Welcome to the BRAND NEW podcast that’s dedicated to growing businesses and solopreneurs! We are glad you’re here!
You’ve landed on the Banowetz Marketing website. For information about Sara Leisinger of Who’s Lance Digital Media, you can find her on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Transcription:
– [Narrator] Welcome to Sarah Squared, the podcast for all things marketing, business growth, branding, and social media. Sara Leisinger is the owner of Who’s Lance Digital Media, serving start-ups and solopreneurs. And Sarah Banowetz owns Banowetz Marketing, a full-service agency located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Together, they make up Sarah Squared, dedicated to the inspiration, motivation, and education of growing businesses. The podcast starts now.
– [Sara Leisinger] So, everybody, welcome to the podcast. You have just heard in the jingle, You have entered Sarah Squared and this is a different kind of world, folks.
– [Sarah Banowetz] Welcome, welcome.
– [Leisinger] I am Sara Leisinger and
– [Banowetz] I am Sarah Banowetz
– [Leisinger] And I own Who’s Lance Digital Media here in the corridor.
– [Banowetz] I own Banowetz Marketing, also in the corridor.
– [Leisinger] Awesome. Basically, what we’re going to, what this podcast is about is about you guys. We want to make sure that as small business owners, you guys are equipped, you guys have the tips, tricks, hints, knowledge, resources, to be able to, either, do your own marketing or find somebody who can. And once you find that person who can, if you’re in that position, make sure that they’re doing it properly.
– [Banowetz] Yes.
– [Leisinger] Absolutely.
– [Banowetz] So, our goal is to be a support to businesses and freelancers in this area.
– [Leisinger] Absolutely. That is what Sarah Squared is about. There is going to be general hilarity, observations, cause both of us definitely observe the world around us and observe marketing. And honestly, some days, you might not like what we say and that’s okay, that probably just means you need to do some self-examination to see if your marketing’s actually working. So, just ask yourself, are you mad? Because the money that you put toward that marketing that you thought was so great would have been better spent flushing it down the toilet or on some Taco Bell. So, with that, we are going to rock n’ roll. We hope you guys enjoy what we have to, excuse me, say to you and to give to you. I’m drinking a giant cup of coffee right now.
– [Banowetz] And I am drinking, sipping soup. Oh and I just dropped it on my laptop!
– [Leisinger] She wanted to give her laptop a sip. So with that, let’s get into it. What’s the topic for today, Sarah?
– [Banowetz] Today’s topic is, we’re just, what we’ve already started doing, introducing the podcast and a quick introduction of each of us individually.
– [Leisinger] Alright, Awesome.
– [Banowetz] So we introduced the podcast–
– [Leisinger] Yeah.
– [Banowetz] So why don’t you start.
– [Leisinger] Oh, I was just gonna ask you to start. It’s okay, I got it, I got it. Introducing yourself is so weird, first of all, because it’s like you become your own hype man.
– [Banowetz] Well, okay, so should we introduce each other?
– [Leisinger] I don’t know, do you think we’re good–
– [Banowetz] I don’t know if we’re capable yet to introduce each other.
– [Leisinger] Let’s just figure it out.
– [Banowetz] We could totally bomb it, right?
– [Leisinger] Yeah, well it’s fine, we’ll fail.
– [Banowetz] So, yeah, so Sara and I met each other like a month ago, so–
– [Leisinger] Yes, Was it a month?
– [Bandowetz] I don’t know.
– [Leisinger] It feels like longer.
– [Banowetz] But it’s not like we have known each other or our businesses for an extended amount of time.
– [Leisinger] No but, it was just a genuine connection.
– [Banowetz] Yeah
– [Leisinger] So like that was cool.
– [Banowetz] And we reached a different audience.
– [Leisinger] Yes, definitely, okay. So, with Who’s Lance Digital Media, we’re definitely about educating the start-up business owner so for those people who are just starting their business up and who have more time than money, we’re definitely about educating them. For the people who have a bit more resources but are not able to scale yet, we kind of help out in that arena, in terms of doing social media management there.
– [Banowetz] And then, Banowetz Marketing, my company, takes over after that to the point where you’ve already scaled and you need to grow your business and need an in-house marketing director but aren’t ready for that yet so we provide marketing direction contractor services for direction and implementation.
– [Leisinger] What Sarah will not tell you is that she is very prolific with what she does. So you will get the straight truth when you come to Banowetz. I highly encourage anybody who is kind of in that position, who is maybe not ready to quite have that in-house marketing, like personnel, yet but they do need the firepower of that marketing agency, to definitely talk to Sarah Banowetz.
– [Banowetz] Awesome, you’re so sweet. And I would say that Sara Leisinger really knows her stuff with social media and how to gain traction there and start to build an audience. There’s a lot that you could be doing wrong on social media.
– [Leisinger] Oh my gosh.
– [Banowetz] Oh my gosh, yes.
– [Leisinger] Do you agree? So many people know just enough to keep them dangerous.
– [Banowetz] Yup.
– [Leisinger] They can just completely ruin, oh my favorite, my favorite so far, “Well, I boosted this post and it didn’t work.” I’m like, okay, what were you trying to get to work?
– [Banowetz] I think this is the one that you just told me about.
– [Leisinger] Oh goodness, well, I’ve just had lots of adventures in the last couple of weeks here.
– [Banowetz] So, yeah, and then, just finding out what, we won’t say anything about specific clients,
– [Leisinger] No.
– [Banowetz] But, there’s a tech side behind it– There’s an art to marketing,
– [Leisinger] Yeah.
– [Banowetz] And there’s a technology to it right now, and it’s very it’s very nuanced.
– [Leisinger] Yeah, and in my mind, it’s like this beautiful harmony of the way things go together, right. And in everybody else’s mind, it’s a pain in the butt. Nobody wants to deal with it. There are so many clients that I will talk to or prospective clients and they are just like, “I just don’t want to deal with it, I hate it, I hate it all.
– [Banowetz] It’s like this necessary evil now.
– [Leisinger] Yes.
– [Banowetz] 10 years ago, 5 years ago you could get around it.
– [Leisinger] Yeah.
– [Banowetz] You could still do other marketing avenues and they could still work.
– [Leisinger] Yeah, potentially. But like putting an ad into the phone book now is not even a thing when you can go and get yourself online with like 20 directories for a fraction of the cost of what you would pay for a phone book ad.
– [Banowetz] And I think one of the biggest things about social media is the hyper-targeting too. The fact that you put a billboard on the road and you get everybody, versus taking an ad and choosing your exact demographic on social media. It’s totally different. But then as I say that, I know that people listening will be like, “Well, so, we can treat social media just like traditional media.”
– [Leisinger] No.
– [Banowetz] We can’t.
– [Leisinger] No, no, no, bad sauce. Awful.
– [Banowetz] Focus on the social and not the media.
– [Leisinger] I have been promoting this idea to my clientele that is if you treat your life like it is the content for social media, you will never run out of content.
– [Banowetz] Dig into that deeper.
– [Leisinger] Okay. So you own Banowetz media.
– [Banowetz] Okay.
– [Leisinger] Okay. A day in the life for you here, there’s some adventure right?
– [Banowetz] There is yes.
– [Leisinger] Do you think that there are people out there that are similar to you, maybe running a business at the same stage you are. That could probably even just want somebody to relate to with all of the crazy that goes on.
– [Banowetz] Absolutely. No, you’re right.
– [Leisinger] I thought about doing the thing where I just grab a selfie stick. I’m horrible with a selfie. Anybody who knows me knows that I can not stand the selfie. But in order to deliver high-quality value to the people who are willing to let me a part of their day. I would absolutely use a selfie stick and I will just say, “Hey this part of my day”.
– [Banowetz] This is what life looks like a business owner.
– [Leisinger] Absolutely. That’s kind of what I mean as like when you are the content Like your life is the content and you are the algorithm. Stop trying to beat yourself. Just think. There is a person on the other end of the screen and your goal with social is to genuinely add value to that person. In terms of sale, what that does is that’s building re pore. I love what social does for people because it actually allows the consumer to have a say in what kind of brands they are going to participate in. So a little of jab, jab, jab, right hook in there.
– [Banowetz] Well as you’re talking which is everything that Sara is saying is true. I can just hear the established business owners saying that I don’t need to have essential what Sara is talking about is personal branding. I don’t need that, that won’t work for my company. I have 30 employees and that won’t work. That said, Who’s doing social media? Wendy’s, right?
– [Leisinger] Yes, oh my gosh. There’s is hilarious.
– [Banowetz] Wendy’s their social media.
– [Leisinger] Have you seen Denny’s on Tumblr?
– [Banowetz] No.
– [Leisinger] It’s so funny. It is so funny.
– [Banowetz] So they’re humanizing companies.
– [Leisinger] Yes.
– [Banowetz] And it’s working.
– [Leisinger] It’s not about what is behind the machine or people being the cogs in the wheels anymore. It’s about, hey these people are from our community and they make up your company. As a community I think, as a race you see it in lots of different movements and like the MeToo and Black Lives Matter and in different kind of movements. You see that as a human race, we’ve become more protective of each other. So we want to know as a company, what makes you so special? Why should my friend work there? Because to tell you what, I have more influence over my friend than you do. And you know what, if your company is like a dime a dozen, your culture is not defined and your brand doesn’t matter and for somebody like myself, you can no longer align yourself with a business brand that doesn’t line up with your personal brand. Because everybody has a personal brand I truly believe that’s how people are going to get jobs. And it’s happening now, people are going on social media. Employers now tell, don’t lie you’ve done it.
– [Banowetz] Absolutely.
– [Leisinger] You’ve check prospective employees social media to see what they’re doing on there. You know what you are checking for. You’re checking for their personal brand. Absolutely.
– [Banowetz] We did this before social media. We did this before the Internet. You still did the same thing, it’s just that it’s different now.
– [Leisinger] Social media doesn’t– once a selfie is out there, it’s out there. And SnapChat. Some people are like, “well it goes away”. Well not if somebody takes a screenshot of it. It gives you a more transparent look from a company angle. Looking at that perspective employee or even looking at that current employee. Excuse me.
– [Banowetz] I bet you just scared people too because we just said, “nothing is going away but you have to do it.”
– [Leisinger] Okay, so clarify. What do you mean?
– [Banowetz] Like everything that you post on social media is going to be there it will never get deleted.
– [Leisinger] Oh my gosh, absolutely.
– [Banowetz] But, you as a company have to be posting all of this stuff about your personal self.
– [Leisinger] Well it’s not even about–
– [Banowetz] That’s like super scary.
– [Leisinger] It is super scary. But the thing is you have to do it within the context of your company brand. So what is about Banowetz like what’s your brand there. And then if you post about your kids, and your kids are awesome, you know I’ve heard of them. I’ve heard you talk to them on the phone. But if you post something about your kids and it’s outside of the context of the Banowetz marketing brand. You’ve just shot the brand.
– [Banowetz] Exactly, and that’s where it becomes less scary. Is when you realize that you get to control– Yes we’re telling you to post this stuff open yourself up online, but you do get to control what you post online.
– [Leisinger] Absolutely.
– [Banowetz] You get to protect your brand. And grow your brand. And defend your brand.
– [Leisinger] Protect, defend, in this day in age, if you haven’t rebranded in the last 5 years, or if people can not piece out your brand in 3 or 4 words, you probably should consider a rebrand. Because it needs to be quick. It needs to be top of mind, tip of tongue. And if you want your name rolling around in peoples’ mouths. You do have to make it something that people can say in a sentence or less.
– [Banowetz] They need to look at your online profiles, including your website. Everything that is online and be able to tell who you are and what you stand for as a company within seconds.
– [Leisinger] And because of all the stuff that we’re talking about. So we mainly, obviously Sarah and I deal in digital. In our very digital world, we live in the 21st century. This is not about a code of technological paint over old mediums. This about shifting your mindset. With that, I think we’re almost out time.
– [Banowetz] We are out of time today, tune in next time because we are going to define marketing name drops and local businesses.
– [Leisinger] Let’s talk about some businesses that have got some really cool marketing in the area. Maybe some good examples.
– [Banowetz] So like we said, we are in the Cedar Rapids area. So we are going to be name dropping some businesses and really defining marketing and give you guys some great insight into how you can help your company grow. So tune in next time. Bye.
– [Leisinger] Bye.
Sara Leisinger of Who’s Lance Digital Media can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Sarah Banowetz of Banowetz Marketing can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
