Sean Jackson

Is ROI The Problem In Your Company’s Social Media Marketing?

We Are Often Asked, “What Is The ROI of Social Media?” Here’s the Answer.

Sean Jackson, the CFO of Rainmaker Digital, offers on how companies should think about the ROI of all digital marketing.

Transcript

Robert Riggs: What has happened in the digital age though that businesses want to immediately jump to talk, talk, talk, sell, sell, sell, never listen, never even listen to what the customer might even want or the prospect might want and all – like ROI, what’s the ROI?

Sean Jackson: Right. So I think that’s being primarily driven – since you used the financial term, ROI, then that’s the problem because that means that a sales organization is being tasked with delivering results on a quarter by quarter basis and it is all about driving that immediate return rate and it’s a financial drive that is doing that. It is not a marketing drive that’s doing that.

Brad Besancon: Right, yeah.

Sean: And I think you see this most often with companies that have received a lot of funding or they’re under some sort of financial pressure and they’re saying –

Brad: A big boardroom.

Sean: Right. You got to go sell and you got to get out there and we need numbers. But it really is a trade-off between short term results and long term success. So I think when you look at long term success, people are saying we need to listen because we don’t care about the next quarter or the quarter after that. We care about the quarters that are happening four years from now, five years from now.

Brad: Yes.

Tips On Listening In The Digital World From Sean Jackson at Rainmaker Digital

by Brad Besancon

Are You Tuned Into Your Digital Audience? Tips For Listening From Sean Jackson

Transcript

Sean Jackson: People don’t buy the product. They buy the idea that the product delivers.

Brad: That’s right.

Sean: And that is so important. So if you’re selling an idea, not a product but selling a true idea, then it really means that you have to stay tuned not only to those new people, but the people that have already bought off on the idea.

Brad: Yes.

Sean: Right? Because those are the people that are already invested in the idea. They want the idea to fulfill something in their life and the more that you can talk to those people, then they will not only help spread the word but they’re going to continue to repeat buy.

This is true no matter what market you deal with, B to B, B to C. Whatever acronym you want to come up with, that rule holds true no matter what.

Brad: People still buy from people.

Sean: They buy from people and they buy from people who care about them.

Brad: Yeah.

Robert: OK. So if you’re facing the challenges of “listen,” you’ve got a podcast Digital Entrepreneur.

Sean: Yes.

Robert: That you host weekly and we hear this discussed there and we hear also their marketers talking about the pressures of ROI and all. You give out great advice for how to handle that. So I encourage everybody to seize this.

Sean: Please!

Robert: Please, listen to my podcast.

Sean: Rainmaker.fm. It’s the Digital Entrepreneur.

Brad: Well, we’ve been talking about making a connection. We give ourselves –

Sean: That’s right.

Brad: We give ourselves

Sean: But I often think that that is the way that we can always grow is by learning more, right?

Robert: Right.

Sean: And understanding information and hearing from others that have been there, done that and now with the beauty of technology, we can share it via video, via audio, via whatever.

Brad: Yeah. It’s solutions, right?

Sean: Right.

Brad: You’re trying to fix a solution or sell a solution or connect with a solution or whatever it is. So –

Robert: Top three tips on listening, what do you do?

Sean: I think actively listen means that you’re not just nodding your head. You’re actively trying to understand what they said and that means that you’re putting a lot of your preconceived notions behind and not trying to fill up your head with, “What is going to be my response to what they just said?” It is, “I’m going to listen, taking a pause.”

The second key to listening is to also be thinking through the why. Go through the next level of whatever they say. Bring it out to them but never use the word “why”. “Why” is an accusatory term. What is it? How is it? Those are the ways that you can really get people to draw out.

The third way of actively listening – and it’s funny. It’s called “parrot back what they just said”. If you parrot back the last three words someone says, then they will expound even further.

Robert: Yeah.

Sean: And if you use a question at the end of those last three words, then of course they will repeat it and then expound upon it further. So I think when you look at active listening, combined with really what is the next layer of questions, combined with asking what they just said back to them, you will find they will give you much more and the irony being, they may actually convince themselves that you are so empathetic to what they have, what their needs are, that they want to only work with you.

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If You Will Let People Talk They Will Tell You What They Want

by Brad Besancon

Sean Jackson, CFO and Partner of Rainmaker Digital Says Don’t Interrupt Your Customers Online Conversations

Transcript

Robert: I’m Robert. We got Brad here, with Sean Jackson, the CFO of Rainmaker Digital and we’ve known each other way back to Pubcon and you were the President of the Dallas Ad League. You’ve done it all from old – what we like about you, you are old media.

Brad: Old school marketing.

Robert: Old school marketing and now digital.

Sean: There you go.

Robert: So Brad is going to tell you about one of the challenges we run into in a process we use called “Listen, think, speak,” and we’re going to talk to you about “Listen”.

Sean: OK.

Brad: Yeah. So one of the things we find, Sean, is that companies don’t take the time to listen. They just want to sell, sell, sell or promote, promote, promote and they don’t take the time to really listen first to say, “What is it about my audience or customers or prospects that I need to take and then develop a plan or marketing plan off this?”

Give us a little idea about how you’ve seen that in the digital world, how you see things work, how you see things that haven’t worked. Just give us some of your insights.

Sean: I’m sorry. I wasn’t listening. Oh, wait a minute! No. I think that is the toughest part. I think in a sales-driven culture especially, everyone is so excited to get out there selling, right?

Brad: It’s all about the money.

Sean: Yeah, that’s right. I need to sell you and even if somebody says, “Wait, wait, wait. I’m ready to buy,” it’s like, well, I haven’t sold you enough yet, right?

Brad: There’s more. I need to talk more.

Sean: And I think it’s because typically in sales organizations, you have dynamic people wanting to speak, et cetera. But I think we’ve always found over history, between all media, that when we take time to listen, the most successful sales technique is listening.

I think the digital age has actually made it easier for us to listen than it has been in the past. So with all that said, if you’re not prepared to really take the time and understand that if you let people talk, they will tell you exactly what they want.

Brad: Exactly what they want. Yes. So you spoke the digital age makes it easier to listen. Tell us how you’ve seen that in real life. What is it in the digital world that makes it easier to listen? I’m not talking about software. Let’s get to a better level.

Sean: Sure.

Brad: We all have little buttons we can push. Let’s talk on a deeper level. What are some of the things you’ve seen that help you listen better?

Sean: Well, I think when it comes to businesses, certainly a lot of people now are feeling comfortable asking questions on the internet. So let’s go through the very basics. Google, right? Google Trends will tell you what type of topics seem to be trending or not, right? That’s a very informal way of seeing where a topic is and how it is –

Brad: Speaking of Google.

Sean: You know, basically how in Google Trends you can see how people are talking in an indirect way. But then even more intimate is all of our social media channels, right? When you’re looking on LinkedIn, you’re looking on Quora, you’re looking on Facebook, people are posting things out there and asking questions or they’re responding to questions that come up.

So I think from an observation standpoint, there are many, many ways out there. One of my favorite tools for listening is actually Quora because Quora, people are asking questions and people are giving responses.

Brad: Yeah.

Sean: So I think we have a way to be a little bit more sophisticated in how we hear people at a broad level. But then of course at a business level, there are different techniques that are needed.

[End of transcript]