TRP 285: How to Make a Bigger Impact in Marketing with Rachel Minion

[00:00:10] You're listening to The Rainmaking Podcast, hosted by high stakes headhunter, author, and professional speaker, Scott Love.

[00:00:23] You're listening to The Rainmaking Podcast, and my name is Scott Love. Thank you for joining me on the show. I'm excited about this particular episode. Her name is Rachel Minion. That's our guest. She owns a company called Rockstar & Moon. That's a marketing agency that doesn't just work with one industry niche. She works in all different types of verticals, dealing with company owners and entrepreneurs.

[00:00:43] She helps them make a bigger impact in marketing. And that is our topic title today, Impact in Marketing. You're going to get some great ideas from this episode, I promise you. And we're going to put Rachel's contact information in the show notes. So make sure you connect with her. Check out her profile on LinkedIn also. We'll put that all there.

[00:01:02] And as always, this show is sponsored by SurePoint Legal Insights, formerly known as Leopard Solutions, turning legal intelligence into opportunity. And also it's sponsored by The Rainmaking Magazine for the intellectually driven and results focused professional that wants to grow their book of business. Visit therainmakingmagazine.com to chart your course to greater rainmaking success. I hope you get some great ideas from my conversation with Rachel today. Thanks for listening.

[00:01:32] Hey, this is Scott Love with The Rainmaking Podcast. And our guest today is Rachel Minyon. And we're talking about how to make a bigger impact in marketing. Rachel, thanks for joining me on the show today. Thank you so much for having me. This is great. Well, I like the fact that you've got that rockstar brand with your business and bigger impact. Rockstars certainly make a bigger impact.

[00:01:53] Let me ask you this. How would we define that? What have you seen? How would you define success in somebody who is making a bigger impact? You know, it's interesting to me because I look at success a little bit differently and I look at it into how many different lives have I been able to impact. We work with small businesses. So not only am I impacting the small business owner that I'm working with, their employees, but the community around them.

[00:02:21] So it's not just that we can go and help a business owner. It's that now the Little League is supported. It's now that the community is supported. They're doing other things. And that ripple effect is much more massive than any other success I can measure. That's great. I've never heard anything like that before. That's why I'm a rockstar. Yeah, right, right. So how do you think, what about that cynical business person that's like, no, I want to learn about growing my revenue. Come on, get right to the point. What would be your thoughts to that person right now?

[00:02:48] Oh, we all want to grow our revenue. There's no question there. But at the same time, I go a little bit deeper, right? So not only do I run a marketing agency, I also run a nonprofit where we do chemo care kits to cancer warriors across the U.S. So the key is, is how do I strike that balance where I feel good about myself every single night? I know my employees are taken care of and I know that I'm taking care of the world.

[00:03:11] Wow, that's great. So how do you think a professional listening to this can have a path to really growing that impact? Where do you think we should start with this conversation, Rachel? I think the biggest thing is do less. Let me say that with a caveat. Right now, you're probably thinking, oh, I need to do this. I need to do this. I need to do this. I need to do this. I need to do this for my marketing. And you're in so many different places and your team is going different places or you're doing it yourself and you're attempting it.

[00:03:38] And the problem is, is because there's so many different focuses, your attention is divided, your energy is divided, your resources are divided. And so all these things can be out and they could be good. They're not great. So do less. Focus on the most impactful things that are actually going to get you towards your goal. And once you get that nailed, now we move on to the next. And if it means bringing in additional resources to supplement that, then that's where we do it.

[00:04:05] But from so many of my clients, I hear, I just need a tick tock. So let's look at that sales objective. We want to get from here to here. How are we going to do it? It's not by doing 14,000 things at once. It's by doing a few things really well. Kind of triaging that, right? The bigger rocks in the bucket, so to speak. That's it. So let's say a professional says, okay, I like this. I can get my arms around that. What does that mean?

[00:04:30] How do I identify the two or three things or however many you think we should really start with in terms of my outbound marketing efforts? I think the first key is to look at a foundation before we look at going outbound, before we look at these things. As a business owner, I know this probably better than anybody. We work so hard to bring in the client. Then we over deliver. And then it's like done, engagement. We won.

[00:04:55] But we don't take the time to actually go and capture the win, put it into a case study, get a video testimonial, get all of that ready to go, because that's going to sell your next lead. If we just took the time to do that, make sure we have a foundation of success built out that sells itself. So tell me about this. Let's go down that path. Capture the win. Let's say we've done work for an organization, we're a professional service provider, and it was a bet the company case that we won.

[00:05:24] Or something like that. It was a significant impact. There we go again, with impact in that organization. And if they're comfortable with us telling that story, because thank God, what would we do without you? We wouldn't be here except for you. And you say, I want to take that story. And how do you first tell your client, I want to build a case study to help me get more business from what we've done for you? How would you suggest they start with that? There's a few things that I do.

[00:05:51] The first is, is I ask my clients, am I able to use your metrics? Can we use, right? Everything will be a percentage. I will never use exact numbers. Can I do this? And in most cases, they will say yes. But they may say, please anonymize it. Right? But everyone wants to be successful. So why wouldn't they want to show their success in how they've grown? And that's how I work to phrase it. But then there's the other element of, can I get a video testimonial from you?

[00:06:21] We can talk about the success that we've been able to achieve together. It'll focus on you. I just want it in your own words. And I want a rough cut of it. I don't want some big polished production piece because that seems fake. It's like one of those, hi, you know, you should be on a Zempick today because of this. And look at how skinny I am. That isn't what we want to do. We want it to be real. We want it to be authentic. And if they're not up for a video testimonial, because not all of us want to be on video. Yeah, right. Then let's get a written testimonial.

[00:06:51] I don't care if you write me a sentence. I don't care if you write me a Google review. I don't care if you write me a paragraph. Something that I can utilize to show that we are creating the impact that we say that we are. Because there is nothing better in this world than having that social proof of somebody saying it, not just me. Yeah, that's right. Because people believe opinions of others, you know, more than those that have an agenda to close the deal, so to speak. That's it.

[00:07:18] I'd rather my work speak for itself and my clients' reviews do that. That's great. So let me ask you this. Tell me an organization that you worked with where you helped them with their clients' permission to really build a fulsome, detailed case study. How did that go? What were the problems you ran into? And what was the end result? Kind of the most significant one that you've seen with your clients, Rachel. Let me tell you something fun that I used to do.

[00:07:46] One of my previous roles was working at Ticketmaster. And I ran a division of marketing for Ticketmaster. And we wanted to feature a venue. We got a really big win with them. We changed their entire ticketing flow. We changed everything about it. But they did not want to be named. The reason being, in the world of ticketing, and I'm using this example because it's complicated, okay? In the world of ticketing, the ticketing company is the bad guy, right?

[00:08:16] They're the ones that are collecting the fees. Everybody came to Ticketmaster. We all know it. We all feel it in our bones. You go to pay for a ticket and you're like, oh, God, this price is ridiculous. Yeah, right. That's right. Right. So when you think about that, then did this venue want to be on our website with a success case? No. So we asked, okay, if we did X, Y, and Z and anonymize it, will you let that happen?

[00:08:43] Because this is a much bigger stakes than anything else you could envision, right? So we anonymized it and we used that case study, even though it was fully anonymous, and we sent that to two or three other venues that are the same size. Because we could talk about the size. We could talk about a general location. They didn't know who it was because there's hundreds of other venues just like that in New York. So what do you do?

[00:09:08] So we popped those out and I'm just as a test and we got two calls the next day. Wow. And it's like, wait a minute. If I can do that with something as complicated and that fans hate more than ticketing, right? There's nothing. Then great. Now we can do this and use the same type of format for all of our other clients as well as ourselves. That's great, Rachel. So did you have, was it like a video testimonial that talked about this or what was the format

[00:09:38] of that? We did a written case study because they weren't comfortable being on video. They were well-known enough in the industry and it's a smaller industry with that. And so what we have done more recently with my agency is that we work with our clients to get video testimonials as well as we work with their clients to get video testimonials for them. We just want a quick five minute or less, hopefully around the three minute mark of, hey, this guy did exactly what he said he was going to do.

[00:10:07] My expectations were exceeded. We want. Wow. So let's say that somebody listening to this wants to get their client and the best example I have, I know people listening to this aren't in the home industry, but my HVA unit six months ago, seven months ago, it shut down. We had no, and so I called a guy that was a referral on our community Facebook page. You should talk to so-and-so. And he came and he fixed it. And he was here in my home just yesterday.

[00:10:37] And he, because we started a service contract. And fortunately he found that out of the three different drains in our HVAC unit, two of those were clogs. We had water in the pan in our furnace. We got lucky. But anyways, I can see someone like that. He did such a good job. I can't wait to tell the world. I even thought I'm going to create a video testimonial and just give it to him and say, you're not even asking for this. You need to have more clients because you did such a good job. And I'm so grateful.

[00:11:06] So let's say we find someone like that, that we want to have that passionate client that's willing to do whatever it takes. Do you think it's appropriate for us to just say, film yourself talking about what we do? Is there some sort of coaching we need to give them? What do you think? So first, catch them at the moment of the win. Do not wait six months. They're going to say no, and they won't remember what happened. Catch them in the moment.

[00:11:33] And if you catch them in the moment, say, hey, could we record this really fast? And can I utilize this? You're going to be on a Zoom call. You could be in person. What can I do? So now let's ask two or three questions that will lead it in. What challenges did you have before we talked? Why did you choose us? What was your experience with us? And maybe would you recommend us to somebody else who's in the same situation?

[00:12:00] Now you just have that quick framework that says, hey, I can relate to you. I believe you. Everything that you're saying is authentic. Why wouldn't they choose to go with you? That's great. And how should we take that information? What should we do with that video or that story that they gave us? So first thing to do is pop it on your website. Pop it in your socials. Pop that everywhere that you can.

[00:12:28] And you can continue to reuse it. It isn't just you put it up there once on social. No, it's something that should be in a regular feed. And it should be something that you can chop up a little bit in different ways so that you have one that could be the full piece. Then you can have short clips. And you can even have where you do a social post, hey, and point directly to the video. Not only should you be doing that, if you're doing an email campaign out to get more clients,

[00:12:57] why not link to that video? Hey, you should see this. That's great. You should probably ask for a Google review at that time or another type of review if there is and ask if we can put in writing what you've just said and pop that on the website as well. That's great. So you've given us a really good big rock in the bucket, so to speak, like we talked about. That's a significant thing that we can do. You talked about doing less in order to make a bigger impact.

[00:13:24] What should be some other things we should keep top of mind in that regard? Automation. I am madly in love with automation. Let me explain. I have leads that come to our site and want to book a call with us. So if you want to talk to us from our website, great. You're going to get a series of emails before we ever speak that give you a little bit of a pre-call warmup to know who we are and why we are and what we do.

[00:13:54] And let's say you don't show up for your call. Hmm. Hmm. I just press a button, tag you, and now an automated email sequence goes out to go rebook you. It isn't anything that I have to do. I've just added a tag. But now let's say we've talked, we've met, and you're not ready now. You're not ready to make that decision. I get you into my not now sequence. So I click that button. And now all of that is being pushed out. It's all content that we've already created. We know that it works.

[00:14:24] We've tested it. And now we're watching that sequencing go out. That saves a ton of time for myself. It saves a ton of time for sales because I don't have to say, hey, when was the last time I followed up with, no, it's already done. Everything is in the system. There are nurturing campaigns that we've brought in. And there's all the follow-up campaigns. There's the onboarding. So as soon as the client signs, we have automated emails that go out. Hey, welcome to the Rockstar family.

[00:14:52] We want to make sure that we are taking that onus off of an individual and making sure it's systematized so that it is done correctly and at the cadence that we know works. Do you think people can see that as being less authentic if it's automated? What do you think about that? I believe that there are certain emails that need to go out from an individual. It needs to say, hey, you know, it was a great talking to you yesterday. Thank you so much for your time. All of that. Here's some of the things that we covered. That needs to be from a person.

[00:15:21] But if you're not ready to make a decision today and I want to contact you, I believe it's two months in the future because I've set that time. Hey, just checking in. How are things going? Have you achieved the goal that you've set out to? That doesn't need to be fully personalized. It doesn't need to be anything. And it's just a quick check-in. Now, the responses are 100% coming from me and that automation will stop. But the goal is if we want to do more with less. Yeah, that's right.

[00:15:51] I think that's great for people to have systems because you can't keep it all in your head. And sometimes people aren't ready to buy today the service that you have. And just by being mindful, and for example, one of the things I do in my legal recruiting business, everybody I talk to where if I think they're going to move at some point in the next five years and we have a friendly call, I put them on my quarterly list and I reach out. I just leave a voicemail message or if I've got their personal email, here's a helpful resource.

[00:16:17] Here's an article I read that I thought could help you even if you don't want to move. So I take my goal out of it just to be a helpful resource. What do you think about that in terms of a system, Rachel? I love that. I think if you have a lot of people at a time, there's no way to scale you. So how could we scale you? What could we do? Are there things that we could pop in place so that we could help support you so that you could do more?

[00:16:45] But if you're at the right cadence and it's working for you, absolutely. And especially sending something of value. That's key because I don't want to stay in touch with somebody who's just constantly asking. I'm not interested. I want somebody who wants to know about me. Tell me, hey, Rach, how's your business going? I don't know, man. This week's been rough. Whatever that could be, I'm much more better in an authentic conversation. Yeah.

[00:17:12] It's so funny because that reminds me of a realtor that I knew long ago. I met him once and every quarter, hey, do you want to sell your house? Hey, do you want to buy a house? It was always about that. But the realtor I bought this house from sends me something every month. In the holidays, here's some Christmas recipes. In the summer, here's some summer drink recipes. Maybe every quarter, here's an analysis of how your home is compared to all the others where you live. That's useful to me. And guess what?

[00:17:39] I know someone, I refer it to my guy, Shannon Hart. You know, I've kind of followed his playbook in my business also. I think that's just a great idea how people have that technology to kind of keep them connected. Are there any specific tech tools or tech platforms that you think people should consider to do more of what you're talking about, Rachel? We utilize the growth amplifier. The growth amplifier for us is not only our CRM, but then it also has billing and invoicing

[00:18:07] and contracts and all the things on the inside because my ultimate goal is streamline everything. Make it as stupid simple as possible. I can send out, you know, not only a campaign on email, I can send it out via SMS. So you get it on your phone. I can do all the right things. And when you're looking for a system, the goal is you want to think about not just, okay, how am I going to use it today? But where can I grow?

[00:18:33] No, because as your company grows and scales, you're going to have more users. You're going to have more things. There's going to be more activities and all of that. And you need to be able to do it. And working in 75 different systems will make somebody's head explode because they don't talk to each other in the right way. Absolutely right. Well, let me ask you this. If we could kind of talk about three action steps as we bring our conversation to a close, if you could give our listeners three action steps to where they can take action and see

[00:19:02] a bigger impact, what would those three action steps be, Rachel? First, do less. Only work on what's most impactful. Second, go get case studies. Go ask for success stories. Somebody saying it other than you. And third, automate, automate, automate. That's great. I like the simplicity of all that. And those definitely will make a big impact for people, I'm sure. And tell us more about your company. What do you do? What do you have that you'd like our listeners to know about, Rachel? So I run RocksRMoon.

[00:19:32] Every single day, I wake up with one goal in mind, and that's to transform the lives of business owners by helping them grow and thrive. We have a bold mission, and that's to help double the size of 100 businesses by the end of 2029. And for me, it's not just about the numbers. As we talked about in the beginning, it's about empowering the heart and soul of these businesses, the owners themselves, to create that lasting impact for families. Their teams and their communities. That's great, Rachel. Thank you so much for sharing today.

[00:20:01] We're going to put all of your contact information on the show notes. So everybody listening, go to the show notes. You'll be able to connect with Rachel directly. Rachel, I'd love to have you back on the show. Thanks for being a great guest today and giving us some really solid information. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to The Rainmaking Podcast. For more information about our recruiting services for international law firms, visit our website at attorneysearchgroup.com.

[00:20:31] To inquire about having Scott speak at your next convention, conference, sales meeting, or executive retreat, visit therainmakingpodcast.com.