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Clarity

Austin Schmidt

West Des Moines, Iowa

I'm obsessed with digital customer acquisition and marketing technology, and love working with small businesses and startups.

That's why I do what I do: Help SMBs and startups find their dream prospects and turn them into lifetime customers.

The era of small business is back, but this time, it's happening online. Are you ready to seize it? If so, let's chat.

Struggling to pick the right marketing or sales technology? I've used dozens, and can help you ask the right questions and find the perfect fit for your unique business.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-schmidt-33201645/

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Digital Marketing Email Marketing Google AdWords Infusionsoft Marketing Automation Google Analytics Digital Marketing Strategy LinkedIn Marketo Digital Copywriting

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Build a Passive Sales & Marketing System

We're all familiar with passive investing. So what is passive sales and marketing you ask? Automation that uses tested best practices to move prospects through your sales funnel while you sleep or vacation (or whatever it is you do).

Mostly importantly, passive sales & marketing systems free your mind to focus on the business.

I'll help you build one for your business.

Automated Email Marketing

Your best email marketing happens when nobody is hitting send. Why? Automated, behavior-based email marketing is personalized to each prospect's current evaluation stage and interests. "Batch and blast" emails are easily spotted and typically irrelevant to most of your list, and thus discarded to the junk folder.

I'll help you build an automated email marketing program that nurtures your prospects through each phase of your buying cycle.

Or give you advice on how to do it yourself -- your call!

Social Media Marketing That Drives Revenue

Social media marketing such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram is exploding. And for good reason.

If done correctly, it can be an absolute homerun for your bottom-line. I've managed hundreds of thousands of dollars on these platforms, and can help you craft the perfect strategy and targeting for your unique business.

Marketing Technology Evaluation Help

As of 2017, there were over 5000 marketing technologies in existence. Woah.

How the heck are you supposed to figure out the best fit for your business, and what's simply unnecessary overhead?

It's tough. I've used dozens (if not hundreds, but who's counting) of these systems over the years and can help you narrow down the features to look for (and those to avoid like the plague).

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Answers

Austin Schmidt answered

Do venture capitalists ever look to partner with web development agencies to provide their portfolio with a resource?

Not sure about VC, but I know for a fact the private equity firms do this.

It's usually in the context of a "standard operating procedure."

I worked in two companies owned by a leading tech PE firm, and they had a standardized tech stack (with specific vendors) that we were expected to use. Using anything else needed to be approved. This was actually a good thing, because..

It came with enormous discounts. Be prepared to have an incredible value proposition AND discount like crazy.

If you can pull it off, it's a consistent flow of clients without sales acquisition costs.

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Web development

Venture Capital

Startups

Austin Schmidt answered

How would you market a French jazz band to the world in order to get 500 paying monthly patrons on Patreon?

I'd use social media for the purpose of building an audience who loves you. Your promotion should never reference Patreon IMO. Focus on getting your content to the people who will love it, and the rest will work itself out.

Assuming the Patreon button and a subtle callout is visible on your site/YouTube videos, that is. :)

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Digital Marketing

Facebook Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Austin Schmidt answered

How would you target clients for a property broker using Facebook ads?

Hey there,

A big one is location = Paris but language = English, among others. I get it's not B2B, but LinkedIn has some really good targeting for this context IMO (i.e. went to a British, Australian, US universities living in France)

Best of luck!
Austin Schmidt

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Facebook Advertising

Facebook Ads

Digital Marketing Strategy

Austin Schmidt answered

What are some of your best CRM tools for following leads and responding in real-time to prevent missing a conversion?

CRM is the ultimate "it depends" question. There are hundreds of solutions out there, and many of them are pretty good. With that said, many fill different niches and have varying strengths and weaknesses.

For basic CRM needs, here's an underrated one: ActiveCampaign. Very inexpensive, easy-to-use, and fully built in with their marketing automation, email, and SMS solution.

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Start-ups

Sales Management

Sales Process

Austin Schmidt answered

Which is more beneficial nowadays-- SEO or PPC

It depends on the business, but generally, it should be both, not a choice.

People get all giddy about "inbound marketing" and think SEO is the holy grail. The problem is, that in competitive markets, everyone has that same brilliant idea. SEO agencies tend to promise more than they can deliver. The reality is it's impossible to guarantee a top ranking for a non-branded query. It also tends to take longer than people think to achieve the top spot.

And PPC, well, it can be expensive. Without free cash to invest, scaling PPC is tough, especially in a business with a mid-long sales cycle.

Now that I've shredded both, here's my view:

You need a strategy for both. When you build a SEO strategy, you should be thinking about NEXT year's sales and the long-term growth of your business. PPC and targeted social ads are the more effective way to scale near-term sales. In the ideal world, you can slowly move away from large paid investments as organic scales.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

PPC Marketing

Web Design

Austin Schmidt answered

How can I bring more business to my data entry company?

Try very targeted Facebook and LinkedIn ads. Go with aggressive pricing on the first one if needed, then use it as a case study.

Facebook acquisition costs can be shockingly low if you know what you're doing.

Free hours for referrals can be a huge one as well. Current customers are always the best marketing channel IMO.

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Business Development

BPO

Franchising

Austin Schmidt answered

What are the correct steps are to take to build a subscription service?

If you're not 100% sold on the idea, figure out what the ideal marketing offer would look like to promote this service. Then, launch a niche Facebook ad campaign at your ideal buyer and see what kind of traction you get.

This will help you determine if the interest is there before you go all in. It'll also give you a small list to sell to once the service is real.

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Startup Consulting

New Business Development

Austin Schmidt answered

How can I effectively market my online course?

I'd start with #1 & #3 and ignore #2 for the moment.

Teaching people to program is a brutally competitive space with some pretty sizable funding behind it.

But teaching current programmers to make more money and win more clients? Much lower barrier to entry IMO.

The reality is, there's no magic formula in launching something like this (although, many will attempt to sell it to you :)).

My Advice:

1) Build a useful course.
2) Create a presentation touting the benefits of your course.
3) Setup reoccurring webinars (read: record once, have daily 'airings')
4) Buy a niche set of Facebook ads to your dream buyer.

Test from there... Happy to discuss further if you're interested.

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Marketing Strategy

Digital Marketing

Austin Schmidt answered

How can I overcome biases in my field and prove my knowledge and expertise?

My advice is to start publishing. It won't be easy, and it's quite possible some people will continue to brush you off, but if you keep putting valuable content out there you'll find your audience (that will LOVE you).

Try Medium and LinkedIn for blogging, and YouTube for any video content.

Stick with it and good things will eventually happen. As Steve Martin would say, "be so good they can't ignore you." Best of luck to you!

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Entrepreneurship

Business Strategy

Reviews

Member since February 2017