanted to refine it. Well,

instead of just going off and writing and researching online,

I went off and did 25 customer interviews earlier, and get

their case studies and then write up those case studies and

understand how each one of those fits into how you build a

marketing machine. And, and I, I don't know about you, when I was

younger, you know, I was afraid to talk to customers, oh my god,

they're gonna give me some negative feedback or something

like that. Yeah. And now I want that negative feedback, because

I need to learn, you know what I'm doing wrong? Yeah. And then,

and then to your point is, how do you learn what their, what

their customer journey was, their customer value journey was

six months or 12 months before they made that decision to, you

know, to start the search. And, and that great point, I really,

really like.

And so, since you went there, let me give give for everyone

listening, the advanced point, because this is the other thing

that we do, okay. We had a customer, whoever the customer

was, whatever we delivered for them. And it was successful. And

even if it wasn't successful, really, but we're done,

engagement is done. I then have a staff member, go back through

all communication, and audit, all communication and look for

What questions did they ask along the way? Absolutely.

Absolutely. Right. We take those. And then we create

content from those. So that that content becomes like, let's be

real, especially if you're selling high value, high ticket

stuff, your sales cycles are longer. You may send a proposal

and you may not hear from somebody for three months.

That's real. Right? And so what do you communicate with them? In

that timeframe? The answers to all the questions, all the other

customers have already asked. Because guess what? They get

those same questions too. Yeah,

absolutely. Yeah, I like that. And you're so right. And, and

when we do a proposal or where you are presenting our proposal

or whatever, we very carefully, just like you're talking about

write down exactly what those questions are. And and actually

use those words in the next round or in the next meeting. So

when they say you know, something like, Hey, I want to

build a, I want to, you know, improve my overall marketing

effectiveness. And we want to do it with word ABC. We absolutely

make sure that word ABC is in the next conversation that we

use, and so important, that is so important.

Yes, yes. And so Study was pilgrims. It's called the

Milgram experiment. While you were talking, I was looking it

up. Okay. Well, I had it in my notes because it uses the funny

story. It used to be on our old website. When we redid it, we

actually took it off because people were worried. But we

found it interesting. Most people didn't. So yeah, it's

about what your customers know what, let me touch that point.

When we're talking about the value journey, so many of us

gets stuck in talking about what we want, versus what they want.

Yep. I'm guilty of it. I'm telling salutely. Absolutely.

And this Milgram experiment was one of those things. We love it.

But nobody ever read it. Oh, we took it off.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's so and it makes so much sense. But

you are so right, though, quite often. And I think, you know,

it's, it's often, you know, founders bias or entrepreneurs

bias. It's, you know, we do as as we are guilty of it, you try

not to, but you put those blinders on. And you say, you

know, I heard you when you say, but I heard, you know, I think

you mean this, and in reality, no, no, they said this for a

reason. And that reason is then what's going to get you to the

next level, in whatever it is you're trying to do with your

clients.

Yeah, so let me share this with you. And this is a friend of

mine, Christina Hooper. brilliant marketer, as well, by

the way, just taught me recently this framework for that, to help

us as entrepreneurs, you ready for this? Get this, give them

what they want. Give them what they need, and then give them

what they want again. Right? And so, and so she framed that I was

like, okay, yes, that's what they wanted. And so we're gonna

give them what they want, we're gonna give them and she does

this in a presentation framework. So she's telling you

how to present she's teaching you how to present, right? So

they can't do a presentation to learn this big thing. Because

they want to slay this big dragon, whatever it is, right?

So you give them that upfront. But you and I both know that in

order to get there, you gotta go through bla bla bla, bla, bla,

bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla bla to get there. Right?

They don't care about that. But they actually need to know it.

And most of us as business owners, we say, Oh, I know you

want to do that. But first you got to go through and we lose

them. Yes. Because they don't want to hear that. Yeah. Right.

So she said, So instead, do the presentation in a way where you

give them exactly what they asked for. Give them all the

bells and whistles, take them to the end, and give them the

victory. And then to Okay, that's the victory. Now, let me

tell you the story of how we got to the victory. Bla bla bla bla

bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. And then they're like, oh, yeah,

yeah, yeah. And then you say, and when you do all of this,

then the next thing is, here comes the big moment where

you're going to get the victory. Yeah, the victory?

Yeah, no, that is, that is so true. And, and, and I think I

think you, you have to sell exactly what they want. Because

that is what they're wanting to buy. Now, of course, there's

other just like you said, there's other obstacles or costs

or steps or whatever it is, that has to be done. But if you if

you really say this is what you you know, if they tell you, this

is what you want, and you're answering what they want, then

how you get there is totally secondary. They just want to

they know what they want. And you just have to answer that. I

really liked that. Very good. Very good analogy with what was

it? Tell them what you want. Tell them what you need, and

then tell them what you want, again,

give them what they want, what they need, and give them what

they want again.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Very good. So. So we talked

about the customer value journey. You also had a notion

in your in your, in your LinkedIn videos, you had

something called a customer avatar. What did you mean by

that?

Okay, so this is the next piece. So we've talked about these

questions. And the next question, the next logical

question that you should be asking me, right, because we

said, okay, find out where they were before, but then ask your

current customers. But the next logical question you should be

asking me is okay, but who are my actual customer? When when

you say think about where they were before? How do I know

exactly where they were before? Because is it anybody buying a

house or going back to the furniture example? Right? Is it

anybody buying a house? Or is it anybody going back to the

catering example? Anybody who's looking at a venue? No, it's not

because if they're in a rinky dink venue that was $10 They're

not affording your $20,000 wedding. If they're buying a

house that's only 200 square feet bigger Other than their

apartments, then they're probably not what you're looking

for either, right. And so the avatar gives you the ability to

do the first time. And they're the three keys to traffic, and

let's go there for a moment. But the three keys to traffic, if

you really want to generate organic, organic traffic, the

three keys, and the first key is being completely and utterly

obsessed with your audience. One of the ways to get there is by

building a customer avatar, the avatar is a real person in so

much that it's on paper. But you need to think about it as a real

person. We talk to our avatar, we name our avatar, when we have

meetings, we talk about the avatar as a real person. Well,

how would Maxine respond to this, when we do it? The Avatar

grows, as you interview your customers, you learn more, you

build more of your avatar, the avatar is your ideal, perfect

customer, then not every customer. They're the customer

that you want to wake up and serve every single day. Because

be real with me, you notice some customers, you'd rather stay in

bed and to serve. Let's be real, right? But this avatar is the

one who's going to make you jump up and say, I'm ready to serve

you today. Because I love working with you. But the only

way you're going to get to know that avatar is you got to be

obsessed. You have to create them as a person, give them a

personality, learn about them. Where did they go to school?

What type of work do they do? How much money do they have?

What do they need? What do they do on a Friday night? When you

know you have your avatar, correct, is when you're having

conversations with your clients. And you keep getting the

feedback. I feel like you're in my head. How did you know that?

Yeah, it's just making my life. Yes. Those are the moments when

you start to realize, yes, I'm dialing into who my avatar is. I

know you. What motivates you? What are you afraid of? What

makes you happy? What makes you sad? What makes them get up out

of bed. And then finally, finally, as it relates to your

product and service, there's a before state that they exist in

right now that they don't want to be in. There is an after

state after they've experienced you and your brand, you need to

clearly define the before state. And clearly the fine after

state. That my friend is your avatar?

Absolutely, absolutely. And I like that I we call that a gap

analysis basically and where they are today where they want

to be. And then the second piece of that as well. How much is

that worth? And you know, how much are they willing to invest

to get from where they are today and the pain that they're

suffering today? To the promised land? Which is, you know, on the

other side of that gap? Absolutely. That makes so much

sense. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So. So here we are, we're in 2019.

We're running rolling along real well. And then big oops,

pandemic hits. And so what happened? How did that affect

what you're doing? How did that affect what your clients and

customers are doing? So that you now we're able to respond and be

able to really help them to take advantage of, in some ways the

disaster called COVID.

Right? So is it for me, at first, it was almost a blessing

in disguise, because I was thinking maybe it was time to

leave the industry and go a different route. Maybe it was

time my wife wanted to build her business, like, you know, maybe

just take a back seat and kind of do her marketing and be done

with it. Right. And that's kind of where I was, and then COVID

hits, hadn't quite made the transition or the decision to

transition yet. And when clients started freaking out, right, we

had a couple who didn't, who buckled down and said, Okay,

this is a great opportunity. Let's figure out how we can get

better. But most most of them started freaking out and saying,

Well, we don't know if we want to spend and we don't know and

then the team started to scatter. Okay, because writers

who all of our writers are freelance. We're just losing

their minds. Because all of their clients were starting to

scatter. And so it became harder. And really about July of

2020, my top writers were all gone. You know, the ones who are

rock solid, I'm IKEA. been with me for a long time. Awesome.

They are, they all had to make lifestyle changes, given what

was going on and where life was going. Right. Especially since

most of my writers were stay at home moms. And now, they have

spouses who income is being jeopardized because of COVID.

Like, I gotta do something different. I got to Yes. And

that's, again, around the time when I started, but I already

met users, I met us in like March or so. And started

thinking again, about this whole video thing and said, Oh, maybe

video. And we started doing some research, and started trying

some things out and started seeing some things that were

working and started realizing that what we've been doing, we

could translate over to video very, very well, which is

answering specific questions, helping customers answer

specific questions. The question was, could we get our current

client base? To come over with us? Short answer no. By and

large, the answer was no. One sub for someone who was too

early stolen COVID. For others, you know, we were a lot of times

dealing with, with people who are extremely busy. And so they

didn't have enough time to even help us with the written

content. And so that it felt like, especially in the early

days, it felt like it was going to be too much work for them.

Which, again, folks listening to customers. And so one of the

things that we saw for is, yeah, we create quality content for

you. And I only need you two hours a month. I actually need

my clients less time now than I did when we were doing written

content. To do video content, we need less from you. Because we

heard when we had that exodus of clients who were like, it's too

much. It's too much. It's too much. We're like, Okay, we got

to do this thing. We got to figure out that it's too much.

And it's too hard. And it's going to take too long problem,

which we did, which we absolutely did. It's easy. It's

fun, and it's painless now. And people actually tell us how much

they enjoy it. Right, which is absolutely amazing. Because who

the heck likes to be on camera? Most of us

well, I always say I have a face for radio. So but yeah,

absolutely. And interesting, though, that what you said is

interesting that the the so the writing component actually went

down when you when you shifted over to media.

Yeah. And so what ended up happening for us there too, was

by 2021, we had made the commitment that we were going

video, and at the time we were even coining the term, we were

going to be a video first content marketing agency like

we're going to do first, right, that we don't do written

content, but our written content is based on video. Okay, that

was for a shot. And so I had to make that very, very hard choice

in 2021. To say, the rest of the clients who were still paying,

by the way, right, who were still around, they said they

weren't going to convert they, you know, besides some really

big clients paying north of six figures to say, Hey, I know last

year I said, Either we're gonna go video or not. And a lot of

smaller guys when they catch up because y'all are big. Because

we weren't dumb, but now I'm going to be done. Understand.

Either you come to video, or the relationship ends. We lost

clients.

Well, that's a hard that is a hard thing to do for us for a

small business or for any business.

Well, think of it this way. Like I said, we lost six figure

clients and dropped our income down to

under 10 grand a month animates? Yeah, it was tough. It was

tough, but it was the right thing that Do what we needed to

do. Had to do. Otherwise, we would have always still been on

that other side and we would have never made the

right. The full switch over the commitment. Right. And so we've

had to say goodbye. It was hard.

Yeah, sometimes, you know, you have to do cold turkey on that.

That is that is a tough decision for anybody that's for sure. So

So what do you see now is the the biggest challenges facing

your clients, as they are now shifted? Or have shifted over to

video? What do you see as the next big challenge for them? Are

we going to be inundated with video is that is that now what's

going to happen?

Video is the future. videos, videos, the presence and video

is definitely the future. Now video is the future for a bunch

of different reasons. Number one, there is no better way to

connect with another human being outside of being physically in

their presence than video. No words on the page can do it. No

audio can do it. No slideshow can do it. But I can sit here on

video and look you dead in your eyes, even though we're not

together. And you can feel my heart, you can feel my reality.

You can feel my sincerity as we sit here and communicate. And so

video is absolutely 100% the future and the future of

marketing at that. It's absolutely the future of

marketing. Now, video is going to be changing. What do I mean

by that? When we started, and so this is now 2020, late 2020. And

we started talking to people about this, people started

saying okay, I remember the very first person, but one of the

very first people to say this to me. Alright, so we're gonna do a

video, and you guys are gonna make it be able to make it look

like a Superbowl commercial, right? That Well, number one,

you don't have a Superbowl commercial budget. So no. Right.

But now the question get this now the question. So this was

this was late 2020. Right now, late 2022. The question that I

get all the time is, so is it going to look like a tick tock?

Because that's what I want. There's a vast difference

between a Superbowl commercial and a tick tock video. Yes, but

it speaks to the shift that has happened. Post COVID. And where

the marketing machine needs to go. And that is people want

real? want authenticity. And the Tick Tock video, even though

they're becoming really good at being professionally

unprofessional?

That's the point of them. Yeah, I'm not saying that we're trying

to create tick tock videos, either.

What we're trying to do is help you the brand, be you on camera.

Yeah, well, I've been so amazed about how Tiktok and Instagram

reels and then YouTube shorts have just exploded, you know, a

friend of mine, he, he's been on there for a while now. And, and

I you know, in the hundreds of 1000s of of downloads and views,

it's just it's really incredible. And how how can you

otherwise get that kind of exposure with the message that

you want. And to your point about, about being authentic,

that really does allow you video does allow you to actually see

the person, it's not just marketing speak, you're seeing

the person to see what you know, and look in their eyes to your

point and be able to really see and get that that all of those

visual cues, in terms of what they're saying and what they're

showing and what they're talking about.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

So do you see so do you see regular YouTube videos that are

longer than let's say 60 seconds or a couple of minutes? Do you

seem to see those continuing? Or do you see everything really

getting down to the you know, the 30 to 62nd time sighs?

But that's a really, really great question. And one of the

things I learned early in business is when you're small,

and you don't have big budgets, look to those who are big and

have big budgets and a trying to do or answer the same questions

that you are and figure out what they're doing. Because if

they're doing it, they didn't do it accidentally, they spent a

lot of money to figure out or to believe that that's the right

answer. Okay. So let me answer your question in this way, a

little less than a month ago, YouTube released a new feature.

Were a short video on YouTube now has a very highlighted

button at the bottom of the video that you can click on,

that takes you to the long form version of that video. So Google

is telling us, Google is flat out telling us where they see

the world going, is that shorts will lead to someone wanting to

consume more information from you. In other words, that shorts

are going to help people move along your customer value

journey. Mm hmm.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And, and that actually is an

advantage, I guess over tick tock, I don't know if Instagram

has that same capability. But but that would be an advantage

over both of those because as an as an advertiser, as a marketer,

as a brand. We want them to engage longer. And in getting a

32nd or a 45 second engagement with a button to do several

minutes or even a half an hour or whatever it happens to be,

then that is for the advertiser anyway, then, you know, really a

major advantage. Yeah, yeah. Brilliant. Yeah, absolutely. And

I think to your point, as well, if the consumer is on their

value journey, then it's, if they're very early in that in

that journey, then they you have the ability to take them to that

first 30 seconds to get them to the next five minutes. And then

to your miligrams experience experiment that makes a whole

lot of difference to be early on to be that influencer, that

educator so that when they really get to that moment of

truth when they're about Dubai, they can then you know, they you

will have you will be a preference for them.

So now let me take that plane that just flying guy up here,

right because I love where you're flying the plane, you

know, I love it. Right? And so for anyone listening who is not

as theoretical as guy and I and need this plane Landis, let me

let me land a plane for you already for this. Absolutely.

Atlanta plane. So here's what this looks like. So on your

customer value journey, it starts off there eight stages on

the customer value journey, but it starts off with awareness.

Okay, then it goes to engagement. And then to

subscribe. Okay. We also call that people getting to know you,

liked you, and then trust you. Oh, you like you and then trust

you another way of looking at it. Okay, the first three stages

of your customer value journey, at the subscribe stage is where

they come to your website and give you a piece of information

that you can communicate back and forth with them. Email

address or phone number they sign up for something. Okay, so

follow me for a moment. As I land is playing they see a

YouTube short because they're on YouTube and shorter just

scrolling through. They see a YouTube short Oh, what's this?

They consume 30 seconds they got they were AWARE. AWARE. Okay.

Then they click either in the description or the big button

down below, and they go to the full video. Now they're watching

your full 1510 minutes, six minutes, whatever it is longer

than 30 seconds minute, right? They're watching your full

video, they watch that full video. They're engaging, they

went from knowing you. Now they're beginning to like you as

they're beginning to like you. And they're watching this video.

In the video. If you follow our process, there's always a call

to action. And they say you tell them, hey, I've got a link down

below of a guide or a cheat sheet or something that you can

go get that will help you and they click that link. They go to

your website. They go to your website, they put in their name,

their email address, they hit submit, they've just subscribed.

They know like to trust

that's how it works. Yeah, I like that. And and you see that,

you know, all over the place and and that know like trust is is

critical. I can talk to you for hours. And so our 32nd to our

hour now and then but anyway, we're going to have to close but

is there anything that we haven't mentioned that you want

to mention before we close out?

Here's the deal. Video is here, it's here to stay. And you have

a major opportunity right now. Because Youtube earlier this

year published a study and get these numbers. YouTube has said

that 91% of your competition does not have a YouTube channel

right now 91% of your competition does not have a

YouTube channel, which means they're not creating video.

Which means even if you don't have a YouTube channel right

now, you have an opportunity today, to go start a channel to

go start creating video right now. And get ahead of 91% of

your competition.

How else can you do that in your business? And do it so

inexpensively? I don't know any other way. Now, exactly. If you

need help with that, come talk to me.

If you can, obviously go to client attraction proz.com. If

you want to come to me directly meet a tebow.com that will take

you to my LinkedIn page, send me an AD Connect with me send me a

message on LinkedIn. I'm here to talk to you.

Fantastic. No one. I like that. And yeah, and no question. If

you get an expert like yourself, it makes so much of a

difference. To get it right. Get it done fast, and then beat that

other 91% Because you know that being first in, in many areas

can can be a game changer for a business.

Absolutely. Especially something as big as this

right? Exactly. Exactly. Well, Atiba, thank you so much. I'm so

glad that we were able to set up this podcast and spend some time

chatting together and really understanding what the what the

whole market is doing. And then specifically as well, how you

can take advantage of that in search, which is so critical for

that customer value journey. So and you definitely helped to

educate me and I hope that our audience will also like what

you've talked about, so where you can learn more information

about a teba is meet a tv.com. So I heard that one. And then of

course, client attraction proz.com client attraction

proz.com for learning more about this incredible new opportunity

for businesses of all sizes. So whether you're small, medium or

large search is where you want to be. Video is where you want

to be. And and so client attraction proz.com for fortiva

Otherwise, please stay tuned for many other videos in this series

of the backstory on marketing, please visit marketing machine

dot pro relevant.com and download the first chapter of my

book and also learn about some other valuable excerpts from my

book, The Post COVID marketing machine. And also don't forget

to sign up for more episodes and if you liked this episode,

please give it five stars and rate it for five stars. Thank

you very much.

Bye nice guy and John catch that he just didn't know like and