Ilana: So with Your Content Marketing Do you also like I guess amplify that content marketing with some pay traffic as well. That’s a common kind of marketing strategy.

Jesse: I have to tell you we have so many things that we can and should be doing and that is in the can and should be doing bucket a lot. Yeah. And so I know that I should be doing that. I know how to do. I just haven’t done it. So listen I say please this is one of those situations where I’d say Do as I say not just what do you have a need to really well we haven’t we haven’t really needed to.

So we’ve just found what we’ve been we’ve been what we’ve been good at what we’ve been good at is joining various groups becoming a thought leader in those groups providing quality content into those groups on a regular basis and I’d like to say that we’ve added value and yeah there are other really good people in those groups as well who delivers solid content. And so what that’s been able for me personally is to develop good relationships with people as well. So there’s been the opportunity to partner with some other people and as a result of that and it’s been it’s been a symbiotic relationship where you know you go into those discussions wanting to genuinely add value. It was never driven just by cynical marketing I often go to this group and post stuff and people loved me. That was never ever it. It was genuinely how can I add value to this audience. How can I genuinely add value to this conversation. And there are times there’s this whole thread of conversation where I might have a view but someone else has expressed that view so I don’t chime in and go yeah yeah me too because it’s already been said so it’s better for me understanding the value of actually giving good quality content in a timely manner and not being egotistical about it.

I say that very cautiously because I don’t want to come across that way at all. But sometimes I don’t have anything good to add so I just don’t get it. But when I do I like to add some value if I can. And you know it. I should also point out that dentistry has given me everything literally everything so dentistry has given me a living it’s given me a wife because my wife’s a dentist.

Dentistry has given me everything and so I guess the reason I’m telling you that is because I feel genuinely indebted to the profession and therefore I genuinely want to add value. So it’s not going into these groups from a marketing perspective. It’s about one human being. Just trying to offer some sort of insight that might be helpful for others and that’s really it.

Ilana: And I think you’re right. You know people can spot someone who is really just trying to make a sale especially in a group setting in an online group setting this sort of thing. Me personally I can spot these tactics. Some people do try and sell people etc. I think people can just smell it mile a way.

Jesse: Yeah yeah yeah it’s a simple story you know. I remember who said it but Australia’s got a fairly good b.s. detector they can smell it from a mile off and I reckon that’s that’s pretty true.

Ilana: Interesting so these groups that you participate in are they paid groups or their free.

Jesse: No they are free free groups and you know is different. My audience are in those groups so clearly I am both a contributor to those groups and a beneficiary of those groups from the point of view that other people share some good ideas. Yeah actually that could really help me too. So again I feel like there’s a bit of a two way street. Is not all that you know me delivering great amazing value to people because that’s not that’s not the case it’s very much a two way exchange where there are times and I’m able to support the group and offer them some useful content. But there’s also times when other people are able to offer some useful content for me. Actually that’s a good idea. I need to take that on board as well. So it’s been really helpful and lots of different ways. So groups for us has been really important and their Facebook groups as opposed on Linked In groups have been mainly Facebook.

Tracking Conversions from Traffic Channels

Ilana: Yeah just what would you say. That’s kind of your best. Converting traffic channel I guess pretty hard to track.

Jesse: That’s really hard to track. The traffic channel that I know works well for us.

And again this is part of the whole content strategy. I can get some stats on our podcast and so certainly we’ve been tracking our podcast stats and they’ve been increasing and of course we distribute and syndicate content through various social media channels. Independently of those groups and so that’s been really helpful. We will take our blog and our podcast and we’ll share that. You know Jen Shearn and who you would know is by big on sharing content at different times and so we’ve kind of followed us a little bit of it. We’ve got our own version of that. That timing of how we post stuff and so we followed some of that stuff around here.

Ilana: Do you I guess to automate that syndication?

Jesse: Oh yeah we do. Yeah we do. So we use social report to syndicate that and automate that and that allows us to get some good statistics and understand what’s working and what’s not. We do track a lot of things and certainly we’ve got a team member dedicated to doing all of that and so we get some really good market intelligence. You know what resonating and what’s not. So in fact just this morning I was looking at our podcast. And we recently did an episode on distressing business and that was really really popular. I could see the stats on that that’s had a lot of listeners a lot of engagement in the various social channels and that it was obviously a topic that resonated with people.

So we do we do definitely look at the statistics that allow us to make better decisions to move forward.

Ilana: I guess from that insight as you say the distressing episode. What would you do would you then I guess create more content around that?

Working on Podcast as Content Marketing

Jesse: Yeah. So what we do with the blog is so we we’ll sorry with the podcast to beg your pardon. We’ll take the podcast. We’ll have that transcription. And we have timestamps on that transcription and the timestamps is a new thing for us. But so typically we’ll take the podcast get it transcribed. We will then create our own blog posts not as a word for word rehash that clearly but we’ll create a blog post on an around the same topic bring in other resources around that then we’ll create little tweets and little snippets to share and other channels maybe an image for Instagram and so on and then we’ll share all of that content around through the various channels at different times. And that’s been quite helpful for us.

Ilana: I guess I’m doing the same with this podcast leveraging one piece of content in so many different forms for as busy it’s impossible to do literally everything. So it’s a great way to leverage one form of content into lots of different forms.

Jesse: When you think about one podcast becomes one podcast becomes a blog or blog can become an article if you wanted or could become a Twitter war or it could become a Facebook post. You know there’s so many ways that you can use the content and use my experiences as well alone. You’re probably better qualified to answer this than me but my experience is that a lot of people create a lot of content but then don’t really leverage it as well. And so they’re in this content creation mode and that becomes tiring and then they stop. And so whereas I’m all about trying to get as much juice from the lemon as possible and really squeeze it out right.

Testing Offers of What People Wants

Ilana: And I can see on your Practice Max Website that you offer a free strategy session sort of your main offer. Have you experimented with a different kind of offer or do you find most people that’s what they want.

Jesse: Look we were running some testing at the moment with different things whether we do that as a free or paid session. And so far we don’t really have enough data to determine whether that’s making a difference or not and with a paid session we donate that money anyway so it’s not profit for us it’s just contributing elsewhere. So we’ve done a free and paid version test on that in terms of other things that we’ve done we’ve done quizzes and self assessments and other things that were okay but what I’ve found for us is people just want to talk. And so for us it’s very easy to get on the phone and have a conversation with someone and do that session and really the purpose of that strategy session is to you know again genuinely help people and it’s about delivering as much value as we can in that half hour or thereabouts and then if something comes from that that’s great but if not then you know we’d like to feel we’ve done a little bit of good and that person leaves that conversation better for it but we then would essentially you know find out if we’re fit with people in a fit then we could take it to the next step if that’s appropriate. That would be a different conversation and a different call what a different time. And so people come into that storage session they’re never going to they can’t buy anything is what I’m trying to say even if they said you just you here’s my money take it. We don’t take it we’ve got it. We’re very big on it.

Ilana: Right.. so that you put through some kind of questionnaire or something?

Jesse: Exactly yes. Filters Yeah absolutely.

Ilana: And I guess that’s the power of really honing in on what verticals as we speak about for record you know that you know exactly who you’re talking to. Who is your ideal customer or client?

Ideal Client to Target

Jesse: You can be so focused on who is your ideal customer client the ideal client thing I think is yeah everyone talks about everyone knows it but I reckon most people don’t do it that well. Again that’s just an opinion. I’m happy to be told I’m wrong on that but my experience is that when push comes to shove the whole ideal client thing tends to get a little bit rubbery because people go oh well you know they’re not exactly my ideal client but you need the cash and and therefore I’ll take on that client and more often than not. Again my experience is that when I’ve taken on a client who wasn’t the best fit. It was frustrating for them and frustrating for me. Meaning that we just weren’t the right fit for each other and it doesn’t mean that they’re a bad person or a bad person. It just meant that it’s not the right fit. And so we then quickly determine that and refer them off to someone who might be a better fit and again we try to at least add that value of know what this is perhaps not the best. After all let’s point you in the direction of someone who might be able to help you better than we can given the way you are.

Ilana: Look I can relate. I do this all the time especially because from an Adwords perspective it’s sort of a cheap traffic channel. And if someone you know for whatever reason and they’re all the it doesn’t want to spend that kind of money with Google directly not even with an agency. It’s something you just can’t be half pregnant with So do something else you know unless you test it properly. So I will turn people away regularly who are prepared to kind of properly commit to something for whatever reason you know just like someone might be not ideal for you for lots of very legitimate reasons. Some yeah it’s a really powerful thing for the longevity of your business and the happiness of people that decide not to work together.

Delivering and Meeting the Client’s Goals

Jesse: Yeah and I think it serves I think it serves both parties as well because you know from the client’s perspective you know they don’t want to be investing time and money in something they’re not going to deliver them exactly what they’re looking for but from the business owner. So from your perspective or my perspective in dealing with the client is that we live and die by our reputation to be able to get results for people perhaps. And so for us if we focus on is not the right fit they’re harder to work with it’s harder to get results and that ultimately hurts our business too. And so I’m quite strong on the idea that if you’re someone is not getting what they need and want from their interaction with us then I think we call that early and we make other arrangements for them to receive the type of care that they need. But elsewhere.

Ilana: I guess possibly something that you could experiment with is putting that question before the strategy session maybe just that.

Jesse: So it’s even more filtered before they even get to the strategy. Yeah absolutely I could definitely do it that way. And we’re actually in the process of creating a Web enabled version of that questionnaire now but it’s as I find with a lot of projects they seem to take what I’m but anyway but that’s probably me and I’m probably the common denominator in that.

Ilana: Well Jesse I am mindful of your precious time so I think we might wrap it up there and thank you so much for coming on today’s show. You’ve been very generous with your knowledge and expertise. So lastly where can people find out a little bit more information about you.

Jesse: Sure Well firstly thanks for having me I’m very grateful to come and have a chat with you and it’s always good and I always feel better for the interaction. So for those who want to find more about me you can either find at my website drjessegreen.com or alternatively come on have a listen to the Savvy Dentist Podcast you can find us on iTunes pretty easily and we’d love to say hello and say goodbye.

Ilana: Thank you again Jess. Always a pleasure to talk to you.

Jesse: Thanks Ilana.