Melanie
Welcome to the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast for all decision makers and action takers. Take it away, Esther.
Esther
And welcome back to another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. Today we're celebrating. Why are we celebrating, you might ask, because this is episode 300.
Melanie
Crikey.
Esther
300 episodes. That's mad. That's over five and a half years. How mental is that? That's just crazy.
Melanie
What do you think how many hours that is? We're going to have to work that out.
Esther
Well, that's answers on a postcard for that one. Whoever works that one out, we might get you a wee prize. Maybe a branded T-shirt could be in the post to you.
Melanie
That sounds good.
Esther
Yeah. Let us know how many hours you think, we have been nattering away for the last 300 episodes, and we'll get you a wee prize. But we are here to celebrate 300 episodes and to look forward to the future, because we're going to be talking about the future of marketing for small businesses, what we have learnt over 300 episodes, and what's coming next.
Melanie
So first and foremost, I think it's really important, we start today with thanking you, the watcher and the listener, for being here, for joining us on our journey. Some of you, we know for a fact, have been there since day one. Poor you.
Esther
Do you remember that first episode? Because I like to forget all about it. We were so nervous.
Melanie
Honestly, the first 10 just sucked.
Esther
That be why they can't be found on YouTube. But yeah, we have come a long way from then. And I'm going to big up ourselves because a couple of years ago, we won a prize.
Melanie
We did.
Esther
From Digital Women for Podcast Of The Year, and that was only after three years. So now that we've got all these other episodes and special guests and everybody that we've had on since then, I'm sure we could win another prize for it. No, I'm bragging. But it has been quite a journey.
Melanie
Yeah.
Esther
But marketing over the last five and a half years has changed and it hasn't at the same time. Would you agree?
Melanie
I would agree. I think over the last five and a half years, we've gone from talking about processes to having an AI do the processes for us.
Esther
Yeah, I'd say that's a major one. But some people still aren't getting on board with the AI, but that's hardly surprising when some people listening to us might not even have a website yet, or might not be on Google Business Profile, or might not have all their social media set up properly. And those are things that have been around for, well, websites longer than anything else. Social media has been around almost 20 years. Sorry, Facebook has been around 21 because Zuckerberg had a party for his little baby quite recently. So 21 years...
Melanie
Mental.
Esther
Of social media. And yet some people still don't see the value in using social for promoting their businesses. Isn't that crazy?
Melanie
I just think it's not because they don't see the value, they just consider themselves not tech-orientated. And they feel like... Because I get them in the office, they feel like they've already missed the boat, so the boat's already gone, so it's all a bit too late to pick it up.
Esther
Well, for people that think like that, it's not. There are always other boats that you can take to get. You can't compare. I remember this from a we were at recently, you can't compare your step one to someone else's step 20.
Melanie
No.
Esther
So just because, I've been on Facebook for about 20, 21 years, probably, one of the first ones I have jumped on most platforms. At first. I've even jumped on Lemonate long before TikTok bought it over, which is a recent occurrence. But I do these things to test the waters and see what's happening and see where people are going and what the audience is, because that's one of the things that I think doesn't change, is you need to know where your audience is. And we have harped, I'm sure if you look back on our 300 episodes, We've mentioned audience in probably 295 of them, if not all 300, because it is really important to know who your audience is and know where they hang out.
Melanie
I think also from the last 300 episodes, we've also come to understand how people interpret information as well and how they learn it in lots and lots of different ways. And for some people, they like to follow an influencer, others, they like to watch videos, listen to podcasts, or actually meet people in person for workshops and webinars and that stuff. And There are even conferences and events that you and I have spoken at. We've spoken at Matt Hughes's, we've spoken at Social Media Fest, we've spoken at Digital Women. We've had all these opportunities to reach out and meet our audience where they're at. And not all of it is on social media. I completely agree with that.
Esther
Yeah, but that's why building up that... We wouldn't have gotten those gigs if it hadn't been for proving our credibility through social media and being the go-to person for those things. You need to know, like and trust the people that are going to get on stage with you. You need to know, like and trust the people you're going to work with. And how do you build up that trust is by having the social proof, which we talked about recently in an episode.
Melanie
We did.
Esther
Having the credibility, being that influencer, whether you like the title or not, you could call it guru, you could call it mentor, you could call it whatever.
Melanie
Expert.
Esther
Yes. You could put in any word you want if you don't like the word influencer, because you need to have somebody else saying how good you are and not just you yourself saying it all. So how do you get that? By showing up, by having your strategy in place, by following the things that don't change, because let's face it, these quick hacks and quick tricks don't always work. We see it constantly, oh, do this and gain 3,000 followers. Might work for one person, might not work for the other 99%. So you have to have that showing up. That's why we have done this podcast every Monday morning, we have been in your ear, on your phone, and now recently on video, because we weren't the first to jump on that boat either.
Melanie
No.
Esther
It took be a long time to get over it, and it's still not. But I don't watch them back, so I'm okay. But it's one of those things that it can still work for you years later because you've seen how everybody else has done it and how everybody else has handled it and worked through the kinks and worked out what works and what doesn't. So you have to move with the times, but at the same time, stick to what always has worked.
Melanie
Yes, but you know I always do this.
Esther
Oh, yes.
Melanie
I do think some people have tried social media or other methods of reaching their audience, and they didn't like it or they didn't get it or it didn't seem appropriate at the time. But you know what? They change, they evolve, they update. And honestly, I can say with my hand on my heart, if you're watching on video here, you'll see that literally my hands on my hand's on my heart, I do think Meta is a lot better than it was now as Meta Business Suite. The way it was with Creator Studio and the way it was previously, it was an entirely different experience to what it now. I think it's more intuitive, more streamlined. There's a lot of it. It's a beast of a platform.
Esther
It is.
Melanie
I'm not going to lie. But you can't really break it unless you intentionally try to.
Esther
Don't, don't, please don't break it. Please don't even try to break it.
Melanie
All the other platforms are actually quite easy to break. But I honestly think if you haven't been back in social media for for a while, I think it's time you went back because it has changed. It's got so much easier to understand. And it's still free to actually open up all of these tools and use them.
Esther
Yes, but it's got easier to understand and easier to use, but it's got harder to be seen.
Melanie
Oh, I totally agree.
Esther
And yes, it's free to set it up, but it very much is turning into, on all platforms, it's turning into to play. Or it's turning into invest 20 hours of your time to get five dollars of reward. Because I see that all the time on TikTok, where people have joined the rewards scheme, if they're in the country that's eligible for it. And they start off with all this great momentum, and then the platform plays tricks on them and know those thousands of views that you think you had aren't all cracked up to be. So I think there's a lot of people out there that are using social media without the full knowledge of it. And that could be quite detrimental to the amount of time that you're putting into to your own mental health. You're pulling out your hair, trying to figure out the algorithms, which, let's face it, nobody's been able to figure out any algorithm. And if anybody says they have, they're lying. But what hasn't changed? I mean, we've gone from Facebook to it just being for those in certain universities to now being open to everyone, to It was just literally you would poke someone on Facebook.
Melanie
I remember that.
Esther
It was games. Do you remember Farmville? My son came across a thing going, what is Farmville? I loved Farmville. I used to love it. Time wasting. That's one thing all platforms now have in common. They will suck your time. But we now have YouTube and TikTok and all these short form video platforms that we didn't have previously. And dear knows what the future holds in the next five and a half years, if we're still going for episode 600. What will we be facing then? Because I'm still waiting for the flying cars that I was promised in Back to the Future. Let's be honest. But what hasn't changed is, like I say, you have to know your audience and where they hang out, what your USP is. And we had an episode recently about that. So go back and listen to knowing and having a clear USP. Being consistent. People ask me this all the time, what is consistency? And I think consistency can vary from person to person, from business to business. But it's just showing up at the time that you say you're going to show up.
Melanie
And it doesn't all have to be online either, does it?
Esther
No, no, it doesn't. But whether that's once a week in the form of an email, whether it's twice a week in the form of short form video. You see, I don't even want to say the words short form video. It gets so muddled up. It's so funny. But as long as you are showing up, it could be a post a day into your group that you have on Facebook or into your... Even WhatsApp now has groups that you can have. I mean, there's so many options for you to communicate with your audience. Go back to basics, first of all.
Melanie
So in my opinion, I think if we tried to implement everything that we've been trying to enact over the last 300 episodes, we'd be doing nothing else, like literally nothing else. The reason why we've mentioned all the things we have and why we've had the guests we've had over the last 300 episodes is because you, the listener or the viewer, you do things differently. You do certain channels, certain platforms. You use certain tools. Some of you have budgets, some of you don't. Some of you are a team, some of you are on your own. So I know I can speak for Esther here. We don't expect you to do absolutely everything we suggest.
Esther
We wouldn't want you to. No. Plus, it all depends on where you're listening to us from.
Melanie
Yes.
Esther
Because different platforms have different audiences in different reaches depending on geographical location. So one platform might be more popular where you are than the ones that we've maybe mentioned. So all of these things, you can't just say, oh, because Esther and Melanie told me to do X, Y, Z, you have to go and do your own research as well.
Melanie
Yes.
Esther
We'd love to be that person that all knowing and all... And what predictions we come out with for marketing.
Melanie
I'm confused. You're not all knowing.
Esther
Oh, of course I am. For my region and for my niche of a business I know everything, obviously, don't you? But if you ask me about marketing candles.
Melanie
Oh, for goodness sake.
Esther
Had to come back to that one.
Melanie
We're going to have to go back and listen to when you introduce this concept. If anybody hears from the beginning and Esther mentions Flipping Candles, could you tell us which episode that came in, please?
Esther
We could just get AI to do it, right? We could just send the AI bot into all our episodes and say, find the first mention of Candles. That would be easy. I mean, 300 episodes, so many amazing guests, so many wonderful topics that we have covered.
Melanie
Our event.
Esther
Oh, yes, we had an event as well in 2021, an online event. Reach out if you'd like access to that, and we can get you hooked up with those recordings. But what's coming in the next 300 episodes, Melanie. What do you think we'll be talking about more and what ways will marketing change and how will small businesses adapt and move with the times for the next 300 episodes?
Melanie
Well, AI is definitely going to get a mention but to be honest with you, I'm a little concerned. We might get a bit bored of AI because it's practically every topic. But I also do think that there's going to be more of a collaboration between the human and the AI because of the ethical side of things. I see it coming up, maybe it's because it's my feed, my algorithm, but I see there's more an ethical AI topic coming up in my feed on Google, on Meta, and so on and so forth. So between all the events that I'm seeing online and in-person events, I think between AI and YouTube or visual, but I think YouTube is still way up there. I think those are going to be the two big ones over the next five years. What about you?
Esther
I think definitely the human, obviously AI, but definitely involving a human aspect because people want and crave that personal interaction. So whether that's through communities, whether that's through going to events in person, because obviously when we started this podcast five years ago, we then went through a major shift. Everything going online, which nobody saw coming. And I think that preempted the whole speed up of AI and stuff. But now people are wanting to go back to in-person events and having that personal connection to people. I think that's going to be very, very important to have that community. And as you say, the collaboration, because then you can get to meet other people in the same or similar fields to yourself or completely different ones. But you could offer a package and work together in that. I think that's going to be very important because, yes, people will like to use AI to speed up their processes, but they also want to have that human interaction behind it and that human voice. So I think in terms of the voice, more short form video, more.
Melanie
I also think that because of things going on in the world, we've been dealing with more... I mean, the term came out a few years back, fake news. And now we know we're being manipulated by online media in so many formats. Yeah. And there's a distrust of online media now. There is. I think that's why more people want to go to in-person things now, because you can connect. I mean, all the deep fakes we're seeing, all the manipulations we're seeing, the voice acting. It's a scary time.
Esther
It is. Which is why I think showing up in person can help alleviate those fake news and the fake audios and the fake videos and stuff. It'll be interesting. We're not guaranteeing anything here that we're going to be around for the next 300 episodes. Okay, we're just happy doing it.
Melanie
We'd like to be.
Esther
We'll be old by then. I mean, older, we're already old. You know that also from listening to our episodes, we do mention how old we are. Back to the future. But we want to hear from you guys, what has been your favourite lesson from the last 300 episodes? Please ignore the first 10. Reach out to us on social media. We are everywhere that you can find us on.
Melanie
There is one question I have, actually.
Esther
Yeah.
Melanie
We spend a lot of our time helping people I hope, future proof their own marketing. So I would love for you, the listener or the viewer, to tell us how you feel you're going to be future proofing your business and what areas you're going to be doubling down and learning about, because maybe it's a space we need to learn about as well.
Esther
Yeah, and we are always open to suggestions of topics and suggestions of potential speakers and guests that we can have on the show. We've had, like I said, some wonderful ones in the past, and some have repeated because they've been so wonderful. Don't forget that I will be giving away a T-shirt If you can tell us how many hours and minutes, and maybe even go down to the seconds, we have done this podcast for.
Melanie
You're getting quieter and quieter.
Esther
How am I getting quieter and quieter? That's not possible. That's a you issue. So do get in touch with us. We are on X. We are on Instagram, we are on Facebook, we are on YouTube, we are on Spotify, we are on Apple Music, and we are everywhere that you can listen to podcasts. Do get in touch. You can find us on our website. You can buy merch yourself if you don't win the prize through our Etsy store. There are so many places that we just pop up, and we will be at an event in November if you want to come and say hello down in Wexford in Ireland.
Melanie
Brilliant. Well, thank you again for your support, for your downloads, for your shares, for following us on LinkedIn. It seems to have grown enormously over the last couple of months. And obviously all of our Spotify followers as well. You've been a tremendous support. We just want to push you for another 300 episodes. It's fine. And as Esther said, you can get our stock some of our branded stock from Etsy. We'd love for you to promote and be our advocates and ambassadors as well. Wherever you are in the world, we'll ship globally. And one last thing, if you have listened to today's episode, could you please share on social media your #MMMpodcast300, so that we know you've listened, and tell us where you are in the world and what you were doing as you were listening.
Esther
That's a lot of instructions for people to follow. Thank you for listening. We'll be back next week with another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. Until then. Bye-bye.
Melanie
Hey, I like keeping people on their toes. Wouldn't it be funny if people told us on the toilet, driving my car? No, don't say that.
Esther
Yeah, driving the car while listening is fine.
Melanie
Well, that's true. Maybe walking the dog.
Esther
Yeah. I know lots of people do that.
Melanie
Preparing patterns.
Esther
Doing the housework.
Melanie
Housework, yeah. What else could they be doing? Browsing the shops. Having a cup or a Costa.
Esther
The other chains are available.
Melanie
It Costa is everywhere though.
Esther
Not in America?
Melanie
Is it not?
Esther
I don't think so. Starbucks. Oh, they're persona non grata at the minute. Wherever you get your coffee from.
Melanie
Yeah.
