Brand-Building Goals to Set for 2025

Larry Roberts [00:00:09]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:11]:

And I'm Sara Lohse. And this is branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on this episode of the podcast, how could we not. How could we not say happy New Year and talk about our New Year's? Are they resolutions? Is that what we're going to call them? Is that what they are?

Sara Lohse [00:00:31]:

I feel like I hate the word because you just know if you set a New Year's resolution, you're not gonna do it.

Larry Roberts [00:00:36]:

Yeah. I literally saw a meme yesterday that said a New Year's resolution is a to do list for the first week of the year.

Sara Lohse [00:00:43]:

Yes. It's so true. I'm like, I'm setting goals for the year, and I'm going to, like, just call them goals. Because my. Like, when people ask me what my New Year's resolutions are, I usually say, like, to pet more dogs. And I always do that one, but.

Larry Roberts [00:00:58]:

That was pretty easy.

Sara Lohse [00:01:00]:

Yeah, but I can't take actual New Year's resolution seriously.

Larry Roberts [00:01:03]:

No, it's. Yeah, it's always been something that I've struggled with, and I just. I just. I fail to see the point. However, I do see the point in setting goals for the year. So I. I think just. Even the perception of saying goal as compared to saying resolution makes all the difference in the world.

Sara Lohse [00:01:23]:

Yeah. And I've already started my list of what my goals are, and I'm sure you have your list, and we have some that are just suggestions that anybody that is growing a personal brand, growing a professional brand, whatever. It is just some things that you could think about maybe setting as your goals. So, Larry, you start. What's yours?

Larry Roberts [00:01:42]:

Yeah, I think that's great. And I love you putting me on the spot right out of the gate, so thank you. Oh, yeah. But I mean, honestly. And, you know, I have to bring this up, but just this morning, I was back on ABC here in the Dallas market, and during the broadcast, the host of the show announced the fact that I am now a regular on the program on air. So I was like, oh, that's. That's pretty freaking cool. So, yeah, the fact that that happened right out of the gate on January 2nd was pretty amazing.

Larry Roberts [00:02:11]:

And, you know, it. It shows that, honestly, we can gain earned media. So many people think that getting on TV or getting on, you know, ABC or NBC or FOX or wherever is really out of reach, and it's not. Now, I originally got very lucky and was recommended to go on this show because of a networking organization that I was involved with. The president of that organization recommended me to go on. But after, I think this is my sixth or seventh appearance, they. I don't know. I don't call it a promotion or whatever, but they.

Larry Roberts [00:02:44]:

They locked me in as a regular and announced it to their audience. So it just goes to show that if you get out there and you network and you make those connections, which I think is a massive goal for people that are trying to grow their personal brands, that it opens up doors for you. So in all honesty, networking and networking at an even higher level than what I do it now is definitely a personal goal of mine. I found it interesting that. And you recall this conversation probably back in October, maybe even September, I go, I am not going to be traveling and I'm not going to be speaking as much in 25 as I did in 24, but I'm already booked through June, so. So it just happens. Even if you're not trying to do it, it just happens. But you have to get out there and you have to network, you have to make those connections, and then you have to capitalize on them.

Larry Roberts [00:03:32]:

So that's my goal for 25, is to continue networking, continue building relationships, continue gaining that earned media. Because I'm not paying to be on this show. A lot of people go, oh, he's paying whatever to be. No, I'm not paying a dime. Now, in full disclosure, not being paid a dime either. However, just the first few appearances on this show paid me significant five figures just by being on the show because it led to speaking gigs that were paid gigs. So don't look at it as, you know, I'm going on and I'm giving my time for free. Look at it as an opportunity to grow your brand, grow your impact, grow your influence, and be able to eventually capitalize on that and gain revenue from it.

Sara Lohse [00:04:14]:

Yeah, I was going to say that's when we say roi there. Was there a return on investment or was there a return on impact? And that one definitely didn't cost you anything. But even with that, there was a huge return on that. On that impact that it had on your brand.

Larry Roberts [00:04:30]:

No, 100%. I mean, it's. It's one of the most significant things that I've seen. And again, it strictly goes back to establishing relationships that led to this opportunity. So it's not because, you know, it's nothing else. Literally. There's no other reason. It's just because I had the relationships in place and had.

Larry Roberts [00:04:48]:

When the opportunity presented itself, I got called up to take advantage of it. Now, when they did Call me up. Of course, I did have to take advantage of it. I did have to make sure I was prepared to be on this morning talk show. But if you do that and you're ready and you make that impact with the opportunity that came from the networking, it leads to bigger and better things. So again, that's my goal. And I highly recommend that anybody out there that's looking to make an impact tries to do something similar. And it's not as difficult as you would think.

Sara Lohse [00:05:20]:

Yeah, I think one of my goals and one of my recommendations is kind of goes along with that. Cause you said networking and mine is just better networking. Because I feel like I do a lot of networking. So setting a goal to network is like. I do that every day.

Larry Roberts [00:05:36]:

Sure.

Sara Lohse [00:05:36]:

But I need to do it better. And I think everybody needs to do it better because it's. At this point, networking is almost like a lost art because it's just, it always just feels like forced conversations and pitches and. So what do you do? Oh, well, what do you do? And that's not building a network. That's like having a job interview.

Larry Roberts [00:05:58]:

Well, you've heard me say it before too, that so many of these organizations that even I'm a part of, you see the exact same people. I mean, on the third Wednesday of the month, I go to one organization at 7:30 in the morning and then there's another organization at 5:30 in the afternoon. And it's essentially the exact same crowd. I mean, there might be one or two different people, but it's basically the same crowd. So a lot of these folks that you find in these networking groups, I consider them. And this, it sounds insulting, but it's really not. I just, it's what I recognize. It's like they're professional networkers.

Larry Roberts [00:06:31]:

It's like they're not really trying to grow their business. They're not really trying to grow their brand. And to reinforce that point, just this morning, as a matter of fact, I woke up, went on LinkedIn and our mutual friend Donnie Boyvin of the Badass Business Summit. Right? And SCN Champions Network, huh?

Sara Lohse [00:06:49]:

Stanley Bovine.

Larry Roberts [00:06:51]:

Well, whatever. He. It's Donnie. It's effing Donnie. Okay? That's all that matters. So, so. But he posted this morning talking about networking. And at the same time, are you just networking the network? Are you networking to sell? Because selling is what grows our brand.

Larry Roberts [00:07:09]:

Selling is what grows our business. So it's great to get out there and shake hands and kiss babies and, and make all these friends and relationships. But if you're not converting that and doing better networking or more thorough networking, then really what's the point? And I loved that post this morning. I don't comment too often on people's posts, but I did comment on that one because getting out there and networking and just shaking hands, it's an easy trap to fall into because you, you'll. I'm doing the work. Why aren't I making the money? Well, because you're not doing the right work. You're not doing better networking, which was your point to start with. So I love that.

Sara Lohse [00:07:46]:

Yeah. And not to contradict Donnie, because, I mean, I love him and what he does, but I don't think the selling part is really the focus unless it's selling yourself. And when, like, when I think of networking, I don't think of me selling. I think of, like, creating actual, like, relationships. And that doesn't have to mean, like, they're going to be my best friends, but like, some kind of relationship that gets established. And one thing I actually learned from him and from his organization, Success Champion Networking, is you should, like, you shouldn't have a goal to network with your target client. You want to network with the people that can connect you to your target client.

Larry Roberts [00:08:31]:

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Sara Lohse [00:08:32]:

And when I think of I need to network better, that's how I want to do it. I want to be talking to. If my target audience is, like, marketing directors. Like, I want to talk to the people that work with marketing directors, and I want to talk to people who can introduce me to, like, five people that could become clients instead of just having that one person possibly become a client.

Larry Roberts [00:08:57]:

Exactly. And, and I, I couldn't agree more, in all honesty. But we still. And, and not to contradict you or counter or anything or argue, but I think we still have to have that selling mindset.

Sara Lohse [00:09:08]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:09:08]:

Coming out the gate. Yeah, we want to build relationships, but I mean, let's make no mistake about it. Their goal and your goal should be to have a relationship so that you can be referral partners for each other too. Sell. So I, I get that. But. But again, so many times people get out there and they network and I'm like, oh, I know this person and this person, this person, this person, this person. But do they even know what you do? Would they even have the first clue as to who would be a great referral for you?

Sara Lohse [00:09:38]:

Who is the red hat guy?

Larry Roberts [00:09:40]:

Yeah, yeah. What's. Who cares? What's that dude doing? You know, I got into a conversation in the green room this morning about how about how the red hat turned me into a branding expert? And I'm like, that's, it's, it's almost silly that this red hat for some reason makes me a branding expert because it makes me stand out in a crowd. But it's the same thing. Nobody knows what the red hat's about. You know, they know I. Am I a trumper? Is that what this hat means? Which it's not. But people have that question.

Larry Roberts [00:10:11]:

So you have to be clear in your networking. People have to understand who you are, what you are, what your brand is, what you do, what your goals are, who's your ideal referral partner. All those things have to come out of it. And I think when you have all those things lined up, I think that's what leads to that better networking.

Sara Lohse [00:10:27]:

I think. I mean, now I'm going to kind of contradict myself because I think, like you said, like there, it does have to be that aspect of selling and sales. And one thing that I learned from, I think it's one of the books that I read recently. We always try to avoid being too salesy.

Larry Roberts [00:10:48]:

Yes.

Sara Lohse [00:10:48]:

Which makes us afraid to be salesy at all.

Larry Roberts [00:10:51]:

Yep.

Sara Lohse [00:10:52]:

And it's like, I don't want to seem like I'm pushy or salesy, so I'm not going to even tell people what I do. And we think that we're coming off really salesy. So instead of doing that, we just don't do anything. And I guess I need to lean more into being a little bit salesy. Not sleazy salesy, but I like, people still need to know what you do and how you do it and why you do it and who you can help and who you do it for. Because if you don't say anything just to not sound salesy, you're not going to ever make a sale.

Larry Roberts [00:11:26]:

You're not going to sell. So I have to say that as your business partner, I 100% agree with you.

Sara Lohse [00:11:32]:

I will do my best. Speaking of business partner and selling, one goal every brand should have is to have a podcast. And if you want one, call us. We don't have a phone number. Email us, go to our website, whatever. Find us on social.

Larry Roberts [00:11:48]:

Yeah. Work with brandon.com. reach out. We're on social media. We're easy to find.

Sara Lohse [00:11:53]:

Look at us. Wow. We're so salesy. My other one that I actually was working on right before we got on this recording is really trying to get organized and automated and actually taking advantage of the technology that I'm paying for, for the first time in my career I have a CRM.

Larry Roberts [00:12:17]:

That's amazing. That's. That's awesome.

Sara Lohse [00:12:18]:

And it's not even. Thank you. It's not necessarily the first time I've had it. It's the first time I've used it. Yeah, because I had it.

Larry Roberts [00:12:26]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:12:26]:

Yeah. Like I've, I've done trials, I've done, I've paid for them. I've done all the things and just like the planners that I buy every year, I never use it. So I'm trying really hard to create all of these different automations and integration so that I only have to do it once and then it just does it for me.

Larry Roberts [00:12:45]:

So I noticed this morning that you were in Monday. You know, we're using Monday as our, uh. What. What is Monday? Kind of a.

Sara Lohse [00:12:53]:

It's a work. Like a workflow management, but it also has, it's also the CRM I use.

Larry Roberts [00:12:58]:

Yeah, well, I noticed you, you, you gave me some assignments, so I did.

Sara Lohse [00:13:03]:

I, I gave you lots of assignments, but I also like created new boards in the CRM piece of it and I created like automations. I finally connected it to my outlook, so now I can pull it up straight from my inbox. Like all of these different things that I've done just to make things easier on myself later. Because one of the. My biggest challenges every year is getting and staying organized. So that is 2025 is the year that I might almost get organized.

Larry Roberts [00:13:34]:

Yeah, I'll hold my breath on that one. I've been to your house.

Sara Lohse [00:13:38]:

I'm not fully committing to it yet because I don't want anyone to actually.

Larry Roberts [00:13:41]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:13:42]:

Hold me to that. But it's the year I try.

Larry Roberts [00:13:45]:

No, I mean, I think everybody needs that, honestly, because especially as entrepreneurs and small business owners, it's super easy to jump on board with these, the latest and greatest apps that are out there, the latest and greatest platforms that are out there. And just like you were talking about, you do the freebie trials and you invest a week of effort into setting it up and getting it going. But what many people overlook. And I mean, I'm gonna throw us both under the bus here a little bit and talk about Monday. We were talking about it just a second ago, especially the, the task. The task management system. We set it up and it worked really well. I mean, it's great.

Larry Roberts [00:14:17]:

It made for easy communication between the two of us. But the, the, the. What people overlook is that it's, it's, it requires maintenance.

Sara Lohse [00:14:25]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:14:25]:

You have to go in, you know, every Once in a while, maybe you do it monthly. Maybe it is what it is. Whatever it is, whatever schedule works for you, but it requires maintenance for it to continue working, and a lot of folks overlook that aspect of it. And when it comes down to following through on the maintenance to keep you organized, to keep that communication flowing, it's very easy to go, oh, my God, I don't have time for that. I, I do not have time to organize my life, to organize my business. I don't have time to set this up for another freaking month. But it pays dividends because it's so, I mean, it cuts down on communication between you and I. Not, I mean, not a lot because we still communicate quite regularly.

Larry Roberts [00:15:02]:

But I don't have to call you go, hey, Sara, what are we doing for this client? Where are we at? Where are we at on them? I mean, what do they need? What do I, you know, so I. You don't have to do that because it's all right there. And it, it is super beneficial if you will commit in 2025 to finding a platform like a Monday, maybe. And Monday is not a sponsor, it's just who we're using. So I'm going to see if they.

Sara Lohse [00:15:24]:

Have an affiliate code, honestly, because we, we do love it. And if they give us an affiliate.

Larry Roberts [00:15:30]:

Code like use it, it would be great, 100%.

Sara Lohse [00:15:32]:

But they are not sponsoring this.

Larry Roberts [00:15:34]:

Yeah, no, but we just love the platform because it's very effective.

Sara Lohse [00:15:38]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:15:38]:

And whether it's a Monday or whether it's a go high level or whatever it is, whatever works best for you. Understand that you need that. And in 2025, you need to make a commitment to having something like that, and you need to commit to maintaining it and consistently using it. And when you see that your efficiency is going to go through the roof.

Sara Lohse [00:15:58]:

I think my avoidance on them, I mean, part of it was I was personally victimized by Salesforce for so many years when I was in finance. But part of it is I do a lot of work on my own and I'm like, why would I spend time creating a task list when I could just do the tasks on the list? So it always just seemed so silly. It's like an extra step. So it actually wasn't until you and I started being like, all right, we really got to get this organized. And it's no longer like me telling myself to do something. It's us together having a way to manage and communicate. That really helped. But now I am trying to finally integrate it into the things I do on my own, just.

Sara Lohse [00:16:41]:

But just not the same way that we use it. I'm finding other ways that it can keep me organized and on track. That doesn't feel as pointless to me as just like, hey, Sara, do that. Thanks, Sara.

Larry Roberts [00:16:55]:

Yeah, I know I did that, you know, because over the years, I've tried different methods of trying to get myself before we were business partners, trying to get myself and even maybe at the early stages of our partnership, trying to get myself organized and make sure I don't drop the ball here. And I follow through on this and I reach back out and make contact with this potential sale. And I went out, I bought me this cat daddy whiteboard and the coolest whiteboard markers, the coolest whiteboard erasers. And man, when it got there, I set it up and it was really big. It was much bigger than I needed. And it was in my studio and taking up a lot of space. So I'm pretty confident that when it got there, I mean, I just. I filled it in and had all these cool tasks, and about six months later was the same tasks.

Sara Lohse [00:17:36]:

Yep.

Larry Roberts [00:17:38]:

Because I'm like, I was the same way. I didn't see a need for it. But in all honesty, I. I think if we both were to look back, we would see that. I mean, I'm looking right now and, you know, I'm not in my studio. I'm. I'm in a. I'm a remote.

Larry Roberts [00:17:51]:

We'll put it that way. And the studio that I'm in right now has a whiteboard sitting over here. And I don't think it's changed. I've been here about six weeks, and I don't know that it's changed in the six weeks. So I know we're not calling that. I just hope. I hope she's not listening, but. But we're not the only ones that do it.

Larry Roberts [00:18:10]:

But what I have seen is that over time and as your business contends continues to grow and you gain more clients and the complexity of your business increases, some sort of structure needs to be put in place, and you need to dedicate the time to maintain that structure down the road. And I think that's a great goal for 2025.

Sara Lohse [00:18:31]:

Yeah, I. I think really, though, emphasizing that there is no one way to do it. I thought I couldn't get organized just because, like, my brain is so scattered. I have adhd. I've tried so hard to be a planner girly. Like, I really always wanted to be a planner girly. I would buy the planner at the Beginning of the year, all the stickers, and I would go through and add everything that was currently on my calendar. And that's the last time I would touch that planner.

Sara Lohse [00:18:57]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:18:58]:

I can't say I've wanted to be a planner, girly. But I did try the planner route.

Sara Lohse [00:19:02]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:19:03]:

On multiple occasions. And I've tried the to do list. Yeah. All of it. A good friend of mine, she published an amazing planner and she gave me a free copy of it. And it was. I mean, it's like this thick and it had all this inspirational sayings, like, on everything, to never use it. Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:19:19]:

Yeah. I don't know. I don't think I wrote a damn thing in it, to be honest with you. It's super cool. She did a tremendous job on it. But, yeah, it was. I was like, oh, thanks, Casey. You're the best.

Larry Roberts [00:19:27]:

And then it went. I think it's sitting in my closet, probably with all my other books that people give me.

Sara Lohse [00:19:33]:

So, yeah, I think. I think the most important thing and the goal to set is not just to, like, create the system, then get organized. It's to find the ones that actually do work for you and that actually are helpful. Because if it feels like you're just wasting your time, you might be like, those task lists, the way that I was thinking, I had to set them up. Complete waste of time. It's going to take longer to create that task than it will be to do the task. But if you find the ways that actually do work and look at what it is that you're struggling with in your time management or your project management, and then specifically look for a solution for that, that is how you actually will take advantage of it.

Larry Roberts [00:20:13]:

Cool. Deal. What's. What's the next one, Sara?

Sara Lohse [00:20:16]:

Well, do you have another? I. I give a lot of my goals.

Larry Roberts [00:20:20]:

Well, I. No, I think before we hit record, I said, since I'm not in my studio and I'm not on my computer.

Sara Lohse [00:20:29]:

You would leave the conversations personally.

Larry Roberts [00:20:31]:

Me personally, would be honestly, to gain more earned media. I mean, that's. That's huge because I've seen the impact of having earned media. I think that's a tremendous opportunity for business growth. Another goal of mine, honestly. And if you listen to the. The Bernie episode a couple of episodes ago, or it might have been the last episode one or two episodes ago where he was talking about, it requires. In.

Larry Roberts [00:20:55]:

In today's environment, it requires 12 to 15, maybe even more touch points with a potential client before you end up closing that client. And that really impacted me. Because, and I even confessed it on that episode, you know, I may touch a potential client two or three times and they go, oh, well, I guess they didn't want that. So my goal for 2025 is to wear people out. You know, if there's an opportunity for us to do business together, I want to make sure they know that I know and I want to be the one that they do business with. So my goal is to increase those touch points and to follow up often and to follow up in different ways, whether it be text messages, whether it be dms, whether it be emails, whatever it is, Follow up and make sure that these clients know that I'm genuinely interested in doing business with them and I want to be the one that helps them grow their brand and their business.

Sara Lohse [00:21:50]:

Yeah, I think before when I was talking about like networking better and correctly, one of the things I really got to work on is actually following up. I. We all come home with those stacks of business cards that just sit there. I got better at like actually like adding them to a list and sending out like a follow up email. But that's the only one you shouldn't.

Larry Roberts [00:22:09]:

Be doing in the first place.

Sara Lohse [00:22:11]:

They handed me the business card. They gave me permission to reach out to them. If they want to unsubscribe, the button is right there. I use that email list like once a quarter, which I probably should use it more. That should be another goal.

Larry Roberts [00:22:22]:

You just made another confession. Honestly. You just made another confession. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:22:27]:

When do you send out emails? When I feel like it.

Larry Roberts [00:22:31]:

When I. Yeah, when I just get inspired. I wake up one morning and that cup of coffee hits me just right.

Sara Lohse [00:22:35]:

And I go, pour yourself a cup of ambition. God, I need to be better.

Larry Roberts [00:22:41]:

Settle down, Dolly, settle down.

Sara Lohse [00:22:43]:

But no, like that. That follow up piece of it is something that I'm so bad at. I don't like to be annoying. I don't like to be the first one to reach out.

Larry Roberts [00:22:53]:

I think that's our own negative self talk.

Sara Lohse [00:22:56]:

Oh, of course.

Larry Roberts [00:22:56]:

Coming through and going, you're being annoying. You know what I mean? If you're gonna be annoyed. If you are annoying, they'll block you or they'll, whatever. You'll know though, they will disconnect from you in some way, shape, fashion or form. But you can't let that negative talk impact the way that you try to grow your business. And it's just absolutely critical that we overcome that. And you can call it imposter syndrome or whatever the heck you want to call it. Doesn't matter you, you still need to follow up.

Larry Roberts [00:23:21]:

And if somebody who cares, here's the thing, you know, I'm always afraid they're going to send me back a nasty gram. You know, dude, leave me the F alone. Don't ever talk to me. And if they do, so what?

Sara Lohse [00:23:31]:

Yeah, who cares? Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:23:33]:

Okay. You, you were associates to begin with. You probably weren't friends because your friend wouldn't do you that way. And if your friend did you do you that way, it'd be okay because they're your friend. And like, bro. Yeah, you know, maybe, you know, not many of my friends give me thousands of dollars to do business together. And I totally get that we're still friends, but my point is, is that who cares? You know, don't take it personal. You're trying to grow a brand, you're trying to grow a business, and you got to do what it takes to do it.

Larry Roberts [00:24:02]:

So do it. And don't take it personal.

Sara Lohse [00:24:04]:

Yeah. And I think also we overestimate the impact that each message is going to have.

Larry Roberts [00:24:09]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:24:10]:

You could send someone four email follow ups and they only see one of them.

Larry Roberts [00:24:13]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:24:13]:

So you're, you're not annoying. You just. They didn't even see it. Like it went to spam or it went to their. Some unopened.

Larry Roberts [00:24:19]:

Or they may have seen it and went, I don't have time for this right now.

Sara Lohse [00:24:22]:

And yeah, and they forget to come back to it.

Larry Roberts [00:24:25]:

Whatever. 100.

Sara Lohse [00:24:26]:

So, yeah, we also get this.

Larry Roberts [00:24:28]:

You, you might catch them in a better mood and they might be for, who knows, maybe they listen to this podcast and what, you know what? I do need a podcast. And they see that email and they go, time to act. So keep on keeping on, man. Just continue to reach out, continue to follow up.

Sara Lohse [00:24:42]:

Yeah, it's the same thing with like social media when people like, they spend a lot of time creating content, but they only use each piece of content once. Yeah, you can reuse that stuff.

Larry Roberts [00:24:53]:

Of course you can.

Sara Lohse [00:24:54]:

The, the algorithms have like, what is it? Maybe 6% of your following actually sees your posts. So you can post the same thing over and over again. I mean, maybe tweak it a little bit and make it a little more updated, keep the algorithms happy. But you don't have to have every single thing be completely unique because the, like, different people are going to be seeing it.

Larry Roberts [00:25:13]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:25:15]:

Unless they're stalking you and have like alerts turned on or something. But.

Larry Roberts [00:25:18]:

Well, and then if they are, hopefully they want to do business or you might need to file a report. I Don't know.

Sara Lohse [00:25:24]:

Yeah, well, we'll see how it goes.

Larry Roberts [00:25:26]:

Yeah. Oh. Oh. So Sara just confessed she has a stalker.

Sara Lohse [00:25:30]:

Yeah, I know. I'm talking to him right now.

Larry Roberts [00:25:32]:

Yeah, well, yeah, but everybody already knows that, so. True.

Sara Lohse [00:25:35]:

Anyhow.

Larry Roberts [00:25:36]:

But anyways, what else we got, man? Any other goals before we expose me as a stalker any further?

Sara Lohse [00:25:42]:

I think a good one to have that I'm definitely already thinking about. I haven't started acting on. It's also, it's only the second day of the year, so I have time. But improving your website and SEO. Yeah, and yeah, like SEO especially because like you need people to be able to find you. You need to have like a good ranking, good authority ranking on Google, all of it. But it's also like the first place people go is going to be your social media and everyone kind of knows that. So we've kind of just kind of put like websites on the back burner.

Sara Lohse [00:26:16]:

But if I go to your social, I'm like, oh, this is awesome. And then I go to your website and it looks like it was created by Microsoft paint in like 1997. I'm not going to like, like, I'm not. It stops.

Larry Roberts [00:26:27]:

There's not a chance it stops there.

Sara Lohse [00:26:29]:

And it's so easy to have a good website these days. There's. I use Elementor, that one, I think I actually do have an affiliate code but it's my favorite builder and it's drag and drop. It's so easy. You don't need coding.

Larry Roberts [00:26:43]:

And like templates, tons of extremely great looking templates that you can easily cut. I use Elementor as well. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:26:50]:

Again, this is not an ad.

Larry Roberts [00:26:52]:

No, it's not an ad at all.

Sara Lohse [00:26:53]:

I really love these products, guys.

Larry Roberts [00:26:54]:

Yeah, it's what we do. They don't sponsor us at all, but we both use Elementor for our own clients because we as branded, we don't typically build websites, but I know Sara does some website building on her end and I know I do it through Red Hat, so. But we both use Elementor because it's great. I'm literally building a website right now for a client that was on. I think she's on. Was it Quicks Kicks, what is that? Wicks, Something like that. Whatever. Yeah, it's, it's, there's very limited functionality there.

Larry Roberts [00:27:20]:

I mean it looks kind of cool but it doesn't give you what you need. So yeah, you know, I'm building, rebuilding her website right now on a WordPress site using Elementor and it's just tremendous. And with A little bit of time. You don't even have to be a skilled coder. You don't have to be a web developer. You can make a really, really cool site. And honestly, if you go to workwithbranded.com or you go to favorite daughter media.com or you go to redhatmedia.com, that's not even the website anymore. It's larryroberts.com.

Larry Roberts [00:27:48]:

who am I to know what my website is? But if you go to any of those websites, all of those were built the same way. You know, we snap. We found a. An amazing template for the site. And then I built my site. Sara built the other two. And they look tremendous. So that's something that you can do too as just a, just as someone with a business or if you can't do it, reach out to us.

Larry Roberts [00:28:09]:

We can take care of you.

Sara Lohse [00:28:09]:

Hey, I've actually got a lot of compliments on both, like on my site and the branded site. And I'm like, thanks. I made it in like an hour and a half.

Larry Roberts [00:28:18]:

Yeah, exactly. That's what's so crazy, dude. Yeah. You know, you spend a half a day and you've got a killer website. You can write copy using chat, GPT or Claude or whatever your favorite AI program is. You have your images. I mean, Sara and I love going to. And we're planning on doing this here in a couple of weeks when we go to PodFest.

Larry Roberts [00:28:36]:

We love going to selfie museums, which gives you the opportunity to go into a. It's almost like a warehouse type environment where they have multiple sets set up that look really, really cool. And you can take selfies. So there's tons of opportunities there. And what's it cost, Sara? It's like, it's like 50 bucks, 20.

Sara Lohse [00:28:54]:

Bucks at 30 bucks a person.

Larry Roberts [00:28:56]:

Yeah. So it's.

Sara Lohse [00:28:57]:

Don't actually do it selfie unless you have like a tripod, like bring a friend. But that is such a great way to get branding photos. Oh, all of the photos that I have, my one headshot was taken by a professional photographer that I paid. Every other photo that I use in any of my branding was, Was taken at some sort of selfie museum. Probably by you.

Larry Roberts [00:29:19]:

Yeah, most likely I took it. I don't, I don't know that I've seen any pictures that you use other than the one on the staircase there that I didn't take. So it's a perfect opportunity. So you don't have to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on head shots and branding shots. You don't have to do all that. Find a, find a selfie museum. They're, they're in every major city. They're probably even some in some of the smaller towns that are out there super affordable and a super great way to get content.

Larry Roberts [00:29:43]:

And then you take that content, throw it on a WordPress site that you can get from Godaddy super, super cheap. Get Elementor. It's, I don't know, it's 100 and a half or something and before you know it, few hundred bucks, you've got a very good looking website that people are going to be like, wow, they're going to be blown away.

Sara Lohse [00:29:58]:

Yeah, people are really afraid of websites. And I used to work in advertising and I would see the like the proposals go out for website projects and it's like $30,000.

Larry Roberts [00:30:07]:

Oh yeah, yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:30:09]:

What? No, like so people think like they don't have the budget to actually have a good website and like if you have the time and like the patience, you can do it yourself like you said for a couple hundred bucks. Or like when I, if I do website projects I do for like enough for my time. Like I'm not going to, I know that I'm doing this like pretty fast, that I'm like, I have a rhythm. I'm pretty good at it. I'm not charging 30 grand.

Larry Roberts [00:30:36]:

No, I'm not trying to dude.

Sara Lohse [00:30:37]:

Because here's a lot of people, there's a lot of developers quote unquote, like people like me that do it like pretty cheap because we know the easier ways to do it.

Larry Roberts [00:30:47]:

Yeah, because you can, I mean that's, that's it. And I was going to say that I think it was three years ago I paid 11 grand for a freaking website and it sucked. It was horrible. And they fired me as a client because they were so bad that they got tired of me bitching all the time because it was, it was horrible. I'm like, you guys are providing a shitty service. This is not, I paid $11,000 and this is what you give me. So yeah, it didn't, it didn't work out at all. And yeah, I mean if you want to pay me $11,000, you'll have a, an amazing looking website.

Sara Lohse [00:31:22]:

Pay me to half of that. Yeah, unless you want to pay me 11,000, maybe a quarter and we'll work.

Larry Roberts [00:31:27]:

It out, you know what I mean? Maybe a quarter of that.

Sara Lohse [00:31:30]:

The amount of bad websites I've seen that are professionally done though, like I'll have someone like, they're in like finance, they're Self employed, like fine, like tax consultant or something. And they're older, they have no experience in marketing so they trust whatever company comes up first on Google and they have them build a website and it looks like trash. And any small change I'd be like, oh hey, just heads up, there's a typo here. Or I think you should update your headline to this. It might help a little bit. They're like, oh well, I have to put in a request form for that.

Larry Roberts [00:32:02]:

Like that's how this company was that I hired. I'm almost, I'm almost putting them on blast, but I'm not going to do it. Code conspirators. So anyway, I wouldn't have put them on blast, but they still email me. They still have the audacity to email me trying to sell me stuff. So I'm like, stop.

Sara Lohse [00:32:17]:

Screw you guys.

Larry Roberts [00:32:18]:

Yeah, so anyways. But yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's, it's super simple and we can help or you can help yourself. Believe me, it's, it's really not.

Sara Lohse [00:32:26]:

You can DIY a really nice website. I promise.

Larry Roberts [00:32:28]:

Not nearly as daunting as you would think. Think so. I think that's a great goal as well.

Sara Lohse [00:32:32]:

I think, I mean, so we've got improve your website or build, build one. We've got beat, get more organized, use some kind of system, network better follow up. Yeah, I think, I think that's a pretty good list.

Larry Roberts [00:32:45]:

Yeah, I think those are, I think all of those are very, very critical. I think they're very respectable. We also had get more earned media, which we shouldn't forget that because a lot of people do. A lot of people think that's beyond reach. Very similar to having a cat daddy website. They think that earned media is beyond reach and it's really, really not. So just get out there, make those relationships and, and, and learn how you can gain some earned media as well. It's, it's very, very effective.

Larry Roberts [00:33:08]:

So. All right, cool. Well, I mean, I'm cool. I think 2025 is going to be an amazing year. I know you're fired up. I'm fired up. Super excited to see what this year brings us. And I'm sure that everybody listening to Branded right now is fired up about their year as well.

Larry Roberts [00:33:21]:

So hopefully with some of the tips that we gave today day, they can take advantage of that energy that they have, the excitement that they have and really implement some changes and set some real goals, not resolutions and see some growth in their business in 2025. So with that if you found some value in this episode, hey, do us a favor. Go ahead and smash that, like, button. Smash that subscribe button so we can continue to bring you these amazing episodes each and every week right here on Branded. And I am Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:33:49]:

I'm Sara Lohse. And we'll talk to you next week.