Fully Managed EP 135 – Taylor Janszen from Janzen Media

Introduction

Shannon Donnelly: Alrighty. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Fully Managed Podcast, the podcast where we discuss marketing and business tips to help assist you on your business journey. I’m your host, Shannon, Benji’s Partnership Coordinator, and I’m joined here today with a very special guest, Taylor Janzen from Janzen Media. Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it.

Taylor Janzen: Thank you for having me.

SD: No problem. It’s our pleasure. So could you just tell us, start by telling us a little bit about yourself, anything that you think is relevant for your professional career and kind of how you got to this point in your life?

TJ: Sure. My name is Taylor. I’m the owner and CEO of Jansen Media. We’re a full-service website design and digital marketing company specializing in website apps, website development, and content marketing. So we offer search engine optimization services, pay per click advertising for Google, Facebook. We have a team of about six, and we are all over the world. So we have developers in India, Bangladesh, Philippines, and designers and specialists as well. So we’ve been doing this about eight years, and it’s awesome working with a lot of different industries and clients and getting to really get into deep dive of their business.

Getting Started in Marketing

SD: Beautiful. So, what made you interested in doing marketing in the first place? I love to hear the whole story about how people get involved because I feel like marketing is one of those industries that it’s not always linear, the path that people take to get to it.

TJ: Yeah. Growing up, I always said, I’m a creative, so I love doing design or doing artwork and I like graphic design in high school, so I actually put a portfolio together and went to Miami of Ohio for graphic design, and they had a very competitive program, went all the way down to I think they only let in about thirty kids into the program a year, so it’s pretty long, and I was, you know, top thirty-five or forty or so, and they said, oh, we can try again next year. And I said, I’m going to just try to graduate and get a job and go from there. That sucks. Graduated and then got a job at a digital marketing agency where I learned a lot of the tools of the trade, learned about SEO, had no idea what it even stood for, and all the experience with building websites and hosting and servers and all of that. When I got that experience, then I went to a larger company called American Freight Furniture Mattress, which now I heard a few weeks ago, they just went bankrupt, which is interesting, but I’ve been out of work in there for about five years, but as a larger company, helped grow it from a hundred and thirty stores to over three hundred stores. And then there’s a billion dollar acquisition at that point. So I managed all the digital marketing team, the designers, the specialists, as well as building the omni-channel and the whole website with the team. So I kind of got that big corporate world experience. During the three years I worked there, I had my digital marketing agency as a part time.

Benefits of Corporate Experience

SD: I think that having worked in a large company was probably super helpful in your journey.

TJ: Agreed. Working in a larger company, kind of had that single focus on a single client. So you could really dive in, have a lot of ideas that are for one specific client in a way. So you can kind of get granular with the marketing so that those experiences with that, when now we work with tens of plus companies, twenty, thirty, fifty companies at a time that we’re able to use all that experience as well as our team members experience to build out campaigns, come up with the ideas, automate things, things like that.

Creative vs. Management Role

SD: Do you still get to be a part of the creative side of things? Are you kind of just managing things at this point?

TJ: A little of both, kind of transitioning even more out of the day-to-day tasks. We recently hired on a designer that’s helping us do mock-ups for like website home pages or any type of website features, whereas traditionally I would do a lot of that design and every once in a while I like doing it. Right now I’m in the review process of that stage, but I mainly manage a lot of the projects, but I also have the skills of not as skilled as some of my developers, but knowing some of the code and knowing where to investigate things and problem solving with ideas. So we’re kind of transitioning out of some of the day-to-day tasks more into the more operations management, vision planning, team growth.

SD: Do you think you like that better? Or do you kind of miss doing the design aspects of things?

TJ: I’d say the good news is if I really miss it, I can always do some of the work.

SD: Yeah, I guess that’s true. You have the option.

TJ: Yeah, but I like running a business. I like the numbers. I like building a team. I like hearing about my teammates’ challenges and helping them solve it or asking them how they think they could solve it. So really being a strong leader has been fun.

SD: Okay. Well, that’s really nice to hear because I think that sometimes designers will start something like this and then get so involved in the leadership aspects of things that they kind of miss the design aspect of things. So it’s nice that you’re able to, one, decide whether you want to be involved in the design aspect of things, but also that you like your new role.

TJ: Yes, absolutely.

Enjoying Marketing Results

SD: Nice. So then on the marketing side of things, are there parts of that that you enjoy more than others?

TJ: I like seeing results. So I’m a very numbers driven person. So building out reports or setting up a paid advertising campaign that’s driving leads, driving sales, phone calls for businesses is very important. And I think it’s really cool when, for example, we spin up a Google Ads campaign for a pool company and they tell me, hey, Taylor, this is the biggest job we’ve ever sold. It was like a four hundred thousand dollar profit job.

Client Strategy Suggestions

SD: Is there ever times where a client kind of suggests a strategy that you kind of feel in the beginning might not be the best way for them to go about things?

TJ: Yeah, so we’ve done sometimes people hear SEO and it’s more of a trigger word where they know they should be doing it or they’re like, oh, people are on Google. And sometimes it’s more difficult for a new company to build a website and then start from scratch with SEO just because of all the ranking factors of either domain age or the amount of content that needs to be on the site. And sometimes the cost value is not there initially. If you have the funds and you want to start building a foundational company and you know it’s going to be long term, it’s absolutely crucial. But for some companies, that would be an example that we’ll say, you know, we usually don’t recommend doing our level two or three package for SEO when, you know, it’s not going to be as much value at the beginning for them.

SD: Hmm. Okay. That’s really like, I think that’s very sound advice. Cause I don’t think that a lot of people are thinking about that. I think that it’s definitely something that, yeah, I definitely agree that SEO is a buzzword in this kind of space, is a lot of people, maybe if they, they have the money or they think that it’s crucial for them to put towards the money for the best that they can get for it. It might not, might not be what they need at that time.

Building an Effective Website

SD: Yeah. So, okay. So for building an effective website for traffic as well as sales, do you think that there’s a crucial part of it that kind of stands above the rest for when you think it’ll be more successful across the board?

TJ: Yeah so when building a website what we look at mainly is user experience number one in branding. We do like building beautiful sites that we get compliments all the time from our clients that say, hey, you know, our friend or someone a client called us or a customer said they love our website. That’s always a cool testimony. So the branding and the design of the site. But in turn, you’re building a website ultimately to build your business and to get sales and to make more money, ideally. So content with SEO is very important, explaining what you do. So sometimes people say, oh, we do it all, but it’s not very clear on what that is, as well as the right keywords on the page to make it make sense for their business. So rather than just spamming a bunch of keywords that you think are going to get you to rank, you want it to make sense because ultimately people are going to come to the website and you want them to get a very clear understanding of what you’re offering.

Crucial Digital Marketing Tactics

TJ: So expanding on that, and our job is almost too easy to advertise and get it out there for people. We recommend certain dollars. We say, hey, you’re only spending a thousand dollars a month. You’re an eight million dollar company. We should be spending at least ten grand a month. And something like that is going to skyrocket their sales. You know, they were never doing any SEO before, so they were ranking pretty well for some keywords. But to improve that authority, improve the rankings across all of their, you know, twenty-five years of business history is able to expand and grow. So the big thing to answer your question of what some companies are missing are, I guess, some crucial digital marketing tactics that seem simple but have a very clear return on investment, like a retargeting campaign. If a large business is getting a lot of traffic and they’re not retargeting those users, when someone visits your website and they drop off, if you’re never marketing them again, that’s lost opportunity. Especially in the furniture industry, we did some heavy studies where from the first touch point to about, it’s about seven days, you want to hit them about seven to ten times in different forms of marketing. So it could be a mix between traditional and digital. So you see a Facebook ad and then you get a piece of mail in the mail and then you see a TV ad and then you see them again on Instagram and then you go on YouTube and there’s a retargeted campaign and then they go to Google looking for that product and we pop up as well or we pop up organically. So those multiple touch points is what really drives a business because a lot of times anyone in sales knows like very first touch point you can get some sales but if you continually follow up with people that’s where your sales are gonna and your conversion rate’s gonna skyrocket.

Touchpoints and User Annoyance

SD: I find touch points rather funny because I’ve had these conversations before with other marketers, but for me personally, the more that someone touches base with me, the less likely I want to use their product or service. And maybe it’s because of my lack of, or maybe it’s because I’m annoyed easily or something like that. But I always think about this because the more that I, the more that a product or a service is in my face, the less likely that I want to use it because I’m like angry.

TJ: Always think about that type of customer or is it that the messaging does not relate to you as closely so maybe they’re continually hitting you because they either picked the wrong audience or they don’t know how to market to you specifically and their message is not relating to your problem. You’re like, I don’t have a problem with this. Like, why do you keep advertising me, you know, a skateboard. I don’t skateboard, you know, and it’s annoying because it’s the wrong message, right? That’s what I would say with that. But I, I’m with you. I, the other thing is say that like Google ads, like, well, why would I advertise on Google? Like I never click on the ads. I see ad or sponsored and I skip it. And, and then you look at the actual data and most like clicks and sales and the way Google operates is through advertising. And the way they set it up is very, very intentional.

Marketing as Manipulation

TJ: So there’s a couple of major ones they’ll release every year or every few years, like a mobile algorithm. Penguin was a big one back then and just different ones that will change the whole setup. And I’ve even seen on my specific feed where the sponsored or where it says ad has actually been removed. And you can tell that they’re still ads because there’s a little bit of a gap between the organic and the ads. So almost just seems like at times things are always changing. So you need to always be relevant and understanding how digital marketing operates.

SD: Yeah, no, I think it’s funny because I always like to think of, and maybe it doesn’t put every marketer in a good light, of marketing is kind of manipulation, but it to an extent kind of is. But I think it’s more kind of related to psychology of like, if you can trick someone into watching an ad, which is more of a manipulation, you can kind of, especially if it’s something that they would want, then they’re likely to buy it. And I think that that trick is something that’s kind of difficult to do, especially I love that with content creation, because I think to an extent when content creation is so unique and creative and fun, it kind of, when it’s that kind of eye-grabbing thing, it kind of does trick the brain into thinking, like, oh, this is just, like, something fun and exciting and new, and I’m gonna, you know, consume this, and then I might actually purchase it, because I just enjoyed this content, and I love that idea of, you know, it’s trickery in a little bit of a way, but it’s also, I don’t know, it’s enjoyable, like, people are going to spend money anyway, so it’s kind of just choosing the right space at the right time in the right way.

TJ: Yeah. And I mean, a lot of times like we have clients that are like, we get a home remodeler that we do Google local service ads and we see calls come in and this person’s like, Hey, I got a little project for you. And then he explains like he needs to gut his whole house and add a deck and add an addition. So it’s not a very small project. And all he did was click the very first thing on Google, and they popped up and now they have opportunity to get a proposal out to them, go through their process, ideally continue their follow-ups and things like that to close jobs and get big projects versus, you know, there’s more than likely a lot of larger companies and we’re in Columbus, Ohio that are doing bigger jobs than them. And that person could more likely go with any of those companies, but they called the very first thing on Google, which was an ad, and that’s how leads come in.

SD: Yeah, of course. And I think a lot of people will do that. It’s similar to the idea that people will see something on social media and believe it is if they see the first thing that they that comes up on Google. I like I think people really like the ease of information. And I think that, you know, Google ranking is something that’s, that goes into that is that, you know, the average consumer doesn’t want to do a heavy amount of research in order to, you know, consider purchasing a service or a good. And I think that, being at the top is something that’s super beneficial for you, for those people specifically.

How Many Eggs?

TJ: I’d probably see what others are doing, but I could probably maybe a carton or two. I could probably eat twelve or twenty-four eggs.

SD: Okay, that’s pretty fair. We have a slew of answers for this one. I don’t know why I like this question so much, but I think it’s so silly. I’ve gotten eight dozen. I’ve gotten fifty. I think eight dozen is insane, and I don’t think that they’d be alive after eight dozen. I don’t think I’d want to eat fifty. It doesn’t sound very fun. I don’t I don’t think anyone wants to eat fifty eggs. I think that, fifty and beyond, I think, is not that I don’t think it’s possible. I think that you’d maybe die, or go into cardiac arrest, and then maybe die. But, yeah, I think that’s kind of a realistic answer. I think around twenty to thirty is more realistic than fifty to eighty. Those are interesting people. I don’t know if I trust them.

TJ: Okay.

SD: Yeah, no, I will. At some point my, my vision is to create a compilation of the egg answers and basically put the people on blast that have given me absurd egg answers. You know, they chose to say this information on the podcast. That’s on them. I can make compilation videos as much as I want.

LinkedIn vs. Email Outreach

SD: Okay, let me ask something a little more marketing, but a little more fun. Okay, for outreach purposes, this is difficult for some people to answer because they want specifics. I’m talking about in general across the board, what do you think is better, LinkedIn outreach or email?

TJ: I probably say LinkedIn.

SD: Okay, why?

TJ: We currently do LinkedIn automations. We’ve also tried email targeted automations. Again, I think a true mix of both would be beneficial. And sometimes you’ll do a LinkedIn outreach and then you’ll schedule a call with people, but then you take it over to email. But initially for the first experience LinkedIn, I think people can get a better vision of who you are and your profile. They can see your face. Sometimes email you, they have a logo or no picture of that person, as well as it feels more, depends if you’re automating and not authentic or you’re just blasting out to people, but it feels a little bit more personalized.

SD: Yeah, I definitely agree. I think that there’s like a barrier within LinkedIn of like people assume you’re spam or if you’re contacting them, they assume that you want something from them, which is kind of, you know, what LinkedIn is really kind of for, a little bit. But, I definitely think that email is, you can be anyone. LinkedIn, at least there’s evidence that you’re a person and, you know, hopefully if you’re reaching out to people, there’s evidence that you’re a person, you have a profile that’s public and, you know, you have, things that you’ve done. They know about them. And I think that’s really important for people to get an idea of who you are. I definitely agree with that. I think email is more of a, you know, it’s more of the unknown. You don’t really get a feel of who someone is unless they’re really eccentric in their email with their language. I have had those. And those people are great. I’m sure that a lot of people don’t like eccentric emailers, but I love them. And I think those people are great and you definitely can tell their personality through their email, but not everyone. And I would say probably not most are good at showing their personality through emails because emailing kind of sucks a little.

Conclusion

SD: Sure. Well, this is all the time we have today. We’re a little over time, but that means it was fun. But thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. I think we learned a lot. I think the audience learned a lot, and I learned a lot. And that’s why I like doing this podcast. So thank you very much.

TJ: Yes, absolutely.

SD: And everyone watching or listening at home, please don’t forget to like and subscribe to watch more videos like this and be able to learn just like I do. Thank you so much.

TJ: Awesome. Thank you.

SD: Bye.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-janszen

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