Episode 38: Branding & Content Marketing With George Thomas

On this episode Bella speaks with George Thomas, Inbound Marketing & Brand Strategist for The Sales Lion.  George also specializes in training people on HubSpot. George Thomas George spent  15 years working in a traditional marketing agency to design and build websites and  other types of content. George then joined The Sales Lion where as an inbound designer and brand strategist. There his daily contributions include inbound strategy and design, HubSpot intensive training, speaking at conferences, content marketing, and social media marketing as well as business management and development. George and Bella discuss branding. In particular, they talk about: How to get started in video How long videos should be How often you should be putting out content How to push your content in multiple formats Changing your thinking to being a production company first. To learn more about George, visit him at https://www.thesaleslion.com/meet-the-sales-lion/meet-george/ Subscribe To The Show: Transcript: This is episode 38 of Bella in Your Business. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready—Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump. Bella: Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and today I’m here with George Thomas. George, I have been following you online and watching you rise up. I first kind of heard about you through Marcus Sheridan, who I actually had on a couple of episodes ago, and I’ve just watched your videos, listened to your podcasts, looked at your websites—and dude, you got it going on. If there’s one thing I can say about you, it’s that you’re entertaining, you’re a real dude, and you embrace your geeking out—but you also understand how to translate that geek talk to layman’s talk so everyone can understand. So welcome. Tell us how you got started. George: Yeah, Bella, first of all, thank you for that intro. I will tell you, it’s funny—if I was to say I have a superpower, it is being able to take what usually is complex and simplify it so people can understand it. And it’s funny that you picked up on and said “a real dude,” because one of the things that really made me want to get into this marketing slash inbound marketing content game was that in 2012 it was about who could be the most human. And I thought, oh, that’s me. Like, I can be human—that’s an easy thing. And so again, thank you for the kind words. Bella: I mean, all of a sudden I’ve seen you just explode, and now you’re becoming this big speaker and you’re everywhere, doing inbound. It’s really cool to watch you, but I’ve never actually gotten to have this kind of interaction with you, so I’m excited you’re here today. Tell us the story of George. George: It’s funny that people are like, “Wow, you just exploded out of nowhere.” The funny thing is, quietly I’ve been hustling in the background. I can’t really say I’ve kept my mouth shut because I’ve always been creating tutorials. For the last two and a half years, I’ve probably created over 375 HubSpot COS and CRM tutorials. I’ve always kind of had something to say—usually it’s positive, rarely negative—but it’s been an interesting journey. It’s kind of at that snowball effect. In 2012, I entered into the space. I won tickets to my first Inbound Conference put on by HubSpot. Bella, I had zero clue about HubSpot, landing pages, conversions—I was just a web design geek at a normal agency. We said, “Hey, let’s learn this thing,” and I launched into HubSpot Academy’s ecosystem of certifications. One certification became three, three became six, six became twelve. Now I have twelve HubSpot certifications and am one of about forty people on the planet who are HubSpot-accredited trainers. Somehow through this journey, I got connected with Marcus Sheridan, AKA he offered me a job and I quickly said yes. And it’s turned into this thing where I go out and do workshops and speak at events. Last year, my big goal was to speak at Inbound, which I did—and that was a four-year goal. For four years, I focused on achieving that. Now in 2017, I’ll be at Social Media Marketing World, Content Marketing World, and over in Scotland at Chris Marr’s Content Marketing Academy. All these things are happening. I love it, it’s fun, but I’m trying to stay humble because everything that happens from here ties back to how well I can still accomplish being human. Bella: Totally, because that’s what draws people to you too. I actually feel like I know your office because you already showed us the whole video tour. But for our listeners—some people may have heard of HubSpot and think of it as that thing that gives great tutorials, but they don’t really know what it is. Can you help our listeners understand what HubSpot actually is? George: Yeah, HubSpot is a pricey marketing automation software. It allows you to do a lot of things you need in digital business—there’s an email tool, landing page tool, keyword research, SEO optimization—you can even host your website on it. It’s nerdy stuff, but it’s what makes the difference between success and failure online. Bella: Cool, thank you for breaking that down. There are so many ways I can go with this, but today I wanted to talk about video and branding because you’ve done such an incredible job at that. You are a true thought leader in it. So, baby steps—what is and isn’t branding? George: In my opinion, your brand isn’t one thing. It’s not a logo, not necessarily the title or copy on a page, not even your website. A brand is the sum of all the parts. It’s the core beliefs that structure how you do business. Look at Apple—it’s not about a computer or an iPod, it’s about doing things differently, designing better. At the Sales Lion, our brand could easily be about a lion or sales, but our brand is about being human, being helpful, being happy. Those are three words Marcus and I live and die by. If nothing else, focus on those three words and move on. So, don’t think about logos or pages—think about the core that drives it all. That’s your brand. Bella: That’s so great. And when we translate this brand onto video, what ways can we shine it through? George: If someone can copy your brand, that means you haven’t differentiated enough. If you’re writing one blog a week and have five pages on your site, you’re easily copied. But if you’re writing three blogs a week, creating infographics, doing videos, building a media library—that’s not easy to copy. Bella: Love that. Now, how can we shine our brand through video? George: I’ll start by saying I wasn’t always a fan of being in front of the camera. I took baby steps—maybe start with short Twitter videos, Instagram stories, or a short Facebook Live. You can delete it later if you don’t like it. Snapchat was great practice. If you really want to stay hidden, do video chats with friends on Messenger. Start small. The biggest thing about being comfortable on camera is knowing what you’re talking about. If you’re a true thought leader, it’s simple. Follow the “yes, and” philosophy—whatever happens was supposed to happen. Never stop and start over. Do the whole take, then a take two if needed. People overthink perfection. The imperfections make you human. Bella: Totally. I love that. When we come back from this short break, I want to find out how long videos should be and how frequent. Commercial break – ProPet Hero CPR ad Bella: We’re back with George talking about videos and branding. George, how long should videos be and how frequent? George: That depends. I have a 20-second video in my email signature, and I also have 30-minute videos for Facebook Live sessions on gear. Some are two minutes for quick tutorials. The rule: your video should be as long as it takes to educate someone—remove fluff. People watch three-hour movies; they’ll watch your video if it’s engaging. As for frequency, ideally daily, because every video gives people the ability to spend time with you, learn from you, and connect. Even if it’s short, even if it’s simple, it builds trust. Bella: I love that. Now let’s talk about embedding videos on websites and repurposing. George: Think of yourself as a media company that happens to do pet sitting or whatever it is you do. Start by adding videos to all your major website pages—service pages, landing pages, thank-you pages—because pages with video convert 22% better. Have a video gallery section, too. One of our best videos was titled “Who We’re Not a Good Fit For.” It was black and white, and each team member explained why someone might not want to work with us. People loved it. Bella: That’s brilliant. The more people know, like, and trust you, the more they buy. Videos build that relationship faster. George: Exactly. Podcasting and video are the quickest ways to build that know-like-trust factor. Bella: Before we wrap up, I want your advice. On my podcast pages, I post the blog and audio but not the video to encourage people to subscribe. Should I change that? George: Ask yourself—do I want to make it completely easy for my audience to learn? If yes, then include it. Even if it’s harder to track metrics, prioritize your audience’s ease over your own convenience. Bella: Wow. That humbled me. You’re right—I was thinking selfishly. Thank you. George: Of course. Bella: How can people follow you? George: Go to thesaleslion.com to find me and my team page. I’m also on Twitter @GeorgeBThomas and on Facebook as Mr. George B Thomas—that’s where I’m most active. Bella: Perfect. George: One last nugget: most of us are hustling for our first name, but we should be hustling for our last name. It’s all about legacy—the impact we leave behind. Bella: I love that. George, this has been such a pleasure. I can’t wait to see you at Social Media Marketing World. To all listeners,