All Things Marketing

Are you struggling to market your small business? This podcast is your secret weapon! We'll ditch the confusing jargon and chat about real-life marketing tips that work. From social media tricks to website magic, we'll show you how to reach your ideal customers and grow your business. But that's not all, we'll also share inspiring success stories, like the transformation of the Kids First marketing team. Tune in for actionable advice, relatable stories, and a sneak peek at our exclusive Boot Camp for the Children's Instructional Services industry!

Listen up and keep your small business thriving!

1 Page Marketing Plan

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Transcript

All Things Marketing

[00:00:00] Big Mac, Filet O Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fry, Icy Coke, Thick Shake, Sundaes, and Apple Pie.

Welcome to the Small Business Bootcamp Podcast, the show that gives lifetime solutions for your business and business solutions for your lifetime. I'm Corey Tucker, and today we're talking about all things marketing. Here with me is Megan and Jen. How are you doing? Doing good, doing good. We have a, we have a big event coming up this weekend and we're getting excited, but other than that, things are great.

Yep. I'm doing great. That's it. That's it? That's it. We're doing great. We're all doing great. We're all doing great. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot of things that are happening in a gym that are really, really exciting, but I'm excited about this weekend too with bootcamp. To start this first segment of the podcast, I have a question.

Tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when I ask you this question. What's a commercial or ad that sticks in your mind and why [00:01:00] did it stick? Uh, I, I have, it's just because I, it came up this past holiday season, but that. Um, Hershey's commercial with the little Hershey kisses and they're in like a tree.

And I think they're doing jingle bells and it's just like, doot, doot, doot. And the little, uh, kisses are hopping up and down. Um, I don't know. Every time that one comes on, I just, I look at it and it makes me think like, gosh, that's a great kisses commercial. Um, because I'm not a Hershey kisses person, but I remember it and I, I watch it every time it comes on.

And it's just simple and catchy, but that one is recently been in my. Yep. In my memory banks. And that's funny. I have, too. Obviously, everybody, I think, is emotionally tied to the Budweiser Clydesdale commercials. But I could probably sing to you the McDonald's commercial of the 80s. That's so funny. I can't remember last week.

Can we get a little bit of the, I don't know, I wasn't around, can I hear it? Oh, well, yeah, sure. Okay. Big [00:02:00] Mac, Filet O Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fry, Icy Coke, Thick Shake, Sundaes, and Apple Pie. I love it. That's how we open the podcast. Right there. Well, it's funny you say that. That one popped into my head too.

But the other one that really popped into my head that I really like is the Burger King at Habit Your Way. Oh, yeah. Because that's like, wow, that's consumer marketing at its finest, right? Sure. What do you want? And so that one always just kind of sticks in my head as, as the one that I really like and call back to.

Okay. Yeah. Habit Your Way. Habit Your Way. Yeah. We all want it our way, right? Absolutely. I think of the Priceless commercials too, the MasterCard, you know, the lipstick's 35, the handbag's 150, the airline ticket, but seeing your family and friends, Priceless. That always tugs at your heartstrings a little bit.

It evokes an emotion, right? It absolutely does. It creates a story in your head. Yeah. And we'll come back to that as this podcast goes on further. All right. So we're talking about all things [00:03:00] marketing and I have the brilliant and Jen and Megan here that are going to give us the last 50 years of what kids first marketing has been.

Who wants to start? Ask your question. I love your question. Uh, I figured it might make good sense for Jen our veteran here to walk us through The olden days take us back to 25 years ago Plus what Jeff taught in marketing what we did What was kids first marketing strategy when you when you started and what you knew of before that, right?

And I think to go back 25 years. I haven't been here for 50 But 25 years ago. I think Jeff would say that You That's where he struggled that was not his strength and you know, we did mailers and we did Most of our emphasis at that time and probably still is with with small businesses and entrepreneurs is the word of mouth People talk about your organization and your product whether it's good or whether it's bad.

I think what has [00:04:00] So we don't do mailers. We don't do really even handouts in class anymore I think over time we had you know, our vowel pack our yellow pages ads Things like that that we we don't do because we have different different options anymore but the one thing when I've been thinking about word of mouth a lot and again, I think that is our best way to sell our product give a really great product and Get people talking about it.

But word of mouth is not just talking anymore. It is that social media presence. And if we forget to put value in that, then that's where I think we, I think that's where we have missed our opportunities more recently. Um, but I did hear, I was listening to a podcast the other day and they were talking about mailers and how nobody does them.

And if you are the company that's doing them, you have the market on it because nobody else is doing them now. Do people actually open it and read it? I don't know. But for me, I would say, you know, what I have seen over time is just that transition of, uh, the, the yellow pages ads, the Val [00:05:00] pack ads, which were your community ads in the mail.

And a lot of, um, hoping that people are talking about your great product. Yeah. And, and really, I would say when I stepped into the marketing role in 2019. Um, not a lot had changed. I mean, we were still very heavy on internal print marketing, just hitting, you know, when you have the foot traffic that we have, that was obviously a great strategy, uh, to really push the banners and the, I mean, We talked a lot about having those seven to 10 touch points where they're going to see the same thing on the sidewalk sign to the banner to the class handout to the TV to the website and one of those will make them convert and so that was really a lot of the strategy we were still doing some in home mailers some town savers things like that um when I started I think it was just measuring the effectiveness of that and the dollars and how they were being spent but we really hadn't entered into the social media that you're talking about Ever really [00:06:00] heavily.

Um, we had social media channels, I think because it kind of felt like at a point in time it was just a necessary part of business. You had to have them, but we weren't effectively using them. So when I started, I remember wanting to get us into some different external means of marketing. Um, and I actually, that's how we got introduced to Corey and Angela was through Starting Facebook and Instagram advertising Google advertising and kind of dipping our toes into that now I stepped into the marketing role in September of 2019 and then we shut off all marketing dollars in March of 2020, so we had a little bit of Some experience in that and starting to see some some movement.

I had also stepped into working with a local Um, media company and doing some streaming and OTP ads and just different, um, just different means of, of marketing. And we had done some giveaways with the local media channels doing some Disney on ice tickets and come in and see us. And we [00:07:00] actually had seen some great success again, the Disney on ice show, I believe was March of 2020.

I think you're right. Yeah. So, but we had, um, We were starting to dabble in a lot of different digital means of marketing. Um, and then again, kind of everything just went back, kind of all got stripped away. And as we were coming back, I feel like it was just, how do we get people through the door? And it was really just reaching out to the people that knew us and kind of hitting that word of mouth hard again.

Um, and things, I think as we all have talked about the numbers, um, Started to come back. We had a, you know, 2021 and 2022 were great and nothing really changed our marketing strategy. I was working at kids first and kids first two. And, um, as 2023 kind of started quarter one was, was awesome. And then we started to see kind of a slow, uh, decline in our enrollment kind of coming off of those years.

And that's really where. Um, we [00:08:00] shifted the focus back to that marketing strategy and me being in the role that I was at that time. It wasn't, um, we needed to, to find a different direction. And so that's sort of queues up Corey into, um, Um, you know, we, we started searching for how do we fill that gap and then what is the direction that we're moving forward and Corey kind of threw his through his name in the ring.

And so, um, I want to kind of jump to Corey and see kind of what was your experience. with Kids First prior to stepping into this role? And then why, why did you want to join us full time? Kind of walk us through that. Oh, that's a great question. So when we were contracting, we were working on Facebook ads and some employment videos and some this podcast, and I really enjoyed the work.

I love marketing and I enjoyed the atmosphere at Kids First. And when I was interviewing people for that employment video, Everyone's saying, Hey, I've been here X amount of [00:09:00] years and I love it. And, and it was like, that was genuine. I was like, that is really cool. And so that really, that really got my mind thinking like, this is a cool place.

And I remember telling Angela, I wouldn't mind being a part of the team. They are kids first. And so that was a couple of years ago and I just threw it back in my mind and just put it there, right. You do get to a certain place in your life where who you work with becomes just as important as the work.

And so that, that really, you know, that really was like, you know, the, the eye opener for me. To step back a little bit from that, I actually grew up in the gym. My sister was a gymnast. Okay, yeah, yeah. So you guys probably don't know this. Walk us through some of this background. I really, you know, Jen and I know, um, I probably the tip of the iceberg about Corey.

So kind of Walk us through some of the background of how you got, how you got here. Yeah, sure. So I grew up in the gym. My sister was a gymnast. We were always traveling all over the country to support what she did. And [00:10:00] as her older brother, I really saw how gymnastics helped her become a disciplined student, a disciplined athlete.

And matter of fact, she got a full ride to UK as a cheerleader, right? So I saw all these things happen. It was really, really cool to watch as her older brother. But on a personal note, soccer was, was, was my sport and I played it till I was about 20. And my first real job was I was a referee, right? And what that taught me was like control management of the game.

And you know how sports parents can be, they can be intense, right? So it, yeah, yeah. So it really felt like. Working with kids first felt like coming home. And so I was really, really excited for that opportunity. Can you walk us through some of the, um, The employment background that you had, because I, I, you have a kind of a varied background.

My, what I know is that, and I know that I don't know all of it, but I know that you had a history in, uh, recruiting and marketing, and then you [00:11:00] also had a history, um, in ministry. So. Can you kind of walk us through, um, even just some of that background. So people kind of know where you're coming from as you, what experience you're bringing to Kids First.

Perfect. That's a great question. I actually, we moved here to Cincinnati in the eighties. We'll just, we'll just call it that, right? We'll just say that. And at that point, Schools were still segregated, believe it or not, right? So I went to this all white school and this all black church, and here I am trying to figure out who I am and what I am and how to connect with people in these two environments.

And something happened when I was about six or seven years old, I sang in a school play, and I led worship at church, and It was in those moments where I felt connection and I felt community and music. When you boil music down, it's just storytelling, right? And so I spent the next couple of years just pursuing music, whatever and however I could.

I actually went on to the house, the university as a vocal music major. [00:12:00] Okay. Yeah. And decided I didn't want to be a teacher after three years. That happens, right? Right. I said, I don't, I don't know. That's what I want to do. But here I am teaching. Every day, you know, so I graduated with a communications degree, and then from there, I worked at an insurance company as an underwriter, and it was, It was an experience, right?

I would imagine that was not your true passion. Yes. Sitting at a desk. Exactly. So that's so, that's exactly where I'm going with this. What it did teach me was how to read policy language and relay that to my customers and to my clients, right? And then I would teach these. Agencies to perform better how to market.

And so that's what that experience taught me. And so from there, you're exactly right. I, I did not like sitting at a desk. I needed to be creative. And so I quickly went into sales and marketing and I was doing direct sales [00:13:00] like back then, you know, back then. There was no digital marketing, none of that, right?

You, you did a drive by, which is door to door. That's right. I call it drive by. It's a cold call, right? You would go, you would step in there, speak to the gatekeeper, try to win that person over with a story or something, right? And that's, that was marketing back then. Right. Another part of marketing back then was, email was relatively new.

It was still there, but you had to learn how to write persuasive emails. And then when you got in front of the client, you had to close the deal. Yeah. And so that was, those were my experiences. And the sales and marketing world. And I loved it. Yeah, I loved it. I loved every part of it. Great. Well that thank you for sharing that.

I know that that's some information that I didn't have. So now you're here. You're part of kids first. Um, as our marketing director, you started now about two months ago and, um, walk me through what that's been like from the, from the beginning, you know, from learning about us. Thanks. [00:14:00] Let's start there.

Maybe, you know, walk us through what, what you've learned and where we're headed. Oh, wow. So, and that's a good, that is a, that is a very good question. Trying to figure out how to answer that one. So I'm one of these guys that like to be prepared for everything. So I hadn't prepared for that one, but what I have learned is that.

We make an impact on, on families. And the cool thing about that is when I was working in a nonprofit, it's working in the church. That's essentially what, what we did a little bit about that experience is being a performer. It informs. everything I do. Like when I'm on stage, you understand the importance of like grabbing attention, conveying a message and evoking motions.

That's why we talked about those ads at the beginning, right? Marketing is, is very, very similar to that. And so I use those same skills to craft those narratives and work of that campaign and get the [00:15:00] result that we're looking for. What I've learned is that. Kids first does have a marketing, a very strong, strong marketing background.

And so for a company to exist for 50 years on word of mouth is really unheard of. And so that excited me because then we could, we could take that process and make it digital. So. That, you know, that was probably the first thing that really jumped out at me was like, you know, most companies would not survive word of mouth marketing, right?

Mm hmm. So from there, I really pivoted and this is what I call Show me your ugly. Okay. Yeah. Show me your ugly. So I think I spent that first month just reviewing everything from department leaders to processes to technology to the current marketing systems. [00:16:00] And I learned a lot, not only about the business, but about the people.

I was able to connect with the people, which in my opinion is probably the most important. And so from there, it was really easy to begin to put together a plan on how to digitize word of mouth. Right. And that's essentially what I'm doing is I'm taking that word of mouth and making it a digital process.

So what changes have you, you know, what changes are you wanting to make right away? That's a great question. I shared this with Jen yesterday. We were just talking and it's, uh, it's called the Pareto principle. And, and the Pareto principle states that 80 percent of a project's benefit comes from 20 percent of the work.

But I like to look at it like this. 80 percent of the problems can be traced back to 20 percent of the causes, right? Yeah. So as I, as I reviewed, show me the ugly, as I reviewed the company. What are those top 20 percent things that I can do right away that will have an impact? [00:17:00] We had a marketing meeting early on right and one of the things that I said was if we can get 10 percent Better at marketing we can grow the business and do you remember what you said Megan?

I said 1 percent better Exactly right so 20 percent was hey We have to figure out a way to get people really excited about our company and Everything is going to hinge off of our website. And so I knew the first thing coming in, we had to, we had to really get the website to a place where people were comfortable in it.

We were excited about it and we could share it with the world. And so that was like the number one thing I wanted to get done. Honestly, I wanted to get it done in the first quarter. I didn't think we'd get it done. And. You know, a month or two, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's the prize. They got a website done in a matter of weeks really 12 days and it was it was ready.

Yeah, that was impressive. Yeah, and that was that was huge You know, I [00:18:00] knew I mean I can speak to The previous couple of years it had been a topic of Jen and I That we would keep coming back to the website needs down the website And there was a lot that we were working on from a building standpoint. We had hit the 25 year mark in our building and a 25 year old building has a lot of maintenance and upkeep that we were hitting that that year.

Um, and it was just a matter of my time and, and, and it just didn't happen. I mean, we just kind of kept pushing it off and kept pushing it off, but we knew that we needed to do it. Uh, and again, Corey's background and His business partner and what their background was it just made sense for that that was that had to be one of their first First things that they focused on and it is a prime example of you know You take it's a small piece of what we do but it has such a big impact of what we do if we're gonna be driving people to the website if we're gonna try to Convert people from the website if we're gonna run Advertising that pushes people to the website.

I mean it has to be Easy to use [00:19:00] from a consumer standpoint, it has to be selling what we do in a visual way and in a, in a simple format. And so that was, that was a huge piece that you guys took on right away. Um, that was really then going to formulate a lot of the other strategies that you guys were going to do.

Once you had that done and they did it and it's beautiful. It's it's in phase one. We we love to say, I mean, the website is going to come in phases and you may be scared going to speak to that. But, um, phase one is out there and it's live and we are working on the next pieces of that. Right. So, so go check it first.

Sports. com. Hey, send me a message, you know, tell me what you think. See if there's, maybe there's some suggestions you might have. So send me an email, you know, you can email me through ctuckeratkidsfirstsports. com. I'd love to hear your thoughts or your feedback or, you know, maybe what you're walking through.

So the other thing that I think was important to follow back on that question you asked me, what did I want it to, what were the things I wanted to change? I wanted to have a vision for where we were headed. And I wrote [00:20:00] just a really, really basic one and I'm going to read it to you so I don't mess it up.

A marketing vision at Kids First is all about creating a buzz, connecting deeply with our audience through killer content and strategic channels, and constantly innovating to stay ahead while making a meaningful impact in the world. I liked that. Um, when you read it in our marketing meeting, It was definitely impactful.

I liked the, I liked the statement that it said of what, you know, you wanted to carry through. Um, I liked the buzz. I felt like that was a cute little tie into the tumblebees. Um, and, and just, you know, the killer content strategic channels. I thought. Um, it set a, it's, it did set a vision for where you wanted to go with the marketing department.

So well done on that. And what I liked about that and every conversation that we have had since is just your natural alignment with kids, who kids first is with our culture and our principles and, and to have somebody come in who [00:21:00] knew some about kids seamlessly transition into a role where our goals are now your goals and your goals are our goals.

And I think we have this really great product that we offer. Inside our walls and to get that word out to the people who've not been here before or to remind those who are once here and are no longer here, come back. We've got something fantastic that can be life changing for your family or your child.

I think you are the perfect person to do that in this role. That's exactly both of you nailed it. Like I saw this great product. I saw gymnastics changed my sister. I saw sports changed my life and I'm like, can I be a part of that? What does it take to help kids first really get that word out? But that's what excites me about getting up every day.

I look forward to working every day and I have to tell myself I have to take breaks because I can be, I can be, yeah, I can just keep going. Yeah. And in your role, there's so much to be done. I mean, we, we have been behind and it's, we're playing a lot of catch up and you're trying to connect a lot of the dots, [00:22:00] which are the separate departments.

Um, and, and share that strategic plan with the department leaders and get everybody moving in the same direction. I think you've, you've got a lot of work ahead of you and The transition has been fun to watch. I think the department leaders are super excited. They feel like they've got some momentum too.

That's a great place to segue into is that other piece that I wanted to change is I'm a planner. I plan everything. If I'm going to be singing on stage, I plan where I'm going to, you know, be on this part of the song or this part of the song. If I'm giving a public speech, same thing. I plan. Basically, my whole life and so the other thing I wanted to do as I stepped into this role is have a plan and that plan obviously was build a mobile website, right?

And then that second piece we talked about and this is just summarizing. A second piece was create a relational digital presence. Take that word of mouth, make it a digital process, right? Those were the things that I saw coming in right away. That, that I wanted to change. As I [00:23:00] reviewed every department, almost every department was really, really impressed with not only the executive team, but all the department leaders.

I mean, these, these folks care about these kids and making it in. I'm like, goodness gracious. You know, it's, it's hard to find company that's, that's not just about numbers, right? And so those are, those are things that really got me going. Yeah. And a lot of them, I think they're coaches, right? You know, they're, they're, they're, they love kids and they love what they do, but they're, they're not marketers.

And I think what they do organically is they're able to market, you know, they're able to talk about their program top to bottom, up and down and tell the stories. Uh, very organically if you ask them, but I think as a natural, they're not natural marketers in email marketing or how to sell, you know, how to follow up and do campaigns and things like that.

And so it's really just. education. And I feel like it's also, you know, it's education to them of what that process can [00:24:00] be like and how can the marketing team help bridge those gaps and in what is the role that they're going to play and what's the role that you're going to play. And I think a lot of that is starting to happen where they're, it's, it's connecting what they do so well and how do we share it with everybody and what role they play and what role we play.

Um, and so I guess, you know, one place that I, What are you seeing from, from, uh, you know, the marketing department and, um, how, you know, I think you've, I feel like you've asked a lot of questions sometimes I know with me in regards to Kids First 2 and how to, how do you get a culture shift to happen? Um, what's been the change like in the, in the marketing department?

Um, and how do you, how do you undertake a culture shift from a department that really hasn't had the oversight? Um, and a couple of years with me working at another location. Wow. That is a very tough question. I won't even lie to you. That's a very tough question. As a sales and marketing guy and a recruiting guy, I always say, make sure you [00:25:00] have the right people on the right bus.

Right? Because once you, once you have that in place, it becomes easier to move forward. of that culture shift is communication, open door. The folks on the team have to be ready for that, have to be ready to change and shift. Right. And it is a big shift for them. I mean, you, you take me being gone for really, really out of the day to day for a couple of years, and then you're coming in with a huge vision and a lot of goals.

Um, and, and it's, it's been a big change for them. It's been a big change for them. And I know that, um, You need, again, like you're saying, you need them on board to carry out what's, what's happening. Um, but, you know, that's a process for you and it's a process for them and so I know that that's been, um, a big focus for you as you've, as you've gotten in here.

I think the other piece too is Try to communicate what I'm thinking, you know, especially with within my executive team, like, Hey, this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm seeing. Hey, can you get this information? Or do [00:26:00] you have this information or, Hey, this is what I'm seeing. What are you seeing? I think the best thing to do is just be open and honest about things.

Because that'll just, it'll just push us forward, right? So we're walking through that process, right? We're walking through that cultural shift and I'm learning that process. My background is in sales and marketing and in recruiting and music, right? Yeah. So that's, that's, that's my background. So I'm learning as I'm going.

But what I have learned in this process too is to keep more talented people. smarter people around, right? Yeah. And I have mentors that I can speak to, you know, I come to you too a lot. And so I always look for that wisdom from people that, you know, have gone before me. It's funny you referenced a culture shift at Kids First too.

And, um, I think when I, years ago, when I shifted from the, uh, one department to another department, it was a complete culture shift and there were things that we needed to get, [00:27:00] uh, realigned on. And just remember that our greater, our, our greater goal is for the, the company and the kids and the families.

You know, we, we often will say the greatest good for the greatest number. And I think in a, in a role like our marketing department, Um, with, with Megan originally being the, the head of that marketing department and then stepping out to run another company, um, there was a lot of freedom to kind of create a marketing department that, that was comfortable.

And so re assessing the, the goals of the marketing department as a whole so that they match the goals of the business and benefit us in a way that we were, we were seeing, we were seeing lacking. And I think, um, you know, our, our, our marketing team has some really great strengths and great talent, but where, where you have come in is being able to see the broader picture, like the overview of, What's working and what's not working and what's aligned with kids first and how do [00:28:00] we, how do we move forward?

So when you're talking about getting the right people on the bus, I think, yes, it's about getting the right people on the bus, giving them the tools to, to, to reach those goals. And, um, if there's not, If there's not identifiable planning, you're a big planner. There's not an identifiable plan to reach the goal.

Then we just keep spinning our wheels. And I think that is a great strength of yours. You are, you are a planner, like not to a fault, but you are a planner, which is not always how. Everyone here has functioned. You know, Megan made a great point. Our department leaders, those in the instructional programs are really great at connecting with kids and working with kids.

And sometimes they have a great idea that pops up and then they go do that great idea. I was one of those people too. And then another great idea pops up. So you go and you do that idea. But the idea of planning it out in a strategic way is, you know, Where we're going to spend more time and attention.

And I think you're from a, from a marketing standpoint, I don't think it works if you don't do it that way. I think we saw [00:29:00] that. I think we just saw it kind of fizzle a little bit because we didn't have an overall strategic plan of how to reach our goals. I'm glad you make that distinction. You're exactly right.

Marketing is simply a plan. I love this quote. I'm going to share it with you. Imagine this circus is coming to the showground Thursday. Well, that's advertising. If you put a sign on the back of the elephant and walk into a room, that's promotion. The elephant walks through the mayor's flowerbed and a local newspaper writes a story about it, that's publicity.

If you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town citizens go to the circus, you show them mini entertainment booths and explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths. You answer all their questions and they spend a lot of money at the circus. And if you've planned that whole thing, that is marketing, marketing.

I do like that. Isn't that, isn't that cool? Yep. Yep. Yeah. Marketing is really just a plan. [00:30:00] So what is, what is the plan? What is the plan? As we move forward. I know you've got one. What, what's on, what's on the marketing plan for Kids First in the next three, six, nine months? We'll continue to optimize the website, make sure it's, the user experience is up to par.

I'll call this test and verify. Test everything and verify it. So we're going to spend a lot of time probably in this first year, testing our ads, testing our social media, testing buttons on the website. We're going to test and verify everything bigger than that is to have a marketing plan, and I call it the one page marketing plan.

And what that marketing plan looks like is number one, if you don't take anything else from this podcast, the one thing I want you to take away is know who your buying clients are, know how they think, know how they operate, know where they, where they hang out, know, How many kids they have, know everything about them, because that will inform how [00:31:00] you communicate with them on social media, on your website, in your email, know everything about them that you can.

Even to the point where we're going to have pictures on our desk of the Jones family, and as you're writing an email, you're going to say, put married. Answer this email or where she understand this email. That's where we're starting the marketing plan. And so from there, we go to phase two, which is building systems to capture those leads, nurture those leads and convert those leads to sales.

And then phase three is create a world class experience for our clients. And then my favorite of all of these is taking that word of mouth and stimulating that process in a digital world. If you want to know more information about that one page marketing plan, please feel free to reach out. I'd love to share it with you.

I think it's a great place to start if you've never sat down and put a marketing plan together. And then lastly, we're going to be focused in on content strategy. You know, this is part of that content strategy, this podcast here. But I've already started talking to some of the [00:32:00] department leaders about articles and videos and blog stuff We want to be the leader.

We want to be the educator We want to be the place that parents come to and we can answer their questions and make them Feel really comfortable about making a decision to be a partner with us So we want to push out content that is is going to answer those parents questions There's a quote that I so often use, uh, and it's that good You Marketing makes the company look smart and great marketing makes the customer feel smart and I love that by the way.

Thank you I have a question two questions, but we'll start with this one. What if there's somebody that's walking through this process or is Needing to make a change in their marketing department. What advice would you give to them as they get started in that?

Hmm making in your questions, man Sorry Probably the first thing I would say is, if you're an owner, if you're [00:33:00] a business owner, think about how you purchase things. I asked a department leader, hey, when was the last biggest purchase you had? And she said, hey, I bought a car. And I was like, what was that process like?

And so she's like, we did all this research, we visited all these dealerships, and we finally made a decision because we had all these things aligned. So I would probably say to a business owner, if you're, if you're wondering how your clients, you know, purchase from you, put yourself in their shoes, right?

Put yourself in that space. That's probably number one. And then number two, if you can't emotionally remove yourself from reviewing the business and, and take a real assessment of it, I say, do it. If you can't do that, hire someone to do it. And then you guys sit down together and make a plan. So what I'm, what I heard is review processes, really understand the process that the [00:34:00] consumer is going to go through and then take a, take a good hard look at the business.

And if you can't do that and have somebody else walk it through with you and And be prepared to make changes where, where you need to. Yeah. And that's hard. You know, people are tied to processes and all kinds of things, right? The goal is to impact the families and then continue to have this business well after you've stepped away from it.

Right. And so I think if we can keep that focus, it becomes easier to make those harder decisions. So if you could have one wish. What would it be? Million dollars! Ha ha ha! Just one? Well yeah, exactly. Personal would be a million dollars. What about professional? That's really 650, 000 probably. You know what I'm saying?

So Um, so You're looking for a million after taxes. Exactly. Exactly. So the reality is, is [00:35:00] that the department leaders in our hospitality team are our sales arm. I would love for us to find a way to really educate them, not only on kids first history and background, but all the other programs. So when an athlete has walked through their department for a year and it's time for them to move on, they can sit down with that family and say, Hey, these are the next steps.

So that would probably be my number one wish. And probably a unlimited budget for marketing. Well, keep wishing. Well, the way that we operate in case you're not familiar with our financial targets and goals is that marketing runs as a percentage of revenue. So as you bring in more kids, that budget goes up and up and up and up.

Never unlimited, but it will go up. That's right. It will increase. The dollars go up as the revenue goes up. So keep that in mind, bring in all the new kids and that's what will happen. I hear what you're saying. I, I, I, everything for the most part costs money. And so it is a decision of, [00:36:00] of, you know, there's not a lot of free marketing these days aside from word of mouth.

And sometimes the way that we want word of mouth to happen, it isn't free. Um, you want to start talking about social media or, or, um, different campaigns, but. Yeah. Another tidbit, just piggybacking off of that is, you know, people ask me, Hey, when do I need to start running Facebook ads or this and that? And I say, Hey, well, Take your first three to five top performing social media posts and then figure out why those were most engaged.

And if you really want to run an ad, use those as a backdrop to run an ad. Yeah. Um, yeah, definitely just always understanding what's performing well and then double down. I mean, that's always been the, the, for anything, anything that you're doing, figure out what's working well and double down on it anywhere you can.

And just like anything else, figure out what you really like to do. But if it's not working, be honest about it and, and move away from it, pivot, dump it or tweak it, whatever [00:37:00] it might be. But I think we are emotional creatures and we get hung up on something that used to always work and we don't understand why it's not working.

And that might be because our consumer has changed and the way they get information has changed. And if we don't change with it, we get left behind. Exactly. Man, you nailed that. That's exactly right. So it's, you know, we're, as we're about to wrap up, can you give us three key takeaways for our listeners?

Sure. So probably number one is what got you here won't get you to the next place. So just like Jen just said, right, consumer behavior changes. And as a company, we have to be flexible to understand that and then pivot. So that's number one. Number two, have a plan. I don't know. I don't know how to say more about that.

Right. Corey always has a plan. I always have a plan. I have a plan. And then I think this one is really, really important is dream with your team about what the future could look like. And so this brings up another point, right? If your team is engaged and they're [00:38:00] dreaming with you, man, you guys together can do some really, really cool things.

The most important is I don't have all the answers, and I don't know everything, but I always try to surround myself with smarter, more talented, more put together people. So I can turn to them and say, Hey, what do you think? Right. And so those are, those are probably the three, the four areas that, that I would probably say you're going to take away from this podcast.

Well, Corey, I can say, I, the, we are so blessed to have you on our team. I think that you are taking marketing in, in the new age into a great direction. And I think that, um, You know, we we are we are excited to as you said have talented people on board and you are the right person for our bus So I want to wrap this up by Just saying that we at the small business boot camp both for the boot camp itself and for our podcast Our goal is lifetime solutions for your business [00:39:00] And business solutions for your lifetime.

Um, subscribe to our podcast, anywhere you listen to podcasts. And if you're interested in coming to our next bootcamp, you can visit us at Metzger bootcamp. com, or you can shoot us an email at info at Metzger bootcamp. com. Anyone have any closing thoughts? What is the small business bootcamp? What is that by the way?

The small business bootcamp is held. Uh, that's a great question. Um, we serve the, The Children's Instructional Services industry and we have been doing boot camps for about 33 years and that what a boot camp looks like is about a three and a half day immersive business Seminar where you come out to Cincinnati, Ohio at Kids First Sports Center And you get to learn and be immersed in everything that we do here meet our department leaders see the classes Um, we have fun.

We have dinner events and we have, uh, you know, a lot of getting to immerse yourself into the industry and meeting other like minded individuals that just want to have a positive impact on families. [00:40:00] So we do that twice a year. Um, we have one coming up in May in May. Second through the 6th, 2024. And we'll have another one in November.

Um, you, again, you can always find those dates at MedSchoolBootCamp. com depending on when you're listening to this and one may have passed, but they're always available on MedSchoolBootCamp. com. Uh, thanks for tuning in. Does anybody have any closing thoughts? I think we're going to come back and do another marketing podcast where we go a little deeper into some things.

And, you know, I was thinking about this the other day. It'd be cool if we could do a call in show, right? You know, have people call in and put us on the spot. Spot right there. We, we could, if that is something that would interest you, let us know. Um, but I, I want to thank Corey for being on here. I want to thank our listeners.

Thank you, Jen. And until next time, stay positive and keep moving [00:41:00] forward.