When you own a business, there is a lot of conflict so waiting a half day or getting another opinion before pressing “send” on an email or saying something you’ll later regret is something I recommend.”
Where did the idea for Cleveland Marketing King come from?
When it comes to digital marketing, my brother and I are very knowledgable on the topic. We’ve started our own e-commerce business and have helped a lot of businesses grow through SEO, PPC, Social Media and Web Design. Starting an agency seemed like a good fit in the Cleveland market.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I’m an early riser. Before getting bombarded by emails, phone calls and meetings, I like to have 3-hours to myself before the day starts to take care of important items on my “to do” list. I’m always in the office by 7 AM. By 10 AM, I’m working on client projects, putting together reports and meeting with clients while tending to the day to day items of running a business.
How do you bring ideas to life?
This is what marketing is all about, bringing ideas to life! We learn about a clients business and find the best outlets to serve advertisements and create content to help them generate new business. Normally, I listen to what the business owner has to say about their company and then take my knowledge on the digital side to find the proper channels to serve this content.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Video. We’re seeing huge results for our clients on social media with video advertisements. We’re excited to produce more video content for our clients to drive online sales via social media, particularly on Facebook and Instagram!
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Working on the weekend. It amazes me how many clients are SO appreciative when I respond to them over the weekend. This helps me plan for the upcoming week and be proactive in planning for the future growth of our agency.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I wish I would’ve tried to help businesses with their social media marketing while I was in college. During this time (2005 – 2009) so many companies had not even started putting together a social media strategy. It would’ve been an easy sell!
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
Wait at least a half day to tell someone how you really feel about an issue.
I feel like everyone always thinks speaking their mind is the best option.
When you own a business, there is a lot of conflict so waiting a half day or getting another opinion before pressing “send” on an email or saying something you’ll later regret is something I recommend.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I spend time each week working on proactive ways to grow my business. It is tough to get stuck in the day to day grind of your business. In order to grow, you need to be innovative and thinking of ways to grow.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Search engine optimization and paid advertisements have helped our business grow. I’m able to practice what I preach when it comes to digital marketing, which means people find us online, which is exactly what we help businesses do to grow their customer base.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I’ve had a lot of failures so picking one is hard.
I did a lot of traveling in my 20’s. I don’t regret this but starting a business requires a lot of dedication and in-person interaction so this possibly set me back a little bit. Hopefully working on the weekend now makes up for lost time 🙂
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Use AdEspresso for A vs. B testing for your social media advertisements. This will create 150 different variations of advertisements and help you find your “winners” so you can invest more money into this to drive more sales.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Signing up for AdEspresso! Like I mentioned, this platform is amazing and has helped our clients with their social media initiatives!
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Moz is great for tracking your SEO rankings and keywords versus competitors.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Gary Vaynerchuk’ s #AskGaryVee.
If you are interested in marketing, there is nobody better to learn from than Gary V. He understands the digital age we live and understands consumer attention, which makes his content relevant.
What is your favorite quote?
“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” ~ Seth Godin
Key Learnings:
- Running a business is tough. It takes a lot of long hours, persistency and patience to grow. No two days are the same when you run a digital marketing agency, which makes the entrepreneurial journey extremely exciting at the same time.
- Video advertising on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are going to explode in 2018. If your business hasn’t invested in paid social video ads, the time is now.
- Take ownership of your mistakes quickly but don’t dwell on them. This will let you move on and focus on what’s next rather than what happened in the past that can’t be changed.
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Steve (Stefan) Junge hails from Germany and helps with the day-to-day publishing of interviews on IdeaMensch. While he and Mario don’t share a favorite soccer club, their enthusiasm to help entrepreneurs is a shared passion.