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Prompts Used

Prompt 1: Context Setup

You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript. 
I will provide you with part 1 of 1 from a podcast transcript. 
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.

Transcript section:
[00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:05.600] What if your business had a 24-7 sales and marketing team without the overhead?
[00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:07.200] Here's why that matters.
[00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.800] 78% of leads go with the first responder.
[00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:16.400] The odds of qualifying a lead drop by 80% after 5 minutes.
[00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:20.560] Only 27% of leads are contacted by a sales rep.
[00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:26.560] 63% of companies take longer than an hour to respond to new inquiries.
[00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:30.560] And 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.
[00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:37.440] Businesses that use AI for lead response see a 67% increase in conversion rates.
[00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:47.040] AI-powered chat increases sales by 30%, and companies using AI also reduce customer support costs by 30%.
[00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:52.560] And automated follow-ups can boost lead engagement by 50% or more.
[00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:58.160] And that's why I built an AI automation agency called LeadLoops.pro.
[00:00:58.160 --> 00:01:12.160] LeadLoops texts new leads instantly, follows up after hours, reconnects old contacts, handles Google reviews, recovers abandoned carts, and even a voice bot that answers calls.
[00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:15.600] Basically, it's a tiny army that never sleeps.
[00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:19.280] You can learn more at leadloops.pro.
[00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:27.360] The other thing I want to tell you about is I'm now offering a free marketing report at getafreemarketingreport.com.
[00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:37.600] All you have to do is give me your business information and I check your online presence and send a detailed report in a day or two showing what's working and what to improve.
[00:01:37.600 --> 00:01:42.800] Again, that's at getafree marketingreport.com.
[00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:45.520] Welcome to the FrugalPreneur podcast.
[00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:46.880] I am your host, Sarah St.
[00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:47.600] John.
[00:01:47.600 --> 00:02:05.880] This episode is what I refer to as a showcase episode, where I feature a bootstrapped entrepreneur and they briefly share their tips, tricks, tactics, techniques, and tools that help them bootstrap their business and the successes and failures along the way.
[00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:16.520] My hope is that each of these showcase episodes will provide at least one valuable takeaway that you can implement right away in your own bootstrap business journey.
[00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:18.120] Now, on to the episode.
[00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:25.000] Hey, my name is Andre Savoy, and I founded a digital marketing agency in 2008, which I ran for 17 years.
[00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.800] And we served primarily local clientele.
[00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:31.800] And I found that there were some things that I kept seeing over and over again with clients.
[00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:40.760] You know, we saw some clients do really, really well and some clients not do well at all, oftentimes with the same marketing campaigns and the same strategy and same structure.
[00:02:40.760 --> 00:02:43.480] And we'd see one client doing really well and one that didn't.
[00:02:43.480 --> 00:03:03.160] And after 17 years of working with clients one-on-one, I've stepped away from the agency to begin working in a new way that will allow me to share what I've learned with clients in a different setting and to show that the strategies that work and why they worked and maybe what didn't work in order to help clients maybe start to realize those things and start to do them differently.
[00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:16.680] And that way they elevate what they know and take better control over their marketing rather than constantly worrying about what somebody else is telling them or what they're running a trade magazine or maybe what an agency is telling them that they don't quite understand.
[00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:27.240] And so that's really my mission is to help people become more empowered in their marketing and to become better at it because they now know which parts they should do and which parts they can find help for.
[00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:32.920] You know, in the beginning, my business was almost 100% founded based on my efforts as the owner.
[00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:35.240] I know we used the word bootstrapping.
[00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:43.640] To me, that meant writing a lot of content in the beginning because I have found over the years that content is really the differentiator online.
[00:03:43.640 --> 00:03:57.760] And so I spent a lot of time writing content about us, about what we did, about different niches that we served, about different things and that practice because we had clients coming in even toward the end of having the agency that found content that we did early on.
[00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:04.880] Also, what I found is that the better the content that we wrote, the better the campaigns performed and the happier clients were at that point.
[00:04:04.880 --> 00:04:13.360] So for me, we built most of what we did based on content marketing and also going to doing local business networking and that sort of thing.
[00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:21.120] So those are primarily the areas that we focused on in the beginning before we really had a budget to look at advertising and running ads and that sort of thing.
[00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:28.160] So for us, the biggest success with bootstrapping in the beginning was content marketing and creating good content.
[00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:38.880] In my case, that was maybe easier to do than it is for some people because I'm a writer by trade and really enjoyed that part of the business and it sort of came naturally to us.
[00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:44.960] So as we grew, we built our services and offerings around those things because that was a core strength for us.
[00:04:44.960 --> 00:04:50.560] But what I've seen is that a lot of clients don't necessarily have that as their core strength and maybe they have other things as a core strength.
[00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:57.440] Maybe they're great on camera, maybe they're great at networking or maybe they've developed certain referral partners that they really are good at.
[00:04:57.440 --> 00:05:05.840] So I think that really everybody needs to find maybe what their core strengths are going forward as they start out and build on those core strengths.
[00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:14.240] And then in terms of maybe what was the biggest failure, the biggest failure is writing that strength too long and not getting out into other things quick enough.
[00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:18.160] So in our case, again, we started out really strongly with content marketing.
[00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.800] We did that for a long time in terms of our primary business growth strategy.
[00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.240] And it's continued to work.
[00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.880] But what I found is that we could have moved into other things like advertising more quickly.
[00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:34.440] And that would have maybe changed the trajectory for our growth early on because we got good at something and got comfortable with it.
[00:05:34.440 --> 00:05:37.480] So we didn't necessarily want to stretch to go outside.
[00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.920] But what I found is that once we started running advertising, everything changed.
[00:05:41.080 --> 00:05:45.640] We really were able to reach a lot more people more quickly with different messages.
[00:05:45.640 --> 00:05:58.040] And so I think that what I've observed in general is that businesses tend to ride what got them to a certain point and be nervous about getting outside of that comfort zone when they do get a little more cash flow and a little bit more profit to be able to work on reinvesting.
[00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:03.160] And so I would say the sooner you can move into other areas and do it smartly, the better.
[00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:10.440] So the best tips and tricks and techniques that I use to bootstrap our business, number one, has been education.
[00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:17.240] I think every dollar we've ever spent on education has come back to us in many, many, many times the return on investment.
[00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:22.120] That could be small things, could be a small $37 kind of Udemy class.
[00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.840] It could be a course of certification.
[00:06:24.840 --> 00:06:31.720] I've paid 500 to 1,000 bucks for a lot of different courses that gave us in-depth certification on different things that we were working on.
[00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:38.200] And in some cases, I've spent as much as $10,000 in some cases on programs that really helped us elevate and learn a new skill.
[00:06:38.200 --> 00:06:41.320] And that was later on in the business after we had more cash flow in business.
[00:06:41.320 --> 00:06:59.080] But what I'm saying is that each time we've needed to learn something, rather than going and paying for an agency to do it and just hoping that they get it right and hoping that we understand, every time we've gone through the process where we've reached a bottleneck, we've gone through and looked at how can we get educated in order to where we can decide now I understand this.
[00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:03.400] Do we want to do it in-house, do it in-house for a while until we get to a certain point?
[00:07:03.400 --> 00:07:09.240] And then maybe look at how do we get out of doing it ourselves and finding some help as we had more cash flow to do that.
[00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:38.480] But each way along the way, money that we've spent on education has been significantly less than we would have paid to a marketing agency, has helped us not only elevate what we do, but become better at what we do so that when we do go to the next step, which is to maybe find help doing those things because we want to learn something new, that we are in a better place to ask for help and know what to expect and hold people accountable that are helping us with things because we know what we're doing and not just assuming somebody else is going to do it and do it correctly.
[00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:49.680] And in terms of summing this up, I really find that the biggest thing that's important to understand if you want to bootstrap your business is that you have to understand the strategy for what you're going to do with your marketing.
[00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:51.920] And strategy is different from tactics, right?
[00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:59.680] So, tactics like I talked about content marketing or Google ads or Facebook ads or whatever, those are individual tactics.
[00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:05.520] And so, what you have to understand is how those tactics fit in with the overall strategy and what you're trying to do.
[00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:14.160] And when you approach it from the standpoint of just doing individual tactics, maybe because they're cheap or don't cost you a lot of budget, it may not accomplish the goal that you want.
[00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:15.680] And that's where the strategy comes in.
[00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:24.320] And so, I think I have found over the years that people often get focused on a tactic because maybe they have a budget idea in mind versus understanding what they need to do strategically.
[00:08:24.320 --> 00:08:29.120] And maybe at that point, if they have the right strategy in place, they'd maybe pick different tactics.
[00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:40.960] Even if some of those tactics require maybe spending a few bucks on something, maybe it's a better return on your time or return on investment because it produces results more rapidly, gets you cash flow more quickly, or any of those sorts of things, right?
[00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:49.280] So, that's why any one individual tactic could be great for one person and maybe not great in your case, but it doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing strategically.
[00:08:49.280 --> 00:09:01.960] And that's really why I built, I call it a CEO marketing checklist, and it's free, it's on our website, but it's a good checklist to help you go through sort of the eight or nine steps that are needed to build a strategy.
[00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:11.080] And, you know, going through that checklist, you'll get a sense of all the things that maybe you have or don't have in place and maybe what you would want to have in place before you move to the next step.
[00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:16.040] And that will help you get a sense of maybe how to plan and how to kind of build out your own strategy.
[00:09:16.040 --> 00:09:25.720] So that way, when you go to look at the individual tactics or the things that you want to do, that you're in a much better spot to do that because you feel like you have a better understanding of what you need to do to grow.
[00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:26.600] And that's fruit.
[00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:34.520] I hope you enjoyed that episode and were able to take away a valuable nugget of information that you can implement right away in your own business.
[00:09:34.520 --> 00:09:42.520] If you feel your story would be valuable for the listeners of this show, please visit frugal.show forward slash guest.
[00:09:42.520 --> 00:09:47.960] What if your business had a 24-7 sales and marketing team without the overhead?
[00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:53.240] Here's why that matters: 78% of leads go with the first responder.
[00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:58.840] The odds of qualifying a lead drop by 80% after five minutes.
[00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:03.000] Only 27% of leads are contacted by a sales rep.
[00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:08.920] 63% of companies take longer than an hour to respond to new inquiries.
[00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:12.920] And 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.
[00:10:12.920 --> 00:10:19.880] Businesses that use AI for lead response see a 67% increase in conversion rates.
[00:10:19.880 --> 00:10:23.800] AI-powered chat increases sales by 30%.
[00:10:23.800 --> 00:10:29.400] And companies using AI also reduce customer support costs by 30%.
[00:10:29.400 --> 00:10:35.000] And automated follow-ups can boost lead engagement by 50% or more.
[00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:40.600] And that's why I built an AI automation agency called LeadLoops.pro.
[00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:54.560] LeadLoops texts new leads instantly, follows up after hours, reconnects old contacts, handles Google reviews, recovers abandoned carts, and even a voice bot that answers calls.
[00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:58.000] Basically, it's a tiny army that never sleeps.
[00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.680] You can learn more at leadloops.pro.
[00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:09.760] The other thing I want to tell you about is I'm now offering a free marketing report at getafreemarketingreport.com.
[00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:20.000] All you have to do is give me your business information and I check your online presence and send a detailed report in a day or two showing what's working and what to improve.
[00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.880] Again, that's at getafree marketingreport.com.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:05.600] What if your business had a 24-7 sales and marketing team without the overhead?
[00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:07.200] Here's why that matters.
[00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.800] 78% of leads go with the first responder.
[00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:16.400] The odds of qualifying a lead drop by 80% after 5 minutes.
[00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:20.560] Only 27% of leads are contacted by a sales rep.
[00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:26.560] 63% of companies take longer than an hour to respond to new inquiries.
[00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:30.560] And 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.
[00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:37.440] Businesses that use AI for lead response see a 67% increase in conversion rates.
[00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:47.040] AI-powered chat increases sales by 30%, and companies using AI also reduce customer support costs by 30%.
[00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:52.560] And automated follow-ups can boost lead engagement by 50% or more.
[00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:58.160] And that's why I built an AI automation agency called LeadLoops.pro.
[00:00:58.160 --> 00:01:12.160] LeadLoops texts new leads instantly, follows up after hours, reconnects old contacts, handles Google reviews, recovers abandoned carts, and even a voice bot that answers calls.
[00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:15.600] Basically, it's a tiny army that never sleeps.
[00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:19.280] You can learn more at leadloops.pro.
[00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:27.360] The other thing I want to tell you about is I'm now offering a free marketing report at getafreemarketingreport.com.
[00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:37.600] All you have to do is give me your business information and I check your online presence and send a detailed report in a day or two showing what's working and what to improve.
[00:01:37.600 --> 00:01:42.800] Again, that's at getafree marketingreport.com.
[00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:45.520] Welcome to the FrugalPreneur podcast.
[00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:46.880] I am your host, Sarah St.
[00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:47.600] John.
[00:01:47.600 --> 00:02:05.880] This episode is what I refer to as a showcase episode, where I feature a bootstrapped entrepreneur and they briefly share their tips, tricks, tactics, techniques, and tools that help them bootstrap their business and the successes and failures along the way.
[00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:16.520] My hope is that each of these showcase episodes will provide at least one valuable takeaway that you can implement right away in your own bootstrap business journey.
[00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:18.120] Now, on to the episode.
[00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:25.000] Hey, my name is Andre Savoy, and I founded a digital marketing agency in 2008, which I ran for 17 years.
[00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.800] And we served primarily local clientele.
[00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:31.800] And I found that there were some things that I kept seeing over and over again with clients.
[00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:40.760] You know, we saw some clients do really, really well and some clients not do well at all, oftentimes with the same marketing campaigns and the same strategy and same structure.
[00:02:40.760 --> 00:02:43.480] And we'd see one client doing really well and one that didn't.
[00:02:43.480 --> 00:03:03.160] And after 17 years of working with clients one-on-one, I've stepped away from the agency to begin working in a new way that will allow me to share what I've learned with clients in a different setting and to show that the strategies that work and why they worked and maybe what didn't work in order to help clients maybe start to realize those things and start to do them differently.
[00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:16.680] And that way they elevate what they know and take better control over their marketing rather than constantly worrying about what somebody else is telling them or what they're running a trade magazine or maybe what an agency is telling them that they don't quite understand.
[00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:27.240] And so that's really my mission is to help people become more empowered in their marketing and to become better at it because they now know which parts they should do and which parts they can find help for.
[00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:32.920] You know, in the beginning, my business was almost 100% founded based on my efforts as the owner.
[00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:35.240] I know we used the word bootstrapping.
[00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:43.640] To me, that meant writing a lot of content in the beginning because I have found over the years that content is really the differentiator online.
[00:03:43.640 --> 00:03:57.760] And so I spent a lot of time writing content about us, about what we did, about different niches that we served, about different things and that practice because we had clients coming in even toward the end of having the agency that found content that we did early on.
[00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:04.880] Also, what I found is that the better the content that we wrote, the better the campaigns performed and the happier clients were at that point.
[00:04:04.880 --> 00:04:13.360] So for me, we built most of what we did based on content marketing and also going to doing local business networking and that sort of thing.
[00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:21.120] So those are primarily the areas that we focused on in the beginning before we really had a budget to look at advertising and running ads and that sort of thing.
[00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:28.160] So for us, the biggest success with bootstrapping in the beginning was content marketing and creating good content.
[00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:38.880] In my case, that was maybe easier to do than it is for some people because I'm a writer by trade and really enjoyed that part of the business and it sort of came naturally to us.
[00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:44.960] So as we grew, we built our services and offerings around those things because that was a core strength for us.
[00:04:44.960 --> 00:04:50.560] But what I've seen is that a lot of clients don't necessarily have that as their core strength and maybe they have other things as a core strength.
[00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:57.440] Maybe they're great on camera, maybe they're great at networking or maybe they've developed certain referral partners that they really are good at.
[00:04:57.440 --> 00:05:05.840] So I think that really everybody needs to find maybe what their core strengths are going forward as they start out and build on those core strengths.
[00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:14.240] And then in terms of maybe what was the biggest failure, the biggest failure is writing that strength too long and not getting out into other things quick enough.
[00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:18.160] So in our case, again, we started out really strongly with content marketing.
[00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.800] We did that for a long time in terms of our primary business growth strategy.
[00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.240] And it's continued to work.
[00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.880] But what I found is that we could have moved into other things like advertising more quickly.
[00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:34.440] And that would have maybe changed the trajectory for our growth early on because we got good at something and got comfortable with it.
[00:05:34.440 --> 00:05:37.480] So we didn't necessarily want to stretch to go outside.
[00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.920] But what I found is that once we started running advertising, everything changed.
[00:05:41.080 --> 00:05:45.640] We really were able to reach a lot more people more quickly with different messages.
[00:05:45.640 --> 00:05:58.040] And so I think that what I've observed in general is that businesses tend to ride what got them to a certain point and be nervous about getting outside of that comfort zone when they do get a little more cash flow and a little bit more profit to be able to work on reinvesting.
[00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:03.160] And so I would say the sooner you can move into other areas and do it smartly, the better.
[00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:10.440] So the best tips and tricks and techniques that I use to bootstrap our business, number one, has been education.
[00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:17.240] I think every dollar we've ever spent on education has come back to us in many, many, many times the return on investment.
[00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:22.120] That could be small things, could be a small $37 kind of Udemy class.
[00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.840] It could be a course of certification.
[00:06:24.840 --> 00:06:31.720] I've paid 500 to 1,000 bucks for a lot of different courses that gave us in-depth certification on different things that we were working on.
[00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:38.200] And in some cases, I've spent as much as $10,000 in some cases on programs that really helped us elevate and learn a new skill.
[00:06:38.200 --> 00:06:41.320] And that was later on in the business after we had more cash flow in business.
[00:06:41.320 --> 00:06:59.080] But what I'm saying is that each time we've needed to learn something, rather than going and paying for an agency to do it and just hoping that they get it right and hoping that we understand, every time we've gone through the process where we've reached a bottleneck, we've gone through and looked at how can we get educated in order to where we can decide now I understand this.
[00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:03.400] Do we want to do it in-house, do it in-house for a while until we get to a certain point?
[00:07:03.400 --> 00:07:09.240] And then maybe look at how do we get out of doing it ourselves and finding some help as we had more cash flow to do that.
[00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:38.480] But each way along the way, money that we've spent on education has been significantly less than we would have paid to a marketing agency, has helped us not only elevate what we do, but become better at what we do so that when we do go to the next step, which is to maybe find help doing those things because we want to learn something new, that we are in a better place to ask for help and know what to expect and hold people accountable that are helping us with things because we know what we're doing and not just assuming somebody else is going to do it and do it correctly.
[00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:49.680] And in terms of summing this up, I really find that the biggest thing that's important to understand if you want to bootstrap your business is that you have to understand the strategy for what you're going to do with your marketing.
[00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:51.920] And strategy is different from tactics, right?
[00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:59.680] So, tactics like I talked about content marketing or Google ads or Facebook ads or whatever, those are individual tactics.
[00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:05.520] And so, what you have to understand is how those tactics fit in with the overall strategy and what you're trying to do.
[00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:14.160] And when you approach it from the standpoint of just doing individual tactics, maybe because they're cheap or don't cost you a lot of budget, it may not accomplish the goal that you want.
[00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:15.680] And that's where the strategy comes in.
[00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:24.320] And so, I think I have found over the years that people often get focused on a tactic because maybe they have a budget idea in mind versus understanding what they need to do strategically.
[00:08:24.320 --> 00:08:29.120] And maybe at that point, if they have the right strategy in place, they'd maybe pick different tactics.
[00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:40.960] Even if some of those tactics require maybe spending a few bucks on something, maybe it's a better return on your time or return on investment because it produces results more rapidly, gets you cash flow more quickly, or any of those sorts of things, right?
[00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:49.280] So, that's why any one individual tactic could be great for one person and maybe not great in your case, but it doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing strategically.
[00:08:49.280 --> 00:09:01.960] And that's really why I built, I call it a CEO marketing checklist, and it's free, it's on our website, but it's a good checklist to help you go through sort of the eight or nine steps that are needed to build a strategy.
[00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:11.080] And, you know, going through that checklist, you'll get a sense of all the things that maybe you have or don't have in place and maybe what you would want to have in place before you move to the next step.
[00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:16.040] And that will help you get a sense of maybe how to plan and how to kind of build out your own strategy.
[00:09:16.040 --> 00:09:25.720] So that way, when you go to look at the individual tactics or the things that you want to do, that you're in a much better spot to do that because you feel like you have a better understanding of what you need to do to grow.
[00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:26.600] And that's fruit.
[00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:34.520] I hope you enjoyed that episode and were able to take away a valuable nugget of information that you can implement right away in your own business.
[00:09:34.520 --> 00:09:42.520] If you feel your story would be valuable for the listeners of this show, please visit frugal.show forward slash guest.
[00:09:42.520 --> 00:09:47.960] What if your business had a 24-7 sales and marketing team without the overhead?
[00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:53.240] Here's why that matters: 78% of leads go with the first responder.
[00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:58.840] The odds of qualifying a lead drop by 80% after five minutes.
[00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:03.000] Only 27% of leads are contacted by a sales rep.
[00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:08.920] 63% of companies take longer than an hour to respond to new inquiries.
[00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:12.920] And 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.
[00:10:12.920 --> 00:10:19.880] Businesses that use AI for lead response see a 67% increase in conversion rates.
[00:10:19.880 --> 00:10:23.800] AI-powered chat increases sales by 30%.
[00:10:23.800 --> 00:10:29.400] And companies using AI also reduce customer support costs by 30%.
[00:10:29.400 --> 00:10:35.000] And automated follow-ups can boost lead engagement by 50% or more.
[00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:40.600] And that's why I built an AI automation agency called LeadLoops.pro.
[00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:54.560] LeadLoops texts new leads instantly, follows up after hours, reconnects old contacts, handles Google reviews, recovers abandoned carts, and even a voice bot that answers calls.
[00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:58.000] Basically, it's a tiny army that never sleeps.
[00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.680] You can learn more at leadloops.pro.
[00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:09.760] The other thing I want to tell you about is I'm now offering a free marketing report at getafreemarketingreport.com.
[00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:20.000] All you have to do is give me your business information and I check your online presence and send a detailed report in a day or two showing what's working and what to improve.
[00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.880] Again, that's at getafree marketingreport.com.