Perfectly Mentored with Jason Portnoy

$4 billion dollars in direct response revenue. You read that right. $4 Billion, with a "B". That is how much Ron Lynch has achieved in DTC sales during his career and has truly earned the title of "The Marketing Mercenary".  Starting out as a humble grocery clerk, Ron found his way onto a movie set one day while in college. After obtaining his SAG card, he acted a little in the films but focused mainly on learning how the production process goes.Working with the stars of the time, one of which was Jeff Bridges, Ron couldn't help but ask him how he could get in Bridges' shoes. The advice he received: "Write. If you can write, you can make movies." In other words, even though Ron hated writing, the lesson was to do the work first. So, he wrote. In quick time, he wrote two movies as he returned to work as a grocery clerk. In an interesting coincidence, one of the customers who came through his checkout line was the key to getting those two movies in front of people who could help him advance in the movie industry.But, it wasn't solely the act of writing screenplays in his free time that gained Ron his notoriety. His time spent working his way up the ladder in the grocery store taught him valuable lessons in running a business and marketing. By combining the two professions, it taught him valuable key lessons that he has applied in groundbreaking ways to marketing which he shares with us today.

My guest in this episode is the epic Facebook marketer and six-figure account manager, Nick Shackelford. As many stories go, he didn't start out in marketing. He thought he would find his rhythm after achieving the status of a professional soccer player at the age of 25. He soon found out, though, that it was not his passion and after a chance encounter with a Pepsi marketing rep, he was introduced to a whole new world. Nick now has the experience of managing more than 165 brand accounts throughout his career and he knows how to take a brand from chump to hero.

This episode, we welcome back the founder of a product that is exploding in popularity, Snow teeth whitening, Josh Elizetxe. His last appearance gave us some amazing gems of insight, and we are excited to continue that journey in this podcast. Josh gives us an update on what has happened in the realm of Snow and explains how you can find new and exciting opportunities to get your brand noticed including:• E-commerce Partnership with Snapchat• Going Offline to Reach out to the Retail Market• Walk Your Talk: Demonstration is Everything• Disruptive Decision-Making: Intuition or Calculation?• 

Depesh Mandalia is in the house to share his secrets to Facebook ads. After a long stint as a programmer, Depesh got involved in e-commerce in 2005 as a project manager with no experience in e-commerce. Little did he know at the time, this move would ignite a passion for learning everything he could about the user experience and marketing psychology in the social media realm. Once he understood how Facebook algorithms work, he was able to take one brand from $800k a year to over  $26.5 million in just 18 months. It was such an impressive achievement that Facebook actually flew him out to meet with their engineers to discuss his strategies to help improve their own. This achievement skyrocketed his career and in this episode, he shares with us the lessons that can only come from building dynamic brands.

Propaganda can be used for good or for evil. So, how do we use propaganda for good? Because social media is such a finely-tuned propaganda machine, they know exactly what to show us at the exact right time in the exact right place. Learn the techniques, utilize them, and the returns on your advertising budget will increase exponentially.Today, we have the co-founder of Black Box Social Media, Curt Maly. This man truly knows his stuff when it comes to sales. He's been doing it since he was 15 years old and has an impressive track record of consulting with some top corporations. For a decade he has been focused on digital ads, consulting, training and creating marketing strategies like the Golden Ad Process, Hot Seven, Hot 28, and much more! His methodologies have helped people rise to the top of their industries, including best-selling authors, and this episode is a serious must-listen!

When you're on a mission to do good, success will always follow. And, that is the philosophy that our guest in this episode, Akbar Sheikh, adheres to in every aspect of his life, both in personal and business. He knows what it's like to build, literally, from the ground all the way to the top. A #1 best-selling author, father, philanthropist, the maker of multiple 7-figure funnels, Akbar shares his insights into how to get to the top of your game and build a 7-figure funnel

In today's episode, we speak with Tim Burd, better known as "The Godfather" of Facebook Ads. With 15 years of helping companies grow their ad-posting prowess, Tim teaches us how to make your audience an offer they can't refuse. This episode is a must for anyone using paid media.

My guest today is my good friend and inspiration, Vito Glazer. Vito is a PR News/Media and Newsjacking expert. He's the guy people turn toward to help them keep their reputations in great shape and in this episode, he shares many valuable secrets for managing your own reputation both on and offline.We discuss:  Reputation Management - Like mentioned above, be the first to tell your story. Your legacy needs to be of your own crafting. Leave Nothing to Chance - Use PR as a tool to document ideas, titles, and quotes about your brand. Especially from others. Technical Benefits - People want things they can share, something tangible. This can boost your SEO, social media assets and engagement, and more. Perceived Authority – Having other companies and news outlets talking about your brand gives your company a boost in your credibility. Traditional Pitching - Write your pitch and send it to as many people as you possibly can. Strength can be found in numbers. This method is going to take you some time and a great deal of effort, but it's a tried and true method for success. Newsjacking - Find ways to capitalize on a recent and popular news story to get your brand out there. You're essentially riding the coattails of popular news coverage to emphasize the importance of your products. Cause-Based Marketing - Align your brand with a cause that reflects your business' core values. Promote that cause. It is a safe way to capitalize on the media outreach associated with that cause. Celebrity by Association - With the rise of influencers, the definition of "celebrity" is changing and focusing more into niche subjects. It is easy to find people who are popular celebrity-types in any niche and associate your brand with them, as opposed to those who are traditional celebrities, like movie stars. For instance, if you're a realtor, pitch an article that focuses on three well-known real estate personalities, with your name thrown in the mix.

I talk with Ryan Deiss, founder and CEO of DigitalMarketer.  Ryan has long been an established leader in digital marketing, and I had a variety of questions to ask him: How do you view the state of marketing in 2019, and how should agencies adapt to it? How can we respond to clients with unrealistic expectations? How has the traditional marketing funnel changed? What are the three golden rules of digital marketing?

On this episode I spoke with Frank Kern (who you’ve probably seen all over social media) about Intent Based Branding and Behavioral Dynamic Response Marketing. Frank Kern started his career as a door to door salesman but did not have much success at it. In 1999, he took a course on how to sell things on the internet and this ultimately led him to become one of the most sought after Direct Response internet marketing consultants and copywriters on the planet.What is Intent Based Branding?It's building a brand with the intention of making an offer in the sale while building the brand. You build a foundation based on goodwill. With intent based branding, you find a target and put out useful content, then make an offer based on that content. Put yourself in the mind of the consumer. People think about things for a long time before buying. For example, you don't just wake up one day and buy a car you've never thought about before. Put out information the customer can use and then be the one present when they are ready to buy.The Long GameFrank discussed being OK with losing money in the short-term to make gains later. He doesn't want to be a sprinter. He wants to run the marathon. There is a difference between being a marketer and a business person. Business people understand that you don't usually put a dollar in and get two out on the same day. It takes time to make your money back and then turn a profit. It takes fortitude to run a successful marketing campaign.Steps to Creating Intent Based BrandingUnderstand who you want to attract with your campaign What do they want? How do they get it?Then content needs become clear. For example, Frank once worked on a campaign for a business that was selling dating advice for men. They gave out a series of steps to getting a date. First you learn how to introduce yourself. Then you learn how to hold a conversation. Next you learn how to ask for a phone number. These steps enabled the customer to see themselves close to the result - getting a date. This made them ready to buy the entire program.Get on Social Media! You need to run social media marketing. Avoid the mistake of not doing it. But still take your time. You want to engage your customers rather than go in for the conversion immediately. People will get to know you through social media ads and then they will head to your website or store. Writing CopyThe three elements that make good copy are: Here's what I've got Here's what it will do for you Here's what you need to do nextThe best kind of copy is straightforward, evidence-based copy. The evidence is about the reader or viewer, not about the seller. It's never about the seller. It's always about what the product will do to help the customer.If you want to get good at writing copy, you need to write a lot of copy and you need to study everyone, not just one person. There are lots of resources out there that will teach you the basics of copywriting. After you have learned those, sit down and write a sales letter every single day.