That’s the lesson behind the now highly-popular TV on the Web show, Marketing Made Simple TV – patience and a focus on continuous improvement. In order to learn how your business can achieve success, study the lesson of Marketing Made Simple TV.
Hardly an overnight success.
I was struck by the story of Zappos, the online shoe company that was sold to Amazon for $2 billion dollars. I told one of the founders what most people miss is how hard it was in the early days. She said that was one of the reasons they wrote the book Delivering Happiness – to tell the story of what really happened.
Similarly, to understand the story of Marketing Made Simple TV, you have to go back to the beginning.
In the Fall of 2011, I called a young marketing automation software firm called Act-On Software and spoke to their VP of Marketing, David Applebaum. I offered to do a webinar with them on B-to-B marketing – they would host it and I would be the expert speaker. David quickly agreed. The webinar came off without a hitch and I promoted extensively.
One day, David called me. “Jeff, you did a wonderful job on that webinar. We’d like to use you with a Phase 2 project.” I said “That sounds great, David. What the heck is phase 2?’ “It’s an online TV show we want to create, and I want you to host it.”
Mad Marketing TV was born.
Act-On did all the work – created the logo, the intro and outro, and created and posted a branded YouTube page. I interviewed top marketing pros for the episodes.
A weekly show, Mad Marketing TV posted only to YouTube and the Act-On Software blog – just a video. No calls to action. But the lack of experience showed. Some show guests were great and some were deadly dull.
Traffic was minimal.
Setbacks Are Inevitable… Keep Moving Forward
Before long, David left the company and a new CMO came on board. He decided to cut back on the show – moving from once per week to once per month. Since they had many shows “in the can” they had no need to create new shows for months, so a host was not needed.
I called a good friend, Jim Burns of Avitage, and explained what had happened. Jim said “Jeff, you were the driving force behind the show. Why do you need Act-On Software? Create your own show!”
Marketing Made Simple TV was born.
The Real Lesson: Keep Improving
There was a lot of setup involved – new logo, new YouTube page, and new show site. In addition, we made improvements from lessons learned in the earlier show. We focused improvements on two key areas:
Syndication – take a page from Oprah and get many sites to “carry” the show. I wanted eyeballs, not just exposure. (While Mad Marketing TV ran at YouTube and a blog, we wanted Marketing Made Simple TV to run everywhere)
Calls to Action – Provide a link to additional content right in the show, capturing leads for sponsors
On May 21, 2012, our first show aired with Mitch Joel of TwistImage. We had few syndication sites and no sponsors. Viewership was minimal and we didn’t have much traction.
The Real Lesson: Don’t Give Up
Throughout 2012, we produced shows and kept publishing. We continually looked for syndication sites and sponsors. We attracted bigger and bigger guests to the show, like Beth Comstock, SVP and CMO of General Electric. We looked for ways to improve the show, and gained a handful of paying sponsors.
2013: The Show Explodes in Popularity and the Guests Get Bigger Still
In the New Year, the show exploded in popularity. Reach now extends beyond 2 million people per week. And we’re expanding to better syndication sites, including in the UK and Western Europe.
Guests are getting bigger, such as Chris Brogan (233,000 Twitter followers), Ted Rubin (most followed CMO on Twitter), Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company and Daniel Pink, NYT best-selling author.
Conclusion: The Real Lesson for You
What’s the lesson for you here? How can you take this story and use it in your business. Here are some take-aways:
Take a chance
Don’t be afraid to try something new. Had I not called David, nothing would have happened. I could have said no to hosting their show too. If I had done either of those, the show would have died. But I took a chance. You should too.
Stick to your guns
It takes a long time to become an overnight success. Keep at it and stick to what you believe. (Hint: It takes a LONG time.)
When life knocks you down, get up
Setbacks are inevitable. Expect that you will encounter serious problems. Don’t let problems kill your project.
What do you think about this story? We’d love to hear your comments below!