Ep. 61 The Stern Truth: From Click to Close: Why Marketing Alone Doesn’t Convert with Meghan Simington

 As a Fractional CMO, Meghan helps clients make their marketing roadmaps on a part-time basis. She connects the dots between their CRMs, qualified leads, social media, and email marketing. From click to close, Meghan is there.

She started out as an entrepreneur in her 20s. She bought a franchise, sold it all across Canada, and learned about business along the way. She’s also had retail stores, has put on conferences, and has worked with consumer-packaged goods. As busy as she was, she eventually found her niche with real estate.

One of the biggest challenges Meghan has faced is asking for the budget. Even with the Golden Triangle of project management in mind, the quality might not be there and articulating that to clients can be tough. Meghan says that learning from the gaps and improving for the future is key.

I bring Meghan up to speed with my story from Episode 2, “Why Marketing Can Fail You.” Long story short, big marketing budget but no customer service. As Meghan puts it, you can lose people in 3 or 4 days, and in that time, you’ve lost their trust.

Meghan left us with two great golden nuggets. One, building community is the new flex. And two, niche down to talk to exactly who you want to talk to. Mine for this episode? Let pregnant raccoons lie.  

That personal touch, within a few days, makes all the difference. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your marketing budget.

Get connected with Meghan here:

Website: https://meghansimington.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-simington/

Listen to The Stern Truth Episode 2, “Why Marketing Can Fail You”: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2453923/episodes/16770813

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I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

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Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: So I love talking about marketing. I'm not a marketing strategist, digital marketer or anything like that. But here's the thing. So many of my clients and people I speak with and meet through Facebook groups and LinkedIn and networking events are all trying to get clicks to their website, to their Instagram page, their Facebook page, all this kind of stuff.

[00:00:25] But there's more. To it. And that's why we actually bring on some amazing marketing strategists to talk about what really is going on and where the real opportunity is. And today we sit down with one of those people. I'm going to introduce you to her in just a moment because I think you're really going to enjoy this episode.

[00:00:46] So as always, get a pad of paper and pen and be ready for some golden nuggets from Meghan. She delivers, she hits it out of the ballpark, raccoon and all, if you know what I mean. Enjoy.

[00:01:04] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows. 

[00:01:23] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that. Every week I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:46] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:01:51] Marshall Stern: All right everyone. Welcome back to another episode of The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And we are here today not to talk about pregnant raccoons, but (inside joke), well, but to meet this amazing guest I have. Meghan, how are you? 

[00:02:05] Meghan Simington: I appreciate you having me on your call and starting off with that intro. It definitely leads to some great segue. I'm doing great. 

[00:02:13] Marshall Stern: Excellent. You're doing probably better than the pregnant raccoon in my backyard right now. 

[00:02:18] Meghan Simington: I love how we've connected the dots to know it's a great story. I mean, as a marketer, I can't help but put a story to it. 

[00:02:24] Marshall Stern: So speaking of, and I wasn't even going to go there with the pregnant raccoon.

[00:02:28] But the marketing, speaking of you, before we get into your journey and, and all that good stuff, and I know you have a lot of good golden nuggets, we like to call them to share. What, what do you do? Who are you, what do you do? Where are you? 

[00:02:41] Meghan Simington: My name's Meghan Simonton, so I work as an advisory-first fractional CMO.

[00:02:46] I work with clients to help them put together a marketing roadmap. And I think when we first talked, I talked about finding the holes in the plumbing. So I like to look at the connections between their CRM, bringing qualified leads from social media and their email marketing. and just making sure those marketing bits and bobs that are connecting, that the messaging for them is right on brand.

[00:03:08] And it's looking to bring them from click to close. A lot of people are bringing in a lot of leads or followers, but they're not necessarily building those long-term relationships. 

[00:03:17] Marshall Stern: From click to close. Interesting. You have so many golden nuggets, so many one lines that we've already talked about.

[00:03:23] What is a CMO? 

[00:03:26] Meghan Simington: So, fractional, it's, you know, I work with –  like a chief marketing officer, but I'm only there on a partial basis. I'm finding right now with a lot of companies, they have the need, they need a marketing director. They need somebody in that chief marketing position, but they don't necessarily have the budget.

[00:03:43] And a lot of people are relying on AI or they have, you know, the marketing intern or someone like that, or they're building their marketing team and they really need that leadership piece. So something that I bring in is my background in project management. My background working with marketing agencies, but also working in-house, and just helping them clean it up, clean up their, their funnels, and looking at their branding and helping them connect those dots. 

[00:04:08] Marshall Stern: So you don't rescue pregnant raccoons.

[00:04:10] Meghan Simington: Well, as you were telling me about it, I was debating, I'm like, does he have any meat in his fridge? 

[00:04:16] Marshall Stern: Oh, yeah. I never thought about that. Oh, good idea. Okay. It's interesting because I hear, I hear all about fractional CFOs. 

[00:04:27] Meghan Simington: Yep. 

[00:04:28] Marshall Stern: I've heard of fractional CMOs and there's fractional, there's fractional that, so how does – have you like, I guess, maybe just a little bit about your journey and how you became this fractional CMO, this advisor. 

[00:04:40] Meghan Simington: Yeah. I mean, taking you way back in the way back machine. I started out as an entrepreneur in my twenties, so I actually bought a franchise in my early, early twenties. And we took it right across Canada. So we went to Costco, the Bays, Zellers, which don't exist anymore. I'm, I'm definitely aging myself, but we sold tiny aquariums right across the city or across the country.

[00:05:04] And from there I learned a lot. I learned that I didn't want to sell into some of those big boxes, a small business. So, definitely learned, and we were quite successful with some of our relationships. And then with some of them, we learned a lot from that. And then I opened a couple retail stores.

[00:05:20] Also learned a lot there. I remember reading “The Four Hour Work Week” and thinking, oh, this is going to be great. And then all of a sudden you have a chain of stores. So there's a lot that I kind of learned through that process. And also putting on conferences for women entrepreneurs in my early thirties.

[00:05:37] Absolutely fantastic experience and just being exposed to really high caliber women entrepreneurs, and working with marketing agencies. And working in-house with developers. I've kind of just followed the path, you know, where my heart kind of sings the clients I like working with. I started out working with CPG, which is consumer packaged goods, so that would be food.

[00:06:00] And that type of thing. And then they found my sweet spot, which is real estate and looking at multi-family developments. I just love the idea of building communities and wrapping homes around that story. And, you know, looking at all the layers that were in that, As I kind of went through that, I still have some bread and butter clients that are real estate.

[00:06:20] I'm definitely very lucky that way where I've worked with developers as well as real estate brokers. But I've, kind of, you know, sharpened my chops as they say, working with some founders. So looking with some launches. I did an iOS launch, with a, a professional athlete over the last year. I'm working with a medical aesthetics clinic to help them launch and build their franchise out.

[00:06:44] But the roadmap kind of all falls the same. I'm sure you can relate to that. 

[00:06:47] Marshall Stern: iOS launch? 

[00:06:49] Meghan Simington: So it's a, it's an app. So for, for the Apple. 

[00:06:52] Marshall Stern: Oh, it is for the Apple. Okay. Okay. I thought, I thought it was some fancy terms. I should know that's not, not Apple related. So I'm like, what is, should I ask her?

[00:07:00] Meghan Simington: Please ask. 

[00:07:02] Marshall Stern: There's all these like terms now it's like everyone's supposed to know them all, right? 

[00:07:05] Meghan Simington: I feel like we're dying in algorithms. 

[00:07:08] Marshall Stern: Oh, I remember being at a, I used to be part of – okay, time for me to cue the harp. I was part of the AMA, the American Marketing Association, back in the nineties, and I remember going to their annual conference, I think it was at the Hyatt Vancouver.

[00:07:22] And the big focus was blogging. And I had a sign company back then, so I had no idea what the hell blogging was. I was in a room filled with people like you, like these marketing strategists and I guess CMOs before CMOs was a thing, or fractional CMOs and they all knew what blogging was. They were all there to, to learn and become bloggers and become better bloggers.

[00:07:45] And they had speakers about blogging and I had no idea what it was about until like that day. It's like, this is a thing because this was like, I don’t know, mid nineties or something, and blogging when it starts to take off. But I was in my little cocoon of my small business, which, right? Didn't know what blogging was.

[00:08:03] Meghan Simington: And it's funny, I was just at, it was a content day shoot, so it was a bunch of entrepreneurs to get together and do a content shoot, which is an ex interesting experience. I definitely learned a lot from what that looks like when you get a bunch of the, these types of entrepreneurs together. But there was a woman there and she's quite successful on Instagram, and I was a mommy blogger back in the day when I had my son, 15 years ago.

[00:08:26] I remember my partner looked at me and said, what are you talking about? You're going to write blogs about being a mom and people are going to want to read this? I was like, yep. There's people out there that are reading it. And we got to test products. But I mean, it was very much that, and I think we've. We were chatting before as well, just about the transition now, where we've gotten from the written word to video and we've gone to instant, instant connections that are on like Instagram and Facebook and TikTok.

[00:08:54] Marshall Stern: Right. Okay. So you're not a coach, you're an advisor, you're – 

[00:08:59] Meghan Simington: No, yeah. And we've, yeah, I – you know what I really try and separate myself from that, and I'm sure you can speak to that as well, is, you know, coaching comes with its own certification and really, what I bring is an advisory role. And so just looking at, I'm, I'm short up against, I'm with you.

[00:09:15] I'm, I'm here to walk the journey with you as someone who has experience as an entrepreneur, having multiple businesses. 

[00:09:21] Marshall Stern: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:21] Meghan Simington: And also going through multiple lunches with large corporations. So really just saying, nah, I think we should kind of go in this direction or, you know, I, I hear that with the budget, but maybe there's a better way we could spend that money and, and really protect your brand.

[00:09:36] Marshall Stern: I love that. Yeah. I mean, there's some coaches, obviously, marketing coaches, business coaches, executive coaches, leadership coaches, health coaches, whatever. Coaches. Coaches, coaches. Actually, I always say there's more coaches, coaching coaches than coaches, coaches, coaching coach coaches, coaching companies.

[00:09:51] So a tongue twister. But there are a lot of, like, coaches out there that are really coaches. Like that's all they do. They just ask the difficult, which is powerful. Ask the difficult questions. They see something in their client and, and, and, but then at times there's the need for the advisory side and the mentorship side.

[00:10:12] So I like to do both with the different hats on at different times. And based on my experience, right, being in business for 500 years, so… a little less than that – by the way, I think, for everyone listening because this is, I should be blogging about this too. I think the pregnant raccoon, I'm hoping, I think, has escaped well.

[00:10:34] I saw something unless it was a big squirrel. I saw something with a big, fluffy tail walk by here, walk by my office, not by, in my office. I would be screaming, my office window. So I'm hoping it's the – I'll check out. I'll check it out after. 

[00:10:46] Meghan Simington: You get to save the bacon from your, your fridge now for yourself, and not for the raccoon. 

[00:10:52] Marshall Stern: And people are like watching this, like the millions of people watching this. They're saying, what are you talking about? Pregnant raccoons? You're going to have to wait till the next episode. 

[00:10:59] Meghan Simington: It's going to be like a Mark Rober episode. 

[00:11:01] Marshall Stern: We're here talking about pregnant raccoons. Okay, so you work with all sorts of companies? Size of companies? 

[00:11:09] Meghan Simington: Yeah. all sorts, all sorts of sizes of companies. You know, really my sweet spot is coming from my experience with franchising. So I've worked with large organizations, kind of bringing that in and doing the B2B side, working with them, with building out their distributor program.

[00:11:24] And that's something I just enjoy doing. Like, how do we package and make it easier? I hear a lot of, oh, I'm going to use, you know, AI to package all of this up, but there's, there's something about looking at a brand and looking at that consistency and looking at all the layers that I really enjoy. So if it's a franchise, if it's distributors, or if it's a business looking to leverage into different markets, and making sure all the pieces are connected, I think it's important that oversight.

[00:11:52] Marshall Stern: Okay. No, I, I really like that. Okay. Lemme ask you a couple questions here. 

[00:11:56] Meghan Simington: I'm ready. 

[00:11:57] Marshall Stern: This is the, okay, here we go. What would you say? Actually, two questions. One's about you and one's a general question for, about everyone else. What has been some of the biggest challenges, question number one, some of the biggest challenges that you faced in your entrepreneurial journey?

[00:12:16] Meghan Simington: I would say, you know, early on, it’s just having that humility to ask for getting the right people for the right budget. You know, sometimes in the beginning I was going, oh, I don't want to ask them if they want to spend that much on, you know, someone to do their, their branding for them or someone to do the website.

[00:12:35] But the one, you know, with the Golden Triangle, the trifecta of project management, you know, if you spend less money, the quality is not necessarily, you know, there's all different layers to it. So I think it's really important when you're looking at the final execution is bringing in the right people and then qualifying that to the client and saying, you know, if we went with the bronze option, this is going to be the outcome.

[00:12:57] If we go with the silver option, this is what the outcome's going to be, and that's what they're paying for with working with me as an advisor and just saying, this is from my experience, we can definitely go cheap on this, but this might be what's going to go wrong. 

[00:13:10] Marshall Stern: So how, where's the challenge, where's the challenge been within that?

[00:13:15] Meghan Simington: The challenge is just been learning how to really articulate that with the numbers and really digging into the analytics of it. And I think when we first talked, I talked about the plumbing. So, you know, looking at a lead funnel as an example, say someone doesn't want to spend a lot on a website and I've seen, you know, websites.

[00:13:32] 20, 30, $40,000 beautiful websites. and then you get to the checkout. As an example, I had a client that I was working with and we got to the checkout and it was asking them to go and measure, this specific, like a window to, to do, an installation. But that process took a while. So what we, we kind of looked at was saying.

[00:13:54] There's a problem in the conversion. And I think that's a great example of, you know, where is the problem in the conversion? You know, even when you're doing these, social media posts and people are saying, I'm not getting value from this campaign, but. The question is, is where did you kind of ask for the next step, and then where are you sending them to?

[00:14:14] Where's the trap that you've set to kind of bring them in? I met with a gentleman yesterday and we were talking about our old days of working in the newspaper, which definitely makes me feel very dated. But just the connection even with, print. And so people would say don't do direct mail, but you can do direct mail if it's well done, if it's great paper.

[00:14:34] Bringing them to a great landing page, and it's telling them a story when they get there, or it's inviting them to an event, or if you're picking up a magazine and there's a different type of experience you have with that touch and feel of that type of marketing. So I think just learning over the years, how do I, how do I prove this in numbers?

[00:14:52] And then how do I follow up, you know, if, if there are gaps, what can we learn from it and how can we improve and streamline for future campaigns? 

[00:15:02] Marshall Stern: So, okay, off script here. Question for you, not that this is scripted, because this is Business Unfiltered. So if we go back to episode two, “Why Marketing Can Fail You”

[00:15:11] I don't know if you've had a listen to that one. I talk about the story about, again, going back, queuing the harp to, like, I don’t know, it was like my daughter told me maybe 2006, 2007. And we, I used to live in a split level and we had creaky floors. And so I was looking for someone to fix it because my daughter was light sleeper and every time we would walk upstairs at a split level, like she would wake up so we couldn't like live because anyways, the way the house was like, we were always up going upstairs and she would always wake up.

[00:15:41] So I was driving home one day, you know, being in the sign company. I noticed cool graphics on vehicle wraps. And I drove by this truck, and I talked about this in episode two, and I took, saw this pickup truck. It was like a Ford F-150 with a beautiful, like a big trailer, all fully wrapped. I think I said the company name in episode two.

[00:16:00] I won't say it again, but it was a reno company. It was like, okay, reno's in the day or something like that. It was like, okay, that's what I want. And it was like they spent easily 5, 6, 7, probably even $8,000 on this wrap. I went to the, I think I called no auto, like there's just a machine or, or whatever.

[00:16:17] I left a message, never heard back. Next day, I went to the website, went to the contact us or whatever, reach out, left a message or typed a message. Never heard back. A week later, because I was desperate and it said renos in a day or something. I actually found the phone number and, and not a phone number, I found the actual email, not just to contact us form.

[00:16:38] And I actually sent an email, not – no automation, zero nothing, never ever heard back from them. And so they spent all this money on marketing, like the graphics, which really isn't market. It's part of marketing, sorry, part of marketing all this money on the graphics, but the systems were broken. There's nothing on the other side.

[00:16:54] So if you saw something like that… 

[00:16:56] Meghan Simington: You know, that's. Pretty much where I start, when people connect with me, they come to my website, they, they book a call, I send out a discovery questionnaire right out of the gate. And then I provide them with a digital audit. So I actually go back and I reverse and I dig into everything on your end.

[00:17:14] And, you know, it's like, I'll, I'll try and book an appointment with you? Do I get something back? Am I able to communicate with you if I need to change it? Have you told me about what to expect for those calls as well? And I try and present myself in the same way that I would like to provide that same resource for my clients.

[00:17:31] But a lot of times it's communication. I have a, a company that I was, looking to, to be working with because I do some grants for some of my clients. and I reached out to this grant client, a grant, grant writer. I, I think I'm about five communications deep. I've called them twice. I've written to them, I've gone onto their website.

[00:17:53] I even signed up to be an affiliate and I have not heard back yet, and I keep on getting these auto responses. It says, how's your affiliate program going? And I'm going, oh my God. It would be going great if we could chat, because I would love to, you know, work with them. But I think it's a, it's a big piece, you know, when I'm looking at some of the medical aesthetics, definitely with real estate, my experience with real estate is when you're going on to one of those presale programs and you're looking at a presale project and you're signing up.

[00:18:23] You want to hear right away, you want that auto autoresponder right away. Something that was really successful for, for myself with the real estate programs is OMS. So you filled out the form, it sent you an email. It's also sending you that ai response by text message. So you think that you're talking to somebody, but then it's building up that CRM.

[00:18:42] So when the sales person does come in the next day, they've had a whole conversation with you, Marshall. They, they know everything. You want a three bedroom, they know that you have a dog. They know that. You want to, you know, you have kids in high school and you need to know all of this different for information, but I think that's the big gap is that people have put up, say a truck or a QR code, and then they sit back and they let people sit for three or four days.

[00:19:04] In that three or four days, you've lost them. 

[00:19:06] Marshall Stern: Yep. Yeah. 

[00:19:07] Meghan Simington: You've lost trust, you've lost relationship. You've lost rapport. 

[00:19:11] Marshall Stern: So I'm curious. So the, the renovation example I gave the story, I have several of them, but that's probably the, the, the most, like it blew my mind, right. And I was, yeah. I was like, my credit card was ready and it wasn't a, I don't even think I said what kind of job it was.

[00:19:27] It wasn't a big job to them. But it was to us, I wasn't shopping because they had me. The, the messaging was bang on, like renovations in a day. Like the last thing you want is someone, when you have two little kids and someone coming in, spending five days basically screwing down your floorboards.

[00:19:45] Right? You want them to come in and just done. Right? 

[00:19:47] Meghan Simington: Done. Especially this time of year. You want it in and out. 

[00:19:51] Marshall Stern: Exactly. Because you have a pregnant raccoon in the backyard. So – going to title this one the pregnant raccoon in the yard, pregnant raccoon in the room, you know, the elephant in the room. Anyways. Where was I going?

[00:20:03] At what, like, would you go into a company like that and work like it? It, it's the systems. So the marketing aspect of it, even the website was beautiful. Maybe there was on the back end of the website, maybe something was broken, I don't know, but something was broken somewhere. I think it was the people, not the system like them itself.

[00:20:23] What, like – would you work with companies like that? Is that something where you would go with it? Is it more on campaigns? 

[00:20:29] Meghan Simington: I think that's, you know, usually where it's happening is, you know, somewhere in their funnel it's broken. And so you've talked about in episode two, and you've talked about it many times, so if you think about that, how many people listen to you on these podcasts and how many clients have you told that story to?

[00:20:48] So that one bad experience is now their story. Whether you've referenced their brand or you've not referenced their brand, it stuck with you enough to share that. you know, working with some of these medical aesthetics, that's usually what in real estate, it's the same thing. It's so much trust.

[00:21:06] If you're going to put a laser on my face or you're going to sell me a home, I have to trust you because I'm trusting you with me, with my family. you know, people come to events. They say they come to a, a grand opening for a presentation center, or they're coming into a clinic, or they've come to an event for a clinic and no one calls them the next day to say hi.

[00:21:24] Hey, how was your experience? Did you want to talk further about anything we chatted about? So just having that touch point, that additional touch point, which is an actual human being, it's, it's a difference between closing a deal and not closing a deal. And I would say that their closing rate, it goes up, you know, 60, 70% just by making that call the next day.

[00:21:45] I was just thinking about you. I was just talking to Sally about, you know, whatever I had as an experience at your event. But if you don't call them and you send them an email, a week later, you've lost them. They don't feel special. They don't feel respected. You've wasted their time. 

[00:21:59] Marshall Stern: And there's like, there's so many millions and billions of dollars lost in revenue, lost in sales for companies because they don't, they're not valuing, like they're valuing, I'm going to put say it.

[00:22:10] I think they're value putting too much value on the marketing and the messaging and not enough on, it's like getting people to the front door. Just get them to the front door. But then store's locked or the staff, you know, are, are, are mean or I, or not trained properly. 

[00:22:26] Meghan Simington: Yep. 

[00:22:27] Marshall Stern: Right. You spend, so, and, and it's like so many – so many people spend so much money on fancy websites and, well, there's different ways, right?

[00:22:34] They spend so much money on a fancy website, but they're not directing traffic there. Or they spend so much money on advertising and directing traffic to a website that's completely broken. Or in this case of the truck, the, the rental company, they spend so much money on that, on the marketing. And the website, which is all part of marketing, I guess.

[00:22:53] But no one's on the other end waiting. Like nobody cares. They're so busy because they're so busy back, especially back in the late nineties, into the two thousand, up until recently, the trades were so busy, right? That they just couldn't take on any more work so they didn't have time to respond to, to people.

[00:23:10] And then eventually what happens, it does slow down even in the trades business. 

[00:23:15] Meghan Simington: I think, you know, it's a bit of a misnomer where the people are saying that marketing and the sales part are separate, or your follow up is separate. I think it's all part of that same ecosystem. because it's all about the relationship.

[00:23:28] And when, you know, back to my newspaper days, we used to say, you know, church and state shall not cross being advertising and the editorial floor they shall never cross, which now they cross all the time when with advertorial and everything that's going on with the internet. But I think the same thing.

[00:23:42] There's this old hat of thinking that marketing and sales are separate and they really have to work together. You know, it's taking that messaging that's in the marketing. So when Sam, who's on the floor, who's picking up the phone and saying, how was your experience when you just came into the clinic recently?

[00:23:57] Or how was your experience at this event or this open house that you came to? That they're connecting with the same, talking points that they have from their marketing. So it just feels seamless. And it feels like they've really been pulled through the whole, the whole relationship. 

[00:24:15] Marshall Stern: People do it.

[00:24:16] Like for our listeners, I'm, I'm talking to you like our listener because you're probably done it too, and I've done it myself and, Meghan, I'm sure you've done as well. You go to an you, you go to a networking event and you meet these amazing people and you don't do anything with it. You are just there. You feel, okay, I'm there.

[00:24:32] I've shown up. I've done my thing. I'm out of my comfort zone. I'm at this event because I have to be, or I should be, like, I should be. I should. I should, I should. But you don't do anything with it. So again, you put yourself out there, you've spent the time, you've invested in whatever it is, the event, the time and energy, and put yourself together and you meet these people and there's no follow up.

[00:24:52] Meghan Simington: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's, you know, really important, especially when you've, you've taken your time or you've shaken someone's hand or you've been in front of them or they've shared something with you that you're reaching out on LinkedIn right away. It was, George Moen was just at an event that I was at, was the Latin Expo, which is actually a surprisingly wonderful event.

[00:25:11] It was a business expo for entrepreneurs, but he was talking about when you're sitting in, a workshop that's at a conference. Go onto your LinkedIn right now and add that person and reach out to them and introduce yourself, because you never know what's come back. And it's funny because I listened to him at a conference, I don't even know, 10 years ago, and I connected with him and he responded and you know, it's, you kind of think.

[00:25:38] These people have these, you know, hugely successful businesses. I just put up a post recently on LinkedIn and it was, I haven't been on LinkedIn for quite a while and I'm like, I really need to get back all on there. And just a thank you to women entrepreneurs. You know, the inspirations along the road.

[00:25:53] So women who either spoke at my events, or I've attended workshops with them and it's amazing. It got reposted by most of the women that I had retagged, which blew my mind, including a, an author that I followed for a long time. 

[00:26:05] Marshall Stern: Hmm. 

[00:26:06] Meghan Simington: But it's those relationships and people like to feel, you know, that they've been seen, they've been heard.

[00:26:12] You've had a connection with them, you've had an impact on them. 

[00:26:15] Marshall Stern: Yeah. And, and so I, I just was in a coaching session this morning and, one of my clients said, yeah, what you said in your post the other day really resonated with me. And, it just, it hit me hard and I could do something about it. And I went, really?

[00:26:28] He said, you could have liked it, or commented or something like, and he says, oh no, I guess I should have for you. I said, it's not just for me. I want to know that people see it, but it's also, the more people can share and like, and comment, the more other people will see it. because the whole algorithm thing, right?

[00:26:44] Meghan Simington: Of course. 

[00:26:44] Marshall Stern: Instead of just sort of just being a voyeur and just looking at all life from afar, like, just engage with people and, and tag people and share. Okay. So you –  

[00:26:54] Meghan Simington: I, great encouragement to every entrepreneur that's out there, if you want to receive it, you know, asking and you shall receive, but also giving that back to other entrepreneurs and other business owners.

[00:27:04] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:27:05] Meghan Simington: If you love a product, say you love it. 

[00:27:07] Marshall Stern: Yeah, no, for sure. Okay, so you've, there's lots of experience in business, different businesses. The big thing with this podcast is about the Stern Truths, and we like to give golden nuggets, sort of big insights, takeaways. What would you say? one or two could be one.

[00:27:26] If you want, I'll put you on the spot. Maybe two. because you've done so much golden nuggets you can give to our listeners on blank. 

[00:27:34] Meghan Simington: You know, something that's really carried me through my career is just, just building community and I, I heard someone had, you know, sidebar quoted it to me and they said, you know, building communities is the new flex.

[00:27:48] It's the new influencer, and I think it's so important you were just talking about that, but it's, it's about being a part of a mastermind or it's attending networking groups and being something that's regular. I know you do your masterminds, but the community that's built from that and the support that people have.

[00:28:05] You know, it's like I have a hiking group and there's a group of us that do crazy hikes for four hours, but I love when I can ping those people in my community and they can kind of pump my tires and get me out the door. And I think it's really important that you're sharing it. And that you're putting it out there.

[00:28:20] And being brave. I, I love what you're doing with your podcast. Not everybody needs to do a podcast, but maybe share a story, maybe share pictures. I'm always blown away exactly what you were just saying. I, I do masters swimming and I'm bravely stepping into it. I've set a challenge for myself to compete this summer because my kids have competed for five years.

[00:28:41] But I was posting and I felt really embarrassed that I was posting pictures of me being at the pool. And I have heard nothing but positive things of people saying that it's motivating them and pushing them to want to get back into the pool. So you never know who you're impacting with the smallest things.

[00:28:58] So I think people just being brave. Put yourself out there. There's how many billions of people on the planet, so some people don't like what you're doing. Keep moving. 

[00:29:06] Marshall Stern: I love that. I love that. I have a friend of mine who, she runs marathons now, and she was along her journey of doing it. It was the first quarter marathon I guess, then a half and or she was just going out for a jog and she's, like, 56 and she just started at like age 52 or something.

[00:29:20] And it's, like, amazing. And people love it and they're inspired. First of all, it doesn't inspire me to run because my family, we're not runners, but I do go to the pool. I do go to the gym, but it inspires a healthier lifestyle. because if someone can do it, not that. 52 or 53 is old, but if someone can start at that age, why not?

[00:29:39] Meghan Simington: Yeah. I had watched – there was a, one of the moms I sat with for six years now on the side of the pool cheering on my kids that do competitive swim. She got out of her lawn chair last year. She competed, she went all the way on to provincials, and they had her name in the lane on YouTube. And as soon as I saw that with her last name, name – 

[00:29:56] Marshall Stern: Oh my God, really?

[00:29:57] Meghan Simington: I'm like, I want that. So that's my goal is one day to have. Simington in the swim lane. 

[00:30:04] Marshall Stern: That's very, very cool. So, okay, so building community, that's one golden nugget. I love that. And you know what? It feels good. Like I'm selfish. Let's face, I'm selfish. I'm selfish by giving. Right. I love it when people connect with each other.

[00:30:21] I love it when I'm in a group. I run a group and people get something out of, not from me. Just, or not just from me, but from the, the other members. Or I can introduce someone to someone or someone messages me after one of my networking events. They say, oh, can I, can you introduce me to that to a Meghan person?

[00:30:38] Because I really want to, that's, I love that. I feel good, right? So yeah, I'm selfish that way. Because it makes me, it makes me feel good to just give to people and, and have them connect and them and inspire them to do whatever it is. Just like this web, the website – I'm going back to the renovation company.

[00:30:56] Just like this podcast. 

[00:31:00] Meghan Simington: Yeah. 

[00:31:00] Marshall Stern: I just, I hope so. So having, saying that, one more before we go. One more golden nugget, marketing related for a company. Our listener. It's noisy out there. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook networking websites. AI, oh my gosh. Print now. Print, direct mail, whatever. What would you say?

[00:31:21] They're sort of overwhelmed with all the noise. Not sure. This is a big question I know, but not sure what to do or who to trust. 

[00:31:28] Meghan Simington: You know, I run a women's networking group of women's breakfast that happens once a month for women to get together. And a lot of people ask that question, you know, what should I do for my marketing strategy?

[00:31:37] And I always say, niche down. Figure out exactly who you want to talk to. Don't waste your time on the noise and don't trust wholeheartedly ChatGPT and think it's going to get you across the finish line. But look at who that target market is and is there a collaboration that would be really easy, where their target market's dialed in with you and you're dialed in on your target market and you can work together.

[00:31:59] Because that's just a really easy way to get yourself out there, you know, and I've done that with restaurants and real estate. You know, I did a, a great campaign. We were down on Commercial Drive and we did an open house and we were talking about passive homes and we did the Tesla of town homes, but then we had all the food that was featured for Commercial Drive.

[00:32:19] So people came in and they had this whole Commercial Drive experience and they could really feel like they were going to live and breathe what the, what was going to be their feature experience of living down in this pre-sale. But I think building those relationships and being open to collaboration saying, I'm not competing with them.

[00:32:36] I want to work with them and I want to be a part of this. Going back to that community piece, I'm a bit of a diehard guerilla marketer when it comes to that, but I think it's really important that you dig into where you, where your heart sings, the clients that you want to work with, and you know, finding people that share that same target market with you and working together.

[00:32:54] Because there's enough for everybody to eat, as they say. 

[00:32:57] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And it, it just comes back to just connection community while being strategic. 

[00:33:05] Meghan Simington: Yeah. And I think being picky too, you know, I've worked on some influencer campaigns that people say, oh, you know, you’re going to spend, it’s, $40,000 for this influencer to come and work on the campaign.

[00:33:15] And then you dig into the background, which I would also recommend anyone you're working with really do your research. Because there's, you never know what's hiding back there that could come up and damage a brand or, you know, maybe it's their ethics that you don't necessarily align with. But I think it's really important that you, you do find people that you can work with that share those values.

[00:33:35] Marshall Stern: Perfect. Perfect. Well this, this has been very insightful. This has been amazing. Any last parting thoughts? 

[00:33:42] Meghan Simington: No, I'm just, I'm loving following along. You popped up on my Instagram and you know, that kind of leads back to that cold call. Like, you just never know. You watch something, you've reached out and whether it's been off Instagram lately or LinkedIn, I just think there's absolutely amazing connections that are out there and just.

[00:34:01] Be brave and reach out. You never know what's going to come, but thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it. 

[00:34:06] Marshall Stern: No, thank you. And we might have to have you back one of these days. One maybe in the spring when there's no raccoon in my backyard. 

[00:34:12] Meghan Simington: Okay. 

[00:34:12] Marshall Stern: I got to go now. I got to go attend to that and make sure that she is gone.

[00:34:16] Meghan Simington: Yes, it hasn't ripped up your covers. 

[00:34:18] Marshall Stern: So, so if you guys don't see me next week on the pod, on the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered, you’ll know why. Maybe there won't be a YouTube version. It'll just be the audio. Okay. Wish me luck. Thank you, Meghan, for, for joining us. And thank all of you for listening. And remember, do your thing, subscribe, like, share, share this episode because there's some amazing insights and golden nuggets.

[00:34:40] Meghan Simington:  Comment. 

[00:34:41] Marshall Stern: And comment.

[00:34:42] Meghan Simington: Yes, people don't leave enough comments in the world. We need more comments! 

[00:34:45] Marshall Stern: And I say – 

[00:34:46] Meghan Simington: I always love a good comment section, anyways. 

[00:34:48] Marshall Stern: Comments are good. Comments are great, and if you're on YouTube watching this, please don't comment that you can help me get this pod, this podcast, my YouTube channel, up higher, because I'm not working with you. 

[00:34:59] Meghan Simington: Hahaha, your SEO.

[00:34:59] Marshall Stern: Like, seriously. That happened about one of my first episodes. I was stalked within five minutes. I think I talked about it in one episode. Like every way she just contacted me. She actually even tried phoning me and she was from overseas. They requested to, what's that? Who saw? 

[00:35:13] Meghan Simington: Thank you. Who saw? I'm good.

[00:35:15] Marshall Stern: No, seriously, she, she phoned me. She, sorry, she commented on the YouTube. She messaged me on Facebook. She connected, tried to request connection on Facebook, LinkedIn, I think Instagram, then emailed me all within five minutes and then phoned me on WhatsApp. 

[00:35:31] Meghan Simington: I wonder what – it’s confusing to find. I, I have so many questions.

[00:35:34] Marshall Stern: I don't know. But that was, that was scary. That was spooky. That's scary. That was spooky. 

[00:35:39] Meghan Simington: You should stalk her back and see what her process is. 

[00:35:43] Marshall Stern: She's probably some.. anyways, I was going to say, some big hairy Russian dude. So anyways, I didn't say that. Thank you. 

[00:35:52] Meghan Simington: Thank you. 

[00:35:53] Marshall Stern: Nothing wrong with big hairy Russian dudes. Just saying. It's my podcast. I can say that. I've - I'm partially from Russia.

[00:36:00] Okay. Thank you. Thank all of you. don't comment about that last part, but comment how much this was of value to you, and we'll see you again next week on another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. Bye for now.

[00:36:16] Marshall Stern: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in an upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. 

[00:36:35] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.