Local Market Monopoly

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Clarence Fisher: Have you subscribed to the Local Market Monopoly newsletter yet? Each week you get one actionable digital marketing tip delivered straight to your inbox designed specifically for small businesses like you who want to increase their market share and grow their online presence. Each tip focuses on strategies for growing your online reputation, increasing your company's reach, and improving sales and referrals without wasting money on ineffective tactics. Sign up now at localmarketmonopoly.com and start receiving our best of the best strategies immediately.

Clarence Fisher: Welcome back to Local Market Monopoly. I am Clarence Fisher, your host for the newbies. For those who have been rocking with me for a while, it's episode 76, and I'm going to show you today how to build an unshakable online reputation from scratch. Whether you're a newbie or you're just like, Hey, it's time for us to become the authority in the market. This is the episode for you. I'm going to share with you the three essential pillars that you must have for a great online presence, how to build your personal and company brand and just become the authority in the market. When people want what you offer, they're going to think of you. Whoa,

Intro: You're listening to Local Market Monopoly with Clarence Fisher uncovering the tools tactics and strategies the most successful small businesses use to dominate their local market and own the block.

Clarence Fisher: All right, today we're going to make you a superstar. I know when you woke up this morning, you were like, I'm going to be the king of the world or the queen of the world. You've probably already had that mentality, which is why you started a business in the first place. But this is what I want to give you today, the process of creating an unshakable online reputation from absolute scratch. Now, that could mean you are a newcomer or it could mean you just not paid attention to it, and now you're like, Hey, I want to be the authority I want either myself, my company, to be the authority in the market. By the way, if you want help putting this stuff to use in your business, go to MainStreetMarketingCoach.com. We'll work with you or your head of marketing to get this all installed.
We've got a special offer going for our founding members because it's a brand new program, just go to MainStreetMarketingCoach.com if you want help doing this. All right, so the truth is, well, before we get into that, lemme tell you a quick story. This is near and dear to my heart about start, about creating this online presence and it goes back before even online because before the internet, there was a time before the internet. I used these principals that I'm going to share with you even before then. I remember getting a job at a radio station, a local radio station, just a little context and history about me. If you did not know, when I came out of high school, I didn't really want to go to college. I wanted to become a rapper and I performed all during high school for the talent shows. That was my big thing. I went to school. I really wasn't worried about school. I was worried about if you walk by my desk, you'd see I'm drawing the props and everything that we're going to use in the show this year.
That was my number one. Well, number one goal after school, you'd catch me on the back porch. We had this little back enclosed porch at the house just sweating profusely, thinking I'm LL Cool J, right? So that was my goal. And after school I went to California for a while, realized I did not sleeping on floors. How bad do you want? How bad do you have to want it to become a music sensation? Evidently you got to want it more than I did. So I came back home and I'm thinking, what am I going to do? So the next best thing was to get on the radio, right? But I mean, I didn't know I asked, as a matter of fact, I did. I called the broadcasting school, I think it was Tulsa Broadcasting School, not even sure if it's still in existence, but I was like, okay, well I'll go to school for broadcasting and I don't know if I didn't have enough money or I didn't, may have not had a diploma, is what it was.
I dunno. For whatever reason I could, I think it was money I couldn't get into broadcasting school. But that did not stop me if that did not stop me. Anyone who knows me, it's like, Hey, this is what I said I want and this is what I want to do, dad, gummit, this is what's going to happen. So I befriended the DJs that were on. I tried to, that were already on the air, and one guy gave me the time of day and he said, you know what? Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if he was, I don't know what his intentions were, but he was like, okay, I'll tell you what, now you can carry my records. He would DJ out. The way DJs work is they, they're on the air, but they make really a lot of times, most of their money doing side gigs as far as DJing parties, personal appearances, stuff like that.
So this guy quote allowed me to carry his records. I would set up his whole gig, his whole, what am I I thinking about his whole setup, his whole rig, everything. All he had to do was show up and then just spin. That was it. I'm setting up the speakers, the tables, the record players, everything. And what he would do would, he would give me a few minutes on the mic. I had one part of the party and sometimes it was crazy. Can you imagine being at your wedding? And all of a sudden this unknown guy just jumps up and he is like, hahaha, check, check, check. You know what I'm saying? But hey bro, you promised me three minutes. I'm rocking this wedding. And they're like, who the heck is that guy? He was not in the planning. But anyway, this went on for, I don't know, maybe a year.
And I'm like, bro, when are you going to get me an interview with the program director? He's like, ah, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Finally he calls me and I get to go up to the radio station. I walk into the radio station. It's like, I have been raying to get in here, get in there, have the interview. They're like, no, excuse me? No. Okay, timeout, timeout. I've been carrying records setting this guy's stuff up for over a year and you're telling me no? it did not even dawn on me that there's more radio stations in the city. I was hooked on this station. Well, number one, it was the urban station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you're in Tulsa, Oklahoma, there is one still Urban station. But I didn't know this is whole limiting belief type stuff is I didn't think I could go to any other radio station later on I did.
But anyway, I'm trying to get a job at this radio station. So I leave, but then I call back and I call back and I call back and I remember telling the assistant program director, who is a very good friend of mine, now, bro, listen to me. I will run donuts coffee, I will work for free. And he said, you cannot work for free. And I said, why not? I will work for free, otherwise you're going to see me every day when you walk in to get on the elevator, you're going to see me. Let me run donuts. That's how much I wanted it. Well, I got a call to shadow this guy that I had been setting up. So I promise this is turning out to be a long story. It was even longer as I was doing it in person cause it was like over two years.
But I'm here. So I'm finally shadowing and one night the guy has to call in sick and they allow me to get on the air. That was it. That was it, my man. That was it. That was my chance. And I blew it. I hit the on button and nothing came out of my mouth. Nothing. It was like, this is your chance, this is your chance, this is your chance and break. That was it. I thought it was over, it was over. But they said everybody does that. It's, it's all built up. It's kind of like you've got all this built up and then nothing for guys. You know what I'm talking about.
All right, bring it back in, bring it back in. So here's the deal. When I finally got my own show, the only thing that was available was 2:00 AM to 5:00 AM and I used to say, I am DJing two UPS workers and street walkers. I mean that it is. What else is happening at from 2:00 AM to 5:00 AM But that's all I had. But I said, you know what, I'm going to be a household name within a year. That was my goal. I'm going to be a household name within a year. On story short, it happened. Then I went to another radio station, became, worked my way up, became a program director, and I was their number one DJ household name within a year. And at that time we're winning the market. Now check this out. Remember I thought I couldn't go to another radio station, went to another radio station and become the top station and top jock in the market.
All right? So all because of what I'm going to share with you today, you're like, bro, can you just tell me what I need to do? I didn't know that that's what I did though until probably two years ago. I was studying a guy named Frank Kern, who is just a legendary marketer, and he spelled out how, what was his, it was like, if nobody knows you, this is how you become known. And I'm like, that's what I did. So I'm going to share with you today not how you can become a rap star, but how you can create this crazy online presence from scratch. I did it with Tulsa Internet Marketing, did it with Local Market Monopoly, did it with all of our properties. Nobody knew me with at Tulsa internet marketing, 10, 12, 12, 13 years ago. I did not think I was even qualified to do this.
So I put these, this what I'm going to share with you into play. So number, this is the first thing you got to understand is that it's really all about positioning. This is the truth. There are three steps to it. First is surface level positioning, what it's going to be your uniform, what's going to be your language. Then there's psychographic and kind of demographic positioning, and that's where you're going to reverse engineer the value system of your ideal prospect. Who is it that you're going after? Well, you want to, I'll, I'll go in a little bit into that here just a second. And then there's demonstration, demonstrating your authority that you can actually help people, your expertise and your credibility. You want to demonstrate that. So number one, let's talk about the psychographic positioning that I mentioned there. Okay? The psychographic positioning is where you're going to reverse engineer the value systems of your ideal prospects.
What do they care about? What are their desires? What do they want? What are their fears? What are they for and what are they against? Say what you want to say about Donald Trump. President Trump, former President Trump, he heads this down, but most leaders, anybody who gets, and most influencers, I'll put it like that. Most influencers really understand this reverse engineer the value systems of your ideal prospect. So for me, starting in Tulsa Internet Marketing, I'm going to use my agency for an example, is what are number one, who are these business owners? What do they look like? Who are they? What are the desires of the business owner? It's not, it's not just revenue. It's taking care of their family. It's making a big impact on the community. Those are the desires. It's to be able to provide for the entire team, for your staff, the people that work with you.
If we can all eat, that's awesome. If you can help them provide for their families that's winning also to do good, make a profit, what are their fears? Payroll, all kinds of fears. It, it's the uncertainty of business. What are they for? What are they against? If your business is, if your ideal prospect is more conservative, you understand that if they're more liberal, you understand that it's not about politics, but it's about understanding your ideal prospect. And then what you do is you list their value system and then you list yours. What are your desires? What are your fears? What are the things that you are for the things that you are against? So you have a list of what your ideal prospects desires, fears, everything are, and you have a list of yours. Now, what you want to look for is commonality. What are the few that match where you have the exact same? Because no matter how different we are, there are a few things that we agree on. What are those things with your ideal prospect? Those are the virtues, those are the values that you want to project. Stay in that lane. Okay, I can see you right now. You're like, yes, stay in that lane. And then you're going to use surface level positioning and demonstration to illustrate that match.
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So now we have our values. Now we're going to move on to surface level positioning and surface level positioning is kind of like what label do you want them to give you or your business when they first see you? This is very interesting. If you look at the cover of our podcast, this is the where I have on suit tie.
You go to Tulsa Internet Market, you go to my LinkedIn suit tie. We have been kind of contemplating over the last, I don't know, six months, maybe eight months on when we retire the suit and tie for Clarence Fisher. Because here's the deal. When I very first started 10, 11 years ago, I needed to wear the suit and tie. I needed it. I needed to put it on. So there's no question about we don't want people, we don't want people. It's what I'm sharing with you right now. What do you want them? What label do you want them to give you as soon as they see you, whether you like it or not, this is what we do. It's a protection mechanism for human beings. Even back way, way back in the day in the jungle or whatever. If you see a lion, you label it lion and you stay away from lion.
So what label do you want? Well, I had the suit and tie so that I could get in. And a lot of times as you're showing up as an agency owner, that's what you wear. But times haven't changed in the last decade yet. I still in all of our branding, have the suit and tie. So we're thinking about that. So if you see, now, I'm not going to jump to Bermuda shorts or anything like that, but if you see a change, understand that it's on purpose and it's for this reason. You need to figure that out. What label do you want them to give you? Professional, fun, important, non-threatening, friendly. Write it down. And what do you want them to assume about you? That you're experienced, that you're important, that you, you know what you're doing. People listen to him, but he's hard to get to.
That's what I want assumed. I'm easygoing. Well, just not necessarily the easiest. Not unless we're trying to work together, but I'm not the easiest to say, Hey man, let's just go get a bite to eat for any reason. Right? Time is, as we talked about last episode or a couple of episodes, time is really money. And to me, it's not even physical money. To me. Time, money, time, time is time. And it is so finite if you're 50 or older, you understand what I'm saying? So, and how do you want them to feel when they first see you? For me, I want people to feel confident, enthusiastic, bold. So I'll walk you through really quick how I did it and in the very beginning, and you do this too. So what label do you want people to give you and your business at first? Sight for me, professional, fun, important, non-threatening, friendly.
That's how I wanted people to see me. And so now as you're looking at, as you, you've been with me, rocking with me for a while. Is that true? What do you want them to assume about you? Just by looking at you? I want them to assume I'm experienced. I'm important, I know what I'm doing. People listen to me, but I'm hard to get to. I am approachable. I'm friendly, I'm open. And then how do I want people to feel when they see me? I want them to feel confident. I want them to feel enthusiastic. I want them to feel bold. Do those, answer those questions for you and your business, for you in your business. Okay, that's it for that one. Now, let's move a step further in reverse engineering. Your presence here is what visual elements do you need that can represent those things, that can represent the aspirations of your ideal prospect?
What do they need to see in order to feel good? So we have your ideal prospect, your perfect prospect. What do they need to see? What visual elements? Well, for me, it's at that time, and I'm using myself as an example, is family togetherness is what they need to see because that, that's important to my audience to, as I said, business owners want to be able to take care of their family, want to be able to take care of their teams. They want to not take care of their team's families, but allow their team members to be able to take care of their families. So family togetherness is big in our imagery, well dressed. They need to see me in front of a crowd. Again, this is the beginning. No one knows me. They need to see me in front of a crowd. In the very beginning when I did speeches, very small rooms, but my wife would come with me and she had a video camera set up in one corner and she took pictures, walked around the room, took pictures.
Of course, from the angle of where it looks like the room is packed, never ever going to forget that grind of us, man. I know you feel that when you're starting out and no one knows you. The grind. Let's get back. What do you need to look like in order for your prospect's initial impression about you to be positive? So for me, it was the suit. It was the blue blazer, the white shirt. If I wasn't meeting a banker or anything like that, it was jeans. It could be clean jeans, but man, but number one was the suit. And then laying back was the blue blazer. This was the uniform that I needed people to see. And then what set and setting do you need to use to convey the desired motion in that interests phase? Who should you be with? This is another thing that people, you know, can't knock.
It's who should you be with in order for your ideal prospect to let their guard down and say, Hey, I will listen to that person. I'll at least take that person's call. Birds of a feather flock together is what they say. All of this, and please don't think, I mean, don't take this, it's use this for evil. Of course, this can be used for evil. Everything that I'm showing you right now can be used for evil, but it also has to be used in order for you to own your block, in order for you to become the authority in your market. It has to be done purposefully. I mean, no business just trips on success. Now luck comes, but it comes from hardworking preparation. So let's move to step three. And again, I'm giving props to Frank Kern, who broke all of this down stuff that I was doing naturally, didn't really have the framework for it, but I'm so glad I ran into his teaching and I'm giving it to you right now.
So then we get to demonstration. So you got the values, you found out where you intersect, and then you have decided what they need to see from you. Well, you know what environments they need to see you around, how you need to appear, how you want to be perceived. Now we get to the demonstration. Do you realize all of this that happened? And this is what I think people for people don't understand. Maybe I do because I'm in marketing and you understand it innately, but people don't verbalize this a lot, is that all of that had to happen just to get to the table, just to get to where I can show you that I know what I'm talking about. And the same thing is happening for you. Your prospect is looking at all of this a lot of times so fast for they judge you and either cut you off or give you the opportunity to speak with them.
So you need to take the time to reverse engineer this stuff and be on and be intentional about it because we're making these decisions very, very quickly. But let's say you've done all this homework and now they don't know why, but they're like, Hey, I want to talk with that person. I will let that person talk. At least show me what they have. So now you get to the demonstration, and I love how Frank says this. It's like, I mean, the best way to help people is by helping them. The best way to show people that you can help them is by helping them. Hence this podcast, hence my newsletter. The best way to show that I can help you is by helping you. And you should do that. You should do that too. You can release Now, this is where you actually get the work going frequently asked question videos.
You have questions that people are always asking you make quick videos to answer. Those go a step, dip a deeper and record SAQ, what we call S A Q, which is should ask questions. These are questions that people should be asking, but they just don't know to ask. Imagine if your mom or your sister or your brother was about to use a service like yours. What questions would you tell them to make sure that they ask record videos to that. Now, when people see those, they're like, oh, wow, okay, I didn't even think about that. This is my person. This is when you're going to do your blog articles, your YouTube, your podcast, your LinkedIn, answering these questions, putting out articles on LinkedIn is really big right now. And even your email list, I mean and repeated, you can actually take your video. We cover this in one of the past episodes.
The content, what is it? The content marketing system. We'll put a link in the show notes, but it's how to take a piece of content and just repurpose that to where you have a bunch of different pieces of content. So you start with a video and then you can turn that video, you record that video, turn that video into a blog article. I mean, now you can plug that video into something like Rev or Temi, and then it can spit out the transcription of that video that you recorded and post that video on your website. I mean that transcription on your website. Kind of edit it a little bit and make it a blog article. And then you can upload that video to YouTube. You can upload the video to Facebook, you can upload the video to LinkedIn. You can also put your blog on LinkedIn and you can create it, turn it into a podcast.
A lot of times our podcast ideas are coming from our blog ideas and then send all that out to or send, not all of it, but whichever one resonates best with your audience, send it to their email list. And again, you're showing helping them, but you are also, you're also connecting with them because you're sharing the same values. Remember, you have values that match not everything, but you have some values that match, and that's where you, and that's where you connect. Listen, we have friends. All of us have friends that some of the stuff they do is like questionable, but we connect on these few things and we have great relationships. No different with your vendors. Market your authority, okay? Go be on podcast, be on local tv, create relationships with your TV anchors that if you are ever doing a story about what your expertise is that they can call on you as a subject matter expert.
Do radio interviews, all of that demonstration. So just to recap, we're going to close this out. It sounds like a lot, but it's really cool when you start getting into it. What you want to do in order to build an unshakeable reputation online is figure out your service level positioning. What's your uniform going to be? What's your language? How do you speak your psychographic demographic positioning? You want to reverse engineer their value system. What is important to your prospect? And then what is important to you? Find out where the commonalities are and push that, okay? And then once you have that online, demonstrate that you can help them by helping them. You're not going to get away from putting out content, okay? I know everybody wants to not do content marketing, but I'm telling you, the folks that own the market are putting out content.
So do that. I mean, a lot of people do lunch and learns. You can do weekly webinars, all kinds of stuff that you can do. I really, really hope this helps you. If you have any questions, you can go to Clarence Fisher, not as, no, it's coming Clarence Fisher. It's at the website. It's localmarketmonopoly.com/ask, and you can send in an audio question and we'll get it on the air and I'll answer it, answer it for everybody. If you want us to work with you, of course, go to MainStreetMarketingCoach.com. Otherwise, I'm going to see you here next week when I'm going to continue showing you I can help you by helping you own your block.

Closing: We appreciate you listening to Local Market Monopoly. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe to the show and visit localmarketmonopoly.com for more resources that will help you dominate your local markets and own the block.