Adapting Your Marketing Strategy in the Creator Age with Kipp Bodnar: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Marketing Against the Grain. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down how to adapt your marketing strategy in the creator age. To draw these value bonds, I am brought to Kip Bodner and DEO Fire Studios. Kip is the Chief Marketing Officer at HubSpot, where he sets HubSpot's global inbound marketing strategy to drive awareness and demand for HubSpot's inbound marketing and sales products.

0:35And today, Fire Nation will talk about how it's not just how hard you work, but what you work on, how brands should try to work with creators in their space. And if you're a business person, align yourself with creators and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Kip and our sponsors. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions.

1:06Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch. Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Kip, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:47What is up, Fire Nation? Thanks for having me. The thing that I believe that makes you successful is that it is not just how hard you work, it is what you work on. Everybody talks about hard work. Hard work, yes, it's important, but you can work really hard on a boring or low impact thing and waste a ton of time. It is picking the right stuff to work on is what's really going to make you successful. Amen, brother. I love saying that going a million miles an hour in the wrong direction just takes you a million miles in the wrong direction after an hour. So I love that. Don't focus on the low impact stuff, Fire Nation.

2:22Focus on stuff that moves the needle. What's your 80-20? And Kip, let's be honest, Yes, there's been a shift in the world. And those creators who are currently on top, they've adapted to the shift. Share some details about this quote-unquote shift with Fire Nation. We live in a crazy world where creators have more power than ever before, the ability to make more money than ever before, and the ability to get their message out in ways that they've never been able to before. It used to be that brands had all the power and that you had to be a part of a big company, whether it be a media company or corporation, to really be heard in the world.

3:00And now, you can just be an expert and you can be an amazing creator and you can get a voice, whether it be on Substack or Patreon or an awesome podcast like you're doing, John, all across the board. And that is an unprecedented opportunity for creators. And I think creators and companies too are going to work together in a bunch of new and different innovative ways because of this shift that's upon us. I mean, one thing I love about HubSpot is you guys really keep your eyes open to these shifts. And you've seen this massive shift in the podcast space and just the overall audio space. And so what have you done?

3:34You've gone forward and you've created this amazing podcast network, which I'm honored to be a part of. And it's a great way to just say, Hey, we've adapted. We've seen the shift. We're going to go all in on this. So let's talk specifics, Kip, about how this shift that we're talking about is currently affecting brands and specifically their marketing strategies? Okay, so a few things. If you're a brand right now, your marketing strategy is not media heavy enough at all, and it's not creator focused enough at all. And it's probably very mono media. It's probably text and maybe a little bit of video and certainly no audio.

4:12And one of the things that I love about the HubSpot Podcast Network is like, we saw the growth in audio. We had our own shows, but we knew we were only going to get so far. And we noticed that there was just an amazing group of creators out there like yourself, John, and so many others that were like, wow, how do we bring them together and also solve a core problem for listeners, which is, man, it's really hard to find and discover new shows still. Really hard to find the best audio content that can help your business, help you grow as a person, as a leader. And so what we thought about was like, oh, how do we bring those things together and create a great network?

4:48So you might be listening to your show, John, and hear about another awesome episode on a really high quality related show that's already been vetted and thought of by us and by yourself. And people can just have a real kind of continuity and experience to their audio consumption that is really kind of lacking today. And I think if you're a brand, that's what you try to do. Work with the best creators in your space and reduce the friction for your audience. Help your audience find the best information as easily as possible. See, I love this, Fire Nation. And you're seeing this in actual action.

5:17I mean, what was the show that I promoted today at the top of the show? I talked about My First Million, which is another great podcast in the HubSpot Network. Yesterday, I talked about being boss. Tomorrow, we're talking about business infrastructure. I mean, this is what's happening when you can co-promote, when you can co-mingle. And a company that, you know, frankly, has done this spectacularly well for years now is Wondery, where they just co-promote great shows in their own network. And guess what? They just got bought by Amazon for$330 million. So you can see what happens when you build the right infrastructure and you adapt to the shifts and you make things happen.

5:49So we love talking about best practices on entrepreneurs on Fire Kip. So what are the best practices for brands who are currently wanting to work with creators? First things first, you have to understand that the creator's brand is just as, if not more important than your own brand. And you have to figure out how to align brands, not try to swallow up the creator's brand as part of your brand, job one. Job two, you have to understand what is a great creator experience look like? You know, I don't know about you, John, but the creators I know, and I know you a little bit, you know what they love to do?

6:23They love to create. They don't love to do all of the administrative stuff around creating, they wanna create. And so if you're a brand and you can make it easier and easier for creators to create their work and not have to go through a bunch of red tape, jump through a bunch of hoops, do a bunch of administration, then you are going to have a much better partnership. Your audience is gonna get much better content. It is going to work out and be a win-win for everyone. And then the second thing, the third thing you have to do, excuse me, is you have to figure out how are you going to give the creator the autonomy to tell their authentic story to the market and then align your brand story.

6:57And sometimes that's through partnerships. Sometimes that's through sponsorships. Sometimes that's through co-created content. It can happen a whole host of ways. But if you're just trying to shove your narrative through a creator's channel, it's not going to work. It's not going to be authentic to the creator. It's not going to be authentic to their audience. And it's going to actually be detrimental to your brand. So you have to figure out how your brand story can be additive to what the creator is trying to do. So many value bombs dropped here, Fire Nation. I want to go through a few of these real quick.

7:25Number one, don't try to swallow up the creator's brand. That's not the point. In fact, that will have potentially the opposite effects. I mean, you want to have that great alignment, that parallel success. And then what would make a great creator experience? Like if you're a brand, you've got to ask that question going in. And then I love that last part, which is how do you align the actual brands, brand story with that creator, allowing the creator to continue being authentic, to continue being genuine, to continue being who they are, who was able to grow that great brand, that great audience, that great following.

7:58And again, you know, not to continue to toot HubSpot's horn here, but I mean, like this is exactly what they did when they approached me. I mean, they were saying, John, we want to just take what you're doing and amplify it. We want to combine your show with other great shows so that we can co-mingle your message with others and co-promote and cross-promote and do all these fantastic things to get entrepreneurs on fire and more ear balls than it's currently in right now. and lining me up with Alana over at HubSpot, who's fantastic and making sure that we're looking at the numbers and the analytics so that we are all winning because all ships rise in a high tide.

8:34So those best practices for brands when I work with the creators, how are you making this a win-win? Because when the creators are winning, that brand is winning as well. So how do you have that value exchange and rise that tide? And Fire Nation, if you think we're even close to done dropping value bombs, You've got another thing coming. We are going to keep up the heat as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors. I remember searching for the perfect CRM when I first launched Entrepreneurs on Fire and it's tough to know which platform is going to be right for you and your business. Being in major startup mode, I wanted to choose a CRM that could keep up with my big growth goals.

9:12If this sounds like you, then take it from me, from marketing and sales to supporting content to everything in between. HubSpot's all-on-one customer platform has startups covered. And with the HubSpot for Startups program, you can save 30 to 90 % on a platform that scales right along with you, increase leads, boost revenue, improve your customer experience. HubSpot for Startups helps you do it all. Not sure if you can handle implementing a CRM at this stage in your business? Don't worry. HubSpot's 24-7 customer support has your back. To see if you're eligible to join HubSpot for Startups program and take your growth to the next level, visit hubspot.com slash startups.

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10:21Taylor has put together a free training that's going to teach you how to land a TEDx talk in as little as 90 days. Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online, and more. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. So Kip, let's flip that script. We talked about the best practices for brands working with creators. What about those creators that are listening right now that are thinking about working with brands?

11:02Like what should they be thinking about when choosing which brands to work with? Look, if you're a creator, I think working with brands is a fantastic opportunity. I'm biased because I'm like on the brand side, obviously. But at the same time, if you're a creator right now and you have a bunch of subscription options is how you monetize, it's like, it kind of stinks for your audience to have to like subscribe via sub stack and maybe subscribe to your podcast, but behind a Patreon paywall, it can get really messy. And working with brands is a great way to not just simplify that for your audience, but most brands can help you grow your audience and accelerate your audience growth, which is, I think as a creator, one of the core things you have to do to be successful.

11:43And so if you're working with brands, I think it's one, does this brand share the same audience and values that I do? Can I tell my authentic story in partnership with this brand? And so you need to know who they are and the audience they serve. The second thing is, what does this brand care about? What are they trying to achieve? And am I passionate about helping them achieve that? And do I think that my audience and the stories I'm telling can help them achieve that. If so, wow, looks, we could probably have an amazing partnership. If not, maybe I should go and work and talk with somebody else.

12:16And the third thing here is how do I build a really authentic story for my own audience that the brand's a part of? And how do I bring the brand into my story instead of trying to co-create some new story with the brand? If you're a creator, you're doing a great job creating right now. You've got an audience, you have a community. How do you really bring the brand and in the fold as another authentic participant in that? Fire Nation, I hope you're taking notes. I hope you're hitting the rewind button a couple of times here to go back through these things. Because listen, Kip is preaching to the choir here.

12:50And this is the exact process that we went through. And we just started this month, by the way, May of 2021, a two-year partnership that could turn into even more than that. We went through this process. Like I had to asked myself, like, what does HubSpot care about? Am I passionate about this? And I really went through this process of thinking and having great conversations with Kip's team and saying, yes, like this is exactly what I created Entrepreneurs on Fire for, to hear amazing stories from entrepreneurs about the strategies, the tactics, the inbound marketing, the content marketing that works.

13:22And these are all the things that HubSpot believes in and have built their massive brand over. And then I had to ask myself, how can I bring the HubSpot brand into my authentic story? Like, how does that work? And how is that going to look not just one month from now, but, you know, potentially one year from now? And these are all conversations that you as a creator of Fire Nation, if you're on that creator side, have to think about when you're going to potentially be partnering and joining up with a big brand such as a HubSpot. And so let's get specific about HubSpot for a second here, Kip. We are obviously seeing that you guys are committed to the process of partnering with the right creators.

14:01I mean, you have six amazing podcasts in your podcast network. You're doing other things outside of the podcast space and other audio spaces and other just overall spaces out there. So how are you specifically approaching this topic that we're talking about right now? On the HubSpot side of things, we have a very clear mission. We want to be the number one CRM platform for scaling companies. But like, I'm not going to bore the world with boring product marketing. What I want to do is educate and inspire the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs. That's what I want to do. That is what I wake up every day in the morning trying to do.

14:36And so there's so much work that we're basically trying to do, but it's all centered around that core principle. So the work we're doing, the podcast network for you, for example, that's great. All the free products that we offer folks, free CRM, all of that. That's great. But at the same time, we have an amazing YouTube channel that is growing like a weed. We are doing social audio. We are investing and doubling down on our blogs and academy certifications, educations, helping match people and helping them find jobs out there in the world, in the world of sales and marketing, customer success.

15:08And so what we're fundamentally trying to do is educate and inspire. And I could not be more excited, John, to be working with you and a whole host of amazing creators to just help shape the next world, next generation of entrepreneurs. I heard some data recently that, in a conversation with Google, that it is likely that the first half of 2020, we will see more business creation than ever before. More new businesses will be created than ever before. It's never been a better time to start a business and to be a creator. And we at HubSpot really just wanna help empower the next generation and help educate and help inspire them.

15:43You see how clear HubSpot's mission is and their values and their goals are, Fire Nation? They want to empower entrepreneurs. They want to empower small business owners to make this world a better place, to create real impact. So Kip, this has been a fantastic chat. I want to really circle back and double down on the one key takeaway that you really feel like Fire Nation needs to walk away with. With all these value bombs dropped, what's the one thing you want to make sure we really get from today's chat? The thing I really want everybody to understand is that we are moving into a new way to market where creators and the people who have the strongest voice and perspective on a market matter so, so much.

16:26And if you're a business or you're an entrepreneur, aligning yourself with the best creators in your market to tell your story and to tell the most impactful story to the market alongside them is going to be how you change the trajectory of your business. fire nation how can you not get excited about a brand that cares so much about these specific things don't you want to be a part of that i mean you know that you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with you've been hanging out with kb in jld today so fire nation keep up that heat and if you head over to eofire.com and type kip k-i-p-p in the search bar the show notes page will pop up with everything we talked about these are the best show notes in the biz time timestamps, links galore, please check out the HubSpot podcast network with great podcasts like yours truly, Being Boss, Business Infrastructure, My First Million, and others.

17:19Definitely check that out because you love listening to podcast Fire Nation. These are other hand-selected, amazing podcasts in the HubSpot podcast network. And of course, what are you using for CRM Fire Nation? Do they care as much as HubSpot obviously cares about you and your creating experience? think about it and just check out HubSpot.com. So Kip, thank you so much for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Thank you so much, Sean. Thanks, Fire Nation. Thanks for having me. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Kip and successful entrepreneurs, they accomplish big goals, which is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you, Fire Nation, in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days.

18:04And we're talking step-by-step. Visit thefreedomjournal.com. Use promo code podcast for a$15 discount. And thank you for listening to my podcast. And I will catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions. Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program or membership and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch.

18:39Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions.