#SMBMad Podcast

33 - How to build an inbound & content marketing machine without blowing your budget (May 17, 2017) Hubspot pro, George B. Thomas, dove right in asking the crowd about their knowledge of inbound and content marketing. He said in his work over the years, he’s found that there are two main problems people face when coming up with a plan – the buyer and budget. From here George showed multiple examples of how these two come into play when planning and then began to walk the crowd through a handful of wordpress plugins that allow you to do all the heavy lifting a Hubspot platform could do. Additionally these plugins were not a premium price, but moreso we either a low cost or absolutely free. Take a listen and then head over to our full blog post to review links to the full list of plugins George discussed in his presentation. http://smbmad.org/may2017/

33 - Creating an Inbound Marketing Strategy Without Blowing Your Budget On Tools (May 17, 2017) Hubspot expert George B. Thomas, kicked off Wednesday’s Social Media Breakfast with a jam session, wowing the crowd with his beatboxing skills. George is also a self-described “inbound Jedi” at The Sales Lion. George dove right in asking the crowd about their knowledge of inbound and content marketing. He said in his work over the years, he’s found that there are two main problems people face when coming up with a plan – the buyer and budget. He illustrated his buyer point with a picture of actor Ed O’Neill, who played shoe guy Al Bundy on the hit show Married with Children. George then showed a picture of Zappos, an online shoe and clothing shop. George said Zappos changed the game and is now the shoe guy. “They made it so that you can buy them online, get them, try them and send them back. Things are changing. People are more than willing to get anything they need online,” he said. So how do you build your own inbound marketing machine? “There are many moving parts to an inbound machine. Social media, analytics, SEO, automation, content, lead conversion, lead nurturing. These are all the buzz words about things we should be doing to do a digital business right,” George said. George asked the crowd if they use WordPress for their websites and received an overwhelming response. He then discussed various tools to use with WordPress sites. Content, design and development Visual Composer – Page builder plugin for WordPress. Gives you a lot of functionality and allows you to set up your pages the way you want to set them up. Cost: $34 one-time fee George said once you get your website set up, you should be measuring everything that’s happening. Measure your website and consider these tools: Google Analytics MonsterInsights Slim Stat Analytics To drive people to your website, George said focus on keywords and keyword questions. Thinking about experiences with Google, Siri and Alexa, people simply ask them a question. George has started coaching his clients on using keyword questions. Increase website traffic consider these tools: Ahrefs Yoast Your website is looking good, you’re measuring results and you’re bringing people to the website because you’re using keywords. Now, how do you convert those people to leads? Convert web visitors to leads consider one of these tools: Mautic Inbound Now George said you have to make your site look good, measure everything and focus on the questions that people are asking. “We need to get them in a position where they convert and then we need to be able to segment those contacts and nurture them down the buyer’s journey into our sales and marketing funnel,” he said. “Go forth and become an inbound marketing hero and rock out the world!” To learn more about Social Media breakfast: www.SMBMad.org To learn more about George head to: www.TheSalesLion.com

32 - Inbound Marketing and Video with George B Thomas On this episode we speak with Georg B Thomas and learn a bit more about how he submerses himself into subjects to learn as much as he can and how it has helped him in his career. We also get his take on Social Media Marketing World, Live video (and who is winning at it) along with the 3 things he believes every person should be doing every day. Oh, and we also learn a little more on what he will be speaking on when he visits Madison and how you can successfully bootstrap an Inbound marketing strategy without blowing your budget. To learn more about George head here: www.georgebthomas.com To learn more about SMBMad or to get your tickets for the event head here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creating-an-inbound-marketing-strategy-without-blowing-your-budget-on-tools-tickets-33753412365

31 - Finding Your True Self With Snapchat (April 19, 2017) Within minutes of both Gina Nerone and Andrew Hahn taking the stage to present, you quickly realize just how smart these two are when it comes to knowing their audience and how to create content that caters to them. While showing off multiple examples of the Snapchat content they have created for University Health Services, they provide detailed insight on they "why" and the "how" of creating that content. We also learn that while Snapchat does not provide analytics, there are some crude ways to discovering the size of your audience and their engagement. Of course if Snapchat just is not for you or your audience is not on the platform, you can always take these tips shared and apply them to the one of your choice. Learn more about Social Media Breakfast: www.SMBMad.org To learn more about University Health Services (UHS): www.uhs.wisc.edu/