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Firing The Man
THANK YOU TO OUR 25,000+ LISTENERS! We are so thankful to be one of the TOP E-Commerce Podcasts delivering high-quality authentic content to you! Serial Entrepreneur’s David Schomer and Ken Wilson share tips, advice, and insider knowledge about all things Amazon FBA, Walmart WFS, and E-Commerce. Discover how you can create multiple income streams by selling physical products online so that you can have the time and freedom to do what you love - whether that is spending more time with family or traveling the world. Ken and David have successfully created several six and seven figure online business ventures. During the journey, they have had major wins, losses, and lessons learned. This podcast will teach you about selling physical products online through platforms such as Fulfillment by Amazon, building a team, outsourcing, listing optimization, pay per click (PPC) advertising, driving traffic to your listings, and productivity tips / life hacks that will provide a path to be successful in building your online business. It’s a mix of interviews, special co-hosts and solo shows from Ken and David you’re not going to want to miss. Hit subscribe, and get ready to change your life.
Firing The Man
Empowering Small Businesses: Corey Clark’s Strategic Marketing Revolution
Discover the secret to leveling the playing field for small businesses as we engage with Corey Clark, the visionary CEO and founder of Clark Co. Corey joins us to share his inspiring journey from the bustling world of global nonprofits and large corporations to establishing a marketing agency focused on empowering small businesses with customized marketing solutions. Learn how Corey’s innovative, data-driven strategies are giving small enterprises the tools they need to overcome budget limitations and keep pace with ever-evolving digital trends.
Personalized marketing is the key to standing out, and Corey’s agency is at the forefront of this approach. We explore how Clark Co's thorough client intake process uncovers unique challenges and opportunities, opening doors to tailored solutions that maximize ROI. Hear the success story of a physical therapy clinic that reshaped its marketing strategy, leading to significant expansion. Corey emphasizes the critical role of data in real-time strategy adjustments, ensuring businesses remain agile and competitive in a fast-paced market.
Corey also sheds light on the entrepreneurial mindset, highlighting the integration of quality data into marketing strategies to boost customer engagement and drive growth. Delve into the latest AI tools that help forge meaningful customer relationships and the importance of a positive entrepreneurial mindset. Corey shares efficient ways to connect, preferring LinkedIn and his company's ".co" domain, reinforcing the importance of strategic, cost-effective choices for small businesses. Join us for a conversation brimming with insights for anyone aspiring to elevate their business through strategic marketing.
How to connect with Clark?
Website: https://www.coreyclark.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamClarkAndCo/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clark-co/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TeamClarkAndCo
Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and know you are capable of more, then join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your hosts, serial entrepreneurs David Shomer and Ken Wilson.
Speaker 2:Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast. Today we're joined by Corey Clark, the CEO and founder of Clark Co, a marketing agency dedicated to empowering small businesses through personalized marketing strategies. With over 15 years of experience in the marketing industry, corey has guided numerous brands, small businesses and nonprofits to achieving their marketing goals. Today, we're going to be taking a deep dive into Corey's background and marketing in 2024 and beyond. Welcome to the show, corey. Thanks for having me. Great to be here, absolutely. So, to start things off, can you share with our audience a little bit about your background and what inspired you to transition from working with global nonprofits and large corporations to founding Clark Co in 2019?
Speaker 3:Of course. So my background of working in global nonprofits and large corporations really gave me this unique perspective on the power of strategic marketing and how to create impact at scale. However, I noticed that small businesses and nonprofits you know, not the large ones, but the ones that are up and coming and growing really often struggle to access the same level to tailored strategic support. My motivation for founding Clark Co was rooted in wanting to bring the same high quality, data-driven marketing and growth strategies to smaller enterprises. You know the ones that are typically operating on limited resources. They don't have the same accessibility to large agencies. You can think of the top five that are out there that really serve as the large entities of the world and those are really the ones you all look up to, and so through this, you know small businesses really being the heartbeat of local communities. I wanted to make it easier for them but to level out the playing field, especially from a digital marketing side, so that they can compete and thrive. So founding Tharkin Co was really my way of leveling that playing field and supporting the small business community in a meaningful way that has grassroots growth that really makes lasting impacts on communities, and I just love working with entrepreneurs. At the end of the day, I mean, those are my people. They're the ones where we collaborate. We talk back and forth, we're having conversations that go so beyond just marketing and sales, and it's really about sharing, collaborating. It's like having coworkers when you're in a corporation on different cross-functional teams and instead it's company A and company B and we're both talking about similar challenges, problems we encounter. You know how do you handle an employee who's not, you know, working really well for you. Maybe there's some challenges, maybe you need to hire an employee and you haven't done it yet. They're not sure what to do. We just really collaborate well together to share these insights. And so I took all of that and said you know what I can do this on the marketing side. Let's give it a year and test it. Here we are, five and a half years later and it's still working, going well.
Speaker 3:We've had hundreds of small businesses. We've worked with varying capacities and everybody has grown, even through COVID, where we had a lot of really hard time with the pandemic. E-commerce businesses just took off, but they didn't know how to sustain. It was really hard for them when the growth got so exponential Whether it's 5x, 10x, from where they were. They suddenly were like oh gosh, what do I do? How do I move forward? I don't know who to work with. They go to a big agency and those folks say sorry, but your budget's too small for us. We can't work with you.
Speaker 3:And it was that constant rejection reminding me that, being on the corporate side, even in global nonprofits, we had leverage. We could take those agencies we worked with and say you know what? We're going to fire your team on there. We want to work with you as an agency, but we don't want to work with the following people who run your team and that's an interesting place of power. But small businesses have that too and can leverage it. You get to pick and choose who you work with and who you partner with. Why not feel empowered to do that and have a marketing partner who thinks the same? We're not here saying you know we're better than you or you don't have enough budget for us. We're like listen, let's work together.
Speaker 3:What does it look like? What are you trying to do? What is your current budget? What are your expectations? But, most importantly, what are your growth goals? Where do you want to go in the next year, the next two, the next five? What does that look like and how can we make that happen together? That's really where I drive from. This is the longest role I've ever held. I bounced around a ton in corporate nonprofit because I got sick of people and now I don't have to because I get to pick my co-workers co-workers in quotes every day, who I want to work with, which is really rewarding. It kept me up to the tag.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome, well, very good. So, talking about this population of entrepreneurs that you like to work with in small businesses, what are some common marketing challenges that they face today?
Speaker 3:That's a great one. I touched a little bit upon it. There's pretty typical challenges that you see. I think a lot of businesses face it, but small businesses especially face budget constraints, rapidly evolving digital trends and then the difficulty of reaching their target audience effectively without wasted resources Such a key right there. So many people look at different tactics and strategies and say, oh, I can run and spend so much on ads per month, but when you dive into it you realize there's a ton of waste For a small business. That amount of waste, no matter what it is, can take a business down of that size. We're not the $100 million corporations that are out there in the billion dollar ones, where a few thousand dollars doesn't really make an impact on our bottom line as small businesses. That's a huge difference about whether or not you can grow and where you're going to go. It could be making or breaking, having payroll hit for that week. It could be whether or not you're going to add on another person. It could be whether you're going to go into a new service or a product offering. It makes a huge difference. So from there, what I really see in with Clark Co is we tap into these challenges. We create tailored and data-informed strategies that maximize ROI, all based upon the growth goals, and that's a big piece.
Speaker 3:I talk about digital marketing more as brave marketing because, at the end of the day, in order for digital to be the most effective for entrepreneurs and small business owners, it really should be about growth. It should be about where you're going, not just reaching the masses and being everywhere. It's really about being in the right place at the right time, inefficiently, so that you have less waste. And then, at the end of the day, you're not mad at marketing. You're not saying, well, why didn't my Google ads work? Or why didn't this work on Amazon for me? Instead, you're looking at it with data-informed decisions to say, oh, I wasn't targeting the right people, maybe I didn't understand my target audience correctly, maybe I had the wrong budget level because there's higher competition on this platform or area, or maybe you were just pushing out so much social media that you didn't realize.
Speaker 3:You're kind of just talking to a blank wall. There was nobody really there to listen and respond. And you put in so much work and effort and you're like this is an amazing post and and then nobody responds. That sort of rejection. It hurts and it doesn't feel great, it takes us kind of down a bit. So we really flip it so that way we can focus more on the approach and ensuring every dollar spent supports their growth, and then emphasizing on education. There's so much marketing jargon and craziness that's out there that it really can impact business owners to understand what it means, what we're doing, why we're doing it and how it helps them on their growth journey.
Speaker 2:That sounds great. So, corey, as I was prepping for this, I spent a good bit of time on your website, and one of the things that I noticed is that your agency emphasizes personalized marketing strategies. So can you discuss your approach to developing these strategies and how they differ from typical marketing agencies?
Speaker 3:Of course, and it's a great question. So our approach really is all about customization and efficiency. We begin with conducting an in-depth client intake process that really goes beyond just surface level metrics, instead really focusing on truly understanding each client's goals, their pain points, their audience and their market dynamics. Unlike a typical agency that might offer a standard, one size fits all approach, we're highly selective about the tools and strategies we use, tailoring each aspect to fit the specific goals and budgets of the client. So it's really about the difference of how tailored needs for partnerships between us, but also the actual marketing that we implement and execute on at the same time. So our process thinking is both high-level business questions and specific subsets of questions that really reveal insights into each client's unique challenges and opportunities. From there we craft a strategy that prioritizes high-impact, cost-effective solutions, whether that's hyper-localized SEO to reach customers in a specific area or a content marketing plan that maximizes ROI by addressing exactly what the client's audience cares about. And that's the big piece. Right there is that personalized really ensures that every dollar spending marketing is optimized for growth and not wasted on broad stroke tactics that don't deliver real results. There's nothing worse than spending money and it doesn't deliver anything. I can't fathom spending my own money and having no results come back, no real impact, so I treat every client's dollar as if it was vital, and that's how we approach everything together.
Speaker 3:So, in terms of execution, we really leverage data to refine and adopt our strategies in real time, which allows clients to see measurable outcomes without the typical high spend. There's no. You have to wait six to nine months to see the results. We should be seeing them in the immediate future. It may not be the next 30 minutes, but we should be able to tell something by the following day, if not within a couple of days. Are we heading in the right direction with what our strategy is? Is it actually working?
Speaker 3:We also prep and prepare for changes of optimizations along the way, so that we can stay on that clear goal of where we're trying to go, because the market changes, the market evolves, tactics change, channels get updates there's just different elements that come into play, and we take all of that off of our clients and give them the benefit of a full service marketing strategy that is much more agile, it's much more personalized and it's a budget-friendly approach, and so this sort of custom-built model that we have really ensures that we're not only helping clients achieve their growth goals, but we're also providing an affordable, impactful alternative to the larger, less adaptable agency solutions that, quite honestly, are becoming archaic. At this point, it's 2024, soon to be 2025. We've got to get up with the trends from a marketing agency standpoint.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very nice, very nice. So can you share a success story from one of your clients that you worked with?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think there's so many to choose from, but I did think of one in particular. So we've been working with this physical therapy clinic for quite some time. They're in a large metro area. There's high, heavy competition all around and when we first started working together, they were having an issue attracting new clients. Despite offering high quality care, very affordable, good quality care, personalized, one-on-one approach Everything you want.
Speaker 3:When you think about having to go to PT, or whether it's training for a marathon or anything coming up post-surgery, you're running into issues with your body. Lots of different pieces come into that, like sciatica and stuff. There's huge issues we can have in our bodies. So what they kept seeing was their marketing just wasn't working. They weren't able to figure out how can they reach those new clients, how can they get them attracted. But when we peeled the layers back, we understood that when you meet with them one-on-one, you feel that personalization, you feel how involved they are in your healthcare plan, how they want to make sure what they do from the PT side fits you and your lifestyle. And we looked at them and said well, this is easy, this is what we do for the marketing side, diving deeper, realized that their website, their advertising from Google ads, yelp ads and other channels were all misaligned. They weren't talking to the right audience, they weren't optimized in terms of like SEO content for their website, building that into their ads, making sure everything was just really robust and working together.
Speaker 3:So our strategy ended up resulting in a high demand for them and they opened up a second location within a year, and that was something that wasn't necessarily top of mind as a growth goal, but it became one because of the dynamic we could create together.
Speaker 3:And so this growth breaks not just the leads that they needed, but it also got them to think larger about how to grow their business more to have a larger impact on their local community. And at the end of the day, I smile so big because they make me so happy that this happens. We started with there's a problem, we've got a solution, we can get through this, and then to see the outcome on the other side and say now we've been working together for years and it's amazing to think that the second location is also doing really well and there's a potential for a third. So that growth sort of changes with time and that's something that fits really well with us, because we want that sustained, long-term growth. We want to make sure it's the right level and the right attention that's needed per client, so they're one of my favorite ones.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice. And so what would you say are some emerging trends in digital marketing and how can your clients or prospective clients be prepared to leverage these trends?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, great question. So one of the trends and it's very timely and it's a high topic that I hear a lot about and I speak on it quite often is the rise of AI driven marketing tools. Ai is really great at helping small businesses personalize their customer interactions. They can gain deeper insights into customer behavior without extensive resources that ultimately cost them a ton of time and money. You know, every hour we have is a dollar. You know, of some degree back to us as business owners.
Speaker 3:So we're paying attention really to the growth of short form video content, which is increasingly popular on platforms like TikTok.
Speaker 3:You've got Instagram Reels and such, and we're really preparing to help our clients leverage these trends with targeted video content strategies.
Speaker 3:While exploring the AI tools that make data insights and customer engagement much more accessible, it's really blending that data together to make sure it's quality data, it's data that we can trust, not just data that came from somewhere and we have no clue what the citation is, and really pulling that into the strategy at the end of the day so that way we can leverage it.
Speaker 3:If we see that folks are responding more to one type of content versus the other, they prefer one platform over the other. You know we can do more work in here to say what are the real trends. Who are the people that are engaging with it? The vanity numbers of the likes and comments look great, but really what does that mean? Do we reach the right people? Do they align with our target audience for the client? All of that comes together because our goal at the end of the day is to help clients stay ahead of the curve and integrate these advancements that we see in the marketing and digital space in ways that really enhance their customer relationships and drive their growth at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice. Well, this has been a really good insight into what you're doing at Clark Co and marketing in 2024. So at the end of every episode, we ask our guests the same four questions. We call this the fire round. Are you ready? I'm ready, as I can be. All right. What's your favorite?
Speaker 3:book oh, I have so many, but right now I've really been into hook point how to stand out in a three second world. I think it's so relevant to all of these conversations for all of us as entrepreneurs how do you grasp somebody's attention in three seconds? It's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2:Nice, Nice. I'll have to add that to my reading list Number two what are your hobbies?
Speaker 3:I have so many hobbies, the biggest kind of high level is just being outdoors. It's the reason that got me back to New England. I love being near the ocean and I love being near the mountains, and all four seasons, so at any time you could find me going to the ocean, sitting at the beach, swimming. I don't go super far in the ocean because I am a little bit afraid of like sharks and what else is out there, but in the winter you can find me in the mountains skiing. You can find me hiking in between seasons, mountain biking, cycling on the road Anything that gets me outside. I get so inspired by nature and just seeing how vast this world is, which to me relates back to business. It's in what we create and grow. There's no end to the possibility of where we can go, so anything outside is my favorite.
Speaker 2:Very nice. What is one thing you do not miss about working for the man?
Speaker 3:Such a good one. I do not miss inter-departmental politics at all. It was the biggest waste of time I remember sitting in this meeting I'll share a quick story on that and there had to have been 50 of us in this physical room and half the room is developers, the other half is marketers. So you already got a conflict between the two.
Speaker 3:And I'll never forget one of the lead developers was just so mad at how the project was going down and I wasn't the lead but I felt this compelledness to just speak up and just say, hey, like what's going on here, how can we actually work together and make this function? And I'll never forget this person was twice my age at the time and they came to me afterwards and were like I really appreciate that you listened to me and you heard me. I never get that in these calls and I hate going to them for that reason. And I said I understand you better now because I was a little taken back by your energy. I thought what are they mad at? Did I do something? Did somebody else do something? Oh God, did like the VP do something like this could be messy, you know we all kind of have these questions, so don't miss any of that.
Speaker 2:Very nice. And last question what do you think sets apart successful entrepreneurs from those who give up, fail or never get started? Great question.
Speaker 3:I think it's all about a positive mindset. At the end of the day, not everything is easy, Not everything is achievable. We're doing hard, good work. So if you stay at a positive mindset and you stay focused on what your goals are, for me it's growth. There's a certain growth level I'd like to reach. When I achieve it, I create the next one, but along the way I'm constantly creating new goals, new things that I can achieve, and then celebrating the wins on the way, Because it is really lonely to be an entrepreneur at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:You know, I joke with my nieces when they ask me you know who's your boss? Well, I'm like well, you know the big man upstairs. I'm like that's who I deal with from time to time, and that's if you're a religious person by any means. For, however, your viewpoints are for everyone. But it's one of those where you kind of realize when you step out of corporate, you're like oh, there isn't anybody above me. I have to be that person, I have to create the culture, I have to create the company. You gotta do all this stuff.
Speaker 3:And when you get frustrated and you get down and you feel like giving up and like you're a failure. That's the fastest way to lose your steam and to end things. I've watched a lot of people just be like you know what? I'm going back to corporate, I can't do it. And I say to them I go.
Speaker 3:There's nothing wrong with that, that's totally an acceptable answer. But it's all about your timing and your alignment with yourself. Do you feel like this is right? Do you feel like you could do more? Or do you really just feel like giving up? And there's no wrong answer? There's no real judgment that should be given to any of that, but it is up to that person at the end of the day and I think having a positive mindset across it, of saying you're going to have some challenges. There may be some bumps in the road, but entrepreneurship is a continual cycle. There's ebbs and flows, highs and lows and everything in between, and if you don't focus on what goes really well and figure out how to solve what doesn't, it's going to take you down pretty quick. So definitely a good one.
Speaker 2:Very good, and if people are interested in working with your company, what would be the best way to get in touch?
Speaker 3:The best sort of two formats to reach me would be through my LinkedIn. You can find me very easily. It's linkedincom slash Corey-Clark-Strategist. Or you can go to our website at coreyclarkco. We had to be fancy and do co instead of com, because it was thousands of dollars. So as a small business, I like to be efficient as well, but I always like to call it out because it confuses folks from time to time.
Speaker 2:Perfect, and we'll link to all that in the show notes. Corey, I want to thank you for being a guest on the Firing the man podcast and looking forward to staying in touch.
